tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3088350663142092412024-02-08T09:24:35.803-08:00Gaming BytesPrimarily Nintendo, mostly Pokemon, gaming views, reviews, and other things.KittenKoderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00634260833988857315noreply@blogger.comBlogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-308835066314209241.post-91701511693071584932014-03-18T22:04:00.003-07:002014-03-18T22:04:42.653-07:00Calling Game Artists!Both audio and visual artists wanted.<br />
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Yes, this is actually just a call to arms, not a full on blog post. So here's the deal, I want to write a game for the Android platform, something that I have yet to see. It's an idea I have been playing with that's a fantasy TCG and RPG game, yes, both types combined into one solid game with an in depth story and top notch gameplay. Pretty much a game that I would want to pay for, and I see many others asking if such a game exists so there is a market for it.<br />
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Those who contribute will get an equal share of ownership, that means your work is still under your control and should the game garner any profits in the future you will receive an equal share of it. But this offer only extends to those who work on this from the beginning. After that initial beginning any new contributors will be handled on an individual basis.<br />
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I am not doing this for profit, it's just my own project, however the potential for profit is unlimited as the game will be easily expandable, offering some pay-for content in the future. It's a great opportunity for beginning visual and audio artists looking to hone their skills and gain notoriety with a chance to even earn some money, though no promises on the money at this time.<br />
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Seeking:<br />
GUI graphics designer for icons.<br />
3D model designer for in game elements.<br />
Music score artist for in background music.<br />
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Styles include fantasy and war.KittenKoderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00634260833988857315noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-308835066314209241.post-56050698166662268842014-03-17T10:38:00.000-07:002014-03-17T10:38:13.854-07:00Transport Tycoon - Android VersionI am one of those old, almost fanatical, fans of the Transport Tycoon series. I loved Transport Tycoon Deluxe, even the open source Transport Tycoon Deluxe games were always better than the previous. But 31X screwed up the Transport Tycoon for Android platforms.<br />
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To put it simply, it's as if they took a huge dump on the original then sold it for profit, to milk the original title's fame. My first problem, it's too much like the typical Android sim games, too many crappy bubbles and balloons floating everywhere, getting in the way of the scenery and elements that actually give the game a chance.<br />
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The transparency settings also don't do much better, and are too difficult to access on the fly, making track and road laying more of a hassle than challenging. The rest of the track and road laying system is good, perfect for the touch screen. But when you go underground everything is in the way, making underground useless.<br />
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This leads to the most horrible aspect of the game, the path-finding algorithms. The original algorithms were not great, but the vehicles did obey the way-points, but in this version they ignore the way-points and often wander around aimlessly. The open source, completely free, versions have such powerful path finding that they even implemented lights that allow for realistic tracks. But 31X charges for a path finding algorithm that doesn't even work.<br />
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There are gamers who will support just open source, others who only support mainstream markets, I support both. But you should get what you pay for, and this app is not worth anything. The only benefit is that it's designed for touch screen, and none of the others are. That's it. They couldn't even be bothered to port anything. So in this instance, the open source is a million times better than the made for profit one.<br />
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If you like the original Transport Tycoon series, steer clear of this game.KittenKoderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00634260833988857315noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-308835066314209241.post-39345741448013035332014-02-24T19:54:00.001-08:002014-02-24T19:54:48.155-08:00Games For GirlsThis entire notion that video games are for specific genders only enforces the lame stereotypes that we, as a species, should be discarding by now. Yet I see the question come up so often it's verging on becoming an epidemic. Girls are just as capable of problem solving, hand-eye coordination, and enjoying great art as much as boys, so why delegate games that are "for girls" at all?<br />
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The flaw many game developers have is their who misconception that a girl needs to be driven to the gaming market. Now, in the 80s and 90s parents were not buying video games for their girls, but were buying them for their boys, that does not mean girls do not enjoy the same games, just as much, that's the parents' faults. However, in recent years we have seen a huge increase in female gamers, of all ages, into the video game market. So why are they still doing the "for girls" nonsense? Parents.<br />
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Again, the parents are to blame for this total nonsense. They will buy only specific "girly" games for their girls, and everything else for their boys, thinking that's what their children like without even asking them. My very first favorite game was Final Fantasy, the original, the very first one made. I loved that game from day one, it was challenging and had a decent story. For the time, the graphics were pleasing. But Final Fantasy was never considered a "girls game."<br />
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So if you find this post while trying to find tips on what to buy for your kids, I offer some real advice, and suggest you ditch the 18th century ideas when walking into the future with us.<br />
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1. Find out what the child likes. Games are classified as genres, which will loosely describe the type of challenges the player will be facing. These genres come from real life interests, such as puzzles, card games, or strategy. That is your starting point, your first list of games.<br />
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2. Show the child videos and images from the game. What they like in imagery may not be what society has tried to tell everyone else what they like. Let them decide. Some girls may prefer the fancy dragons, well drawn and sculpted models of fantastic beasts. Others may prefer the cute animals of Pokemon, well, most of them are adorable. See what sparks their imagination, what captures their attention, not what you think should capture their attention.<br />
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3. If possible, let them play the demos. Demo versions are becoming exceedingly popular, devs have found that people who are unsure whether to buy a game are often persuaded by the demo, so you will find plenty of them in the download markets for most game systems. Nintendo's eShop has almost as many demos as they have games now.<br />
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4. Do not make suggestions of any sort. You do have the power to say "no" to titles you may find inappropriate, like GTA should not be played by anyone under the age of 18. Just don't say "hey, this looks fun." Kids' opinions should develop on their own, and you injecting your opinion will prevent them from becoming their own person. Let them say "this looks like fun." Make note of what they say, how they react, that is your key to finding them the best game ever for their first experience.<br />
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5. If all else fails, read the reviews and discuss them with the child.<br />
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The first video game for a child should be a memorable one, one that they can look back on with fond memories of a time when everything was right in the world, when they actually appreciated their parents. Yes, it is a lot of work when done correctly, but then, everything that's worth doing takes a lot of work. Do not rush the process, let them decide on their own pace, let this be the first grown up thing they ever do.<br />
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I could go on and on about how parenting today has to change, but that's not the purpose of this article. What I want to encourage parents to do is spend the time to do this right. We have so few such events in a person's life now, a side effect of modernization, video games, especially the first one, offers us opportunities that we have never had before.KittenKoderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00634260833988857315noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-308835066314209241.post-18934348786462209952014-02-23T13:52:00.000-08:002014-02-23T13:52:10.871-08:00The Strategy of Bravely DefaultFew role playing video games have ever truly captured the notion of strategy, at least until Bravely Default. I had maxed out all the levels, mastered all the jobs, and gotten most of the best equipment long before the final chapter. I thought that this will make the game so boring after this, and that every encounter would be too easy to bother with. I was never so wrong.<br />
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Going through all the abilities for each job class, I discovered that there is no "ultimate" setup, and that the enemies in the later chapters are not dependent on their stat values either. Now the game requires pure strategy to progress, no more mining for the best of things, you have to set up each character and their gear to fit into any given situation, a specific area or boss. If all your characters are the same, you will fail.<br />
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One of the best classes is the salve-maker, great for healers and attackers. The item attack items do a constant damage value, not based on stats or levels, and they ignore the default action. Attack items always do the same damage, only effected by weaknesses, making them a consistent method of reducing the HP of enemies, as they are also not effected by the number of targets. <br />
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For the healer, the medication ability offers a cost-free method or raising all allies. Combined with the healing boost from the salve-maker and using the blessed shield, your healer only needs a good knight to cover them. This is where your variation is a must, a good knight character can protect your healer from many attacks by using the full cover ability, and a ton of defensive equipment. Then give them revenge from your red mage job and they can do full cover with powerful attacks.<br />
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The key is how you mix and match your characters and their abilities, the equipment has less of an effect at this point, they depend on their support abilities the most. A knight with dual shield can become invincible, but will offer no real damage to the battle. A healer with salve-maker can keep everyone fighting, but will never have the time to use their offensive abilities. A thief can help with gaining a lot of items from the opponents, but will need a secondary job to become useful in battle, like black mage or vampire.<br />
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The one flaw with the strategy system at this point is that there are so many ways to accomplish things, so many variations and builds that can work, there is no "ultimate" combination. You will have to experiment, play around with various arrangements, to find what works best for you in which situation.KittenKoderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00634260833988857315noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-308835066314209241.post-36220430453228034692014-02-11T18:10:00.000-08:002014-02-11T18:10:06.383-08:00Bravely Default - A Breath of Fresh Air (with only one flaw)My first impressions of a game tend to change, often after playing a game for a few days I find more flaws in it than I anticipate. But this one is a rare gem that just gets better. From the "job" system to the rewards for showing you know what to do, Bravely Default has more useful stuff to unlock than almost every RPG I have played. The rebuilding of the town is one of the most useful, and interesting, aspects you have to unlock as you progress.<br />
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But first let's look at the jobs, and there are so many of them. The system has a balance to it, while you can level up all the job classes before you need too, with a lot of patience, you cannot make much use of the better abilities until you progress through the story. Most games struggle to find that balance, you can either make your characters over-powerful way too soon, or you find that your characters are not strong enough later on. The job system, combined with the abilities, of Bravely Default finds a great balance.<br />
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Each job has abilities and skills, which you can mix and match, with limits, to tailor your characters for various areas. If you rush through the story, your characters will do okay, but if you take the time to mine experience points and job points you will unlock abilities and skills that can make the next area easier.<br />
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But point mining is not tedious. The battle system of the game offers a strategy like system, at first even common battles will take forever, while you chop away at the enemies. After a few levels though, you can rush through the battles using "brave" to demolish the enemies, and gain some bonuses for it. The key is learning the weak points of everything, while there are the standard elemental weaknesses some weapons are stronger against some enemy types.<br />
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Most axes are strong against enemies in the water family, most bows are strong against enemies in the flying family, and so forth. Taking advantage of these weak points can sway a battle, making it faster, but if you have nothing to use that they are weak too, your battles will still be interesting. The balance of enemies in a location is helpful. In a fire cave you will encounter mostly enemies weak to water, on water they'll be weak to lightning and water, and so forth.<br />
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Now on to the breathtaking part of the game, the graphics. Most games these days throw together a bunch of models that they think are so awesome and beautiful, but ultimately just look like cookie cutter versions of other games, and the scenery is always neglected. Bravely Default had some real thought put into it, the scenery is truly awesome and beautiful.<br />
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Each locale in the game is crafted so well, and the 3D modeling enhances the scenery, rather than obscuring it like most games. The developers appear to have modeled the world around the images, and the images appear to be hand painted. With the stereoscopic effect on for the 3DS it all looks like a handcrafted model set, illustrating the story so well.<br />
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The cinematic scenes are brilliantly composed, giving the appearance and feel of watching a stage play. The characters are all beautifully done, and fit within the scenery. The effects for highlighting focus in battles is also really well done. There is but one major flaw, and this is not the fault of the developers.<br />
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The costumes for some of the characters had to be edited, because of oversensitive sensibilities in North America. Yep, a bikini had to be edited into shorts, for example, just because the people in my region are so perverted they think bikinis are sexual content. Or perhaps it was some feminist nonsense. Either way, the original costumes would have been better only because we could have gotten this game much sooner.<br />
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That leads into another topic though, so I digress. Bravely Default's story is one of those typical "gotta save the world, oops, we did it wrong" stories. Very common in anime, manga, and Japanese RPGs, but one of my favorite types of stories so meh. The game's story feels a lot like the original Final Fantasy games, before Final Fantasy got ruined by idiotic fans and developers turning it into something tedious and boring.<br />
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So if you enjoy retro style RPGs, JPRGs, or a lot of content, Bravely Default is certainly for you. I hope you can enjoy the stereoscopic effect in the game as well, it's so well done, but the camera zooming will cause some players to lose focus a lot, which is a minor flaw as you can turn off that effect for the game and still enjoy the breathtaking art.KittenKoderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00634260833988857315noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-308835066314209241.post-48568824930288877332014-02-05T12:33:00.003-08:002014-02-05T12:33:45.665-08:00The Pokebank LetdownGame Freak, I will always be a fan of the Pokemon games, until the day I die. But seriously, all the hype and delay of the bank was for naught. The app is lacking in so many ways, the lack of stereoscopic effect was barely noticeable in light of the control scheme ... well .... sucking.<br />
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What I expected when I heard about the app was some nice, easy, and clean method of organizing and storing my pokemon, as well as transporting them between cartridges for later generations. A nice touch screen control scheme, like Pokemon X and Y have, where you can do a lot with just a few taps of the screen. I expected a nice display of the boxes, and clean icons for the pokemon themselves.<br />
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What we got, far less than we deserved. You made us wait, delayed the release, to update your servers. That was understandable, however, the application we finally get is clunky, and dirty looking. Let's start with the interface, since that is the biggest letdown of the entire thing.<br />
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Rather than having the boxes accessible by touch, like in the current games, you have to use the control buttons on the system, each move taking more button presses than a drag and drop method would require. You have to navigate across the screens as well, going through each place for a pokemon to get to the bank or game box.<br />
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What it should have been is the two boxes, bank and game, next to each other on the touch screen, then use a drag and drop method with the stylus. This would make transferring them much easier, as it is transferring even one pokemon is too much of a chore. So please, work on that, improve the app so we can see a reason to pay for the service, other than when a new generation comes out.<br />
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The transporter is even worse, having to place them in the first box on the target game to send them to the bank is rather annoying, considering the control scheme of the last generation was severely lacking. Of course the transporter and bank have the same control scheme as the previous generation anyway, so at least you were consistent, just not in a good way.<br />
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The graphics I expected to not be great, but to be clean enough to tell which pokemon is which in the icon view. This was not the case however, as many of the miniature icons used looked the same for different species. This means having to navigate to each individual pokemon to see which it was, so you didn't move the wrong one. We already have the games, and should therefore have all the icons in the games, why not use those?<br />
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Okay, so this is the beginning of things, let's hope things will improve. If the service was completely free, I would have no reason to complain, but that is not the case. Though 5 dollars per year is a great price for the service, you could have had your dev team working on improving the app during the delay for the server upgrades. It doesn't need to be perfect, just .... useful.KittenKoderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00634260833988857315noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-308835066314209241.post-63228857619171228652014-01-30T08:22:00.000-08:002014-01-30T08:22:18.258-08:00Off Topic - Google and YouTubeI use to love YouTube, in spite of a few problems it was a great place, simple, and effective. But it didn't make much revenue and needed some help. Along came Google, and I thought this was going to be so awesome.<br />
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Well, I was wrong. There, I admitted it, one of my internet predictions, and I have made many over the years, was so wrong I could have lost a bet on it. Google was awesome, at one point. I use the past tense because even though the company as a whole still has a decent attitude, the development online just sucks.<br />
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When I first heard of Google+ I thought that was a good idea too, a simple and elegant alternative to the bloated and overrated Facebook. I did not foresee what it would be today. Now Google+ is basically .... Facebook, bloated and overrated, messy, and way too complicated. Then they destroyed YouTube by merging the two.<br />
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Here's the thing, the stupid system kept bothering me about "use your real name," well, I don't want to use my real name, my online nickname is my personality, I chose that, let me use that. After trying to update to their new channel layout, which had some good ideas but poorly implemented, I broke it. Yep, I broke their account system. I now have like 4 accounts, 2 emails, and 3 Google+ pages all on account of trying to update 2 YouTube channels.<br />
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Great job Google! That was sarcasm, you did a horrible job, you ruined something that was starting off perfect. Now you are trying to do it with everything, even Blogger. I say "no more." I will continue using Blogger, for now, until I either get off my arse and write my own blog site, or you force the lame changes to Blogger.<br />
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The things you did wrong:<br />
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1. Tried too hard to make it all one system, causing it to become bloated and too complicated for it's purpose.<br />
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2. Simplified the wrong things, I mean banners that double as mobile app images? Seriously?<br />
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3. You forced software that was obviously not tested onto people who were loyal to the service merely because you wanted to try to stay ahead of the trends.<br />
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4. You emulate Facebook and try to force people to use the name you think they should use instead of allowing them to use the creative, and personalized, nicknames. Do you know how many Kristina Herrboldts there are in the world? Do a Google search, there are at least 20 in the US alone. How many KittenKoders? 1, only 1, on almost all websites I am the one and only KittenKoder. I made that name, that name is me.<br />
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5. Google+ for comments is lame, really really lame. People want to isolate some parts of their online activities, for various reasons, they don't want it all showing up in one feed that pretty much anyone who knows their name can find. That was one of the biggest problems with Facebook and other social sites. Your circles are nice, but not a solution to the problem.<br />
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6. Merging everything into one. If we all wanted one system for everything, we wouldn't be online, period.KittenKoderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00634260833988857315noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-308835066314209241.post-25064407351048980382014-01-27T01:53:00.001-08:002014-01-27T01:53:41.041-08:00The Unknown Future - Retro GamingThe youth are our future, and only through their memories can we live forever.<br />
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That thought actually occurred to me a long time ago, back when I was still part of youth. The reality of the situation is that how we are remembered is what we actually are. Our own memories vanish when we die, so the only way to live on is to remain in the minds of the next generation.<br />
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So what does this have to do with games? Much more than one would think. I have seen a huge growth in "retro game" fans, primarily because of Nintendo offering some of their greatest hits in the eShop. What makes me happy is to see kids not only playing these games, but actually discussing them intellectually. Offering opinions on the pros and cons of each 8-bit classic.<br />
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This says a lot about my generation of geek and nerd, how much we were unappreciated while I was still young made me ask if it was worth the effort quite often. We not only decided what classics were in fact classics, we also became the play testers and developers for games today. But the 8-bit era is a part of history now.<br />
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That's the fun part, many people who often don't like history classes in schools, those who sleep during the long boring lectures of wars fought in our past, perk up at the mention of Super Mario Brothers. But Super Mario Brothers is, in fact, history now, it is a part of our culture, and a household name. Everyone knows of the Mario Brothers, even those who have never played a video game. My generation has left it's mark on the world, and we will live forever because of it, but without us geeks and nerds that mark would not have existed.<br />
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So our immortality is now guaranteed, even if not by name, we are the pioneers of gaming, the ones to start a glorious new chapter in the world, a chapter where technology exceeds our greatest expectations.<br />
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That last part may sound anecdotal, or a sweeping generalization, but it's very true. As a whole, computer technology was very unpopular when I was young, when video games first made their appearance. People considered home computers to be fads, and businesses wrote everything down on paper still. Phones were bound to our homes, and images took forever just to view on a bulky and blurry monitor.<br />
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The first video games were simple LCD games with various sprites all burnt into the screen. Each sprite would turn on or off depending on what was happening, and the "world" of the game was small and static. But we loved them, they were fun, when sitting there with nothing to do, waiting for people to fill out long forms in pen. Seeing how popular these games were, enterprising companies began investing in creating more, better, and faster games.<br />
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Fast forward today, we have stereoscopic 3D now making an entrance into the world, gaining ground. Video game worlds are massive, mechanics more elaborate, more types of game play than we ever dreamed. All because my generation had geeks and nerds who enjoyed the classics. Even those prior to the 8-bit era are seeing attention now, my generation, the geeks and nerds at least, are etched in stone now. We will be forever remembered as pioneers into a new frontier that resulted in the internet as well, cellphones, portable computers, touch screens and interactive menu systems.<br />
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The one drawback is that I fear we have set the bar too high, this new generation will have to cause a drastic improvement in something in order to make their mark, or be lost like those before my generation. I know you young people can do it though, I have high hopes of seeing space travel or complete equality, perhaps a scientific golden age. But it is often the smallest thing that can cause the biggest mark in history.<br />
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I know, this was more of a rambling post. Right now I am waiting for Bravely Default to come out in my region, starting a new game would just confuse my tired old brain so I am holding off on gaming news. But yes, Bravely Default will be the central topic of my posts soon, I have it pre-ordered. So patience, I will get back to more gaming specific posts soon.KittenKoderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00634260833988857315noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-308835066314209241.post-67804959238958289782014-01-25T03:13:00.000-08:002014-01-25T03:13:31.796-08:00Violence, Sexism, Porn and ... Games?I have posted my views, along with the facts, on these issues many times across the internet. But they still keep showing up, and those who find cause to attack video games, specifically, often rely on old arguments that have been addressed, and completely debunked, many times. So I shall gather my thoughts on these matters for this post, and offer a glimmer of fact on these matters.<br />
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The common lies often stated are as follows:<br />
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1. Violence in video games makes people violent.<br />
2. Images of females in specific clothing styles objectifies women.<br />
3. Porn is bad.<br />
4. There are not enough female heroes in games.<br />
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The first one is an ancient argument, thus I will sweep it away first. One simple fact demonstrates how fallacious the statement is: as video game sales increase, crime decreases across the country.<br />
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Specifically about the US, but this fact destroys that first point because it demonstrates that there is not even any correlation to video games and violent crimes. If there is a correlation, and if correlation could prove causation, then the opposite of that statement would be true. So there is no possible way in which video games can cause violence in anyone who is not already prone to violent behavior.<br />
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The second annoys me, though it's fallacious and just plain stupid, because it also says that the way I choose to dress is somehow wrong. I love wearing miniskirts and light blouses, tees, or other less prudish clothing. Is it wrong that I choose to wear these? Does my wearing these make me a slut? No, quite the contrary, my motto is "you can look, but if you touch I will have your hand on my wall."<br />
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If an asexual person, like myself, can admit that these clothes are really cute, then why can't sexual people admit it as well? But the evidence of why this second point is fallacious is another very simple fact: cultures in which women are forced to cover all their skin also demonstrate the highest number of rape cases.<br />
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Looking more into that, the Middle East countries have outlawed any woman to show "too much" skin, and yet to them women are nothing more than sexual objects to please their man. So no, less clothing will not cause men to objectify us any more than they already do. But men are not the only ones to objectify humans, women who often complain about images that they don't like tend to objectify men just as often. They are asserting, by claiming that images of any particular type will cause men to behave in a negative manner, that men are nothing more than ravenous beasts who cannot control their own behaviors.<br />
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The third claim is so silly that I can't help but snicker each time I see it. Personally, I dislike porn, I see no value in it. Sexual activity of any sort bores me, actually. But porn is neutral, meaning it doesn't influence behavior. When asked to show scientific evidence to back up the claim that porn can cause harm, all they show are anecdotes peppered with their own personal desires, not any actual evidence. There is no evidence that porn, or sexual content, is in any way harmful. If you doubt me, them prove me wrong, send me real scientific evidence to support your argument.<br />
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The fourth point can almost be considered valid, almost. The problem is that it misses one major aspect to the market, it is dominated by male players. When playing a game you like to put yourself in the shoes of the hero, you become that hero in your imagination. So to appeal to the market they have to make most of the heroes male. They need to appeal to the market to gain profits, profits that allow them to make more games for the fans to play.<br />
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I would love to see more heroines, many times they are really strong figures and powerful characters, offering us something to look up too. But that cannot be the case until the female players dominate the market. This is actually happening too, a decade ago you could talk to almost any male about games, but finding a female gamer was difficult. Today you can find female gamers in almost all gamer groups.<br />
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If you ever see these arguments posted anywhere, ask them for scientific evidence. If they cannot produce any then dismiss their argument as foolish and move on. Enjoy your gaming, enjoy your porn too if that's what you like, but if you don't like something, then just leave it lie.KittenKoderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00634260833988857315noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-308835066314209241.post-11927227970652335352014-01-23T13:28:00.000-08:002014-01-23T13:29:14.035-08:00The Conundrum of Region LockingLately I have seen many complaints about Nintendo having region locking on their systems, likely because they keep the newest ones hack resistant. The complaints on their own are understandable, it can suck for some people, but the way in which the complaints are worded makes me realize one problem: Few people know why region locking exists.<br />
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The problem is not cut and dry, Nintendo didn't wake up one morning and say "it would be a great idea to keep some regions from getting games!" On the contrary, it's not even their fault. They gain nothing, as a company, with region locking. So you may ask why they do it, it's because they have no choice in the matter.<br />
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First there are the hardware problems. Regions are typically one specific format or another, all other formats are considered alien, and so in the past they had to develop everything based on the region itself, a television that was made for PAL could only understand PAL in other words. Luckily this aspect is becoming a thing of the past as most hardware is no longer bound by such restrictions, but before then the costs to develop for all regions was four times that of one. The effect will be discussed in a moment.<br />
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So there is one roadblock, though that one is fading, now we face the next roadblock: Content<br />
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Each country has it's own, often ignorant or prudish, idea of what is considered legal content in media. The rating system was suppose to end this problem, but it has only made it more complicated because no one can agree on the same rating system. Games, specifically, are designed to target specific audiences. This means that they must try to keep the ratings the same in all countries. Developers in one country though will make the game based on that country's ratings causing it to get different ratings in other countries.<br />
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This means they have to make many different versions, one for each country it's released. Nintendo uses the ratings from the most strict country for each region to cut down on some costs, but it still costs them to make other versions for each rating system. The effect is the same as the hardware problem, the company must invest more money to make the product more widely available. Nintendo simply cannot afford this yet. So they continue to delegate the responsibility to the developers, which makes sense anyway.<br />
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However, to make sure they are not held responsible for laws broken, they have to lock your system to the region you claim to be in, this makes sure they are not liable for your buying a product that is deemed illegal by your own government. Yep, the crux of the issue, the governments.<br />
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This is the biggest roadblock, governments can sue companies for just about anything they want, and even the US government will harass a company that even tries to upset the apple cart by using laws which should not even exist. This means companies have to appease them, and even pay fees just to put their products on the shelves. If they fail to make the government happy, then they get sued by that government for selling an illegal product.<br />
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Nintendo has to pay all these fees, and extra development costs, just to give you, the loyal gamer, a chance to play their games. The company as a whole lost a bit of money, a few bad investments in systems they developed. This means they do not yet have the extra funds to appease the governments in the way that other companies do, like Sony or Microsoft, resulting in them having to dance around laws those others do not have to obey.<br />
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Considering all this, the very fact that Nintendo has managed to jump ahead on only one system, is actually astounding. So if you don't like region locking, place the blame on who it belongs, and that blame belongs on you. You control your government, no matter what country you are in, so it is your fault you have region locking, ultimately. Of course most of us don't mind, we just love the games we get and pay little attention to the others, and we can sit idle playing those games all we want. The ones who need this eye-opener are those complaining.<br />
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The politics involved in this matter is very heavy, and I could post pages and pages on how badly the US government is doing, even more if I were to look into all the other countries. Just a word to the wise, learn what your government is doing, what it is feeding you, and compare it to what you learn from other people who are in other countries, you may be shocked at how screwed up your laws are.KittenKoderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00634260833988857315noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-308835066314209241.post-47276891408815377702014-01-19T04:48:00.001-08:002014-01-19T04:49:24.360-08:00Sales Figures, Profits, and What's GoodI have seen many people pull up sales figures and various other indicators of a product's value. The problem is not that they are pointing to these, but that they don't understand how it describes the value of a product. Many video game fans, specifically those who just don't like Nintendo, will point to Wii U sales and claim Nintendo is a bad company.<br />
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Another fallacy I have seen is Nintendo's own president pointing to the forecast being wrong and claiming that the 3DS is somehow failing. Yeah, that's really smart Iwata, why not just say "Nintendo sucks" and remove all doubt?<br />
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These are fallacies, not because they are inherently wrong or lies, but because they are misrepresenting the information. 3DS did not do as well as they had hoped, that is the fact. This does not mean it is unpopular or selling less than other systems, all other indicators actually state the opposite. The Wii U, one of the two systems Nintendo sells, is having trouble gaining traction. This does not mean Nintendo is in trouble or a bad company, all other indicators state otherwise.<br />
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So what do all these numbers and all this data mean? On their own they mean .... nothing. They are completely meaningless on their own. A sales projection will never be perfectly accurate, and often real sales will fall short. The projections are what are shown to the investors to show confidence in your own product. That means you will want them to be a bit higher than realistic, but not so high as to demonstrate arrogance. If the projections are, say, 20% above the actual sales, the investors can safely chalk it up to hopefulness. If the projections are 50% above the actual sales, then you have some explaining to do, but if the sales at least recover the investments, it's a good product.<br />
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I know, this makes the projections seem almost inconsequential, and often they are. Always remember, don't panic. Most companies fail, the vast majority in reality, and never even recuperate the initial investments. Investors know this, they play a game of chance when deciding where to place their money by weighing the market and various aspects of the product itself. How well a product does compared to the projections does not tell how good a product is, it only tells what the risks will be involved for future investments.<br />
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Sales figures are the key to what is often called "consumer confidence," basically how good something is. But remember, they are not always telling. If you look at a market where only one product is available, and lots of people need it, you cannot use sales as a measure of consumer confidence, because the market is cornered and there is nothing to compare it too. With gaming we have a lot of things to compare it too, and the number of systems entering the gaming market increases every year.<br />
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A company is only as strong as it's best selling product, it's least selling product tells nothing of the company's strength. Yep, so the Wii U has no bearing on how well Nintendo does. Stop bringing it up until it outsells the other products. Right now the 3DS is the strongest system for Nintendo, and oddly the entire market. The 3Ds continually outsells all other systems, from all major gaming companies, and holds records in software sales.<br />
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The key is the consistency in which this is happening. Since it's release the 3DS, and all it's variants, is producing more sales for Nintendo than any system for any company. Considering the competition that it faces, that's saying a lot. Console gaming is taking a huge hit in sales from the increase in popularity for other platforms. Specifically portable devices that are not inherently designed for gaming. So as a whole the entire industry is balancing out with these other markets, mingling and mixing, thus there will be lower numbers compared to previous generations of similar consoles.<br />
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As a whole though, the gaming industry is still doing really well. The reasons for this will stray from the topic, so I will save them for another article. In spite of the balancing out with platforms that are not gaming specific, video games are more popular now than ever, and keep increasing in popularity. So Nintendo did do something awesome with the 3DS, it's a megalith now, a household name and item. I pull out my 3DS in the coffee shop once in a while and have lots of people stop to chat about it, many times I hear "I just got mine, I love this thing." That is consumer confidence that even sales numbers cannot show.<br />
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On a final note, someone once said that GTA was "on everyone's list." They had said it was more popular than any game on the 3DS, specifically, in spite of Pokemon X and Y outselling GTA V. The thing is, just because it's "on everyone's list" doesn't mean everyone bought it. If you want your game to be popular, then tell the fans to actually buy the game, then you can claim it's as popular as another.KittenKoderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00634260833988857315noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-308835066314209241.post-43052950356660219672014-01-11T23:34:00.001-08:002014-01-11T23:35:18.306-08:00World Conqueror 3D: A Game of WarMany strategy games either oversimplify, or over-complicate, the art of war. World Conqueror 3D appears to be the first, on the surface at least. While the battle system between squads is very simplistic, it does capture one element often forgotten in many strategy games, the supply route advantage.<br />
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The basic elements of the game are very simple, three units, one defensive, one mixed, and one offensive. A few strategy "cards" as well, that can modify the values and offer a small advantage or clear out one region completely. Of course there are upgrades, for both regions and units, that offer a few more options and advantages. However, the nuance of the game is not in the units themselves or the terrain.<br />
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The nuance of the game that is often missed by many who review it is that the regions are not a grid. Meaning, one region can touch five or six others, while another will only have access to two other regions. This is where the strategy comes into play. Placing units on all the regions you control will not work, the opponents will eventually wear them down and take over one by one.<br />
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When you first look at the map, find regions that create bottlenecks, where one region controls several routes. Take those, build up a huge number of units there, and hold onto it with all you have. That's one of the strategies, a defensive one, which will force the opponent to waste units on blind attacks just to get those regions so they can progress into your territory.<br />
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Taking key regions, like the bottleneck ones, requires a different tactic. One squad of a lot of units will not work, since you can only impact the target by up to five per attack. Thus you use a lot of smaller squads surrounding the target region, making the key regions difficult to defend. The AI surprisingly does that, it's not as stupid as many other strategy games.<br />
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As you play more of the campaigns you start to see maps where you have to consider the access points to each one, often allowing the opponent to take a bottleneck while you build up an army to punch through it. The AI considers these advantages, it seems, only holding onto regions that are an asset to it's position while allowing others to be claimed by an opponent.<br />
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Now, if you did not catch all I have said to this point, let me assure you that this game is worth the small price they ask. Players who enjoy chess-like games will find this one riveting, as the strategy is entirely positional. The game is well done, in it's own simplicity it offers a variety not seen in many similar games, and enough weighing of odds to keep you playing for hours.<br />
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So in spite of some of the negative reviews of World Conqueror, please give it a try before you decide. The demo provides enough to understand the game and how it works, play all three campaigns on that and you will know if it is a game you will enjoy. Enjoy your gaming, and have fun in life.KittenKoderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00634260833988857315noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-308835066314209241.post-43453656352053917332013-12-25T23:25:00.002-08:002013-12-25T23:26:15.468-08:00Pokemon: The Tactical AdvantageMany players will often assume that the most amount of damage is the ultimate factor in who wins, however that is not the case at all. This is why various status moves exist, to shift the advantage. Also many abilities can do this, like prankster or gale wings to take the speed advantage. There are a lot of moves and abilities that are overlooked though, because they offer no obvious advantage.<br />
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Luck based tactics can be very effective, but require the correct setups to work at all. Instant KO moves have very low chances of success, they are luck based. but with the correct build, a highly defensive pokemon that has defensive boosts, for example, will benefit the luck based tactic, offering you a lot of chances to use the high risk moves. But if you fail to build the pokemon correctly, you will fail.<br />
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Defensive tactics are overlooked a lot, turning everything into glass cannons. Sure, the glass cannon may be capable of sweeping another glass cannon who has lower speed, but you will lose that glass cannon. If your opponent is smart, you will lose that cannon quickly. Mega Kangaskhan is the perfect example of something many players turn into a glass cannon, my Sableye scoffs at those using foul play to bring them down.<br />
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So when you boost up the offensive ability, you lose out on a massive tank. Mega Kangas should be utilized as a wall more than a cannon, take advantage of those high defenses and use it's ability to make up for a lack in offensive, because one or two hits from foul play will bring it down if you don't.<br />
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One move that can give you a huge tactical advantage is power split, one of those highly underrated moves. Take a pokemon with almost no offense but massive defenses, power split with the toughest opponent. That opponent is weakened and your power swapper becomes invincible, possibly even a sweeper with the right damage moves.<br />
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There are also many moves you can use on an ally in doubles, like guard split for a highly defensive pokemon, use it on your glass cannon and that cannon becomes massive, while the user of guard split only suffers a little. This offers you a tactical advantage, which can win the match.<br />
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One other tactical advantage is the force switch, keep hitting your opponent with hard status effects in doubles matches and force them to switch their pokemon into attacks, with the right predictions you will easily win the match. Predicting your opponent's actions and builds is another way to claim the tactical advantage.<br />
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The most important tactic though, be prepared for anything. It is possible to build a team that is ready for any situation, in spite of claims to the contrary. Go through the moves and abilities of your teams, build a team that is capable of dealing with status and damage moves, plan on things like sleep, confusion, and poison. Expect the common ones, but do not forget the uncommon builds.<br />
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What brought this topic up was the fact that a lot of players who are cheating others out of rightful wins by disconnecting are either mega Kangaskhan players, or Smogonites. So I will take this last moment to add this, Smogon does NOT control Pokemon, if you cannot take the heat, change kitchens. Smogon has their own arena to battle in, those of us on Battle Spot are not interested in your rules, and most of us don't even know your rules, the few of us that even know you exist. So stop trying to force everyone to think like you do, in other words, stop cheating.KittenKoderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00634260833988857315noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-308835066314209241.post-82600634166262821542013-12-23T22:04:00.002-08:002014-01-03T08:05:10.355-08:00Effort Values: The Once Hidden Power of Pokemon<u>NOTE: Portions of this article are out dated, however the basic concepts are still valid. EVs are no longer logarithmic.</u> <br />
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Once people discovered the system of what are commonly called EVs in Pokemon, they began keeping track of them meticulously. As a result, competitive battles rose to a new level. Now Game Freak has decided to just let us see them, and give us an alternative method for training them.<br />
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I love this new change, because tracking the EVs was always a pain for me so I never did it. Now I tailor the EV spreads to each pokemon and what job they will do in any battle. But a funny trend has happened, people think putting a maximum number of EVs in one stat actually benefits that stat more than say half in two stats.<br />
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Bulbapedia shows why this is not a good idea, the effect of Effort Values is logarithmic, meaning that the smaller amounts of EVs in a stat will have a greater impact on the final stat's value. Basically, if you just max out two stats you are wasting at least a quarter of those points. The reason for this is the square root of the value, when something is square rooted it takes more to gain an increase at higher values. From 0 to 4 you gain a +1 to most stats, depending on the IV and base value. For a +2 you will need about 36 points for most stats. That +3 is above 100 EVs .....<br />
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You see the pattern now. Though I used estimations on the actual values the general idea is that to get to the next increase you need even more than the previous one. There are some players who have gotten the brilliant idea of optimizing the EVs, which doesn't usually result in maxing anything out. For those who do not have the patience for this, I offer some quick advice.<br />
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In the super training screen, increase everything by 12 at a time, you're more likely to hit a squared number that way. Increase one stat until the graph point noticeably "moves," that's about when you will see a difference in most stats. Once a stat you really need is up to that first line, just inside the edge of the graph, consider that high enough.<br />
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Other stats that you won't depend on most you can usually go to a point about halfway to that line, and if you don't max out any stats you will find you can reach that halfway point with almost all the stats for the pokemon in question. Another way to make sure you get the most value for the points is to keep track of them and increase to each square value, in other words: 4, 9, 16, 25, ... etc.<br />
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I hope this helps with the mystery of how EVs work, and happy gaming.KittenKoderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00634260833988857315noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-308835066314209241.post-26808212531023670512013-12-18T15:10:00.000-08:002013-12-18T15:10:09.191-08:00The Game Of Numbers: Failed Pokemon StrategiesOne trend that I have noticed in rating battles is players relying on the best numbers instead of a strategy that can secure a win. While I do find some players who have pretty interesting tactics and strategies, the majority are all just "hit them with the hardest moves you can." Brute force can work in many games, but not in Pokemon. One reason are abilities.<br />
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I have been playing around with a Sableye and Klefki lead, both with prankster, giving them first move on status abilities. Loki, my Sableye, is a tough nut to crack as it is. He's highly underrated and his small form is misleading. With EVs evenly spread in both defenses and HP he has a lot of bulk for something so tiny, but most of all, only one weakness and several immunities.<br />
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But his move set is the key, same with the Klefki, they are 3 status moves and one damage move each. One of the pair alone will neuter most heavy damage causing opponents, but the two combined will reduce all the biggest, most powerful, pokemon into dead weight. Loki burns the opponents who pose the biggest threat, taunts other status users, restores damage he takes on his own. The damage move he has .... foul play. Foul play uses the target's attack stat for the damage, which is devastating to the heavy attackers.<br />
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Klefki has both screens and drain kiss, the fourth move I have yet settled into and it keeps changing at this time. If the Klefki sets up both screens, I usually start with reflect because most teams I have faced are mostly physical attackers, then all damage my team receives is halved. Even fire damage from a mega Charizard to my Klefki is only an inconvenience.<br />
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Leading with them both is kind of a cheap trick, but it's loads of fun, only because most opponents I face have almost nothing but heavy damage moves. Many of the overlooked, underrated, and generally scoffed at pokemon have benefits like Klefki and Sableye, their abilities and move pools can disrupt an opponent's primary strategy very easily. I also notice a lot of players running damage calculations, expecting the opponent to be as predictable as they are. This is cool, because when you run damage calculations it makes you even more predictable and anything I do will disrupt your tactics without much bother.<br />
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Now, the truly unusual pokemon I often run with, Galvantula. His name is Tallit, and yes, he's a glass cannon, but one of the more buff ones. Often my Gavlantula manages to take down two or three opponents before getting squished, which surprised me as I only expect him to take down one. The reason for this are the EV spreads. Putting maxed EVs in anything is a huge waste, optimized EVs tend to work the best. I have battled someone who optimizes their EVs and they are one of the toughest opponents I have ever faced.<br />
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The best way to explain it is this: The increase from 1 to 127 EVs is at least 4 times what the increase from 128 too 252 EVs is. The effect is logarithmic, and my pokemon are nearly optimized, as in the EVs are spread to the stats I think they need most but only a few are maximum. Not only do I get more of an increase from this, but the pokemon are more versatile. By sacrificing a small increase in one stat, I can put a huge increase in another.<br />
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This makes the entire team unpredictable, you could, in theory, catch opponents off guard with any member of the team. Other ways are to use moves that you never see, like soak on a Lanturn, it's very effective but rarely seen. Soak an opponent then strike them with a mega Ampharos, even those with lightning rod will go down.<br />
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Happy gaming to all, I hope you find this helpful in planning out strategies for not only Pokemon but any other PvP game.KittenKoderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00634260833988857315noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-308835066314209241.post-79222658809936048332013-12-13T15:18:00.002-08:002013-12-13T15:19:30.440-08:00Cheaters: This Is Why We Can't Have Nice ThingsA while ago, Game Freak had to shut down the ranked battles because of a program that was made which allowed people to cheat during the battles in game breaking ways. Recently a patch to the game fixed this, thankfully, and they restored out ranked battles to us. But there was something that got caught in the crossfire, something that I didn't use but liked it being in existence. The trade checking program.<br />
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Knowing your opponent's decisions before you make yours is certainly cheating, though I don't blame the hacker who actually figured out it. But knowing what you are getting in a trade is not really cheating. There are players of all games who are dishonest, the battle program is proof of that, and sometimes something crops up that looks like a cheat but really makes dishonest people more honest.<br />
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The trade program was one of those tools, trade cheaters, thieves basically, were unable to get away with cheating someone out of a legitimately obtained pokemon. So these thieves faded into obscurity while the program was popular. This made trades much better, we were able to trust more players who said they had something for trade that you wanted. Sure, shiny pokemon became more common, but those are nothing more than a fancy palette swap anyway.<br />
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Shiny collectors must remember one thing, there are a lot of players and way more pokemon caught or hatched than there are players everyday. Some of us just toss the shiny if it's not good enough for battle, we have no interest in them at all. Others prefer the standard look. What makes something valuable is when more people want it, correct? Well, most players don't care about shiny pokemon other than as a novelty.<br />
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I have one shiny, it was given to me by a friend just because I said I never got a single shiny in this gen. It is not battle ready, it doesn't even have any egg moves, it sits in my box looking different, and that is all. The only value this Bellsprout has is that it was a gift from a friend who I enjoy battling, which is a lot of value but the fact that it's a shiny only makes it stand out enough to remember it.<br />
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Anyhow, back to the main topic, enough about shiny values. Game Freak patching to break that battle cheat was a great thing, I am so glad it happened, but the backlash of them having to do that so quickly is that paranoia is already setting in the trade communities. I participate in an IRC channel, in which many members there have said they won't trade with anyone that they do not already have in their friends list except for junk. I don't blame them though.<br />
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Actually, the people who are at fault for this whole mess, the return of the paranoia, the power given to the thieves, and a neat little toy that some people enjoyed having, the ones who are to blame are those who would use a program to actually cheat at the game. The checker for the pokemon during trades is not a cheat, because it doesn't actually alter the rules of the game or give you any edge in the portion that is ranked. But the battle analyzer broke the game, literally in many cases, and ruined the fun of the most important part of the game.<br />
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So those of you who would have used this "battle analyzer" program, it's your fault, you are the scum that is ruining everything for everyone. Cheaters are, to put it more simply, no better than Adolf Hitler.KittenKoderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00634260833988857315noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-308835066314209241.post-87037845243969789902013-12-05T10:12:00.001-08:002014-01-30T03:55:16.350-08:00Pokemon Battles: Why Smogon is StupidI get it, yes I do, you like the little offbeat challenged like all level one, all underused, etc. But for open matches, arbitrary restrictions on a ton of things is simply not of interest to the vast majority of the players. Let's catch up to the modern age already.<br />
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Originally the game system for Pokemon was broken, for lack of a better descriptive, when applied to competitive gaming. What do you expect? There was no wifi, there was barely a functional internet, and you were limited to about 10 feet from any possible opponent. Competitive play was simply a possibility .... for the future.<br />
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Fast forward ahead, we are finally here, in the future, when players from around the globe can finally battle in epic tournaments. Did you think Game Freak was just sitting around twiddling their thumbs this whole time as well? No, they tweaked, tested, and made changes to the battle system, correcting errors and filling in holes. They were balancing it out for competitive play. Is it perfect? Well, not yet, but it is actually balanced.<br />
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Let's take the big restriction I hear so much about, the sleep restriction. Yeah, can you believe Smogon players are so bad at the game, they have no idea or viable tactic to counter sleep? There's an ability, it's pretty common, insomnia. Why don't you have one of the pokemon with insomnia? Oh, that's right, because they can't do a ton of damage to the opponent. Well duh, that's what balances it.<br />
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Those who depend on non-damaging tactics like sleep are not powerful pokemon, they're all pretty easy to knock out with the right strike. Every time they are considering a pokemon, the only thing they ever look at are how high the stats are. This is because all they are playing is a brawl battle, no strategy, no tactics, no underhanded plays. Just a plain, straight up, who can do as much damage as everyone else.<br />
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Which is not bad, it's actually perfectly okay, and not my gripe. What is my gripe is how stupid these people are, how extremely shortsighted and naive they are. To make the claim that "pokemon is just broken in competitive play" is truly outdated, much worse, to assume that an elite few are better at making that call than the creators of the actual game is arrogant. It would be the same as a human saying that honey from bees is made wrong.<br />
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Another good example is the evasion boosting, double team being the most common move. Use it on a heavy hitter and it's a waste of a turn, and move slot. With all the combinations of types, not to mention double type pokemon, you need those heavy hitters to have as many different move types as possible, and keep at least one of each STAB available.<br />
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Then your status inflicters are the ones you need double team on, so they have a chance to do something. Good status inflicting pokemon are all low in stats, most cannot take a hit, few can do any damage, their role is to disrupt the tanks, walls, and stallers. How can they do that job, if they are knocked out by a single blow from one of them? Double team becomes the balancing move, you have an escape hatch, a reason to use a variety of pokemon.<br />
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Another thing about Smogon fans, they don't use bugs. Bug pokemon are awesome, most of them are have move pools that can frustrate any opponent, force them to think outside the box. But most bugs are easy to knock out, which is fine considering what they can do for your team. Poison, sleep, stun, draining, everything in on kind of pokemon. But their stats are lower than most of the others, of course, they'd be capable of sweeping if they had a total of 600 like the dragons.<br />
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There it is, the one thing that Game Freak really needed to fix, the most broken thing in the series, the dragon. Dragons are so cool looking, I love them, but their typing was broken in the game for so long, and they were never really that rare. The thing is, it's not because of their abilities that they were broken, it's because of their stat totals. With ice and themselves as the only real threats, players suddenly had teams of nothing but dragons, which was possible and still never have any of the same pokemon.<br />
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But instead of offering some arbitrary ban, Game Freak put their heads together and decided that their new type, the fairy, will be the bane of dragons. Fairy are not just the bane of dragons, they are the bane of almost all tanks. A team of fairies and bugs, with mostly status moves, can wreck a team of dragons, as long as you don't follow arbitrary rules formulated by a popular opinion of some few elite jerks who think they're the best of the world at something.<br />
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So I put out this challenge, all you snooty Smogon fools, battle players who don't follow your idiotic rules, while still following your own idiotic rules. If you can defeat all of us, without ever losing, then you can claim to be something. Until then, you are just too weak and too stupid to play real Pokemon.KittenKoderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00634260833988857315noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-308835066314209241.post-74530151747678543622013-12-03T01:44:00.001-08:002013-12-03T01:44:50.042-08:00Pokemon: The Convention of UnconventionalMy favorite battles are with players who use unconventional move sets and tactics. The biggest benefit is that it helps you balance your teams out better, the other benefit is that it teaches you several unconventional tactics. These unconventional tactics can easily throw a trainer off, while also eliminating the raw power moves' advantage.<br />
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Let's look at my Galvantula tactic, which works so well against a Greninja with protean. Greninja with protean is pretty much all I see now, it's predictable, another predictable move is to use ice beam on my Galvantula. The problem is that my Galvantula will stay standing after the first hit, the Greninja is now double ice type and gets hit by my Galvantula's gastroacid. Now the Greninja is stuck in ice, my slower partner for the Galvantula then smacks the frog with a fighting move and knocks it out in one hit.<br />
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Yes, it's that simple, my partner for Galvantula is either my Seismitoad, which is never targeted by the Greninja, or something that's weak to ice but can take the damage from one hit. Which depends on if I want my Galvantula later or can afford to sacrifice it. Now look at why this actually works, the player with the Greninja is looking at a bug, thinking ice will KO it with the double STAB, so they don't put any EVs into the defenses, expecting it to sweep in a doubles match with it's superior speed.<br />
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The problem with their tactic is that double ice is also extremely weak to fighting moves, so even without STAB the Seismitoad can KO the Greninja with one hit from a drain punch. Thus the only way a Greninja could avoid this is to sacrifice some of the speed and attack EVs to increase the defenses. That is unconventional, however, it is the only thing that stops my tactic in it's tracks, the Greninja survives and still out-speeds my Galvantula, but it still has to switch out to reclaim protean or it will be down in the next round no matter what it tries.<br />
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The best effect of unconventional tactics in battles is that they almost always catch the trainer off guard, unless they have encountered that strategy or tactic somewhere they will struggle to figure out a new tactic to counter it. In Battle Spot I was constantly taking out Greninjas with that tactic, and I mean a lot of them. I have other tactics to use against Greninjas in doubles matches as well, because of practicing with other unconventional trainers.<br />
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That's the irony of the underused pokemon as well, trainers often only use pokemon with high stats, and this reduces the variety in the battles a lot. It gets redundant after a while, facing the same teams, but when they are facing a pokemon that is not common they panic. They panic because they are unprepared for it, they have nothing to counter it. One example of an underused pokemon that can really catch people off guard is the Sableye with prankster.<br />
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Sableye's stats are low, however it's lack of weaknesses make those low stats almost comparable to a Seismitoad. Add prankster and a good set of status moves that trainers won't expect and you will have the advantage. Drop a few status effects, especially one of the major ones like sleep, onto their toughest tanks and you can just chip away their hitpoints in your own time. Or hit it with a bunch of stat changes.<br />
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Though stat changes can be reset by switching, you have taken their advantage away from them whether they switch or not. If you know the other pokemon in their team, you can spam attacks those are weak too on the weakened ones. These attacks will still do some damage, more if you weaken it well enough, and when they switch in the next one you will likely hit it with a super effective move.<br />
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Changing status values can be devastating if you can predict your opponent's actions well, thus the common tactics and pokemon become a disadvantage no matter how high their stats are. If you are lucky then even without good predictions, you will still be at an advantage with the correct status moves.<br />
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This brings us to my favorite tactic, shifting chance to your side. Paralysis and sleep are great luck based statuses to inflict, it gives you time to buff up or switch pokemon without much risk. Confusion is another good luck status to cause, though not always the best because it can be cured by switching. The goal of this strategy is to decrease their chances of being able to use any moves, then you can switch in some heavy hitters or sacrifice those with the status moves and cause some damage to keep the edge regardless of losing one or two pokemon.<br />
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The sacrifice play is one often overlooked, it's valuable for many reasons, one is that it avoids switching into a damage move, the other is that the opponent has to use PP to bring them down, valuable PP. If your typing is done right, they will not have enough big damage moves to bring your tanks down before they can claim your victory.<br />
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Typing is another factor often missed, with the return of STAB this can really hurt your team. Often I will find a team that the trainer has too many of one type of damaging move, and none of another. My team is balanced in type weaknesses, at most two or three of my pokemon will have a type as a weakness unless I suspect they will not have that type of move available. Also the most common types used are best avoided as weaknesses, which this changes depending on which pokemon is the most popular of the week.<br />
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The best rule of thumb, if it's popular, avoid using it. That is the ultimate tactic, don't use a common one because the best trainers will be prepared for it, but do prepare for the most common weaknesses for your team. This means you need more than six pokemon ready for battle, so you can change your team when needed. You also have to practice different strategies all the time, get use to your teams, all of them. Don't waste too much time on one single team, or you will lose the advantage over the overused pokemon.<br />
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I hope this article helps some new trainers to offer up more challenges in the near future. I don't mind losing, as long as you don't cheat, and I hope you will offer something new to see. Also, never overlook the underdogs, even an underdog can bring you down.KittenKoderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00634260833988857315noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-308835066314209241.post-10736566633333573532013-11-26T08:55:00.001-08:002013-11-26T09:19:01.205-08:00Pokemon Breeding: Generation VI How ToUnlike the plethora of information sites detailing the mechanics of breeding, I will present the new mechanics in a "how to" style as a means to, hopefully, help those new to the game, and those unclear of how it works understand it better. First you will need a lot of patience, unless you're one of those who managed to find a perfect breeding Ditto. It's also good to have one or two boxed in the PC empty so you can fill them with eggs for a less tedious method of hatching.<br />
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You will need a few things in the game, first you need access to the stat rater in Kiloude. You will have to wait until you are past the E4, Kiloude is also where the power items are. You will need a destiny knot as well, this is your most valuable item if you are going to be a breeder so make sure you don't lose it. The other items are the power items, their names all start with the word "power" and you can get them all in Kiloude using Battle Points earned in the Battle Maison or the Battle Institute. The exchange desk on the left is where you can trade the points for the items.<br />
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A single Ditto is all you may need, though having a few with some maxed IVs can help a lot. I used this method to get a Garchomp with all six IVs perfect, using only a Ditto with no maxed IVs and about 100 eggs. So a "perfect" Ditto is not required at all. If you want to breed egg moves, and your first one is a female, you can do that now. If you don't have a female then just breed with the Ditto to get one, the number of eggs will depend on the chances of getting a female. Those without a gender cannot get egg moves so don't bother looking for that information in such a case.<br />
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Egg moves are the same and there is a ton of information on how to breed them into the pokemon. But make sure that both parents you choose to continue on with have the egg moves you want your perfect Pokemon to have for the next portion of breeding. Now you are ready to breed for the IVs in generation VI. First, check the IVs for the parents, make note of those the rater says "can't be beat." If both parents have the same ones then you will need something to breed the female with for adding more, otherwise you will need a lot of luck and patience. If neither have any maxed IVs then breed just those parents with no items held, do not worry about the nature yet.<br />
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Breeding whil the parents hold no items will ensure that a few stats will be completely randomized, giving you a chance to get one or more maxed IVs in the offspring. Having two parents with different maxed IVs is your best outcome, even if it's only one each.<br />
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Now that you have a base pair, you can begin the controled breeding process to improve each new generation. If you have a parent, or Ditto, with three maxed IVs or more, then you will want to skip this next part. If all you have are one or two maxed for each parent then attach the power item corresponding to the stat you want to ensure gets passed to the next generation. For example the power anklet will ensure speed is passed to the offspring, it's the stat that grows when held. At this point, about thirty eggs will guarantee you get one that you are looking for, possibly even a better pair. Again, try to get a pair with different IVs, even if that means one won't be better than the parents.<br />
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Now you are ready to use the destiny knot in your breeding, so I will attempt to explain how the destiny knot works now. The destiny knot will ensure that five stats are inherited from the parents, however, which stats are inherited and from which parent are random. This means that HP, attack, defense, special defense, and speed may be inherited, maybe three will be from the mother and two from the father. Combining the destiny knot with a power item does not change that much, but does offer some control over who the stat is inherited from. For instance, if a parent is holding the power anklet and one of the stats inherited by the destiny knot is speed, the speed will be inherited from the parent holding the power anklet.<br />
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This also means you will need to change the parents a lot, often going through your boxes to find a compatible male parent with a stat you want to add to the maxed ones. This is when things can get frustrating, the key is patience, you will need at least thirty eggs per generation untill you get one, or two, that are exactly what you expect. If at any point you end up with two parents that each have three or more maxed IVs that cover all six stats you can move on to the next step.<br />
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Now you should have two parents which, if combined, cover all the stats you want, exactly how you want them. If one has the nature you want as well then you're almost done. Only one parent will need the destiny knot, and it does not matter which parent you give it to. If one of the parents has a nature you want for your final result then they have to be given an everstone now. If you have no interest in either nature then do not use the everstone at all, just the destiny knot. The next generations you breed should present a breeding pair that is at least one better than the previous parents, again make sure that the stats for the pair are different and cover all the ones you need maxed. Keep an eye out for one with all six stats exactly what you want, in a batch of thirty eggs you have a good chance of that happening, in a batch of sixty eggs you will have a perfect breeding pair and a great chance of one being all six stats exactly what you want.<br />
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If you are still trying to get the perfect stats and nature then just keep repeating the last step in the process until you do, it should not take much longer now. I should mention hidden abilities now, though you may already know about this. The female of the parent, if they have a gender, has the best chances of passing a hidden ability on. The male has almost no chance of passing it on, even with a Ditto for the other parent. That means it's best to keep only the females with the hidden ability through the entire process if that's the ability you are interested in, or keep one on the side to breed it back into the final generations if you want it to move along faster.<br />
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I hope this helps some players breed more competitive play pokemon for interesting battles. Happy breeding, and I hope to see you all on the rating lists.KittenKoderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00634260833988857315noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-308835066314209241.post-59686258038400835622013-11-23T19:07:00.000-08:002013-11-23T19:32:50.924-08:00It's Pokemon!<h2 style="text-align: center;">
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Yes, I am a huge fan, been one since the first generation. Of course the games were redundant for so long, the few changes often seem forced or were hit and miss on how good they were. However, I love the series for the gameplay, and nothing else. The monsters are so cool, pokemon are like your best friends, pets, that accompany you on your adventures, but these pets like to battle with each other.</div>
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That's the whole premise for the entire series, monsters that enjoy battling each other, but they never kill each other, even if they are mortal enemies. The newest generation had such a wonderful story, far more enthralling than the previous gens because it moved along faster and had a wonderful ending, very moving. So I was inspired to write about it a bit.</div>
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There is only one major flaw in the game, the lack of stereoscopic effect for most of the game. This makes the few parts with it available seem out of place, and sometimes the constant switching between the parts with and those without will cause headaches or dizziness. Now when I say that's the only flaw, I'm talking major and unavoidable flaws.</div>
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One of the minor flaws is the movement in the signature city, Lumiose. The camera angle and movement are not synchronized, it feels like you're actually stumbling around the city. Without the stereoscopic effect the city also made me very nauseous, yes, that's why I like the stereoscopic effect for the 3DS, it's the only way I can play games with dynamic cameras for long. Normally such cameras will give me vertigo after only a few minutes, and I can't focus my eyes right during camera movements without there being actual depth to the image.</div>
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The rest of the game is pure gold. One of the pleasant surprises are the pokemon character models, they turned out even better than I expected. You can now get a feel for how big they are, and many of those that looked kinda lame in 2D sprites now look really awesome in the 3D models, like Raichu, who looks adorable now. Super training is the best mini-game any generation has ever had, and it's useful. Aimee is just fun, Togepi is so much fun in Aimee.</div>
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The map graphics were expected, they're not much better than fifth generation but now all the characters are done with 3D models as well, making them fit in better. The changes they made to the battle system balance it out a lot, which brought competitive battles online to a new level. Finally, player character customization is great, though more clothing options would be nice, it adds a lot more color to the trainers' appearances.</div>
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Now that the general review is done, let's look at what really makes Pokemon a phenomenon and why this generation was such a keystone for the franchise. Pokemon is more than just battling monsters against each other, there are so many different challenges to face in the game, and so many niches that a player can become a part of. Everyone has to be an explorer at some point, to find everything and finish the story itself. But once the story is complete, you have the in game championship title, and your PC is filled with a bunch of different pokemon, you can now focus on your niche.</div>
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Perhaps you are a hunter, you seek to complete the pokedex by going to every point on the map and every safari, seeking out anything you don't have and catching it, then trading for others on the GTS or with friends. Hunters are the ones you can ask for any particular pokemon, and chances are they'll be able to breed a quick one for you. You can describe a pokemon to them, and they'll know the name of it, as well as where to find it. The hunter is base niche, also the most popular. Though it takes a while, it's not as intense as the other niches, even a casual player can be a good hunter.</div>
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Then there are the battlers, you train the ultimate teams, move sets designed to meet any challenge presented. You have all the TMs in the game, and you know how to use them. Competitive battling requires intense training, testing, and lots of things to memorize. You have to know the types of each pokemon, and the weaknesses for those. You have to know the moves, what they do, their priority, their power and accuracy, and when the best time to use them is. Strategy and planning is key to winning battles, being ready for anything. I will eventually cover some of the strategies on this blog.</div>
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The final niche are the breeders. Pokemon breeding is a game on it's own, the breeding system has been tweaked and developed for a while and it finally feels stable. Breeders have to have a lot of patience, and a little luck. Breeding the perfect pokemon takes a lot of time, collecting and hatching eggs then evaluating their IVs and natures. Sometimes you want to breed moves into the pokemon too, that takes even more work. This means you have to also know which stats are most important, which moves they will learn when fully trained, and what parents to use.</div>
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Regardless of the niche you get into, you can test your fully trained pokemon in the Battle Institute or the Battle Maison, to see if they are versatile enough and earn points for items and other goodies at the same time. Then, when you're finally ready, you can dive into the competitive battles online.</div>
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Competitive battles have gone to a whole new level, with strategies that were not possible before, and pokemon that can take a hit from the strongest moves and still be ready for more. Thus I will spend several posts to discuss those, and the strategies involved there. I welcome and encourage discussion, clean and nice though. But to help anyone new, here are a few resources that will help out:</div>
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<a href="http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/" target="_blank">Bulbapedia Wiki</a> A community driven wiki.<br />
<a href="http://www.serebii.net/" target="_blank">Serebii</a> Massive online Pokemon resource.<br />
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<a href="http://www.pokecommunity.com/" target="_blank">The Pokecommunity </a> Great forum to discuss Pokemon on.</div>
KittenKoderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00634260833988857315noreply@blogger.com0