Update from previous post: Beat FFIII thanks to a metric shedload of job grinding. Decided not to go for 100% completion because that requires Onion equipment, pretty much. Started into Strange Journey but got sidetracked pretty badly by a little thing called "I didn't know it acted like a roguelike".
So I decided to finally get 646 in the Pokedex instead. And let's go inside the numbers...
2: Number of consecutive hours I spent in the Pokeshifter minigame. 6 at a time is a pain, but logical. Also, the number of times I had to recharge my DS Lite during the procedure (thank you Easter holiday for making it that I could do it without getting in trouble at work).
210: Number of Pokemon, at least, that I ended up Shifting (I went from box 8 to 15, you do the math.)
13: Number of levels my Giant Chasm Ditto grew in the process of breeding the Pokemon that I sent in, which were largely final form.
12: The Route used for grinding. One long stretch of grass that it's easy to trigger Audino grinding with? Probably saved me a good 3 hrs when compared to doing it in the Giant Chasm.
24,922: Amount of experience earned by a L1 Duskull holding a Lucky Egg when it kills an Audino at L49.
30: The number of levels a Fast group Pokemon (such as Duskull) gets from 24,922 exp.
06: The TM that makes these numbers possible (Toxic).
And finally 1 gets four facts:
- The number of times I dropped my DS
- The amount of hours since I last saved and thus lost the progress
- The number of Nintendo World Report writers who said "Goddamn" upon seeing the screenshot I took in celebration...
- And the number of Pokemon from my first 3rd generation file that I still have, and is now sitting in box 14 or something - Blair the Blaziken.
I first spoke of Blair in 2003, in the Universal RS Adventure Archives over at the still-flailing Azure Heights forums. Because of the data cutoff necessitated by going from GBC to GBA, and the notoriously dead batteries of GSC games, it's the longest-lasting Pokemon I've owned. I yanked it out of Pokemon Box in 2008, Pal Parked it up to Diamond, then over to Platinum when that superseded Diamond in 2009 and now to White.
Its nature sucks (Gentle: +SpDef, -Def), its effort is jacked to hell because I used it ingame before EV reducing berries got that effect, and I think its moveset is something like Bulk Up/Slash/Flamethrower/Brick Break. I don't even want to know what its IVs are, but if I find out it's triple 31 or something I might cry. Still, I've had that Blaziken since I was in my freshman year of university, I was still working at libraries and the Toronto Maple Leafs were making something allegedly called the "playoffs".
Hell, if R/S allowed you to see the date of acquisition mine would say March 19/03. That's the launch day of Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire in Canada, or at least when EB Games called me to pick up my preorder (it's the 2nd game I ever pre-ordered, with Zelda: Wind Waker being # 1). I'm never letting it go, and that's pretty much the only Pokemon I'll say that for.
(Yes, even my uber-rare Wish/Heal Bell Lickitung from the New York Nintendo World - back when it was the Pokecenter, I think - could be available. One of these days, I'm going to open the Pokemon equivalent of Ebay and let it run like the lady who sold a mint Stadium Events for the NES for $22k.)
But what I can't wait for is the inevitable RSE remakes next gen. I'm going to send Blair back home, and probably create a time paradox in the process. But I don't care. It's already had a long journey through time - or so says its status screen in White - so it's only a few more years until it'll return. I don't know if GameFreak will include some sort of easter egg for people who manage to hang onto a Pokemon that long, but we'll just have to wait to find out.
Is there anyone else out there who still has a Pokemon that knows what it's like to play with an Afterburner light? Let me know in the comments.
Showing posts with label old stuff. Show all posts
Showing posts with label old stuff. Show all posts
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Friday, May 28, 2010
My Virtual Console Czar platform
Given that I love a series that some say hasn't innovated since 1998, you'd think I have a love for old games. You'd be correct - visiting the Nintendo press site on Mondays to see what will be available on the Virtual Console that week is one of my weekly habits, along with watching Raw and cursing the fact that I continue to have to work for a living.
However, recently I've come up empty. In fact, this month has seen a grand total of ONE release - and it's a game I've bought twice in Kirby Superstar. The most we'll likely have this month is two games unless they launch a new system on Memorial Day, which has odds similar of that of a Pokemon MMO being announced at Electronic Three next month. (That is to say, never.)
At one time, there were five games a week coming out. Presumably this was to seed the service, as it has gone from 5 all the way down to 0. Some might say the rise of WiiWare (and recently, DSiWare) has something to do with it, or blame the general lack of care toward old games on other consoles. But still, this service can get a lot better and serve as a huge moneymaker for Nintendo as long as someone gives a crap about it.
Which is why I'm throwing my hat into the ring for the apparently non-existent position of Virtual Console Czar (North American division).
But of course, if you're running for office, you need a platform.
However, recently I've come up empty. In fact, this month has seen a grand total of ONE release - and it's a game I've bought twice in Kirby Superstar. The most we'll likely have this month is two games unless they launch a new system on Memorial Day, which has odds similar of that of a Pokemon MMO being announced at Electronic Three next month. (That is to say, never.)
At one time, there were five games a week coming out. Presumably this was to seed the service, as it has gone from 5 all the way down to 0. Some might say the rise of WiiWare (and recently, DSiWare) has something to do with it, or blame the general lack of care toward old games on other consoles. But still, this service can get a lot better and serve as a huge moneymaker for Nintendo as long as someone gives a crap about it.
Which is why I'm throwing my hat into the ring for the apparently non-existent position of Virtual Console Czar (North American division).
But of course, if you're running for office, you need a platform.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Why I'm Allergic to Fat Eggs
There's certain Pokemon that I just don't want to use if blowing through a regular battle or (god forbid) a tournament situation. Some of them have movepool issues, some of them are too slow for an ingame rush, and some of them spilled ink on GameFreak staffers at the time of their development and lose on all counts as a result.
But there's one I have hated for nearly 10 years, to the point where I actually built entire GSC teams around getting it out of the way when I played competitively. One of my greatest moments was shutting up an annoying git on the bots with an Alakazam, and only because it had Psychic, Fire Punch AND HP Dark.
It's the fat egg.
If modern tiering rules were in place at the time of GSC and the bots weren't run by someone who got nuked from Azure Heights due to not knowing when to quit arguing with He Who Has The Button, I have no doubt that the egg would have been the first or second suspect (behind Snorlax) and probably banned for severely imbalancing the game. At the tail end of the game, it was being used even more than Snorlax - something like 35% of the time. Granted, there isn't as much choice (or as many battles) on GSBot then there would be on modern Shoddy, so it's not as impressive than Scizor getting 25% now. But at least Scizor (and Snorlax then) were actually doing damage.
Check that Bulbapedia link above again. Look at the base stats. They're like modern Garchomp - perfectly designed to be gamebreaking. Now consider that the equivalent of EVs in the 2nd gen allowed you to max everything. Imagine if natures existed in 2nd gen and the defense boost existed.
As it is, it had 1 true counter - and that required a 10% boost item since the Choice items didn't exist yet. It's imbalacing on the defensive end because it can recover constantly and has a perfect Counter for any physical attack you care to throw at it. It shouldn't take an hour and a half to have one battle, but I had more of those than I care to count.
I took a sabbatical from battling after Ruby and Sapphire were released, largely due to the fact that I was sick of debating the cheapness of Beedrill (I'm not saying you can't battle with it, I'm saying right now we can't use it so why bother programming it in). Once this got sorted out, I dipped my toes back into it when I wasn't e-fedding... and then I read blueshirt's moveset FAQ. Which includes, and I quote:
"blisseyisadirtylittlecheappinkwhorethatputregiceoutofajob"
in the description of Regice.
Yes folks, the Pokemon that single handedly made half of the attacks in the game UNUSABLE was back and worse than ever.
I haven't been back since.
Though I have thought about it again - the pendulum has swung so far to the physical side that Blissey is down to about 11-12% usage instead of 33%. Still, is there anything that can be done to nerf it?
But there's one I have hated for nearly 10 years, to the point where I actually built entire GSC teams around getting it out of the way when I played competitively. One of my greatest moments was shutting up an annoying git on the bots with an Alakazam, and only because it had Psychic, Fire Punch AND HP Dark.
It's the fat egg.
If modern tiering rules were in place at the time of GSC and the bots weren't run by someone who got nuked from Azure Heights due to not knowing when to quit arguing with He Who Has The Button, I have no doubt that the egg would have been the first or second suspect (behind Snorlax) and probably banned for severely imbalancing the game. At the tail end of the game, it was being used even more than Snorlax - something like 35% of the time. Granted, there isn't as much choice (or as many battles) on GSBot then there would be on modern Shoddy, so it's not as impressive than Scizor getting 25% now. But at least Scizor (and Snorlax then) were actually doing damage.
Check that Bulbapedia link above again. Look at the base stats. They're like modern Garchomp - perfectly designed to be gamebreaking. Now consider that the equivalent of EVs in the 2nd gen allowed you to max everything. Imagine if natures existed in 2nd gen and the defense boost existed.
As it is, it had 1 true counter - and that required a 10% boost item since the Choice items didn't exist yet. It's imbalacing on the defensive end because it can recover constantly and has a perfect Counter for any physical attack you care to throw at it. It shouldn't take an hour and a half to have one battle, but I had more of those than I care to count.
I took a sabbatical from battling after Ruby and Sapphire were released, largely due to the fact that I was sick of debating the cheapness of Beedrill (I'm not saying you can't battle with it, I'm saying right now we can't use it so why bother programming it in). Once this got sorted out, I dipped my toes back into it when I wasn't e-fedding... and then I read blueshirt's moveset FAQ. Which includes, and I quote:
"blisseyisadirtylittlecheappinkwhorethatputregiceoutofajob"
in the description of Regice.
Yes folks, the Pokemon that single handedly made half of the attacks in the game UNUSABLE was back and worse than ever.
I haven't been back since.
Though I have thought about it again - the pendulum has swung so far to the physical side that Blissey is down to about 11-12% usage instead of 33%. Still, is there anything that can be done to nerf it?
Monday, January 11, 2010
Wheel of morality, turn turn turn. Tell us the lesson that we should learn.
"Played Pokemon with my bro yesterday - his Pokemon were stolen from the Emerald Battle Frontier, yet he called me cheap for using GarchompAround Christmas time, I had a chance to battle live with my brother for the first time since he moved across the country. The rules were standard 3v3, and my team was Tyranitar, Scizor and Garchomp - he used a bunch of Pokemon that thanks to the AR, he was able to steal from the Emerald Battle Factory and ran up to Platinum.
There were two battles, one of which was a Scizor kill that he pulled a GreenPikachu on (pulled the plug at the last kill so I couldn't upload it). So let's deal with the first one - here's how it went.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
The first three generations are dead to me
Recently I was going through my backlog of games to try and set up a plan of attack for beating them all. During the process, I found the following Pokemon games:
1st gen: Red, Blue, Yellow and Stadium 1
2nd gen: Silver (the same one I wrote the FAQ using), Crystal, Stadium 2
3rd gen: All 5 + the Gamecube games
After looking it over, I decided to add them to the pile of stuff I'd be eventually throwing up on Kijiji for the simple fact that 4th gen has completely spoiled me, and I can never go back to anything playable on a GBA.
Right now, I have completed files on Red, Blue, and Yellow, a dead battery on Silver and Crystal (thank heavens for the Mega Memory Card), a half-done Fire Red run from before Diamond/Pearl launch day, and barren Ruby/Sapphire/Leaf Green/Emerald games that were strip-mined for Pal Park.
Now that you can get every Pokemon with either 1 game + an internet connection or just DS games, I don't need to play anything from 3rd generation back any more. I tried reading goon runs (RedChocobo's epic Let's Play runs for Emerald, FR and Crystal) to see if it would inspire me to bust out the GBA again but nothing. Why is that?
First off, I can't go back to RBY because the inventory in that game is broken - 20 in the main, 50 in the PC, and that's it. Good thing there's only 20 usable TMs... oh, wait. The base game comes down to "install Dugtrio/Jolteon, problem solved". Add in the lack of running shoes, and little things that they got rid of like having to go into the Pokemon menu to use HMs... yeesh. I know the originals were groundbreaking, but when the newer games largely use the same formula with a much improved interface, the original games just can't hold up today.
The 2nd generation makes minor improvements to the 1st but I just played Johto/Kanto again in HG/SS, so if I want to explore Johto again I can blow away the file on HG and start again. Oh, and the whole "doesn't save anymore because the battery died PSP-style" issue can't help matters. I could replace it or use a *gasp* emulator, but I got an exemption from the soldering portion of shop class in junior high so it's not really feasible.
And then there's 3rd gen, but I got enough satisfaction out of clearing Emerald a couple of years ago and can redo Kanto again if I want to for some stupid reason in HG/SS. The 50 TMs return identically in 4th gen, and of course the changes to physical and special moves in 4th gen threw me for a major loop when I had to speedrun Ruby for a fresh set of Regis (this was pre-movie Regigigas). Once you can use Breloom with three types of move (Grass, Electric, Fighting) off the physical attack instead of one, it's hard to go back.
If I ever get a chance to start a retro game of the week blog (which is the plan if I retire before I'm 27 by way of hitting the lottery or a game show), I might revisit them for the heck of it. But for now, make mine Platinum.
1st gen: Red, Blue, Yellow and Stadium 1
2nd gen: Silver (the same one I wrote the FAQ using), Crystal, Stadium 2
3rd gen: All 5 + the Gamecube games
After looking it over, I decided to add them to the pile of stuff I'd be eventually throwing up on Kijiji for the simple fact that 4th gen has completely spoiled me, and I can never go back to anything playable on a GBA.
Right now, I have completed files on Red, Blue, and Yellow, a dead battery on Silver and Crystal (thank heavens for the Mega Memory Card), a half-done Fire Red run from before Diamond/Pearl launch day, and barren Ruby/Sapphire/Leaf Green/Emerald games that were strip-mined for Pal Park.
Now that you can get every Pokemon with either 1 game + an internet connection or just DS games, I don't need to play anything from 3rd generation back any more. I tried reading goon runs (RedChocobo's epic Let's Play runs for Emerald, FR and Crystal) to see if it would inspire me to bust out the GBA again but nothing. Why is that?
First off, I can't go back to RBY because the inventory in that game is broken - 20 in the main, 50 in the PC, and that's it. Good thing there's only 20 usable TMs... oh, wait. The base game comes down to "install Dugtrio/Jolteon, problem solved". Add in the lack of running shoes, and little things that they got rid of like having to go into the Pokemon menu to use HMs... yeesh. I know the originals were groundbreaking, but when the newer games largely use the same formula with a much improved interface, the original games just can't hold up today.
The 2nd generation makes minor improvements to the 1st but I just played Johto/Kanto again in HG/SS, so if I want to explore Johto again I can blow away the file on HG and start again. Oh, and the whole "doesn't save anymore because the battery died PSP-style" issue can't help matters. I could replace it or use a *gasp* emulator, but I got an exemption from the soldering portion of shop class in junior high so it's not really feasible.
And then there's 3rd gen, but I got enough satisfaction out of clearing Emerald a couple of years ago and can redo Kanto again if I want to for some stupid reason in HG/SS. The 50 TMs return identically in 4th gen, and of course the changes to physical and special moves in 4th gen threw me for a major loop when I had to speedrun Ruby for a fresh set of Regis (this was pre-movie Regigigas). Once you can use Breloom with three types of move (Grass, Electric, Fighting) off the physical attack instead of one, it's hard to go back.
If I ever get a chance to start a retro game of the week blog (which is the plan if I retire before I'm 27 by way of hitting the lottery or a game show), I might revisit them for the heck of it. But for now, make mine Platinum.
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