Friday, September 27, 2013
Thursday, September 5, 2013
Thoughts on Pokemon
The following is a little rant on my feelings of pokemon. I've been following pokemon since it came to the US, basically my whole life. It is a love of mine and it is true you can't love something without being critical of it. I have been talking to a friend, which this is in reply too, about how I'm not that excited about the new games. I will buy them and enjoy them but I know the charm is not the same. I'm not one of those people who say Generation 1 all the way. Generation 2 is my favorite to play but I don't see the pokemon being inherently better in the originals just because they are the first. I do love more pokemon from some generations better then others. Unova I didn't care for but Herdier in my mind made up for it. That being said I can still feel the charm when I replay the old ones that I just can't seem to grasp in the newer games, even with 400 hours logged into my Diamond.
I am still getting X or Y. I even have plans to get the limited edition X and Y 3DS XL.
On to the hate ish ness!
It is so easy to forget what you were doing. I don't know you would think it should be easier to remember all of it now that we are older. Then again when I was a kid I finished everything in one go, none of this put it down for a month crap.
I loved Generation 2 I felt it had the PERFECT amount of side activities that continued after the game but also helped the game. The berry system was better in Gen 3 but it was first put into place in 2 so let’s throw that in. Things like the bug catcher contest and the like where always right smack near a major event so you always knew where they were. You could remember that. With Unova I can't remember where crap is at all and technically between one and two I should know that shit.
When they added Pokemon eggs that was pure beauty because it allowed for ev training. I don't remember if you know what that is or not. Basically it is what made the Pokemon competitions so cool. It was easy to get into because it was right there on a huge strip and you can never forget goldenrod.
Ok battle tower I'm not all that interest in but I feel it is a good idea. They did pretty well with the area in Platinum I believe....or was it Emerald? Either way it was pretty easy to...not have to track down what you needed it was all in one little area and you could do it in just any old sitting. It was a good start and stop function if you needed a little bit of Pokemon but couldn't actually play the whole game.
Now I am one of the few people, maybe the only person, I know that genuinely liked generation 3. One of the reasons I liked it is the environmental lets go poke around here feel to it. I had liked the ruins puzzles and underground parts of caves in Generation 2 and 3 expanded on that. That being said those parts could be easily skipped over in order to get on with the story and you didn't get lost in them. I can't say that as much with Gen 4 and you really, really can't say that with Gen 5. It is more than just that. When you have to team up with another trainer in game to get through mountains because of double pokemon battles it gets fucking annoying...even if they do heal you all the time. Now Mount Silver was freaken huge but it had a reward at the end. Red you beat him and you said fuck ya I did it. You don't have that in the later games. In Gen 1 Rock Tunnel felt fucking endless but you could get through it without going back over and over to the pokemon centers. Best part when you got out of that mother fucker you felt accomplished. Maybe that is something I have lost in growing up but I just don't feel that with caves in the later generations.
Something else about Gen 3 they introduced Pokemon musicals. Ok this is probably one of the things that gets Gen 3 its shit rating but I don't think it deserved that AT THE TIME. Now with musicals and poffins and fucking movies and....toooo much. I can really appreciate the idea behind it. I mean Pokemon is a world. It is us if we had profound bonds with animals. It is our world and the Pokemon games are now trying to capture that more. Ethical issues are now being pushed forward as they would in the game. Professors use to be mentors that gave us simple advice. Now we have people like N and Looker and more Rivals that are no longer just people we have basic interactions with. They are representative of different messages. It is no longer a journey of making friends and sometimes helping keep people safe. With, you know some fishing and gambling on the side.
That’s the charm of Generation 2 and sometimes 3. They let you have that little personal touches of decorations and activities without having too many voices.
That being said pokemon has a beautiful range of topics for the undertones of the games. The first one was about greed and how if someone takes a stand they can rectify wrong situations. The second was about history and its effects on the present. The third the effects of the earth and its stability on the living population. The fourth how the universe and humans are affected by the choice of how to use science. The fifth ethics and personal opinion.
I love that diversity but at the same time I feel that message is over cast by the fillers.
Also what fillers should there be? I personally don't like how few trainers there are in some generations. I know you can re battle them but I would rather slowly make my way through an area then come back too it.
About battling I didn't like double battles and I haven't grown to like them more as time goes on. With that in mind it shouldn't be a shock that I don't like rotation battles or triple battles and I am unlikely to like sky battles in X and Y. Those features seem like they should belong in the battle frontier.
I wonder, really wonder, what kids feel when they first pick up pokemon and play the newest generation. Do they get the same feeling? Will they love it like I do? Do they feel it is too much?
And where is my college course for pokemon? I think it is time we had one.
When did hm's become...not a thing? They use to be a very important thing....and accomplishment worthy thing but they became not a thing.
I am still getting X or Y. I even have plans to get the limited edition X and Y 3DS XL.
On to the hate ish ness!
It is so easy to forget what you were doing. I don't know you would think it should be easier to remember all of it now that we are older. Then again when I was a kid I finished everything in one go, none of this put it down for a month crap.
I loved Generation 2 I felt it had the PERFECT amount of side activities that continued after the game but also helped the game. The berry system was better in Gen 3 but it was first put into place in 2 so let’s throw that in. Things like the bug catcher contest and the like where always right smack near a major event so you always knew where they were. You could remember that. With Unova I can't remember where crap is at all and technically between one and two I should know that shit.
When they added Pokemon eggs that was pure beauty because it allowed for ev training. I don't remember if you know what that is or not. Basically it is what made the Pokemon competitions so cool. It was easy to get into because it was right there on a huge strip and you can never forget goldenrod.
Ok battle tower I'm not all that interest in but I feel it is a good idea. They did pretty well with the area in Platinum I believe....or was it Emerald? Either way it was pretty easy to...not have to track down what you needed it was all in one little area and you could do it in just any old sitting. It was a good start and stop function if you needed a little bit of Pokemon but couldn't actually play the whole game.
Now I am one of the few people, maybe the only person, I know that genuinely liked generation 3. One of the reasons I liked it is the environmental lets go poke around here feel to it. I had liked the ruins puzzles and underground parts of caves in Generation 2 and 3 expanded on that. That being said those parts could be easily skipped over in order to get on with the story and you didn't get lost in them. I can't say that as much with Gen 4 and you really, really can't say that with Gen 5. It is more than just that. When you have to team up with another trainer in game to get through mountains because of double pokemon battles it gets fucking annoying...even if they do heal you all the time. Now Mount Silver was freaken huge but it had a reward at the end. Red you beat him and you said fuck ya I did it. You don't have that in the later games. In Gen 1 Rock Tunnel felt fucking endless but you could get through it without going back over and over to the pokemon centers. Best part when you got out of that mother fucker you felt accomplished. Maybe that is something I have lost in growing up but I just don't feel that with caves in the later generations.
Something else about Gen 3 they introduced Pokemon musicals. Ok this is probably one of the things that gets Gen 3 its shit rating but I don't think it deserved that AT THE TIME. Now with musicals and poffins and fucking movies and....toooo much. I can really appreciate the idea behind it. I mean Pokemon is a world. It is us if we had profound bonds with animals. It is our world and the Pokemon games are now trying to capture that more. Ethical issues are now being pushed forward as they would in the game. Professors use to be mentors that gave us simple advice. Now we have people like N and Looker and more Rivals that are no longer just people we have basic interactions with. They are representative of different messages. It is no longer a journey of making friends and sometimes helping keep people safe. With, you know some fishing and gambling on the side.
That’s the charm of Generation 2 and sometimes 3. They let you have that little personal touches of decorations and activities without having too many voices.
That being said pokemon has a beautiful range of topics for the undertones of the games. The first one was about greed and how if someone takes a stand they can rectify wrong situations. The second was about history and its effects on the present. The third the effects of the earth and its stability on the living population. The fourth how the universe and humans are affected by the choice of how to use science. The fifth ethics and personal opinion.
I love that diversity but at the same time I feel that message is over cast by the fillers.
Also what fillers should there be? I personally don't like how few trainers there are in some generations. I know you can re battle them but I would rather slowly make my way through an area then come back too it.
About battling I didn't like double battles and I haven't grown to like them more as time goes on. With that in mind it shouldn't be a shock that I don't like rotation battles or triple battles and I am unlikely to like sky battles in X and Y. Those features seem like they should belong in the battle frontier.
I wonder, really wonder, what kids feel when they first pick up pokemon and play the newest generation. Do they get the same feeling? Will they love it like I do? Do they feel it is too much?
And where is my college course for pokemon? I think it is time we had one.
When did hm's become...not a thing? They use to be a very important thing....and accomplishment worthy thing but they became not a thing.
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