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 POKEMON SWORD AND POKEMON SHIELD WITH DLC ARE OUT AND ARE PRETTY OKAY YOU SHOULD GET THEM Welcome to the world of Pokemon! I'm just some guy on the internet, but what is Pokemon? Well, it's a bunch of fun RPGs and also the biggest financially successful franchise of all time. But you're not here for the cool stats, you're here to understand why everyone's talking in bad British accents, you TOSSAH! For the latest Sword/Shield info, please check the next post as this is a more general introduction to the Pokemon franchise. If you want to know the ins and outs of what you just missed on the 3DS with Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon, then refer to the previous OP. Discord to discord things in. Hammerite posted:Pokémon is a JRPG for the Nintendo 3DS and now the Nintendo Switch. Unlike most RPGs though, in Pokémon your party members are cute (and sometimes not-so-cute) monsters that you caught, tamed, and trained to battle. Each Pokémon can learn a variety of skills (called moves) and has a special ability (a special rule or power which allows it to bend or break the normal rules of the game in some way). Different Pokémon species also have different strengths and weaknesses (some are physically stronger than others, for example, and some are faster or bulkier) and different elemental types (sending out a Fire-type Pokémon against a Water-type opponent is typically a no-no, for reasons anybody can probably understand).  Help I haven't played Pokemon for a million, billion years and there's apparently 900 of these drat things what game do I play first?????? As always, the most recent game is the best introduction into the series, which would be Sword and Shield for the Nintendo Switch. The Expansion Pass adds in new Pokemon, old Pokemon, new forms and new Gigatimax forms so it's recommended you get them, especially if you're gonna do a lot of online play, but they aren't completely necessary. If you don't have a Switch, then jump right into Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon, they're the best 3DS games and the best way to get stuck in. If you're happy after that, then go for XY, then ORAS, then SM, then all the DS games, basically just play whichever one you fancy. Pokemon is a fantastic entry series for RPGs and you can just try any you fancy, but know that they will play differently and get a bit worse the further you go back. What Pokemon do I catch? Is my starter any good? Do I need to worry about IVs or EVs or whaaaaaaaaaaaaat? The single player story of any Pokemon game isn't going to be very difficult. You could beat the entire game just using your starter, but it is a lot of fun to field a full team of six of the coolest creatures you find. Very few Pokemon are completely unusable in the main game (they're usually gimmicks and/or have low stats), so if you like the look of something, use it! If it doesn't work out, use something else, but try not to make a habit of that, as you'll fall behind the low level curve if you keep rotating things out. If you want to go into competitive, then Sword and Shield's Expansion Pass metagame is the busiest, since while Let's Go has some interesting mechanics, it's merely an intriguing metagame to dive into without too much depth. Regardless, it always requires a fair amount of research to keep on top of everything, so it's a real investment. But it's a lot of fun and it's really surprising how deep the battle system is. If that doesn't float your boat, then feel free to explore the region, catch all the Pokemon and try out new features. Battling is only scratching the surface of all the many, many, MANY things you can do in the series and it's up to you to find your niche. Man these games are way too easy, not like back in my day! While there are some difficulty spikes, usually in the form of boss battles, or rare random trainers, Pokemon is overall a very easy series that allows you to create your own difficulty. Are you sweeping the Ice Gym with your level 50 Mega Blaziken? Well, maybe that's why you're having an easy time. Later games give you many more options in both attacking moves and Pokemon availability, so you will be stronger overall than you might be in Gen 2, for example, where a lot of Pokemon had only moves of their own type and Normal moves. How times have changed. If you're playing Sword and Shield then unfortunately you can't turn off the Exp. Share, and with experience from catches and a plethora of Exp Candies from raids and the like, it's very difficult to stay within the game's curve, but it means you're able to do pretty much whatever you want, and grinding for postgame online battles is super, super easy! The first expansion, Isle of Armor, adds an extra exp modifier on top with the Exp. Charm, so don't go there at the start of the game if you want some semblance of challenge. For Gen 6 and 7, turning off the Exp. Share might be an option, or you could leave it on and constantly rotate team members. There's a lot of freedom in how to construct your team and the Pokemon you can use, so if you're complaining that the games are too easy, then do something about it! Or maybe single player Pokemon just isn't for you and you would do better with stupidly hard/edgy romhacks, or going into the competitive side. What were the most recent introductions to the series? (Gen 7) The big newest addition is the Fairy type, bringing the number up to 18. As such, a number of old Pokemon and moves changed typing to give Fairy some variety and to shake up the competitive scene. Overall, it's pretty strong, but a cool addition to a fairly stale type chart, as well as Steel losing its resistances to Dark and Ghost. Z-Moves are the hot new thing that will probably be in the new games, always hard to tell. Once per battle, if you have a Pokemon hold a type Z-Crystal, you can unleash a powerful move of the same type, based on the original move used. You can also do this for status moves and others also to have a wide range of useful stat buffs and side effects. Usually you'll use them to just nuke something very scary. The Alolan games shook up the formula somewhat with the Island Trial, featuring large Totem Pokemon that serve as more interesting boss battles than the standard Gym Leaders. Sword/Shield are returning to the usual Gym Badge format, so it's something Pokemon might try again later on. Alolan Pokemon are regional variants that shake up some original Pokemon, such as giving Exeggutor a long neck and making it part Dragon type, or Raichu surfing on its tail and becoming part Psychic type. While these are only limited to Gen 1 Pokemon (because of course they are) they are the ones that need the most help, honestly. Pokemon Refresh lets you interact with your Pokemon on the touch screen and give them cakes and belly rubs and brushing and ahhhhhh it's so cute. You can also access the Festival Plaza and interact with players all around the world, open up shops that do a bunch of cool things and participate in minigames to boost your Festival ranking. All of this stuff was done better with the Player Search System in Gen 6, but you should get used to that. Customization lets you change your outfit in certain Boutiques in Alola city's Pokemon Centers, to really make your character unique. You can even change your hair style, hair colour, skin colour, eye colour and even REMOVE THE HAT! This is a super big deal btw. For Gen 8 introductions, please check the next post which goes over each of the new features. How do I get my Pokemon from generation to generation? Transfer chart by Aristide While there's no way to get Pokemon between Gen 2 and Gen 3 due to incompatible data structures, you are free to trade Gen 1 Pokemon between Gen 1 and 2 no problem using the Time Capsule, so long as they don't have any Gen 2 exclusive moves. You can move Pokemon from Gen 3 all the way up to Gen 7 using different transfer methods, but it must be done one generation at a time. Gen 3 to Gen 4 requires a DS with a GBA slot. Simply insert your Gen 3 game into the slot and use the Pal Park in a Gen 4's postgame to transfer them up, six at a time, once per day (or unlimited times a day if using HeartGold and SoulSilver). It is a one way transfer, like with the rest of the methods and requires you to go around and catch your new Pokemon in a large natural area. Going from Gen 4 to Gen 5 requires two DS systems (3DS is fine also) and uses the DS Download Play. Again, you can transfer six Pokemon at once using a bow and arrow minigame with a time limit. It kinda sucks. You can also use the Relocator to transfer up special event Pokemon from Gen 4 to unlock special events in Black and White, such as the shiny Legendary Beasts and Celebi, though there's no way to obtain these now, especially the Lock Capsule to obtain TM95 Snarl, as that was never released. Gen 5 to Gen 6 is the easiest method, but requires Pokemon Bank, an online storage system that's around $5 a year and lets you store 3000 Pokemon in ~the cloud~, as well as the Poke Transporter, both of which can be found in the Eshop. You can transfer the entirety of Box 1 of your Gen 5 game into Pokemon Bank to then use in your Gen 6 game. On January 25th 2017, Pokemon Bank was updated for Gen 7 compatibility, allowing you to not only bring Pokemon from Gen 6 forward (thought without items), you can also transfer Pokemon from VC Gen 1, though glitch Mews and Missingno. are not allowed. Backwards compatibility is not possible, though you can still keep a living dex for both generations, you just can't take any new Pokemon out into older games. Pokemon transferred from Gen 1 will have at least 3 max IVs, their HA and a small Gameboy symbol. On November 20th 2017, Bank was updated again to allow transfer of Pokemon from VC Gold and Silver (and later Crystal), allowing every generation of Pokemon to finally link up to Gen 7. Like with Gen 1, those transferred will have at least 3 max IVs, their HA and a small Gameboy symbol. You can even transfer a shiny Celebi from VC Crystal, now that the GS Ball event is finally available to those outside of Japan. Happy days. Pokemon Home is the main way to get mons from Gen 7 to Gen 8, as well as an overall hub for some Pokemon that aren't in the Galar games. You can connect Bank, Let's Go, Go, SM and USUM, but it's all one way. There's also a fair few moves that aren't in Gen 8 and you'll be encouraged to delete them, so keep those in Home if you want to keep them. It's a bit of a wonky system, but it looks like the main transfer hub for a long while to come, so you should probably grab it. Are the anime/manga/side games any good? Give them a go and see how you like them. The latest anime forgoes the usual formula and has Ash and Gou, uh, GO around the world doing all sorts. There isn't a massive endgoal for this series, so it's a fun romp week to week but otherwise it's a little unfocused. Still, you'll see old characters and Pokemon and remember that this drat show is over 20 years old. As always with the anime, don't expect anything all that impressive or crazy out there. Meanwhile, the Pokemon Special manga has many different arcs to read and different protagonists to follow, making it pretty excellent overall. There's a million other manga, but it's up to if you want to indulge in the more obscure aspects of the franchise. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon is the best of the side series, so jump in with the most recent one, Pokemon Red and Blue DX, a Switch remake of the GBA/DS originals. The Pokemon Ranger series are also quite good, as is the Pokemon Colosseum series for the Gamecube. There's also Pokemon Conquest if you like your strategy Samurai Warriors. The various Free to Play games range from mediocre to terrible, so if you want to try out Masters, Unite or GO, then feel free to. As with most mobile games, greed and powercreep have taken over so they are actively bad to play, but they also have their unique Pokemon gameplay, so do whatever. Go especially can be quite useful in transferring over rare and shiny Pokemon to SWSH. Pokemon GO does have its own thread. Which is the best Pokemon? The one you like the most. It is also someone else's worst Pokemon. There are no winners when it comes to Pokemon opinions. This OP is terrible and I don't know what any of this poo poo means! That's the idea, best to dive right into the thread discussion and have a good time! Our resident Pokemon Masters will happily answer your questions and queries on any aspect of this 23 year old franchise. Talk about the anime, push your opinions while dismissing others, argue about which is the worst Pokemon and how the new designs are totally NOT Pokemon. Best to keep all this poo poo contained here then to spread it to the rest of the forum. You loving nerds!!! Real handy links Official sites: Official Pokemon website, Pokemon's official Sword and Shield website, Pokemon's official Let's Go Pikachu and Let's Go Eevee website, Pokemon's official Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon website, Official Pokemon Youtube channel General reference sites: Serebii, Bulbapedia, Marriland, Legendary Pokémon, Psypokes, Veekun, Pokebeach. Sites focused on battling discussion: Nugget Bridge (VGC Doubles focused), Smogon (6 vs 6 Singles focused). The Pokémon Global Link, Current type chart (Gen 6+), Type chart for Gens 2-5, Type chart for Gen 1 Other Pokémon-related threads on SA (which may or may not be active) The trading thread The Goonleague thread (Currently archived! Please start a new one!) Thread for the Pokémon Trading Card Game Online (Currently archived! Please start a new one!) The previous megathread All the other previous megathreads (Thanks OhFunny!) Thread for Pokemon GO Thread for Pokken Tournament DX (Currently archived! Please start a new one!) If you have a burning need for these threads, either resurrect them if they're dead or quiet, or go to the Pokegoons Discord where you'll have more luck. Hype level?  https://twitter.com/PunishedHag/status/1100761629937954816 https://twitter.com/JillKatze/status/1133543308121165826 https://twitter.com/inkieheart/status/1136266157726429185 
Crosspeice fucked around with this message at 19:42 on Jan 26, 2021 |
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Feb 28, 2019 01:39
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 The Eighth Generation is here! Due to releasing these games pretty much every year and these traditional 2D sprite game developers keep switching 3D systems ever 2 years, these games are pretty rushed and not that great! As far as it goes for a Pokemon game... it's a Pokemon game, that's its biggest positive and its largest negative, please don't expect anything new or out there, especially when it comes to main story content, you're setting yourself up for disappointment. What these games do have is two expansions that greatly expand the postgame content and while don't fix the issues in the main game, are great fun themselves. These games give you so much variety in Pokemon and team building options that it is kinda like an open world game in its quality of life features and freedom to do kinda whatever the heck you want. Of course you're railroaded into the story so you know what you're doing, but after a cast of colourful characters and not so great villains, you can go crazy in exploring cool Wild Areas, raiding with friends, catching loads of legendary Pokemon and crafting the greatest online team the world has ever seen, probably. In those aspects, these games are fantastic, but if you don't have the Expansion Pass, then yeah it's pretty lame overall. What the flip is new??? Starters! Choose between the Grass chimp Grookey, the Fire jackrabbit Scorbunny, or the Water chameleon Sobble! There is no right or wrong choice, so go with your heart. New Pokemon! The base games offer a wild variety of 81 new Pokemon! Isle of Armor adds in 3 new Pokemon (Kubfu, Urshifu and Zarude, along with a host of GMax forms), while Crown Tundra adds in another 5 (Regieleki, Regidrago, Glastrier, Spectrier and Calyrex). Add in all the various forms and you easily have over 1000 Pokemon to choose from! Is what I would say in previous gens, but SWSH has made some Pokemon unavailable, but only 664 Pokemon out of the total 898 are available to use in these games. You can store all Pokemon in Home, so they can be used in future games, but right now they're sitting out of this one. Galarian Pokemon! Like Alolan Pokemon we've got regional forms to mix up old Pokemon that desperately need something to keep up. Thankfully, there's more variety compared to the solely Gen 1 Alolans, especially because these Galarian forms can evolve into completely new Pokemon. From the KISS inspired Obstagoon from Galarian Linoone, to the heartbreaking Cursola from Galarian Corsola, and the creepy Runerigus from Galarian Yamask, this is something the feature desperately needed. The Expansion Pass adds a few new Galarian forms, but no new evolutions. Crown Tundra also introduced Galarian Legendaries! The Galar Region! Pronounced Ga-lar, by the way. A British region full of gammons, tories and tax evaders, it's a straight line through some of the best British sights, as well as Wyndon! You start in the rugged grasslands of Scotland and head north to the frozen wastes of southern England. The Expansion Pass adds in the summery Isle of Armor to the east, not based on Ireland cause no one knows what that place is about, as well as the wintery Crown Tundra just south of your starting location. Wild Areas! These vast expanses host many different Pokemon that vary depending on location and weather, and feature Pokemon Dens that host all kinds of raids to get even more Pokemon! Seriously you can get like 200 mons before reaching the first gym. Both the Isle of Armor and Crown Tundra are remote Wild Areas featuring, you guessed it, even more Pokemon and raids. The latter also has a billion legendary Pokemon in Dynamax Adventures. Gym Challenge! We're back to the standard Gym system that is basically like football, soccer to weirdos, that are just as popular and take place in massive arenas. As you face against the 8 Gym Leaders, you'll contend with Dynamax Pokemon, a new mechanic available at Power Spots, so every place there's an important fights. These Pokemon become massive and have double HP, with all their moves turning into powerful Max Moves. It only lasts for 3 turns and you can only do it once per battle, so make it count! Some Pokemon have Gigantamax Forms, which change the Pokemon's look and change a specific type into a unique move to the Pokemon. You can find GMax eligible Pokemon from raids or from feeding them Max Soup in the Isle of Armor. Max Raid Battles! Like those lovely Raid battles in Pokemon Go, you can fight a giant Dynamax Pokemon with up to 4 other people and try to catch it. Some Pokemon can only be found in this way and it's a good way to get shinies, version exclusives and lots and lots of rare items. Camping! It's like Pokemon Amie, but you can't really interact with your Pokemon. You can play with your whole team at once, feed them curry and give them Affection, which breaks whatever difficulty this game had into dust. Rotom Phone! Ah gently caress it's back, here to be your Pokedex again, as well as your Town Map and general interface. There's also Rotomi at Pokemon Centers, which is the PC and lets your customize your League Card and send Pokemon in PokeJobs, which let you gains EVs, items and experience passively. Y-Comm! Your online mode that's still not as good as the PSS from Gen 6, find impossible trades, get random crap from Surprise Trades, battle and participate in online ranking, and join current raids. Make sure to update your Wild Area News to get event themed raids.  To make it so the base game isn't empty and horribly rushed, the usual third version is instead changed to expansion passes. This comes out cheaper than buying a third game that has everything the base game should've been to begin with, but it does mean the mediocre base game doesn't get improved that much. It's definitely worth grabbing both, it's a lot of content and is a much better method of third versions going forward. You know, so long as they keep releasing these drat things every 5 minutes and make them horribly rushed to then need DLC to fix them. Isle of Armor! A new island on the east coast of Galar! This is a cool little Wild Area featuring all kinds of older Pokemon not in the base game, as well as a couple of new ones. You'll be joining a Dojo under the tutelage of former Champion Mustard , butting heads with Avery/Klara, version depending, training a cute legendary bear, Kubfu, and finding a million Diglett, or what feels like it. There's a bunch of new moves, returning items such as Apricorns, and plenty of GMax Pokemon to obtain with Max Soup, definitely a great pickup. Crown Tundra! An untamed wilderness to the far south This Wild Area is chock full of mysteries and Legendary Pokemon. Dive down into Dynamax Adventures to find easy shinies and a buttload of past Legendary Pokemon, piece together clues with former Steel Gym Leader Peony to find Calyrex, the new Regis, the Galarian birds and Ultra Beasts, as well as tracking down the Swords of Justice! Of course there's plenty of Pokemon to find, and you might enjoy some postgame battles in the Galarian Star Tournament or Restricted Sparring. You could definitely say Pokemon is on a downward slope, but that doesn't make these games bad, just a little... undercooked. With the 25th anniversary upcoming and lots of Pokemon to slot back in, it's gonna be an interesting time to see if they can turn it around. Maybe they will, maybe they won't, but the games are still fun, you can spend hundreds of hours doing all kinds of random stuff, and the expansions really breathe new life into a very bare, mediocre experience. Despite everything, there's still no better time to be a Pokemon fan, jump into the world of Pokemon! Crosspeice fucked around with this message at 20:35 on Jan 26, 2021 |
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Feb 28, 2019 01:39
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Reserved for whatever they come up with next!
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Feb 28, 2019 01:40
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Scorbunny is my precious friend
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Feb 28, 2019 01:42
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Basically, I'm Grookey
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Feb 28, 2019 01:42
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None of the new starters really caught my attention at first. Then I saw a picture of Scorbunny as Max. I now have my initial favorite. This may change, but for now...
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Feb 28, 2019 01:44
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'Allo Guv'nah! Can I walk your Grookey for tuppence?
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Feb 28, 2019 01:44
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https://twitter.com/discordapp/status/1100930731717455873 That warm bunny is losing is proof that people have questionable taste...is what I'd say but anxiety is also very good.
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Feb 28, 2019 01:44
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I love the fire bunny and he will be my friend in late 2019
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Feb 28, 2019 01:44
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I boisterously believe in the burning british bunny.
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Feb 28, 2019 01:44
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I'm glad the cover legendaries appear to be good dogs.
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Feb 28, 2019 01:45
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Here on the ground floor to say that Sobble is my spirit mon and I won’t hear anything against it. 
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Feb 28, 2019 01:45
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I will be standing a close vigil over this thread to ensure that nobody speaks ill of my sad child. You have been warned.
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Feb 28, 2019 01:45
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I just want to give anxious lizard mon a hug and a warm place to sleep 
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Feb 28, 2019 01:46
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the bunny is cute but I'm worried it's gonna be fire/fighting
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Feb 28, 2019 01:46
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Can't wait for the new Music type and the third game, Pokémon Song.
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Feb 28, 2019 01:46
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Sobble is the best. Not even close.
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Feb 28, 2019 01:46
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I'm going to choose one of the starters
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Feb 28, 2019 01:47
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Grookey is my jam and I am excited to go on an adventure with my monkey pal
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Feb 28, 2019 01:47
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 Think I'm legally obligated to purchase Shield, even though it's Red
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Feb 28, 2019 01:48
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The Elite 4 champ had better be the Queen and she should have a team of 6 level 100 Corgis
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Feb 28, 2019 01:49
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Sobble has the best name for sure.
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Feb 28, 2019 01:49
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I ain't taking sides till I see the final forms, to do anything else is a fools game.
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Feb 28, 2019 01:49
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Going with the chimp and naming him Travis.
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Feb 28, 2019 01:50
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Hello, person reading this post years from now because they decided to read the first page of the thread for no reason. I hope Pokemon is still not a dead franchise and they haven't royally screwed up something so hard it ruined the series.
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Feb 28, 2019 01:50
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Infinitum posted:
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Feb 28, 2019 01:51
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Sobble’s  faceSuper excited for this. I could not give less of a poo poo about Let’s Go but I will always, always be down for a new core Pokémon game.
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Feb 28, 2019 01:52
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I need to reiterate in this thread that the bunny should have been called Scorburrow because it is a better British reference, a more subtle bunny reference, and it just sounds better and I will be renaming my fiery friend post haste.
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Feb 28, 2019 01:52
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I want the Rival to be a shitheel again. Enough of this friendly competition horse hockey.
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Feb 28, 2019 01:52
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Theta Zero posted:Hello, person reading this post years from now because they decided to read the first page of the thread for no reason. I hope Pokemon is still not a dead franchise and they haven't royally screwed up something so hard it ruined the series. Can't believe Pikachu made all those racist tweets on twitter
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Feb 28, 2019 01:52
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Infinitum posted:
Rep Grookey Gang
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Feb 28, 2019 01:52
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pokemon are good and i like them 
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Feb 28, 2019 01:52
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The Glumslinger posted:The Elite 4 champ had better be the Queen and she should have a team of 6 level 100 Corgis I hope they do this. Imagine how crazy that would be, beat the champ now you rule the country.
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Feb 28, 2019 01:53
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Chill Penguin posted:Rep Grookey Gang This guy gets it
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Feb 28, 2019 01:53
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I'm really hoping that them moving to the Switch gets me back in the groove to play a Pokemon game. Let's Go didn't really do it and tbh I'm dying to get back into the series.
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Feb 28, 2019 01:53
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Caidin posted:I want the Rival to be a shitheel again. Enough of this friendly competition horse hockey. Maybe Pokebritain will give us our first passive-aggressive rival
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Feb 28, 2019 01:56
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CubeTheory posted:I need to reiterate in this thread that the bunny should have been called Scorburrow because it is a better British reference, a more subtle bunny reference, and it just sounds better and I will be renaming my fiery friend post haste. remember when people thought that about emboar or w/e and got owned when his evolved name was the nickname they gave him
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Feb 28, 2019 01:57
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Caidin posted:I want the Rival to be a shitheel again. Enough of this friendly competition horse hockey. I want a mean female rival. We've had primarily nice and/or male rivals for too long. We can become friends eventually, but I want her to be super snooty and condescending at the start.
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Feb 28, 2019 01:58
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what gimmick should i do for my first ultra sun run should i finally do a nuzlocke
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Feb 28, 2019 02:00
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Very much looking forward to Pokemon Gun. Gonna pick gronkus, the grass monkey
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Feb 28, 2019 02:02
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