What if weather, but too much? Let's Play Pokemon Emerald

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Let's Play! > What if weather, but too much? Let's Play Pokemon Emerald

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Ah, Hoenn. The generation that turned me off to Pokemon for a while. All the new content that got added for these games just overwhelmed me and I gave up on the series until I peeked at Platinum and got back onboard. That said, I am very much Team Torchic for life. Once that little ball of adorable gets going, sweet merciful Arceus does it utterly wreck poo poo left and right. I do agree that the Fire/Fighting dual type for starters wore out its welcome really fast. Three generations in a row with that typing for starters definitely created fatigue, even if picking Chimchar in Diamond/Pearl was the only way to get a legit Fire type outside of Ponyta (what the gently caress was GameFreak thinking for those two games? :psyduck:

# ¿ Feb 10, 2018 07:10

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# ¿ May 15, 2024 20:37

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

I'm going to echo the option for FreeSample on Zigzagoon. No preference on Ralts' name, since I like its Gen 4 updates a little bit more and never touched on the line in this game.

Taillow is probably one of the more disappointing bird lines, honestly. A shame though, since it's a nice but simple creature design that sadly gets the short end of the stick when placed amongst its peers. Not a whole lot to stand out from the other early birds in the franchise with regards to movepool (especially at this point in the series) and you could also snag a Wingull and have a bird + a water type all in one go, making Taillow almost pointless.

# ¿ Feb 11, 2018 01:02

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

# ¿ Feb 14, 2018 03:06

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Solumin posted:

Aron's line gets some nice buffs in later generations. Metal Sound (Steel-type Counter) in Gen IV, Heavy Slam (damage is based on user's weight relative to target's) and Autotomize (+2 Speed and cuts weight in half) in Gen V, and a Mega Evolution in Gen VI that boosts its already absurd Defense to 230.
Aron is designed around the Rock Head ability, which prevents recoil damage from most attacks. That means Take Down and Double Edge, which it learns but doesn't get STAB for, are suddenly risk-free. Even better, Aron gets Rock Head (150 base damage Rock-Type attack that gives 1/2 damage as recoil) as an Egg Move starting in Gen IV.

It's never going to be a top-tier pokemon, thanks to its typing. Fighting and Ground types are just way too popular. But it's definitely a great choice for the main story, and Aggron is my favorite pokemon.

Agreed. Aron's line is not winning any popularity contests (with real world fans, mind), but if you want a solid defensive tank for Hoenn, go with the little metal dinosaur thingy. My only complaint is the same as Crosspiece, the little bugger evolves way too late and is weirdly spaced out for evolutions. Here, Wargreymon is level 12, so he has to wait 20 more levels to evolve to his next form, but then 10 levels later hits his final evolution. As a result, you have little time to get used to the Lairon form before the beefy final Aggron form walks in. If it was like say, the starter Pokemon (second stage around level 16-20, final stage around 35-40), I'd maybe be a little more forgiving. But other than that, Aron is a good Pokemon and I love it. And as you said, GameFreak gave it some love with additional and very good moves as we moved through the generations. Heavy Slam in Gen V on Aggron is extremely welcome as you'd have to basically be Snorlax to counter the added damage Aggron's own fat rear end contributes.

# ¿ Feb 18, 2018 00:51

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

As much as I want to back Birb Hat, it seems that Nimbus has the lead, so I'll go with that.

# ¿ Mar 2, 2018 07:14

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Hobgoblin2099 posted:

I have to laugh at how :effort:

Maxie's design for the remakes is. All he gets is a different coat, a turtleneck sweater underneath the coat, and fancy glasses. Meanwhile, everyone else got some serious overhauls, especially Team Aqua's admins.

# ¿ Mar 8, 2018 00:31

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Solumin posted:

and (2) they manage to squeeze a lot of characterization into her few lines.

This is one of the nice little touches I like about Flannery. With only a few bits of dialogue, the game is able to establish that she's practically on her first or second week as the gym leader and doesn't quite have a groove yet to establish a personality that sets her apart from other leaders. So, Flannery decides to put on a cliche persona since she is so inexperienced at the job, but reverts back to her regular self after the player beats her. It shows that even with little pieces to work with, GameFreak can create some very good characters and/or characterization at times, and Flannery is probably the best (or one of the best) example of this from the GBA era at least.

# ¿ Mar 13, 2018 06:07

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Man, I completely forgot just how underwhelming Brendan/May are from a rival standpoint in-game. It's even more hilarious considering May's one of the franchise's most popular female characters thanks to the anime, but in their native games they're a joke. IIRC, isn't it also possible to completely skip their first rival battle way back when you start out? Because my brain is convinced I managed to skip one of the rival fights in...Sapphire, I think, only to come back when I was way overpowered for the fight and clear it out.

Then again, Gen 3 is this weird place of memorable content and weird approaches to gameplay, like how certain types are coded as either physical/special, not individual moves. Seriously, whoever at GameFreak thought up and sold the physical/special split for Gen 4 to the top brass deserves a statue built in their honor because that one mechanic change helps so many Pokemon, it's not even funny. However, the employee who came up with moves like Protect (and how the AI handles those moves), that person has a special seat in hell reserved for them, because turbofuck that bad idea forever and ever.

# ¿ Mar 25, 2018 03:20

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

rannum posted:

Switching the champion was a cute idea but they should have swapped out Juan's specialty for...anything else.

So far as credits vignettes go, RSE's is simple but I really enjoy it. The sprites are very cute!

Alternately, they should have kept Steven as the Champion. I never understood why the change from Steven to Wallace even happened. Behind-the-scenes shenanigans at GameFreak or something?

Also, wow did I completely forget about Glacia even existing. I remember Sidney, Phoebe and Drake, but not her.

# ¿ May 2, 2018 02:37

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Blaze Dragon posted:

And I agree on how Glacia is weirdly forgettable. I guess her design is just kind of okay and doesn't pop out, and her team is insanely boring. It's not Flint-level terrible because at least it sticks to her type but seriously, three members of the Spheal line and two Glalies? Then again, I guess the only other option was Regice and that wasn't happening...who the hell decided Ice was a good choice here? The same person that made Flint in Gen 4?

Flint at least gets a much needed team overhaul with Platinum (and Sinnoh in general with Fire types) that fits the Fire theme, whereas Glacia just...exists with stuff you've either seen/evolved yourself or run into elsewhere. And like you said, she's handicapped by the lack of Hoenn-exclusive Ice types (seriously, they couldn't port over the Shellder/Cloyster or the Sneasel lines to boost type spread?) and Emerald does little to alleviate that issue.

But yes, Flint's original Diamond/Pearl lineup is a big pile of :psyduck:

, but we'll discuss that nonsense when Crosspiece eventually covers Gen 4.

# ¿ May 2, 2018 04:18

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

Hobgoblin2099 posted:

Sometimes you just have to punch your son in the face. With lightning.

To be fair to Norman, he is the only father character (of the protagonist, that is) we see in the games, so giving him a discount Heihachi Mishima personality (to use Verant's rather apt comment about Norman's parenting) is at least something more than the games usually bother to give. It's not the best thing, but given how flat the games usually make Gym Leaders out to be (one character trait, and not much else), I am fine with PokeSpe Norman to an extent. But I'll admit, the extreme tough love attitude definitely gets taken to ludicrous lengths, such as Slaking beating Ruby with a goddamn staircase. Alas, it seems that having a protagonist's father be alive is too much even for the manga, so he has to get killed off since this franchise is mostly allergic to fathers.

# ¿ May 6, 2018 01:27

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# ¿ May 15, 2024 20:37

AradoBalanga: Jan 3, 2013

I have one question to all of this: why is Red shirtless when he's turned to stone?

# ¿ May 6, 2018 04:43

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Let's Play! > What if weather, but too much? Let's Play Pokemon Emerald