idk how to tell you all this but arven is one of the sweetest characters in pokemon scarlet and violet

all pokemon games are good but they are not all equally as good

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tbh my biggest gripes with totk is the fact that they did it beginner friendly new comer friendly... like i know this is gonna sound mean but genuinely I wish it didn't try to cater to new fans who want to get into tloz cause totk's story failed cause it needed to cater to new zelda fans

idc abt the lore getting rebooted, sure im going to miss the triforce being an essential piece of the story and lore, only to become the Hylian symbol and game's logo (which tbh is strange its like pokemon using the pokeball as their logo/symbol but pokeballs becoming obsolete in new pkmn games). But because it wanted to be new comer friendly botw's story and lore aspects are long gone and only to be referred to as easter eggs to ppl who played botw know. When characters talk about things that happened in botw as if it was a long time ago like the attack of the Calamity 100 years ago but things that actually happened a very long time ago make it sound like its pretty recent.

I don't like how the new sages just don't remember the champions at all. If you get the divine beast helms through sidequests and read their dialogue they speak in this way as it is their first time seeing it like?? Which is so strange cause totk would gladly reference Sidon and Link's companionship with a statue when trying to access Vah Ruta in BotW, but Mipha gets barely a mention from him? My biggest hopes before we got the title of the game was to let go of the champions, as in we don't need them to be back as they already have done what they need to do. But also I didn't want them to be completely gone from the game and only know them through easter eggs and references.

Like yeah TotK is a sequel to BotW but its more so "ok botw was a rough draft, THIS is the story we wanted to do" and it turns out to have inconsistencies. Zelda mentions the Calamity a few times, there are tombstones to placed around Hyrule commemorating people who lost their lives by the Calamity. But the Sheikah technology is completely gone, the towers that were there for eons are gone. I feel like the towers could've been an easy fix to explain why they are gone like "oh these chasms appeared and collapsed the towers, so now we built these new towers in replacement."

Like with Majora's Mask being separate but also a follow up to Ocarina of Time works because. While yes they are using the same characters and same game mechanics. They are using a whole different world/setting that is different from OoT. Where it excuses using the same characters and same game mechanics, cause it has a complete different story but is consistent on where it left off with Ocarina of Time. I honestly thought TotK was going to take place mostly in the skies than in the surface. Since they kept hyping people up with the teaser trailers and then we had SkSw HD being released. Like yeah it will be like some glorified version of SkSw

When I was reading the interviews Nintendo uploaded a few days before TotK's release and saw Fujibayashi say ,"We put in some effort to make sure that it feels comfortable for both first-time players and those with experience of the previous game." In the back of my mind I questioned a bit this cause I mostly asked myself "isn't this a sequel?" but then I reassured myself that they'll probably would reexplain certain things about the previous game and what happened in the story for new comers. But not to this extreme

PKMN IRL Master Post

This post is a list of every single one of my Pokemon IRL blogs. It will lengthen or shorten as I create or delete blogs. Mostly lengthen, probably.

@fox-poke-fanatic: A blog run by Caleb, average college student who wants to become the ultimate expert on fox pokemon.

@aura-acolyte: My take on the protagonist of ORAS, here named Mare Birch. She has Aura Powers and is also the Chosen of Rayquaza, a role that is both poorly defined and well defined. She gets involved in a lot of high stakes stuff. She's also the protagonist of that fanfic I linked.

@the-looker-bureau: A blog focusing on Looker and Emma. In this universe, Looker continued being a private detective and father figure for Emma.

@last-lorekeeper: A blog run by Zinnia, the Lorekeeper of the Draconid people. She's taken up teaching in her spare time.

@twinchampionsofkalos: A blog run by Calem and Serena, who in this universe both take the role of Champion of the Kalos region. Calem's the responsible one while Serena's the more reckless one. Calem is an Acearo malewife and Serena is a Lesbian girlboss and certified disaster gay.

@appeallove: A blog run by Lisia, contest spectacular idol. She's always peppy, never dropping her cheerful demeanor even when mad. She may be one of the scariest people on the planet.

@rocket-cast-official: Prepare for Trouble and Make it Double. The Team Rocket Trio hosts a podcast. Hopefully they won't be blasting off again.

@glitchskulls: A blog co-run with @newworldenderdragon. It focuses on the newly established branch of Team Skull in Glitch City, a region where space is weird and Glitch Pokemon are the norm. Due to the nature of Glitch Pokemon there is a general unreality tw on this one.

@guardian-ofthe-sky: Rayquaza runs a blog where it tries to play the responsible parent. It's very proud of it's Chosen.

@aqua-magma-official: The account of the reformed Teams Aqua and Magma, run by their twin PR heads Magma Grunt Kai and Aqua Grunt Nicky. Yes, they are genuinely reformed this is not a secret evil plot. Blog is usually low stakes and will not become high stakes of its own accord.

@hoenn-tv-official: After one too many hospital trips and legal snafus, Gabby and Ty have been demoted to Social Media Rep. However shall they cope.

@phantom-flower: A blog for Phoebe, Ghost Type Hoenn Elite Four Member.

@the-new-eon-duo: A pair of Superheroes backed by the Devon Corporation. If your first reaction was "ew corporation" you have the right idea.

@themostspecialestlegendaryever: A blog for Latias, the world's best, most specialest legendary ever.

@pokestar-rosa: A blog for Rosa who decided bring Champion wasn't for her and became an actor instead. It's also an excuse for me to give screenwriting and movie nerd rants.

@landandseaunited: Archie and Maxie are reformed and dating. Good for them.

@kalos-news-network-official: The official blog for the Kalos News Network, run by Malva, Chief Bitch.

@leavesofbattle: A blog for Leaf as an adult.

@naranja-uva-student-council: An AU where all four protags of ScarVio are on the Student Council instead of just Nemona. Inspired by Kaguya-Sama: Love is War.

@shiftingbetweenrealities: As a result of the final showdown at Spear Pillar, Cynthia has found herself cast out into the multiverse, constantly changing universes. Unfortunately, her physical body was not cast into the multiverse, only her mind, so she inhabits the body of whatever Cynthia is native to that universe.

@hoenn-battle-frontier-official: Blog for the Hoenn Battle Frontier, located in LaRousse City, run by Anabel.

@xxcodeveeveexx: Cassiopeia | Any Pronouns | Likes: Veevees, Coding, Anime, Video Games | Dislikes: Social Interactions, Bullies

@lea-hi: "Faller" (not really cause no Ultra Wormholes but I'm the only one who seems to care about the actual definition) blog for Lea from CrossCode.

@friendly-neighborhood-calem: You can call her Callie. Or Cal on boy days. Yes, I made a second Calem blog shut up. This one's the rival, not the protag, so it's different. And also she's gender-fluid.

@its-gonna-be-may: You ever see My Next Life as a Villainess? It's like that but with May.

@maydaysjournal: May's School Counselor suggested that she keep a Diary Journal. Also, her dads are Archie and Maxie.

top 5 pkmn rivals OR top 5 non-pokemon video games :D

starting with rivals...

5) silver

he is so silly his favorite video game is probably unironicly shadow the hedgehog. i think it's sad he has never interacted with red once not even in pokemas which is so weird to me. milesverse silver and red (also leaf/green but she's from an alternate universe so she doesn't count) are brothers (same dad) so uh yeah. more milesverse lore silver basically tried impersonating red during the main story ethan like immediately figures out he's full of shit not only because he looks nothing like him but also silver dropped his trainer id so lmao. the team rocket grunts he fights don't realize though. so uh yeah the meow meow

4) blue

kanto trio sweep. i love blue a lot but like specifically the made up version of him in my head and also anything post gen 1. gen 1 blue by himself isn't like incredible or anything though he is easily the best character in gen 1 by virtue of being the only character with more than four lines. though milesverse gen 1 era blue is my little meow meow i have given him every mental illness

3) cheren and n

i don't know who i like more so i put them together. very swag dudes i like them a lot

2) all of the sv rivals

i love them so much i had to put them all on here but i didn't want to put any of them higher than eachother i love them all equally they are my besties for real

1) wally

walter my little meow meow he was born in a wet cardboard box all alone i will protect him with my life he is my little guy. here's some milesverse lore he's like basically the main character in the gen 3 adaptation though brendan is like thoroughly convinced he is. wally, brendan, and may end up calling themselves team sky when they start going against magma and aqua. wally kinda just blurts it out during the part at the waterfall place and the gang rolls with it. also wally summons rayquaza like how the player does in emerald so uh yeah wally swag moments. he also becomes champion at the end

and now vidya games

5) sonic 3 & knuckles

i love sonic <3

4) sonic adventure 2

i love sonic <3

3) undertale

undertale sweep i love undertale so much. when i was a kid i though aus were so cool i made an au where all the characters were pokemon. i love that game. i actually like deltarune more but it's not done yet so undertale takes its place for now

2) persona 3

it's an incredibly wonderful game about living your life to the fullest even though death is inevitable with characters i adore. it is also a game created by a guy who said that he has never had a friendship with a woman and it shows. never play a persona game worst mistake in my life 0/10 don't recommend. it is also one of my favorite games of all time. special mention to the new content added in persona 5 royal actual peak fiction it is so good and on its own could be my favorite game of all time. too bad it's still persona 5. persona 4 is just bad for the love of god never play persona 4

1) kingdom hearts 2

i am. a big fan of kh. sorry for liking the disney game i can't help it. the kairi in my url is in fact kairi kingdom hearts. i will defend her honor to the end of times no one gets to bully her when im around. i kinda hate the kh fandom though specifically the people who are really invested in the ships there is a lot of misogyny there i fear. back to the game kh2 is fucking amazing it's so fun to play and the ending is so cool and the first four hours is good actually fuck you. hashtag kairi sweep give her a game square enix you cowards

10 thru 15!

Are there any fandom(s) you avoid roleplaying in?

not overtly? this question to me implies a 'rotten egg' fandom, but I avoid muns more than series; bullies that lash out consistently, bigots, and apologists all share the 'don't step on my eggshells!!!!' hypocrisy when met with criticism- it doesn't matter how well behaved I am when explaining.

Antisemitism is the biggest No, however. My tastes have honestly outgrown anything written by an antisemite, and come to think of it, sexist/transphobic tropes. There's media I won't engage with of course, no more no less.

What made you start wanting to roleplay?

Last go around an RP group caught the attention of my favourite deviantartist...or maybe a member invited me? That was back in 2010, and pkmn-crossing was all anthros in a chatroom.

This time around I found the RP community through a friend (that wrote cheren), and just kinda....started messing with lysandres. The popular demand and attention was high, so my personal got remade into an RP blog after I got overwhelmed, aha. So, making people laugh? I've never intended for Felix or I to improve or develop, actually, but I'm glad that i have.

RPing is the most time-friendly hobby that I have- I can get satisfied or something 'done' in mere minutes where I often avoid doing tasks before work; compared to flipping on a video game where i need hours. So, it's addictive in that sense where the commitment isn't high-stakes; if i get distracted for 5 minutes it's fine!

Are there any characters you’re interested in wanting to roleplay as? 

hmmm as a general rule, I desire to play whoever the community needs, I'd love to play sb underrated- but largely speaking muses Come to Me- It's been years since I RPed a character On Purpose, and it was Colress for a lil while- before i ever played BW2 and apparently nailed his portrayal from wiki alone!

The other day I did express some mild interest in RPing as N. i think the plan for now is maybe trying to develop the new muses I already have; Rex, Cynthia, and Arven are big ones.

But, knowing me, I'm gonna end up with some new random-ass muse before i get anything new done. Cutting icons for Adaman is probably something I should consider committing to since his muse is kinda quiet, as well. some other asshole's gonna pop up though, I just know it.

Are you interested in creating an oc and roleplaying as them?

oh always; I have several OCs in line for making pokemon verses of, need to get their bios done. Rex, Cassi, and Amadeus are big players here; and Magnus has finally translated well to pokemon. I may make a grunt or admin/leader for my Alpha Wolves team; although being based on literal bigotry it might just be played for laughs w/ the grunt.

And of course, Felix's kids're kinda half-baked by default- specifying their lineage for threads always sounds fun.

What are your thoughts on duplicates?

Oh please, I adore duplicates completely! My ADHD brain craves not just the variety in general between headcanons, but the individual familiar vibes of each alt! I feel pretty much zero amount threatened; to tell the truth my own muses don't always behave in the way I'd 'expect' the character to, so it's entirely possible for a duplicate to have the headcanons closest to what I have- or something similar! And that type of metacognition makes me feel safer anyways; I'll read a line or see a canon detail and go 'oh people are definitely gonna interpret this as A or B' so the 'result' doesn't seem so scary, if that makes sense.

I barely can decide on headcanons to begin with anyways- I'm extremely openminded so long as things aren't too legitimately gross.

What’s your impression on blogs who are selective/private?

Well, generally speaking I just assume the person is shy, or has crippling social anxiety. my rejection sensitive dysphoria is really, really bad- I don't often seek out these kinds of blogs with high hopes and get flattered when i do get their attention!

but, and I hate to say it, that I do watch my mutuals like a hawk- before we ever had a checker, I would check. Breaking mutuals with me noticably is an unfollow, and if followbacks never happen, it's on borrowed time (usually a month or few.) This is really just because I don't have much brainspace in me for being a 'fan' for the time being; nobody is obligated to do anything for me, but I try to do my best to nurture and encourage my own wants and needs too so that I don't get frustrated and sink too far down with my mental health. I'm happy to help people, but the risk of making somebody uncomfortable is a worry, too. I rarely keep nonmutuals- and when I do it tends to be just to read their writing with little intent to send things in or like posts.

But, of course there's blogs here and there whose rules might piss me off (especially if it's oxymoronic to my own blog.), I roll my eyes and move on without following. I try not to dwell on it, figure that they'll learn in their own time, and also try to keep quiet as far as they're concerned and off their radar while simultaneously having fun as usual and making general presence for myself- I don't provide dash commentary for non-mutuals to avoid confusion and/or 'butting in' to conversations that aren't 'mine.' It's not my job to try to convince em. and if it happens, my work will show them and I needn't engage and make it a Thing.

I have points of selectivity myself, so in a general sense I do get it. though mine are generally exhaustion, fairness, and attitude based; I try to avoid situations where:

somebody is dependent on me for their mental health (this includes entertainment/boredom) especially in a time-sensitive way.

somebody will fight with me, because I don't hold back

somebody will hurt me or others and can't be talked down- either because they want to hurt, or don't want to listen/change.

but I've pretty much only blocked regular partners for barging angrily into my DMs without warning, harassing me for threads/voice calls (by asking excessively if i was in the mood for them at inappropriate times), and trying to justify calling Felix a 'trap' when politely asked not to (my transition was fresh and scary- was not in the mind for slurs at the time.) otherwise I try to be chill overall, aaaa.

Weds since you're in Pokémon mode rn I wanna see your Legends Arceus opinions if you have any, it's personally the most fun I've ever had with a pokemon game so far I love being a pokemon biologist

omg i have not played it yet! i hope they carry any fun like full sim stuff over to the new region, and okay i really like the mythos lore and stuff of d/p, if it Had been the actual last pkmn that would have been alright i feel like that or b/w like how people thought back then and sometimes it does feel like that had been the intent but x/y is so charming despite a lot of things and sun and moon is like top slot number one pkmn game, but d/p its so like deep futuristic and strange, and im glad that carried over to legends, im also a big fan of like time travel theories right along with like war stuff so like, also legends and stuff like it often are my fave things about pkmn like nonmain series stuff ends up being so cool, like i miss stuff like sevvi islands or like the just overload of strange stuff in emerald or like the shadow series

but i think its rather problematic to take pokemon from other regions and connect them to like to this and like others who are affected by this in a day to day way have said its really freaking weird to make a game be like teehee my pocket monsters [colonizing of an inhabited land in the background] like, pokemon games have avoided this in the past by making stuff seem like scifi futuristic alt space so this past thing in the way theyre doing it is really like,i think in poor tastes

cause like past games were designed like with draw Hard Line this pokemon is from this region, even if they appear from another region its as import, invasive, or like an expanded territory, where further away regions were given no like interconnectivity like why would rowlet be there, implying thats like the Truer form like its really,,hm, tasteless, given like japan's history with hawaii,, and like rude, a lot of design work recently has felt that that to me like, mean spirited

like here's all this work and effort previous teams put in to make this world feel a certain way, like rules the setting has, designs meant to exist in a certain space and feel a certain way, well now we're going to use it this way, do as little work on it as possible, to make fat stacks of cash, overall i find design work is uggo to me, i know its a by product of how the staff is like separated from each other (like you can design a creature and have no say in its name or what it does in the game or even its final color palette,,,,insane) and how much crunch it is but it has a really strong vibe of like being made to cater to like a casual western player in a way that feels hard to arctiulate like when you're in a shop and there's stuff for tourists willing to spend 30 dollars or so on something that Looks like its from there

but from the fan art im filter feeding off the dash the writing looks like it takes it so some pretty cool places! not fully related, but i dont think id mind it if they did these like mini games to support legendary lore! like i do mind that theyre 60 dollars each, but if each legendary came with a free or like 10 dollarish or 30 dollarish (being realistic =_=) dlc event thing that would be really cool! one of my All time fave things about d/p is like invsa wall hacking it and walking off into the void to see the legendaries chilling, and its all extremely cluttered in the main game but imagine like a two hour or so fully written add on getting to explore them, they just try to do soo much in the main games it ends up thinning them out too much, id rather like smaller story with a more robust simulator with story added overtime

ok final thoughts

1) i dont care about unite and honestly do not think it will be relevant at all past this year

2) cafe remix is cool though i dont feel it was entirely necessary to rebrand like that like just update the game

3) leon my beloved (i also dont care about mastersex but shout out 2 him)

4) go update hoenstly interets me just bc ive been looking to go walk more so i think the hoopa event will be fun (though i feel like it may be just a cover for the criticisms from rolling back the pandemic stuff they did to make it easier to play at home)

5) remakes still look like playmobils which i still dislike severely, and i dont really like the idea of the underground parts it just feels like its trying to rip off of swshs underground raid thing but who knows it might b fun. also i REALLY hope they release that lite design as a real switch (maybe an oled kind since those r comin out? would b a good idea imo) or st least a skin or case or smth bc i would LOVE to have that design since i had the original DS (which was my intro to pkmn and gaming in general so it is very dear 2 my heart) but im not buying a whole new switch esp not a lite lol

6) apparently its called legends: arceus and not legends of arceus which 1) im an idiot and 2)seems like it might not be the ONLY 'pokemon legends' game if theyre subtitling it? maybe in the future theyre planning on this like a new spinoff series like ranger or smth. im rlly excited to see like all the Pre-sinnoh lore n shit esp w references to shit like jubilife and the galaxy exploration team so we may see more indepth worldbuilding!! also i am like. a bit tired of regional forms and evos but i think the ines here r cool except i am MOST excited to see how tf they explain why they disappear when hisui becomes sinnoh. im assuming its something like (real life) evolution over time where probably due to like. chsnging environment or interactions w the people (ESP w more relations btwn humans and pokemon) some evolutions and forms just ceased to exist? which opens up a HUGE can of worms. or they were forgotten by time, which is a slightly smaller but still fairly large can. also the shinx pokedez entry that daid "forms encountered" interested the FUCK out of me. like what r u implying. r we gonna see more diversity within pkmn breeds?? that would be cool as s hit. also i love how the pkmn can literally just beat the fuck out of you on sight LOL

anyways legends: arceus was DEFINITELY the trophy winner of the presentation. now if you excuse me i have to cry about my poor hemorrhaging wallet as i preorder so much stuff

harsh new horizons rant

- the soundtrack is the worst in the series (i get this is highly subjective bc well its music, but i have seen a lot of ppl unsatisfied w this ost) & i wish there was some way we could change soundtracks to ones from older games. hell, id even be willing to fork out a few dollars for that. ive been playing since launch day & off the top of my head the only song i remember is the title song, i havent played ww/cf in years & i still remember basically all of the ost

- as an og fan it is frustrating to have to wait for all the same old stuff to get added back, it feels much more beneficial to new players than people who have been longtime fans. for a new player, who has never seen katrina or jack before, they will feel new & unique, for me its just something that should've been there all along, "finally at last they added this" rather than "oh cool this is new" for me. i dont care if this is "just how games are now", "but you would've had to wait longer for a full game", & "at least it isnt like sword & shield", it still sucks, plain and simple

- the villagers in terms of dialogue somehow have less personality than new leaf. we desperately need a QOL & villager update before anything else imo, the relationships & bonds u make are supposed to be a core part of this game but it feels so empty rn

- bc of how watered down the dialogue is, & how little there is to do, it honestly feels like the game was designed to be a decorating game above all else now, like you're *supposed* to share on social media. its kind of sad how the instagram trend of having the prettiest x has infected even animal crossing now, it was definitely there from the new leaf days but the community has definitely gotten worse due to how much of a global phenomenon new horizons has become. not saying this is a fixable issue, its just something suck-y that happened, not like the devs can do anything abt it, this is just how i feel

- it sucks we have had no new animal species & only like 5 something new villagers, i was hoping for something big, more personality types, hell maybe even an overhaul of the personality types so they're more individualistic, but nope. the villagers, the bonds u make, r supposed to be a key part of this game. making friends is like, the opening sequence of the original game ffs but they dont feel at all like friends... if u have a pink island u have cookie, if u have a goth island u have muffy.. villagers r just decoration, there to fit the themes now :( they always were, to some extent, but it feels amplified now that u can design ur whole island

- the lack of furniture & weird clothes from prior games have made the game lose more charm. people laugh at u for using the same furniture but its like, we dont have much to work with if we arent going for a cOtTaGeCoRe island 🤷‍♀️

- i dont like how much it feels like you have to buy the online to get stuff you want, just make it so they're customisable but only with lots of kits or smth. you can call me a cheapskate all u like but i aint paying for a garbage online when it was free in the other games 👀 at the very least qr code reading shouldnt require online, bc it was free in the last game. everyone complains abt pkmn being guilty of this but apparently acnh gets a free pass??? making me pay 20 dollars just to get a lamppost in a different colour is dumb as hell nintendo, smart for u bc u know ppl will give u money, but its still dumb

- replacing npcs with menus may be convenient but it also loses more charm the series has, i was honestly hoping for more backstory dialogue like in wild world for the npcs but nope i guess i just have to wait for them to get added back for their usual functions. "whats that? u wanna hear abt katrina? where shes from? well u cant do that but you can wait for anywhere inbetween the *3 years* we said we'd update the game for just for her to be the exact same as she was in new leaf, enjoy :)"

- the fact that it took fan outrage to get save backups is pathetic, i cant believe nintendo didnt think that a game that ur designed to spend YEARS playing would need backup lol

- turn the waterfall noises down nintendo i beg of you

the game definitely feels the most charmless out of all the animal crossing games bc of all of these combined reasons, not to say the devs didnt work hard on it bc they clearly did... but everything just feels so.. idk, clean? like the dialogue is safe & clean & lacks a lot of weirdness & whimsy the dialogue in the older games could have. the graphics are pretty & clean... most of the furniture & clothes are pretty & clean, generic wooden furniture & plants & plain couches... the music is v clean & pretty... in the older games the ost was not afraid to sound sad, even spooky sometimes at night, but theres none of that in new horizons. it just feels... stripped of personality & uniqueness that made the games so charming to me? end rant anyway lol

☕️ mmmm pokemon games specifically (not including spinoffs)

sorry this is late im terrible with actually answering asks. ill do this generation by generation. also this ended up very long because i have a lot of thoughts about pkmn.

gen one: okay so right off the bat im gonna say that i have a massive soft spot for gen one, considering blue was the first game i ever played. i do have a degree of nostalgia towards it which is why i can never be truly be harsh on these games. i know they're a mess of glitches and mechanics that make no fucking sense (seriously FUCK psychic types and everything they stand for) but it has a certain charm to it.

but even as a "kanto apologist" (which damien calls me) i can absolutely agree that the pandering is fucking abysmal. they're trying cater to a demographic who hasn't cared about pokemon in years and aren't going to pick up a new game just because charizard is in it. by doing this it feels like they're alienating the people who actually care, like "yeah ur support is nice but we want the genwunners to like us more than anything.

also on the topic of pandering is that their pandering is so half-assed too. all of this gen one content and not one shred of love for my boys victreebel or cloyster? bro i hate it here.

gen two: i dont really have that much to say here tbh. i have no fond memories of it at all considering i only played through gold once right before hgss came out. i can say that i appreciate all of the bullshit from gen one that it fixed but i have issues with johto as a region that ill elaborate on when i talk about the remakes.

gen three: honestly i never cared much for this gen. i played it quite a bit growing up but it's always been whatever for me. a lot of it just feels kind of.....bland for me. i really don't know what to say because it leaves me feeling conflicted. there's nothing bad about these games that sticks out like a sore thumb but they just don't do it for me, ya know?

i do appreciate frlg for shedding a much better light on kanto though.

gen four: okay so i'll fully admit that the sinnoh games are my childhood faves and are still my faves now but im not letting nostalgia completely cloud my judgement on this.

honestly? i think pokemon peaked with platinum. dp had their problems for sure and some of those still carried over to platinum but the scale in which platinum told its story feels so much grander than any pokemon game that came before or after it. i absolute adore the sinnoh mythos and i only want dp remakes just so it can get expanded upon, i could care less about any actually gameplay from it. ive said this before but you cannot make the god of pokemon and not do anything with it.

as for hgss, i have very mixed feelings about this one but not in the same way gen 3 made me feel because i do have genuine problems here. ive talked before about them but i just cannot stress how bad the level and pokemon distributions are. how the fuck can you make brand new pokemon for your johto region and not put them in fucking johto?

like these games are fine ig. i never cared about the walking pokemon mechanic but it literally feels like people only praise this game as the best because of that one thing that has no bearing on the actual game itself. you can like these games all you want, i still enjoy parts of them myself, but calling them the best is a huge reach.

gen five: right off the bat im gonna say that i do love the gen five games so nobody thinks im being overly critical or anything. i love the aesthetic of these games, i ADORE the pokemon here and they're some of the most fun pokemon games to play through. it's the story and characters (with the exception of n i will absolutely give credit where it is die there) that throw me for a loop.

i feel like whenever i praise the story or characters im just following the crowd here. i don't know if im just very stupid (i definitely am very stupid) or what but none of it felt as powerful as people claim it is for me personally. maybe i should just pay more attention but i honestly don't know. im definitely not saying theyre bad or anything i just in all hobestly dont get the (very sudden) hype.

uhhh i can't say much about bw2 because i haven't beaten it since it came out but i remember liking hugh and it made iris a champion so i remember them being good on those two things alone.

gen six: hohohohoho here we go. tbh i don't even know what i can say about xy that hasn't already been said. like gen one might be a huge mess looking back on it but at least it had character. xy introduced a few pokemon that i really liked and some amazing shiny hunting methods that should definitely return but that's the most i can say in terms of praise.

i dont think pokemon has ever gotten this boring before, and that's speaking as someone who clocked over 300 hours into my x save file. nothing has life (which in hindsight is ironic considering xerneas is the god of life) and i hate the way mega evolution was handled so much. i really don't know what else to say because everyone has already said what i want to but i think this has been pokemon's lowest point so far.

oras once again made hoenn complicated for me. they made hoenn somewhat interesting for me in a way that didnt capture me in the originals. i don't think they're stellar but ive seen people call these the worst ones and....why. i get that the originals are special to a lot of people and that they feel like oras did them injustice but honestly i would oras over the originals because they're just more fun for me.

gen seven: it made popplio. 10/10.

okay so i can understand why the very slow start and unskippable long cutscenes threw a lot of people off but i just don't understand so much of the hate it around other things. again i see people proclaiming it as the worst and you can see it as that from a gameplay element, but the story fucking slapped ass and i don't think amybody can or should deny that. maybe i just feel very passionately about them because they're very personal for me in helping me through a rough time in my life but i just also dont see why everybody is so mad at these games sometimes.

the fact that sm mean so much to me makes usum's entire existence hurt so much more. like wow i love abuse apologism: the game thank you sooooo much gamefreak! /s

aside from ultra wormhole jumping, my baby dusk lycanroc and the new ultra beasts i dont care for anything new usum brought. it feels like it back peddled so much by completely ruining lillie's character by attempting to make lusamine likable when the damage from the first games was already done. i hate usum they're the only pokemon games i can state that i hate. i don't know how you can take sm's well-done albeit flawed blueprints, take out everything that was good and only leave stuff that either doesn't matter or is actively harmful.

also let's go pikachu and eevee exist too idrc

gen eight: ive already spoken my piece on swsh but im gonna be more clear here. i dont think swsh is inherently bad and i can still have fun with them. i dont think the issue here lies with the cut pokedex. i could honestly care less about that and i always figured we would get to this point. the issue lies with nintendo and tpci pushing for yearly releases, forcing the devs to make yearly subpar games. i can think of so many ways they can remedy this situation: taking longer times between releases, hiring more staff at gamefreak or even splitting developments for different projects between multiple different studios. i hope that the reported low moral at gamefreak at swsh's releases is enough of a wake up call for change but that could just be me being optimistic.

i am SO sorry this ended up as long as it is but i have a lot of opinions and not enpugh willpower to keep my mouth shut

A Critical Look at “Pokemon: Sword and Shield” From a Casual’s Perspective...

A/N: Hey! if you’re reading this, then thank you! I don’t know why, but I thought to myself, “Hey, wouldn’t it be cool to write a pointless essay about a Pokemon game?” And then I realized today was the 1YR anniversary of SWSH, so I figured I might as well just do it! So even though I’m late and probably nobody will really care to read all this nonsense, I wrote it! If you’re interested in all the analyses of PKMN SWSH, but aren’t too invested in the technical mumbo-jumbo used by the more hardcore fans, then maybe you’ll enjoy this. 

Also, it’s worth mentioning that I’m literally just some rando on the internet saying my opinion. None of this should really be taken SUPER seriously - it’s mainly designed to provoke thought rather than try to argue any specific idea. So if I say something that you don’t agree with, you got two options: 1) Draft a constructive comment or DM to me and we can discuss calmly like adults, 2) shake your idea and ignore this. There’s really no need to get heated up over a video game essay, of all things, so let’s not do that lol. 

But other than that, yeah! If you’re interested in more stuff like this from me (in-depth analyses of Pokemon games from the perspective of a low-key casual), lemme know! I’d love to chat with anyone about this awesome series.

So, without any further ado, let’s get into the essay (warning: it’s like ~8k words).

Introduction...

Welcome to the wonderful world of Pokemon! Love it or hate it, Pokemon has had a huge impact on popular culture in countless countries in a number of different ways, sparking memes, dreams, and happiness everywhere! It holds a very special place in my heart - Pokemon was a game that I got to share with my two older siblings, was one of the first fandoms I got into, and was a big reason as to why I grew to love creative writing so much after writing a couple fanfictions for the games. I’ve been playing Pokemon ever since my brother gave me a copy of Pokemon: Ruby and have been a devoted fan ever since. While I may not be super into the strategy and damn near mathematical aspects of gameplay, I’d like to consider myself a relatively knowledgeable fan with enough extra knowledge to give a look at one of these games from a casual, yet analytical view. So what game other than the newest title, Pokemon: Sword and Shield, with its release anniversary being today? In this casual online essay, I hope to describe all my thoughts of Sword and Shield (which I’ll shorten down to just “SWSH”) from the perspective of the everyday Pokemon fan.

General Gameplay...

Many top-title games of Nintendo are best known for their simplicity: in Super Mario Bros, you’re a mustachioed red guy jumping on monsters to try and save some random princess (who may or may not be in this castle); in The Legend of Zelda, you’re a green elf-looking guy slashing wildly at monsters with a sword given to you by some old guy in hopes of defeating some ultimate bad guy; and in Pokemon, you’re a child wandering around the region catching monsters who also accidentally saves the world before becoming the very best (like no-one ever was). And while the games themselves have grown from that initial stylistic simplicity, some have lost that creative in-depthness in favor of being playable for children. This is probably the biggest issue with the newer Pokemon games as of late.

Regardless, let’s look into the playability of SWSH.

It’s played like your regular Pokemon game; you’re a kid who journeys to become the Champion of Pokemon Battling with your friend, catching monsters known as “Pokemon” with pocket-sized balls dubbed “Pokeballs.” But I’m sure you’re all aware of that information, and are instead asking “Well, what’s the deeper plot?” Yeah, no, that’s it. You’re a kid catching Pokemon to become champion - oh, and you also accidentally save the world from a power-hungry businessman - but that’s neither here nor there.

Plot aside, the game is a bit barebones. It’s pretty linear gameplay (literally linear - the map of the Galar region is almost exactly a straight-line waltz from Postwick to Wyndon, which is a bit weird after dealing with the giant, sprawling maps of earlier generations) where you travel from place to place, beating gyms and catching ‘mons, before getting into a couple scuffles and becoming champion. For an RPG-styled game, it comes off as much too simplistic for older fans (I’d even reason that it’s too simplistic for younger players, as well). While I will say, I don’t exactly miss the days of hopelessly wandering around a pixel city, trying desperately to figure out how to move on to the next town because the answer to the puzzle is hidden in this giant area that my little peanut-brain couldn’t figure out at the time. But it is a bit demeaning to get “Hey, do you know where to go?” and  “Hey, follow me so you don’t get lost!” and “Oh, yeah, want another tutorial on how to easily catch Pokemon for the fourth time in a row?” every two seconds in a city where there’s only two places to check out.

But we can’t really discuss the gameplay of Pokemon without discussing the highlights of the region. Ever since the transition from 2D to 3D, Pokemon games have begun a trend of gimmicks - which I like to call “battle enhancers” - that they use to add uniqueness to their games. X&Y had Mega Evolution, Sun and Moon (and USUM) had Z-Moves, and now we have Dynamax! As we all know, battle enhancers are the strategy by which the player uses some extraterrestrial/magic stone to physically enhance one pokemon at a time for a certain period of time - in the case of Dynamax, the pokemon either grows in size or changes in form, gaining the ability to use special type-based attacks for a duration of three turns.

Honestly, I think it’s a pretty fun mechanic! Dynamax combines the good components of both Z-Moves and Mega Evolution - new forms, awesome moves, and a ticking clock. It adds a bit more strategy to the battle enhancer, where the player actually has to plan out who and when to Dynamax (though it’s really not that hard - most everyone will save it for their ace or the pokemon with the type advantage at the very end of the battle, because that’s what you do). But it’s fun and creative, making the battle a bit more exciting when you see your beloved ace become gargantuan on a field while the audience chants in excitement. Initially, I was skeptical of the battle enhancer, but once I threw myself into the game and really got into it, I felt it was fun and cool for the region. My feelings were further improved when I learned that Dynamax was inspired by the idea that the Nintendo Switch had the potential to be played on the TV as well as in a hand-held mode. The idea of turning pokemon “big” on a “big-screen” is really just so cute to me, really. Overall, it’s a fitting concept that is paired well to the game when everything is considered.

But when you look beyond the Dynamx experience to find more content in the game… there’s really not much else. Many people (including me) were ecstatic to hear about the free-roam areas in SWSH - the Wild Areas. Here, you can do all the fun grinding stuff that makes Pokemon games a bit more challenging and fun - hatching eggs, shiny-hunting, running around in circles, Dynamax dens, etc. But when looking at other Pokemon games, that’s really it. Let’s examine Pokemon: Sun and Moon, for example. This game really shines not just for its refreshing setting and compelling plot-line, but also for it’s amount of cute and quirky mini-games to be enjoyed for a good while outside of the main story. Pyukumuku Chucking, Mantine Surfing, the Alolan Photo Club, Ultra Warp Ride Travel - a good handful of mini-games that appeal to different kinds of people! All of these mini-games aren’t just tossed in there, either - they have a fitting place in the culture of the world and add to it, rather than just reiterating it. But when you look for mini-games in SWSH, you won’t really find anything aside from just battling. Sure, there’s the Battle Tower, as well, but I’ll personally say that I’ve never been a fan of the concept of post-game NPC battle buildings. For a hardcore player, they might be fun, but as a casual who can’t devote the time to really dig into understanding how IVs and competitive breeding works, they’re really no fun. Not to mention that nothing is really being added or developed with these battle buildings; they don’t add to lore, they don’t add to the culture of the region, you don’t even really gain anything from it - they’re pretty much just places to battle the occasional familiar face and that’s it. While I’m sure plenty of people adore these facilities in the games, I’ve never been too partial to them (I’d even prefer those god-forsaken casinos over another goddamn battle frontier).

But my biggest problem lies with the release of the DLC. While I’m not against the idea of DLC in general, both The Isle of Armour and The Crown Tundra left a bitter taste in my mouth when I started thinking about the issue of playability in SWSH.

I have always been more invested in the storyline of Pokemon games rather than the battling aspects. Usually I’ve always just gotten through the main story, then wandered around to find extra post-game content or mini-games, and then moved on to other games. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing - I just figure that the games have served their purpose for me upon completion, so rather than bore myself wandering around and doing things that don’t interest me, I go find another game that has more story-based content. That being said, I finished SWSH in less time than any other Pokemon game (I’d say somewhere around twenty hours, complete with me running around in circles like an idiot before rushing through content intermittently); as a result, I was no longer actively playing the game by the time the DLC was announced.

I’ll be honest and say that when I learned about all that was being offered in both sets of DLC, I felt a bit betrayed. I’m well-aware that Nintendo is a corporate business, and therefore will always prioritize financial gain over their fans’ lasting enjoyment of their titles - that’s just a fact of life. But I couldn’t help but feel like I paid a bunch of money for the bundled titles, only to play a game that hardly could be considered worthwhile or satisfying without added headcanons or fan-works, and then get told that extra content is available that may or may not add satisfaction to the experience that’s already long since ended for me. It was just a bit disappointing - and I’m not talking about the whole “Dexit” deal (I actually was on-board with the idea of having no real National Dex - I felt it added realism to the games and would force players to get to know the new Pokemon instead of just choosing the same team they always have since Gen 1 or whatever). My gripe is that I paid for a whole game, wasn’t satisfied with the result, only to hear later that the content that I might have been missing is available to pay for? That’s incredibly annoying. Not to mention that I was further disappointed after learning about the contents of the DLC, but we’ll get into that later.

Overall, the playability of SWSH is very basic, but can be enjoyable if you suspend belief and just enjoy it for what it is. When it comes to storyline, it’s not much of a game, and doesn’t sport much post-game content besides battling.

Immersion and Ambience...

Many of my friends can attest that I tend to like silly, fantastical concepts because I personally love to throw myself into the universe being offered to me. Pokemon is really no different - the games have always sported a very immersive experience for me thanks to the combination of interesting regions and evocative music (especially the music).

I think that most every Pokemon fan has a specific region, city, and music theme that sparks a plethora of nostalgic emotions to the point of near tears. For me, that’s always been Pokemon: Platinum, the Twinleaf Town theme - just staring into the rippling reflection of the pond by the player’s home, listening to that beautiful synth clarinet playing that nostalgic melody - it makes my heart beat with so much fervent passion that I hardly have the words to describe it! And I think that sense of nostalgia - regardless of whether or not those memories are old or new - has always been a strong-suit for Pokemon games. They always have the ability to inspire such deep emotions in me and other alike in a variety of ways, further adding to the ability to immerse us into the game’s world. And whether your favorite area is as simple as Twinleaf Town in the Sinnoh region, or as agonizing as Rock Tunnel in Kanto, it’s the spirit of certain cities/towns/routes that further add to the immersion of the world in question. But how well does SWSH hold those values? Spoiler Alert: Not very well.

SWSH, in the end, is still a Pokemon game - so the setting is very vibrant and colorful and everything that can hold my attention for long periods of time. But the problem arises when one begins to progress through the game and continuously forgets what’s where and where’s what. A lot of the map is painfully basic (again, due to the literal linear nature of the Galar region) and the cities themselves kind of lack their own real originality. There was an attempt at unique cities that’s become iconic of the Pokemon franchise, but it doesn’t really stick. I think most people would agree with me that the only real memorable areas in the main game were Slumbering Weald, Ballonlea, and Spikemuth, and each of these areas have their own set of problems that also make them a bit difficult to fully enjoy. At their core, most all Galarian cities have the same basic set-up: basic green plants (if plants are in that area at all), the same brick roads that lead either to the gym or to a route leading in/out of city to another city, and a giant gym/key building in the center of it all. And that’s really about it. No real interesting buildings except for gyms and Rose Tower (and I guess technically the hotels), no extraneous locations that aren’t directly related to the plot or to gimmicks - it’s very bare-bones and really can take you out of the experience.

In a hard contrast, I’ll give the example of Generation 1’s region set up - every city has its own personality that also matches the feel of the region as a whole. Every city is based on colors, and each city is themed after that, respectively (i.e. Vermillion City, the city of sunsets themed around the color orange, is home to the Pokemon Fan Club and the kick-ass electric-type gym that initiates feelings of excitement; Lavender Town, the noble town themed around the color purple, is home to the Pokemon Tower and spooky spirits that inspire feelings of somberness and reticence). Obviously, this isn’t very realistic, but the trick isn’t to replicate reality - it is to inspire reality. The Kanto region is incredibly creative, and therefore is easy to immerse oneself into the world because it’s become a world we are actively interested in. We know that it could never truly be real or plausible, but that hardly matters when we are so enthralled with the colors and set-up and feeling of the towns. We don’t really get much of that in Galar. It probably isn’t such a great idea for your final city - being Wyndon - to feel blank and lifeless when compared to minor cities in the region. And even when we find cities that hold that uniqueness we desire like in Spikemuth or Ballonlea, there’s really no other reason to be there longer than just beating the gym. It’s sad, really. Spikemuth is such a interesting, creative-looking town home to such cool characters, and yet there literally is only one path to get in and out of the town - the town isn’t even given small houses to investigate like literally every other city in the region. It’s a waste of potential! The fact that I can’t investigate such a promising setting that inspires me really takes me out of the world, reminding me that this is just a video game in which you move from Point A to Point B. It’s no longer a fantasy world for me to explore, but instead a line at the DMV to get my Drivers’ License. The only real good thing about this is that fanfiction writers get so much free-reign when it comes to writing about the city - the only thing we really learn about the city is that it’s underfunded and gloomy and that’s literally it. I would have really liked to see more inspired cities around the region where things outside of the main plot can be done, but hopefully this is just a problem we’ll see in this region.

Probably the most important aspect of immersion (in my opinion) is the music. With the potential to make or break a game for me, I hold a lot of expectations on the music found in video games (I’ve been classically trained in music since elementary school, and have always had a fondness for video game music). Pokemon music has always been some of the most inspiring pieces of art in my life - whether it be the kickass battle suite of Champion Cynthia, or the somber piano melody of Emma’s Theme, the music of Pokemon has always been the first thing I notice and analyze whenever playing the latest title. That all being said, I have quite a few notes to make in regards to the soundtrack of SWSH.

I’ll start with the pros, first. Generally, every main title has had its own feel when it comes to the soundtrack - DPP was jazzy and smooth, Sun and Moon was based on popular Hawaiian music meshed together with classic Pokemon synths, RSE was all about the horn section (trombones and french horns all the way!). SWSH, at the end of the day, isn’t much different. The region is inspired by the UK, so it’s no surprise to discover that the soundtrack was inspired by popular British Rock. As a result, a lot of themes went really hard, keeping a hint of individuality even when some battle themes hosted similar instruments. The biggest appeal of the soundtrack, I believe, was found in the little moments, namely the cheers of the gym battle themes. I think it’s safe to say that most people get super hyped when they hear those rhythmical chants coming to life whenever in the final leg of the battle, right when you begin to Dynamax. That’s amazingly exciting, never failing to suck me into that exact moment to gather the power of God and anime to defeat my opponent. While I wasn’t totally rocking out to every single song that came on, I was pretty satisfied with the music of SWSH, overall. It’s not too bad, and hosts a few bops that I still seek out to get my blood pumping.

But, as to be expected, there are plenty of cons when it comes to the soundtrack of SWSH. I could go over this for hours and hours, detailing complex definitions of music theory and basic song comprehension, but I’ll just make this nice and simple: it was really bland.

Note that I said “bland” and not “bad” - the music is fine in my opinion, I just wasn’t feeling the same feelings as I had in previous Pokemon titles. It all felt like Pokemon music, but not much else. It was like remembering hints of a memory long-lost, but you don’t really care about to dig deep into your mind for context. Towns had music, routes had music, pokemon and characters had battle themes, yada yada yada, nothing really to write home about. If I had to pick a song that honestly, truly invoked emotions beyond “Oh it’s battle time, now”, it would have to be the Battle Tower Theme, and that’s most likely because it was written by someone else entirely (Toby Fox, also known as the creator of Undertale and composer of super hard-hitting jams). And the worst part is that I never would have even been able to hear the Battle Tower theme because I hate battle buildings (which is more of a personal problem, I know, but still). Honestly, I would have preferred hearing that theme as compared to Champion Leon’s battle theme - I feel like his champion theme was very bland and lifeless, simply holding all the required elements of a Pokemon battle theme just because that’s what has to happen. It’s uninspired, faceless, and corporate, only to be completely foiled by the unique blast of energy found in the Battle Theme, which just screams “Prove that you’re the best!” over and over to me (also known as a big theme in the Pokemon games, especially in SWSH).

That’s not to say that every other theme in the game was terrible. I much enjoyed Marnie and Piers’ battle themes, but for a different reason. As we know, Piers and Marnie host a more “punk rock” style when compared to literally everyone else in-game, a trademark of Spikemuth citizens. With their occasionally cold and prickly (no pun intended) personalities, their themes go a bit harder into rock-land as compared to characters like Hop or Bede. There’s no conflict of style there - it’s “punk” with “rock”, loads of guitars and bass with a hint of synths to keep that Pokemon flare, and fits a bit better in the setting of the world. Mild conflict arises when we start looking at characters who aren’t rockstars or idols - let’s look at Bede’s theme, for example. While it really isn’t a bad theme (it’s actually, dare I say, a bop), I wouldn’t exactly say that the resulting pieces fit neatly together like they do for the Spikemuth duo. Bede’s theme requires a lot of synths to accentuate his more flamboyant and immature personality, but also holds ties with the rock guitars while also trying so desperately hard to sound like a Pokemon song. Now, I don’t think “Pop Synth Rock” is anything bad, per se; I just feel like the added rock elements didn’t do much to add to the musical representation of our cliche jerk-face “rival”. It feels like the rock elements were an after-thought rather than a planned layer of musicality. I could really say the same thing about Hop’s theme, but then I would have to re-listen to Hop’s theme because I always forget what it sounds like even after listening to it a second before.

A big problem is that not many of these themes hold lastingly memorable motifs/melodies, which is a personal pet-peeve of mine in games where the music is highly esteemed. In pretty much every battle theme (except the generic pokemon encounter theme, which is the same melody in every Pokemon game, only with variations added to fit the music theme of the region) is just an on-going strip of notes that sound nice when playing the game, but if you tried to pick out the specific melody-line of that character, it’s a bit of work to really find anything. Let’s look at a more concrete example: Lusamine’s battle theme from Pokemon: Sun and Moon is up on my list of most memorable battle themes, and will do well without the extra influence of young me’s nostalgia seeping in like it would with earlier generations’ battle themes. Lusamine, as we know, was the elite antagonist of the game, being the leader of this esteemed Pokemon protection group who later is revealed to be using Pokemon for her own demented goals of perfection. Almost immediately, the player hears the signature accents of the harpsichord playing the prime motif before the piece digs into a full orchestration. It doesn’t sacrifice anything for the sake of “sounding like a Pokemon song”, nor does it sacrifice anything for the sake of keeping with the musical inspiration. Instead, it focuses on being exactly what it needs to be - a musical representation of Lusamine, hosting orchestra-based instruments (piano, violas and cellos, horns, violins, light pad synths, etc…). Most anyone can pick out a handful of memorable motifs from her theme (the main horns melody line, the harpsichord melody line, the mid-section cello and piano melody line, etc…), and those remain in our unconscious. So, it’s no surprise that when she becomes the “Mother Beast” later on, when the player hears hints of those signature melody lines becoming distorted in the madness of the new battle theme, it invokes a particular emotion that fits elegantly with the subject matter of the plot right then. In short, it’s musical storytelling done right. In SWSH, we don’t have that extra omph of emotionally-nostalgic motifs; instead, we just get songs that play in the background of this video game, and that’s really it. If you don’t like the song, good news - you’ll probably only hear it once or twice, depending on who the NPC is. If you do, then you’re out of luck for the very same reasons. This game lacks a very basic hint of soul to its soundtrack, which is really such a jarring idea especially when you realize that they paired up with a composer who arguably has mastered the idea of musical motifs (Fox).

This really isn’t just SWSH’s problem, either. I also went through a similar heartbreak in S&M during the final stretch of the main game; after battling Lusamine and saving the region from the threat of Ultra Beasts (more or less, anyway), we the player go to challenge the champion, who is revealed to be Profession Kukui since there really is no true champion for the newly-made league. It’s hard to go from an exciting, powerful battle theme like Lusamine’s to some generic, cardboard-cut-out version of a champion battle theme for Kukui. It’s hard to invoke any sort of emotional appeal when there’s no real inspiration to be felt in the music; with no emotional connection, there is no emotion. It’s, once again, just music that plays in the background of a video game. A similar experience happens in SWSH with the player’s match against Champion Leon; though we have the potential to gain an emotional connection to a Leon Theme motif, we don’t get that. Instead, we just get music that is programmed to be exciting for our championship match that will undoubtedly change our lives forever. Bland, boring, anti-climatic - all for the sake of coloring in the lines. This has been an on-going problem in Pokemon games for years in which the Championship Battle Theme is less interesting than the Evil Team Battle Theme, which probably isn’t a good idea. It’s annoying when your villain has a better theme than the literal strongest trainer in the region - it ruins the chances of likability for the region’s “good guys” and overall is anti-climatic when it is finally time to become champion.

Overall, the ability to immerse someone like me in a game is very important when it comes to retaining players. While SWSH isn’t the worst Pokemon game when it comes to immersion (considering the fact that I actually beat the main game, which I can’t say for other main Pokemon titles…), Game Freak certainly could stand to learn from the game’s shortcomings.

Creature and Character Design...

The monster design is arguably one of the most controversial topics when it comes to any Pokemon game. Some people only care about the designs of Gen 1, others accept everything but Gen 5, and a select few could rant for hours on the stupidity of literally every Pokemon design in the franchise. Regardless, the design of the Pokemon native to the Galar region is an important topic of discussion when analysing the potential for enjoyment of the game. After all, I’m an artist who loves drawing all my favorite characters as well as my favorite Pokemon, so understanding the designs of these beloved figures is vital to understanding the game in general. For sanity’s sake, I’ll only be discussing new Pokemon introduced in this region, and will be ignoring all previous pokemon that aren’t regional variants.

Overall, the designs of the latest Pokemon are satisfactory. Because of my tendency to always suspend belief in fantasy works, I’ve very rarely had much to hate about Pokemon designs (not even in Gen 5, though I don’t particularly like any of them aside from the game cover legendaries). SWSH didn’t really bring much to the table when it comes to brand-new Pokemon, but the ones introduced are fitting and interesting: the Dragapult line, all three starters (even if I did laugh for literal hours at the discovery of Cinderace’s typing), Wooloo and Dubwool, Yamper and Boltund - just to name my top favorites. And I was totally invested in the designs of the game cover legendaries, Zamazenta and Zacian, since they held cultural relations with the region’s inspiration and therefore had actual meaning within the game besides just being cool mythical creatures. Nothing really outright bothered me with the designs or pokemon choices in this game; as I mentioned earlier, I was okay with the idea of no National Dex for this region, and that all the pokemon allowed in this game matched with the region well-enough.

But, of course, it’s not without faults. I found there to be a substantial lack of original legendaries in this game - we only have three real legendaries to catch in the main-game, four if you consider the DLC. We had a similar problem in Pokemon: Sun and Moon, but it was later amended with the introduction of Ultra Beasts (which can technically be regarded as legendary Pokemon, albeit from another dimension and not technically Pokemon). In SWSH, we are only given the option of catching more than two legendaries if we buy the DLC - this is remarkably disappointing for those who are interested in seeing new, unique Pokemon designs. I know many fans are constantly frustrated with Game Freak’s tendency to overuse Gen 1 Pokemon, but the fact that nobody is bothered by the running trend of being able to easily catch a bunch of previous games’ legendaries is beyond me. It’s essentially the same thing, overly relying on the fanbase’s sentimental nostalgia rather than moving forward to create new creature designs. I know for a fact that so many people would have been excited to catch Pokemon with cultural significance (maybe like elf Pokemon that resemble that of Seelie/Unseelie fairies, or more Pokemon that resemble chess pieces, or maybe more Pokemon that follow a theme of medieval artifacts - there are many possibilities), so the fact that they skimped out in favor of making people pay for nostalgia is ridiculous to me. This was a majority of the reason why I rejected buy any of the DLC content - why would I pay for Pokemon I’ve technically caught before? I mean, I guess it can be more for the kids who have never encountered the older legendaries, but then again, wouldn’t it be more beneficial for your game to have Pokemon that actually represent the new region? Instead of just stealing other games’ legendaries for the sake of saying that you have them, they could have just worked a little harder to design maybe three or six more cool legendary designs and centered those guys around the two DLC locations instead of just having Calyrex for The Crown Tundra. At the end of the day, it’s really just a cash-grab; the only reason I could ever see myself understandably buying the DLC for SWSH would be because I wanted to interact more with my favorite NPCs, but then again, I can just look at screenshots on Twitter and feel just as satisfied.

But not all is lost in terms of designs. Now let’s get into my favorite design portion of this segment and discuss the NPCs.

First, we’ll dig into the rivals. Personally, I really enjoyed the rivals of this game; while Pokemon is definitely running on a formula, I still was able to find enough about the three rival characters to genuinely enjoy their presence whenever they came on screen. I suppose we can expect to keep seeing this new Pokemon Trainer Rival Formula: Kind of Annoying but Too Sweet to Hate BFF Rival (Hop), 2 Edgy 5 U Rival (Bede), and Some Pedo’s Waifu Material Rival (Marnie).

Hop is arguably one of my favorite Pokemon rivals of all time (right up there with Gladion from S&M). He’s one of the only Pokemon characters to get a realistic character development over the course of the game’s playable story, which really humanizes him and makes up for his occasionally annoying personality. Over the course of the game, Hop goes from silently residing in his brother’s shadow to learning to stand on his own without needed any outside validation; much to my surprise, it’s not some half-hearted transition. Hop doubts himself during the challenge, as evidenced not just by his dialogue but in the way he actively changes his team to try and be more competitive like everybody else. I remember feeling so heartbroken in realization that Hop stopped using his beloved Wooloo, which is rightfully paired up with the excitable boy. The idea that Hop uses Wooloo, a normal-type cute Pokemon that generally wouldn’t be used in a competitive team, really adds more dimension to his character; when he learns to enjoy himself instead of letting his doubts overtake him, he returns to using Dubwool and his favorite team, demonstrating how he would prefer to have fun as himself than be someone he isn’t. I found that to be a really wholesome theme to his character, one that we haven’t really seen in a Pokemon game yet - it was a pleasant surprise! Hop is sweet and kind, always wanting to motivate the player even when he’s in his own internal turmoil. With all that added with his adorable babyface and goofy/awkward preteen disposition, he really makes for a likeable rival character.

The next rival to be introduced is none other than our classic Mean Boy rival, Bede. He’s a character the fanbase is a bit more accustomed to due to previous titles’ rivals (i.e. Green/Blue/Gary Oak from in R&G/B, Silver from SGC, technically also Gladion from S&M…), so are quite a few expectations placed on his character as a result. Also true to the typical Pokemon Jerk Rival, he has a complicated homelife (he comes from an orphanage, as we later learn) and has a similarly complicated parent-child relationship to the leading antagonist of the game (in this case, Chairman Rose). Bede constantly assumes himself to be better than he is and isn’t afraid to be a total prick about it, choosing to bully Hop upon winning battles against him to boost his own inflated ego (though there’s hints pointing to Bede actually having rather low self-esteem). All things considered, I liked Bede as a character about as much as one can like a mean rival archetype, but I was more than pleased to discover his transition to a more likably mean-spirited character when he later returns to the game to challenge the player after being disqualified from the challenge. While we’ve had a likeable mean rival before (namely Gladion), Bede is something of his own entity with how he actually has an attempt at character development that leads him to a mini-redemption near the end of the game. He’s really the first mean rival to have a transition from total jerk to slightly-peeved tsundere, which was probably a good idea on Game Freak’s part so that we wouldn’t be left with a character we downright hated after the way Bede quite literally destroys Hop’s confidence. It’s nowhere near as impressive as Hop’s character development (which isn’t super impressive to begin with, but let’s ignore that fact for a bit), but it’s still interesting to see in a monster-catching game about being the best you can be.

And then, of course, we get to the cute-girl rival, Marnie, also known as the place where I get a bit mad again. I’d like to say that I absolutely love Marnie; she has an adorable design and interesting personality that captures my attention whenever she has screen time. But she serves one purpose in this game, and one purpose alone - being the main cute girl rival of the game. Marnie has the potential to be a similarly interesting rival (cute design that meshes “punk” with “cute”, has a wholesome and fun dynamic with her gym leader older brother, uses a Pokemon that isn’t considered to be a “competitive” choice as her ace, has a cool/cute personality…), and yet we probably only talk to her about five times over the course of the main game. Little is done with her character - in fact, the only real thing she does in the game other than becoming the next dark-type gym leader is that she helps the player sneak into Spikemuth after the gates have been shut by the remarkably-harmless Team Yell. I don’t think I’m alone in saying that I would have loved to have seen more done with her character. With the boy rivals being more fleshed out than her, it leaves a sour taste in my mouth because the female rival is the one left with a blank personality (and I’m not just saying that because she hardly smiles - that’s really one of the only things we get about her that gives her an actual personality). My frustrations are further exacerbated because this has always been an issue in Pokemon games, in which the girl rivals are so barebones for seemingly the only purpose of serving as some neckbeard’s waifu that they can input a personality they desire despite the fact that she’s canonically a minor. Why put in the time to give dimension to Hop and Bede, but not Marnie? And we know for a fact that Game Freak has to recognize the lack of personality given to Marnie, especially since they had previously come out with Lillie’s wonderfully sweet character arch in S&M and USUM. Personally, I feel that it was because they didn’t feel like having a more punkish girl character who also had traditionally feminine-coded interests (she’s known to have been distracted during the gym challenge by the boutiques) and ultimately decided to just not give her any further personality other than that, perhaps fearing that it would dissuade the gross creeper fanbase from latching onto her. But that’s really just speculation, so don’t take any of my nonsense too seriously. Really, I’d just rather we had a girl rival with more personality to match the other two rivals so it wasn’t so annoyingly unbalanced.

Moving on from the rivals, we get into the designs of the League Staff of the game. In most other Pokemon games, I’d never really been too interested in the gym leaders; they had always been more of minor bosses, just faces that you saw for a couple of seconds before pummeling their ‘mons and moving to the next city. But in this game in particular, there was a sudden transition from simple puzzle master to a full-on celebrity figure. I really enjoyed this! It was so nice to actually have some information on the gym leaders other than what type they sported; suddenly, they have personalities and interests - they become real to the player. Not to mention that there really is a gym leader for everyone to enjoy, thanks to their unique personalities and styles.

I’ll be a bit honest and say that some of their clothing designs are remarkably stupid for even an anime-based RPG game (I mean, I know we joke about Leon’s terrible sense of fashion in the fanbase, but can we just pause and ponder what Piers’ wears? I mean, a leather jacket with spandex? Metal boots and a work-out tank??? What is he wearing?!), but it isn’t exactly distracting. In Western cultures in particular, we can see a trend towards the glamourization of the “athleisure” style, or athletic wear designed more for everyday use rather than just working out. It was kind of fitting to see this be the primary style for the gym leaders, who can basically be described as hierarchical sports stars. Weird? Sure. But in the context of the world, it all fits together, and once again adds to the immersion aspect of the game.

Looking at our main antagonists, they are designed quite well. Chairman Rose is designed to be quite easy and fun to hate (at least for me) - he’s an important-looking businessman who’s very impressed with himself, paired up with a beautiful yet terrifying subordinate woman who does most all the hardwork for him (...actually, they kind of remind me of an antagonistic Cl. Mustang and Lt. Hawkeye from Fullmetal Alchemist…). They also had noteworthy battle themes that popped a bit more than other battle themes in the game.

While they hardly count as antagonists, I’d like to also make a brief mention of Team Yell. They’re more annoying than anything, which is a trend that I’m not too sure how I feel about yet. It was definitely more likable coming from Team Skull, that’s for sure. I would have liked Team Yell doing a bit more damage, having them be a bit more unruly and controversial before evening them out with the whole emotional appeal of them cheering on for Marnie in hopes of saving their ruined town. But they weren’t too terrible in my opinion.

I could talk for hours on the champion of the region, too, Champion Leon. He’s a really fun and charming character overall, less of the supremely wise and powerful champion that we’ve seen in older gens and instead being a more quirky but worthwhile opponent on the path towards the crown. But I definitely preferred him more as a character than as a champion; even though his team changes depending on your starter, it’s not too challenging of a fight if you know what you’re doing, especially when you immediately know what his ace pokemon is (something we don’t really learn in other gens about the champions). While I’m sure the idea of a powerful but transparent champion can be done, Leon doesn’t really stand up as a powerful trainer when compared to other champions in the franchise. But he’s definitely still a fun, interesting character concept that I am grateful for in this particular game.

When it comes to the designs of the primary NPCs and Pokemon, SWSH continues to talk that line just above mediocrity. Not too bad, not all that great, but definitely not something to be forgotten. I’d reason that the primary strength of this generation lies within the characters that are introduced.

Uniqueness vs. Status as a Pokemon Game...

In regards to the uniqueness - how well this game stands on its own as an individual concept rather than just another Pokemon game - I’m a bit divided. On one hand, I’m a bit saddened by the watering down of content and constant reliance on concepts from older games. But I can also see that SWSH introduced a lot of interesting ideas that have inspired so many fans for this generation. And while yes, this gen didn’t have much to offer in terms of new Pokemon, new scenarios, or new lore, I do think that it does hold its own when compared to the other games in the main series. New characters are introduced to the player, all of which having good (and bad) traits that allow for lots of fan-created content with their essence; a new look into a brand-new battle enhancer that requires a different strategy than those of previous battle enhancers; a new culture found within the Galar region that can inspire many more thoughts and theories on the Pokemon world as a whole in a number of ways. We cannot pretend that SWSH isn’t an influential game just because it wasn’t ground-breaking; even with my extreme distaste for the Black and White games, I still admit that they led to important decisions and ideas that led to the creation of games I did enjoy. So, as its own entity, I think that Pokemon: Sword and Shield really has a lot of offer and would probably be an amazing game for a younger player who’s just getting into the Pokemon universe.

But I think that a lot of us long-time fans can agree that this game doesn’t quite match up with the others in terms of giving those real “Pokemon game” feelings. The problem with big-titles like this is that the company tends to lose sight of what really makes a franchise so influential isn’t the stuff found at face-value. It’s not the creatures or NPCs or game mechanics or design or any of that garbage - it’s the feelings we get when all of those things reach that perfect harmony. It’s the rumble in my chest whenever I listen to that famous intro-sequence of my old Pokemon: Ruby game; it’s the fire in my eyes when I went back to challenge Pokemon Trainer Red for the tenth time that night back in my old Pokemon: Heart Gold game; it’s the tears I cried when I watched the only interesting character, N, leave my playable character after his emotional spiel following the defeat of Ghetsis in my long-since abandoned copy of Pokemon: White. At the end of the day, Pokemon is more of an emotion I get rather than a game I play, and I think this is an idea that few people can recognize for themselves. And while I’m aware that I literally just spent several thousand words bagging and praising this game for all those face-value aspects, I also know that when you add that extra little bit of care to your work, go a little further with a character you know someone will adore, or try something new with that new battle theme, there comes a sensation that goes beyond that of love for a silly fantasy game. I’d like to think it’s something akin to inspiration.

Conclusion...

In conclusion, Pokemon: Sword and Shield is far from perfect. With a number of faults and disappointments, I can understand why a lot of fans were less than interested in giving this game the time of day. But I also want to say that this game deserves to be understood and appreciate for what it is, for what it’s done. Who knows what sort of new ideas this game has inspired? Whether it be in the name Pokemon game or someone else’s passion project, I am confident in the potential that this game has to bring someone’s dreams to fruition. It already has inspired so much amazing fan-content from the community; after so many years of being away from the fandom, SWSH was the game that drove me right back, giving me the drive to once again indulge in my middle-school days of sketching out my latest comfort character or writing out a million headcanons in a way-too plot-heavy story. Many fan-creators in this community feel the same as me, I’m sure, so it would be untrue of me to say that this game was anything less than what it was: a fun, simple game that prides itself in its characters and potential rather than complex combat mechanics or some corkboard-plot nightmare. It’s a game meant to be enjoyed, so we must remember to find our enjoyment wherever it can be found. For me, Pokemon can’t really do much wrong, but also is held up to a level of expectations that I can’t quite understand even for myself. This, at the end of the day, is a video game from my all-time favorite franchise; so long as I can find enjoyment there in it, then it’s worth it. In a world filled with nihilism and cynicism, it’s nice to visit a land where you’re wise to try and be the very best like no-one ever was, to be the next best Pokemon Master.

Mun Things and Fandom Notes

about the mun. fill this out  &  tag a few people you’d like to get to know better !

tagged by the lovely @vetlanwrites tysm tagging some people I haven’t tagged before: @amalgammuses, @animus-inspire​, @kychchc​, @rotinthedark, @warofthebeasts & YOU!

name: my name is [ loud music interrupts ] nickname:  you can call me Kat or KF! preferred pronouns: she/her age range:  30+ favorite animal:  cats pets: cat and a dog tattoos/piercings: I had my ears pierced several times and they won’t stay pierced so I gave up on anything -shrug- star sign: virgo! I’m an August bby how long have you been in this fandom?: doing just the ones I currently have muses for, and not the ones I’ve only talked about -

Dragonball(Z) - I’ve been writing in DBZ since... oh geez, the late 90′s? I think the first fic I ever posted was DBZ and it was around that time. I didn’t start rping it until like, early 00′s though.

Final Fantasy - I actually dabbled in 9 a little bit around the time it came out in ‘00 (my friend had it!) but I wouldn’t say I really did much until I really got into 7, and that was around... geez, ‘05? I rped it a little with a friend around then but I didn’t really start writing it much until nearly ‘10. #latetotheparty Yet I do consider it my “home” fandom - I always come back to it.

Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons - early ‘00s! My first HM/SoS game was Friends of Mineral Town on my trusty GBA and I love it so much to this day. SO excited for the remake!

Legend of Zelda - I really, really loved Ocarina of Time from the get-go when I got it on the N64 in ‘98 (I got it again for the GameCube and the 3DS and would totally buy it for the Switch, just sayin.) Majora’s Mask creeped me out a bit and was stressful but I liked it, too. And then of course later titles like Twilight Princess were just... -chef’s kiss- but I didn’t really dig into the fandom until ‘10-’11 when I started rping Link with a friend and briefly tried joining a forum rp group (shoutout to ZRPG!) with an OC

Marvel Cinematic Universe - I want to say around ‘12, when Avengers came out? Like, I’d seen Iron Man but I didn’t really dig into it until then.

Pokémon - late 90′s / early 00′s because I first started my Pkmn journey playing Gold and Crystal. While I didn’t write fanfic or rp it, I definitely had headcanons and a lot of feels.

Sailor Moon - early 90′s! I first watched the anime as it came out, though I’ve since forgotten most of that and only have the manga/crystal in my head to run interpretations off of. It was so pretty tho.

Stardew Valley - a newer fandom for me, I really only started getting “into” it about a year ago, but man... I love it, I really do

Star Wars - despite early access to the OT as a kidlet, I didn’t actually get “into” Star Wars until the Prequels in ‘99 (fite me) when I fell in love with Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan and promptly, voraciously, dove into fixit and timetravel fanfic. By the time KOTOR came out in ‘03 I was hooked.

Threads of Fate - I think I got into this one on the ground floor, so to speak. My friend had just gotten it and I borrowed it from her and my brother’s PS1 in ‘00 and that was it, I was in love.

why did you choose this specific character/s?:  under a cut bc I have like... nearly 30 muses now

I’m doing alphabetical order (by fandom / first name) bc it’s just easier to go down my list:

tl;dr I picked them all because I love them. Read on to find out why. Click their names to read their bios!

Dragonball Z

Vegeta - oh man, actually one of the first characters I ever rp’d or wrote in fic, and that’s saying something. I picked him because I love him. He’s an absolute ass, but he grows so much throughout Z. (I have yet to see Super, hoping to one day remedy that but we’ll see!) I guess I picked him up for nostalgia’s sake? I really love the character and think there’s a lot of growth yet to see buried under that pride and ego. If you can unearth it.

Final Fantasy

Angeal Hewley (FF7) - actually my first muse on Tumblr, back in... oh, 2013? The blog has been deleted, but he was the first muse I ever played seriously out of FF7. There’s parts of Angeal that really resonate with me, enough that - when I was a less experienced writer - I got tangled up in him a bit too much, made him a bit too personal, and I realized I had to take a step back from writing him. But I love Angeal, and after some time had passed, having written him in various fics, I’ve felt confident adding him... even if I haven’t done anything with him here yet.

Cait Sith (FF7) - I know a lot of people see Cait Sith as all sorts of negative things, but frankly I adore the little guy. And I guess I took him on partially because I couldn’t take Reeve on and not take Cait on, but partially because I see so much in him that could be interesting to explore and would really, really love to. (Any Reeve’s or AVALANCHE - or Turks! - come at me!)

Chaos (FF7) - I picked Chaos up on a whim, as far as Tumblr goes. I really enjoy rping him/Vincent off Tumblr and writing him in fics, and I suppose I just wanted to present a different side of him than I usually see. I’ve even had a thread that has a great deal of promise so I think it was worth it.

Genesis Rhapsodos (FF7) - my third FF7 blog, I think? It’s still up, though obviously not in use, just because I’d put so much work into it. I really adore Genesis, and love writing him. I love his sass and flare, but I love that he’s deeper than all the fire and flamboyance, if you’re willing to look past that. I’m lucky that I’ve had some lovely partners to explore him with, though I’d still kill for an Angeal to throw him at. XD Or a Sephiroth, for that matter.

Lazard Deusericus (FF7) - Lazard, my second FF7 blog and an unexpected love. I picked him up because I had recently started writing him in earnest with an off-Tumblr rp partner ( @thegeeksqueaks ) and was really enjoying him, and hadn’t seen him on Tumblr yet so thought I might get more partners that way. (It turned out there were a couple but they were inactive.) His first blog was accidentally deleted - over five years worth of character development and relationships - so after briefly working him up again solo I brought him over here. He’s not getting the same level of attention but it’s worth it not to be juggling blogs.

Reeve Tuesti (FF7) - pre-Remake, most of the Reeve rpers had gone inactive (shoutout to the fabulous @engineering-robotics and @animus-inspire for coming back!) and just... I love the character too much not to see him in the RPC. Of course, I love to write him period myself so I’d love more threads there but regardless he’s so much fun.

Tristan Pierce (FF7 OC) - Triiiiiiiiiis. Tristan was actually born as an NPC off of Lazard’s blog, who took a life on his own because he was just... so full of life. He actually had his own blog, too! I’ve barely done anything with him here, but I still keep him just because he gives me feels and he’s just neat. (He does still appear in the background of Lazard’s threads though.)

Harvest Moon / Story of Seasons

Iris (SoS) - I actually picked up Iris as a muse first for a fantastic HM/SoS/SDV/etc rp group I’m in a couple years ago, and liked playing her so much I thought I’d bring her here. Elegant lady novelist? Yes please.

Neil (ANB) - unlike Iris and Trent, I haven’t written Neil anywhere else, but he’s my love from A New Beginning and just... he seems like he’d be fun to write? I’d love to flesh him out.

Doctor/Trent (FoMT/MFoMT; DS/CUTE) - Trent, like Iris, is one I write for the rp group and I legit picked him up because of the opportunity for h/c I am not sorry. But seriously though, he’s grown on me so much and I love my awkward doctor.

Legend of Zelda

Midna (Twilight Princess) - TP is one of my absolute favorite Zelda games, and Midna a favorite character. There’s just so much to her you don’t get to see that I was really hoping to get to dig into, still hope one day to. We’ll see. Worth keeping on roster.

Revali (Breath of the Wild) - my newest addition! I keep saying in complete seriousness “Genesis with more feathers” but seriously, I may have a type? I love him so much and wanted to see more of him, and by god if I have to do it myself so be it. (I have been playing a ton of BOTW lately which probably has a lot to do with it. XD)

Sheik (Ocarina of Time) - I love them so much. OoT didn’t have a ton of character building, but the sheer implications of the character speaks volumes that I want to explore. I’m lucky enough to be getting the chance to, too.

Marvel Cinematic Universe

Tony Stark - did I mention I have a type? I feel he makes a good argument for it. I originally picked Tony up because I just fell head over heels for the character in the first couple Iron Man movies + Avengers. I... am less in love with him in the later movies, not gonna lie, and am so far behind on lore that I’m considering dropping him. But yeah, originally picked him up just because he had so much potential. Thx Disney, great job there.

Pokémon (gameverse)

Lily Hart (HG/SS OC) - another OC of mine, this time for a fandom that... I only really know through the games, as opposed to manga/anime. I picked her up because I really liked the idea of doing events or little ask things with her, and still may try to initiate some more of those. We’ll see?

Sailor Moon (manga/Crystal)

Ami Mizuno/Sailor Mercury - I actually picked Ami up because of a plot with @magicalxgirlsxrp where we were splitting up the Inners and the Shitennou for some mega threads. XD But yeah, I do like her. Even if she’s a challenge to write sometimes because she’s very much not like me, and very much smarter.

Kunzite - Kunzite I have always loved, always, and I’ve had him on here because I really wanted to explore him more. I love him even more after the teasing in Crystal of what might have been, be still my shippy heart.

Mamoru Chiba/Endymion/Tuxedo Mask - super fond of Mamoru, too; I didn’t care for him so much in the 90′s anime, but in the manga and Crystal I really became more fond. I do a few things differently, I think, but don’t we all? I picked him up for that very reason, in fact.

Minako Aino/Sailor Venus - Minako is really interesting to me because there’s so much more to her than her airheaded, bubbly persona that fits her like a glove... but is just as superficial. I mean, she’s sunny and happy but she’s also the OG Senshi, the leader of the Inners, a powerful, commanding fighter - she’s complex, and I really wanted to explore that + getting to have fun with her bubbliness.

Nephrite - another picked up from @magicalxgirlsxrp‘s enabling. But I do find him really interesting so it works out well. Haven’t done a lot with him, but we have plans. Plans I’m looking forward to.

Stardew Valley

M. Rasmodius - I knew I really wanted to do something with SDV, once I got to playing it, but I wasn’t sure who. I thought about Sebastian and Elliot, but already had interacted with a couple who were just fantastic. So instead, I did a good fallback of mine - because I never, ever get tired of playing mages. Ever. XD

Star Wars

HK-47 (KOTOR) - the attitude. I wanted to write HK entirely because of the scorching levels of sass from this droid.

Liana Raine (SWTOR f!JC) - the Jedi Consular storyline is one of my favorites out of all of SWTOR (tied with the Inquisitor, but I’m revamping her) and I really just wanted to keep playing with it even once I’d done the dedicated storyline.

Revan (KOTOR LS!F) - give me female Revan you cowards. -ahem- I have feels about Revan, okay? I love her so, so much - she even had her own blog, I love her that much. I would absolutely love to do something more with her but I will hold on to her if for no other reason than to make sure at least one black, female Revan exists in the world. (I want all the timetravel and crossover threads, hit me up.)

Tharan Cedrax (SWTOR) - another for attitude, really, and also definitely my type. XD He’s charming, he’s snarky, he’s sassy, he’s brilliant... I very much like Tharan and really felt he, like most of the companions, deserved more screentime. So, I’m here to give it to him.

Threads of Fate (Dewprism)

Duke - he’s so cool. I mean, he’s a dork, but his powers are amazing and he’s just a fun, incredibly upbeat character to play. And well, anything to spread my love of that teeny fandom.

Fancy Mel - Mel hits all the sweet spots for a mage character. She’s got flavor, she’s got amazing powers, and she had room to create a fantastic backstory with amazing crossover potential. Is she a bit OP? Yes. But she has no intention of using it for anything but her amusement/whimsy.

Rod the Bladestar - I love Rod. I love his oddly genteel manners, I love how he’s unwittingly sexist but quickly cleans up his act when put straight, I love how driven and passionate he is. Could do without such a typically-Square-outfit, but you can’t have everything. (In the right artists’ hands, he might even be pretty amazing, actually.)

Did you read all of that? Amazing. Any of them strike your interest? Hmu and maybe we could plot a thread! :eyes:

Also I sincerely apologize to mobile users who had to read all that because Tumblr can’t get it’s act together.

under cut for pkmn sw/sh spoilers. just some things ive been thinking about 

so like. as much as i LOVE leon and the gym leaders and the new gen in sw/sh and how people in the stadiums congratulate you after you win matches the story is like... so SEVERELY lacking. i feel like the stuff with rose just comes out of NOWHERE and like. is really confusing ?? like he wants to put the whole ass region in mortal danger just so they wont ?? run out of energy ?? but its not like at any point during the game it was mentioned that theyre actually running out of energy or in danger of it, at least not for at least a thousand years, not even HE mentions anything like that afaik, unless it was or he did and i just missed it somehow. but like. if that had been a plot point and an Important one, shouldnt they have ?? mentioned it ?? or made it so if they did mention it it wasnt something you could ?? miss ?? and it was really unclear whether or not oleana was manipulating him INTO doing this or if she was just one of his pawns, because the dynamic they had the whole game a la miss bellum and the mayor of townsville just SHIFTS right at the end for ?? no reason ?? and that whole scene where leon is supposed to meet you for dinner but he meets with the chairman instead and you have to find the key to the lift to go get him plays out like he was straight up KIDNAPPED and being TORTURED or something but like ?? the minute you both get there he finishes the weird conversation he was having with the chairman and just?? leaves with you of his own free will ?? so why in fucks name did we have to rush over and go get him like he was in some sort of danger ?? and the bede plotline was really weird too, like it would have been clever if the chairman disowned them and they started their own evil organization but then they just get ?? immediately taken in by opal ?? and i guess become the new ballonlea gym leader ?? even though thats a fairy gym and most of their original team was all psychic types ?? all because they ?? wear pink ?? and like after you hear the chairman “turned himself in” but like ?? what did they do to him ?? did he go to jail ?? does pokemon HAVE jail ?? team rocket didnt go to jail, archie and maxie didnt go to jail, i dont even think ghetsis or n went to jail, and they all did equivalent or MUCH WORSE things than rose! did they just fire him ?? so whos the chairman now ?? most of the important shit happened offscreen while people told you not to worry about it and just focus on your gym challenge and it didnt have the GRAND SCALE of being a HERO and saving the REGION that all the games before it did, and while were AT IT team yell being the “”evil”” team of this region doesnt really work AT ALL. like yeah, team skull was goofy and did stupid bullshit and were comic relief, BUT they also werent the ONLY villains in sumo/usum because they just werent threatening and didnt have lofty goals for the most part. thats why the aether foundation was in those games, to present a real turnabout late stage villain that posed an actual THREAT. i feel like they tried to replicate the pattern of team skull / aether foundation with team yell / rose, but since they have nothing to DO with each other and rose has no goals that make sense ANYWAY it just falls FLAT 

and thats the way i would describe the experience in general, as just FLAT as far as the story goes. it felt like a half finished paint-by-numbers of a pokemon game instead of a fully thought out title. none of the towns have anything to do in them besides beat the gyms and leave because thats where the focus is, on the gameplay and not on WHY youre playing the game to begin with, which is to immerse yourself in the fantasy of being in this world and being a HERO and having an ADVENTURE!! but i didnt feel like i was having an adventure, i felt like i was being led around by the nose like the game thought i was an idiot until it was time to easily decimate the next gym because all my pokemon were over leveled as HELL and i could easily sweep people even when they werent 

off topic but i also got bored of the camping system rather early, i think they should have combined it with some form of pokemon refresh so that you could still pet your pokemon and bond with them that way because i didnt camp for most of the game until the very end to get the bond with my pokemon more and get the full benefits of that. the curry minigame is repetitive and i feel like you need a premade GUIDE to be able to know what youre doing in it because youll never get beyond bronze class just fucking around 

all in all i really hope this isnt the direction they keep going in with this franchise because while there were definitely things i like and the game LOOKS amazing and the new gen is a lot more tolerable than i imagined, all in all it feels like a case of style over substance, and im sure somebody has said all this stuff before already but like. it just makes me really Sad. 

//rant over 

Last decade of art!

Template by Yorunaka-

In 2010 I was 22yo and... not in a good period of my life. A depression who during 7 years. I will show you the more soft drawings until 2016, where I finally get better.

2010: A lot of tatoo pattern. I don’t draw characters at this point. My best was this one, and later I put it on my devil twins characters. This pattern will appear again as an old artefact printed on few pasts things.

2011: Animals for change. The butterfly because... you know, the meaning stuff about free and all. But I drawed a lot of snakes too, sheep and dogs.

2012: I progress, keep the way of the nature. Nature is a paradise of quiet and calm. So, it’s reflected in my tortured mind.

2013: Finally I begin to draw my OCs. This one is the first prototype of Esther Pearston. Yup! The Esther Pearston that you know of my new book. But before, she was really differents and I always draw big pointy ears, even for the humans one.

2014: I learn digital drawing with a friend. This illustration was made with his help on Skype / Teamspeak! It’s funny to remember that I learn that during a conversation. It’s make me feel a little better. And I tried a new graphic style. This character is Sadow Akitoshi, the father of Kagekiyo Akitoshi, one of my firsts characters.

2015: I slowly come back to the surface of my depression who end in the last month - begin of 2016. I work on all my old characters and change for the third time the chara-design of this one. Because I’m talented for spoil a character of a video game before his creation. Shrapnel Akasha was really close to the Professor Sycamore of Pkmn XY, but 13 years before. Since his changing, Shrapnel turn into a ghostly creature in a wheelchair after get paralyzed. Yeah, I admit it’s a crual way of changing, but he lives very well! :”)

2016: Depression finished and come back for a normal life. But I keep express my emotions trought my characters. Here, Kagekiyo Akitoshi in a fighting stance. It was like: I fight against myself, it was hard but I win. Also, my eyes turn bad. I lost the left one and I needed to learn again the basis and the colors.

2017: This is the year where I become a little more visible on internet. Maybe you know me at this time! In 2017, I was a new man, the actual one, with his natural smile, his calm mood and keep positive. Plus, I take the habit to explore Gamejolt / itch.io websites for horror games. That’s how I discover Bendy and the Ink Machine. But, it was funny to see that at this moment, I totally rejected the game because I founded it ugly and a look of a bad fangame. Don’t blame me, I’m super exigent with horror games because I play a lot amount of! I didn’t excepted that I come back on Bendy after chapter 4 releasing and fall in love of this game. Here, the first doodle about Henry on updated chapter 1.

2018: And it was the famous year of Dustphobia n’ Bordergame project. A simple idea born by a single word throw in a chat during a livestream. Nobody excpected that. Myself, when I looked on it, I was always full of thoughts like “it’s too weird” “I don’t know what I’m doing” and others “it can’t be a good book because people will never understand what the heck is that.” Of course, I was wrong. Totally wrong! Dustphobia n’ Bordergame become my best-seller of 2018 and 2019! Here, it’s Eerider Verwin, a character that was not planned in the book, but I finally add her because a sea of good ideas. Also, in the middle of the year, I abandon my pseudo, because I don’t want stay hidden behind a pseudo. So, the rest of the drawings are signed with my real name, Henry.

2019: I choose this fanart of Elizabeth for illustrate this year, because a beautiful event come to my life. At first, while a convention, I was with a friend and - you know, if I love a thing, I will drown you with it by talking A LOT of it - of course I talked about BioShock. I told her that she looks like Elizabeth. She accepts to do a cosplay of her but she wanted see me in Booker’s outfit. Our ideas catch us and we decides in a random moment to do a cosplay duet and join a contest. Because I’m really involved in a playing character, I learn all the roleplay stuff, and learn to her. We develop a true strong link like a true father and daughter. So true that some people believe she was my biological daughter. During all this time, I talk with her A LOT times. We become really close friend. And I learn some deep sides of her. So, I decided to adopt her as my daughter. This girl really change something in my life, for the best! Thanks to BioShock. :”) Also, on the drawing domain, I learn how use watercolors.

In 2019, I was 31yo and as you can see, I refound myself. Quiet, calm and smiling. With this steampunk style, hairs cut for refresh my head - litteraly - that everybody know and said to me: “You not belong to this era. Where you hide your DeLorean?”

Now 2020. How this new chapter of my story will be write? We’ll see!

   So I already wrote a lot in the tags of this post [on my main blog] abt my Pokesona and love for Sylveon, but I think it’s worth repeating here, too. A post I can tag and show others, cause everything about my pokesona I’ve accidentally put a lot of work and self into, and I think that’s something worth sharing, y’know?       (Feel free to reblog this, as well, especially if you want to share your own story! I will gladly read them all~)

   So when I was younger, I...immediately latched to the Eeveelution family. At first, I had a great love for Vaporeon, but when I learned that “pokesonas” were a thing, I latched onto Eevee pretty fast. Why not? I didn’t want to evolve yet! Eevee has brown fur like my brown hair (though some people insisted I was a blonde; I was dirty blonde/sandy at best) and plenty of evo options down the line.

   ...It was unintentional at the time, but I think it mirrors my youth pretty well. I wanted to be a lot of things when I was younger, too. A game designer, an artist, a writer, a mangaka, do voice-overs... There was a lot I wanted to do and plenty of options! The only issue is...where do I even start?

   Unknowingly, Eevee echoed that for me. Though it would take me a lot longer to realize that. So in the meantime, I drew lots of Eeveelutions, consumed fanart by the hundreds, played PMD: Blue Version (I was an Eevee, of course; my partner a  Pikachu I oh-so cleverly named Ash) and even would watch those YouTube story videos. (Anyone else remember “An Eevee Love Story” or is that just me???)

   And before long, X and Y came out, delivering a new type and a new Eeveelution for the family, to boot.

   I’d already seen Leafeon and Glaceon come to life in Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum. However, my journey with my pokesona hadn’t quite come to the point where I wanted to evolve... Though I did think about it a lot as the years ticked on. It felt weird, the older I got, to not have an evolved sona, but again, I didn’t know what I wanted. Nobody felt right to me at the time, especially since everything felt to “boxed in” to me. I didn’t want to be the Vaporeon who couldn’t journey too far from the water; plus, I couldn’t stand water in my eyes irl. That wouldn’t work...

   Jolteon felt too energetic. Flareon didn’t click with me, even being so fluffy. Espeon felt too...feminine (hmm). Umbreon was often represented as masc to Espeon’s fem, so “not really” again (hmm 2.0). Leafeon was nice, but was that really what I wanted? Glaceon also didn’t click with me, though I did make OCs out of those latter two, based on the ones in my game, who helped me beat the Elite Four in Sinnoh.

   Then came X, Y, and Sylveon.

   I’d usually never been a fan of pink, but by the time of X & Y, I’d long gotten over it. Finally. Though also by this point, I’d been in a damn whirlwind of chaos. Emotional chaos, specifically. Which led to me finding Crystalline (by Gumi) and to the creation of this Flipnote I use as an example in my “Music Comics” commissions page.

   Note how the characters for the title are Umbreon and Sylveon. And if you look at the whole project itself, you’ll note that the Sylveon never appears... This was the product of my mindset of the time and what I mentioned in the tags of that post: friendship or love?

   I was torn up at the time. By someone I was heavily reliant on, but did nothing for me in the long run... Largely because our relationship was built on fragile ideas, imagination, and his ghosting; represented by the Ninetails in that work. Having hurt me so much, so deeply, for years brought me to that point. My 19th birthday was coming up and I decided I wanted to evolve.

   How to go about it, though...

   Despite the fact he returned to me later that year and predictably things were ruined yet again, I made the choice to evolve my pokesona into a Sylveon. Despite the fact I spent my birthday rather upset by what had gone on, I chose to rise the fuck over it.

   Because the thing is... It’s not that I don’t value friendship or anything- if you’re my friend, you know I can be a little shit, but a determined af friend to look out for ya- but the thing is, the core of my being has ALWAYS been love. Not just romantic, but for my friends and my family (related by blood or just friends who ascended into my “found family” spot), too. I love. It’s why I see myself as Poly-Pan; I’ve got love to give to those who accept me and who wouldn’t mind making friends with other partners I might have.

   Sylveon evolves with love. Their being is made to show this in every aspect, right down to the ribbons; fandom likes to make jokes of “evil Sylvy” but they’re used to hold the arm of their trainer more than anything else. Their connection to their trainer made them evolve...and much akin to a Gardevoir, I imagine they’d do anything for their most important trainer... Just as I’d do anything for my friends.

   We love and love. A choice given to us and taken.

   So my pokesona is a Sylveon...and it’s the best choice I’ve ever made.

   (feat. my mom as a Charizard; her personal favorite PKMN and her starter in FireRed, as well)

How is it that the central aspect of the MT franchise is so overlooked compared to Pokemon or Digimon, seemingly both within the fandom and internally at Atlus?

I was talking about this with @joshquixote​ a bit, who mentioned this relevant quote from Pokemon creator Satoshi Tajiri from November 1999:

http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2040095,00.html

Tajiri: It’s interesting, because in Japan, everybody goes for Pikachu. In the U.S., the characters Ash [Satoshi in Japan] and Pikachu are grouped together. American kids seem to like that. In America there are more products sold with Ash and Pikachu together, not just Pikachu alone. I think Americans actually understand the concept of Pokemon better than the Japanese. The Japanese focus on Pikachu, but what I think is important is the human aspect–you need Ash. 

Basically, because Pokemon was initially just a monster collecting/trading game in Japan, Pikachu was perceived as being an individual PKMN; in the US, we got absolutely blitzed by a marketing bonanza for the series’ launch that heavily included Ash (particularly the anime), so the two were seen as inseparable. You know, in 1999. It’s probably different now, almost 20 years later.

There’s undoubtedly a split in perception between the US and Japan for Shin Megami Tensei’s demons, too. Here are some random thoughts about the topic (including those from a discussion with @sorenblr):

Japanese fans are naturally privy to every MT/SMT novel, game, book, anime, interview, etc. ever released while the English-speaking world has access to a fraction, much of that fraction from fan translations. The average JP SMT fan just has a better understanding of the series’ context and content than their non-JP counterparts. (If you are reading this blog, chances are that you aren’t a casual SMT fan, so this might not apply to you.)

SMT features more Japanese demons than those from any other single region. It doesn’t mean the average Japanese person will know every single one, but they might still claim affinity with them in ways a Western player won’t. Ame no Uzume, Tenaga, and Waira are not household names here. A fair number know Amaterasu, but as a wolf.

Related to that, Japan’s religious systems of Shinto and Buddhism ensure that the average person there will be more familiar with polytheism than our monotheistic culture, including comparisons to Hindu deities imported to Japan through Buddhism; in the West we are most familiar with polytheism through Greek and Norse myths and only the Norse are well-repped in SMT (moreover, the famous names are generally high-level, which many players may never access). A good 75% (honestly, just a number I’m throwing out there) of any given SMT compendium has little significance to the average Western player.

Building off that, monotheism and Euro folklore figure in plenty (25% is still 100+ demons in recent games) and will probably be the most-recognized overall by Western SMT players. Angels, Fallen demons, Jack Frost, fairies, and Alice come to mind for this category. 

In a personal example that intersects of all the elements discussed so far, I read so many passionate defenses of Amemiya’s angel designs in SMT4, but I can’t remember a single one about the similarly bizarre looks for SMT4′s Japanese demons like Michizane, Koga Saburo, or Yamato Takeru. The interest or awareness for JP demons just isn’t correspondent among the English-speaking fanbase.

The lack of regularly introduced demons doesn’t help; the lack of new faces may cause the average player’s eyes to gloss over the old. Seeing Patrimpas for the third or fourth time isn’t going to ingratiate him further (or at all) in the hearts of players.

Some demons have become memes, for better or worse. Awareness of YHVH is high, as antagonistic depictions of him are rare; sometimes SMT is called the series “where you kill the Christian God,” which is amusing to me. Then there’s Mara, of whom only a small minority of non-JP SMT players seem to know his actual significance. And like Mara, some demons are able to coast by merely from their appearances alone, esp. “cuties” like Alice, Moh Shuvuu, Jacks, and Decarabia.

Other demons are remembered if they have exceptional utility. Daisoujou is popular in Nocturne not because he’s a mummified monk but for having essentially unlimited healing at a relatively low level, as are the other Fiends for their exceptional resistances. There’s probably disappointment when the same demon isn’t broken from game to game.

Demon mechanics probably don’t agree with a lot of people, either, lending them the effect of negative conditioning. Complaints about demon negotiation and even fusion are common. Even though fusion is easier with manual skill selection, demons still require a level of micromanagement that may be too much for some. Demons are also meant to be expendable in ways that say, Pokemon, aren’t.

Speaking of things that are expendable, expectations of what “monsters” are from other RPG series likely affect attitudes towards SMT’s demons. Plenty of RPG series use names of mythological beings for its disposable mobs, to the point that it’s unusual when they don’t. Worse, SMT doesn’t do a great job of informing people that there may be something more to its demons. Even as a “monster collecting” series, SMT probably come out too late in the US after the likes of Pokemon, Digimon, or Monster Rancher to have much impact with its traditional formula.

Demons/personas will also forever be overshadowed by human characters. This is to be expected as they are the focus of the narrative. People like me who really don’t give a damn about the humans are squarely in the minority.

Finally, and this is likely isn’t as relevant now, but there’s how Atlus USA initially marketed Nocturne. It didn’t get anything near a Pokemon Red/Blue campaign, but it did get this fascinating print ad. Here’s a snippet:

“The RPG for the GTA generation.” “Dark and gritty.” “Controversy.” “Mature.” “Post-apocalyptic.” I mean, it’s all accurate, and then there’s the “over 100 different demons” as a caption for an image of Dante, the Geralt of 2004. Dark, mature armageddon + lots of demons to collect. But really, I’m not implying they made any mistakes here; these are the limits of marketing. Calling it “Religions Battle 200X” and describing it as “a granular exercise in the representation of myth” doesn’t make for enticing ad copy.

This answer was difficult to write; ultimately, the exact reasons why the demons are overlooked are entirely subjective, but I think the common patterns have been identified here. Against all odds, the value of myth in SMT is something the individual player needs to discover for themselves. Look no further than my own example, as when I first played Nocturne in 2004 pre-myth I found it boring, then a year later post-myth it transformed into one of my most engaging game experiences ever.

I think SMT’s biggest fault re:demons is that it doesn’t provide them enough in-game context for the Western audience; they’re plopped into a modern setting and they want to kill you, or they look like Sarutahiko and they want to bland you to death. To get the most out of it, SMT basically requires you have outside knowledge of myth and religion, which is a lot to ask for a general audience. Unfortunately, I don’t see demon awareness improving anytime soon.