Pokémon Ruby/Sapphire Remakes Announced, Water is Wet

Well, nobody saw this coming.

It was inevitable; Pokémon remakes are the kind of things you can just expect now, except that they've kind of ran on it a little fast because unless they release a 3DS successor in the next couple years (they better not) we'll see a Diamond/Pearl remake on 3DS or they'll just wait until the next handheld iteration.  Which will probably be a while away still.  Hopefully.  And then they'll have to wait a couple years later for an Black/White redo, which is really weird to think about right now, with Black/White (and their sequels) so fresh in the mind.

My point on this is more or less exactly where it was: This is not a bad thing, but Ruby/Sapphire was a bad Gen.

Instead of retreating that, I suppose I should talk about -other stuff- involved in it.  Everything is speculation, since Nintendo only saw fit to announce it with nothing accompanying it because that's great.  The idea is obvious that it'll be done in X/Y's visual style which will be nice, especially if they really trick out the perspectives again.  It'd definitely help give Hoenn a bit of a new feel and edge which it could do well with.  Not that the Hoenn region was bad, but a visual overhaul could -only- end well for it, is what I'm saying.  Which I guess is a backhanded compliment in a sense but oh well.

What's unfortunate about the speculation is that Nintendo unintentionally (I would imagine) added a lot of fuel to the fire with the scant couple sentences they decided to add to the reveal.  If there's anything I think of when a remake is announced, the phrases "An Epic New Adventure is Coming!" and "Explore a Dramatic New World!" are, you know, not....among them.  It seems unnecessary, but there are three potential reasons for it.

1. Mistranslation.  This one seems the least likely.  Nintendo is pretty good about localizing things, so imagining that the phrases should've been something that excludes "New" and instead goes for "Reimagined" and "Dramatically Altered World" or something of that nature seems like something that wouldn't have happened.
2. Misdirection.  "Well, it's a new adventure to someone!  And with the new camera angles, it's like a whole new world!"  Yeah, no.
3. New Content.  This one is probably it, honestly.  Fire Red and Leaf Green offered quite a lot of new content for the post-game, and they might be going that route with Ruby/Sapphire.  If they offer a new arc post-game of that sort (which would then alter the Elite Four as it did in FR/LG) then that would definitely be an Epic 'New' Adventure in a "Dramatic New" World.

Seeing some new post-game content to Ruby/Sapphire's remakes would be very nice, as Pokémon games in general have been lacking in Post-game for some time now.  Why that is, it's hard to tell, since that seems like the easiest thing to think about, but offering three or four towns of absolutely no consequence with nothing to do in them but serve as stopping points between catching new pokémon that are only held back for 'reasons' (as was the case with Black/White) does not a post-game make.  Of course, that's all poison in the well thanks to Gold/Silver which had the most robust area of post-game content by far, which has been the exception and not the standard.  That said, the wording means that it still won't be as rich as a full return to a former region, as the former regions are not 'New' for the same reasons that an improved Hoenn is not 'New'.  Hoping for something of bulk and substance, however, is about all I have.

I don't like myself for it, but I will be getting one of these games.  I -generally- get the first one of the pair, thus Omega Ruby, but....well, I just really like blue, so I might be grabbing Alpha Sapphire.  Either way, I'll be getting my Pokémon on again this November provided I don't have any other gaming to do.  Because I just might.  Okay, I definitely will and it'll be on my Vita.  But I can make Pokémon time.

hopefully the extra content entails tracking down Team Magma and Team Aqua and murdering them...in a Pokémon battle

Pokemon X Is Actually Good So Far

At this point, I don't even need to point out that I have been vocal about my dislike for many aspects of Pokemon games past and present, and those definitely lowered the bar for Pokemon X going in.  However, while it's a bit of a stretch to say I have been suitably impressed by X, I -have- been pleasantly surprised at the very least.  Granted, I haven't really bitten into any of the actual meat of the game - I haven't met the Professor yet, even - but I've spent some time in the first areas, got my first badge and have generally started up a preliminary team with the few pokemon I've come across that I like.  It is by no means something permanent, but merely something that exists until I can switch out the stragglers.

My starter was Fennekin the fire fox, whom I scummed for an hour for to get a Female that I could name Cierra.  Because she's a fire-starter.  (Read the Riviera: The Promised Land LP for the reference and to realize that it's quite brilliant and I'm proud of it)  The fire starters are more or less always the best with some exceptions - if you didn't take a Piplup in Diamond/Pearl/Platinum, it's because you're awful since Piplup is a penguin and thus wins.  And Snivy Smugleaf was clearly the correct choice for Black/White.  I've supplemented Cierra with mostly first-gen pokemon out of happenstance I swear, I'm not being a snob or anything.  I caught a Pidgey since they're just a solid Pokemon to have around, and I got a Weedle for a Beedrill since having a fully evolved Pokemon at Level 10 is a pretty neat feeling.  Finally, I've already gotten my standard Pikachu that will eventually be a Raichu, as I have to have a Raichu in every game.  However, this Pikachu is merely a prototype for my eventual Boss Raichu, and I really wish I would've named it Mercer.  Even though it's a girl.

I can't speak much for story so far, but the set-up is refreshing in that it feels a little more...organic, more believable than most games in the past.  The 'traditional Pokemon journey' has previously been set up as something of a 'rite of passage' which makes less and less sense as you go on in the series.  While you can't deny that aspect of it in X, it's not as prevalent, and with the addition of four other characters that form a little group with you (no, you guys don't stick together) to make it feel like something of an adventure it just works -far- better than ever before.  Sure, you still have a mother who is perfectly fine with her tween child heading off out into the world all on their lonesome for some reason, and you still find yourself responsible for completing a Pokedex, but it all just -feels- better somehow.

Presentation is better than it's ever been as well.  This is probably the first Pokemon game with camera angles which shouldn't be exciting, but it is.  Not only that, but the graphics definitely take advantage of the 3DS hardware, and everything just seems far less stiff than previous games.  Animations are nice and smooth and enhance the combat greatly (though they take enough time that I've honestly considered turning them off unfortunately), while everything just seems much better defined.  Character designs are rather nice and fit in well with the rather lovely locales that I've seen so far.  It's at least the most visually pleasant and interesting Pokemon world to date, though I'm not quite sure how much of an honor that is to have held aloft.

Even if I end up disliking Pokemon X because of the story, because of Team Flair and such, I can say without a doubt that X/Y is a -definite- step forward for the franchise.  Mechanics haven't seen many tweaks that I've found just yet which is a big problem, but they've broken out of their comfort zone greatly.  At the very least, we have beautifully detailed Pokemon models and animations that they can lift directly into the next iteration, which means they can focus more on...well, other aspects of the game.  Like the gameplay.  Like the things that they've needed to fix for entire generations of the series in general.  For once, I can say that without laughing like a madman since it....well, it -could- happen!

she's a twisted fire-starter

Wait, Wait, Pikachu is a -What-?

Pikachu facial capture.  I...I don't...

A Detective. A Fucking Detective.

I just don't even know anymore.

I mean, I say that a lot, and I get dramatic sometimes for comedy's sake, but I am well and truly baffled by this.  Essentially, the Pokemon Company has been working on a "Top Secret" game for a little while and just chose to reveal the details for the first time yesterday.  The game is going to be for the 3DS and won't see release for a while - they've suggested that they're shooting to release two years from now - and will be, as stated, a detective game where you and your intrepid partner Pikachu try to solve mysteries and do all those detective-y things.  You might say "Ohhhh, so it's basically just one of those Pikachu games and he'll just be kind of an annoying sidekick" and no, you are actually incorrect apparently.  Pikachu will be cognizant of his own thoughts and ideas and he'll actually be able to communicate them through speech.  That's right, Pikachu is going to talk to you, and do so using proper language.

That's part of why the Pokemon Company felt the game was so experimental and 'dangerous' because making Pikachu talk is a -big deal- to them.  The little yellow mouse is the mascot still, after all, and likely will never relinquish that role so the branding more or less lives and breathes on his image.  So to put him in this kind of game which honestly won't be pandering to the younger crowd - at least one can surmise as much, given that Pikachu will be saying some 'adult'-ish things (commenting on pretty ladies, suggesting a situation is going to be fairly violent) - is a big risk.  One that Nintendo is clearly hoping will pay off later on and, let's face it, it probably will.  It does, however, leave me just one question about the whole thing as it stands.

Why?

Why is Pikachu in this game?  Why is Pikachu essentially a functioning adult character stand-in?  Why did they announce this game -now- if it won't be ready for two years?  Are they fucking Squeenix now?  Why did they make yet another drastic genre-shattering game with an existing IP?  Why did they not just make a new IP for fuck's sake?

New Nintendo IPs are a rare breed indeed, at least when it comes to something they have any intentions on -making something of-, and with the success of the Professor Layton games, there's absolutely nothing saying Nintendo couldn't have made their own detective series of games that would've been memorable and inspiring enough to jettison the main character into the Nintendo Hall of Fame as it were.  It honestly wouldn't take much at this point - just make the character and give it even the slightest pushes and you're set.  Just give some perceived notion of at least semi-permanency even if you don't intend it - lord knows Star Fox and Captain Falcon know that pain as do their fans.  Yet they're never forgotten, and you can't say that Nintendo put so much effort into that effect, if only for Captain Falcon and not so much Star Fox.  Yet, instead of taking a chance on that new IP, we get a weird game where Pikachu has facial scanning and animations because he's going to say “If this keeps up, we’ll have a bag made from Pikachu…” because that's necessary.  Totally.

really, the whole 'two years' thing is what bugs me the most, you're better than that Nintendo

Read more at http://www.siliconera.com/2013/10/28/top-secret-pokmon-game-revealed-detective-game-featuring-pikachu/#Ms1zGALrLKBRG07u.99

3rd Gen Pokemon Remakes Are Probably Coming, But Eh

If you take a look at this Siliconera post you'll see a few screenshots from various sources that would generally hint towards a Ruby and Sapphire remake.  However, if you would just pay attention to...just about anything and use your own common sense, you would already know that these things are things that are going to happen.  It's not even called pattern recognition, noting that the first and second gens have seen remakes, or anything like that.  It is, quite literally, just common sense, because all it does is make sense for Nintendo to go this route.  Because it makes money, and what Nintendo really needs to do is bolster their Wii U division while they get the games on it, and the way they do that is by making a ton of money in the handheld division.

The biggest arguments against Nintendo making Ruby and Sapphire remakes basically come from people who refuse to believe Nintendo wants to do it because....reasons, I suppose.  When you point out that Red and Blue (Green) were remade, they say "Well yeah, they were the first ones, it was a special thing", and when you point out that Gold and Silver were remade, they go "Well yeah, but that was because of the improvements made, and because they wanted to do the Pokewalker thing".  When you say that that is just what Nintendo does, they go, "Oh yeah, because they're doing all the same things, right, and that's why we got Pokemon Grey?"  To that point, all I have to say is thus:

Hey.  You.  Listen.  We didn't get Pokemon Grey, true.  We didn't get one bridging game with a few new features.  We got two bridging games that follow the "Please buy both" philosophy with a few new features, further pointing in the direction of Nintendo wants your fucking money.  "But Mogs, Black and White 2 were full-fledged sequels and it wasn't just like a potential Grey cas-" Hush.  Black and White 2 were -far- less taxing than something like X and Y, a brand new iteration, and was probably only mildly more intensive than a theoretical 'Grey' so it existed somewhere in the grey space (heh) between a Grey and X/Y.  In other words, it was not as dramatic a departure from the release formula as you might expect, and thus it doesn't disprove the potential of a Ruby/Sapphire remake release in the least.

It's not to say that I even -want- a Ruby/Sapphire remake, however, because I didn't even particularly care for Gen 3.  I know I say a lot of negative stuff about Pokemon as a whole, which is why I'm going to try to reign it in here, but Gen 3 was, outside of the important changes to the battle system, the worst gen to date.  Fresh off the amazing things that Gold and Silver did - the Poke'Gear, Radio stuff, introducing the Day/Night Cycle and letting you go back to the original region for a whole new Gym-crawl - Ruby/Sapphire basically only brought the Special Attack/Defense split and regressed beyond that, resulting in -massive- steps back.  Sure, the region was alright.  It looked nice for the time.  And the new Pokemon were pretty cool.  However, the mechanics, as stated, were abysmally behind-the-times they had instated themselves, and the story was -terrible-.  I know, I know, we don't play Pokemon for the story, but that doesn't let it get a pass for being the most bullshit thing this side of Black/White's main storyline.

It's all a bit moot, however, since I will be first in line to buy a Ruby remake even though I've decried Gen 3 for as long as I've been playing Pokemon and Gen 3 was a thing.  I will put down money for it, play it and probably bitch the whole time, but at least I realize that I am part of the problem.  But I can't help it because the allure of Pokemon is something that no other company has fine-tuned just yet and until they have, I will probably keep getting drawn back in, over and over again, kicking and screaming the whole time.  Who knows, one of these times, they might just implement the improvements to the formula that we all wa-

Hahahahahaha

that joke will never get old, unfortunately

Pokemon....I Don't Even Know Anymore

Pokemon X and Y keeps throwing out the secrets and tidbits of information, and the newest one is the brand new "Mega" form of pokemon which is something so weird that I'm not sure if I can legitimately conjure up words to describe it.  Or perhaps, as I've been instructed elsewhere, "Weird" isn't exactly the correct word, but it's...it's different.  It's something different in pokemon which is something at least.  Various outlets have been running with the term "Mega Evolutions" and I'm not really sure that's the correct title - it shouldn't be - because of just how it works, which is why I'm just going to refer to them as Mega Forms.  I may also call them Super Saiyan because come on that is what they are.  You know it, I know it, everybody knows it, so let's not kid ourselves.

Anyway, basically what these new Mega forms are are a thing you can do with certain pokemon during a battle if they're holding a certain item, which we will call a Mega Stone for now.  Every pokemon that has a Mega Form needs a unique Mega Stone which you will be able to get in-game except for the one for Mega Blaziken because it's a unique DLC event-item (that comes on a Torchic) that will only be available for a limited time because Nintendo still doesn't understand DLC.  Going Super Saiyan Entering Mega Form requires a conscious choice on the part of the player (I think) and takes a full turn to do, wherein your pokemon is vulnerable of course.  However the benefits are fairly obvious - Mega Forms have different innate abilities (Things like Insomniac, Adaptability, not actual moves), likely have buffed stats and just have a different, imposing visage.  So it's a near-immediate return and for as far as I know the effect lasts until the battle is over or the pokemon faints, with no other sort of timer attached.

Of course, that little bit at the end is the reason why it shouldn't be considered an evolution in traditional Pokemon senses.  It's not permanent like Evolution in Pokemon is (and is...y'know, implied by the very term) and the change is not as 'drastic' as evolutions are.  Ampharos grows some 70s metal hair, Blaziken cosplays Heihachi Mishima, and Mewtwo's tail moves to the back of his head because shut up.  It is, of course, mostly about the stats, the boosts, which is why we can affectionately refer to it as "going Super Saiyan", especially when you consider the hair changes are quite prominent in the examples.  They don't get bigger, they don't 'mutate', they don't suddenly grow two more of themselves, it's not evolution in the Pokemon sense in any way.  Which isn't a bad thing, it just bears mentioning.  Since...there really isn't much else -to- mention about it, really.

Mid-battle evolution has raised more than a few allusions to Digimon which basically relied solely -on- mid-battle evolution.  Or at least, that's what the anime taught me, but the anime for Pokemon taught me a lot of stuff that is wrong too, so I don't even know.  At the very least, evolution in Digimon isn't permanent either, and ties more closely to what Mega Evolution Forms represents in a boost of stats in battle when you need it, where the boost goes away when it's over with.  Of course, Digimon's evolutions were also the big bad 'traditional' form of evolutions where things got big and mean for the most part, but still.  I am trying to make a point and it's hard to make and I can't really concentrate because of Animal Crossing which I will cover in a separate post after this.  The point is that it's similar, which is strange since back in the day they were....basically competing and at least outside of Japan, Pokemon seemed to pretty much stomp Digimon flat.  Unfortunate or fortunate as it may be.

Only six pokemon have Mega Evolutions Forms so far, but I would imagine with, what, 500-600 Pokemon, they can have more than that.  Of course it is Pokemon after all, so one can never be sure.  Regardless it's at least a new mechanic in the game that is wholly new and comes from left field so I have to respect it based on that alone.  Sure, it's not a change that I wanted, nor one that I feel was at all necessary, but that's just how it goes sometimes.  It's a sign of progress no matter what, so that's a positive.  I just can't help but wonder if some of the Mega Forms are going to get -really- weird; I don't trust enough that they won't toss one at Pikachu or Eevee, neither of which actually need a Mega Form, where the Blaziken Mega Form sort of leaves one wondering if -all- starters are going to get a Mega Form.  Which....makes sense, but, you know, effort.  Sometimes you have to just wonder about things like that when it comes to the game.

even if Pikachu gets a Mega Form, I'mma roll with Raichu because Raichu is boss status

Conquest, I Choose You!

It's been a while since I've actually talked about Pokemon Conquest and that's mostly because of the fact that until recently, as in a couple days ago, the game was not in my possession.  That has been remedied, obviously, and in my latest little wealth of things to do where I still find things lacking, I have decided to throw it into my 3DS and have a go with it.  I will say that it is pretty much exactly what it offers on the tin - it is clearly a cross-over of Pokemon and KOEI's version of Feudal Japan, though not necessarily Nobunaga's Ambition; clearly the sprites of the Warriors are from Samurai Warriors 3, you know the game that was Wii-exclusive in America which was fucking annoying for someone who buys every goddamn retail Warriors game he can play at least in theory.  Though, regardless of the backdrop and the main characters being from Samurai Warriors, you can clearly tell that there are Game Freak or The Pokemon Company fingers in the writing pie, which I can't say in all honesty is a good move.  Either that or KOEI's writers played a Pokemon game and copied its basic concept....which is what Game Freak does anyway.  Either way.

There's not a whole lot of meat to the story, at least not at the start.  "There are pokemon, Warriors are people who can communicate 'wordlessly' with pokemon (except they verbally command them anyway) and some Warriors rule one of the seventeen kingdoms of the land.  You are the new ruler of Aurora.  So....have fun with that." is basically the entirety of the intro, and then you are handed off to Oichi the tutorial queen for a little while until the game starts progressively opening up.  It's light-hearted and lacking, as your first 'major' goal is to conquer the kingdom right next to you....which is not a challenge in the least.  Ignis (it's a Fire Kingdom) is ruled by Toyotomi Hideyoshi (this stops making sense...really fast) and is there to be steam-rolled by you with your Eevee and Oichi with her Jigglypuff.  After that, Fontaine and Greenleaf (Water and Grass respectively GEE CAN YOU SEE THE THEME IT'S ALMOST LIKE THE FIRST THREE KINGDOMS ARE FIRE, WATER AND GRASS LIKE THE STARTER POKEMON IN EVERY POKEMON GAME EVER) open up and once you conquer them with similarly lacking amounts of aplomb, you get the 'story' of the game as it were.

There is apparently a rumor/legend in Ransei (the area Conquest takes place in) that whoever unites the seventeen kingdoms under the same banner will awaken 'the legendary pokemon' and apparently be granted its power for ill or good.  And rumors state that Oda Nobunaga (see?  Hideyoshi having his own kingdom already makes no sense at all) is working towards that goal so he can...wait for it...wait for it.....destroy the Ransei region.

Ugh.

This right here is why I say that somebody who usually works on Pokemon games had their hand in the story.  Because this right here?  This is a carbon-copy of every Team ambition from Ruby/Sapphire on in so many words.  Sure, some of the teams aren't hoping for global destruction, but rather world dominance or something but close enough.  My question is why?  Why is this necessary?  Why does Nobunaga have to want to destroy the land?  Is it there to paint him as an obvious bad guy?  There are other ways, better ways to do this.  Ways that just involve him being kind of a dick which makes sense instead of being cartoonishly evil which -doesn't- make sense.  I honestly thought Pokemon Conquest would be refreshing since it's...not really conducive to having a Team "Something", but that right there makes Nobunaga him a one-man Team Nobunaga with a hair-brained scheme for a legendary pokemon who will ultimately be thwarted by a child.

Of course the story and setting is only half of the set-up with the actual gameplay being the other part of it.  Though it bills itself as a Nobunaga's Ambition game, I'm going to say that it's a very, very 'lite' version of the franchise which I'm not impressed with in the slightest.  You have Kingdoms (should be Fiefdoms) that you conquer to add to your own dominion and each Kingdom has their own buildings (none of which you place unless that comes later on, which is possible) and you have your officers that can do things, but none of it is simulation-related, as in one of the things that is kind of a draw to the Nobunaga's Ambition (and those types of games in general) but rather centered on your Pokemon.  You can train them with random battles (some of which give you other Warriors if you fulfill conditions) make their energy values go up and buy them items to equip on them for use in battle, things like that so far.  Which...leaves a lot to be desired, in all honesty.

Battles are obviously not the standard Pokemon fare, and are instead more of a tactical/strategy RPG system that you might see in the likes of Final Fantasy Tactics, Fire Emblem and similar.  So far into the game, though I suspect it's the case for the entirety of it, every Warrior only has one Pokemon to their name and that Pokemon only has one move of their own which flies in the face of Pokemon logic if nothing else.  In a sense, that sort of categorizes every pokemon that's included into a..."Class" ala normal SRPGs in terms of how they can attack, in that Charmanders and Tepigs appear to be akin to "Archers" since their Ember attack can only hit from two blocks away (meaning a block between you and the enemy), while a lot of others have strange attack ranges as well.  Anything with Vine whip hits the square in front of them and to the left and right of that square at once, making it really powerful if your enemies are all lined up.  While moves are common between a few pokemon, everyone also has a "Warrior" move which seems to be at least slightly unique.  Warrior moves can be activated once per battle and range from vastly increasing your move range (base Eevee skill), Healing nearby (all?) allies (base Jigglypuff skill) or just upping the chance of inflicting a status ailment (my warrior with Charmander has this), though there are other variations, of course.

Admittedly my exposure to the game isn't nearly full yet, and it still has quite a bit of time to impress me.  I know Pokemon can at least Evolve, which I assume changes their move if nothing else, and I eagerly await making my Eevee into a Glaceon because Glaceons are awesome.  Likewise, I'm going to try to nab me a Warrior with a Pikachu with the goal to make it a Raichu because it wouldn't be me playing a Pokemon game if I didn't grab up a Raichu.  That alone makes me want to at least continue into the game even though I feel it's a bit shallow at the moment, because that little hint of depth encourages me that there will be more.  Maybe I'm wrong, but that's something I'm going to find out, that's for sure.  And you know, maybe I'll just unify Japan in the meantime if I'm not too busy and all.

Pokemon X/Y and Insanity

Citing various sources, including a fantastic video game, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and over and over again and expecting things to turn out different.  This is basically me with Pokemon.  We all know of the Sonic Cycle which is a true thing that happened in times of yore, and essentially, I have my own Pokemon cycle.  Basically I hear of a new Pokemon game and I hope against all hope that this one, this is going to be the different one.  The one that really innovates the series rather than giving us a new area, new pokemon, a few mechanics tweaks and maybe a new type or two which are, by and large, generally more trouble than they're worth.  The one that breaks the conventions of old and ushers in a -new- style of Pokemon game, one that is approachable to both new and old players while also catering to them both, retaining familiarity to draw in and keep new fans, while changing things up to excite veteran ones.  I keep this hope alive while I await new bits of news to come out.

And then they announce what the new "Team" is.

And I sigh and resign myself to buying what is essentially Pokemon Ruby for the nth time.  A band of adults running around in some megalomaniacal scheme that inevitably involves some form of Pokemon God that still hasn't been discovered on the grand scale despite it literally being a God and thus something other regions would know of, only to be thwarted by you, a precocious tweenager that's always given their first Pokemon by some Professor that is inevitably Grass, Fire or Water type.  Cut it, print it, gold.

I have made many, many posts about Pokemon and the bulk of them are not celebrating what it is, but rather lamenting that it could be better.  This seems like it is something that is never going to stop happening unless I stop caring about Pokemon entirely, which I don't think is something I'm capable of doing while there is not a proper replacement abound.  I just can't -not- envision a game that is like Pokemon but is also so much -more- than what Nintendo and/or Game Freak restrain the titles to be.  I've said it before that I understand that every Pokemon game is designed with the idea in mind that it's going to be -somebody's- first Pokemon game, but that doesn't excuse anything.  Pokemon Gold/Silver was somebody's first Pokemon game as well, and that has, in many ways, still managed to blow even the newer games away with its scope if nothing else.

Pokemon games can have natural conflict, natural progression without a cartoonishly inept and evil group of malefactors running around and shouting about how bad they're being or being so deluded that it boggles the mind as to how they've avoided the sanitorium.  Indeed, the "Teams" are truly my biggest pet peeve with the entire series since they don't even make sense anymore - they simply exist to exist because they've always existed.  They are basically causality loops of the Pokemon Meta-verse, except nowhere near as complex, yet exactly as illogical.  I imagine it's crazy to think they will ever -not- be there because they have, in fact, -always- been there, apparently.  Perhaps it's some sort of meta-commentary on society when every single area of a given world has the exact same scenario occurring in it at what could or could not be the exact same time.  Or...no, probably not.

All I want, which is appropriate enough for the series, is some form of proper evolution.  I've come up with all sorts of ideas for this which have been the subject of many, many posts before today, which I won't even look for since you have the Pokemon tag link above, but I understand that some of them may just beyond the scope for a short-term change.  Not everything can be out of that scope and an idea comes to mind that takes advantage of mechanics that have already existed and been used in the games that can also mirror....well, every single piece of media surrounding the Pokemon series as a whole.  I understand it's not the easiest thing to implement in the fashion that I imagine it in, but it would be easier than other ideas that would also enrich the game.

Double and even Triple team battles have been a thing in the games so far, and there are even portions of some of the games where you have a partner that follows you around specifically for Double-Battles.  So...why not extend that to the whole game?  In addition to your team of Pokemon, just make it so that some of the characters in the game are 'recruitable' in that you can buddy up with them and travel the region alongside them, with the option of bringing them in on Double-Battles if you so choose.  Have it be so that you can influence their own team, whether or not they evolve their mons, stuff like that.  Just add another layer of depth to the game that can also be completely neglected if you wish, since you wouldn't -have- to recruit any of these characters.  I just think it would be interesting to have a 'friend' mechanic in the game so that your character would have, by extension, a bit more of a personality, or even just a bit of more 'ownership' from you, the player.  "My character is always friends with (Character) and is a dick because he keeps telling them not to evolve their (Mon)." or "My character goes around and makes friends with everyone, making sure they're on the road to having the best mons they can before parting ways."  Just something.

Just like every other time, I can only say that this is -not- the Pokemon game that I want.  I want something that expands beyond the boundaries that have been in place for damn near two decades.  Or, more appropriately, the ones that have been in place since Ruby and Sapphire, some 11 years ago.  The game can be so much more, but Game Freak has to try it.  Much like every other time, I will hold out hope that the next game, the next Pokemon iteration, will be the one that I want.  And, to complete the cycle, it just won't be, yet I'll buy it anyway, because it's the only Pokemon fix that I -have-.  Which I can only imagine is the only reason for why Game Freak and Nintendo aren't pushing anything - if you want your Pokemon fix, you have only one place to go.  Maybe when someone finally makes a capable clone, we'll see a shift, but I don't foresee that happening anytime soon.  I can damn well hope for something like that on the Vita, however.  I can hope very hard.

Of course if a Pokemon-like series showed up on the Vita, it wouldn't be 'competition' it would just be called a 'rip-off' and I will just get so angry about that

Making A Better Clone - Pokemon

I whinge and moan about Pokemon a lot, this is a thing that I'm willing to admit to, and all of those whingings always end up with me stating "I wish somebody would clone the game properly" in some fashion.  Because it would just be that easy, right?  Well, no, no it wouldn't and this is something that I've realized.  So while it's perfectly easy for me to just go 'wah wah, I want more games like pokemon', it would be a true task to really sit down and posit what would make a Pokemon Clone a good game, if not equal or better to the existing Pokemon franchise.  And since just sitting around and moaning and groaning about things without doing much else about a situation is a bitch move, let us discuss what I would suggest might make a capable Pokemon clone.

The way this process begins is by taking Pokemon, as a franchise, and separating it down to a core collection of the elements that makes it so successful - the reasons that people -love- Pokemon to the extent they do, even in the face of other games that would offer the same thing (though there aren't really many of those).  Ignoring the intangible like the built-in brand loyalty from being a long-standing series that most people got into in their childhoods and its dominance as, really, the only thing of its kind out there.  Yes, there are others, but you do not hear of them because of Nintendo's uncanny ability to shirk competition.  Those are obstacles that no one will probably ever fully overcome, just as no one will probably ever fully overcome WoW as the most popular MMO, no one will probably ever fully overcome Call of Duty as the most popular FPS and so on.  I mean, yes, they will eventually become things of the past, replaced by bigger things that aren't WoW 2.0, that aren't Call of Duty 17, and may be perhaps truly challenged, but to underplay the dominance both of those have had in their respective genres would be silliness.

The first thing the series has is something that I'm going to call 'charm', but that's not even quite the term for it.  If nothing else, you can tell the care that goes into the creation of each and every pokemon that exists, yes, even that one you don't like on any level and that is certainly something that drives them further.  I'm not willing to say the same amount of care goes into the actual characters of the games or the worlds in which they take place in, but certainly, the Pokemon are the main points of the game, thus that's pretty acceptable as a reality.  Still, while not as carefully crafted as the titular monsters, the worlds each game reside in do have their own little quirks, as do the characters in their own way, which certainly add to the overall package of the game.  Joey, with his Rattata that's in the top percentage of Rattatas, didn't become popular because of his in-depth characterization, after all - simply that he was a quirky character that was picked up on by the hivemind as it were.

Secondly, something that Pokemon does quite well is cramming a surprising amount of strategy into its small confines through clever limitations that don't feel too much like restrictions, even when they clearly are.  Limiting all Pokemon to being only able to know four moves at a time prevents any one Pokemon from being 'too' powerful in a sense, because no Pokemon will be able to do everything on its own.  Buffs and debuffs are used with pokemon on your team that you see as utilitarian for the others which are your hitters and your hitters have to be able to have a wide variety of moves to affect the most pokemon as possible.  What good is a pokemon that only knows Electric moves against a Ground type, after all?  The typings help with strategy as well, being kind of the backbone of the whole of it and all.  It doesn't seem like a -lot-, but it strikes a ridiculously good balance through-out and it's hard to tell just -what- does that, just that it works in execution.

The last big thing that the series has is the accessibility of it all, being something that younger players can pick up, but being something that's fairly interesting for older players as well because of the layers of strategy the game has that might not be immediately apparent.  Things like EVs, IVs, breeding, advanced stuff like that is a main draw for folks who just can't be happy with the same old 'beat gyms, beat the Elite Four, embrace victory' routine that is there.  The meta-game of Pokemon is strong, perhaps not as strong as it should be, but strong nonetheless and that goes a long way towards ensuring there will be a lot of people playing your game and, more importantly, buying it over and over again with each iteration that pops up.  It's that reason that each Pokemon game has been able to be, essentially, the last one with a slightly different story wrapping and new pokemon, because the Meta-game just grows and grows with every iteration, thanks to the new monsters and the new moves, even if the -game- itself doesn't grow that much.

So, in identifying the strengths of the series, to make a 'clone', all you have to do is get those strong points in a way that is also your own, playing to your own strengths.  If you can 'improve' on any of those, then all the better, obviously.  It might seem an impossible task, since the strengths mentioned are really, really good, but I have my own fair share of complaints and they are not solely my own either.  The games simplicity is a major turn-off for many, not just in that it's easy, but the story, the world, those elements are rather shallow which is only charming to a point.  Five generations in, and it's a little old-hat by now, only continued because Game Freak knows that every single Pokemon game is someone's first Pokemon game and they simply want those people to experience that.  They're still clinging to quite a lot from the inception of the series, showing no sign of real evolution for the most part (ironically) and while I don't suggest a Locke's Socks scenario, where it must be all-new, all-new, there is a happy middle ground that they've simply not explored on just yet.

For a theoretical clone game, you need to first accept that, yes, Pokemon has a lot of monsters and that is part of the charm, part of the goodness of the game.  You will also need to accept that in no way, shape or form should you try to attempt the amount of monsters that Pokemon has now because the number is literally like 600.  A number between 100 and 200 is a good things to shoot for, but I would personally avoid 150, 151 or 152, or, really just any of the 150 numbers - just go above or below that for a bit.  Make sure there are evolutions of sorts included because evolution is awesome, even if you'll definitely want to handle it a different way.  Perhaps with consumables, perhaps with interactions with characters (masters over 'magic' that can alter forms of your monsters) or something along those lines - something that gives you a little more control over the process might be a nice touch.

The world, as I've been saying, needs to be open for a pokemon clone game.  It kind of needs to be open for a regular pokemon game, but I will settle for this being one of those points that will make it better.  It's hard to establish an open world like that, but in doing so, you'd make a nice bit of backlore or what have you, which is nice to work with.  This will also give you plenty of chances to utilize the innate abilities of some monsters, which are previously, you know, HM skills.  Take a horse-like monster or some other monster that you can ride and ride that here and there, unsummoning it when you're done and want to resume battles or something.  Have a monster that can manipulate water dive underwater with you so you can search for hidden treasures or something like that.  Things of that nature.

The story is a bit of a hard part to tackle since the gym set-up works to a degree.  Perhaps take it as a Summoner's Pilgrimage or something like that, which makes it something that a lot of folks still do, gives you reason to challenge folks ('My summons are better than yours!') and gives you an end-goal with a possible end 'boss' (a cadre of master summoners whom you challenge to join the ranks).  A bit cliche' perhaps, but it doesn't really need to be that big - what's important is making the world more realized than a Pokemon one.  This would, in theory, be helped by quests and missions as in most other Open World games, perhaps with some that are simply randomized indefinitely, meaning you'll be able to head to any city and find a few things to occupy your time, should you so desire.  Little things like that go a long way towards breathing life into your game, and depending on how you work the Day/Night cycle (personally, I would tie it to the actual time), you can play with the times for those random quests, eluding the Animal Crossing situation of "Okay, I have played for thirty minutes and done everything I need aside from talking to the villagers like ten times in the hopes that one of them will give me a letter for someone else or something, might as well turn it off".

Another advantage of an Open World is that you allow your player to go wherever they want and by that measure, it becomes much, much nicer in terms of exploring and discovery.  Imagine Pokemon games where you don't have to traverse the same 'dark cave' thing with the use of the ever-useless Flash HM move.  Yet you can still go into those places if you want to capture some of the monsters the cave holds.  Imagine a Pokemon game where you can simply walk around a tree that may be in your way otherwise, rather than having to cut the tree down with the HM move of the same name.  Yet, cutting that tree down might net you rewards that you might not otherwise get.  Imagine hopping on to your giant bird monster and actually flying around until you see a place where you want to land and then actually landing there with the counterbalance being that you might be attacked by other birds while in mid-flight.  More open world offers more areas in which you can battle which gives you certain advantages and disadvantages over other areas.

It might be a little over-simplistic, but it's a concept at least, and it's a concept that would actually work.  Make the monsters, slap a title on that and sell it and you are in the money, good sirs.  Hell, if there's anyone out there reading this that wants to do this, go for it.  Make this game.  I will buy it.  I will buy it because I want an open world pokemon type game and also because I just need another frigging Pokemon outlet than Pokemon itself because it comes out so infrequently, technically, that it's hard to get a fix.  And who knows, maybe a little competition will encourage Game Freak to really shake things up, maybe not go with the same exact story with a different team name.  Maybe it'll encourage them to lay off the whole Legendary Pokemon angle since there are like nineteen Pokemon gods now and it's a little ridiculous.  It's nice to dream, really, since this will never happen, but, hey, it sounds kind of cool in my head at least.

Okay, I Really Can't Stop Thinking About Pokemon

I admit it - ever since it was announced last week, I've had Pokemon on the brain and I just can't help but wonder at just what X & Y are going to offer, even if I might suspect the answer is "Not much".  I made it very clear that I am not expecting much from the newest iteration of the series, but I am not the type who cannot hope and yet remain skeptical at the same time.  I would want nothing more than to learn that X & Y are doing big things for the franchise as a whole, and learning that it does would make me incredibly enthused for the games - I'm just simply not putting any money on that.  I can be happily surprised again, but I'll try to not let myself be bitterly disappointed any longer.  Because that just makes me angry in the end and it still bugs me that I loathe Black/White with the vehemence that I do.  (To the point where I wrote off White/Black 2 completely on announcement and have only now, with a pokemon itch to scratch, considered picking it up)

After thinking about it for literally the last hour, I discovered that it's quite hard to quantify just -what- I expect, what I -desire- out of a Pokemon game, which is a bit confusing to me.  I suppose it's just a judgment call on my part, something that I just know when I'm playing it, but there are a few elements that are kind of given.  Unfortunately, the bulk of them have sort of come up on the "What I wish this had" list rather than "what makes it good" list for the last few versions.  These features are...honestly, more or less what Gold and Silver offered that every version since has managed to neglect which astounds me in ways that similarly astound me.  Just astounded all around here.  You would think, after getting it right (and then remaking those games, consequently still getting it right) that it would be obvious, but no, Game Freak is just concerned with being absolutely confusing.

The biggest thing that Gold/Silver did, without question, was allowing you to go back to Kanto and explore the entire region that the first game was in, as well as offering additional story about not only Gold/Silver but the aftermath of Red/Blue.  Even that's not -perfect- by any means since you can just blow through towns/gyms in mere minutes without having much of a reason to -not- do that, but goddamn if that wasn't brilliant back then, and not being part of every game going forward is insanity, pure and simple.  There are ways that you can do this, shut up, I don't care okay.  It was 'easy' in Gold/Silver because Kanto is literally right next to Johto and they're connected at the Indigo Plateau or something, but there was also a train.  Trains go long distances.  I'm sure Pokemon worlds are far enough technology-wise that airplanes are also a thing that exist since we literally have machines that do long-distance teleportation of organic creatures.  Or, you know, they could just do human teleporters too, but I suppose that would just be silly.

The other stuff Gold/Silver did, Day-specific events, special pokeballs from resources you could gather, Day/Night Cycle is all stuff that has been in some of the games since (though not all of them which is also confusing) and it helps tug you into the 'world' which is a nice thing.  Really, it would be nice if they amped those up a little, giving you a little more to do in post-game.  Because let's be honest, Post-Game has not been as good since Gold/Silver and that's something that needs to be rectified.  Even when you were done with Gold/Silver's post-game (hitting all the gyms, some events, challenging Red), there wasn't really anything else major or even close to do and that's kind of a common issue.  Get over that Animal Crossing hump of only giving about half an hours worth of content after you've climbed to the top of the mountain - keep the game engaging even beyond the end of it.  I would -kill- for that in a pokemon game.

I mean, I, like a lot of people I'm sure, spend the post-game getting together an finalizing a 'team' that I like and trying to fill up the rest of the Poke'dex.  What this equates to is playing a meta game with yourself for how long you can stomach getting into pokemon battles over and over and over and over and over and over and over again until you're just done.  For no other purpose than meta-goals.  The game has, for all intents and purposes, simply left you to your own machinations with the equivalent of a Jack-in-the-Box.  In all actuality, most games do this, it's just that most games are also a little more clever with their use of the afore mentioned Jack-in-the-Box, so I would like to see Pokemon make this leap.  Hide the obvious behind a different wall or something.  Mini-Quests or trainers that actually move around the map zones and re-challenge your or -something- that gives you something in the short-term that helps you get toward your long-term so your long-term isn't just doing the same thing for twenty hours.

I think my point was that I kind of hope X & Y addresses this type of thing if not the other things I've mentioned in the past about Pokemon that has left it to sort of stagnate.  I really doubt it'll address any of them, of course, which is why I'm going in with expectations so low, but it would be nice, if nothing else.  We can all hope for these kinds of things, at least, since nobody else is going to step up to the plate and produce a competent Pokemon-like game for reasons that are completely beyond my understanding.  Regardless, I imagine I'll enjoy my time with X & Y as I really doubt it can get much worse than Black/White's offerings.  Being the lowest point in the series since Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald (which is only redeemed by the stat split which was a damn good idea) makes the bar pretty low, I'd say.

Pokemon X & Y - Because Colors Are Last Gen

So, there was a -thing- this morning that I personally had no idea about, but it was like a Nintendo Direct thing, but specifically for Pokemon.  Everyone had anticipated some kind of big Pokemon announcement and would you believe it?  They got one.  The oddly named Pokemon X and Y were announced for the 3DS, slated for release this October worldwide.  Worldwide meaning everyone gets it in the same month, if not the same date which is honestly a little wild, especially for Nintendo and especially especially for a big release like this.  Still, it's a nice change of pace that I'm sure we won't be getting used to, simply a nicety for Pokemon fans all around.

The thing to state right off the bat is that X/Y is the next iteration of the Pokemon franchise, if that much wasn't clear enough.  So in the stable of Red and Blue, Gold and Silver, Ruby and Sapphire, Diamond and Pearl and finally Black and White, we have X and Y as the next step, showing that there just really isn't too much of a pattern and I think Game Freak just points at something whenever they need a new name.  Featured in the video through this Joystiq link is the announcement trailer which includes some footage of the game itself as well as the first looks at the threw new Starter Pokemon for this go at it.  They are Chespin, the leaf starter which is supposed to be....some kind of furry little animal I'm sure, Fennekin the fire starter which is also a Fox and I am not going to make a firefox joke and finally Froakie, the water starter that is a frog.  So, tick one box for the Pokemon Formula.

Also shown off in the trailer were two obvious Legendary pokemon of which I honestly don't give a shit.  Tick off another box.  Our protagonists come in boy and girl variations as per normal and appear, well, young, so tick off another box.  Also, it generally looks like you're confined to 'Routes' and cities as per any other game, despite the new-found third dimension as it were, so one more box. What I'm getting at here, if it wasn't obvious, is that I'm less and less impressed with the trailer as I watch it because it really does just adhere to the Pokemon Formula as it were, just with a shiny new coat of 3D paint.  The world paint, not the 'ooo it's like it's jumping out of the screen' paint, despite it ultimately having that as well because 3DS.  That new coat of paint and a plethora of even newer than new pokemon isn't going to make this any better than previous incarnations if they're still going to adhere to staunchly to the Formula.

There are a few things about the trailer that -do- instill hope, however.  Hope that perhaps they're going to shake things up a little more than usual, which is to say really shake things up at -all-.  The first is something admittedly a little small, but it's fairly obvious at one point that the MC is skating around on roller blades.  In fact, it's not really visible in the above image, but it's that scene.  Another form of transport is a small thing, I mentioned and it will probably be something that sidesteps things (probably simply take place of the Running Shoes item and get out-classed by the bicycle) but it's -something-.  The other thing which is arguably bigger is also something visible in the picture above, in the background.  That's very clearly a Pokemon version of the Eiffel Tower and indeed, the rest of the visages seem to have a very European flavor to them which suggests something of a slightly different setting.  Obviously every pokemon game has areas that are just kind of....I don't want to say Generic, but simply not attached to any particular areas, so being a little more ambitious in locales is a good sign if nothing else.

I've made it obvious many times in the past that I really, really think what Pokemon needs, as a franchise, is a growth that is hasn't seen since Gold/Silver (being that R/S/E actually took a step -back- and everything has run off that since).  I go into every game expecting that growth and walking away a little more disappointed when it's simply not present.  I get the why, but it doesn't make it any less frustrating since Pokemon is honestly a unique experience that nobody has managed to replicate properly despite it being a very obvious thing to replicate.  When you see something like that stagnate the way Pokemon has, you can't do much else besides just give it up or cling on to the small hope that somebody is going to get the damn picture eventually, and even though Black/White and Black/White 2 were things that happened, I'm clinging on to that.  I mean, I'm getting a 3DS eventually anyway for Harvest Moon games and Animal Crossing, might as well get my Pokemon fix as well, right?

Pokemon Black and White 2 Official Trailer

So, I hate to do two Japanese Trailers in a row, especially when I had another post in mind, but, I mean, this is kind of important.  As you know, I was absolutely flabbergasted by the possibility that Pokemon Black and White 2 (Officially Pokemon Black 2 and Pokemon White 2, as in two separate games) were actually -sequels-, direct ones, to Pokemon Black and White, and eventually came to the position that, well, maybe they're not sequels.  Since the above trailer is in Japanese and thus I cannot glean anything from it, I'm going to rely on Siliconera here who has some good info which paints a pretty clear picture for the games being, yes, direct sequels.  Also breaking my heart.

If you've already watched the above video (you probably should if you haven't, that is the point), then you'll notice that there are two new protagonists; a boy who doesn't understand how hair works, and a girl who suffers similarly, but in a much less visually annoying way.  If they're not upstart trainers learning the ropes under the wing of the new professor researcher (Akuroma), I may just go out and buy a hat just so I can eat it.  Also as you might have suspected, the only other person featured in a clearly-not-a-gym-leader-way is the new rival who also suffers from "What the fuck is hair", a terrible terrible affliction.  I -know- it's a slippery slope to start pointing out a 'formula' for one game series and decrying it as a bad thing, but come on, this is blatant Checkbox-ing if I've ever seen it.  The only thing this is all missing is showing off the "Team" of the game which will probably be the clueless remnants of Team Plasma ala Team Rocket in Gold/Silver.  Because it's not going to be the first thing re-purposed from the older games.

From what I've read, the setting of the sequels seems to be that, two years after the events of Black and White, your protagonist, whomever you pick, starts their pokemon journey in a dumpy little town (called a city but apparently there's not a lot there) that has apparently magic'd into existence in those two years.  Also, half the region has gotten really cold and wintery for some reason.  Which isn't directly taken from Pokemon Platinum or anything, no sirree.  Regardless, that's about all we know, but if I were to make something up, add my own little conjecture, I think it would go something like this:  The professor researcher Akuroma (he will probably get a better name in English) tasks the player to go out and explore the world to register the 300 types of pokemon that are in the Unova region, citing that the sudden climate shifts and some other weirdness has caused more species to relocate to the region.  As it has been for a decade or better, thirteen to fifteen year old kids make better data collectors than adults because hell, the kids are gonna run around the nation anyways right?  Again, purely conjecture here.  Just...going out on a limb.

I know I'm being a bit overly critical here, but it's only because I have some real strong feelings about what's going on with this, as you might be able to tell.  While a 'direct sequel' is not exactly new for Pokemon, as in all reality, Gold and Silver (and Crystal) were direct sequels to Red and Blue, since they carried the same plot over and worked at it.  The Team Rocket angle, what with it being disbanded yet some members not knowing that, meeting up with Ash Red, hell, just going back to the region in Red and Blue after some years, it was definitely a sequel.  To my knowledge, Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald and Diamond/Pearl/Platinum didn't carry this on, but in a sense, that's kind of the point I'm making here.  At least Gold and Silver, being a sequel, was wrapped up in being a Pokemon game as well, in that there was a whole other region, and that it was just enough content to be its own game as well as having the sequel hook.  In some ways, the sequel aspect might have been understated and not explored fully enough.  Whereas Black and White 2 offer the same region (with new locales) and seems built around being a sequel that also happens to be a pokemon game, since it follows the formula checklist.  It's partly semantics that I'm playing at here, but I'm sure you get what I mean.

In most cases, this would be the point where I say, "Despite all that, I know I'm going to buy it because I'm a whore" but you know what?  I'm not sure.  There is a good chance that I won't really care about this enough to pick it up, especially with, as I keep mentioning, the wealth of games 2012 is already offering.  Thinking about it, I have never owned a copy of Pokemon Platinum and, considering it never went down in price, there's a good chance I never will unless it's far, far down the road as a digital title on the 3DSi XL or whatever will end the 3DS line (or start the line after it), provided Nintendo goes with an online venture like that which, as everyone has proven, isn't fool-proof and isn't always easy money.  So unless something really wows me between now and its release, I may just go ahead and skip Black and White 2, hoping that something else will come out that will actually innovate the franchise.  Only time will tell if that's going to happen, though!

Nobunaga's Ambition X Pokemon Now Pokemon Conquest

So, uh, this was officially made a thing whilst I was on hiatus and while I was a little skeptical when the Japanese version was announced, I more or less figured on it being a reality.  Of course, without proof, I can't really prove that, so you'll just have to believe that I became less of a skeptic and this is not me being full of hot air.  Regardless, it had a pretty good shot just being a Pokemon product of some form, so that it's coming out in America (and PAL Land as well) isn't too much of a surprise.  The only thing to wonder about is just how well it's going to sell since the Pokemon name will give it legs, but not for everybody of course.  I imagine it's different enough that people won't be buying it on blind faith alone, and the Strategy aspect might turn off some of the more casual players of the game (which I imagine is a good bit).  At the same time, maybe the twist will go over more smoothly than I think.

Being a title in June however is, well, a problem.  Hell, being a DS title is kind of a problem for it for me, since I honestly don't really use my DS that much anymore, but even if I loved playing my DS and was hungering for a new Pokemon game (which, obviously, neither is true), I wouldn't be buying the game at launch because there is just no time whatsoever.  Depending on how it reviews and word-of-mouth, I might pick it up for the latter portion of the year, provided I'm not full of -other- new games to play, but, really, no guarantees here.  Which is pretty wild to imagine; not being able to buy new games because I have too many new games already.  I mean, I have too many games that I haven't played at all or at least not enough, but I haven't had a situation where I've literally bought a few games and just went "Shit, what do I play first, screw you every other game".

I guess talking about purchasing the game might just be a little premature, however, since I really don't even know what Pokemon Conquest is, in a manner of speaking.  Yes, I know it's the Sengoku Era of Japan, except everyone has Pokemon and the wars are thusly fought with Pokemon battles that take place on a wide map as opposed to just one-on-one duels, but I don't know the rest of it.  I guess asking for a 'why' is a bit much, but I guess a 'how' would work.  As in, a better showing off of the mechanics, not only with the battles themselves, but overall.  How will you get more pokemon?  You should likely be able to get more than just the Eevee to participate in the battles, I mean, and even then I imagine you'll be able to evolve said Eevee at some point.  And I still don't really know how other people are going to be set up with their pokemon either, since some have 'favored' ones that aren't actually the ones they've been showed off with or something.

I guess what I'm saying is that there is still a lot about Pokemon Conquest that is a mystery.  At the same time, that's probably a good thing since such a weird thing as this cross-over would be a little disappointing, I think, if it could be explained with ease.  However, part of me is just so curious since it's no secret that I enjoy KOEI's take on History, despite them making it really fucking difficult for me to like it, and that's basically what this is:  KOEI's take on the Sengoku Era, ala Samurai Warriors, plus Pokemon for absolutely no reason.  Not that a reason is necessary of course, since it'll be pretty fun regardless; just where it falls on the 'wackiness vs. good' scale it lands is hard to tell.  Based on my exposure to the battle system in Nobunaga's Ambition, it should be fun enough if it follows along with it.  Though it might be a more stripped down version since the one I played was free-move where this is grid-based.

Even if I probably won't be buying it right off, I did at least want to bring it up since it's something that I -would- have written about had I not been on hiatus.  Just because it's a KOEI thing, it's a Pokemon thing and it's both of those at the same time as well.  We all know that's just a recipe for my genuine interest more than many things could hope for.  Well, unless it was Yakuza and Feudal Japan but Sega would never....oh right, but at least they would localiz....oh..right.  Now I've made myself sad.  I guess I'll just bide my time by drawing up a pool of the next crossover game to be announced from Japan since that seems to be a thing for now.  Strike while the iron is hot and all that.  I'm only partially kidding about the pool, though.

Pokemon Black and White 2 is a Thing, Possibly Dumb

I don't even friggin' know.  The other day, it was teased that there was going to be a 'very important announcement' on Pokemon Smash, a Japanese TV show that is, presumably, about Pokemon, and nobody really knew what to think.  Was it finally the announcement of the inevitable Pokemon Grey?  Was it just an announcement for a new Wi-Fi event?  Was it just showing off a new legendary because why not?  Nobody knew for sure, though it was pretty obvious where people were leaning.  So when Pokemon Smash came on, everyone watched to see just which of their favorite picks would be the one, not knowing that not a single one of them was going to be correct.

Pokemon Black and White 2 was announced for the DS, as in the normal one, not the one with a third dimension, to hit Japan this June.  This is not a working title, this is not a coy "We're making another one, are you guys surprised, but there's no name yet" this is a straight-up sequel or, rather, sequels to Pokemon Black and White and I am personally flabbergasted.  Yes, I went there.  I imagine plenty of other people are as well since this...well, this is just dumb.  I know that's an inflammatory statement and it's completely intentional because it is dumb on two levels.  Not only is a sequel completely missing the point, but there's not even an interesting story for Black and White 2 to pursue.  If you avoid spoilers like the plague, skip to the next paragraph now because I don't even care enough about the story to pretend like I do.  The whole storyline of Black/White is pushed by the resident Team of awful screw-ups who are being lead by an even bigger idiot.  The whole while, their message is "Pokemon aren't tools of War!" and they try to prove it by using their pokemon to fight the pokemon of trainers and if they by some miracle win, they steal the pokemon and try to set it free or something.  It is every shade of stupid.

I guess this does solve the issue of trying to think up 150 more pokemon that people will give absolutely zero shits about, but I just can't see this as anything other than dumb.  I won't say it's a stupid move because it's clearly not; It has pokemon in the title so it will make millions.  It might even be a good game on top of that.  But I just can't imagine where they're going to go with this, besides making some of the cities/towns important again for some reason.  Are you just going to be a new trainer and do the same thing, eventually facing the MC from B/W 1 at the Elite Five Four?  Are you going to be the same trainer from B/W pulling an Ash and throwing away every Pokemon but one and starting again fresh?  I just.....just now realized that the above article I linked says the US Site apparently calls the games "Version 2" which could mean it's just an updated version of the game or something.  But I'll leave the above in for the simple fact that it still could be a sequel.

Hrm.  I guess a Version 2 of that could just mean updated versions of the game, thus negating the need for a "Grey" version while also making twice the money.  Okay, not really that last part, but still.  It would have all the events and extra bits of a third game while also retaining the level of exclusivity for Pokemon and features that the original games had.  Or perhaps switch things off a little so that both versions are still 'necessary', but Black 1 and Black 2 are still different enough.  I don't know, but unless there was a lot of extra stuff, like beyond Pokemon Platinum-Level of things, I don't think it'd be worth it.  I honestly think they could've gotten away with doing it on 3DS and adding token things plus 3D, but we'll see.  I know if they ability to have your lead pokemon follow you, ala Heart Gold/Soul Silver is included, that alone will sell thousands of copies.  Possibly one to me, as well.

This will be worth watching out for, at the very least.  Whether it's just updated versions of the games we already have and (some other people) love, or a true, honest sequel that I don't know how it could possibly work, it'll be something different for Pokemon if just in name alone.  Baby steps at the very least, towards something that they really really need to do, which is shake up the foundations they've built for themselves.  I've gone on and on about it in the past, and while I'll likely always suck it up and buy most of the Pokemon games that come out, I think I'll really start enjoying them once they put more than the token effort into it.  Do something that we haven't seen since Gold and Silver when they had the brilliant idea to let you head off to a different area entirely.  Just something to try and win some of the people back who will say "I haven't played since (color)" rather than having every game be -somebody's- first Pokemon game.

Oh, Come On Nintendo!

Keen-eyed readers might recognize the above shot from the upcoming Pokemon + Nobunaga's Ambition that still doesn't have a better title because of the clear-cut tactics game layout it shows with Pokemon and a Japanese fan above the X button.  But, apparently Nobunaga's Ambition wasn't the first series pitched to Nintendo for a collab project.  If you guessed the first attempt was KOEI's most successful franchise in Dynasty Warriors, you would be correct, but Nintendo shot down the idea because it was 'too violent' to have in conjunction with Pokemon.  A game all about pokemon beating each other up was too violent for pokemon, a game all about pokemon beating each other up (at their trainer's orders).  Now, come on Nintendo you're not even trying here.

While I see the fact that Pokemon Tactics (that's what I'm calling it now) is likely more marketable to the world as a whole than Dynasty Warriors:  Pokemon and that's likely why Nintendo passed on DWP (either to force KOEI to bring up the strategy franchise of Nobunaga's Ambition or just leave them alone)  I can't accept that logic because it doesn't make sense.  I mean, like I said before, the entirety of Pokemon is built on your character walking atop a pile of corpses unconscious foes that he has made that way on the way to the Pokemon League to challenge the top Trainers in the land who got there by excelling in using their pokemon to beat up everyone else's pokemon.  It is a game all about violence and using it to solve your problems and that isn't changed by the fact that it does so without shedding a drop of animated blood.  There's episodes of the Pokemon anime that are more 'disturbing' for 'violence' than anything in standard DW gameplay for the sheer fact that you just sometimes see Pokemon getting wailed on by humans or other 'Mons.

Regardless, you all know me so the fact that I would buy the shit out of Pokemon Warriors is no surprise, and now knowing of its possible existence leads me to wonder just how it could've played out.  Would it be like Pokemon Tactics with Three Kingdoms dudes having their own Pokemon that they send out into battle to decide the fate of China?  Or would the Three Kingdoms guys themselves be represented by Pokemon?  That might be a little difficult, I'm sure, as I'm not quite sure there's a Pokemon awesome enough to be a Lu Bu analog, nor could I even imagine trying to replace any member of the DW cast with an existing Pokemon.  I can't help but wonder if maybe they'd go with some sort of middle-ground where the Three Kingdoms guys actually used the Pokemon in different ways - the example that comes to mind being Lu Bu riding a Rapidash into battle to replace Red Hare.  Stuff like that, though I'm not quite sure how well it'd work out on that, either.

I mean, I can acknowledge that it's a tough sell, but like I said to my friend, "Scyther's moveset would be awesome.  Can you just imagine Scyther taking down like ten Pidgeys at once with a single swipe?  I CAN.  AND IT'S AWESOME."  It boggles the mind how much awesome there stands to be here if Nintendo had been willing to give it a shot and instead we're left with a Tactics game that doesn't really look like it has a whole lot to do with the Sengoku Era aside from being, well, set in it.  I guess there's not a lot wrong with that and maybe it's just something that's really told outside of battle rather than in it, but I'd like to see a little more.  Though I guess that's what trailers are for!

The trailer shows off a little more gameplay alongside Japanese audio that I have absolutely no idea where to even begin suggesting what it's saying and, as I said, it pretty much just looks like Pokemon Tactics set in the Sengoku Era.  I'm still seeing a bit of the idea that every member of the time has their 'own' pokemon (Newly shown off in 'pairing' was Chosokabe Motochika with Oshawott and some guy I don't recognize with Smugleaf Snivy) as if you notice during the bit that starts at around 0:32, Pokemon are plopped down on the board with different era-members showing up thereafter, notably Sanada Yukimura following the placement of a Tepig (Which could by all means be his 'pairing' as I have yet to really see one for him) after Toyatomi Hideyoshi following the placement of a Chimchar which is the first form of Infernape which has been shown off as Hideyoshi's partner.  (Which might be further evidence to the previous idea of Yukimura/Tepig or, perhaps the Tepig line.)

There's still a lot of questions that'll get answered eventually, I guess.  I'm interested in seeing how it all works out, as I wonder just what degree of control the player will be able to have for the battles; will he/she be able to control everyone on his/her side, or simply his/her Eevee or whatever it evolves into?  How does evolution play up into this whole partner situation they've sort of billed the game next to?  I'm sure, by it's own merits, the game will be a fairly fun game, but I still can't help but wonder what might have been now that I know Pokemon Warriors had been on the table.  Man.

My Games of 2011, Part 1

So, the moment I've been dreading and anticipating is upon us, the actual 'let's quantify the unquantifiable with rankings' time of Game of the Year voting has been up on PA for a few days, but I've been doing a little research into one of the games on my list so that it could, in fact, make it on my list.  I'll explain when we get to it which should be tomorrow's post.  (Yes, I'm dragging it out over the days like I did originally, mostly because I've gotten a little more accustomed to doing this and might be a bit more verbose this year.)  Aside from the way I'll be handling the list in multiple posts, there are a few odd similarities with this year and last years list that have me a bit confused, though I suppose these things just happen.  Like last year, my list contains 12 games when I've worried for half this year that I wouldn't make 10, and of those 12 games, I've only physically played 10 of them, leaving me with two games that I feel I am knowledgeable enough to rate without having played them directly.

Neither of those games are in this post, however, so rest assured that I'm not simply grabbing two games and throwing them at the end to pad the list up.  Quite the opposite as they both scored fairly high for reasons that I'll get into when their number ticks up.  First up, however are four games that brought a range of opinions to the table, from disappointment to being impressed and from quick, satisfying romps to prolonged, satisfying, yet still unsettling sessions of a game whose length is measured in days, not hours.  I won't say that they 'earned' their spots on the list, because that implies that the games higher up 'earned' their spots as well and, with only a couple exceptions, they're basically numbered by happenstance and is not indicative of overall quality.  So, of course, with the first game on the list, I'm going to go right against that and speak directly to its (lack of) quality.

12. Pokemon White (and Black)

I've said it a few times before, and I'll likely say it several more times before all is said and done, but I did not like Pokemon White.  For what had been all but billed as a reboot of the franchise, willing to make all sorts of much-needed changes to the 'formula', White proved to be 'yet another pokemon game', doing absolutely nothing that the hype attached to it which was rather unfortunate as you might guess.  Even though it was all 'different' it was all the same and that's certainly not a step in the right direction for a game that has the possibilities and potential as the Pokemon series.  So this would be the real disappointment on my list and, were it not a game that I obviously liked despite everything I hated about it it wouldn't be on my list period.  Regardless, its spot on the list ensures that I'll get to air out all of my concerns and complaints.

As I said, the thing that bothers me is just how much White is the same as everything that came before it.  Same stupid storyline with a kid going out to index pokemon for a professor who has a bunch of aides but instead chooses to rely on a plucky tween from the same knowledge, same stupid plot hook of Team (Word) being stupid and eventually getting their crap kicked in by said tween, and same "Go here, challenge gym, win, move on, repeat" formula that certainly drives the game forward, but in a rather shoddy way nowadays.  Even all of the 'new' pokemon that they stated with vehemence that you had to use, as no other pokemon from previous iterations would be available prior to beating the game (which was instantly disproved by the existence of the Dream World which sent me a Farfetch'd before my third badge I believe) had very obvious roots into the design of pokemon past.  The same Fire, Water, and Grass starters, the obvious Pidgey-line, the obvious Geodude-line, etc. etc. were all present and accounted for, as were the fuck-off instant-run Legendaries that haven't been a good idea for three versions of Pokemon and do not change in that.

The other issue at hand, and this is the one that I really, really take issue with, is Team Plasma.  Not only do they mark a continuance of relying on a plot hook that's been tired for a long time, but they manage to be the single dumbest thing to ever grace a Pokemon game and possibly DS games in general.  There's spoilers here, but they're mild because who plays Pokemon for the story, honestly.  Anyways, the message Team Plasma is trying to spread is that Pokemon Trainers are committing unspeakable evils by using pokemon to fight battles for nothing more than pride and profit, which is okay enough of a message I guess.  Where it's muddled is how Team Plasma uses pokemon to fight trainer pokemon to convince the trainer that they're stronger so the trainer should release their pokemon.  Just mull that over a bit - Team Plasma uses pokemon battling to promote anti-pokemon battling beliefs.  Yeah.

Still, I enjoyed Pokemon White as I enjoy any pokemon game; it was fun building a team and getting across the various gym challenges and I was more than happy to start meta-planning super teams, but eventually I just got tired.  It's the same thing I've been doing since Pokemon Red and unless there's an actual change of form between Black/White and the next iteration (not the inevitable Grey version), it'll be the last time I'll bother with it.  Of course, I'm lying, but when I play the next iteration, if it's the same old thing, I just won't even bother to mention it.

11. Sonic Generations

I just recently went through Sonic Generations, so I'm fairly convinced that I know where I wanted to place it, and while I'm comfortable with where it's at I am a bit surprised.  There's very little about Sonic Generations that I disliked and, in fact, quite a lot that I liked about it.  So why is it so low on my list?  I suspect it has something to do with just how short it is and while it manages to impress, it doesn't stick to you.  I can't call it forgettable because that would just be dishonest, since it's very memorable if just because of all the neat versions of stages that are brand new, as well as faithful recreations of others.  Generations has the most consistently good gameplay of any Sonic game for a long time, as it takes the best part of the last 'good' (or at least not absolutely terrible) Sonic Game, Sonic Unleashed (though Sonic Colors is supposed to be rather good as well), in the form of just straight-forward speed-focused maps (from Daylight Sonic, obviously) and makes a game out of it without bogging it down with something unnecessary.

Really, though, Sonic Generations -did- need a little bit more of something.  Sure, you have all sorts of challenges as optional content that will likely add quite a few hours to your total time if you should go for it, but there's very little reward for doing any of it.  Getting Red Rings unlocks artwork of designs from previous Sonic games which is nice and all, but hardly locked to the game itself.  Beating the challenge levels gives you a bit of e-cred, I suppose, if your time is fast enough, and every level has a bell associated with it that'll get you a song to play during other stages or yet more artwork.  But it's all just stuff that's sort of there in the literal backroom of the game that you could very well go through the entirety of the game and not see a bit of it.  I guess what's to be said of it is that it was designed for replayability to be a main factor of your enjoyment, since there's always ways to get a better ranking and a better time on those levels, so it's all up to you to do it.

10. Shadows of the Damned

Shadows of the Damned provided me quite a bit of surprise when I started it up, some welcome and some less so, but nothing overwhelming either way.  After changing the controls to something not-terrible and reminiscent of Resident Evil 4 (which renders the first part of that sentence redundant), I was able to actually play Shadows of the Damned and even grow to enjoy it as I ran through the initial sections of the game.  I became increasingly impressed with how the game opened up to you, very subtly guiding you along its paths and teaching you how to play with the tools it offered in a surprisingly intuitive way that eschewed conventional 'kill 'em with tutorials' methods which was a rather welcome relief.  There was unfortunately a drop-off directly after I came here and sang its praises for doing just what it stopped doing directly after I said it was doing it.

An area that was fraught with things that made the game quite different than it had been reared its ugly head, complete with unintuitive bosses, instant deaths everywhere, and frustratingly difficult sections stemming from those two factors.  While I'm fairly confident that that cleared up directly after, as I touched into an area following that and was met with quite a lot of weirdness and comedy (Johnson and the pay phone, for those of you who've played) that wasn't too bad, I still can't really forget that the game essentially 'fooled' me, or that I think it did with how that whole thing worked out.  Afterwards, I learned a few things that would've been much nicer to know prior to being past them already, which only suggests that the intuitiveness of the first real boss fight was long gone and the game suffered for it.  It is rather unfortunate that I'm gauging this game while not having actually beaten it, and it's possible that I'll sort of change my stance on it sometime down the road for the better, where it's at right now is fine enough I think.  Remember, it might be '10th', but that doesn't mean I think 9 and above are better, just that they struck more chords with me that I had to consider them more.

9. Dynasty Warriors Gundam 3

The last game in this section of my GotY list is a game you've no doubt noticed I've whinged about on a fair few occasions.  I just plain don't like the map design and I think the way that story was handled on top of that was fairly poor.  That hinders the way that not only the original story can be told, but also the way the 'historical' accounts (read:  storylines from the anime) which bothers me quite a bit.  However, what the game annoys with in terms of poor design, it makes up for with simple quantity of quality Mobile Suits and pilots that will certainly grow into the next iteration as well.  Having the choice of being able to pilot Wing Zero, Epyon and Deathscythe Hell is honestly a little thing, but it's such a big thing for me and it makes me genuinely excited for the prospect of playing it again every time I load it up.  Not only that, but the chance to eventually get silly by hopping into a Ball or a Gouf or a Zaku II and destroying on a wide scale is tantalizing.

I'm honestly a big fan of the Dynasty Warriors style of run around and wreck stuff, which I'm sure you're all familiar with by now, so having it on my list should come as no surprise.  And while some will argue that the 'quality' of the gameplay is not there, or is at least dwarfed by that found in Shadows of the Damned or Sonic Generations, I say it's the gameplay that strikes more with me, hence its spot.  Quite simply, being able to store up Special Attack gauges for Wing Zero's Beam Cannon and then blasting hundreds of dummy suits to oblivion in a snap via a broad swath of destruction is something that cannot and will not get old no matter how many times I do it.  Similarly so with DeathScythe Hell's simple slice-through attack; strong enough to demolish most Mobile Suits with that single strike he makes, it's quite entertaining to unleash on someone intent on ruining your day.

So that's 12 to 9 for my Games of the Year 2011.  It was rather difficult actually getting the list put together as I've inferred, and three of these four games were fairly difficult to place, but I'm pretty happy with how it is.  Again, by no means does a game's spot at number 9 mean that I think the game at number 5 is objectively better, but when presented with numbers to assign, that's just kind of what you have to do.  Tomorrow will obviously bring numbers 8 to 5 and hopefully will be a little easier to write than tonights, though I suspect it won't.