OK, I think it was in a post I never published that I said the last Corocoro promised a huge reveal in today's, and I was skeptical, but this is a huge, potentially game-changing reveal, and it's all to do with that new Mewtwo.
Confirmed in Corocoro for X and Y are "Mega-evolutions" of existing pokemon, namely Absol, Ampharos, Blaziken, Lucario, Mawile and Mewtwo. Their names will be Mega(current name,) e.g. MegaMewtwo. Two of their typings have been announced: MegaMawile will be steel/fairy, and MegaAmpharos will be electric/dragon. Steel/fairy is also the typing for Mawile, it has been revealed to be the newest retyped pokemon, which could really help it, but MegaAmpharos has not been confirmed as a new dragon, suggesting the Mega-evolutions may not always share the pokemon's typings. Their abilities have been announced: MegaAbsol will have Magic Bounce; MegaAmpharos will have Mold Breaker; MegaBlaziken will have Speed Boost; MegaLucario will have Adaptability; MegaMawile has Huge Power and MegaMewtwo has Insomnia. These abilities mostly work very well, especially Speed Boost, which oddly I was talking about in my last post yesterday, and Adaptability which is RIDICULOUS on a fighting type like Lucario. The one that doesn't really is MegaAmpharos' Mold Breaker, which essentially works only on pokemon an electric/dragon has no problems with. But whatever.
Mega-evolution will apparently be a new form of evolution, which the event they also announced may give us a clue towards.
The first X and Y event, from October 12th to January 15th, will give away a Torchic holding something called Blaziken Knight (probably Blazikenite.) It will make use of a new item called a Mega Stone, and can eventually evolve into MegaBlaziken. This suggests the MegaStone is kinda like the evolution stones we have already.
A new gym leader, whose Japanese name is Koruni, will hold the key to understanding MegaEvolution. She looks a bit like Maylene, and seems to be a fighting type.
Quite how MegaEvolutions work, and what they do, has not been confirmed.
More as it comes (including pictures,) and I'll get to the rest of Corocoro tomorrow. It's not really that interesting.
Thursday, 8 August 2013
Wednesday, 7 August 2013
Outfoxing Fennekin
Gamefreak have tried so hard to toy with us, again, and I'm getting a little irritated. Don't get me wrong, I'm still thoroughly intrigued but I am a little bored of the misleading spoilers, half-truths and unfinished reveals. So ha ha Gamefreak, this one I've cracked. I think.
The absolute last thing ANYONE wanted for Gen VI was a 4th fire/fighting type starter. In Gen III Torchic evolved into the first of these, Blaziken. It was a pretty good pokemon, and in general pokemon players applauded the move. In Gen IV Chimchar evolved into Infernape, and Infernape was a very very good pokemon indeed. As far as I can see pokemon players were happy to accept a second fire/fighting because Infernape felt like a polishing and a boosting of Blaziken. Its stats, movepool, concept and design were all way better, and when it was released it became arguably the best starter of all time. In Gen V something strange happened, and Blaziken leapfrogged its OU rival Infernape to go from languishing in UU to being the only Ubers starter ever...for now. This was thanks to its Dreamworld ability, the almost unjustly good Speed Boost. But Gen V also brought a nasty surprise for fire/fighting, in the form of lame younger cousin to the family Embor. This fat, lumbering pig tries to copy its older relatives and fails miserably. Why is it a pig anyway? That makes no sense from a conceptual point of view. There is just no line you can draw to get from pig to punching stuff, although I have just mentally created the superhero Bacon Man. Anyway, Emboar sucked, and with so much potential still left in the fire type for new things, players rejected Emboar as a waste of a starter.
I said, in one of my very first posts, that not only did I not see Fennekin becoming a fire/fighting I didn't see how it could become a fire/fighting, when they'd done three and anyway it didn't look fighting-y (not that Tepig did either.) But then they showed us it using a move called Glow Punch, and alarm bells were set ringing. Oh, no, it's punching stuff now! But.......I'm pretty sure that not only is Fennekin's unrevealed evolution not a fighting type, the move isn't even fighting type. OK, i have just seen that it deals super-effective damage to fire/normal and fighting is one of 4 types to currently do that. But I say currently for a reason. This punch really doesn't look like, say, Mach Punch. I bet this is a special punch. Specifically I bet this is the fairy equivalent of fire/thunder/ice punch, and Fennekin will be a fire/fairy. That is, based on what we already know, frighteningly good typing. Specifically it will be a specially offensive monster. I mean, dragon, normal, steel, ice, grass, these are very good types to be super-effective against (and potentially not all,) and should slot it into ubers as an amazing counter to a lot of things you most commonly find there. Also, the fairy type IS super-effective against fire or more likely normal type or both, and isn't resisted by either. Now, Gamefreak, have you got any unintentionally very informative spoilers on Chespin or Froakie?
The absolute last thing ANYONE wanted for Gen VI was a 4th fire/fighting type starter. In Gen III Torchic evolved into the first of these, Blaziken. It was a pretty good pokemon, and in general pokemon players applauded the move. In Gen IV Chimchar evolved into Infernape, and Infernape was a very very good pokemon indeed. As far as I can see pokemon players were happy to accept a second fire/fighting because Infernape felt like a polishing and a boosting of Blaziken. Its stats, movepool, concept and design were all way better, and when it was released it became arguably the best starter of all time. In Gen V something strange happened, and Blaziken leapfrogged its OU rival Infernape to go from languishing in UU to being the only Ubers starter ever...for now. This was thanks to its Dreamworld ability, the almost unjustly good Speed Boost. But Gen V also brought a nasty surprise for fire/fighting, in the form of lame younger cousin to the family Embor. This fat, lumbering pig tries to copy its older relatives and fails miserably. Why is it a pig anyway? That makes no sense from a conceptual point of view. There is just no line you can draw to get from pig to punching stuff, although I have just mentally created the superhero Bacon Man. Anyway, Emboar sucked, and with so much potential still left in the fire type for new things, players rejected Emboar as a waste of a starter.
I said, in one of my very first posts, that not only did I not see Fennekin becoming a fire/fighting I didn't see how it could become a fire/fighting, when they'd done three and anyway it didn't look fighting-y (not that Tepig did either.) But then they showed us it using a move called Glow Punch, and alarm bells were set ringing. Oh, no, it's punching stuff now! But.......I'm pretty sure that not only is Fennekin's unrevealed evolution not a fighting type, the move isn't even fighting type. OK, i have just seen that it deals super-effective damage to fire/normal and fighting is one of 4 types to currently do that. But I say currently for a reason. This punch really doesn't look like, say, Mach Punch. I bet this is a special punch. Specifically I bet this is the fairy equivalent of fire/thunder/ice punch, and Fennekin will be a fire/fairy. That is, based on what we already know, frighteningly good typing. Specifically it will be a specially offensive monster. I mean, dragon, normal, steel, ice, grass, these are very good types to be super-effective against (and potentially not all,) and should slot it into ubers as an amazing counter to a lot of things you most commonly find there. Also, the fairy type IS super-effective against fire or more likely normal type or both, and isn't resisted by either. Now, Gamefreak, have you got any unintentionally very informative spoilers on Chespin or Froakie?
Saturday, 27 July 2013
Best. Event. Ever
Actually that's not quite true. The following are the best events ever in order:
1) Arceus
2) Darkrai
3) Shiny Rayquaza
But this is also an excellent event. It is a UK only event, so I'm sorry if it doesn't cover you, but keep reading, it gets funny I promise . The event comes in three parts:
1) August 30-September 12 Shiny Dialga
2) September 13-September 26 Shiny Palkia
3) September 27-October 12 Shiny Giratina
These pokemon will be given away in Game, which works for me because it's one of the few shops I can get to in the Highlands.
Now I must admit that I expressed my excitement about getting three of my favourite pokemon in shiny form before seeing them. The first shiny pokemon I ever caught was a Liepard. It goes from purple to...purple. You'd never know it was shiny. Dialga is only a bit better. It goes from blue to turquoise. Turquoise is a shade of blue. It is one of my favourite colours, and Dialga looks great in it, but again it's hard to tell it's shiny. This irritates me, but not as much as Palkia. There is one major problem I have with Palkia, which is nothing to do with typing, movepool, stats, or ability, which I love, love, love and can't complain about.No, my problem with Palkia can be summed up in three words: GIANT PURPLE PENIS! I know, you can't unsee it now. It even has testicles. How did this pass the testing phases? Some other pokemon, like Castform, bear a passing resemblance to genitalia, but this I just can't with. What is the one thing that would make Palkia look more phallic? Painting it pink. Congratulations Gamefreak, you now have a legendary pokemon with the worst design ever. I am sarcastically clapping, which is an impressive feat while typing. Giratina's not half bad, having a recognisable colour change and looking pretty good. But as a set I'm gonna stick with my usual normal forms.Best event ever. This sucks.
1) Arceus
2) Darkrai
3) Shiny Rayquaza
But this is also an excellent event. It is a UK only event, so I'm sorry if it doesn't cover you, but keep reading, it gets funny I promise . The event comes in three parts:
1) August 30-September 12 Shiny Dialga
2) September 13-September 26 Shiny Palkia
3) September 27-October 12 Shiny Giratina
These pokemon will be given away in Game, which works for me because it's one of the few shops I can get to in the Highlands.
Now I must admit that I expressed my excitement about getting three of my favourite pokemon in shiny form before seeing them. The first shiny pokemon I ever caught was a Liepard. It goes from purple to...purple. You'd never know it was shiny. Dialga is only a bit better. It goes from blue to turquoise. Turquoise is a shade of blue. It is one of my favourite colours, and Dialga looks great in it, but again it's hard to tell it's shiny. This irritates me, but not as much as Palkia. There is one major problem I have with Palkia, which is nothing to do with typing, movepool, stats, or ability, which I love, love, love and can't complain about.No, my problem with Palkia can be summed up in three words: GIANT PURPLE PENIS! I know, you can't unsee it now. It even has testicles. How did this pass the testing phases? Some other pokemon, like Castform, bear a passing resemblance to genitalia, but this I just can't with. What is the one thing that would make Palkia look more phallic? Painting it pink. Congratulations Gamefreak, you now have a legendary pokemon with the worst design ever. I am sarcastically clapping, which is an impressive feat while typing. Giratina's not half bad, having a recognisable colour change and looking pretty good. But as a set I'm gonna stick with my usual normal forms.
See what I mean?
Tuesday, 23 July 2013
Burn, Baby, Burn
OK, this is a new bi-weekly feature (because I've done the maths and that lets me do a fairy-type post three days after the new games come out (because the day after is my birthday and this stuff takes me two days even when I'm not busy) and an ice-type post the day before Christmas), where for want of a better way of putting things I take the types apart to see how they work. Since it is as hot as hell here in the UK and my xz and zx keys have melted together, the only type I could possibly start with is fire.
Fire, in battle, is one of the most clear-cut pokemon, with clear stat trends, clear strengths and weaknesses and clear strategies to use with them. See, fire is nearly unmatched in one thing: hitting hard. It can hit four types for super-effective damage (even if the only totally useful one is steel and possibly ice) and only dragon can outdo it for average special attack stats when fully evolved. But dragon doesn't count, because half of all fully-evolved dragon types are legendaries. Half! 50% 1 in 2! 9 of the 18! Exzpress it how you choose. It's too many and it skews the stats. So strike that, fire types have the best special attack stats of any type. Combine that with a nice range of moves, over 60% having 80 base power or higher, an immunity to pesky burns, and moderate to good speed, with several sitting in the 100-110 region (although I will admit the fastest fire type is Infernape with 108 base speed, and 44 pokemon have at least one faster forme, but 108 is not half bad, outspeeding loads of great pokemon such as Hydreigon, Scizxor, Garchomp and of course Mew and Celebi) fire types often make perfect special sweepers. Basically, with fire types, you want to hit hard and get the hell out of there, because very few of them can take a hit with generally awful defenses and 3 nasty weaknesses, and it suddenly occured to me when writing this post that the biggest thing the fire type needs is a variation on Volt Tackle/U-Turn, which means even when you can't get an OHKO (which you need a lot of with fire types) your pokemon doesn't crumple like burnt paper. So yeah, except in a few very special cases, this is the fire type's only decent use, and I don't recommend using the special cases until you're sure of it (he said, patronisingly). But if you know how to use fire types, they can be a huge asset. And come on, how fun is it to burn stuff?
Fire, in battle, is one of the most clear-cut pokemon, with clear stat trends, clear strengths and weaknesses and clear strategies to use with them. See, fire is nearly unmatched in one thing: hitting hard. It can hit four types for super-effective damage (even if the only totally useful one is steel and possibly ice) and only dragon can outdo it for average special attack stats when fully evolved. But dragon doesn't count, because half of all fully-evolved dragon types are legendaries. Half! 50% 1 in 2! 9 of the 18! Exzpress it how you choose. It's too many and it skews the stats. So strike that, fire types have the best special attack stats of any type. Combine that with a nice range of moves, over 60% having 80 base power or higher, an immunity to pesky burns, and moderate to good speed, with several sitting in the 100-110 region (although I will admit the fastest fire type is Infernape with 108 base speed, and 44 pokemon have at least one faster forme, but 108 is not half bad, outspeeding loads of great pokemon such as Hydreigon, Scizxor, Garchomp and of course Mew and Celebi) fire types often make perfect special sweepers. Basically, with fire types, you want to hit hard and get the hell out of there, because very few of them can take a hit with generally awful defenses and 3 nasty weaknesses, and it suddenly occured to me when writing this post that the biggest thing the fire type needs is a variation on Volt Tackle/U-Turn, which means even when you can't get an OHKO (which you need a lot of with fire types) your pokemon doesn't crumple like burnt paper. So yeah, except in a few very special cases, this is the fire type's only decent use, and I don't recommend using the special cases until you're sure of it (he said, patronisingly). But if you know how to use fire types, they can be a huge asset. And come on, how fun is it to burn stuff?
Friday, 19 July 2013
Additional thoughts on Oorrotto
It's just occured to me that when I said here I was wrong here, that's not necessarily true. I mean, there's now obviously no connection to sound, which means my strange blogger musings on the sound type are going back to bed...for now, but the rest might still be as I suggested. See, I zoned in on the possible name Aulotte, and connected it to French nursery rhyme Alouette. Actually that's more likely than ever, with Oorrotto confirmed as the Japanese name and it looking like an evil tree. I mean, what is an evil tree? I think one that captures birds and harms them is about as good as you're getting on that.And much as I think the bird being plucked alive is too gruesome even as a pokedex entry in pokemon, dark and ghost pokemon are often said to trap or capture weaker pokemon or even people and somehow hurt them. So yeah, I'm thinking it might well be Aulotte, a pokemon that captures birds in its leaves and....well that's Gamefreak's job. I love it. Watch out, Fletchling.
Same pokemon, different news
First of all, one piece of good news, for some reason my blogger has been f***ed for the last 10 days or so, and although I figured out about 4 days ago how to actually use it it's been hard, annoying and time-consuming, so now that it seems back to normal I can do more.
OK, so they've carried on spoonfeeding us little bits and pieces about Honedge and Oorrotto. I'm gonna do Honedge first because it will take no time at all. Honedge's ability, or maybe one of them, will be No Guard. That makes total sense given that it's a sword freed from its sheath, but how good it is will depend thoroughly on Honedge's movepool. One thing I know is that Heatran was already a massive threat to it, and it getting its signature move Magma Storm at perfect accuracy, as well as Fire Blast, is SCARY. I don't think i like it at all, and it may have ruined what coulda been a great pokemon. Shame.
Now as right as I was about Xerneas and Yvetal I couldn't have been more wrong about Oorrotto. Partly because the name I got was wrong. Orotto-Oorrotto changes things, as does the fact that this is the Japanese name when I thought it was the English, but whatever. I can give you some facts now. Because of certain legal restrictions, I can't provide you with pictures but I'll describe it as best I can:
It's an evil-looking tree-trunk with arms and roots that function as spidery legs. There are strips of bark torn from the trunk and arms, it has one eye and three branches. The only pieces of greenery on the trunk are "cuffs" on the arms, which have branches as hands, and one clump which makes up "hair." There is no doubt in my mind that this will be grass/dark type, but I'll wait until the official announcement to tell you why that's such horrible typing. We have nothing else really, so I'll leave you to get on with your life.
OK, so they've carried on spoonfeeding us little bits and pieces about Honedge and Oorrotto. I'm gonna do Honedge first because it will take no time at all. Honedge's ability, or maybe one of them, will be No Guard. That makes total sense given that it's a sword freed from its sheath, but how good it is will depend thoroughly on Honedge's movepool. One thing I know is that Heatran was already a massive threat to it, and it getting its signature move Magma Storm at perfect accuracy, as well as Fire Blast, is SCARY. I don't think i like it at all, and it may have ruined what coulda been a great pokemon. Shame.
Now as right as I was about Xerneas and Yvetal I couldn't have been more wrong about Oorrotto. Partly because the name I got was wrong. Orotto-Oorrotto changes things, as does the fact that this is the Japanese name when I thought it was the English, but whatever. I can give you some facts now. Because of certain legal restrictions, I can't provide you with pictures but I'll describe it as best I can:
It's an evil-looking tree-trunk with arms and roots that function as spidery legs. There are strips of bark torn from the trunk and arms, it has one eye and three branches. The only pieces of greenery on the trunk are "cuffs" on the arms, which have branches as hands, and one clump which makes up "hair." There is no doubt in my mind that this will be grass/dark type, but I'll wait until the official announcement to tell you why that's such horrible typing. We have nothing else really, so I'll leave you to get on with your life.
Monday, 15 July 2013
Some thanks I never expected to have to make, and some I hoped to
So my blog's viewership has just hit a bit of a milestone, and I felt like I should tidy up the thanks I wanted to make
Thanks to my sister, who kept pushing me into writing and then publicised the results
Thanks to the website whose entire formatting I legally ripped off for one of my posts
Thanks to the people doing the same stuff as me on Youtube, you inspire me
Thanks to the friends I see on Thursdays who give me ideas and help with development, especially Ross and Frances, although I do wish Ross would read the damn blog.
Thanks to the Palauan website whose function I have yet to figure out but which has apparently helped me significantly with viewers. (seriously)
Thanks to the pokemon players in central and eastern Europe, especially Russia and Serbia, who have made up a surprisingly large chunk of my readership (Russia beats the USA into second place)
Thanks to my high-school English teachers, who are gonna hate me for using their first names, but who all got me started writing, especially Anna Bogucki.
Thanks to the people who I've bored to death using them as a sounding board.
Thanks, obviously, to all those involved in making the Pokemon games
And thanks to anyone else who I've forgotten to thank, including all the regular viewers.
And I should thank some of my favourite pokemon, so here goes: Rayquayza, Reshiram, Dialga, Meloetta, Keldeo, Latios, Drapion, Volcarona, Tyranitar, Hydreigon, Gallade and Gliscor, and my favourite good/bad doggy Houndoom.
Thanks to my sister, who kept pushing me into writing and then publicised the results
Thanks to the website whose entire formatting I legally ripped off for one of my posts
Thanks to the people doing the same stuff as me on Youtube, you inspire me
Thanks to the friends I see on Thursdays who give me ideas and help with development, especially Ross and Frances, although I do wish Ross would read the damn blog.
Thanks to the Palauan website whose function I have yet to figure out but which has apparently helped me significantly with viewers. (seriously)
Thanks to the pokemon players in central and eastern Europe, especially Russia and Serbia, who have made up a surprisingly large chunk of my readership (Russia beats the USA into second place)
Thanks to my high-school English teachers, who are gonna hate me for using their first names, but who all got me started writing, especially Anna Bogucki.
Thanks to the people who I've bored to death using them as a sounding board.
Thanks, obviously, to all those involved in making the Pokemon games
And thanks to anyone else who I've forgotten to thank, including all the regular viewers.
And I should thank some of my favourite pokemon, so here goes: Rayquayza, Reshiram, Dialga, Meloetta, Keldeo, Latios, Drapion, Volcarona, Tyranitar, Hydreigon, Gallade and Gliscor, and my favourite good/bad doggy Houndoom.
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