Nintendo makes best new Pokemon ever, plus also Pokemon Scarlet/Violet is a thing

[R.R. Bigman]

I’ve been playing some of Scarlet. How can a game look this bad and yet run so poorly? Pokemon Company has more money than most nations, and this is what we get with their flagship title!?

That’s really the only downside, since I’m enjoying catching and battling Pokémon, while meeting fun and interesting characters. I haven’t played a ‘Mon since Gold, so some things are a bit confusing. When did the games add Fairy types? What are they weak against? What is “emotional damage”? How does one trade Pokémon in the digital age? I dunno?

 

[Bongo]

They have more money than Croesus, but what they lack is time.

 

[Sprite]

They added Fairy in Gen VI to balance out Dragon, which it more or less did, though now Fairy is widely considered the best type (I would argue it's far less dominating than Dragon was, however). Poison and Steel attacks are super effective against Fairy Pokémon, and Fire, Poison, and Steel Pokémon all resist Fairy attacks.

 

[Bongo]

They also nerfed the Steel type when they introduced the Fairy type, losing its resistances to Dark and Ghost. Otherwise it'd have been Steel that's the strongest type. It's still very good.

 

[R.R. Bigman]

Quaxley evolved into a gangly goose creature. I miss my cute little duck.

 

[Phantoon]

They added Fairy in Gen VI to balance out Dragon, which it more or less did, though now Fairy is widely considered the best type (I would argue it's far less dominating than Dragon was, however). Poison and Steel attacks are super effective against Fairy Pokémon, and Fire, Poison, and Steel Pokémon all resist Fairy attacks.

It's more that it's hard to fit Poison and Steel type attacks into your team, as they are pretty useless otherwise. And should a Fairy get a Ground type move its weaknesses are covered.

Ice is at least useful against lots of things, making it riskier for a Dragon to switch in.

I've long thought Water had been overdue a nerf for many generations, and it got away with it again this time.

 

[shivam]

today i learned that the QR code that gives you magearna in sun/moon still works.

 

[Sprite]

It's more that it's hard to fit Poison and Steel type attacks into your team, as they are pretty useless otherwise. And should a Fairy get a Ground type move its weaknesses are covered.

Ice is at least useful against lots of things, making it riskier for a Dragon to switch in.

I've long thought Water had been overdue a nerf for many generations, and it got away with it again this time.

Poison attacks pretty much only ever go on Poison Pokémon, but Steel coverage moves aren't that rare, mainly because of Fairy. Two of the best new Pokémon are specifically good because they have great Steel attacks.

They seem to be getting more and more cavalier about giving bad types new toys to compensate for bad coverage. Ice is an especially good example, with Aurora Veil and the new Snow weather. I love giving such a frail Type access to defensive tools which would be busted in any other hands.

Bug type really needs a leg up, poor things. They should add some sort of Grassy Terrain bonus or something to make them stand out.

 

[R.R. Bigman]

Where are all the Fire type pokemon? I’ve only seen oddly high level one in the wild so far that I could not catch. I want to take on the grass gym, but I need flames for that!

 

[Mogri]

That's why they give you Poison and Flying!

 

[R.R. Bigman]

I guess so.

I did just capture a treasure chest Pokémon. It took a lot of pokeballs, so I hope it’s good.

 

[Bongo]

Charcadet is rare but widespread, and is probably your best bet if you didn't start with Fuecoco. Oricorio can be acquired early. Depending on which version you have, you might be able to pick up a Flame breed Tauros. You might track down a Litleo or Growlithe, or pick up a Rotom and change its form.

 

[R.R. Bigman]

I’m still enjoying my time with Scarlet. I do long for a more linear Pokémon experience, as I have been struggling to find the next level appropriate areas to travel to in this big, bland world for the past few days. Were the Sun and Moon games cool?

 

[Vaeran]

I haven't played Sun/Moon, but if you're trying to figure out the next step in your journey there are hints as to the relative strengths of the various opponents in their descriptions on the map screen. "This trainer is considered the second most powerful of Team Star," etc. They're not all that blatant but they should give you a general sense of what order you're supposed to tackle them in.

 

[Bongo]

If you want guidance in the form of a suggested order for doing each activity in Paldea, refer to this map, which sorts each badge in ascending order of the level of the enemies you'll encounter in the process.

Sun and Moon are well-remembered for good reason. Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon had superior gameplay, but at the expense of making the story worse by changing the villain's motivation to be less interesting. I think they're worth going back to, especially if you're not planning to stick around for postgame.

 

[Dark Medusa]

I'm the resident Pokemon grump, and I would say that the story in either game was very slow, very boring, and although everything around the story and whatnot was quite a lot of fun, it was just such a slog to go through banal dialogue just to get to the good bits. Scarlet and Violet are much better in that regard (if not quite as tight in gameplay) but the lag and still some slowness when it comes to text boxes/story/quality of life makes it difficult on me.

 

[Sprite]

I found SV’s story pretty boring until the bombastic finale, which had me glued to the screen. SM’s story kept me fairly engaged the whole time, which is the only time Pokémon’s done that for me.

 

[Vaeran]

I beat the Elite Four/Champion/Rival fights. Now, I could have trained up a varied team with comprehensive type coverage to be ready for any situation...

OR

I could shove 15 Rare Candies up my starter's ass and have it walk through everything, which is LIKE having a strategy.

RIKA: Welcome to the Champion Assessment! I hope you're ready to--
ME: liquidation
POPPY: I'll avenge you, Rika! You're gonna--
ME: liquidation
LARRY: I guess it's time for me to show you--
ME: liquidation
HASSEL: Th--
ME: liquidation
GEETA:
ME: liquidation
NEMONA: Alright, this is it! Bring me everything you've got!
ME: liquidation
NEMONA: I'm so glad I have such an amazing rival!

Me too, Nemona.

 

[Phantoon]

I'm the resident Pokemon grump, and I would say that the story in either game was very slow, very boring, and although everything around the story and whatnot was quite a lot of fun, it was just such a slog to go through banal dialogue just to get to the good bits. Scarlet and Violet are much better in that regard (if not quite as tight in gameplay) but the lag and still some slowness when it comes to text boxes/story/quality of life makes it difficult on me.

Also Scarlet doesn't have Hau show up every three seconds to go "malasadas malasadas malasadas malasadas malasadas malasadas"

 

[Bongo]

The Greninja seven-star tera raid is now accessible. The same kind of Slowbro that worked on the Cinderace raid can destroy the frog pretty easily as well offline with AI buddies, but it takes some favorable RNG.

 

[Vaeran]

Rolled the credits on Violet today, and y'all weren't kidding that the endgame goes fuckin hard.

Spoiler

PROF. TURO: Hey kid, would you like to come see me in my illegal lab? It's where I do all my unethical experiments, at the bottom of the forbidden crater.
ME: On my way!
PROF. TURO: ...Really? I mean, great! Listen though, I did kind of get "sealed away" by these four ominous locks, maintained from creepy research stations that have been abandoned for years, and guarded by horrible abominations. It's been super annoying tbh. If you could just do me a favor and release those...
ME: Sure!
PROF. TURO: ...
PROF. TURO: Well shit, that was easy.

Violet now joins HeartGold as the only other Pokemon game I've actually beaten. I keep wanting to get into the series, but my interest usually peters out about 4 Gyms in and I move onto something else. Gen 9 managed to keep my attention through the whole thing, and I enjoyed my time with it quite a bit. My luck with glitches held out as well; as much as people have bemoaned this game as an utter garbage fire in terms of performance, nothing I experienced impacted my gameplay at all.

I don't feel much of a pull to engage with the postgame at the moment, but maybe I'll circle back around to it once the inevitable DLC comes out. That said, if anyone has a spare Larvitar/Pupitar/Tyranitar they don't need, I'd be happy to find you any Violet exclusive you want and trade.

 

[R.R. Bigman]

Would anyone care to trade a pokémon for my Haunter to evolve into a Gengar, then kindly trade it back to me? Maybe trade other Pokémon as well? I got a bunch of ‘em.

 

[gogglebob]

It would not be until approximately (eastern standard time) evening tomorrow, but I could do both. Just shoot me a PM.

Also, at some point, I am going to write an entire freaking essay on the post game involving specifically Nemona, so I do recommend doing that post game if you are interested in that character.

 

[R.R. Bigman]

That would be great. I’m still only halfway through the game, so my Pokémon will all be level 40 and under.

 

[R.R. Bigman]

Vaeran, I have a Larvitar if you want it.

 

[Vaeran]

Vaeran, I have a Larvitar if you want it.

Oh sorry, I just saw this. Yes please! What would you like in return?

 

[R.R. Bigman]

Oh sorry, I just saw this. Yes please! What would you like in return?

Any Violet only Pokémon would be fine. Let me know when you want to trade. I know how it works now!

 

[Vaeran]

Sounds good! I'll PM you after work this evening. Thanks!

 

[R.R. Bigman]

I caught a Lokix that was a different color, and it has a sparkle by it’s type. I looked it up and it’s a “shiny” pokemon. Do they have better base stats or new moves? It seems they’re pretty rare.

 

[Mogri]

No, they just have different colors. They are very sought-after, though!