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  Pokemon... it's still going... maybe one day I'll be free... Pokemon Black and White are yet another generation in Pokemon and definitely one of the best, the formula was starting to wear a little thin, so one solution to solve this was do a soft reboot, distance the region from the others and have a whole host of new Pokemon, exclusively in fact, until the postgame! It didn't work, these are the worst selling paired games in the series, USUM is a third version, it doesn't count, but goddamn are these games absolutely amazing. You know how this goes, I'll be showing off every drat thing I can, mainly because there's a lot of mechanical differences compared to Gen 4, so there's a lot to talk about. Otherwise it's pretty standard fare, go around the region, collect Gym badges, fight bad guys and fight the Champion. Hmm, but maybe this soft reboot might do something different, we'll see. Ah, but I'm being coy, Spoilers are A-OK!, while this game does have a much more interesting story than other Pokemon games, I'm pretty sure most viewers will know about it by now, this isn't some obscure side game, the lowest selling paired games is still over 10 million, for crying out loud! Let's go in a straight line, humour the hero N, become a hero ourselves and not fight the Champion Alder, at least not immediately. Let's just jump into it, welcome to AMERICA, MOTHERFUCKERS!!! I also have a lot more LPs than I probably should if I had my life at all on track, but hey peep the archive to read them all, reading Platinum will definitely get you up to speed with how Pokemon works! Updates Part 1: Welcome to the World of FREEDOM! Second Post Part 2: Triple Tactics Part 3: Meet the Team Part 4: The Curator Part 5: Glistening Forest Part 6: Sights of Castelia City Part 7: Bad for Team Plasma! Part 8: Evenin' Desert Part 9: King for a Date Part 10: Fun Switch Gameplay Part 11: Cold Heart Reception Part 12: Digging for Deer Life Part 13: Charging Our Dreams Part 14: Sky High Spirits Part 15: Lonely Island Part 16: What a Twist! Heh. Get It? Part 17: Spiralling Down Part 18: Moor of Plot Part 19: Done Symbolism? Nein! Part 20: It's Pretty Black or White Part 21: All Fifth Roads Lead to Victory Part 22: Fun Dressup With Some Elite Fights Part 23: Truth or Ideals Part 23: Black or White Part 24: Please Stop Kicking My rear end Part 25: East Coast Represent Part 26: Little Fish, Big Pond Part 27: Bridged the Gap Part 28: Round Region Roundup Part 29: Okay, NOW We're Ready Part 30: Not So Fresh Part 31: First Time Champ Part 32: Two Years Until New Events Side Notes 01: Experiencing Change From Part 4 02: Let's Play Trivia Party From Part 6 03: Critical Catching Changes From Part 10 04: Mr Ferris's Wild Ride From Part 12 Crosspeice fucked around with this message at 03:58 on Mar 9, 2021 |
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May 20, 2020 04:28
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Part 1: Welcome to the World of FREEDOM!  Ah drat, we're in Gen 5 already? This is past the halfway point, maybe one day I'll actually catch up to the main series lol.   That's one hell of an entrance for a logo to make, still openings aren't particularly interesting to screenshot, so let's skip past them like usu-  The Day I Was Crowned King  ...wait what?   You should definitely watch the opening. Why?     Because we might need to pay attention to this.   Well hey if we're gonna start off being crowned king then this might not be too-   Oh okay never mind.   Boy I can't wait to do everything in this intro!!! Title Screen The next generation is here, boy oh boy am I excited. Now while I don't like these games as much as Platinum, that's mainly a personal preference, Gen 5 is pretty drat amazing, these games just keep getting better and better. We're one stop away from my favourite games in the series, but that doesn't mean these aren't amazing titles.  Going for either Black or White doesn't matter too much, but I chose White for a few reasons I'll go over soon enough. Let's get started! World of Pokemon  We'll mostly skip over this introduction, but yo the first female Professor! Juniper is great, shame it took until SWSH to get another female prof.  Ah this one is a hard choice, both of them are great designs, you'll notice they're clearly older than previous protagonists, which is definitely the case, they're canonically 14 instead of the usual 10/11. We were a girl last time, so I guess I'll pick the guy, also for another reason that won't come up for a WHILE.  Gotta go with the canon name! HAHAHA, just kidding, god what were they thinking with Hilbert and Hilda, they can work in a vacuum, but while Blake and Whitley are a little on the nose, they're also way better. No I think we'll go with the Japanese standard.  Now let's name the rival, a time honoured tradition!   Oh, or not. Cheren and Bianca are our rivals this time, but being able to name rivals is something that won't happen again until Let's Go, the time of Butthead is behind us, alas.   Let's start at the beginning, a new adventure! Delivery  The games are still on the DS and sprite based, which Game Freak are competent at, but not exactly groundbreaking, so while things might be a bit jagged and wonky, the presentation compared to previous games is way more impressive. Or, well, impressive for a Gamefreak DS game.  Enough with the introductions, let's start with the game already! Nuvema Town  I heard from Professor Juniper. We can have a Pokemon? ... ... What's keeping Bianca? Sprites are taller and more detailed, so we can have a variety of animations, like Cheren tapping his foot. See, little things just make playing and going over these games much more enjoyable.  Bianca... I've known for ten years that you have no sense of time, but... seriously... today's the day we can get a Pokemon from Professor Juniper! I know. Sorry, Touya. Sorry, Cheren. So, where are the Pokemon? They were delivered to Touya's house, so Touya gets first pick. Naturally. The Pokemon are waiting for us inside that gift box. OK, Touya, you go first and take a peek at the gift box. I want to meet the Pokemon right now! Would you get a move on and open the gift box already? I'm sure the Pokemon are just as excited to meet us!  Could've at least poked holes in this thing, I imagine Pokeballs don't get much air to begin with.     Another generation, another 100+ overviews to make, boy did this gen take a little bit. I'm spoiling it here but Pokemon now animate in battle so I'll show the animations when I go over the Pokemon, while it's nothing too crazy, it really makes battles feel more alive, even moreso than the models next gen on do, but that's to be expected. Anyway, as for the starters, let's start off with the worst one. I wish it weren't so, but we've got another Chikorita on our hands. Now Meganium could do alright, and Serperior will be the same, you can take it through the entire game without issue, just don't expect anything all that amazing. It gets Leer and Growth so you can setup for some extra damage, and Leaf Tornado is a fine special move, but then it's a while until you get a better move in Leaf Blade and your team will start overtaking it pretty quickly. Its main issue is type coverage, it learns Grass and Normal with the exception of 2 Poison status and the first taste of coverage will be, uh, Rock Smash, Aerial Ace by Gym 6 and Dragon Tail by Gym 8. It's a hard sell, but in a way so are the other two, so go with your heart, it'll do you just fine.     Piggy wiggy wiggy, wondering if this little thing stays on the ground and does something interesting? Nope, your THIRD Fire/Fighting in a row, surely they could've come up with something different? Regardless, this little piggy hits hard and is kinda slow, but that's okay because it has a million different puns you could make with it. It doesn't get too interesting until it learns Flame Charge just before it evolves but will get Arm Thrust quickly after for some early STAB. And then that's really about it until Heat Crash, though that's not an amazing move. Unless you want Smog and Rollout to be its best coverage, it'll need some TMs and BOY does it learn some great ones! It gets weirdly good coverage in Wild Charge, Poison Jab, even Scald, this little piggy will be quietly smacking stuff fine for a fair while, then explodes in interesting moves lategame, definitely a grower, but great if you're not sick of Fire/Fighting.     And now for the Water type, it's definitely a Water type. Yup. Oshawott will do you just fine if you don't fancy the other two options, but also doesn't do anything amazing either. It can hit harder than Serperior, most things will, and will do more Special damage than Emboar, even with its weird type coverage, but it suffers a similar fate in not learning anything too crazy. An early Razor Shell is a great move to spam, but it'll also be the move you use the most until you finally get Surf. With X-Scissor and Ice Beam, you have a perfectly fine mixed attacker, can even double dip with Waterfall much later, but there's plenty of weird and interesting Water types in this gen and Samurott does little to stand out. All in all, none of the 3 options are absolutely fantastic, power creep is a hell of a thing, but as always there's no wrong choice, all 3 will serve you well, follow your heart and get used to a midgame move drought.  Snivy is a hard sell in this game, but maybe...? And there's some interesting Water types I want to consider later on, so Tepig it is, been a little while since we've had a Fire starter, about as long as the distance between Grass starters last LP, Orre is non-canon garbage after all! Sure it's another Fire/Fighting, but this is the first one I've chosen so far, so what's the big deal, honestly?   Hey, how come you get to pick out my Pokemon? Oh, never mind. I wanted Oshawott from the start, anyway. Hey, I know! Let's have a Pokemon battle! Honestly, Bianca... even though they're still weak Pokemon, you shouldn't have Pokemon battles inside a house. Don't be a worrywart! These little ones are weak, like you said. We have to let them battle so they'll get stronger. It's settled, Touya! Get ready for a Pokemon battle! Rival Battle    Bel: From the Slavic prefix "bel-", white and "belle", French for beautiful. Bianca: "White" in Italian.   Oh god I've missed this so much, the speed, the animations, the dynamic camera, man is Gen 4 hard to go back to after playing this speed demon of a game. Animated Trainer sprites are nice and smooth, but don't get too excited, only 3 trainers in the entire game get them and we'll meet all of them this update. Such a shame.   The UI is also pretty drat good, though the HP bar is white in, well, White, and black in, well, you know, the other one, uh, Black. Tepig seems standard, can't see the Nature yet, but I'm sure it's poo poo like always.   We're back in the Tackle wars, they never change. Except, actually they do! Tackle now has 100 accuracy and 50BP, making it a pretty solid early game move. Both Tepig and Oshawott have Tail Whip, while Snivy has Leer, so they definitely intend you to dish out a lot of damage, which is appreciated.   Otherwise it's a pretty simple early battle, you really shouldn't lose this unless you get crit too many times.   Maybe the Tail Whip helped, but Snivy is bulky enough that it's hard to tell.   Wow... Touya, you're gonna be an awesome Trainer someday, I can tell! No doubt! Uh... ... Bianca, would you take a look around? Wow! Pokemon are amaaaaazing!! So little, but so strong! I'm so glad I get to have a Pokemon! ...oh. Um, sorry about your room, Touya. You... are completely hopeless. Here! I'll restore your Pokemon for you. Touya's Pokemon needs to be fixed up, too. With all you know, I'm sure you can battle without turning the room into a disaster area like I did! I believe you're right! It'll be no problem for me to keep the room from getting any messier. Besides, it's not fair if you two are the only ones who get to have fun battling! It's decided. You'll be my opponent... in our first Pokemon battle! Let's see what you can do, Oshawott!    Cheren: From черен čéren, Bulgarian for black.   Next verse, same as the first. We're 1 exp from levelling up, which was done on purpose, the Unova starters have a base yield of 28, the lowest of ALL Pokemon, specifically for these opening battles. It was increased to the other starters in the next games, at 62.   With a Tail Whip, we now 2HKO Oshawott, I wonder if this Tepig has a high Attack IV?!   These two battles probably took as long as the first Barry fight last LP lol Nuvema Town  this feeling I have... ...I'm finally a Trainer. But first, we'd better go apologise to your mother about this messed-up room. Oh! I'd better come, too! Is that a loving Nintendium reference???   Alright, let's check out this little guy, we can see Naive is +Spd -Sp.Def, really drat nice, like always I'll go over all the little ins and outs in the Stat Overview Side Notes, Gen 3 and Gen 4 were pretty similar mechanically, but Gen 5 adds a lot of interesting stuff I can't wait to talk about! Oh yeah, Tepig has 3/21/8/9/11/18 for IVs which is... really bad actually, makes him fragile as hell. Just the way I likes it!  Well, um... we can clean up... Cleaning up? No worries. I'll take care of it later. Shouldn't you be on your way to meet Professor Juniper? Yes, thank you! Please excuse us. Come on. Let's go thank Professor Juniper. I'll be waiting in front of the Pokemon Research Lab. Oh! Wait! I've gotta go home first. Thanks for having us over! Pokemon battles are so lively, aren't they? I could hear the Pokemon's cries clear down here! Hm. That sure reminded me of my first Pokemon battle! Oh, and you know? After a battle, you need to rest your Pokemon! ... Your Pokemon is looking great! Now, if you're going out, don't forget your "cross-transceiver"! You're going to thank the professor too, right? Better get going, honey!  Nuvema Town: The Start of Something Big! From nuvem, Portuguese for cloud and novum, Latin for new. Kanoko Town: A town where various dots gather. From 鹿子模様 kanoko-moyō, a dappled pattern resembling the white spots of a fawn.   Hey now HGSS had IR to connect with the Pokewalker, but yes that is whole other can of worms we'll get to later.   I heard from the professor! So, you're getting a Pokemon, eh? Oh, you've already got it! Hm, that sure is a cute Pokemon. And you're all finally starting your journeys as Trainers? Well, let me read you a passage from a book called "Adventure Rules." "The X Button is vitally important for Trainers." Never forget that.  He's so... how should I put it? Diligent or, better, conscientious. But, I'm... I'm a good Trainer who got a Pokemon and everything! I can totally go on an adventure!  ...it's fine! I'll be waiting for you in front of the lab, OK?  How could my daughter, who knows nothing about the world, be going on a journey with Pokemon?  All children go on adventures with Pokemon. It's part of growing up.  Shouldn't need to mention the speech lines, which looks a little wonky sometimes, but is definitely nice. But different speech bubbles can work well, though there's only the two, alas. Juniper's Theme   Let me introduce myself again. My name is... Professor Juniper? We know your name. Come, come, Cheren! This is not a time to take things lightly. Today is the day to remember always, so it's best to behave with some formality. That being so, once again, my name is Professor Juniper, and I am researching when and how the creatures called Pokemon came into existence. Oh, that's unusual! You've already had a Pokemon battle! So maybe that's why... it feels as though your Pokemon have already begun to trust you!  About drat time! There's a billion billion names for Tepig and Hamlet by werbear is a pretty drat good one, even though I don't know any of this Shakespeare junk, what was he, a Dark Ages poet? Sent me the gently caress to sleep that's what he is! Also since we're not dealing with ALL CAPS in battle, I can finally have nicknames that look good too. Hamlet is its name. That is such a great name! As for why I gave all of you Pokemon... It's for the Pokedex, right? I am astonished. Nice work, Cheren! You have already studied Pokemon extensively, haven't you? Still, let me explain everything from the beginning, for everyone's sake. "you encounter!" So, I want you three to visit many places and meet all of the Pokemon in the Unova region! That is my request. Touya! Cheren! Bianca! How many times do I have to say no to you people??? Here is what I need from you! What I want to hear are the courageous words of people who will blaze new paths around the world! I want you three to travel to many different places and meet all of the Pokemon in the Unova region!Fine sure whatever, of course I'll do another one, sheesh. OK! I mean... yes, professor! Thank you very much. Because of you, I can become a Pokemon Trainer, exactly as I've always wished. All of you, thanks! You have given me the best possible answer! Next, I need to teach you how to meet Pokemon. Please meet me at Route 1, OK? Professor Aurea Juniper: From, well, the Juniper tree, which is found mostly in the northern hemisphere on high altitudes. Aurea is from the Austrocedrus genus of conifer trees, the Juniperus chinensis Aurea. Doctor Araragi: From アララギ Araragi, Japanese yew, she's never given a first name, it's not really the done thing after all. Research Lab I can explore and maybe find out what I want to do in life. I think I'd like that. Of course. We can travel however we want while we complete the Pokedex. For some reason, my heart is pounding, Touya. What are you and Hamlet going to do? Finally, I can become a Pokemon Trainer. I'll have real battles with other Trainers and get stronger. Wait and see! Alright, the menu is all filled out, so let's have a look.   Black: It can deftly dodge its foe's attacks while shooting fireballs from its nose. It roasts berries before it eats them. Since we're doing paired games, might as well list both dex entries.   Otherwise standard Pokedex fair. Looks like a pretty good region that opens up midway through, ooh wonder if you go to a different side depending which game you chose?  Next is the standard 8 badge fair, hope we go counter-clockwise, kid on the right seems a bit young to be the 8th leader, haha.   Trainer Card has the usual customisation. But maybe there's a bit more?   We're long past being able to write whatever we want, but we can manage well enough.
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May 20, 2020 04:28
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Nuvema Town  She asked you to complete the Pokedex?! I can't believe it! Well, actually, I can. I already knew she was going to ask. That's why I brought you three of these Town Maps. Take them with you! Here you are, Cheren. I'll take good care of it. And one for you, too, Bianca. Th-thank you so much! As for your room, Touya--or what's left of it... no need for any of you to worry. I'll take care of tidying up. OK, Touya? Ah, Pokemon. They are so cute, but they have enough power to destroy a bedroom! They are really something. With Pokemon like that at your side, you'll be safe wherever you go! I'll let your parents know! I hope that, in addition to Pokemon, you'll find lots and lots of places you like in the Unova region--and become wonderful adults! Have a great trip! That's certainly helpful. Shall we head to Route 1? The professor's waiting. Let's go, let's go! Touya, hurry and come too, OK? There's a few small details I like, such as Cheren walks slightly faster than Bianca. Makes sense, long skirts are a bit awkward. Uh, not that I actually know, admittedly.  Bianca says if we're starting a journey together, she wants all of us to take our first step at the same time. Let's all take our first step on Route 1 together! OK, here we go! One, two! Route 1  Yo, location names that don't disappear during cutscenes, I can get behind that.  Now that everyone's here, I'll explain.  Catching tutorial, let's skip this!  I wish I could've...   Pokeballs are used for catching Pokemon and for carrying the Pokemon you catch! I'm going on ahead. I'll be waiting for you in Accumula Town! I'm heading to Accumula Town, too. I think I'll go, too. I'm looking forward to the next town so I can go shopping for Pokeballs! Wait a minute! Hey, listen! Touya, Cheren, I thought of something fun! But we need to get going! I'd imagine the professor's waiting, too. Would you just listen a sec? Seriously! Why don't we see who can catch the most Pokemon? The person carrying the most Pokemon, including the one received from Professor Juniper, is the winner! Huh. Actually, that sounds interesting. It will fill up Pokedex pages, so I'm sure it will please the professor, too. OK, then. Until we reach Accumula Town, take care of healing your Pokemon at your own house. Me and Snivy will do the best for sure! Wild Pokemon Battle     That was an immediate puppy. Since we can catch Pokemon right away, let's get to talking about them right away! Now despite having a fair few Pokemon in the regional dex, the early and late selection is kinda dire, but Lillipup is a bright spot. It's a pretty standard speedy Normal type that'll quickly learn Bite and Take Down, neat! Also getting one early is always good so you can give it Return with little issue and it'll learn a wide variety of TMs, though it can't do anything with all the special moves. Aside from Crunch its level movepool can be pretty bland as well, but hey it gets the job done, especially if you need a good boy.   Early game catching is never exciting, but catching a lot of Lillipup is something you could do for free items with Pickup. This one didn't have it, so I won't bother with it, not a big deal anyway.   "It faces strong opponents with great courage. But, when at a disadvantage in a fight, this intelligent Pokémon flees." Pretty, uh, straightforward as routes go, though it seems like there's more to it later.   Since I was so close to the next level, might as well grab something to soften up catches, as this little piggy hurts a fair bit physically.   When your Pokemon's HP decreases while you're on the road, it can be a big problem, so I'll give you this Put it in your Bag's Medicine Case.  So don't push your Pokemon too hard, and let them rest often.    Lookout, it's a worse version of Lillipup. It has some interesting utility, but starts very similar, including Bite and then Crunch, though Patrat gets the latter much earlier, but it also means it peaks earlier. Then after Hypnosis and Confuse Ray it, uh, don't really do anything that interesting until Hyper Fang. There's nothing massively wrong with it, but Stoutland has a much higher ceiling even if Watchog can use special moves ever so slightly better. Your call at the end of the day, but it does make you wonder why the only 2 Pokemon on this route are physical Normal types.   "Using food stored in cheek pouches, they can keep watch for days. They use their tails to communicate with others." Well that was quick, off we go!   Oh man which one is getting saddled with Patrat for the rest of the game?  Do you want to compare which one of us has the most Pokemon with them? Wow, 3?! That's awesome! Are you excited to have that many Pokemon with you? Incidentally, if you check your Pokedex, you'll see how many you've found and how many you've caught. I'm off to Accumula Town! The professor is waiting. moshi moshi desu  You and your Pokemon are getting along great now, right? Oh! Professor! Right now, I'm in front of Accumula Town's Pokemon Center! I'd like to show you around, so hurry on over, everyone! OK! The Pokemon Center, right! OK! See you!  Same.  Traveling with your Pokemon is truly one of the joys of being a Trainer! Please follow me. I'd like to show you the most important place for a Trainer to know! Pokemon Center Don't you feel better as soon as you step through the door? OK, let's start your tour! Healing tutorial, wow!   Unclear about instructions, Pokeballs are now in Mewtwo's possession.   Well wasn't that fun.  Aw man, mom won't let me get one of these, says the internet was made by the Pokedevil.  It says "Someone's PC" on the screen. Who is Someone? Very good, Bianca. That's a great observation! Good question, and I'd like to say more, but for now, just ignore that and go ahead and use the PC. "Someone" is the person who made the Pokemon Storage System. ...someone I'm sure you'll meet someday! OK, let's move on! This is the place to buy useful items and sell the ones you don't need anymore! That gentleman over there will help you with a smile! So, let's wrap this up. I've given you the basics of being a Trainer! I'm going to head back to Nuvema Town. One final thing... when you get to Striaton City, go and meet and inventor named Fennel. She's a friend of mine from long ago, and I'm sure she'll help you on your way! Best of luck! I hope that your journeys prove to be the adventure of a lifetime! Ooh! What should I buy? Potions and Pokeballs are definitely important. Umm... thinking...  Okay... okay, I think we're over most of the tutorial. These things usually sap the life outta me, and my fingers from typing so drat much! So the Pokemon Mart and Pokemon Center got a much needed merger, it really helps, especially since it means we can get MAIL immediately. Also on the second floor, the standard connection places are located, as well as the GTS, which is also pretty amazing! Haha, just kidding there's a lot of defunct online functions to talk about because online only content is bullshit!   Always good to sort your items, the main item bag has condensed a few pockets, since Gen 4 was starting to get a little silly. Also note the boxes by some Key Items, you can register multiple items in this game, but also notice that various menus have this box in the corner, meaning you can make a shortcut to the Options menu if you wanted, hot drat!   Oh goody, more cutscenes!  Touya, come here for a sec. Just a Regular Cult Speech, No Need to be Alarmed     that have come to live together because we want and need each other. However... is that really the truth? Have you ever considered that perhaps we humans... only assume that this is the truth? Pokemon are subject to the selfish commands of Trainers... they get pushed around when they are our "partners" at work... Now, ladies and gentlemen, Pokemon are different from humans. They are living beings that contain unknown potential. They are living beings from whom we humans have much to learn. That's right! We must liberate the Pokemon! Then, and only then, will humans and Pokemon truly be equals. Everyone, I end my words here today by imploring you to consider the relationship between people and Pokemon... and the correct way to proceed. We sincerely appreciate your attention. What a pleasant man.   I haven't released a Pokemon in years and I don't intend to start now. The One Who is Captivated by Equations   Just now, it was saying... Slow down. You talk too fast. And what's this about Pokemon... talking? That's an odd thing to say. Yes, they're talking. Oh. Then, you two can't hear it, either... how sad. My name is N. My name is Cheren, and this is Touya. We were asked to complete the Pokedex, and we just left on our journey. My main goal is to become the Champion, though. The Pokedex, eh? So... you're going to confine many, many Pokemon in Pokeballs for that, then. I'm a Trainer, too, but I can't help wondering... are Pokemon really happy that way? Well, Touya, is it? Let me hear your Pokemon's voice again! eNcounter    N: N      Aw yeah, it's another motherfucking cat. An early game Dark type is pretty cool, shame the best STAB it gets for like 15 levels is Pursuit, then you upgrade to Assurance! Wow thanks game. Add in some low stats and general fragility and you've got a real potent combination. Eventually it'll learn interesting stuff like Night Slash and Nasty Plot but it'll be lame for a very long time, I would advise not using this cool cat, even though I really want to.   This is why I'm sticking to Ember...   : HECK! Pokemon will never be perfect beings. I have to change the world for Pokemon, because they're my friends. But I'm not going to worry about it. Trainers and Pokemon help each other out! Listen, I'm going on ahead. I want to battle the Gym Leader in the next town--Striaton City. Aim to battle Gym Leader after Gym Leader. The best way for a Trainer to become stronger is to challenge the Gym Leaders in each area. Accumula Town Accumula Town: The Fast-Growing Town! From cumulus cloud and accumulate. Karakusa Town: Thick ivy is proof of prosperity. From 唐草模様 karakusa-moyō, arabesque, a decoration consisting of linear patterns that interlace, usually in the form of leaves or spiralling patterns.  Finally we can explore this small, uninteresting town. Even the music seems a bit empty, how about we change that?      As long as my heart beats! I will keep! On! Drumming!! Accumula Town Piano and Drums Now that's what I call music. There's a lot of subtle variation to different tracks that either you influence or occur through other means. Hopefully I don't miss any.    There are many types of Pokeballs, so use the best one for the job.  Alright, watch this, I'm gonna kick this girl's rear end.   NOOOOOOOOOO, it's not possible, how did she flawlessly counter my technique???  Anyway, that was it, we'll only return to this town once more, so take a good long look. Gate  Holy crap the loading gates are actually interesting!  "led" in the forest and the breeze smells like trees.Bulletin boards tell you the date, the weather and anything interesting occurring in the next town. It'll have other uses later, these places are pretty drat cool. Route 2  It's your mom! How are things? Are you and your Pokemon getting along and enjoying your journey so far? I needed to talk to you, so I called, but I'm going to hang up the Xtransceiver now. I finally caught up with you... and look how far you've come already! Professor Juniper said that you were probably headed for Striaton City by now. I have another present for you. Touya! Try these on!  I bought these a long time ago and stashed them away somewhere. I found them when I was cleaning up. Guess it's good to clean occasionally! Touya, you understand that you're never really alone, right? You're with Pokemon, you have friends, and you're always in my thoughts. That's all right, then. Enjoy your trip!  Right, we can finally explore on our own and have our own fun, only took around 450 images. Trainer Battle  Ah the song we'll hear a fair bit, but it's usually pretty good, so no complaints! Especially when battles are this fast.   Hmm, we didn't heal after fighting N, but I'm sure we'll be fine.   G-Great...   I'll go into the tall grass and have battles with wild Pokemon! But, before that, I have to visit the Pokemon Center to heal up my team. Route 2 Summer / Autumn / Winter  I'll give you something to wooo about! Such as more music variations, this game has seasons, which we'll see aplenty later, and some areas have slight variations, not all of them, thankfully. There's plenty of other variations to go over soon enough, just know that you'll need to click all the links to hear the differences, there will be a quiz later!!!     Uh yeah sure see how Assist works out as the only Pokemon.    I'll make my cute Pokemon even stronger by having battles with lots of Trainers!  There is one (1) new Pokemon on this route and I'm sure it'll pop up eventually!   I would make some Hamlet jokes but I've never read the stupid thing. I did The Tempest at school if that helps! No? Good, I don't remember crap.  Different Trainers use different kinds of Pokemon! That's fun to see, isn't it?    That was worth the wait, now where is that drat Pokemon?   "They steal from people for fun, but their victims can't help but forgive them. Their deceptively cute act is perfect." Bitchin, let's get outta here. Bianca Encounter  Pleeeease? The Pokemon I caught have become a little stronger! Ready or not, here I come! Rival Battle  Okay so we might have had 3 rival battles in 1 update, technically 4 if you count N, you can be sure we'll see him again, but I do like my first update nice and big to blow past... most of the tutorial stuff. Some say it never ends.   Fuckin one shot the puppy, god I love Tepig.   Even with my lower SpAtk... maybe.   Alright let's not start off on a bad foot, get outta here.   Well Hamlet is getting a fair bit of exp, but if your next team member isn't 3 early Pokemon, that'll happen.  You are a tough cookie, Touya. I'm gonna work hard on training my Pokemon so we won't lose anymore! OK, bye-bye! Next time will have a lot of interesting stuff, we'll fight a Gym Leader, see a tapir get kicked and make a monkey friend!
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May 20, 2020 04:28
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Spoilers are all allowed? N o way!  Seriously though, I'm very fond of the Unova games, even if they're familiar scenery.
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May 20, 2020 04:54
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Hey im one of the people who say this is the best gen (until SWSH became a hot contender...I assume I havent played it.) ID say the reason why they only give you normals in the bginning is that they want to restrict your type coverage, until they introduce you to the types system. Each pokemon game has to be made like its someones first ever pokemon game, after all.
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May 20, 2020 05:08
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I'd say gen V was my favorite generation; the spritework was fantastic and it feels like they got closer to plot than any other game. also: joltik
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May 20, 2020 05:15
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Leraika posted:also: joltik this, but Litwick
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May 20, 2020 05:17
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Pugnacious Doggie posted:this, but Litwick Also yes.
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May 20, 2020 05:18
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Leraika posted:also: joltik Pugnacious Doggie posted:this, but Litwick Great taste. Whimsicott is my favorite. There's so many cuties this gen!
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May 20, 2020 05:30
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Finally, my favorite generation. A focus on story, the best soundtrack in the series, and a fresh set of Pokemon, instead of old mixed in with new. Of course, anything would look good after gen 4, which was the worst generation for me.
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May 20, 2020 06:55
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Crosspeice posted:
It's worth noting that he really does - N's text scrolls one speed faster than your current setting, it even has its own speed for when you set it to Fast.
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May 20, 2020 07:01
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Apparently this is an unpopular opinion, but I really don't like Gen 5 much. Unova ties with Hoenn as my least favourite. The characterisation is fairly terrible, most of the men are smug condescending assholes and most of the women are useless (good god do I loathe everything about Bianca's arc, I don't know why they couldn't let her learn to be at least competent at something). The storyline is decent but utterly breaks down at the end. That said, the games look good and they play well, there's a lot of good mechanical stuff, and some good new pokemon as well (though also a lot of awful ones, and you're very limited in what's available). And Purrloin makes me sad. It looked so pretty, and then they turned it into a weird two-legged abomination in later gens.
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May 20, 2020 08:06
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Crosspeice posted:Blake and Whitley are a little on the nose, they're also way better. Better or not
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May 20, 2020 08:50
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: To HECK or not to HECK, that is the question. Gen 5 has such a strange set of starters. Snivy gets low offences but high defences and speed so fights run long and it takes a lot of damage. Tepig gets high health and attack (special attack is middling) but bad defence and speed so fights are over quicker but it takes even more damage. And Oshawatt's line looks cool and probably has the most sensible stats being a less extreme special Tepig but it's pretty unremarkable to use. Whenever I play Gen V all three of them have a tendency to end up at low HP pretty quickly. Trying to heal with items instead of constantly running back to the last center gets expensive fast, especially with the Tepig line.
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May 20, 2020 09:39
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Gen 5 is a weird generation to be sure, I'm not entirely sure how to feel about it but conceptually it's definitely one of my favourites; Platinum is my favourite game, Hoenn is my favourite game world, but Black and White have my favourite ideas. Leaning into a narrative, and especially only having new Pokémon, is a really cool decision that I'm still miffed got backtracked on hard afterwards. It's just too bad that as this update showed, a few of the Pokémon feel kinda mediocre. It has some great standouts like the aforementioned Joltik and Litwick but it's definitely a mixed bag. Also Hilbert and Hilda are perfectly fine names and at the least better than loving whitlea 
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May 20, 2020 13:25
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Oh boy, Black and White! After Diamond and Pearl nearly made me quit the franchise, and Platinum and HGSS didn't do enough to get me back, it was BW that definitely showed me Pokemon could actually improve and do what I'd expect a RPG to do. Characterization and story, that is. The music changing depending on who you talk to and other minor things really help the mood too. The Pokemon reboot was also a great idea, even if it has some issues with variety and a few Pokemon that would've been regional variants of Kanto mons two generations later, but those are minor points in what I consider the absolute best Pokemon has ever been, with the only thing even close to them being Sun and Moon. Sadly B2W2 were a step back in ways they really shouldn't have been despite improving on other things, but we can get to that when we get to that. Right now, let's enjoy the creativity and effort put into this game, because Game Freak sure as hell won't do something like this again. Also, Blake and Whitley would be literally wrong here, those are the B2W2 protagonists! And only in the translated manga, at that. I'm not fond of those names.
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May 20, 2020 13:54
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Blaze Dragon posted:Oh boy, Black and White! After Diamond and Pearl nearly made me quit the franchise, and Platinum and HGSS didn't do enough to get me back, it was BW that definitely showed me Pokemon could actually improve and do what I'd expect a RPG to do. Characterization and story, that is. The music changing depending on who you talk to and other minor things really help the mood too. The Pokemon reboot was also a great idea, even if it has some issues with variety and a few Pokemon that would've been regional variants of Kanto mons two generations later, but those are minor points in what I consider the absolute best Pokemon has ever been, with the only thing even close to them being Sun and Moon. Those translated names are because the originals were uh, kind of dire. I don't know why they thought "Lack-Two" and "Whi-Two" were acceptable names but they're so, so wrong.
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May 20, 2020 14:49
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werbear posted:
Yeah, this is the gen where my starter usually ends the game on the bench. By the time you reach the end of the game you'll have much more interesting options.
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May 20, 2020 15:17
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B2W2's protagonists are called Nate and Rosa, which are pretty great names, of course I like HILDA! HILDA! in a vacuum, but I feel it doesn't really fit them. Good to see a fair few people have differing opinions on these games, true to their names, they're very divisive games!
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May 20, 2020 15:39
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I’ve got mixed feelings on gen 5. It definitely is the peak mechanically so far, and there’s a lot of neat pokemon in it (even if way too many of them are in the back half of the game and have obscene evolution levels) but I think my problem is that it’s the first pokemon game that I don’t have nostalgia for. I got together with friends and we played it for like 8 hours the Saturday it came out, but all of it felt more planned than exciting, there wasn’t the thrill of exploration that earlier games had. Definitely a me problem.
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May 20, 2020 16:08
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ChaosArgate posted:Those translated names are because the originals were uh, kind of dire. I don't know why they thought "Lack-Two" and "Whi-Two" were acceptable names but they're so, so wrong. It's just following the manga's naming scheme of having every character named after a game. Blake and Whitley breaks that so it's not really a good change. I'm not fond of Lack-Two and Whi-Two either but I do appreciate consistency. But well, it's not like it really matters. No naming scheme could save that mess of an arc. It genuinely turned me off the manga in spite of how much I enjoyed it, especially considering it was constantly on hiatus. IIRC it actually finished pretty recently, which should say a lot considering in the middle we've gone through several other manga (XY, ORAS, SM, SwSh, which I think only the last one is ongoing, though I fell off SM).
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May 20, 2020 16:16
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I was lukewarm on Pokemon already, then I played Diamond and loathed it so I thought that was it. But when a friend who I had always gotten the partner editions with (Gen 1-3 at least) asked me to do it again after a long break, I caved and was super surprised by how much better Gen 5 plays. I get the criticism people have regarding story elements, mon distribution and so on, but that was never much of an issue for me. The gameplay improvements are phenomenal, and as others have also mentioned, getting ONLY new Pokemon was such a great idea to me, because previously (and later) I always had a problem with the choice between "old but I haven't tried yet and I know it's strong" and "new and exciting but I don't know if it'll disappoint me". Here, I could just try out whatever, and for the first time with the new EXP and TM mechanics, a "wrong" choice barely mattered!
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May 20, 2020 16:25
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I saw that title screen for White and my mind instantly went to High School Musical. I listened to that soundtrack way too much while playing. That being said, I do love these games. Unova is my second favorite gen behind Sinnoh for a reason. I love the increased narrative, Cheren and Bianca are some of my favorite rivals storywise, though not battlewise for reasons we'll see later, and I love a lot of the new Pokemon they introduced here. I really should replay it sometime... Looking forward to seeing what team you'll end up with, Cross!
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May 20, 2020 16:37
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Oh hey, my favorite generation by far. Lotta my favorite pokermanz come in this gen, Minccino and Cinccino being my biggest ones...I know, I know bog standard normal type, but then again one of my other favorites is Rattata and Ratticate, so...yea.
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May 20, 2020 18:10
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Gen V has my favorite generation Pokemon designs, the aforementioned Litwick and Joltik being prime examples. Even the ones I think are ugly are interesting and distinct -- see the muscle clown line, or Tympole and its evolutions. I'm another one of those people who nearly dropped off after DPPt, though HGSS did a lot to sustain my interest.
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May 20, 2020 18:19
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SimplyUnknown1 posted:I saw that title screen for White and my mind instantly went to High School Musical. I listened to that soundtrack way too much while playing. They had us name the monkey in the tcg game thread, so we can look forward to heads being beaten against that wall
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May 20, 2020 21:09
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Hell yes love this game even if it's got its fair share of issues. Bianca's probably my favorite of all the "rivals" even if she's not especially tough. A lot tougher than Cheren though Also please listen to the Accumula track with the Piano & Drums. It's probably my favorite town theme in the series.
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May 20, 2020 21:32
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God I love gen 5. There are just a lot of great little details everywhere (such as the aforementioned fact N actually does talk fast) and the characters are all a lot of fun. I also like my Pokémon plot heavy so that helps. This gen also has a lot of great ‘mons and I love that they restricted the story mode to the new guys. I don’t actually have to see Pidgey on Route 1 every game, guys!
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May 20, 2020 22:22
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Add me onto the list of people that love this gen despite it not selling like hotcakes. The fact that they let all of the new 'mons have the spotlight for the majority of the game is a wonderful touch to let the players actually get used to the new cast instead of maybe cherry-picking a few new 'mons while falling back to old favorites. Couple that with a bunch of subtle touches (N's speech quirk, the music in some areas), and these are a wonderful duet of games. That said, there are still some warts on the side like the constant overuse of the new 'mons (the monkeys and Purrlion are high on that list) to fill out plot battles, and the front-loading of rival battles can be a little too much for some people. Also, Joltik is adorable. Is there any more that needs to be said?
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May 20, 2020 22:47
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Honestly the thing that sold black and white to me was that it the completely new pokemon roster really recaptured that feeling of a big old world full of monsters to discover that I felt in red/blue as a kid. I hadn't touched pokemon since gold when I played it and it got me excited enough to replay the whole series back then.
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May 20, 2020 23:59
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Gen 5 has Lilligant. Ergo, gen 5 is good. QED.
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May 21, 2020 00:40
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No way this man isn't evil
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May 21, 2020 01:00
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Why's it Hamlet and not Hamlit?
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May 21, 2020 01:45
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The animated sprites start to get pretty sketchy once you start seeing non-Gen 5 Pokemon (in about 30 hours.)
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May 21, 2020 02:02
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Funky Valentine posted:The animated sprites start to get pretty sketchy once you start seeing non-Gen 5 Pokemon (in about 30 hours.) Yeah, it's uhh..really obvious they did not put the same effort into the old mons, but I guess the focus was on making a brand-new Pokedex rather than taking care of the old guys. Which is fine, since again, BW was a sort of soft reboot for the franchise that will never happen again after BW sold poorly and SwSh...did things to the fandom.
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May 21, 2020 02:08
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I feel like peoplare over-selling this "poor sales" thing, even in the context of "its pokemon!!!" It sold 15 million in its life time, only 2 million less than DP & 1 million less than Ruby & Sapphire. That is the least selling of the 8 generations main titles exceeeept.... XY was stuck at 12 million, the actual lowest discounting remakes & third versions*, until the summer of Go caused a +4 million sales surge to both it & ORAS and that momentum carried over to SM (which probably would've surpassed DP's LTS if USUM & the Switch hadn't kneecapped it). If it weren't for Go I suspect XY wouldn't have broken past 15 million and I'd doubt SM have beat 12 million. *Just for reference, here's the full sales list (in millions). BW2 & Platinum might actually be a little higher since we only know about the top 10 games and BW2 was last reported on in 2013. So all we know for sure is they sold less Super Mario 64 DS's 11.06 million (#10 best selling DS title as of 2020, based on the last numbers we have that places them at #12 & #13 respectively) Red/Green/Blue 31.38 Gold/Silver 23.1 Diamond/Pearl 17.67 Sword/Shield 17.37 XY 16.45 Ruby/Sapphire 16.22 Sun/Moon 16.18 Black/White 15.64 Yellow 14.64 Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire 14.27 Heart Gold/Soul Silver 12.72 Fire Red/Leaf Green 12 Let’s Go Pikachu/Eevee 11.97 Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon 8.77 Black/White 2 7.63 Emerald 7.06 Platinum 7.06 Crystal 6.39 Also yes this likely means that SWSH has already surpassed DP in life time sales and it is very possible, depending on how DLC pushes sales and when the next "real" game comes out, to finally break GS's sales records.
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May 21, 2020 03:09
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theshim posted:Gen 5 has Joltik.
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May 21, 2020 05:27
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DPPt sold well but were very polarizing -- just look at some of the posts in this thread. And that usually makes the next game sell poorly, no matter how good it is. Just look at the MegaMan Battle Network series: iirc the fourth sold amazingly well because the third was so good, then the fifth didn't sell well at all because of how bad the fourth was.
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May 21, 2020 06:43
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Moonrunes are off on this one - should be ミネズミ (You've put down the Japanese name for Samurott instead). Aww yiss gen 5. This is the one that really got me interested in using Snivy is still one of my favorite starters and Contrary Leaf Storm is fantastic. It's just a shame that hidden abilities at the time were only available through this generation's gimmick and online features (and that you could only get HA starters through hacking) 
TracerK fucked around with this message at 09:43 on May 21, 2020 |
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May 21, 2020 09:41
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God I love these games. I'm mad as hell with what a poor reception they got, mainly because it scared Masuda so much that now we're cursed to an eternity of simplistic games with tiny new mon pools and fellating of Kanto every five seconds to try and appease the wunners (Y'all remember Charizard?! You guys like Charizard right? Look, Charizard!). The game's not perfect but it tried a lot and that's commendable. Also, please someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe it's not possible to lose the first rival battles, unlucky crits notwithstanding? Every time I've played these games if my health drops too low they just start spamming Tail Whip/Leer
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May 21, 2020 14:24
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