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.

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.