Now what???

I caught Heatran a couple days ago, Giratina yesterday, and Kyuurem today. Now what can I do? I already clocked Black... there are no new Pokemon games...

(sobs quietly) I already caught all the other non-roaming legends in Diamond, SoulSilver and Black.

I have nobody to trade with so I can't complete most of my diff game's pokedexes. I will have to try and hunt up that one person who has White that I know. At least I can complete my Black Dex... maybe... and maybe he also has Pearl? Or HeartGold... oh I HOPE!!!!

I can't be bothered trying to catch all those roaming legends. I don't have any of them except Suicune.

And yeah, this sucks. I used up my Master Ball on Giratina (because it kept using Struggle and fainting...) so catching Mesprit is looking to be impossible...

Also... I wanted a Keldeo. Is that the one I mean? The cute unicorn thing. Event only, and not in my country, thanks a lot - REST OF THE WORLD!

Man, I am going to save up and buy another console so I can transfer Pokemon from my other games into Black. So not gonna make that Dex full otherwise.

Argh it makes me annoyed that cheaters with their emulators and cheatcodes can even have Shiny Legends like Celebii if they want. I saw one. My friend has it. It is PINK! And cute as all get out. I just wanted it so bad... argh argh argh.

Maps. Yes, more Pokemon.

I just wanted to compare all of the maps of the 5 regions. It is annoyingly time consuming but hey. It's one of those things I just wanted to do.

First region, Kanto, Gen 1, Pokemon Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, Fire Red and Leaf Green.

Gen 2, map of Johto region, from Gold, Silver, Crystal, HeartGold, and SoulSilver.

Gen 3, Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald, Hoenn region map.

Diamond, Pearl and Platinum Gen 4 region, Sinnoh map. Thank you to its creator, Tsunamia.

The HeartGold and SoulSilver map will not go here, refer to the one for the original Gen 2 above.

Isshu region, from Black and White, Gen 5.

All maps were downloaded by using Google images.

Thank you to everyone who worked on these maps, and worked so very hard, as is evident by the map of Sinnoh in particular.

I think on reflection, my favourite map of all is Hoenn. I just loved the way it was laid out.

The second fave would be a tie between gens 1 and 2, from SoulSilver when I jumped from one map to the other. Good times.

Sinnoh was ok-ish but Isshu was not so good.

Probably my main problem with the B/W game all up is the map. Not bad then, huh?

Thanks to psypoke.com and also sorry to those who noticed but it was hard to get a good, clear map of Hoenn.

And if you want to see the images on my blog clearer or larger, you can click on them.

In case you never knew that already.

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky

Ok finally clocked Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky. I LIKED it! Such a nice difference to the usual type of Pokemon game.

Some gamers diss these Pokemon dungeon games because they say they are not very complex and there are better dungeon games out there. Maybe so, and even if it is old-school, I like that.

Anyway I used a walkthrough from neoseeker, see the link below to their faq etc page.

http://www.neoseeker.com/Games/Products/DS/pokemon_mystery_dungeon_explorers_of_the_sky/faqs.html

But back to my review: Don't do what I did and underrate seeds. Use SEEDS! Orbs didn't work on the main boss...

Also don't feel you have to power through the missions, you can take as long as you want and try again if you fail.

If you train enough you can easily ace all of the missions. I'm over level 50 now but you could perhaps clock this even at level 30 something I think.

But I would advise you to aim for 50ish instead, just makes it easier to get through the harder dungeons that never seem to end.

Loved the graphics, the character sprites all move in cute ways as they walk, and the main characters, you and your partner, are so cute when you achieve victory! And sleep and wake up too. And pretty much when you do anything.

Colours great, music wonderful, almost made me cry sometimes, and that is indeed a feat. Loved it, loved it, loved it.

One beef: Very similar to the previous incarnations, so much so that I felt it was like the same game... but hey. I guess that's Chunsoft's fault.

I would recommend this for anybody but most likely children... and people like me who suck at games. This game is achievable, even for me.

Well, gonna go play more.

:)

P.S. I found I never had to worry about types or anything, because I got strong fast. I hardly even use my type moves.

Trainers. Comparison.

One more Pokemon post. I always meant to do this but kept forgetting.

It doesn't have much to do with the actual game but, first, it bugs me that if you're a girl trainer, you often get pink gear. Otherwise it makes no diff to how you play, thank goodness.

Above this text are images of the trainers from each generation of Pokemon (probably in the wrong order since I can't be bothered trying to drag them around).

I got most of these images here (see link below).

http://www.giantbomb.com/pokemon-trainer/94-1619/

Cool url.

Right, my point is, the boys usually look cooler. Not fair! That is all I have to say. Ok except for Diamond/Pearl.

Also, the girl for Pokemon B/W needs to get some proper pants, they are too TIGHT! And you get a serious cheesecake shot every single battle when she kinda leans to throw the Pokeball. Not cool, Game Freak.

I just wanted to say, my fave male trainer is hard to choose but the white haired kid (Brendan?) is probably the coolest looking one. The re-vamped Red is the next.

And for the girls, 'Dawn' from D/P and then B/W girl I guess. The rest of the girls just don't look that good.

Worst? girl from HG/SS. Stupid hat...! The original trainers from Silver and Gold don't look much worse, but the girl actually looks slightly less dorky in the original, and that's saying something. You can tell which are the same by the boy's hat, compare them. They didn't mess with him much, and a good thing because they could've ruined him... like they did with a lot of the girls' designs.

And the boy from D/P has a dumb outfit. Looks like an NPC artist-wannabe. Dork.

Ah well. At least you hardly have to see yourself in much detail.

Pokemon Black and White Review, which is number 6.

Pokemon Black and White

Firstly, I know I reviewed Black kinda already but I wanted to be more thorough. So I did this. Ok. Cool, continue.

I have Black. I am glad I chose it. For various reasons which are purely aesthetic. Ahem. This is the first time I have used my titled beast in my actual serious team after catching it. I had my dear Groudon in Ruby, and I kind of tried to use it but in the end I didn’t bother with it much.

All the other games, I would catch the big beasties and then leave them in my box titled ‘Legends’. And never use them. I kind of treated them like trophies.

Well Reshirom is AWESOME. I want to brush its furand be able to fly around the world on its back. But I can’t… so sad. L It is so useful to me in battle. Love it.

Gameplay/Strategy: Overall good. Liked the plot, it was surprisingly different enough from the usual to be interesting, but still similar enough not to be too off-putting. Good one, Game Freak. I really liked how they brought back Dive. I missed it and I was so pleased to be able to dive underwater again.

One thing: Disliked the map and the towns for the most part. I kept waiting for a proper department store and it never came. Dept. Store 9 doesn’t count. I liked the towns that you got after you beat Team Plasma though.

Enjoyed all the extra battles you can do over and over in the stadiums in Nimbasa. This stopped the tedium of level grinding, although the return of the older Pokemon in the wild once you beat Team Plasma is great and takes a lot of the monotony out of wild battles. Loved the return of the older gen Pokemon, very cool.

Was it too easy? Maybe. But I love easy. Easy is my friend. I only feel one thing: it was over so fast… I want to keep fighting Team Plasma but they are all gone… I actually miss them.

Fave Pokemon: Looks: Minccino. It captured my heart. I love its tail. Then Victini. Truth be told, most of the designs for this game were awful, I’m sorry but they were. Yes, I am talking about that one, and that one and yes, especially that one. A giant ice cream cone. Really, guys? Now, for battling preferences: Victini… but not to count event Pokemon, hmm…Reshiram and not to count legends… Durant, and my Samurott.

And you guessed it, I didn’t think much of the roaming legend thing that caused storms, or the three legendary lion things. Not interesting, but still better designed than some of the main Pokemon.

Sound: Very good, but I think there is only one annoying thing. Sounds are louder than the music itself. So if I turned it up to hear the music, the sounds became too loud, like doors opening etc. Other than that, excellent sound.

Music: Liked it but although there were a couple of tracks I liked especially, mostly what delighted me was the extras. Like the people who play music in different towns when you speak to them. And how the music can change according to season slightly. And how it changes in certain places when you walk or run. Wonderful!

I will be honest, music for Pokemon can never be what it was for me in the first 3 generations. After Ruby, it’s hard to please me. In fact, perhaps even after G/S/C it is hard to please anyone properly. None of the new music has nostalgia attached to it for us. But having said that, the B/W music was good. I liked Undella Town quite a bit and the music for when you travel from Route …3(?) was my fave of all. And the Team Plasma battle theme, oddly enough.

Graphics: Wonderful of course but I am not sure I felt the 3D thing was actually necessary. They mostly showed off their graphics with the Ferris wheel and all of those bridges… Yes, I mentioned the bridges. Someone decided bridges were the theme for this game. Oh well, at least the caves were less annoying this time. Pokemon designs were not so good, but never mind that, we all know about that.

Pokemon I didn’t like much (or at all): Besides the big ice-cream cone (and it's ridiculous evolved form)... which I refuse to even mention by name, I would have to say it's a contest between Tornadus and Thundurus and Patrat and co, Woobat and co, and Timburr and co. Admittedly Timburr is ok, but it's two evolved forms are awful! They look like a muppet crossed with an ugly man... oh so let-down by the designers this time around. Please make another game and show us that you can redeem yourselves. By the way, most of these aforementioned Pokemon are most likely good in battle (but also most likely not great), but I am talking about their looks only.

Fave In-Game Trade/s: Petilil for a Cottonee, very cool. Ok not really, but useful to fill the Dex. The Red Basculin was useless, but how was I to know at that point… Anyway I guess that is all. I did use the Petilil at first, but then I stopped because I built up my team and didn’t really need it. But it is useful at that stage in the game, as is the elemental monkey Pokemon you get at the first gym in the Dreamyard. It isn’t a trade, I think it’s a gift, but it counts, because I used it to beat the gym leader and wow, thanks Game Freak. I guess it was to make things easier for new players. Well, I unashamedly accept all handouts! Thanks again for my (fire) monkey, Game Freak. Yeah, I chose Oshawott. And I know you can catch all three diff monkeys in the forest after that town but still, that particular monkey is a heck of a useful gift. Ok, I will stop talking about it now.

My Team:

Samurott

Victini

Reshiram

Zebstrika

Durant

Maybe Gigalith or Sigilyph (unintentional rhyme there…). In a pinch I guess I can evolve my Krokorok… meh. I might just have these 5 and one extra random one.

Anyway, that does it for the Pokemon reviews so far.

The end? :)

Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver, review 5.

Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver

Loved them, especially my Pokemon being able to walk around with me. Abra floats in the air!!! EEEE!!! ^_^ And I am now calm. Sorry about that. Loved the Pokewalker.

I got this game after I had bought Diamond a couple years ago. My friend gave me her SoulSilver. I was less pleased than you might think because (again, purely aesthetics) I wanted HeartGold for Houou. But then later I discovered you get Lugia and Houou in both games anyway. So I was pleased to get given(!) a game for free, and played it.

Eventually I clocked it. That was actually my record, to finish it in six months, I think it was. But I am about to break that record with Black, I hope. I have had Black for about a month and I half finished it within two weeks but I’ve been mucking around since then, and didn’t beat the champ yet. Must do that soon… yeah, sure. I always do this. No, I do want to try. But then it will be overrr! Whine!!! This is why I didn’t finish FFVIII yet. Don’t want it to be over.

I can’t believe I actually clocked this game. So happy. I hardly ever get to clock a game!

I loved the Apricorn blender, and picking Apricorns for Kurt again.

Here is a review by someone else.

http://au.ds.ign.com/articles/107/1077337p1.html

I HATED the Pokeathlon.

One gamer on some forum said, ‘Who doesn’t love mini-games?’

ME. I usually hate mini-games. I do not know why, probably because I can never get a good score. I just suck at most mini-games.

Although if there is no time limit I do ok… but no, even then I would probably suck.

I find such things highly stressful. I keep screaming ‘This is meant for CHILDREN! Why is it so hard? Why can’t I get it right???’ etc. No fun or joy in these games for me.

The Pokegear was not quite what I was hoping for, but still very good, once I got used to it. Every new game they change the menu. I liked the Pokegear’s little extras like that radio station that played older music on Sundays. I was hoping it would bring back the Match Call but it didn’t. That’s ok. It had a similar feature where people who gave you their number would call you on the Pokegear and then you could sometimes rebottle them. And it showed up as ! on your map, which was so useful.

Gameplay/Strategy: Liked it a lot, because it was familiar but the graphics made it seem new. I also loved how once you beat the first half of the game, you could go back to the original region and fight the original gym leaders from R/B! Brock is as cute as ever! Lt. Surge seems unchanged, as do most of the others, except Koga’s daughter Janine took over from him, and MISTY! They ruined her, totally ruined her. The HAIR! What were they thinking? It makes me want to cry. She was such a hot little thing back in the day. Whoever changed her look should be punished. I liked the game very much, to sum it up.

Sound: Very good by now. Good stuff. Not much to say after that.

Music: Good, remastered and remixed versions of the old stuff. One thing: Thank you for GB Sounds that you get from the Game Freak guy! Loved that I could go back to the older stuff! Didn’t work everywhere, and it probably wasn’t the exact same soundsbut it was close enough to bring the memories back. I really enjoyed the music in this game.

Graphics: Good, as always. High standards set by now. Nothing to complain about.

Fave Pokemon: Looks: Actually, Ninetales in this one. The rest? Probably the same as for my original Silver review. Battling: I enjoyed using my Dragonite the most, I think. In the original Silver I don’t know if I used it much, just wanted it because Dragonair is so graceful. But this time around, it was integral to my team.

Pokemon I didn’t like much (or at all): Hmm I guessthe same as in my original G/S/C review. Steel and Dark types, which first came into this game. I especially disliked Murkrow.

Fave In-Game Trade/s: The Beldum and the Xatu but probably my fave trades of all time were Brock’s Rhyhorn and Surge’s Pikachu. !!!! Soooo cool.

My Team:

Meganium

Dragonite

Ninetales

Ampharos

Haunter

And one other, once it was Likitung, another time it was a diff Pokemon, I beat the Elite Four a couple times, just ‘cause I was so pleased to be able to do it.

I think I spent the most time playing this game than all the others, so far. Except Diamond, but I don’t count it because most of that time was spend digging and making poffins rather than running around doing stuff and battling. And yes, I really liked the Pokewalker feature, I used it every day for months, because I walk a lot. I was so happy with it, and to catch new Pokemon, and unlock new areas and items!

My overall rating: ***** out of 5 stars, because it was amazing and fun and not too hard but not too easy, with lots of extras, it was for me what FireRed didn’t turn out to be (otherwise I think I’d remember it better). Loved it. A classic classic!

Thanks, IGN. You're great for pics, yo.

Review of Diamond/Pearl/Platinum. Review 4?

Pokemon Diamond, Pearl and Platinum

Here is a link to a kind review. Then see mine below it.

http://www.gamespot.com/ds/rpg/pokemondiamond/review.html

Hardest game ever, back to the times of the original games where I felt useless… But the music changing at night was nice. I don’t know if it was all the towns but I really only noticed it in Floaroma Town. I used to fly there at night just to listen. I wish that I could have picked the flowers sometimes. A (NON-TIMED) mini quest to pick flowers for the shop owner would have been cool.

Poffins were fun for a bit but also annoying because I had nobody to make them with. In Ruby it didn’t matter because the NPC would help you but in D/P you get nobody. I was disappointed.

Did not like the Contests because they were harder and more boring than the ones from Ruby. And only in Hearthome.

Loved digging in the underground but it sucked that I didn’t have anyone to play the flag game etc with. Loved decorating my secret base! Just like Ruby! EEEE!

Amity Square: Encouraging discrimination against certain types of Pokemon. Otherwise, very good idea.

Gameplay/Strategy: Uh, yeah, the plot was the usual fare. I always like these plots but it gets a bit dull with the same plot constantly being recycled. Some good points. I haven’t mentioned this before but what I do like about all of the Pokemon games is that you don’t have to do the extra stuff to advance the plot. I hated how in FFX-2, you have to be good at that Sphere Coin game, because it is important later on. And how it helped to be good at Blitzball in FFX (and of course I am not). Anyway back to Diamond.

Good that you get the VS. Seeker, although it wasn’t easy to use, I kept forgetting I had it. I did most of my battling at the resort restaurant, and it was a very lucrative time for me. I found this game to be as hard as the originals in terms of completing the main plot. I did not enjoy that. But I have played this game for a long time so I still liked it, it is just so hard. Even though it was meant to be better than Ruby etc, it wasn’t for me because it was so hard I couldn’t enjoy it as much. But I did like the map and cities. Very nice.

Also was able to do Global Trade and get all of the starters yay! Loved that trade was made easier at last.

Music: Good but not as catchy as some of the other games… sometimes came off as monotonous or annoying. Best music was Floraroma Town, I guess. And I like Hearthome City sort of.

Sound: Very good. Better than any of the previous games, of course. Yay! A good thing to say at last! I think that this is when Chatot was introduced and after thinking it was cute and cool, I realized it was essentially a gimmick Pokemon. Although not weak to the point of ridiculous, it is not that great. I still like it though. And around here is when I began to notice the diff between previous gen sounds and gen IV sounds in clarity and tone diversity. It was very different, to the point of being glaring. But although it has become a bit annoying, after a while you get used to it.

Graphics: Very good. I liked the graphics a lot. I did miss being able to change the theme of my dialogue windows, I can’t remember when they took that away. But anyway yeah, I had to get used to a new menu but it was pretty easy. I liked the Pokemon status tabs in their lookups, very detailed and good. I was disappointed that it changed in the next game.

So in case you haven’t figured it all out yet, I really did enjoy Diamond but I found the actual main quest too hard. In the end, I am ashamed to say, I asked a friend to beat the Elite Four for me. I kept failing due to my aforementioned stubbornness and refusal to use items. But then he did it even though he insulted my team constantly. So they can’t have sucked that much or he would have had to use other Pokemon. Men. Always so arrogant and rude about games. They really are annoying. I accept that I am not very good, you don’t have to constantly be rude to me and laugh at me about it. I’m already asking you to help me, you don’t have to stomp on my spirit as well. Anyway, they (my Pokemon) did it.

And I thought, ‘I MUST DEFEAT BLACK ON MY OWN!!!’ So I have to. I have to prove to myself that I am not as useless as I think I am. He used the team I had carefully prepared. He just used items. I must learn to do that too.

Fave Pokemon: Looks: I know I didn’t like all of the Diamond Pokemon, so in terms of looks, I would have to say surprisingly I liked Skuntank. I just have a soft spot for it. I also really liked the legendary, Dialga. I liked Palkia too but it looked too much like the alien from the Alien movies. I liked Misdreavus and its evolved form, they are sooo cute! I also loved Finneon, but not really its evolved form. Battling: Actually I really enjoyed using my Skuntank. Very strong poison/dark Pokemon, and so cool when you teach it Flamethrower. Also my Gyrados. Until this game, I had never really had much time for Gyrados. But now I like it.

Pokemon I didn’t like much : Didn’t like Turtwig or Staraptor at first but got over it. Staraptor looks a bit stupid though with its quiff thing… Anyway I also hated Bidoof. Annoying troll. But Bibarel makes an awesome HM slave, and after playing Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky… well, I like Bidoof now. Stupid plotlines forcing me to like useless Pokemon… I’m sorry Bidoof! You’re not useless! Anyway. I also disliked Roserade, Bronzor and Spiritomb. Design-wise, that is. But the more I look at the Dex, the more I realize how fond of the D/P Pokemon I became.

Fave In-Game Trade/s: The Chatot. Don’t remember the rest of the few trades offered as being worth anything. Why was it named Charap? Because of Chatot’s Japanese name, which is Perap. I think that is a play on the words ‘Parrot’ and ‘Rap’ in English but I could be wrong. Anyway, a lot of the Japanese names are puns, and cheesily appropriate to the Pokemon’s appearance.

Overall rating: **** out of 5, because I hated the difficulty level but the extras were good (not great because of their annoying weaknesses). Part of the problem was of course that I kept switching between this and SoulSilver at the same time. Very different games in terms of graphics, gameplay and how much I enjoyed each one. Now that I remember the parts I liked, I find myself unable to give a harsh score. Also, I liked the three Pokemon Uxie, Mesprit and Azelf. Amazing, for once I liked the three legends (it helped that I was able to capture them all, a rare thing for me). And I liked Dialga and Palkia. Which I mentioned already.

My Team for Diamond:

Lucario

Raichu

Staraptor

Graveler

Skuntank

Gyrados

I had a lot of other faves, actually, but these guys were the ones who beat the Elite Four.

Btw Platinum was different to the other two, as Emerald was to R/S. So here is some guy’s review of Platinum since I haven’t played it (and I don’t mind so much about that).

http://www.gamespot.com/ds/rpg/pokemonplatinum/review.html

Btw on a semi-unrelated note, I enjoyed the Diamond and Pearl anime the most out of all of them so far. But I haven't seen the B/W series yet.

Fire and Leaf. Pokemon Review 1...or it should have been, oops.

Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen

This guy’s review is great where he raves about the game, over several pages. Don’t forget to read it all.

http://au.gameboy.ign.com/articles/544/544550p1.html

The truth is, although I played FR and LG I have forgotten what it was like…I think I liked it and I don’t remember much about it. This is probably partly because I played SoulSilver recently and you can go to the original world (I always forget which is Johto and which is Kanto) after you clock it, and play against the gyms there. So that memory has overshadowed my memories of FireRed.

I will give it a **** out of 5 because I can’t remember it but I bet it would have been excellent as always. I am too embarrassed to even pretend to review it… sorry! I better lump this one in the with original R/B review…

Just one thing: Apparently, Natures came out in R/S/E. I never really paidaltogether that much attention to them when I was playing Ruby but the truth is, they have gained more importance over the next series of games. They can affect how you level and also stuff like ratings in contests etc, I think. My opinion on the Nature thing? Well, it is useful and good and kinda cool, but also can make things a little more complicated. So it’s both cool and annoying. There you go. I guess its fine, it’s not like the game designers are queuing to ask me whether I think they should remove Natures in the next game or anything. So just accept it I guess.

Anyway... here's a cute pic I found on teh interwebz to make up for this awful review.

Can't remember where I d/lded it from. Google images as usual. It will make a cute bg for you though. :)

My fave Pokemon overall? Eevee. Always have loved it since I first saw it. Even if it were common (which it never is), I really would like it for it’s design. I love to keep it as it’s original form and teach it Dig. I love it so much! I don’t know why. Probably because it looks like a dog and a fox, and is so cute and energetic looking. I also like most of it’s evolved forms. Not sure about some of them but whatever. They are all good. My dream is to have an awesome dream-team of them but I can’t because there are more than 6 now. So sad…

Oh as for my fave starter overall… I can’t choose. I actually like all of them!

At first whenever the new starters come out I hate them all. Then I slowly grow to like them all. Out of all the starters so far, I would say that only Oshawott looks like it is a desperate scraping of the barrel in terms of design. It never did look…right somehow. I chose it for my starter in Black anyway. Can’t let appearance rule your life. It’s potential that matters, rather than looks. And so far I have never regretted it. My Samurott is doing very well. One thing that also bugged me, Cyndaquil. It’s a cool idea that it gets flame on it’s back when upset etc, but without it’s flame, it looks bald and sick in the anime or the artwork. And that is my last problem with the starters.

Pokemon I dislike the most overall so far? I think... besides the ice-cream cone (and it's ridiculous evolved form)... which I refuse to even mention by name, I would have to say it's a contest between Tornadus and Thundurus and Patrat and co, Woobat and co, and Timburr and co. Admittedly Timburr is ok, but it's two evolved forms are awful! They look like a muppet crossed with an ugly man... oh so let-down by the designers this time around. Please make another game and show us that you can redeem yourselves. By the way, most of these aforementioned Pokemon are most likely good in battle (but also most likely not great), but I am talking about their looks only.

One last thing: Best website companion for Pokemon that I have found? Serebii.net.

http://www.serebii.net/index2.shtml

Seriously amazingly good.

Not sure about the walkthroughs, but gamefaqs.com has always been my best friend there.

http://www.gamefaqs.com/

And atm Pokemon Black is their number one in their top ten games. Oh yeah! ^_^

Pokemon Review 3. R/S/E.

Pokemon Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald.

Favourite game. Although Emerald is different and I haven’t played it yet. I’m going to buy it when I can find it. It’s hard to get atm. I loved the berries and the music is my favourite of the series and also, I really liked the new Pokemon. Even though gamers everywhere seem eager to diss this one, I liked it a lot. I actually clocked it!

http://au.gba.gamespy.com/gameboy-advance/pokemon-ruby-version/498107p1.html

This review above tells it all, in a good way.

Gameplay/Strategy:

I liked the extras best, of course. I enjoyed the layout of the map and all of the towns. If I remember correctly, there was one other thing that I liked, it was how you could go to certain houses and buildings and gather information about Gym Leaders and people on your list, like the Professor. It was like a treasure hunt, and you guessed it, I liked doing that too.

And everyone disses the Super contests, but I LOVED THEM! I spent so long on this game, because there was so much to do. I love it even now. I bought the Japanese version of Ruby and I’m going to get the English version of Emerald I think.

I even enjoyed making Pokeblocks.

Oh one thing, I never did get the hang of catching the roaming Pokemon legendaries. This game was no exception. Can’t ever be bothered with them.

Battles: The battles were great too, because of the 2 on 2 feature that they introduced. I liked that, it was a little more interesting. I’m glad they kept that on. I loved all the other features like Trainer’s Eyes, and the ability to match-call other trainers to have another battle. I was able to build a better team than in the previous games, for some reason.

And the re-battling feature enabled me to avoid as much tedious level grinding as before.

Graphics: Better than the other games preceding it but of course you expect improvement. I will admit after playing Black and then going back to Ruby, I was shocked at the difference (duh…). But what really bugged me was the colour drag/bleed whenever you moved around. I think I can get used to it but it is a bit annoying. I think the colours were a bit garish but still a vast improvement over Crystal. It isn’t fair to compare a past game with a future game, so I will keep my comparisons to G/S/C and not refer to FireRed etc.

Sound: The sound was good, that is, I liked it. I admit there it could have had a better sound quality, but I enjoyed it very much. I especially liked how in certain places, you could hear the cries of wild Pokemon. I suppose I consider Ruby as the turnaround stage for Pokemon as a game, in terms of sound and graphics.

Music: Loved it so much. Ruby music and the original music are the two game soundtracks which will always be on my mind. I wish I could buy just the music for my mp3 player. I would love to be able to play the music of Pallet Town or Mount Moon as I walk around or I’m on the bus to art school. I also enjoyed all of the music for R/S, especially the music of travelling between towns, and also I loved the music of Route 113. Even the opening music was amazing, although of course it was cheesey like all the Pokemon intros are. But it was still very cool.

Overall rating: ***** out of 5. I loved it and I will always love it,it is like the game was made for me. I just get such a good feeling from it, good memories from the times in the past when I was playing it, and of the actual game itself.

Fave R/S/E Pokemon:

For looks: I loved Zigzagoon and Linoone… I always seem to fall for the ferrety types. I also loved how they and Meowth and Sentret had the Pick Up ability. Although I might be wrong about Sentret… I don’t remember when they introduced abilities. For battling: Flygon. I just loved its strength and its design.

Pokemon I didn’t like much…: Hmmm....I guess Mawile, Meditite and Medicham. As for why... design and also they were annoyingly strong...

Fave In-Game Trade/s: Well, thinking about it, there weren't that many I can remember, and I don't think I felt any of them were good enough to do. So yeah, not sure... (^_^); Btw sorry about the diff font here, can't seem to fix it.

Ok, looking over the list on Serebii.net, I realize why I loved Ruby so much. I actually enjoyed all of the Pokemon’s designs. I loved the graphics of this game. http://www.serebii.net/pokemon_advance/numbers.shtml

My Team:

Blaziken

Mightyena

Flygon

Ninetales

Groudon (sometimes but not really)

Golduck

Raichu

I switched in Altaria and Manectric as well sometimes. Man, I miss these guys. I have to buy that game.

Here is an Emerald review. Maybe I will stick to Ruby after all…

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/r_pokemonemerald_gba

Ah, I remember. Apparently the most awesome thing about Emerald is Rayquaza. Well, I can't tell you if it is amazing from first-hand knowledge since I never played Emerald and never had a Rayquaza. But I heard it has the highest stats EVER. Out of all of the Pokemon in existence. This may be entirely rumor. Look it up on the serebii.net's Dex and see. I know Rayquaza looks amazing, and also I think it levitates too. I'm a sucker for levitating Pokemon.

Yay! Starter bonanza!

This image as well as a lot of my other starter images were found here:

http://www.ign.com/blogs/lynxlegion/2011/02/27/pokemon-starters-which-are-your-favourites

Thanks for that!

G/S/C Review, Pokemon Review 2.

Pokemon Gold, Silver and Crystal

Really liked them. Day and Night, and the apricorns. I enjoyed collecting the apricorns and shaking trees to make Pokemon fall out more than the rest of the game… Loved the colours. Haha now that seems lame. But at the time it was so new and fresh. Btw no, I didn’t play Crystal. I started it but got bored.

See this review below:

http://au.gameboy.ign.com/articles/162/162865p1.html

Also this one:

http://www.gamespot.com/gbc/rpg/pokemoncrystal/review.html

My review:

Gameplay/Strategy: Hard, but a bit less hard than the original somehow. Still didn’t clock it, I think…so sad. Enjoyed all the new stuff, got so excited. I always did. Up until after Ruby. Then the excitement was gone, because I kept comparing to Ruby, or they were a jazzed-up version of a past game.

Battling fave: Hmm…I think I chose Chikorita as my starter even though I thought that Cyndaquil or Totodile would be better, because my friend chose Cyndaquil. Don’t ask me what that logic was… My actual fave was Azumarill because seemed that you could never one-hit kill an Azumarill. I was impressed by its endurance.

Overall Rating: **** out of 5. I didn’t enjoy the actual battles and gameplay as much as the original. I loved the extras though. Too many caves, so confusing, I got lost a lot.

Graphics: Better than R/B. Duh! Colour, in other words. It was a pleasant change. And the images were clearer, as well. So yeah, the next version, the upgrade, etc. Yes, yes, Captain Obvious.

Music: Liked it. Some of it was little spooky. Good stuff. Set the mood well. Just what I expect from Game Freak.

Sounds: Not much better than R/B. Sorry. But still not too bad. Nostalgia again…

Fave G/S Pokemon:

Based on looks, I would have to say Furret. So cute and a good HM slave, even if not the best one. And then Marill. Overall battling fave: Chinchou and Lanturn. I liked them because they were electric and water. I was really impressed by that. Maybe a little too impressed.

Pokemon I didn’t like much…: Steel and Dark types, which first came into this game. I especially disliked Murkrow. I was also creeped out by Eevee’s two new evolutions. Until I fought the Kimono girls in the theatre and then I realized how awesome an entirely Eevee based gym would be!!!!

Fave In-Game Trade/s: Well... let's see. I don't know if I got through the whole game, but if I remember...Ah! Rocky! The Onix! I enjoyed that trade. Not only was it for a Bellsprout, but of course it would grow faster because it was traded. Thanks to that NPC for Rocky. Good times. I think I used Rocky for a bit but he got too strong too fast and I couldn't control him so I switched him out and then forgot about him until later on. I also later got Muscle the Machop and Volty the Voltorb.. good names, Game Freak... but after that I don't remember any more. For a list of in-game trades, follow this link.

http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/List_of_in-game_trades

I wish I had gotten a Celebii. But I never have yet. That, and Jirachi are two Pokemon I want. Ah well. I even had a Mew, once. Obviously by cheating. But nevertheless, I was happy with my Mew until I realized it isn’t that useful. Now I have only a plastic figurine of Mew and my dreams to keep me company. I swore never to cheat again.

My team (if I remember):

Meganium

Lanturn

Ampahros replaced by Raichu?

Azumarill

Wobbuffet alternating with Togepi/Togetic

Houndoom, alternating with Steelix?

But it’s all fuzzy now. I think that you could get some of the older ones too couldn’t you? If so, I think I used a couple of those also. But I used Togetic to Fly later on. I remember that…I think. Argh! So long ago!

As for the legends, I only ever got Suicune. But that is the one I like anyway. So hah!

Pokemon Reviews, first full post! This is for Red and Blue.

Time for a full review of all of the Pokemon games I have played, along with a link to another review that I think does justice to each game. I will do each review as a separate post.

I will probably be repeating stuff I may have mentioned in my past posts but since I’m pretty sure nobody reads this blog, it doesn’t matter!

YAY!!! ^_^ Btw all images were found using Google image search, none of them are mine unless I say so directly.

Pokemon Red/Blue/Green

I really enjoyed it but I found it quite hard to complete. I played all of them some time after their release, and Green was hard to track down, let me tell you! These two reviews mention all of the salient points but since I played it so long ago, I can’t tell you if they are 100% accurate.

http://www.gamefaqs.com/gameboy/924467-pokemon-green/reviews/review-114422

http://www.gamefaqs.com/gameboy/924467-pokemon-green/reviews/review-102474

Anyway, I liked Blue best because you get Meowth. I love Pay Day…as a move and in real life… pay day is so wonderful… shopping… Anyway if I remember correctly you also get Vulpix in Blue and I love it. But I also love Growlithe so I guess it’s irrelevant. By the way usually when I say I love a Pokemon, it means I approve of its appearance. Just to clear that up. I am shallow. I admit it, I dislike a lot of Pokemon based on their appearance. The only time I can put that aside is in terms of starters.
Ahem.

So.
Gameplay/Strategy: I found it to be very hard. Some people say casually, ‘Yeah, 40 hours of gameplay.’, or ‘Takes about a week.’ But for me it takes about two weeks to complete a game. Or several months. Or more than a year… in the case of Diamond. Argh! I am an incompetent gamer but I still love it and I can’t give it up.

I just really hate level grinding because it is a joyless slog. Some level grinding in games is more fun like in FFVIII where you can travel around more and the monsters are much more varied and challenging (this is my opinion btw). But with Pokemon R/B/G it was not so good, so in the end, I think I beat all the gyms but I don’t know if I ever beat the Elite Four…hang on, Iremember fighting the Team Rocket Leader at the last gym… no that’s all. Yeah, probablydidn’t ever finish. But that is because I hate using potions etc and taking my time. I like to jump in and defeat people with a single blow and then be finished.

Fave In-Game Trade/s: Who remembers the Farfetch'd? Dux, right? So coooollll. Too bad they became common in later games. They are weak anyway. But man, it was so fun to trade with NPCs in the first game, because I knew nobody around me would have Pokemon so I wouldn't be able to trade with them. So I liked that one, but the rest of them were not good trades in terms of valuable Pokemon. I mean if you wanted to fill your Dex, I think some of them were good for that but in terms of what I would deem a ''good' trade (e.g; one that benefits me), nah. The others kinda sucked.

Graphics: Sucked, even for the times. But still just good enough to recognize what stuff was. It ain’t no Zelda or Seiken Densetsu. But hey. I liked being able to recognize the Pokemon despite the bad pixelations. No colour or only like one colour, if I remember rightly.

Battles: Not bad. Turn based, as it always has been. I liked building my team carefully (even though I often did it wrong). I chose Squirtle as my starter, I think. I chose Charmander when I started the game again, haha.

Music: So catchy…nostalgia… thank you for GB Sounds, GameFreak… I love it. Still. And helped set the tone just right! Iconic music…

Sounds: Not the best. Pikachu sounded awful, always. I was shocked each time… no pun meant there sorry. Pikachu still sounds terrible even in Pokemon Black (I guess they couldn’t change its voice now)! Some of the sounds were not too bad in the higher pitch like Clefairy and Jigglypuff.

Fave Pokemon in R/B/G?
Meowth for usefulness (money, money, money…) and then probably…Well, this may sound strange (I was going to say odd) but I like Oddish’s design.
For battling, my fave in these games would be Charmander and its evolutions. I don’t know why. Probably because I like Fire Pokemon in general. It’s not that Charmander is better. In fact I think I like Bulbasaur and Squirtle as much as I like Charmander, but I always seem toleantoward Fire types. Maybe it just feels stronger…which is silly because Bulbasaur is surely a better choice to start with against Misty and Brock. Oh I don’t know why. But yeah, Charmander.

Pokemon I didn’t like much: Hitmonlee and Hitmonchan. Also Drowzee and Hypno. I don't really know why, they are just creepy or ugly or boring. Or all of the above. That's my taste, I guess.

Rating: ***** out of 5. Because I loved it, I still love it and it was amazing. It can still be enjoyed more than 10 years later. The same can not be said of most other games. RPGs rule for that reason. I try not to get rid of any of my games (because they are costly), so I buy only ones that I know I will most likely want to keep. And I plan on buying Blue online one day. When I get the money. Because atm it is ‘retro’ and so expensive… Extortion!

Pokemon Yellow I have also played and I really liked the beginning but after a while I got bored. So no separate review for Yellow. I enjoyed having Pikachu follow me and talking to(him?). It was made to be more like the anime. Oh, one thing, it was for the GBColor so it had more colour…yes I am Captain Obvious. Enough said.

Read this review below if you like. Oh, I did like the opening tune when Pikachu is running towards you. That was very cute and catchy. Do do do do do do do do do, dee dee dee dee dee dee etc. You know what I mean!

http://www.gamespot.com/gameboy/rpg/pokemonyellow/review.html

My R/B team (if I remember):
Charmander/Squirtle and evolved forms

Pidgeot
Meowth/Persian
Ninetales (when I used Charmander I realized that I should have gotten Squirtle again, so I had to use a Poliwag, dang it)
Weepinbell (never bothered with it much to evolve it…)
Pikachu/Raichu
I think this is correct but I can hardly remember. I know I spent a long time in the forest looking for Pikachu because it was hard to get. But I was determined.
And later I got Eevee but I don’t know if I used it much. I think that is basically my team. I miss those days. Much less choice so you could win by working harder. Even though I hate working harder…

Btw it's a massive pain to have to drag all these sprites to the right places in the editor so I will veto on the sprites for now.

Genocide hatred lingers in Rwanda schools, BBC reports.

Who started this?

As US President George Bush visits a memorial to the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, the BBC's Geoffrey Mutagoma finds that "genocide ideology" can still be found in the country's schools.

Mataba village nestles amid northern Rwanda's green mountain peaks and verdant valleys.

Peasants plant their potato crops along the undulating ridges of fertile volcanic earth.

But the roots of deep hatred are also growing fast in the local secondary school.


“ We found rubbish in the beds of genocide survivors ”

Mukabalisa Donatille
government investigator
"We first discovered the problem when we saw writing on the toilet walls saying Tutsis are bad and they should be killed," headmaster Mfitumufasha Eden told the BBC.

"We found students referring to colleagues as snakes."

Fourteen years after the genocide, research in 32 schools by a committee of MPs has revealed an ugly reality - ethnic hatred is still prevalent in most of them.

Graffiti

The school is badly under-resourced but as well as academic subjects, teachers are also focused on how to rid of ethnic hatred.

"Let's live in peace, tolerance, unity and reconcilation. Let's uproot the ideology of genocide," warns a sign in the picturesque school grounds.

But some Tutsis who survived the killings of some 800,000 people are being harassed by Hutu students.

Mr Eden said vicious graffiti was discovered on a daily basis until the school decided to call in the authorities.

But the more often the government officials came, the more students found different ways to harass their fellow pupils.

The methods included putting rubbish in the beds of genocide survivors, tearing their clothes, destroying their school books, mattresses and kit bags," explained Mukabalisa Donatille, who headed a team of politicians investigating genocide ideology.


“ We are still scared ”

Tutsi student
The intensity of the problem resulted in trauma to some students who survived the genocide and the school was closed down for two weeks for the investigation.

The parliamentary committee said that students were wearing different school uniforms, according to their ethnic groups but the headmaster denied this.

But he agreed that Tutsi students, who are supported by the Genocide Survivors Fund, can easily be identified because of their good quality uniforms.

"But other students usually buy this material as well, if they can afford it," he added.

The school is now open again but the issue is far from settled.

"We are still scared about this whole thing," one of the students said.

Echoes of the past

Most of the students here are too young to remember or understand the genocide in 1994.

The headmaster believes Hutu pupils learn to hate Tutsis from their parents at home.

Other schools have experienced the same problem.

In some, teachers were themselves accused of sowing the seeds of hatred among pupils.

In one school, Nyagahinika, investigators found teachers using publications from the National Revolutionary Movement for Development (MRND), Rwanda's former ruling party.

The MRND is accused of planning the 1994 genocide.

In a speech in parliament, Education Minister Jean D'arc Mujawamaria agreed that the ideology existed in some schools.

She said staff under suspicion were being prosecuted.

Members of parliament recently announced they would launch a massive campaign to uproot the ideology of hate, starting with school children.

The ministry of education says schools where ethnic division has surfaced should set aside two hours every weekend to discuss reconciliation.

Rwanda has made considerable progress in promoting co-existence between its people, but there is obviously a long way to go.

It took more than three decades to teach ethnic division in Rwanda. So it might take just as long to heal it.

But with this stirring of old evils amongst the young generation, it could even take longer.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/7246985.stm

Published: 2008/02/19 13:36:14 GMT

© BBC 2011