Genwunner plays Pokemon Legends: Arceus
By: Justin Hopkins
So, this is later then I was expecting. Wanted to have this up on Tuesday, but, and this may be a hint at final thoughts, I couldn’t put it down. So much I wanted to do and trying to do as much as I could and I am nearly at the finish line. No sense in holding off any longer. Reviews are piling up and time to get the train going. I was excited, from the trailer, looked like they were shaking up the gameplay in a big way, and after so long of the same formula. Had no idea what to expect and hype was real. So, after a bit of a disappointing trip the last go around. Time to unretire Mui for another adventure.
Mui’s Journey
Game starts off with us talking to Arceus, in a dark void. Falling through after the conversation and coming to on Prelude Beach. Being waken up by Professor Laventon and three Pokemon, Rowlett, Cyndaquil, and Oshawott. Who scamper off after Laventon talks to Mui. Who has no idea where we are or what is going on. Catching them for him, he takes us back to Jubilife Village. Centuries back in time from our normal stomping grounds. A place that doesn’t know much about Pokemon, fears them and are wary over the new person. After meeting with Captain Cyllene. Letting us have a place to stay for the night, but would have to pass as trial tomorrow to stay or be expelled out of the village and possibly die out in the wild. Overnight, lightning comes out of the rift we fell out of. Rei wakes us up, and takes us to Cyllene’s office. Giving us the challenge to catch three pokemon, Shinx, Starly, and Bidoof. Before we leave, Laventon offers us one of the three and after some thought, Shida the Rowlett became pokemon number one. Each representing how Pokemon are going to react to noticing you in the wild. Either going to ignore, run, or attack. After catching them, we are accepted into the Survey Corp at rank zero and instructed to go see Kamado. Commander of the Galaxy Expedition Team and challenges me to combat, Sumo throwing Mui into a wall. Warning us that not everyone will take kindly to us right away. Rei taught us how to craft and we got to run about the Obsidian Fieldlands for a bit and some requests from civilians and workers. Getting to Rank one and ending the day. When we wake up, have a meeting with Kamado, along with Irdia and Adaman. Leaders of the Pearl and Diamond Clan. Pearl believing in the god of time. The other, god of space. The Lightning from the other night have riled up the lords around the world. Sent to go talk to Klevor’s warden to find out more. Learning that Klevor won’t even let him get close. After a long time thinking. Laventon comes up with the idea to throw his food at him. I go back armed with Balms and start throwing them at his face. After a long sequence of him trying to attack me while I smacked him in the face with his food. Managed to settle him back to his normal state, and we were off to do the same with the next Lord, Lilith. Before we could do that though, have to appease one of the Pearl’s members and track down stolen goods. Leading us to the bandits, The Misfortune sisters, Coin, Charm, and Clover. Who coughs up the goods after we beat them. Returning it to her and calming down an out of control Ursaluna. Finally getting access to Lilligant and calming down their Lord and moved onto the next, a place without a lord. Since Arcanine drown saving him pup. Palina refusing to rush the young Growlithe’s traning. However when the Misfortune Sisters arrived and stole on of the Growlithes. The Growlithe evolves into Arcanine and becomes the Lord, and immediately, goes into Frenzy and another Balming fight later. We move on, with the new Lord in his place. Moving slowly on and doing the same to the fourth, Electrode, and even faster to deal with Avatugg. Due to the unmerciful attacks from Glalies and Abomasnow. Everyone cheering that all the lords are calmed, but that night, the rift acts up again, but Kamado in blaming us. To the point he expels us from the village. Much to the dismay of Iridia and Adaman. Told that we would be welcomed back if we can solve the issues. Resisting the urge to burn down the village as we left. Running into Volo who takes us to Madame Cognita. Telling us about the pokemon at the lakes and the red chain.. and that is where I am going to leave it for the time being.
Review
They took a big gamble, changing up the formula this much. Battles being a minimum, and putting the whole focus on exploration and catching pokemon. Helping to build a pokedex and educate the people in the village so they wouldn’t be as afraid of them. While at the same time, knowing which ones to be worried about, cause oh will some of them mess you up just the same.
That may have been my favorite part of the game though. Can still initiate the battles and do things the old way, but the new aspects are fantastic. Had so much fun trying to stealth around, failing because I am bad, and being chased by angry pokemon. At one point, had a Luxray after me, that became a pack of Luxray. Thought I lost them, but didn’t see I had angered another pokemon and an Alpha Alakazam flew in from out of nowhere. Scaring me off the side of a hill. Loved seeing Ghastly and Haunter rising up out of the ground, warmed my heart and made me laugh as I had to run again. Making the world so much more fun to travel around. See everything they had to offer because of the way the pokemon acted and reacted to your presence was such a delight. Which really went into immersing me into the game.
Another massive plus was that I was genuinely amused by most of the NPC characters that I dealt with throughout my playthrough. Never related more to a character than when Cyllene wouldn’t eat with us, because she wanted to enjoyed her meals better alone. From some fun requests like, investigate the Mr. Mime that was messing with the one guy. Helping a woman somewhat overcome her fear of Starly and continue having to go find the lost worker, Wanda. Loved watching the village grow, especially the shop. and meeting the different members of Diamond and Pearl, even Melli. Not everyone was a hit, but majority of them were fun.
I loved the art style they used in the game. Following Brilliant Diamond this felt like a giant leap forward. Did a really good job at adding emotions to the characters when they are talking and interacting with each other. Liked the biomes and territories that certain pokemon could be tracked down to. Such as Turtwig in a little lake, in the Droning Meadows, for example. The scenery and colors were beautiful and loved looking out across the terrain when I was flying around.
The little thinks such as the link cable so you didn’t have to trade pokemon to get them to evolve. Waiting for so long for stuff like this. Finally get to fill the pokedex without having to bring in another person. They were nearly perfect, but for one part.
Mixed feelings now surrounding request number 22, eerie apparitions in the night. The sole reason why I haven’t completed the Dex at the moment of writing this. I am all up for challenges, and all for running around the world, but it becomes quite different when you are trying to spot tiny purple lights. Some places have one left and I am pulling my hair out trying to find it. It gets real monotonous after a while. They have done these before, but never finished them and am actually trying this time, but wow it gets you down after a while.
Thought they could have done more with the Misfortune Sisters. They were fine, but reveal being they were just rowdy “bandits” was kind of anti-climactic. Now, admittedly, I did it to myself. Saw a couple story threads they could’ve went with. Particularly after we are kicked out of the village. Almost showed have gone further with Kamado being a baddie as well. Particularly knowing where Galaxy would end up becoming.
If you are into Pokemon for competitive side of the games. This game might not be all of that for you, but I am not one of those people. The battles tend to rank pretty low, and this game delivered so much of what I did like. Loved how the game looks and being able to run among/from the wild pokemon. Felt like the world was alive and NPCs were fun to interact with and did enjoy the direction the story went, and the surprise at the end took me off guard and would gladly suggest trying this game out. Final Grade – S
As always, I hope you enjoyed….
Thank You For Reading!!!!
Genwunner Plays Brilliant Diamond
By: Justin Hopkins
And we are back! I have been looking forward to playing this game, to a point. Had a real blast going through the gens for the blog series and the fourth gen (Platinum) had quite to offer. Including, what I think, and quite a few others will agree with, the toughest battle the series has to offer. While the trailer certainly didn’t look good. Was still willing to give it a fair shake. Now, the journey is done, lets discuss shall we.
Mui’s Adventure
Kicking things off with news reports of a Red Gyarados and we join, Mui. Tracking down or friendly rival, the villainous Paulie this time. Finding him at his house and started toward the lake, only to have to go back, because he forgot something. Threatening to fine me various amounts if I didn’t beat him to the lake. Whatever, still better than Hop, you be you. Making it to the lake, where we see Rowan and his assistant Lucas talking to each other. When they leave, they forget the briefcase, and we go to get it; are attacked by Starly. The case pops open and Chris, the Chimchar joins the team. In case they didn’t fix the fire Pokemon issue (they did not). Storming my way through everything, with a bit of back and forward before I was on my way. Putting off getting pokemon for a moment. Trying to not repeat my team from Platinum. Checking off boxes in Jubilife City and dealing with Paulie. When I encountered a Budew that I named, Rebecca. Who nearly swept Rourke, but his Cranidos got a lucky shot in, bit the newly evolved Monferno got revenge. Coming across Rowan belittling Team Galactic, and had to team with Lucus and made my way to Floaroma Town and was given a Mew and Jirachi. Taking a moment to think that over a bit. Not really my play style, but never had one this early in the game so meet in the middle. Boxed Jirachi and Claire, The Mew joined the team. Just as a safety net if I find myself in trouble down the line. Picking up a Shellos that I called Jill, before Chris surprisingly downed the monster Purugly with a few Power up punches. Trying to focus on Budew in Eterna Forrest, but plant vs plant and bug is nightmarishly slow. Meeting Cynthia and spent way longer then I should figuring out what was a stomp, in Gardenia’s Gym. Along with Galactic Headquarters to get my bike. Oh, and Ralts named Sherry made the team. Getting in early weapons in the Cynthia fight. With Fantina away, I spent to much time in the contest halls of Hearthome City. Along with another Paulie fight and shortly after, Budew became Roselia. Blowing through Solaceon and onto Veilstone. Ralts to Kirlia and Monferno to Infernape. Blowing through Maylene and the goons who stole the Pokedex. My focus changing to get the leather coat. Pastoria was a cake walk for Roselia and Sherry playing backup. Same with Paulie who got in my way as I chased a Galactic Goon and Cynthia redirected me to Celestic. Which I headed straight for and had to turn around… Forgot to get Defog. Anyways, Celestic town came and went, and set sights on Fantina… who beat me. Her Gengar kept getting off Confuse Rays and my team insisted on punching themselves in face. Conclave City brought another face-off with Paulie and after a detour to go get Flamethrower, Chris made short work of the Gym. Our meeting at the Library was cut short and we ran off to find out what blew up. Finding Galactic had set off explosions at the lake at two of the three were gone. Racing off to check on Paulie, but not before Chris dealt with another gym, only it was to late and we had to go to the Headquarters to try and save the day. Once I got the Masterball and saved the guardian, began to get excited for The Distortion World… which is not in the game. The Cyrus fight ending and the Guardians just freed Dialga for me to Masterball and put in a box. Dejectedly, I continued, Wolkner was no match for Jill and for the first time, I slowed down. The flashbacks starting to hit me. I was drastically unprepared the last time I faced this Elite four. This time around, thought I had a solid answers for most of the Elite Four. As long as I can keep Sherry alive for Garchomp, with Mew having Avalanche just in case.
The Cynthia Fight
Putting Paulie in his place one last time, I threw myself at them to see where I was and barring a struggle with Lucian. We did make it to Cynthia, but since Chris was my highest level at 56. Cynthia did not have much of a hard time punching me out. So, stepping back and went for the shiny stone to get a Roserade of my own, and threw myself at the league. Win or lose, best way to grind and rounds two, three, and four all ended the same. Taking Cynthia down to Garchomp and he swept me out each time. Learning early, do not put in Ada, the Kricketune, who was never worth mentioning, in with Garchomp. Even as a chance to try and revive Sherry. Garchomp would simply take the chance to simply Swords Dance and take away any fleeting hope I might have. Spiritomb was the problem. Sherry needed to take him out, but couldn’t one hit it. Turn three, Sherry took him down to under half, withstood a Shadow Ball. So, I went for Drain Kiss, to squeeze out a bit of health. For her to swap into Roserade, got poisoned and died from poison damage. On the Fourth shot, Chris was my last Pokemon standing and took him down with Close Combat for Rough Skin to kill him and I lost cause of the draw. I was so close I could taste it. Fifth round, came in with Sherry at level 63, and still couldn’t one shot it, but tanked a Shadow Ball and Cynthia left him in. Downing him with Dazzling Gleam and felt I had a chance. Rebecca dealing with Milotic and Gastrodon and Chris dealing with Lucario and Roserade. Leaving just her Garchomp. Sending out Roserade who took and Earthquake and got off a Toxic. Sending in Mew for chip damage with Avalanche. Setting up a chip shot for Sherry, but when an Earthquake did not take him down. Cynthia opted for a Swords Dance and thanks to the Toxic damage. Was in range for Mew to finish him off and secured our place in the Hall of Fame. Finishing up the Pokedex and retired back home.
The Review
Kicking off the positives, I do really like how they kept the spirit and the strength of the Elite Four and Cynthia. Gardevior could have been a good counter, but was never going to out speed him. While, I thought Mew would have tilted the board. He was always a bit player on the team, and had she attacked, a second Earthquake would have killed him. You still need to strategize beforehand and that was great to see them carry into this game.
I did like the battle animations for the most part and how most of the characters looked in the battle scenes. Really stressing those scenes specifically. They do give you plenty to do Post Game. Places to go, legendries to capture and the national desk along with the Battle Tower. Which has never been my thing, but a lot of people like that. While I do like going to catch the Legendries, it probably won’t happen for me because…
This game is atrocious to look at. I thought maybe I could adapt to the Chibi art, but no. It actually got worse the more I played. Just started rushing my way through to get it done, and I have heard the argument that, that is how it has been, but the key is in the wording, HAS BEEN. It worked for the Gameboy advances and DS, but we moved on to people looking like people, in Let’s Go and Sword/Shield. If they are going to take from the past, bring in Megas or Z moves. Not the Chibis. All of the expressions were bad to the point of either laughter and after a while, eye rolls and annoyance and it really brings this game down a lot because of it.
Can’t believe I am going to say this, but the follow feature is terribly executed. I love the follow feature in Pokemon Games. So much fun seeing your Pokemon running behind you and interacting with them and they drop the ball so hard here. You are either outrunning them to the point it is sad or you bump into them and just looks strange. Granted, was fun trying to push them in front of trainers to see if they could block them and let me bypass a fight, but seemed off putting.
I can somewhat forgive them not having the Distortion World in this game. I still missed it. Really liked that world, but what I can’t is them keeping the problem with the fact there is only two lines of Fire Pokemon in this game. The Chimchar line and Ponyta. Platinum is right there. Could have at least brought them in to help build up the numbers, since they already knew this was a problem for Diamond and Pearl.
I will let you all in on something. May still be calling myself Genwunner, but after spending last year playing my way through the games. Favorite is Gen 5, and after playing Brilliant diamond. Hope there is no plans to remake it. This felt hollow when there was so much more they could have done. Really fleshed out the world more then they did. Not going to be someone who points out Breath of The Wild. Would have been happy to have this world done up with similar animations and art from Sword/Shield. Anything would have been better then this. And while you can still have fun with this game. Kids would probably enjoy it and that is what it is for really. First time players might enjoy it, but can’t suggest it over Diamond or Pearl and definitely not over Platinum. Final Grade – C-
As always, I hope you enjoyed and….
Thank You For Reading!
Genwunner Plays Pokemon Shield
By: Justin Hopkins
We have come to the end of the line. Having started my little trek with Pokemon Ruby. May have taken a little bit longer then I expected it would, but here we are and as happy as I was going in, was sad at the same time. Have been having a lot of fun so far and didn’t want it to end quite yet. I know that there was a lot of dislike for this game, but other games had negativity around them that I really enjoyed so, with an open mind, lets talk about Mui’s final journey… for now that is.
Mui’s Journey
The game kicks off with a cinematic of a battle about to start, with the undefeated champion, Leon. Hyping up Dynamax before we jump to Postwick. Meeting up with Mui, who was rudely interrupted by her friend Hop. Whop was excited for Leon, his brother, was coming with Pokemon. After having to go get him because he would get lost.. walking a straight line, but he did have pokemon and it was very hard. Wasn’t really fond of any of the three, but settled with Stormy the Sobble. After beating Hop and a BBQ. Had to go rescue a Wooloo who busted through the gate and into the dangerous Slumbering Weld. Encountering Zamazenta in the fog. Only he disappeared when Leon came to get us out and the journey began. Meeting with Sonia for the Pokedex, Adding a Nickit named Ripley, and Professor Magnolia, who gave us a Dynamax Band, made from a wishing star that fell during me beating of Hop. Each of us earning sponsorship to the gym challenges by Leon. Getting some camping gear from Mom and after the train couldn’t continue because of more Wooloo, ventured into the Wild Area. A place that I loved. So much fun running around. catching Pokemon that I wouldn’t use and messing with the Dens. Keeping a close eye to make sure I didn’t over level or anything but had fun exploring before finally arriving at Motostrike. Exploring around the town, buying some clothes and made a card. Dedicating my run to the Pokeball Mascot before going to the hotel. Where I encountered this game’s gang. Toxic fans of Challenger Marnie from Spikemuth, called Team Yell that I imagined all talked like NXT’S Pete Dunne. Beating them in battle and a conversation with Marnie, time to call it a day, before registering at the Gym. I picked the number four and they forced ,e into a uniform and head out to basically say hello to the crowd, because that was it. I stopped in to buy a new uniform, Poison, but wasted my money, because I was never able to change from the white one during gym battles, yeah I was bitter about that. Anyways. On my way, another Hop beating and made our way to the beautiful Gala Mine number 1. Where we meet our next Rival, Bede. Sponsored by big CEO Rose for the challenges and to collect wishing stars. The rude jerk we have been missing for so long. After knocking him out, it was off the the next city. Learning a bit of Galar Lore from Sonia but I was sweeting the Gym fight. Milo was grass and Ripley and Nickit were badly matched. Took two shot, second had my team stacked to survive the Dynamax to take him down. From there, I ran into Hop was kind enough to warn me ahead of his next beating and off to Hulbury. Where my ignorance struck again for not building more than a team of 2. I added an Electrike after my first loss to Nessa. Meeting up with Rose at a restaurant as he talked about all the good stuff he has done, really hoping we weren’t going where I thought we were when I left. Venturing back toward the hotel, fighting with off Bede and Marnie back at the hotel, making a mental note of how tough her Morpeko was. before going to gym 3, with Kabu. Our first easy gym and as they saw me and Hop off. Knew I had to come up with a better team for the second half. While Bede was beating Hop, I added Angelica the Timburr, Iggy the Sizzlipede and replaced Electrike with Jamie the Helioptile. Learning some more lore before making my way to the next city, where me and Sonia are interrupted by Bede trying to break apart a memorial to get wishing stars. A very cross Rose revoked his sponsorship for it. When they leave, the memorial falls apart and another lay beneath. Throwing the mystery up in the air. From there I went and stomped on the Ghost Leader. Then it was Opal’s turn, who, even after beating her and answering her questions, wouldn’t’ give me her gym. Getting to mock Bede back in Hammerlocke, but to my dismay Opal takes a liking to him and forces him to come along. The long to Circhester and two more Hop fights later and not just Iggy who shined, but after he dropped, I forgot to heal before the Campion, Ripley came in and started tanking and dodging everything, and able to win the day. Adding my final team member, Jaime the Sneasel as I went to Spikemuth. A town in desperate times. They don’t have a power spot and without the ability to Dynamax, people don’t come. Despite Pier doing his all to show you can have entertaining battles with and generally felt rewarding fighting him. From there we were back off to Hammerlocke, to fight Riahan and I was worried. Was able to get what I needed to evolve Jamie to Weavile but wasn’t sure if she was strong enough to handle it and got even more worried by finding doubles, but she held fast and the 8th badge was ours. Trekking to Wyndon where the Semi Finals began. Having to first fight Marnie and Hop, kind of wish they were reverse, but I did win the cheer squad and Team Yell which was a nice bonus. After Leon was late for dinner we had to fight our way to the Rose Tower. Where we hear them talking, Rose is concerned about Power running out in a thousand years. Leon says he will help, but tomorrow, after the tournament, but Rose is not happy about that, but we are done for today. The next day, we got the next half of the finals, but after Bede comes out, with the position that I was suppose to have, Fairy Gym Leader and challenges Mui to a fight. Accepted and defeated. Followed by Nessa, the Ghost Leader and Raihan. Setting up for Mui vs Leon… but no. Rose kicks off another Darkest Day, and me and Hop have to rush to gather the Sword and Shield from the Slumbering Weld. Heading back, learning he summoned Externatus. To harness for unlimited power. Having to beat him to get access to the roof. Where we need to help Leon. The first fight was simple enough but when he Dynamaxed we used the sword and shield to call Zaican and Zamazenta to help fight. Weakening him down to find a new home in my bag. After a few days, Leon ordered the Championship Match and after a fun finale, Mui handed him his first L and became champion. Post Game had a full on story, with Sordsward and Shielbert made off with the sword, after Hop couldn’t beat him. Running around the gyms. Forcing Pokemon to Dynamax and go wild. Even have their sister infiltrate Sonia’s Lab to get access to Wishing Stars. Building up to a finale where they expose Zaican to too much power and made him made. Zamazenta came to the rescue. Ending with each of us having one, and during the final fight got to tell Hop I wasn’t feeling it. There was still plenty left to do, but after all this, time for Mui to return home and retire a bit.
My Review
There is a lot of positives to talk about. The graphics and colors were all pretty good. The City and routes were all nice and appealing. Felt special and unique. Liked the U.K touches, dialogue especially, The conversations were fun to have and looked forward to the conversations because they were different. I loved the Cinematics. Felt like they got the most out of them. How they hyped up the the Dynamaxes at the beginning of the game. Properly building on the idea of having a rival that could push you. Making Leon feel like a champion and they did a good job showing how powerful Externatus was when he broke a Pokeball that was used to try and catch him. Simple scene that they made feel like a big deal.
Bede felt like a much needed character. Missing the jerk character and the fact that you got the option to be a jerk later was such a nice touch. At the same time, he had a character arc. That his attitude lead him down a bit of a bad path, even with Opal but he was taking the idea that he was a Gym Leader now seriously. Marnie was fun to interact with. That she knows Team Yell can be rough and out of line, but they were her fans and appreciates them. Her hometown friends who just want to be happy for her success. Then there was Hop, who, although was another friendly, got an Arc that separates him from the last bunch, in that his losses matter. They affected him on a deep level. Knowing that the pressure is on, by being Leon’s brother. Not just a smiling goof who shrugs off loses and that makes Hop such a deeper character in my eyes. All three were well done.
I loved the Wild Areas. A lot of time just biking around and exploring. Amused by all the Pokemon that would not just show up, but legit just come at you. Sneasels are terrifying when you see one come out of nowhere like its about to take out an ankle and it was great. We didn’t get the follow option back, but did have fun with Camping. Playing ball with my Pokemon and seeing what concoctions I could cook up at random and that is one of the things I love about these later games is how much interaction you can have with your Pokemon and this was no different.
Then, there was Spikemuth and the whole idea around the idea of this town. A town of nice people who care for one another and even though they have a gym, people didn’t want to come watch the battles because they didn’t have the new shiny thing and that was very clever and well done. Kind of making Spikemuth one of my favorite towns in the series and of course we got to talk about Team Yell. They were great. Loved the fact they were based around Toxic Fandom around sports team. That they aren’t necessarily bad. Are not trying to take over the world or steal Pokemon. They just get caught up in the moment and are doing dumb things. Good change of pace for the gang idea.
Onto the negative, and it is with the finale. Going with Rose was a boring and never rackingly cheap way to go. I thought they maybe had an interesting seeded planted to swerve and have Opal turn evil. Which would have been an Interesting way to go. The closest way we have had to an Evil Gym Leader was Giovani. When she pulled Bede that could have set something up, but no. They went with Rose. Who even when he broke bad, didn’t make any sense for him to do so. He waits five minutes and Leon was offering to help him with his problem. Would have made sense to, now that Nui is the Champion, Leon could dedicate all his time and him and Rose set off to find a solution for the Power problem. Instead, the took an easy way out.
Why, oh why would you sell uniforms if you couldn’t change them for Gym Battles. I get that you can wear them outside of the gyms, but no, they sell them separately from the regular clothes. Why even give us uniforms if we can’t change them. They did a good job at making this feel like a sport but they handled the uniforms horribly.
And, I continue to complaining about lack of Roller Skates, could have been a lot of fun to roller skate around here. Please give me the skates back.
That’s all I got for negatives. I had a lot of fun with Pokemon Shield. There were some issues with story, uniforms, and no roller skates, but the positives far out weigh them The characters were a lot of fun to interact with. Hop, Bede and Marnie were all enjoyable to be around. Liked the fact we got to watch Sonia grow into a Poke Professor. All of the gym challenges and Gym Leaders and they left me excited for what they put out next. Final Grade – B+
As always, I hope you enjoyed and….
Thank You For Reading.
Genwunner Plays Pokemon Let’s Go, Eevee!
By: Justin Hopkins
As we inch closer to the end of the series. We take a short detour off the main road, for Pokemon Let’s Go. Their first on the Switch Platform and I was both excited and a little worried. Call myself Genwunner for a reason and the fact I got to go back and relive Kanto again, but I was a little nervous about what I was walking into. I knew a little about what I was getting into. About Catch Combos and Pokemon wondering about in the overworld and such. Picked Let’s Go, Eevee due to the fact I dislike Pikachu more, but still not a huge fan of Eevee either, but was still excited to get started and now that Mui’s journey is over. Lets break it down and discuss.
(Blogger note, Let me address Ultra Sun and Moon. I haven’t forgotten about them. Paulie held a poll about whether Ultra Moon was different enough from Moon to warrant a playthrough and the vote came back No. If you feel differently, please say so and I will take it under consideration.)
The Journey
The game kicked off with Mui waking up and being greeted by the villainous Paulie. Eager to get out and get our Pokemon. Like a pro that I am, skipped the Lab and went to the trail, where we were the one to catch an Eevee and watched the ball bounce away. Catching up to it at the Lab and despite my best efforts. Picked Eevee and named hum Majin Buu and after delivering Oak’s Package and smacking Paulie around. We were off to the races, but kind of slowed down. Playing with Buu and debating about how I was going to build a team. Had a pretty set team when I was a kid, but choose to try out another to mix it up. So, before we made it to Viridian Forrest. Added female Nidoran named Bulma. Building them up along the way by mostly catching Pokemon that I dumped into the bag. My focus staying on Bulma and Buu. Getting to Pewter where I got way to excited over babysitting a Slowpoke and getting real thankful over the fact I caught a Bellsprout and took my rage out on Brock for that dumb rule and had a true geek out moment at seeing Blue. After the nightmare in Moon and a slew of friendly rivals. Was so glad to see Blue. Whop lost a bit of an edge through him maturing, but still had a bit of sarcastic wit and happy nevertheless. Rejuvenating my spirit and tearing through Mt. Moon’s Rockets and Jessie and James. Saving Misty for later. Running through second Paulie fight mostly off Eevee. Wasn’t even over leveled. Eevee is just a hoss in this one. I went this way because I had a memory off Oddish and Abra being up this way. After spending an embarrassing amount of time. Started to doubt myself until I pulled up a list. They moved Abra a few routes south and to my horror. Oddish is Pikachu exclusive. Caught Vegeta the Psyduck but he wasn’t long for the team. Thanks to Zippy Zap, Eevee dealt with Misty and we moved on. Catching 18 the Abra on the way to the S.S Anne. Training him up during my run through the boat, but I was worried about Surge…Not as a trainer but his stupid trash can puzzle. That thing would hang me up for so long and it still rages on. I beat Surge faster then it took me to open the door, but it allowed me to move on to the next leg and I really needed to start building a team. It was still just Buu, 18 and Bulma and I wasn’t sold on Bulma yet. While I didn’t find any in Rock Tunnel. That changed quickly. Adding Tien the Hitmonlee and 17 the Gastly while we were saving the poor Cubone, in a satisfying ending to the Poketower that I never knew I needed. Once I got the flute though, it was a mad dash to Fuchsia Stopping only to catch Caulifla the Ponyta. Excited to see the Safari Zone. Only there is none. Replaced it with the Go Park. A place to shift Pokemon from Pokemon Go and after a bit of playing around, sent some over. Frieza the Alakazam and Kale the Vileplume. They were not over level. I never committed to Go long enough for that. Highest was Alakazem at 28. So grinding was necessary still, but the team was complete and it was time to start knocking off challenges. Caulifla dealt with Koga and Erika. We took Giovani in Silph-Co before 17 and Frieza tag team to down Sabrina and team effort for Blaine and Giovani again. Getting by Paulie with ease and immediately got lost in Victory Road. Stumbling on Moltres byu accident, but was luckily prepared for it. Managing to find my way to the League. Team of Frieza the Alakazam, 17 the Haunter, Kale the Vileplume, Tien the Hitmonlee, Caulifla the Rapidash and Buu the Eevee, and after one shot, became Champion of Kanto for the first time in decades. Kicked off Post Game by collecting the other two Legendary Birds and a slugfest between me and Mewtwo. Leading to the best encounter in the game, with Green. I laughed way to hard at her throwing pokeballs at me. Rematching the gym leaders and then came the hard part, The Master Trainers. Replaced Kale and Caulifla for Psyduck and Charizard (because I knew where they were) and started Catch Combos. One set included a 116 Gravelers which included no shines. i was high enough to win 6 and finally took down Red for a change. With all of that done, it felt like it was time for Mui to retire home and wrap up this adventure.
Review
I had such a great time playing this game. They really brought Kanto to life in a beautiful way. The colors all popped and the designs of the Pokemon were gorgeous. Places like Mt. Moon and Cerulean Cave were just amazing. The cinematic scene were a lot of fun that added to the place or situation. From little things like Eevee getting excited and running to inspect the fountain in Cerulean or even the dumb celebration of high fiving his tail. I was fine with the changes they did make, like seeing the heartbreaking Cubone Story and loved the fact he got to go with Paulie and grow into a Marowak of his own. To the more intense moments of encountering the Birds or Mewtwo. As corny as it sounds, they brought my childhood to life in the best possible ways.
I found that they really made it fun to catch Pokemon again, in my opinion. Finding myself just walking around. Watching what Pokemon came out. Going on random catch combos just to see which rare pokemon came out. Seeing pokemon like Chancey so early blew my mind, but got so much more fun at the end, when you see Dragonites and Charizards flying overhead. I spent so much time walking around and had a great time.
I loved the focus they put on interacting with your Pokemon. Eevee growing on me, from a pokemon that I didn’t care for going in and ended up loving it by the end. Interreacting and feeding him berries. Watching him moving around during the cinematics to see his reaction when around the Legendries. It carries over to the Pokemon that you pick to follow you. A component that should be in every game. True happiness is riding on the back of Haunter. I love the fact that you have the option to interact and feel like you get to bond with your pokemon and they are more then just go and fight the others.
It was fun seeing Red and Blue, despite how much it really throws the storyline out of the window. It was good to see Blue continue to grow and mature a bit. Being able to fight Red was fine, but Green stole the show. I wish we could have had her for a rival cause it was a blast dealing with her during the short time you do.
Mixed wise, Paulie was fine. Another friendly rivalry, which has run its course, but after the Nightmare known as Hau. He was fine here, and I feel like they could have done more with Jessie and James and having Meowth talk wouldn’t have been a big deal.
Negative… I am really hung up on the roller skates being taken away from me. They were so much fun. Please give me my skates back, but that is it for complaints here. Call me bias if you like, but I had a lot of fun with Pokemon Let’s Go Eevee. Brought the first Generation back in a wonderful way, love the cinematics, and adored the fact I got to interact with the Pokemon and seeing them in the wild was a nice way to go. Final Grade – A
As always, I hope you enjoyed and….
Thank You For Reading!
Pokemon Genwunner plays Pokemon Soul Silver
By: Justin Hopkins
So, I wasn’t going to do this game till the end. Since, I had already played Silver, but with the journey kind of stalled at the moment till I can play Pokemon X or Y. I figured I should go back to this one now. A remake that is often applauded as one of the best in the series. Which I am hoping for. Gen 2 was never that interesting, but open mind this time. So, with that said, lets dive back into another playthrough with Mui and see how this goes.
My Journey
We kick off our journey with being told about Ethan and Elm wanting us to do him a favor. See Ethan with his Marill out of the pokeball. Which is something we get to do with one of our pokemon in this game. We get to Elm, who gives us our Pokemon, which was easy this time, how can I pass on a baby alligator and his name is Leon. Picking up the egg and stomped on the villainous Paulie. Before dropping off the egg so we can get the show on the road. Doing a bit of grinding when I encountered a Geodude, who shaped this run. It would have been easy for me to just build up a team like I would from Kanto, but decided, lets run with a team I never have before. Choosing pokemon for one reason or another, never made a run with. So, Mui and Leon welcomed Chris the Geodude to the team. Sweeping through the first two gyms and picked up a Wesker the Drowzee from Before Whitney and Jill the Beedrill from an attempt at the Bug Catching Contest. Who ended up being a powerhouse against Morty’s Gym. Paybacking his way through nearly the entire gym alone, only needing a little help from Leon with Morty himself. Chuck stood no chance, but Jasmine’s Steelix was a pain. Chris needed a bit more time, before he could handle it and even then was more of a fight then expecting. Along my way from the Saffir Zone, we added Rebecca the Misdreavus and the four of them made light work of Team Rocket at Mahogany Town and Pryce. Taking a break half way through the Radio Tower to mess with Breeding and hatching eggs before finishing the gym circuit. Leon’s Ice Fang and Rebecca growing into a beast made easy work of Claire and off to the league. Were we adding Claire Ursaring we went, but the nightmare. It’s no one’s fault but my own, with some of the team being really frail, but it was more then that. We are not out speeding anything and the RNG Gods were not on our side. Every confusion seemed to hit us and even when we got by Will. The same fate was waiting with Koga, but I had a game plan at least. Rebecca was becoming a dominate force on the team and after more grinding with Chris and Leon, made painful by wild Graveler’s penchant to self-destruct at the first opportunity, Mercifully punched our way through and became champion and we were finally onto Kanto, but we will talk more about that in a bit and end it here.
Review
Alright, for starters I loved the fact that you can have a pokemon follow you around. I know they brought it back in Let’s Go and all, but they should have kept that in place after this game. It such a small little thing, but being able to interact with them is probably the most fun I had in these runs so far. In a game that spends so much time telling you it is all about bonding with your Pokemon and this is such an organic way to do that, and got such a laugh from the box saying that Mismagius roaring at me.
On this run in particular, got to have fun playing with a team I would normally never play with. Figuring out ways to pull out wins with Beedrill and Geodude. Pokemon that I like, but have always run into to late to do anything or would have been more hassle then it was worth. Gaining a a lot more respect for Misdreavus then I had before. Kind of ignored it for Haunter, but was a big reason why I was able to get through without so much more grinding.
The post game is just stuffed with things to do. Picked up the Dusk Stone to Evolve Rebecca. Beating my way through the Kanto Gyms, taking special delight in destroying Misty for the countless defeats I suffered during the Poke World Tournament. Caught the five Legendary Birds the game has to offer, Mewtwo and defeated the Elite Four a second time and.. called it there. The Dogs tried my patience way to much and couldn’t bring myself to do more grinding to beat Red. Know there is more to do when you beat him, just isn’t worth it.
Now, the flaws and there are flaws. Complaining about grinding my seem like a dumb thing and it is, but it feels so much more brutal here. Feels so much harder to build up the team in victory road. Forcing you to suffer through or go else were but taking longer off smaller EXP Gains. Then after all of this, still have the grinding for the Red fight. Something that actually feels like it has gotten smoother in the later generations.
I actually found myself missing a story. Gen 5 had such a great story with N and Team Plasma. Would even take Team Magma. Team Rocket was just a small little footnote that never get going. They are here because of their presences in the first game and gave them nothing to do. Which is a shame, because they were nice way to break up the gym circuit a bit.
I had a good time with it and was better then Silver. The world is more colorful and can see why people hold it in such high regards, but think I prefer the other games in the line up to this one. There are a ton of things to do and all. Just none of it really gets me to want to push on and definitely want to replay it any time soon. Final Grade – B +
As always, I hope you enjoyed and…
Thank You For Reading.
Genwunner Plays Pokemon Black 2
By: Justin Hopkins
Despite the slight break. Was actually looking forward to getting back to it and play Pokemon Black 2 after how much fun I had with Pokemon Black and was looking forward to returning to Unova. Having a quick peak at the pokedex and changed up my rules just a little bit. Be a little more relaxed in building my team. Not try to be stringent on what gen they come from. With that said, time for Mui to shake off the two years of rust and restart her journey in Aspertria.
My Journey
Journey began like all journeys do, Mom getting a call from Juniper about sending Bianca to deliver the pokedex and starter. After being called selfish cause I said I didn’t want one, off to get my Starter, but ran into the villainous Paulie. Who tags along and we find her on the landing and I pick… Oshawott. Really wanted Snivy, but forced myself to pick someone new and liked Oshawott better then Tepig. We named it Samus, slogging through the tutorials and off we went. Fighting off Team Plasma and made quick work of Cheren. Finally get on my way. Being very careful on who I add to the team, I don’t catch anything till Growlithe popped up in Virbank, named it Jill and after getting her caught up with Samus. We took down Roxie for the second badge. After the painfully slow movie making experience. Took a bit of delight in ramopaging through Team Plasma to get out and finally back to Castelia. Where I immediately got lost before Iris lead me to the Sewer and forced my to partner with Paulie. Getting away without adding anymore to the team and knocked out Burgh with no issues, but Elessa proved to be a brick wall. Couldn’t deal with the Emolga’s Vault Switches. During grinding we added Daisy the Roselia and with some team work. Walked down the runaway victorious. Clay stood no chance and I spent a lot of time in the Poke World Tournament, trying to forget that Paulie’s Motivation is over a stolen Purrlion, before moving on. Thanks to Alessa the Zebstrika we picked up on the way to the tower, Skyla was no problem, but I immediately turned around. Missing an important teammate, Gothita. Psychics are one of my favorite typing and Gothitelle is worth the added grind work. We caught one outside of Nimbassa and Senua joined the team. Helping Bianca with her Research and learned about the mysterious third dragon and told to go ask that of Drayden as well as if he heard anything about the other two… As soon as I can beat him. My team not equipped to deal with Dragons. After some grinding cheesed it by with poisons, but going to need to address it at some point. Not now because, after learning about Kyurem. Zinzolin froze the town. Getting away with the DNA Splicer ad we chase his ship down to Route 21 and back to the Big Chasm once I figured out the pipe puzzle. Ghetsis proving to be a handful, before finally being beaten and off to the league. Where I was still not prepared for Iris in the slightest. Had a Vanillish that I was going to train up, but ran into Druddigon and loved that Play-Doh looking dragon so much, he took the Ice Cream Cones spot and the name, Sheik. The team was set and on a run through that was purely to get some money and Experience. We hit a hot streak that took us all the way to Iris. Chipping it down to Haxorous vs Samus and Senua and Samus delivering the final blow to put us back into the Hall Of Fame. Post game, was spent catching the legendries, spending way to much time in the World Tournament and restring to her office on the Avenue.
Review and Discussion
While this wasn’t as strong as Pokemon Black, there was a lot of thing to love about this entry. The designs of the gyms were spectacular. The runway for Elessa made me laugh seeing the picture pop on the big screen after winning and walking down with everyone at the end. The rock concert with Roxie and the Koffing mural. Burgh’s Spider-Webbing was gorgeous. Even thing the elevator dragon worked better here for Drayden. Really got me to look forward to each time I went to a new gym, albeit, missed the cannons.
They incorporated Bianca and Cheren back into the story in a thought out way, that suitted their characters in the perfect way. Cheren’s competitive nature would lead him to being a Gym Leader, while Bianca being more of an explorer. Yearning to not only discover her place among the world and life with Pokemon made a good assistant for Juniper and liked the fact I was dealing with her most of the time.
The cherry on the sundae has to be the Poke World Tournament. Such a fun mini game. Could spent all day facing all the gym leaders from the various games. Seeing how the brackets would turn out and hope you got the coverage. Misty’s Starmie really becoming the vain of my existence but just wanted to play again to try and get another win.
On the negative side, Team Plasma suffered without N. He was an intriguing villain that incorporated the elite four and its social standing. Ghetsis was just to paint by the numbers to care about and even as I am typing this, I can’t get over how mind numbingly dumb ” Paulie’s” motivation is here. I gave Platinum shade over the friend being a nuissance, but here was so much worse. His motivation is his sister’s Purrloin being stolen five years earlier when he was to small to do anything and he is trying to find it. None of this works First off it is a Purrloin. They are everywhere, I get the idea of pokemon being special individual but it is literally the Pokemon Bianca teaches you how to catch Pokemon with. At least make it a Meowth or something different to make it special. The Shadow Triad who has it isn’t even the only one Team Plasma has and not Memorable enough to remember. Not to mention he doesn’t even take in the fact that it had plenty of time to evolve after five years and all. Just a bad and his screams Feel my rage made me hate teaming with him.
At the end of it all though. Still had a great time playing Black 2. Unova has been a genuine treat. Difficulty scale felt smooth. Able to keep your party balanced and wild pokemon string enough to grind efficiently off of. The designs were nice and can’t say enough good things about it. Grade – A+
As always, I hope you enjoyed and…
Thank You For Reading.
Genwhunner plays Pokemon Black
By: Justin Hopkins
I went into this generation a little more nervously and a little more cautiously. Going into Pokemon Platinum blind ended up making my run more difficult than it probably should have been and in this generation, it is all new Pokemon to the table, till after you beat the Pokemon League. Which as much as I like the idea of. Was kind of nerve racking at the same time, so this time I looked up the Pokedex and skimmed through it. Nothing about Gym Leaders or story. Wanting to experience all of that as blindly as possible. Scouting out potential Pokemon to keep an eye out for and after a few minutes, it was time for Mui to leave her Villa behind and begin a new. Lets dive in and chat a bit shall we.
The game kicks off with Professor Jupiter going through the normal spill but some little differences. This time we get two pals, Bianca and Cheren ( One friend and one rival, looking at you Cheren) and the Pokemon are delivered to Mui’s House and the game’s biggest question is upon us… okay, so it wasn’t really hard, it was Snivy. I know I just used a Grass type in Turtwig, but really didn’t like the evolutions for Tepig or Oshawott. Bianca got Oshawott and Tepig went to Cheren. After wrecking them and the bedroom. We go to leave, but make pitstop to pick up Bianca where we learn her Dad is arguing with her. Vehemently against her going on an adventure at her age. We keep it a secret and after Jupiter sends us on the usual got to catch them all quest, the three of us take our first steps out of town and into what feels like an endless wave of tutorials and a walkthrough of the Pokecenter. When we are introduced to Team Plasma. The villainous group that runs off the idea that Pokemon are slaves to their trainers and shouldn’t be forced to battle and demands their release. Even if it means stealing them. We encounter a trainer named N, who can speak to Pokemon and get the feeling we will be seeing him a lot. After the battle the game starts to open up to the normal routine. Fighting gym leaders and traveling around. Encountering Team Plasma, who are some evil people. At one point, one of their grunts are kicking a Pokemon. When things change at Niambasa City. While chasing Team Plasma through a theme Park. We board a Ferris Wheel with N to get a better viewpoint of the city. To find out that he is the King of Team Plasma. Telling us that he plans on defeating the Pokemon Champion and using the pull they have, to make everyone release their Pokemon. Making it so much more important for us to get the badges to stop him.
I really love a lot of what they did with this game. Giving you the two friends who are each trying to find their way in the world. At odds with her family. So badly wanting to find her way in the world and being overwhelmed with it all. Cheren was not as interesting, kind of a weaker Gary. Kid who they were forced to hangout with because there were only three kids in town and it would be rude not to include him. Wanting to be the very best, but having no idea what that means or what to do is he became the best. They were effect as friends though and having them meet up and taking their first steps together was a rather sweet touch.
Everything about the Gym Leaders were great. First, they were all charismatic. Every encounter I had with them was a blast. Their gyms had great aesthetics and designs. Between getting shot out of cannons at Mistraltron and the coaster at Nimbasa. The honeycombs of Castelia and the museums of Nacrene. Was genuineuly hyped any time I got to go to a new gym, but then they were actively apart of the story. They are hunting down Team Plasma and marked out when they arrived at the Mansion at the end to fight the sages so I could go forward and by having them being involved to this extent. Heightened the danger Team Plasma were. The Élite Four were a little underwhelming, but being four of my favorite types. Ghost, Psychic, Dark and Fighting. Can’t be to upset over it.
Team Plasma stole the show. They were shown just how ruthless they were. Attacking weaker Pokemon and stealing Bianca’s Pokemon. Build a relation between N and your character that hasn’t been seen. Recognizing that you are the threat instead of scoffing or playing it off. Ghelsis little about face was a little dumb, but after everything that you got to go through is nothing really. In a way, there argument for releasing your Pokemon is kind of better than the one against them. We do force them to fight till they feint. Getting poisoned and paralyzed. Forcing them into a small ball to wait till they have to do it all over again for money and our own pride. Not to mention dress them up and actually dance for our entertainment. While the counter argument is.. love. They do all this for love. Which is fine, but trainers could treat them a little better. Try not cramming them into a ball and take them on the Ferris Wheel… I really loved Nimbasa City.
I really enjoyed a fair amount of the Pokemon designs. My favorites obviously are the one’s in my party. Gothitelle, Krookodile (My MVP during the Elite Four and against N), Gurdurr, Chandelure and Serperior. Purrloin almost had a spot, but was being a little too annoying in the early going to level up. Loved the beautiful colors of Archeops. Were there some that I didn’t like, sure. Didn’t care for the Ice Cream Cone and really hated Cofagrigus. Seriously, it was a Sarcophagus with ghost limbs and looks ridiculous, but they had way more hit then misses and that is fine. Not going to bat a thousand and they tried hard.
Pokemon Black honestly rivals generation one for me. Had such a blast playing through this game. Had a fun group to be traveling with, charismatic Gym Leaders that are actively trying to face the threat instead of being blind to it, or only care about their town. Fun Pokemon designs and loved the city backdrops and settings. Team Plasma were great to square off against and a massive Post Game. Genuinely look forward to my next playthrough of this game. Final Grade – S
As always, I hope you enjoyed and…
Thank You For Reading.
Genwhunner plays Pokemon Platinum
By: Justin Hopkins
After having a blast playing my way through Pokémon Ruby. Went into Platinum with a bit more enthusiasm. Unlike Ruby, I had no idea what to expect going into the fourth generation and wanted to keep it that way. Which was sort of a mistake since my next self-imposed rule of trying to use new pokemon as much as possible and away from what I just used in Ruby and none from Generation 1. As you saw from the thumbnail though, that rule fell apart. With that said, time for Mui to depart the cave and begin a new journey. Lets dive in shall we.
We had to make two important questions this time. Having to name the rival (I refuse to call him friend no matter how much they try to push it) and I named him, Paulie, cause he is the enemy and then we get to pick our starter, after managing to get Paulie out of the house. It was a little difficult this time around. Kid of liking all three. Eliminating Chimchar since I picked Torchic. Came real close to Pinplup, but choose Turtwig named Pamela. A move I would regret later, but off we went. Trudging slowly through tutorials, but managing to catch Roxy the Starly and Electro The Shinx. Making my way through the tutorials in Jubilife and glad to see things open up after getting the Poketech, but things stopped for a vastly different reason in Eterna Forest. First, I really liked the team up missions. Different spin on things and any time they shake up the game play, I am always up for, but I also added two more Pokemon. Buneary named Harley, and a Ghastly named Trickster. My rules say I can’t have him on my team, but had to evolve him to the Best Boy, Haunter. My favorite Pokemon of all time and had to have one at least in my PC. So, took a bit of time and when he evolved, with a heavy heart, put him in the PC and continued on. Had already met Team Galactic, but thought so little of them, due to how Rowan treated them early on, but they were quick to grow on me. Their Grunts were insane, running around with explosives and while they were cheesy. Right kind of cheesy to hook me in. Loved encountering Mars, Saturn and Jupiter and was pretty much running through everything to keep going with their storyline and wanting to see how it ended, and loved the finale. The Distortion world was great and Cyrus was a tough battle. I used the Master Ball on Giratina and named it Spectre. With Team Galactic behind me though, was kind of sad to carry on with the Gym Leaders because the mistakes I made were beginning to catch up to me.
I had some real issues with Bryon and Candice and while Volkner and Victory Road were a non issue. The league was a different story and Unlike before it was more than a leveling issue. My team was not balanced well at all. Even with Giratina taking hits to heal, barely making it past Aaron. Bertha was easy enough with Lopunny rocking Grass Knot, but Flint was devasting since I didn’t have a water type and when I did manage to get by him, Lucian finished me off fast. I needed a new strategy. So, I turned my attention to collecting the three Mythical pokemon, Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf and training up a fire pokemon and well, was going to make the painful transformation of Magmar to Magmortar, but thankfully couldn’t due to the trade stipulation, but Magmar was needed for Aaron Than added Uxie for its Yawn move. After some time up at Snowpoint, was ready to go. With Magmar sweeping Aaron, Lopunny hossing her way through Bertha, and Torterra Earthquaking through Flint with Starraptor and Luxray assisting. The team working together on Lucian. It was on to the wall known as Cynthia. Lost counting on the number of times Garchomp destroyed my team. Had nothing to slow it down and had to pull out a ton of tricks. Uxie yawn to put it to sleep. Torterra used Leech Seed and managed to widdle it down enough before dying, and Lopunny finally put it down. Magmar put her final Pokemon, Roserade down and we became the Pokemon Champion. Had a great time in the post game. A ton more places to journey through and more pokemon to seek out, but after all the extra grinding and Cynthia. Did just enough to stop Team Galactic one last time and retired to the Villa, with Haunter in place of Uxie.
Platinum was a game of steep ups and downs. I hated the rival/friend. Mostly because he didn’t feel like either. Just annoy sight to constantly run into and other characters constantly telling me how nice our friendship got old. The gyms ascetics were nice. Like the clock in the garden and the gym setting, but none of the leaders were memorable, except for maybe Crasher Wake due to the mask but none of them were exceptionally interesting to interact or battle. I only had an issue cause I didn’t do a good job building my team. Torterra being strong, but would be destroyed with ice, fire, dragon, or aerial. Pinplup really should have been my choice. The overreliance on older Generation Pokemon as well. If you didn’t pick Chimchar you would need a generation 1 or 2 Pokemon. Unless you had traded for Magmortar, who is as drastic downgrade on Magmar, I don’t care about stats, Magmar is awesome in my opinion. Same with Electabuzz for that matter.
With that said, the pros easily out do the negatives. To have a powerhouse such as Cynthia be your final obstacle was great, because she was a champion. Her team were unbelievably tough and required thought to overcome and just a joy to deal with. Team Galactic stole the show. Building off Team Magma using Pokemon to change the Earth. Cyrus just upped the game by rewriting everything. As B-Movie story arch as it might be, was great fun to go against. So much Pokemon and Sinnoh Lore. Then you get to the Distortion World which really built up the whole adventure to a whole other level and made the finale with Cyrus feel special.
While Platinum may not be as good as Ruby was, still had a fun time and glad I finally played. Final Grade – B+
As always, I hope you enjoyed and…
Thank You for Reading.
Pokemon Gen Whunner Plays Pokemon Ruby
By: Justin Hopkins
By: Justin Hopkins
I am somewhat of an old soul at this point. Bones cracking and all that fun stuff and once upon a time, was a massive poke fan. Had hundreds of cards, including a holographic Charizard. Had the hat and stuffed animals and played hundreds of hours of Pokemon Blue, Stadium and a bit of Silver, but that was as far down the line as I got. Played a bit of Ruby, but never too much further than the first gym, before hustling. As I grew up, even after I threw all of my stuff away (Blue was one thing, the game wouldn’t even hold a save anymore, but the Charizard card hurts still. So does the hat) I always counted myself a fan, but only really talked about the first generation. Kind of dismissing the others as being lesser without ever giving them a fair chance. Didn’t outright bash them, but yeah. Than I heard a phrase, “Gen Whunner” Poke fans only interested in the first generation and will blindly bash all of the rest. To which my original response, was up yours they are the best and.. of god I am that exact thing. Like those crazy fans who bash movies from the trailer. We got to fix that. If I like Pokemon as much as I say I do, I should at least give the other games a chance and share my experience along the way. Choosing to start where I left off, Generation 3, Pokemon Ruby. We all know the story, so instead, will go through the run I had and then pros, cons and all that fun jazz. With all of that said, Lets dive in shall we.
Started Mui’s Adventure by having to pick a starter. Didn’t want Mudkip cause he reminded me of a drunk hillbilly whose is ranting about Bigfoot from his porch. Treecko was out cause I always went with Bulbasaur, So fire chicken Torchic it was. I named it Wahoo and off we went. Powering on our way to Route 102. Where I grinned him while trying to find a Ralts. Knew I could find one and it was either Ralts or Abra and wanted something different. Managing to track one down and named her Stormy. From their it was off to Rustboro and despite a fair amount of training. Roxanne beat us the first go around. Needing to go up one more for Ralts to learn confusion and we blew her out the next time. Making the trade for Makuhita and the long journey. We found everything and anything we could. Wanting to get them fully evolved quickly, Only picking up two Zigzagoon which I named Ziggy1 which was lower level and Ziggy2 who was 26. For their pickup ability and my love of Raccoons. With the combined might of Gardevoir and Blaziken was too much for any Gym Leader we went against, and those who did try, Hariyama finished them off. Tate and Liza were the only ones that looked like they might have a chance at beating me, but an Absol named Fionna I picked up outside of Fortree City, came in clutch and wiped them out. With the circuit done, we went to deal with Groudon and our first issue arose. I had played to loose and missed the chance to pick up the Master ball. Wasn’t about to let that stopped my and three resets later, Nea the Groudon took the final spot from Ziggy1. Just to fill up the numbers and off to the league.
Standing outside the building and I knew we were not ready. Stormy being out highest level at 49 and all. I took a swing, but even though we nearly took out Phoebe’s last Dusclops. We were in trouble. Gardevoir was not hitting hard enough and Blaziken had a real problem with Power Points. So the grind began. Mixing it up with a series of wild encounters and throwing myself at the elite four. When two heroes arose. Absol was becoming a powerful closer and with Ice Blast. Was going to be able to take care of Drake and the biggest hero, Ziggy2 had amassed a collection of not only eithers, but PP Ups as well and Groudon enough to take some hit and soften some tougher opponents up the heavy hitters. Making it to Steven Stone and we took him down to Claydol on our first shot and to be a troll. Took him out with a Perish Song. Becoming a Pokemon Champion for the first time in fifteen odd years, but the game was not over yet. Real fast, I caught the Regis, won a ribbon with Castform and Rayquaza should have got into the ball when I told him and he got a Perish Song as well. With everything done, I spent all my money on decorations and retired to a cave on Rt. 116 like all good Champions, with Nea, Fionna, Stormy, Wahoo, Makit, and Ziggy2.
I really enjoyed my time in the Hoenn Region. For the most part, I enjoyed a lot of the designs of the Gen 3 Pokemon had to offer. Could see some fun combinations to use on multiple playthroughs, but loved the team that I had. Felt like everyone one of them had a purpose and wasn’t just powering through with 1. Really liked the fact they showed Norman helping Wally. The idea that being a prestigious honer for towns and seeing Norman helping out a local kid with something as trivial as catching a Pokemon was a nice touch. Team Magma was a fun enemy. ice change up from Team Rocket and felt a bit more dangerous since they were actively messing with Legendary Beasts. Than their was Brendan. This wasn’t much of a rivalry in the terms of like Gary, but he was a good counter part. Wanting to be helpful like his Dad and frustrated that he was getting past up, because he is probably use to being a leader for people his age. He was fine.
Con wise, got to go with the Regi’s. The hoops you have to have to jump through just to open their caves are dumb and if you have to google what to do, because you can’t read the clues then it is a faulty system. Made the horrifying mistake of not bringing a repel to New Mauvillie. caught Magnemite and voltorb to fill out a bit more of the pokedex and hated both of them by time I left. Speaking of, the Ghost Pokemon were a massive letdown, but I am being immensely bias. Haunter is my favorite Pokemon of all time. Ghastly and Gengar are in the top ten. Caught one and immediately binned it, because I disliked it so much. It was the one hangup I couldn’t move past.
With all that said, i wished kid me would have stuck with Ruby. Hate a great time and would gladly play through again at some point down the line. Try and actually catch Rayquaza. Who knows. Final Grade- A+
As always, I hope you all enjoyed reading this and…
Thank You For Reading.
SmashWriting 
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