Pokemon Uranium is not a very good game.

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Let's Play! > Pokemon Uranium is not a very good game.

Commander Keene: Dec 21, 2016; Faster than the others

darealkooky posted:

To use the pokemon example. If it tells me what move works best against the enemy pokemon after I fight them once and save me the trouble of remembering, why not have the game just do the move for me and save me the trouble of hitting a few buttons?

Because you may not want to do that move. You might want to use Flamethrower instead of Fire Blast, for example, or you might want to capture a wild Pokemon instead of fainting it, so you might use Sleep Powder instead.

darealkooky posted:

why not save me the trouble of the loading screen and just skip fights against the pokemon where instead you auto win?

EarthBound does that, and still manages to be a good game.

# ¿ Feb 16, 2017 22:48

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# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 23:31

Commander Keene: Dec 21, 2016; Faster than the others

One of the most common writing mistakes you see is people assuming that "dark" means "good" automatically, and equating "dark" with "deep", as in thought-provoking and emotional. Pokemon does deep fairly well, if you read between the lines, especially with the antagonists of the more recent generations.

I personally think that dark works best as an undertone for a work, and not as the primary focus. EarthBound is a good example; the game uses bright colors everywhere, makes goofy puns and jokes at every opportunity, and just generally presents itself as a light-hearted romp - until you think about the plot, looking beneath the surface. You don't need a tragic backstory for every character and location to do dark properly.

ChaosArgate posted:

Oh boy is it time to post Pokedex entries??

<snip>

I know there are more but I I can't remember what they are off the top of my head.

How about this gem?

Spoink, Ruby posted:

Spoink bounces around on its tail. The shock of its bouncing makes its heart pump. As a result, this Pok�mon cannot afford to stop bouncing - if it stops, its heart will stop.

# ¿ Feb 18, 2017 00:34

Commander Keene: Dec 21, 2016; Faster than the others

CrazySalamander posted:

Considering how much people love to go on about the rival Raticate death as a theme has at least been on people's minds from the 1st gen.

There's a difference between "acknowledging death" and "death as a theme". Persona 3 has death as a theme, where almost every character has a death in their backstory, and the game's plot heavily involves death and the concept of mortality. Pokemon, at least in Gen 1, only involves death in that one Lavender Town sequence, and in a few Pokedex entries. The theme of the game's plot is quite different.

Crazy Achmed posted:

Can it learn fly? Because that would be genius.

No, but it can learn Bounce by move tutor, apparently.

Commander Keene fucked around with this message at 01:24 on Feb 18, 2017

# ¿ Feb 18, 2017 01:20

Commander Keene: Dec 21, 2016; Faster than the others

krisslanza posted:

Also am I the only person who actually liked HMs?

I like the concept of HMs, which is to say that I like the idea that Pokemon can do things outside of fighting. However, since ~~most~~ almost all HM moves are terrible to use in actual combat, even at the time you get them, and can only be removed by one person in the world, I think they seriously flubbed the execution. I think the best way to deal with HMs would have been to either: make them a fifth move that a Pokemon could learn, limiting each Pokemon to four combat powers and one utility power; or to eliminate HM moves and make the HMs an inherent part of the badge system, allowing any Pokemon who can learn the HM to use the power as long as you have the associated Gym Badge. Both systems benefit from making HMs non-combat, reducing screen clutter. This system can even work with some non-HM moves, like Teleport, Sweet Scent, or Flash (outside of Gen 1). Some Pokemon who start with a move useable outside of combat would either start with their "field move" slot filled, or would have extra "field moves". The current "rental Pokemon" system I hear they've implemented in Sun and Moon sounds like an acceptable alternative, but I feel like it would kill some of the immersion for me; suddenly I can't have my giant bird fly me around, but this other guy's giant bird can do it just fine? Meh.

# ¿ Feb 21, 2017 08:48

Commander Keene: Dec 21, 2016; Faster than the others

I thought that Gunpei Yokoi created Metroid, and Sakamoto is just the director of the series since Yokoi died.

# ¿ Mar 1, 2017 23:39

Commander Keene: Dec 21, 2016; Faster than the others

Seyser Koze posted:

I only played the original Red/Blue (and didn't have the patience to get past my first Zubat in either of those), but didn't the starters in those only have their basic tackle/scratch moves at the beginning as well?

As other people have said, it's more the fact that two of the starters got a STAB move and one only got a Normal-type attack that's the problem. I don't think anyone would be complaining nearly as hard if they hadn't seemingly deliberately neutered one of the starters.

loquacius posted:

Which non-remake Pokemon was the last one actually set in Poke-Japan, anyway?

I believe Gen 4. IIRC, Sinnoh was based upon northern Japan. Then came NYC/New Jersey in Gen 5, France in Gen 6, and Hawaii in Gen 7.

# ¿ Mar 9, 2017 22:08

Commander Keene: Dec 21, 2016; Faster than the others

mandatory lesbian posted:

they changed that in gen 2!!! how is 20 years not enough time to be considered ironed out!

I think Katarani is saying something like "purpleface is just 'trying not to be blackface'" and that the problem still needs to be actually fixed and not just Band-Aided.

# ¿ Mar 9, 2017 23:01

Commander Keene: Dec 21, 2016; Faster than the others

In response to that, I present the Magnemite line. Robots can be Pokemon too.

# ¿ Mar 11, 2017 09:58

Commander Keene: Dec 21, 2016; Faster than the others

magikid posted:

I feel like when people want dark and edgy, what they're actually looking for is atmospheric. A heavy atmosphere can stir up emotions subtly and make you feel uneasy without resorting to cringeworthy "mature" topics or some kind of deathmetal bloodfest. I think atmospheric games are what inspire these guys, but when you don't know how to interpret that you end up with the latter two.

Atmospheric is Ocarina of Time. Dark and edgy is Shadow the Hedgehog.

I agree with this, and also think that a lot of people confuse "deep", as in mature and thought-provoking, with "dark", as in grim, bloody, and generally obnoxiously edgy, and they think the two words are synonymous. This leads to them discounting the plot of games with a lighter tone as simple fluff pieces incapable of depth or maturity, while hailing games whose characters are just walking masses of tragedy tropes as mature. From what I've seen of the plot of Pokemon Black & White, for example, it seems to be a reasonably deep analysis of the concept of Pokemon slavery that still manages to fit within the series' lighthearted motif. Uranium's plot seems at first glance more like a "paint-by-numbers" which hits all of the required plot beats for a generic grimdark plot but doesn't really provoke much thought or discussion. Granted, OFS has been protecting our fragile little minds from the true nature of Uranium's plot, so I don't really know all of the text, but I can't imagine it gets better than what we have seen.

Schubalts posted:

It's a trade evolution.

Oh, I guess that's how the "Link" in the name makes sense? The name doesn't exactly have much to do with ghosts or Pokeballs.

# ¿ Mar 21, 2017 23:37

Commander Keene: Dec 21, 2016; Faster than the others

ohmygorgon posted:

You'd think when designing a store that uses berries as currency, you'd notice how hard it is to get berries up to that point. Or maybe the berry store is the reason why you don't get the watering can until postgame? That seems like a bad design choice that would fit right in with the rest of them.

Also, does the shiny star always cover Inflagetah's name in battle like that? Is having the star for shiny Pokemon something that comes stock with the RPG Maker kit, or did the creator choose to put it in there, knowing there would be a Pokemon whose name would be too long?

Yeah, I'm guessing that this town is the sole reason you don't get the watering can until so late. Can't have you growing your own currency (like presumably everyone else in that town does), or you could break the game by buying all the Sight Scopes and ant Pokemon you could possibly need!

# ¿ Mar 31, 2017 19:14

Commander Keene: Dec 21, 2016; Faster than the others

Does anyone actually take Spike TV seriously, though?

# ¿ Apr 2, 2017 02:58

Commander Keene: Dec 21, 2016; Faster than the others

Dragon Quest Monsters, actually.

# ¿ Apr 9, 2017 02:36

Commander Keene: Dec 21, 2016; Faster than the others

Or Last Bible/Revelations: The Demon Slayer

# ¿ Apr 12, 2017 22:01

Commander Keene: Dec 21, 2016; Faster than the others

Orange Fluffy Sheep posted:

We know there's a legendary Pokemon named Lanthan... I wonder if the two are related...?

The entire mountain is a Mega Stone. It can Mega Evolve whenever you fight a battle in the mountain.

Also, is this one of the legendaries they didn't bother to implement?

Orange Fluffy Sheep posted:

We got Hidden Power 13 updates ago. And just now we find the NPC who tells us the type. To contrast, in OR/AS and S&M, they're in the same building.

Will he tell you what type the Pokemon's Hidden Power would be if it knew the move, or only after you've deleted a move to learn Hidden Power?

# ¿ Apr 17, 2017 19:34

Commander Keene: Dec 21, 2016; Faster than the others

McDragon posted:

Also every time I see "My Fursona" I read it to the tune of My Sharona and now you all can too

Are there people that haven't been doing that? I'm confused now.

# ¿ May 22, 2017 21:15

Commander Keene: Dec 21, 2016; Faster than the others

Robindaybird posted:

It could also work for a game under the SMT Umbrella - Nocturne was kind of like that in the few remaining humans (and their stand-in Manikins) were pretty much at the utter mercy of demons, even SMT4 and Strange Journey had the 'these wandering demons can utterly wreck the poo poo out of anyone who isn't armed and prepared'

True. In SMT4, there are even demons wandering around in the same maps as most of the towns. Anyone straying about ten steps outside of an underground shelter is probably dead unless they have demons of their own backing them up, which requires cell phone access and the skill (and moxie) to negotiate with demons. Note that you have to convince your potential allies that they should in fact work for you instead of just proving your strength to them and stuffing them in your capture device. The random encounters are dangerous enough that if one manages to surprise you, it could very well be lethal, even to a team armed to the teeth and with demon support.

None of the demons are even explicitly more intelligent than human beings, and yet there are still factions and even entire cultures controlled or secretly manipulated by demons. SMT is a pretty good look at what Pokemon would be if the creators had decided on going for more realism, and the fact that SMT already existed by the time Pokemon was being conceptualized might have been a reason they went with a more idealistic approach to the 'Mons genre.

Not to mention that all of the games that go for that level of "realism" almost always stat up the player character and have them fight alongside their team, probably to raise the stakes for the player. If your character's life is on the line as well it increases the player's investment in the results of the combat.

# ¿ May 24, 2017 22:21

Commander Keene: Dec 21, 2016; Faster than the others

Hammurabi posted:

So I started playing Pokemon Clover last night. It's cute. It's meme garbage but it's fun ironic meme garbage. If no one objects I might do some LP posts in this thread for it (though I've never LP'd anything and I can't guarantee they'll be funny).

I'd suggest maybe doing so instead in the Casual LP Thread or in the Romhackeria/Fangames threads, depending upon which it is, and posting a link here. Also, use the test poster and link to each update. If Clover is trying to be deliberately offensive, you might want to make sure it's a thing people have to opt into.

Herr Tog posted:

I will try to get SMT 3 now, thanks thread

If you have a PS3, I think Atlus (relatively) recently released ports of both Nocturne and Digital Devil Saga on the PSN Store.

# ¿ May 26, 2017 21:49

Commander Keene: Dec 21, 2016; Faster than the others

Blackunknown posted:

Is it worrying that I now consider Uranium a good game when compared to Reborn? Because I'm not sure Uranium can reach the horrifying pinical Reborn has found itself in my eyes after one proto-update and a single snippet of information. I hope so at least.

It's like the music station that plays where I work; there's a lot of horribly (near-offensively) bad music, which makes the few songs that are merely mediocre (or not terrible) seem like a relief in comparison. None of them are anything I'd listen to if I wasn't being paid to be there, but the stuff that's not absolute garbage almost looks good when you see how much worse it could've been.

# ¿ May 30, 2017 02:23

Commander Keene: Dec 21, 2016; Faster than the others

Aerdan posted:

uhhh

No, it just steals the Magikarp and forces you to catch a new one. The pok�mon doesn't die on-screen or anything like that.

Well, the implication is there. But then again, that's how Pokemon does its grimdark; hidden behind a layer of implications and Pokedex entries. Not with TRAGIC NUCLEAR DEATH before the game even begins.

# ¿ May 31, 2017 23:23

Commander Keene: Dec 21, 2016; Faster than the others

Materant posted:

Not defending Uranium but scrapping incomplete content at deadline is a pretty common practice and I can name off the top of my head at least five triple-A studios that do this.

It would probably be easier to name games that don't have any cut content. Most of the time, the developers don't even bother to take it out of the code for the game. There's a website devoted to cataloguing and documenting this content. I wasn't able to find a page for the original arcade Pong, and the page for DOS Tetris merely documented an undocumented save key and regional/revisional differences. Other than that, you'll find pretty much any game you care to look for there.

# ¿ Jun 8, 2017 09:25

Commander Keene: Dec 21, 2016; Faster than the others

ungulateman posted:

I'm left-handed so it was mildly annoying but I've learned from years of PC games (along with golf and tennis) to use my right hand for everything short of writing so I don't really see the fuss.

It's difficult living in a world where 90% of the human population is doing things wrong.

# ¿ Jun 12, 2017 22:47

Commander Keene: Dec 21, 2016; Faster than the others

Orange Fuzzy Sheep posted:

He gives us Nuclear Balls, a totally redundant type of Poke Ball that catches things that were in Quick Balls last turn, keep up gramps.

Yeah, but lots of Poke Balls are redundant with Quick Balls, otherwise known as The Best Poke Ball. The only reason Poke Balls themselves aren't redundant is because you can buy them before you can buy Quick Balls.

Orange Fuzzy Sheep posted:

Arbitrary reference to the magma/aqua suit from OR/AS? Sure.

Eh, I'll give them a pass on this one. If this was an official game, everyone would be making GBS threads themselves over the reference and congratulating Nintendo on connecting the games' plot. The reason the reference is unwelcome in Uranium is because it connects Uranium to games we like.

Orange Fuzzy Sheep posted:

"My 13-year-old son, who is somehow as large as I am."

My father is 5'11". I was 6' tall my freshman year of high school, at age 14. Certainly not impossible.

Orange Fuzzy Sheep posted:

Hammer Arm is the move we use and never because we want to. It's only when something doesn't have a better option that we finally just accept this garbage, which happens surprisingly often. Spoopyboot knows Drain Punch, so she's not in that boat.

I mean, it seems like a Contrary 'mon with this move basically has Speed Boost as a move, but your ghost crocodile pirate doesn't have that, so...

Orange Fuzzy Sheep posted:

It then glows or something, which is this game's universal sign that Urayne's doing something nasty.

Uranium's not going to kill the rival for cheap drama, right? Please tell me Uranium's not going to kill the rival. That only works when the rival is likeable.

Commander Keene fucked around with this message at 21:14 on Jun 13, 2017

# ¿ Jun 13, 2017 21:12

Commander Keene: Dec 21, 2016; Faster than the others

krisslanza posted:

The only issue I have with it is, I think in this 'story' all this nuclear radiation issues is a very recent problem, right?
How did some Pokemon suddenly exist that can eat and cleanse radiation, if its only been a problem within the past like, 3 days.

Evolution is a mystical force in the Pokemon world. It detected an imbalance and worked to correct it.

# ¿ Jun 13, 2017 21:16

Commander Keene: Dec 21, 2016; Faster than the others

Added Space posted:

There's actually a common form of pokemon that's powered by radiation and uses it to shoot massive lasers.

Common, my rear end. You can only get one in any of the games it's in!

Testekill posted:

Just have to look to Australia for that. There's actually a ton of uranium deposits near the surface in Australia and the ancient Aboriginals would actively avoid them and referred to them as places of sickness since the plants and water around them were also contaminated.

Just more evidence that Australia is The Worst Place. :P

# ¿ Jun 14, 2017 21:55

Commander Keene: Dec 21, 2016; Faster than the others

BioEnchanted posted:

Honestly Edgy Pokemon already exists and it's pretty charming, even if mechanically it could use some work - Yokai Watch. You are literally collecting the spirits of the dead, and some of them get darkly humorous backstories. The Fighting type Cat is a normal cat that got run over by a truck. In it's afterlife it is obsessed with getting strong enough that it can fight a truck and win. The main character's parents have a massive falling out due to a Yokai deliberately creating a rift between them for a laugh, that kind of thing.

Yokai Watch keeps the same general tone as a Pokemon game, though. At its heart, it's an optimistic story where bad things happen, and then the player steps up and makes things better. Like Pokemon, there's some darker bits, but by and large, the game's plot is upbeat.

Also, Yokai aren't necessarily the spirits of the dead. That one cat is, as are others, but others are nature or animal spirits, tsukumogami (basically animated objects that have gained souls due to their long histories), and other things based off of Japanese mythology (the same as many Pokemon).

Aithon posted:

An older example: isn't edgy Pokemon aware of the impact its mons have on the world just Shin Megami Tensei? (Yes, I know the series is actually older than Pokemon.) You bind demons to your will and set them to fight against stronger demons, because the world's kind of become a shithole due to, in large part, demons being everywhere. It's pretty rare to fight fair against another ~~trainer~~ summoner (unless you're playing Devil Survivor), because you really need to gang up on these powerful demons to even stand a chance. The bosses don't just lose in a children's game and walk away, they are defeated or killed and sometimes also become bound to you by contract.

What I'm saying is that while mons in a much less idealistic setting can work and make internal sense, the resulting game will not resemble Pokemon all that much.

e: that cat backstory, though, drat. I've got to play these games one of these days. I've seen the demos and I liked the general tone.

SMT has already been brought up multiple times. It definitely qualifies as "grittier Pokemon", because many of the games' settings are (post-)apocalyptic. In fact, it's not uncommon for the world to be destroyed or significantly altered by the presence of demons during the intro, before the player has gotten their starter 'mon.

Also, your main method of getting more powerful dudes is through fusion, which pretty much explicitly kills two of your dudes to make a new one. Capture is less reliable than Pokemon games, requiring you to actually negotiate with the demons you're hoping to ally with, and the stock you're handed through wild encounters is both significantly less powerful than the bosses, and levels up slowly. You are not expected to take your starter to the end of the game; instead, you generally need to have already fused that sucker into something by the end of the first dungeon, or the beginning of the second, at the latest.

# ¿ Jul 4, 2017 05:46

Commander Keene: Dec 21, 2016; Faster than the others

Leraika posted:

If you don't believe in your friends, maybe.

(this was a terrible and unfun thing; do not actually do it)

Yeah, in Strange Journey (and maybe 4), you ended up getting stronger demons if you went through the grueling process of leveling up a low-level demon to 99 due to the stat-boosting apps you can equip; a Lv. 99 Pixie will have far better stats than the Metatron at Lv. 99. But the exp curve deliberately makes this prohibitively time-consuming and incredibly dull to do "legitimately", and thus it's something only crazy people actually do.

At least SMT IV (and probably Apocalypse) have the DLC that rains Light and Heavy Grimoires down on your head, so if you're truly obsessed with making a Lv. 99 Pixie with Megidolaon, you can do that.

Robindaybird posted:

Though Demons aren't actually killed from their dialogue, and how the High Pixie in Nocturne can be obtained even if you fused the Pixie (long as you remember which demon she got fused into) - the way the old geezer demons talk abut fusing with a pretty thing, and childish ones wanting to become something cool, it seems almost like Fusion in Dragon Ball Z or Steven Universe - where they merged into a new being.

The concept of two separate beings merging to become one entity is super weird, especially in MegaTen. In DBZ, the fusion is (usually) only temporary, and the result is a straight-up amalgamation of both fusion partners. Not only do demons seem fine with getting fused for the most part (some are even eager to do so), but the fact that a fused demon inherits the skills of the "parent" demons does suggest that at least some part of the "parents" survives. But the result also seems to be its own demon; the post-fusion dialogue seems to suggest that when you fuse Rangda and Barong to get Shiva, the resulting demon is actually Shiva, and not a Rangda/Barong hybrid wearing a Shiva suit, for example. My own personal interpretation of this is that the demons you're fusing die, and their Magnetite is used to create a new demon who inherits at least some of the memories of the old ones, as evidenced by inherited skills and the simple fact that it's not trying to murder you like most of the rest of its kind would.

# ¿ Jul 6, 2017 00:33

Commander Keene: Dec 21, 2016; Faster than the others

It's a Final Fantasy 5 competition where you're assigned four of the jobs randomly and I think are limited to those four jobs and Freelancer or something like that in a playthrough of the game. I think there's also versions for FF3, FF Tactics, and the Bravely Default games.

# ¿ Jul 6, 2017 04:48

Commander Keene: Dec 21, 2016; Faster than the others

Brother Entropy posted:

so basically uranium's pokedex has an atomic bomb metaphor in there and it's not even a nuclear type

No, because Mega Inflagetah being a nuke metaphor would imply deliberate, intentional application of the game's theme in a way that isn't beating you over the head with the Symbolism Stick, and we all know the game's writers and designers did not put that much effort into this game.

# ¿ Aug 22, 2017 02:10

Commander Keene: Dec 21, 2016; Faster than the others

Orange Fluffy Sheep posted:

Urayne decides to travel to the world iwth Dick Solomon.

Bit of a typo there.

# ¿ Aug 31, 2017 07:22

Commander Keene: Dec 21, 2016; Faster than the others

Is Cameron Theo's dad, or is (s)he a gym leader? I have so much trouble keeping track of the characters in this game...

# ¿ Sep 1, 2017 02:44

Commander Keene: Dec 21, 2016; Faster than the others

krisslanza posted:

I mean to be fair, it isn't like she tried to kill anyone we care about.

I mean, she tried to kill Hero of Tandor Good Human Ninja Ranger Hokage Dick Solomon, so YMMV. Also, I might have hosed up on the titles because I can't remember which order we got what in.

# ¿ Sep 1, 2017 06:46

Commander Keene: Dec 21, 2016; Faster than the others

SilverFox442 posted:

If I recall from early in the thread correctly, this is probably more of a programming limitation than a conscious good decision on the part of Uranium's creators.

They could have done it in RPG Maker if they'd really wanted to, even just using the basic event scripting provided by the program. Depending upon how they implemented the concept, it could have been something as simple as hiding an invisible event in each area where a roaming legendary can appear and a global variable that determines which event activates and what Pokemon it is, or as complex as creating an alternate map for the area with slightly modified encounter tables, which you enter when a global variable says there's a roaming legendary in that area

Gruckles posted:

The Groundhog Day thing if you mess up catching the legendary makes me wonder why they didn't use the same idea with the scene you get if you lose to Curie. So they could do their world ending Game Over, but also send you back to the pokemon center and let you change your team or grind instead of potentially leaving you in an unwinnable state.

Because Uranium. They probably thought of the idea of the Groundhog Day thing specifically for that legendary dude after the rest of the game was "finished", and didn't bother to think of how it could be applied to the rest of the game.

# ¿ Sep 7, 2017 10:03

Commander Keene: Dec 21, 2016; Faster than the others

So, when's the next Dragon Quest 8 update coming - *shot*

# ¿ Sep 21, 2017 22:49

Commander Keene: Dec 21, 2016; Faster than the others

The main problem is you probably have to specify what "Rum Power" does as an Ability before you hand it to a Pokemon. Does OFS know how Abilities are set up? Also, what do we have Rum Power do? Attack up when Confused? Attack up, Agility down every turn in battle? Something with Berries as a Hold Item?

# ¿ Sep 22, 2017 05:16

Commander Keene: Dec 21, 2016; Faster than the others

Manatee Cannon posted:

stats raise when you use a potion or something

Ooh, maybe "Will use Potions as Hold Items. Attack up, Agility down every time a Potion is used." Something like that?

# ¿ Sep 22, 2017 05:19

Commander Keene: Dec 21, 2016; Faster than the others

Orange Fluffy Sheep posted:

That's something you have to do with scripts in RPG Maker XP with some good old fashioned ruby.

I'd jam Ronch in but I seem to have broke something with Pokemon Essentials, and it was a headache to set up the first time...

Yeah, I figured it would involve scripting.

# ¿ Sep 22, 2017 17:33

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# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 23:31

Commander Keene: Dec 21, 2016; Faster than the others

Raserys posted:

Although, he is supposed to be like 10

Look, he clearly spent a few days training his Pokemon in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. Also known as a stasis pod.

# ¿ Sep 26, 2017 22:41

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Let's Play! > Pokemon Uranium is not a very good game.