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kjorteoLast time: Against my better judgment, I picked a starter.
This entry opens with me heading off to Mr. Pokemon's hou--oh wait no it doesn't. Ethan intercepts us right outside the door to Professor Elm's lab.
"Celine! So you picked... a CHIKORITA!"
Ethan. Please. Not so loud. I'm embarrassed enough as it is.
Ethan proceeds to call Empress cute (I will give her that, at least) and tell me all about how she'll become more friendly as I walk with her and blah blah here's how that whole walking mechanic works. Two other NPCs also praise Empress's adorability on my way out of town, and to be honest, I am inclined to agree.
The walk from New Bark Town to Cherrygrove City is fairly uneventful. For all my ragging on the Chikorita line, Empress easily and decisively handles everything the route in between throws at me, mostly because every enemy is level 2-3 or so and Empress started at 5. She hits 7 by the time I reach town, and even learns Razor Leaf! It turns out that "difficulty" is a concept for RPGs not aimed at young children, and that you really don't need to be a Smogon-approved metagame-defining uber-mon to beat the single-player story campaign in any given Pokemon game. Empress will be just fine.
By now it's night in real life as I'm writing this, and I probably should be getting to bed, but I wanted to reach a certain stopping point first for reasons that will become clear later. It is therefore night in game as well, and... I will admit, even after all these years and with how standard a feature that should be by now, it still feels kind of cool to see nightfall in this game.
Mr. Pokemon is having a visit with Professor Oak, and because I am a random pre-adolescent girl with a Pokemon Professor Elm gave me, I am obviously fit to help both of them out with their errands. Mr. Pokemon gives me a Mystery Egg and instructs me to take it all the way back to Professor Elm. Professor Oak gives me a Pokedex and wants me to fill it out, because of course he does, even though this game has yet to unlock the ability to acquire Pokeballs or capture Pokemon. I'll get right on that as soon as you let me, bruh.
The second I exit Mr. Pokemon's house, my handy PokeGear telephone rings. It's Professor Elm, who is experiencing a major unspecified crisis and needs me there right now. Good thing I was going back that way anyway; now let's do so with urgency.
I make it as far as returning to Cherrygrove before bumping into that red-haired kid from the game's intro.
"You got a Pokemon at the lab. What a waste. That's a Pokemon that's too good for a wimp like you."
I'm sorry, I am honestly trying to ease off the riffing because I actually really am fond of Empress by this point, but the "It's a fucking Chikorita" quip writes itself and I almost physically cannot help myself.
He challenges me with a suspiciously familiar-looking Cyndaquil. Despite being a type that has an advantage over Empress, his Cyndaquil is only level 5 and thus doesn't actually know any Fire-type moves yet. Meanwhile, Empress does a Grass move (Razor Leaf), but Fire-type Pokemon resist that. So, it looks like this is going to be time-honored tradition of the First Rival Battle being a "both sides just spam Tackle at each other and the first one to get a crit wins" fest.
Or, you know, I win, because Empress is three levels higher just from playing this game normally.
The mysterious kid declares he's going to be the world's greatest Pokemon trainer someday despite this inauspicious start, and then runs off.
Back at Professor Elm's lab, there's a police officer there investigating a missing Pokemon. He deduces that whoever did it will return to the scene of the crime, and then wonders aloud that since I have returned to the lab, does that mean I did it?
This is why police in these games are powerless to stop the local mafia groups and evil world domination organizations, and need random local ten-year-olds with Pokemon to do it.
Fortunately, Ethan barges in to vouch that we had nothing to do with it. Professor Elm is standing right there, and since he's the one who summoned me, maybe he could have mentioned that? Well, as long as someone does, I guess. Ethan goes on to describe a red-haired boy he saw peering suspiciously into the lab through an outside window earlier, shortly before the Pokemon went missing. Celine quickly affirms that she just battled that kid, with that exact missing Pokemon no less, and the officer asks if I got his name. Here's my chance to name my rival.
By default, this kid's name is canonically Silver, but that's not a good name, especially since Silver is the version I'm playing thank you very much. For my personal file, I'm going to name him after a kid from school who was mean to me around that age and even looked almost exactly like him. I may or may not have a few lingering issues.
Er, but for the sake of this kid's privacy, Silver is fine for the playblog, I guess.
The officer is satisfied with this and goes off to search for "Silver" (not his real name in my file), and Ethan sees he's no longer needed here and bolts as well. That leaves Elm, who accepts Mr. Pokemon's Mystery Egg with all the enthusiasm of "Another egg? Geez what is it with this dude and eggs." He does agree to incubate it for a while, though. Meanwhile, the Pokedex we got from Professor Oak catches his eye, and he immediately instructs us to go take the Gym Challenge: Go beat all the Gyms, become the very best like no one ever was, you know, the plot of every Pokemon game except I've been told they're finally moving away from that a little in Sun/Moon.
After saying goodbye to mom, we embark on our grand adv... oh Ethan is right outside New Bark, and is here to instruct us how to catch wild Pokemon using Pokeballs. Finally.
A return trip to the route near Mr. Pokemon's house at this hour yields us a level 4 Hoothoot, which is about the best we're going to get from the recruitables in any area we've been to so far. Doesn't matter; I just needed to have a second Pokemon so I could keep at least one in my PC storage, to unlock a feature we will explore next time. I name him "Scout." You'll see why next time.
This entry opens with me heading off to Mr. Pokemon's hou--oh wait no it doesn't. Ethan intercepts us right outside the door to Professor Elm's lab.
"Celine! So you picked... a CHIKORITA!"
Ethan. Please. Not so loud. I'm embarrassed enough as it is.
Ethan proceeds to call Empress cute (I will give her that, at least) and tell me all about how she'll become more friendly as I walk with her and blah blah here's how that whole walking mechanic works. Two other NPCs also praise Empress's adorability on my way out of town, and to be honest, I am inclined to agree.
The walk from New Bark Town to Cherrygrove City is fairly uneventful. For all my ragging on the Chikorita line, Empress easily and decisively handles everything the route in between throws at me, mostly because every enemy is level 2-3 or so and Empress started at 5. She hits 7 by the time I reach town, and even learns Razor Leaf! It turns out that "difficulty" is a concept for RPGs not aimed at young children, and that you really don't need to be a Smogon-approved metagame-defining uber-mon to beat the single-player story campaign in any given Pokemon game. Empress will be just fine.
By now it's night in real life as I'm writing this, and I probably should be getting to bed, but I wanted to reach a certain stopping point first for reasons that will become clear later. It is therefore night in game as well, and... I will admit, even after all these years and with how standard a feature that should be by now, it still feels kind of cool to see nightfall in this game.
Mr. Pokemon is having a visit with Professor Oak, and because I am a random pre-adolescent girl with a Pokemon Professor Elm gave me, I am obviously fit to help both of them out with their errands. Mr. Pokemon gives me a Mystery Egg and instructs me to take it all the way back to Professor Elm. Professor Oak gives me a Pokedex and wants me to fill it out, because of course he does, even though this game has yet to unlock the ability to acquire Pokeballs or capture Pokemon. I'll get right on that as soon as you let me, bruh.
The second I exit Mr. Pokemon's house, my handy PokeGear telephone rings. It's Professor Elm, who is experiencing a major unspecified crisis and needs me there right now. Good thing I was going back that way anyway; now let's do so with urgency.
I make it as far as returning to Cherrygrove before bumping into that red-haired kid from the game's intro.
"You got a Pokemon at the lab. What a waste. That's a Pokemon that's too good for a wimp like you."
I'm sorry, I am honestly trying to ease off the riffing because I actually really am fond of Empress by this point, but the "It's a fucking Chikorita" quip writes itself and I almost physically cannot help myself.
He challenges me with a suspiciously familiar-looking Cyndaquil. Despite being a type that has an advantage over Empress, his Cyndaquil is only level 5 and thus doesn't actually know any Fire-type moves yet. Meanwhile, Empress does a Grass move (Razor Leaf), but Fire-type Pokemon resist that. So, it looks like this is going to be time-honored tradition of the First Rival Battle being a "both sides just spam Tackle at each other and the first one to get a crit wins" fest.
Or, you know, I win, because Empress is three levels higher just from playing this game normally.
The mysterious kid declares he's going to be the world's greatest Pokemon trainer someday despite this inauspicious start, and then runs off.
Back at Professor Elm's lab, there's a police officer there investigating a missing Pokemon. He deduces that whoever did it will return to the scene of the crime, and then wonders aloud that since I have returned to the lab, does that mean I did it?
This is why police in these games are powerless to stop the local mafia groups and evil world domination organizations, and need random local ten-year-olds with Pokemon to do it.
Fortunately, Ethan barges in to vouch that we had nothing to do with it. Professor Elm is standing right there, and since he's the one who summoned me, maybe he could have mentioned that? Well, as long as someone does, I guess. Ethan goes on to describe a red-haired boy he saw peering suspiciously into the lab through an outside window earlier, shortly before the Pokemon went missing. Celine quickly affirms that she just battled that kid, with that exact missing Pokemon no less, and the officer asks if I got his name. Here's my chance to name my rival.
By default, this kid's name is canonically Silver, but that's not a good name, especially since Silver is the version I'm playing thank you very much. For my personal file, I'm going to name him after a kid from school who was mean to me around that age and even looked almost exactly like him. I may or may not have a few lingering issues.
Er, but for the sake of this kid's privacy, Silver is fine for the playblog, I guess.
The officer is satisfied with this and goes off to search for "Silver" (not his real name in my file), and Ethan sees he's no longer needed here and bolts as well. That leaves Elm, who accepts Mr. Pokemon's Mystery Egg with all the enthusiasm of "Another egg? Geez what is it with this dude and eggs." He does agree to incubate it for a while, though. Meanwhile, the Pokedex we got from Professor Oak catches his eye, and he immediately instructs us to go take the Gym Challenge: Go beat all the Gyms, become the very best like no one ever was, you know, the plot of every Pokemon game except I've been told they're finally moving away from that a little in Sun/Moon.
After saying goodbye to mom, we embark on our grand adv... oh Ethan is right outside New Bark, and is here to instruct us how to catch wild Pokemon using Pokeballs. Finally.
A return trip to the route near Mr. Pokemon's house at this hour yields us a level 4 Hoothoot, which is about the best we're going to get from the recruitables in any area we've been to so far. Doesn't matter; I just needed to have a second Pokemon so I could keep at least one in my PC storage, to unlock a feature we will explore next time. I name him "Scout." You'll see why next time.
no subject
Date: 2017-08-27 02:08 pm (UTC)"That's a Pokemon that's too good for a wimp like you." Chikorita is a sweet little creature pure as the new-fallen snow so... yeah kinda but THAT'S OKAY you can raise her anyway.
Ah, here's a difference. The level of enthusiasm has gone from "AN EGG WHAT A MYSTERY" to "Oh my god YES EGGS COME OUT OF POKEMON SOMEHOW WE KNOW sheesh crazy old man".
I see you are not embarking on a Catch Them All-a-thon. I have no memory of what this feature is.
no subject
Date: 2017-08-27 03:24 pm (UTC)Then Mr. Pokemon is like "CHECK THIS OUT! IT'S... AN EGG!!"
Then you take it back to Professor Elm who is like "Gosh, who could have guessed. Thanks."
And yeah, I'm trying to limit the Pokemon I catch to ones I will actually use, because that's like 40 extra hours of grinding right there if I'm going for dex completion which I know is literally unobtainable at this point without Nintendo WFC anyway.
no subject
Date: 2017-08-27 03:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-08-27 03:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-08-27 05:52 pm (UTC)Well, the box arters, at least. The puppycats are a bit rougher.
no subject
Date: 2017-09-20 07:37 am (UTC)If you keep acting embarrassed about having a chikorita the poor girl is going to get a complex. At least try to be proud of her when she's out of her ball and can see you.
Okay, you're not actually being as rude to her as some LPers I've seen have been to mons they dislike, but it's still sad to see a Pokémon I'm fond of be badmouthed. :(
It turns out that "difficulty" is a concept for RPGs not aimed at young children, and that you really don't need to be a Smogon-approved metagame-defining uber-mon to beat the single-player story campaign in any given Pokemon game. Empress will be just fine.
:p
I see my commenting on this on the last post was, perhaps, rather unnecessary.
I guess I already knew that, but I felt compelled to say something anyway.
For my personal file, I'm going to name him after a kid from school who was mean to me around that age and even looked almost exactly like him. I may or may not have a few lingering issues.
...
You might actually be a bit tougher than me in this.
If my terrible memory still carried any of my bullies' names, I couldn't bear to use them. I would hate the reminder more than I'd enjoy any vicarious comeuppance.
That leaves Elm, who accepts Mr. Pokemon's Mystery Egg with all the enthusiasm of "Another egg? Geez what is it with this dude and eggs."
Elm is very tired of his friends trying to involve him in their weird
kinksinterests.no subject
Date: 2017-09-20 02:09 pm (UTC)I like Empress! Sometimes the little quips like that practically write themselves and I have trouble resisting, but I wouldn't have chosen her if I had an actual problem with her. Especially not after overthinking my starter versus my rival's and setting out with the goal that she deserves a better home than Silver's.
But no, trust me, I had my "I wanna be Ben Croshaw when I grow up" phase as far as riffing whatever I was Let's Playing. Ask
"I see my commenting on this on the last post was, perhaps, rather unnecessary.
I guess I already knew that, but I felt compelled to say something anyway."
That's fine. If anything, I appreciate the concern. It's always good to know that people out there are looking out for this poor mon's well-being. :3
"If my terrible memory still carried any of my bullies' names, I couldn't bear to use them. I would hate the reminder more than I'd enjoy any vicarious comeuppance."
I don't know if it's comeuppance so much as... hmm. I'm actually not sure how to explain it. We had kind of an on-off thing, mostly off, and I definitely feel like his presence in my life had more of a negative impact than positive overall. Still, it was... complicated, I guess. There's a lot I can't really say in public.
no subject
Date: 2017-09-20 02:33 pm (UTC)Isn't it always complicated? :p
It's fair if you don't want to or can't talk about it.
I won't pry.
But if you're ever curious about mine I'll tell you what I can remember.
I don't have a strong sense of privacy. :p
I'm more limited by my shitty memory than any sort of propriety.
no subject
Date: 2017-09-21 03:16 am (UTC)But sure, hit me up in PM sometime if you want things to get uncomfortable. :D
no subject
Date: 2017-09-21 04:22 am (UTC)But I'm very bad at telling where that line is, so I try to err on the side of caution.
Please tell me if I ever push on your boundaries btw. My social interaction skills are... poor.
no subject
Date: 2017-09-21 11:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-09-22 02:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-09-22 02:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-09-22 04:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-09-22 04:31 am (UTC)You've got all these great reaction icons. Like virtual body language.
Meanwhile I'm just my pet cat's unblinking, staring eye.
It probably gets creepy. Or at least, makes it hard to tell how to read my more ambiguous statements.
no subject
Date: 2017-09-23 03:23 am (UTC)I will say that I absolutely adore having the collection I do, though. Reaction icons are great. Another huge reason I missed LJ/DW style blogging when I was on other sites.
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Date: 2017-09-23 04:00 am (UTC)Someone tried to insult me once by calling it a "bad photoshop" or something, but someone else shut them down before I could pry out any details. Because if they'd thought it was a photo I'd done a bad manip job to... That's pretty much a complement when it's actually artwork, right?
no subject
Date: 2017-09-23 03:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2017-09-23 04:02 am (UTC)The fic Mary surprised me with is "The Secret of Yoglabs", which as the author I can't recommend because all I can see in it are the flaws. :p
Augh, Don't Tap on the Glass hasn't been updated since 2015; I need to finish chapter 5! D:
So much writing I want to do and I've been letting depression keep me from working!
no subject
Date: 2017-09-23 05:12 pm (UTC)I guess maybe these LP entries can count? I mean they're long enough, certainly.
no subject
Date: 2017-09-23 06:14 pm (UTC)*looks at his own dusty novel ideas*
*kicks them back under the table*
What genre is your novel?
Want to tell me about it?
I should probably be buying more proper books.
Fandom is great and has some amazing stories, but I need to see what original content is being made, too.
I'd say these LPs definitely count as fan content!
They're not really a "fic", but you're generating some fine headcanons.
Hitchiker Liz's Girl Love Journey is my new favorite anime. :p
no subject
Date: 2017-09-23 10:41 pm (UTC)Note that I'm currently working on a major rewrite, so I'm kind of in this complicated area where reading the version that's out gives me "ugh that's the old version" pangs, even though the new version doesn't exist.
And yes, another friend pointed me toward Elesa in the Black/White games, saying, and I quote, "[She] is the source of that one speech I keep citing that is supposed to sound like "Your daughter can handle herself" and instead sounds like "Your daughter is MY lesbian now."" I never played B/W, but now I feel like I've found something I can offer to that exchange as well. And I actually really do want Picknicker Liz's journey of self-discovery to be more of a thing than I'll probably be able to make out of one or two isolated phone calls from a minor NPC trainer.
no subject
Date: 2017-09-24 02:40 am (UTC)From that description it sounds like a real heart-wrencher!
Sounds like I should reexamine B/W, 'cause I swear I played one of them but I really don't remember it, and now I want to know more about Elesa.
no subject
Date: 2017-09-24 04:19 am (UTC)The problem is that you'll be waiting a long time if you're waiting for the new version. It's been several years already, and I fully expect it to be several more at least.
no subject
Date: 2017-09-24 04:38 am (UTC)You have the advantage actually, since I'm not already hooked and frustrated to get more. :p