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ApplesandOranges
Jun 22, 2012

Thankee kindly.
Weren't Iris and Cilan just kinda... duds as far as travelling companions go? The only real thing I remembered about Iris was her rivalry with Georgia.

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ApplesandOranges
Jun 22, 2012

Thankee kindly.

TheKingofSprings posted:

Iris and Cilan were bizarre, really, it’s the first and only time in the series they didn’t have one of the game protagonists in because Hilda was apparently just too cool for the show

Neither Ethan or Kris were in Johto though.

ApplesandOranges
Jun 22, 2012

Thankee kindly.

TheKingofSprings posted:

Yes, because they didn’t start doing that until May.

Kris didn’t even exist when Johto started.

Sure, but Sun/Moon didn't have the protags either.

ApplesandOranges
Jun 22, 2012

Thankee kindly.

TheKingofSprings posted:

Sun/Moon also went off the beaten path in about a half dozen other ways compared to the games

I mean I've already pointed out two exceptions to the 'Gen V was the only generation they didn't use the protags in the anime'. I didn't like the series but it's hardly a unique case.

Electric Phantasm posted:

Iris had a cool Dragonite and I hope it comes back with Iris since Ash's Dragonite has a completely different personality.

I like it when they have characters with the same Pokemon but different personalities. May's Bulbasaur and Squirtle were pretty great, though them evolving offscreen and showing up for about 2 seconds when she returned was not.

Also I haven't been keeping up with the series at all but has James really not caught a single new Pokemon since Mareanie?

ApplesandOranges
Jun 22, 2012

Thankee kindly.
I was okay with Serious Team Rocket but I'm guessing it was such an abrupt tonal shift which led to its unpopularity. They were serious from the start of the anime too until I want to say about Mt. Moon? At they very least they'd dropped all pretense by Celadon.

ApplesandOranges
Jun 22, 2012

Thankee kindly.
Adventures is something I really enjoyed starting off and just kinda petered out over time since I think it's a combo of the creators having to invent a new fresh plot every game especially since games are doing their own plots now with more fleshed out characters. The Gym leaders were all really relevant and interesting the first few generations and then kinda just... flattened out over time.

Also Gold is the best, I will not accept arguments.

ApplesandOranges
Jun 22, 2012

Thankee kindly.
I think Adventures kinda peaked with the Emerald arc? The Frontier challenge was good and inventive and it was honestly a nice closure to the ten protagonists up to that point. I didn't hate DPPt but the manzai routine felt a bit forced and it was definitely weird changing the established character of Barry to Pearl.

I still think the Gym Leaders tournament felt like the best part because it was refreshing seeing all the different tactics involved (except that second match was a two page wash and they had Falkner win his match for a pretty dumb reason).

ApplesandOranges
Jun 22, 2012

Thankee kindly.
The FRLG arc is probably the best of the remake arcs, and even then it never really goes above 'okay'. Green also lost a lot of her spice that made her a fun antihero in the RBYGSC arcs, too.

I think the Yellow arc impressed me the most because it was the first time they really made an OC protagonist from scratch and it still worked out solidly. The antagonists are also pretty great and there are some fun fights.

ApplesandOranges
Jun 22, 2012

Thankee kindly.

Homora Gaykemi posted:

i don't know how returning characters are used in everything between GSC and that since i've only read RBY, XY, and finally started GSC the last couple of days but when it's used like that example i really appreciate the continuity

RS is pretty much standalone, but everyone comes back for the Emerald section (note that it goes Ruby/Sapphire > FRLG > Emerald in terms of timeline). I think DPPt is pretty much standalone?

Honestly each saga is fairly good at letting the new crew do their own thing, there might be an allusion here and there to old stuff but usually the old Pokedex holders stay out of it until the remakes or the 'third' game part of the generation.

ApplesandOranges
Jun 22, 2012

Thankee kindly.
I don't even understand Nessa's appeal in the first place, admittedly. She seems pretty generic as far as a Gym Leader goes to me.

ApplesandOranges
Jun 22, 2012

Thankee kindly.
My guess is that half his appeal comes from being a tough old man that's not so old as to be unappealing, and the other half from his absolutely ridiculous cheer when they send you off from his city.

I like that Raihan mixed up his expected team instead of 'oh, dragons, let's just bring Ice/Fairy to counter' as one would expect, but in practice Clair was a tougher gym leader. My memories of B/W are too fuzzy to remember if Drayden/Iris posed any sense of challenge.

ApplesandOranges
Jun 22, 2012

Thankee kindly.

Funky Valentine posted:

Because Fairy didn't exist, there was only four (realistically, two) Dragons, and lolllll Ice-types.

Kingdra wasn't even weak to Ice and there were like no Dragon type moves you could throw at her outside of maybe Dragon Breath.

It's funny how they gave you a cave full of Ice types right before Blackthorn and half of them are useless against her. Swinub's even weak to Water.

ApplesandOranges
Jun 22, 2012

Thankee kindly.
I can't believe I never noticed the Lillie > Nihilego visual appearance before.

ApplesandOranges
Jun 22, 2012

Thankee kindly.
Is there a reason Gladion got left out, then? Like I'd liken Buzzwole closer to the Masked Royal than anything.

ApplesandOranges
Jun 22, 2012

Thankee kindly.
Ash's general team for a region has been steadily improving, especially when they don't feel like they have to burden him by giving him every starter for a region.

ApplesandOranges
Jun 22, 2012

Thankee kindly.
What's been the most replayable Pokemon?

I rarely replay Pokemon games after I'm 'done' with them, but lately I've actually gotten the urge to replay either HGSS or ORAS. The former because I enjoyed it, the latter because I wanted to give it a second go since my first run through it was 'okay, but I'm not hooked despite loving Team Aqua's redesign'.

I'd replay Platinum but I think I gave my cartridge away forever ago.

ApplesandOranges
Jun 22, 2012

Thankee kindly.
Look if last year has taught us anything, a single year can feel like forever.

ApplesandOranges
Jun 22, 2012

Thankee kindly.
Nuzlocke in SwSh feels weird because you can directly control what Pokemon you run into first if you want a Roaming one.

ApplesandOranges
Jun 22, 2012

Thankee kindly.
My issue with ORAS is that we lost the Battle Frontier. That was some good variety in challenges.

ApplesandOranges
Jun 22, 2012

Thankee kindly.
All three remakes have some element that you can probably pick at now (FRLG is very dated, HGSS doesn't fix the levelling curve, ORAS doesn't have enough of the improvements from Emerald added), but honestly they're all above average for Pokemon games for me and probably usually comparable or better to the equivalent game in their generation.

ApplesandOranges
Jun 22, 2012

Thankee kindly.
The situation is roo rife for jokes with PokeAustralia, so I'm shooting for PokeScandinavia instead.

ApplesandOranges
Jun 22, 2012

Thankee kindly.
I never even bought Crown Tundra and what I know of Peony sounds great.

Also realizing that my favourite characters in the franchise are characters like Peony and Noland and Archie and my conclusion is that the common trend is headwear.

ApplesandOranges
Jun 22, 2012

Thankee kindly.
All I'm saying is that I was way more paranoid of using TRs than old-school TMs for some reason. Darn you Megalixir syndrome.

ApplesandOranges
Jun 22, 2012

Thankee kindly.
My first proper Shiny was a Rattata in Gold. After that I think I've seen a Skarmory in RSE and... I honestly don't remember anything else.

ApplesandOranges
Jun 22, 2012

Thankee kindly.

Rudoku posted:

Signal Beam was some crap move they tossed in with Silver Wind (It was Volbeat and Dewgong's signature move back in Gen 3). It's only a consolation for non-Bug Buzz learners, and only Jolteon cared.

E: Beaten bad...

Dewgong is a cool Pokemon and I hope it gets some redemption in whatever Gen 9 will be.

ApplesandOranges
Jun 22, 2012

Thankee kindly.
Ethan wears shorts because they're comfy and easy to wear, he's cool.

Platinum Lucas is also okay.

ApplesandOranges
Jun 22, 2012

Thankee kindly.
I really hope the successor to Pokemon Camp isn't as abusable. I'm not a fan of the 'if you hug and play with your Pokemon enough, they can do all kinds of broken things in battle!'.

I want to cook curry and things without the result being that my Pokemon are gonna bounce every time I send them out.

ApplesandOranges
Jun 22, 2012

Thankee kindly.

Shiroc posted:

Are people using "following Pokemon" to mean something different than what Let's Go had for all of its Pokemon and Sw/Sh had for all Pokemon in the DLC zones?

They usually mean things like Pikachu in Yellow or your lead Pokemon in HGSS following you around and reacting to things.

ApplesandOranges
Jun 22, 2012

Thankee kindly.

Oxyclean posted:

Yeah, ended up googling that.... and promptly accidentally KO'd the Gallade in the wild area. The weather isn't right for Ralts either, so I guess I'm waiting for tomorrow.

E: Yooo, Marnie gets a remix for her theme for the semi-finals?!

Hop also gets a remix. It's pretty rad.

I'm fairly ambivalent on SwSh (I have it middle of the pack because I'm aware that some of my hangups with it are due to me just being too old for the series) but the music is a notable high for it.

ApplesandOranges
Jun 22, 2012

Thankee kindly.
I think people are decently high on the DLCs, Tundra more than Armor. They're not 'save the game' good, but solid.

ApplesandOranges
Jun 22, 2012

Thankee kindly.

Flopsy posted:

That's because the stakes for example in ORAS were much MUCH higher and there was a sense of urgency in them.

On the other hand, I cared absolutely zero about Zinnia in ORAS. Peony seems cool.

I think the writer of Pokemon Adventures also really did not like her if I remember right.

ApplesandOranges
Jun 22, 2012

Thankee kindly.

Nessa posted:

I was so hoping for a sequel game to Red and Blue that featured Lillie as the rival.

Isn't Gold/Silver technically a Red/Blue sequel?

ShiningHeartGold and SparklingSoulSilver when?

ApplesandOranges
Jun 22, 2012

Thankee kindly.
I really like Viola's design, and Wulfric is alright, but otherwise I'm honestly kinda bleh on X/Y designs.

Malva would be cool if they did... anything with her beyond 'oh by the way, I belonged to that evil team. Revenge!'.

ApplesandOranges
Jun 22, 2012

Thankee kindly.

eternaldough posted:

I don't like a lot of the shiptease moments between them, but Ruby and Sapphire individually are probably my favourite of the protagonists in pokespe.

Is it really a shiptease when it's practically canon?

My favourite PokeAdventures protagonist is probably Gold, but everyone before DPPt is good.

ApplesandOranges
Jun 22, 2012

Thankee kindly.
Coordinator Jessie was legitimately competent, especially after the Hoenn arc so I was disappointed when they were just done with Contests. Showcases weren't nearly as interesting.

The Golux posted:

Less "hard time controlling" and more "they really like cuddling and are kind of hazardous to cuddle" usually

Yeah, if James owned like a Buneary or something that gag wouldn't be nearly as funny. Chimecho was probably his least harmful cuddlebug.

I do like that Cacnea actually ended up with a Gym Leader, though. Actually lets one of their Pokemon with potential go a bit further.

ApplesandOranges
Jun 22, 2012

Thankee kindly.

Space Cadet Omoly posted:

Jesse and James are both extremely competent trainers who love their Pokemon a lot, it's just that they choose to be evil because it's fun and they insist on always fighting the protagonist who can never be beaten by the laws of the show.

On the few occasions they try to do something that doesn't involve ruining Ash's day they succeed.

I mean, Jessie loses a lot to May/Dawn/Sharena.

ApplesandOranges
Jun 22, 2012

Thankee kindly.
I'm not sure what it is about the early TR magic, but I think it's partly that they still felt on relatively even footing with the protags and were actual threats every now and then in their own, silly, TR way. I mean that faded by like, Koffing/Ekans Finally Evolve episode, but they were pretty competent and bumbling at the same time for a while and still being quasi-frienemies with the crew.

ApplesandOranges
Jun 22, 2012

Thankee kindly.

Larryb posted:

Unova was just a strange exception in all fairness, they start getting back to normal again from Kalos onward (Jessie even starts doing contests again in that season).

On another note, with the word tour setup they have going in the current series that actually raises a question: do we necessarily NEED another season when the next major game comes out or could they just keep Journeys going and simply add the new region/Pokemon/characters into the mix?

We never 'need' a new season, but it's not a bad idea to keep fresh blood in the mix and for them to shill whatever chosen characters are Ash's companions for that region. More characters means more money.

ApplesandOranges
Jun 22, 2012

Thankee kindly.
I think Cyndaquil is the only starter where the middle form is my favourite. Everything else I either prefer their first form, final evolution, or just don't like the line at all.

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ApplesandOranges
Jun 22, 2012

Thankee kindly.

Vinylshadow posted:

Pikachu's alright since it has access to so many gimmicks denied to its base and evolved forms 'cause screw 'em

I always find it a bit funny how Raichu is Lt. Surge's signature Pokemon. Maybe it's just because the big tough army man would have, I dunno, Electabuzz or Electrode instead of a kinda cute mouse. But I ain't gonna judge, macho men are allowed to like cute things.

Silver Falcon posted:

Braixen for me. Delphox is weird and ugly. Braixen is adorable and whips out a twig stuck in its tail to use as a magic wand. It's adorable.

I'll admit that I barely paid the Fennekin line any attention because I just zeroed in on Chespin and Oshawott as the much cooler options. Kinda wish Samurott wasn't in Just Another Water land, though.

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