I should probably replay both games at some point (so forgive me if this isn't totally accurate), but SM essentially tells Lillie's story. You're the protagonist, sure, but she's the main character of the story. She's important in USUM but with how the story is structured, the player character is more of a main character there.
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Back during USUM there was a wave(s) of merchandise around the Ultra Beasts and they were all accompanied by some stellar artwork showcasing their worlds. The Paradoxes have sort of a "sequel" set of merch that tries to capture the same vibe
Obviously since they're only really associated with Area Zero there's not as much variety and they focused on group shots, but it's nice artwork regardless.
https://www.pokemon.co.jp/goods/2024/05/240510_st01.html
Obviously since they're only really associated with Area Zero there's not as much variety and they focused on group shots, but it's nice artwork regardless.
https://www.pokemon.co.jp/goods/2024/05/240510_st01.html
lol, the Nihilego one is giving me serious Inkling vibesThere was also Daisuki Club art featuring the UBs wreaking havoc in the Pokémon world and the art for Kartana upsets me because it's missing the yellow "frills" on its body.
Overall they're all really cool pieces of artwork, though; I sourced it from here.
Gen 1 Pandering has its silver lining, this is so cool
I've heard some sources compare the Aether Foundation family to rival characters from previous main series installments, notably Silver from the Johto games and N from the Unova duology. For years I've said that Black & White 1 felt like paired versions where the player character wasn't the true main character of the story, with someone like N filling that role instead for a change. Gen 5's release structure is very comparable to that of the Gen 7 Alola titles, and an argument can definitely be made that there are parallels between N and Reshiram/Zekrom and Lillie and Solgaleo/Lunala ("Nebby") here. Gladion himself lines up a bit better with the comparison to Silver in my opinion, but all four of Silver, N, and the two Aether Foundation siblings have the whole "evil parent" thing in common, a major backstory detail that was noticeably toned down for Lusamine's Ultra Sun & Moon iteration for better or worse, depending on who you ask.
Back during USUM there was a wave(s) of merchandise around the Ultra Beasts and they were all accompanied by some stellar artwork showcasing their worlds. The Paradoxes have sort of a "sequel" set of merch that tries to capture the same vibe
Obviously since they're only really associated with Area Zero there's not as much variety and they focused on group shots, but it's nice artwork regardless.
https://www.pokemon.co.jp/goods/2024/05/240510_st01.html
You guys definitely aren't the first ones to draw comparisons between the Ultra Beasts and the Paradox Pokémon. Both Gen 7 and Gen 9 were part of what I've been calling "the Shigeru Ohmori era" of the main series (Gens 7-present) following in the footsteps of the Satoshi Tajiri era (Gens 1-2) and the Junichi Masuda era (Gens 3-6). A similar parallel can also be found between the Tapus and the Treasures of Ruin, but that's beside the point. To Ohmori's credit, both of these groups of Pokémon feel like they're exploring this kind of "out of this world", almost "unfamiliar" vibe that adds to both the games' storytelling narratives and the multiplayer competitive scene. I'm interested to see, which group of Pokémon do you guys prefer? I'm personally leaning towards the Ultra Beasts, but that's admittedly in part because we got to go into the Ultra Wormholes but not the Area Zero time machine.There was also Daisuki Club art featuring the UBs wreaking havoc in the Pokémon world and the art for Kartana upsets me because it's missing the yellow "frills" on its body.
Overall they're all really cool pieces of artwork, though; I sourced it from here.
Personally, I found the wormhole plot more interesting, and whilst a large number of Paradox designs kinda felt… stale for me (particularly future ones) the UBs and their environments were all cool and distinct for me.
Just the general concept of the mons too - crazy mons from different universes vs old/newer versions of pre-existing Pokemon, one definitely sounds more appealing to me.
I find the added texture work in SV kind of hit or miss sometimes - generally that's just me liking stylization found with SWSH or L:A's textures - but when it hits it hits nice
For example, Regigigas here. The yellow bits have the appearence of flaking, old wear & tear from its years of being around. That's pretty rad!
For example, Regigigas here. The yellow bits have the appearence of flaking, old wear & tear from its years of being around. That's pretty rad!
All four members of the Oddish family have unique hidden abilities.
QuentinQuonce
formerly green_typhlosion
I just finished Colosseum (mostly, I still gotta finish purifying everyone before trying to get Ho-oh) and holy shit the game is fun. It wasn't particularly hard, which surprised me since I had imposed an extra challenge on myself by being extra-stingy with TMs*. Only real instance of grinding was picking Plusle up to speed in Pyrite (time that I also spent purifying most of the Shadow Pokemon in Pyrite which is something I would have had to do anyway) and I found myself hardly ever using items in or out of battle. Since most trainers can be rematched, and their dialogue and teams updated through out the story, fighting them to keep my levels up didn't feel like grinding at all; it was just taking the game slow and not rushing (NPCs update their dialogue so frequently in this game, it's great).
But while it wasn't challenging, having everything be double battles allowed for incredibly engaging synergies within my team. It seemed like no matter which two Pokemon I had out, there was something interesting that could be done between them, and I kept discovering new ways to combine them as the game went on. And that was just what I could do with the tiny pool of options the game gave me! A mainline game dedicated to double battles, where moves like Helping Hand, Follow Me, and Fake Tears are usable on more than just a handful of Pokemon, would be so cool, and make using support Pokemon so much more viable.
literally my second ever Pokemon game and I still manage to assemble a team of only bangers with almost no planning
I went into this knowing Umbreon got ditched by the speedrun and that Plusle started at a super low level. I kept them on the team for role-playing reasons expecting them to be dead weight but they super weren't.
Every single member of the team turned out to be GOATed. I thought for a while that Furret might be just great but then I realized I was dumb and could have been using Follow Me Dragon Dance to destroy everything this whole time and never realized it.
*My ultimate goal† for Colosseum was to advance progress in beating the Emerald Battle Frontier. This mainly involved the pinch berries which I also still need to get, but it also meant hoarding any non-renewable TMs in case there was no way to breed them onto the Pokemon I wanted, abstaining from using the legendary beasts in case I wanted to EV train them, and snagging a male Heracross because you need to breed if you want Megahorn before level 50 and I ain't grinding the Safari Zone for that shit.
†besides filling out more of the Pokedex
But while it wasn't challenging, having everything be double battles allowed for incredibly engaging synergies within my team. It seemed like no matter which two Pokemon I had out, there was something interesting that could be done between them, and I kept discovering new ways to combine them as the game went on. And that was just what I could do with the tiny pool of options the game gave me! A mainline game dedicated to double battles, where moves like Helping Hand, Follow Me, and Fake Tears are usable on more than just a handful of Pokemon, would be so cool, and make using support Pokemon so much more viable.
   Ability: Synchronize Lax Nature - Bite - Secret Power - Screech - Snatch |   Ability: Synchronize Adamant Nature - Psychic - Hidden Power [Ground] - Protect - Reflect |    Ability: Plus Lonely Nature - Thunder - Thunder Wave - Fake Tears - Encore |   Ability: Water Absorb Quirky Nature - Surf - Earthquake - Yawn - Rain Dance |   Ability: Natural Cure Lonely Nature - Fly - Dragon Breath - Fire Blast - Dragon Dance |   Ability: Run Away Jolly Nature - Strength - Quick Attack - Helping Hand - Follow Me |
literally my second ever Pokemon game and I still manage to assemble a team of only bangers with almost no planning
I went into this knowing Umbreon got ditched by the speedrun and that Plusle started at a super low level. I kept them on the team for role-playing reasons expecting them to be dead weight but they super weren't.
Every single member of the team turned out to be GOATed. I thought for a while that Furret might be just great but then I realized I was dumb and could have been using Follow Me Dragon Dance to destroy everything this whole time and never realized it.
*My ultimate goal† for Colosseum was to advance progress in beating the Emerald Battle Frontier. This mainly involved the pinch berries which I also still need to get, but it also meant hoarding any non-renewable TMs in case there was no way to breed them onto the Pokemon I wanted, abstaining from using the legendary beasts in case I wanted to EV train them, and snagging a male Heracross because you need to breed if you want Megahorn before level 50 and I ain't grinding the Safari Zone for that shit.
†besides filling out more of the Pokedex
QuentinQuonce
formerly green_typhlosion
Plusle is super underrated in Colosseum. So many guides and walkthroughs I've read tell you not to bother with it but it's the perfect support mon and the level gap isn't as much of an issue since it's an outsider.I just finished Colosseum (mostly, I still gotta finish purifying everyone before trying to get Ho-oh) and holy shit the game is fun. It wasn't particularly hard, which surprised me since I had imposed an extra challenge on myself by being extra-stingy with TMs*. Only real instance of grinding was picking Plusle up to speed in Pyrite (time that I also spent purifying most of the Shadow Pokemon in Pyrite which is something I would have had to do anyway) and I found myself hardly ever using items in or out of battle. Since most trainers can be rematched, and their dialogue and teams updated through out the story, fighting them to keep my levels up didn't feel like grinding at all; it was just taking the game slow and not rushing (NPCs update their dialogue so frequently in this game, it's great).
But while it wasn't challenging, having everything be double battles allowed for incredibly engaging synergies within my team. It seemed like no matter which two Pokemon I had out, there was something interesting that could be done between them, and I kept discovering new ways to combine them as the game went on. And that was just what I could do with the tiny pool of options the game gave me! A mainline game dedicated to double battles, where moves like Helping Hand, Follow Me, and Fake Tears are usable on more than just a handful of Pokemon, would be so cool, and make using support Pokemon so much more viable.
Ability: Synchronize
Lax Nature
- Bite
- Secret Power
- Screech
- Snatch
Ability: Synchronize
Adamant Nature
- Psychic
- Hidden Power [Ground]
- Protect
- Reflect
Ability: Plus
Lonely Nature
- Thunder
- Thunder Wave
- Fake Tears
- Encore
Ability: Water Absorb
Quirky Nature
- Surf
- Earthquake
- Yawn
- Rain Dance
Ability: Natural Cure
Lonely Nature
- Fly
- Dragon Breath
- Fire Blast
- Dragon Dance
Ability: Run Away
Jolly Nature
- Strength
- Quick Attack
- Helping Hand
- Follow Me
literally my second ever Pokemon game and I still manage to assemble a team of only bangers with almost no planning
I went into this knowing Umbreon got ditched by the speedrun and that Plusle started at a super low level. I kept them on the team for role-playing reasons expecting them to be dead weight but they super weren't.
Every single member of the team turned out to be GOATed. I thought for a while that Furret might be just great but then I realized I was dumb and could have been using Follow Me Dragon Dance to destroy everything this whole time and never realized it.
*My ultimate goal† for Colosseum was to advance progress in beating the Emerald Battle Frontier. This mainly involved the pinch berries which I also still need to get, but it also meant hoarding any non-renewable TMs in case there was no way to breed them onto the Pokemon I wanted, abstaining from using the legendary beasts in case I wanted to EV train them, and snagging a male Heracross because you need to breed if you want Megahorn before level 50 and I ain't grinding the Safari Zone for that shit.
†besides filling out more of the Pokedex
That is indeed a banger team, props to you for using Furret and Altaria effectively. My team during my last full run ended up being Espeon, Umbreon, Suicune, Raikou, Qwilfish, and Plusle and it killed - slightly overpowered for the main game but I wanted something good enough to be able to take on Mt Battle without importing a team from the GBA.
My theory for this is make it a combo of double battles, teamups, you vs teamups, Horde vs 2, and a variant of Totem/SOS battles where you use 2 mons and the wild boss calls an ally any time it doesn't have one. Plus any other things I missed. Give us a game which really leans into the variety of alternate multi-mon modes.
The Goomy line is one of my favorite pseudo-legendaries, but one little thing I love about the Goomy line's design is how it's a unique twist on common RPG tropes.
X and Y's starter trio of Chesnaught, Delphox, and Greninja is cool imo because they're based on RPG hero classes, which really is a nice flavor for them as starters since starters have a "protagonist" trope in their design, and for Chesnaught, Delphox, and Greninja, they really feel like Dungeons and Dragons protagonists.
The pseudo-legendary, Goodra, ends up being a neat subversion of RPG tropes, namely RPG enemy designs.
Goomy itself to start is the generic slime monster enemy in RPGs, which are often one of the earliest monsters and oftentimes the weakest of all RPG enemies you can find in an RPG. This also shows with Goomy's Pokedex entries often labelling it the weakest of all Dragon-types, which ties into how it's just a slimy blob. A cute one no less that's really lovable, but it's representative of a common slime enemy. Then it evolves into Sliggoo, a snail, which is stronger, but nothing too impressive.
Then Goodra comes in and is a "boss dragon" much like its fellow pseudo-legendaries. It evolves from Sliggoo when it's raining, which makes it come off as an "awakening": Goomy is a slime monster that evolves into a stronger but unimpressive snail, then Sliggoo awakens in the downpour of a rainstorm and becomes the mighty Goodra, a Dragon-type with incredible Special Defense to capitalize on elemental resistances, good offensive stats, and good HP and Speed to boot, being a large 600 BST Dragon who is one of the mightiest Pokemon you can find.
Late-game bosses end up being powerful Dragons who can slaughter your starter and are hard to deal with, and Pokemon has been no exception with Dragonite, Salamence, Garchomp, and Hydreigon fulfilling the role beforehand. But Goodra is a really neat one, aside from it being cute and lovable, its evolutionary line being evolved from generic slime monsters to start is cool with how Goomy starts as the weakest type of RPG monster then progresses into an average monster in Sliggoo, who is a snail, then becomes a powerful "boss dragon" as Goodra.
The idea that your generic slime monster can eventually grow into a really powerful boss dragon is a really cool design for a pseudo-legendary imo.