While I hate to endorse thuggery of any kind, I like my queens flaming, my tea hot and my thugs thuggy. As such, I would like to praise Team Rocket for one moment.
Ever since the trainer population became acquainted with Team Rocket in Mount Moon (you'll recall that they were trying to mug off some nerd and his fossils) it has been clear that Team Rocket have never been anything but thieves. Their aim is simple; steal powerful or rare Pokemon, gain power & fortune. A simple and realistic aim for a criminal organisation, carried out with clear efficiencey - here is the thing we want, let us take by force.
Fighting off Team Rocket again in Pokemon Fire Red is a refreshing experience. I'm tired of having to consider my stance when fighting criminals and terrorists, as I have had to do in all other Pokemon games. Team Magma & Aqua debating the benefits of the ocean and land and what good we humans really are. Team Plasma, an ideological group who forced me to question the very idea of capturing Pokemon and thus, whether or not I could really be allowed to play the game at all. It annoys me because it forced me out of the role of travelling Pokemon Trainer, who accidentally stumbled upon bullying and criminality [in the guise of Team Rocket] and instead forced me into the role of concerned campaigner. As a voiceless protagonist, I can't help but feel that words have been put in my mouth:
N: I don't believe Pokemon should be ruled by humans, blah blah blah - SO! I see you disagree! What's that? You say Pokemon and people are partners?
My Own Voiceless Thoughts: No, I didn't say anything, I just want to leave, where are the police?
N: Fine then! We shall battle to see who is right!
My Own Voiceless Thoughts: No, go away.
*battle music*
At least with Team Rocket, life was simple. I've stummbled upon a crime! They're dicking on this guy - I can't just stand by and ignore that, go Side-Kick [Primeape]Bring back Team Rocket. And a police force. I'm just a person, not a super-hero!
P.S. Looks like Team Rocket are blasting off again.
Thursday 21 July 2011
Let's Do This Again Sometime
It was a great idea to introduce a method of 're-battling' trainers early on in the Pokemon series. Its more effective and more interesting method of training your Pokemon up than fighting wild Pokemon, especially once you have defeated the Elite Four.
However, Game Freak have never truly settled on method of battling old opponents. The methods that have been used are:
-The VS Seeker
-The Cell Phone
-That...thing that says when people want to battle again.
The worst is the Cell Phone, introduced in Pokemon Gold & Silver. It means you have to idiotically go through everyone on the off chance that they might want to battle again and often they will never want to battle, but will offer you an insight into their mediocre life..."Zubats are scary!"..."I hate when my Mum makes me come in from battling"...or of course, the favourite, "I LOVE SHORTS".
The Cell Phone might as well not exist, although once a guy called me up on it and explained that Stomp is doubly as effective if used against a Pokemon that has used Minimize, which I think if very interesting.
The third one (which I can't remember the name of) worked ok, but it was very limited to just a few trainers and was very random and odd. It was introduced in Pokemon Sapphire & Ruby and it was just a machine with a list of some trainers and a pokeball would appear next to their name if they wanted to battle again.
Now...the VS Seeker is excellent. You can run alongside any trainer in the game and try it out. So you are in control and choose who to battle again and most of the time, the other trainers do want a rematch. There are no random, time-wasting calls and no lack of certainty. Also, your opponenets Pokemon slowly improve. The one downside is that it needs charging by walking so many steps in the game, but thats really no trouble and encourages further exploration or battling of wild Pokemon.
This was a pointless article but I needed to express my love of the VS Seeker and my desire to see it in all future Pokemon games. Needless to say that Pokemon Black & White messed up the whole thing. If Apple made a VS Seeker, it's the one thing of theirs that I would happily buy.
However, Game Freak have never truly settled on method of battling old opponents. The methods that have been used are:
-The VS Seeker
-The Cell Phone
-That...thing that says when people want to battle again.
The worst is the Cell Phone, introduced in Pokemon Gold & Silver. It means you have to idiotically go through everyone on the off chance that they might want to battle again and often they will never want to battle, but will offer you an insight into their mediocre life..."Zubats are scary!"..."I hate when my Mum makes me come in from battling"...or of course, the favourite, "I LOVE SHORTS".
The Cell Phone might as well not exist, although once a guy called me up on it and explained that Stomp is doubly as effective if used against a Pokemon that has used Minimize, which I think if very interesting.
The third one (which I can't remember the name of) worked ok, but it was very limited to just a few trainers and was very random and odd. It was introduced in Pokemon Sapphire & Ruby and it was just a machine with a list of some trainers and a pokeball would appear next to their name if they wanted to battle again.
Now...the VS Seeker is excellent. You can run alongside any trainer in the game and try it out. So you are in control and choose who to battle again and most of the time, the other trainers do want a rematch. There are no random, time-wasting calls and no lack of certainty. Also, your opponenets Pokemon slowly improve. The one downside is that it needs charging by walking so many steps in the game, but thats really no trouble and encourages further exploration or battling of wild Pokemon.
This was a pointless article but I needed to express my love of the VS Seeker and my desire to see it in all future Pokemon games. Needless to say that Pokemon Black & White messed up the whole thing. If Apple made a VS Seeker, it's the one thing of theirs that I would happily buy.
A Whirlwind Update in Kanto #1 (pics pending)
Apologies Pokefans [haha...pokefans...I'm slowly becoming an anime fan boy. A Faniboy. Ahem] Anyway, apologies Pokefans, for my lack of updates. Technical difficulties have resulted in my having no internet or laptop for some weeks.
But let's see what's happened in that time.
So your old pal Trainer Chaz has gone back to Kanto to gather his wits and I must say it's be lovely to breath in the refreshing air of Pallet Town once more. It beats Black City any day. I wandered into some tall grass with Mega-Blast, my Squirtle.
I walked through Viridian City and cleverly took a left to a patch of grass on Route 22 where I happened to be aware of some early rare Pokemon. I caught me a Mankey and called it Side-Kick, which I think you'll agree, is a rich play on words. It's a fighting Pokemon? Good, anyway, I then tried to go onwards to Viridian Forest, but every time I did so an old man tried to stop me and teach me how to catch Pokemon. Naturally the only way to stop him doing this was to run an errand for Professor Oak, so I ran a package down to him (yeah, you're welcome, maybe now you'll let me ride my bike indoors instead of popping into my head everytime).
Task done, I went on. I've adopted a policy of catching every Pokemon in an area before moving on, so I spent some time looking for a Pikachu, but neglected to put it in my squad because I happen to already have a pretty nifty Raichu called Zeno. God I'm cool.
So look, let's get to it; Brock. Brock didn't count on my Mankey being as deadly as it is awesome. A dangerous mistake to make Brock, because Mega-Blast and Side-Kick made short work of his Pokemon. Boulder badge in ma belly in ma belly.
Then it was on to Mount Moon. Caught a Jigglypuff and thought, yes, sure it's out there, but why not. The name is Love-Lost and it's just great.
Some guy tried to sell me a Majikarp outside Mount Moon, but I was onto his game. Nice try MATE, but I'm banking on a stranger giving me a fishing rod before the day is through.
There were some bozos in Mount Moon calling themselves Team Rocket. They were trying to bully a nerd into giving them one of his fossils. They presumed that I was going to do something about it and began to fight me. When I defeated them, the nerd gave me a fossil out of gratitude, which seemed odd, given that I was fighting so that he could keep them, sort of.
I noted also how nice it was to fight a group of terrorist criminals who only cared about blatant crime and crime alone, as opposed to battling with a group of idelogical, loon-bags.
I chose a dome fossil and came out of the mountain, having failed to catch a Geodude or Clefairy, so there goes that plan. Then I met two blokes who offered to teach my Pokemon how to Mega Punch and Mega Kick, which I took them up on, since these are bloody powerful moves to have with only one badge to your name.
Won on Nugget bridge and was offered the chance to join Team Rocket but declined. Met Bill and but he had somehow turned into a Pokemon. I helped him turn back. It was weird and disgusting. Then I went to back into Cerulean City to try and win a Cascade Badge. It was relatively challenging, but by this time Mega-Blast had learnt bite, which saw off Misty's Starmie which, as we all know, is a water and psychic Pokemon.
I won the Cascade Badge. As I left Cerulean City I had to cut through someones house. It had been broken into. While everyone was totally stumped, I found the criminal in the garden of the house and he decided to fight me with no provocation. I beat him, since he had the usual array of Rattatas and Koffings and Ekans. He returned the thing he stole, TM...18? Which was Dig. I went to return it to the house but the man said he no longer wanted it, which was weird, so I kept it.
Took an underground passage to Vermillion City, because the gate into Saffron City was blocked. From what I could understand, there was absolutely no problem other than the fact that the guard was thirsty. I wasn't sure why that meant I couldn't go through, but whatever. Anyway, I arrived at the Vermillion City Poke Center in one piece and a woman at the desk gave me a VS Seeker. I had no idea why she was handing out free electronics, but I accepted it because it's such a good tool.
Part Two coming relatively soonish.
But let's see what's happened in that time.
So your old pal Trainer Chaz has gone back to Kanto to gather his wits and I must say it's be lovely to breath in the refreshing air of Pallet Town once more. It beats Black City any day. I wandered into some tall grass with Mega-Blast, my Squirtle.
I walked through Viridian City and cleverly took a left to a patch of grass on Route 22 where I happened to be aware of some early rare Pokemon. I caught me a Mankey and called it Side-Kick, which I think you'll agree, is a rich play on words. It's a fighting Pokemon? Good, anyway, I then tried to go onwards to Viridian Forest, but every time I did so an old man tried to stop me and teach me how to catch Pokemon. Naturally the only way to stop him doing this was to run an errand for Professor Oak, so I ran a package down to him (yeah, you're welcome, maybe now you'll let me ride my bike indoors instead of popping into my head everytime).
Task done, I went on. I've adopted a policy of catching every Pokemon in an area before moving on, so I spent some time looking for a Pikachu, but neglected to put it in my squad because I happen to already have a pretty nifty Raichu called Zeno. God I'm cool.
So look, let's get to it; Brock. Brock didn't count on my Mankey being as deadly as it is awesome. A dangerous mistake to make Brock, because Mega-Blast and Side-Kick made short work of his Pokemon. Boulder badge in ma belly in ma belly.
Then it was on to Mount Moon. Caught a Jigglypuff and thought, yes, sure it's out there, but why not. The name is Love-Lost and it's just great.
Some guy tried to sell me a Majikarp outside Mount Moon, but I was onto his game. Nice try MATE, but I'm banking on a stranger giving me a fishing rod before the day is through.
There were some bozos in Mount Moon calling themselves Team Rocket. They were trying to bully a nerd into giving them one of his fossils. They presumed that I was going to do something about it and began to fight me. When I defeated them, the nerd gave me a fossil out of gratitude, which seemed odd, given that I was fighting so that he could keep them, sort of.
I noted also how nice it was to fight a group of terrorist criminals who only cared about blatant crime and crime alone, as opposed to battling with a group of idelogical, loon-bags.
I chose a dome fossil and came out of the mountain, having failed to catch a Geodude or Clefairy, so there goes that plan. Then I met two blokes who offered to teach my Pokemon how to Mega Punch and Mega Kick, which I took them up on, since these are bloody powerful moves to have with only one badge to your name.
Won on Nugget bridge and was offered the chance to join Team Rocket but declined. Met Bill and but he had somehow turned into a Pokemon. I helped him turn back. It was weird and disgusting. Then I went to back into Cerulean City to try and win a Cascade Badge. It was relatively challenging, but by this time Mega-Blast had learnt bite, which saw off Misty's Starmie which, as we all know, is a water and psychic Pokemon.
I won the Cascade Badge. As I left Cerulean City I had to cut through someones house. It had been broken into. While everyone was totally stumped, I found the criminal in the garden of the house and he decided to fight me with no provocation. I beat him, since he had the usual array of Rattatas and Koffings and Ekans. He returned the thing he stole, TM...18? Which was Dig. I went to return it to the house but the man said he no longer wanted it, which was weird, so I kept it.
Took an underground passage to Vermillion City, because the gate into Saffron City was blocked. From what I could understand, there was absolutely no problem other than the fact that the guard was thirsty. I wasn't sure why that meant I couldn't go through, but whatever. Anyway, I arrived at the Vermillion City Poke Center in one piece and a woman at the desk gave me a VS Seeker. I had no idea why she was handing out free electronics, but I accepted it because it's such a good tool.
Part Two coming relatively soonish.
Saturday 9 July 2011
Pokemon Trainer On Fire
Sorry all for the lack of posts. I have been in training deep in the mountains, contemplating what it means to be a Pokemon trainer, our relationship with Pokemon and what exactly would happen if I drank a Super Potion. I concluded that to be a Pokemon trainer is to act as a conduit between Pokemon and people, our relationship with Pokemon is one of mutual respect and friendship and also my HP increased by 50 points.
I also came to this conclusion. I'm afraid that Pokemon Black & White were...quite disappointing. I'd go so far as to say that they were...very disappointing? In fact they proved correct the people who claim that Pokemon Red & Blue were the only Pokemon games worth owning. Not true. Not true, at least, until this version. When it comes to the newest version of the videogame, it seems enough to stick a pair of eyes on a brush and call it Brushy. Design and gameplay went out the window and in its place Game Freak seem to have focused on linking the Pokemon community into what seems a poorly designed social network, loosely affiliated with Pokemon (entralinks, dream worlds, c-gears, etc). Perhaps it would have worked, had this been done via some other medium, but the wireless internet support for the Nintendo DS has only ever been as reliable or widespread as that of the Gamecube, which as we know, was virtually non-existent.
As such, the game suffered. The Pokemon journey of each game needs to be interpreted differently by everyone who encounters it. There was no naming of your rival or real decision making in Pokemon Black & White, it was all laid out in the form of a linear RPG. Pokemon was always technically an RPG, but to inflict such a stringent storyline on the player robbed the game of its heart. What we got was a game geared to draw new players into the rules & concept of the thing and in turn to peddle the DS-i to us. By making the game far better suited to the DS-i by limiting those playing it on a regular DS was a pretty shallow move. You'll notice that the same thing did not happen during the jump between GBA & original DS.
With that fact in mind, I started a new file on Pokemon Fire Red, a game catridge lost to me until I recently found it in a dark, dank, hole. Much was my celebration. And what better time to start a new Pokemon file than when travelling abroad?
So prepare yourself, ye who are all faithful to Pokemon, for now shall be the accounts of everything you ever heald dear. Trainer Chaz revisits Pokemon Fire Red. Press start.
Reader! Your very own POKEMON legend is about to unfold! A world of dreams and adventures with POKEMON awaits! Let's Go!
I also came to this conclusion. I'm afraid that Pokemon Black & White were...quite disappointing. I'd go so far as to say that they were...very disappointing? In fact they proved correct the people who claim that Pokemon Red & Blue were the only Pokemon games worth owning. Not true. Not true, at least, until this version. When it comes to the newest version of the videogame, it seems enough to stick a pair of eyes on a brush and call it Brushy. Design and gameplay went out the window and in its place Game Freak seem to have focused on linking the Pokemon community into what seems a poorly designed social network, loosely affiliated with Pokemon (entralinks, dream worlds, c-gears, etc). Perhaps it would have worked, had this been done via some other medium, but the wireless internet support for the Nintendo DS has only ever been as reliable or widespread as that of the Gamecube, which as we know, was virtually non-existent.
As such, the game suffered. The Pokemon journey of each game needs to be interpreted differently by everyone who encounters it. There was no naming of your rival or real decision making in Pokemon Black & White, it was all laid out in the form of a linear RPG. Pokemon was always technically an RPG, but to inflict such a stringent storyline on the player robbed the game of its heart. What we got was a game geared to draw new players into the rules & concept of the thing and in turn to peddle the DS-i to us. By making the game far better suited to the DS-i by limiting those playing it on a regular DS was a pretty shallow move. You'll notice that the same thing did not happen during the jump between GBA & original DS.
With that fact in mind, I started a new file on Pokemon Fire Red, a game catridge lost to me until I recently found it in a dark, dank, hole. Much was my celebration. And what better time to start a new Pokemon file than when travelling abroad?
So prepare yourself, ye who are all faithful to Pokemon, for now shall be the accounts of everything you ever heald dear. Trainer Chaz revisits Pokemon Fire Red. Press start.
Reader! Your very own POKEMON legend is about to unfold! A world of dreams and adventures with POKEMON awaits! Let's Go!
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