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kjorteoThree of the four new party members have been introduced (the fourth will be coming next entry; we needed the National Dex acquired in this session before we could go looking for it) and so it is time once again for actual advancement. Done once again in the form of a stream. These are a lot easier for us and seemingly fun for the audience as well, so expect this to be the standard format going forward except for special aside entries such as those aforementioned introductions.
In this update:
* The new arrivals arrive!
* Celine explains where she draws the line on cheating!
* Everyone wants a rematch!
* At long last, our Kanto journey begins!
* Freighter engines are noisy, it turns out!
* GAME DESIGN
* Our first Kanto Gym badge!
Follow us on Twitch
Some notable clips and highlights from this session:
* Another Pokewalker explanation
* This is a good UI.
* Turn white nuts into kurt's balls, and throw them at pokemon (Thanks to SeireaSong for this clip)
* Its name is Rock Biter for a reason, okay
* Describe Flygon Poorly Challenge
* Smile!
* Priscilla's Game Face
* guitarist vincent? (Thanks to SeireaSong for this clip)
* Casual destruction
And lastly, for those who like our writing as well, I'll leave this entry with some thoughts on at least two of the three newcomers now that they've actually tasted battle and shown us our stuff. (Badgertwo is still growing and being Exp. Share carried until he can gain his final moveset and evolve.)
We were torn I was about which of the five highly qualified Magnemites to choose, and in the end, I reevaluated what the "right" or "wrong" abilities and such were based less on the Smogon meta (are we really going to need a trapper to Magnet Pull enemies' Steel types and then Hidden Power [Fire] them down? Magnezone was the best Bronzong/Skarmory counter in Gen IV but how often will we actually be fighting those, and how often will the trainers be trying to switch out against their obvious weaknesses even when we do?) and more on what challenges this particular run would be throwing at us. To that end, I decided that the ones with Magnet Pull were less important; perhaps Sturdy actually might come into play more often in non-meta environments anyway? The definitive tie-breaker that gave Rock Biter the job was that it had a Hidden Power with 62 power (I was wrong when I said 68 but 62 is still incredibly good) and the Grass type. The idea was that, since Rock Biter was supposed to be our answer to Water types (including ones that sneakily know Ice moves, thus preventing Empress or Badgertwo from facing them,) its biggest obstacle would be things like Quagsire, Swampert, or Lanturn--Water-types who happen to be immune to Electric (and also resistant to its other STAB, Steel.) Grass is a 4x weakness for two of those three, after all.
That was the theory. So how did Rock Biter do in practice?
Holy shit, did you see that "It's called Rock Biter for a reason, okay" clip above? If anything, I actually underestimated how useful that would be. I knew that was going to be what kept it going if someone tried to interrupt its sweep of a Water Gym or something with a sneaky double type; I forgot that it also gave it a way to vaporize all those random Onixes and Gravelers and Cubones and such that random Hiker trainers threw at us. I also had high expectations for Rock Biter's power, having a comparable base Special Attack (along with comparable... actually all their stats, they're basically the same Pokemon stat-wise, oddly enough) as Glaceon, but I forgot what a difference Rock Biter's improved IVs (30 vs. 2), nature (+SpA/-Atk vs. neutral), and EVs (I gave Rock Biter 100 EVs' worth of Special Attack vitamins before we left) would all make. Rock Biter hits with Hidden Power--which, again, has a base power of 62 on this particular mon and is not a STAB--the way Oracle hits with Ice Beam, if not Blizzard. Its Speed is still awful, sure, but it's a fairly tanky mon with amazing defensive typing; unless you're throwing an Earthquake before it gets Magnet Rise off, it'll be fine.
So, yeah, I think Rock Biter gets an A+ on its debut.
Speaking of A+ debuts and Earthquakes, Priscilla excelled as well; the "Priscilla's Game Face" and "Casual destruction" clips should make that abundantly clear. Again, the idea was to have a good solid ground-dragon-antlion-thing with Earthquake and the Attack stat to use it, and if anything, she swept Lt. Surge's entire gym even harder and with even less effort than I'd expected. She even gave herself an unexpected bit of characterization; I saw her as this flashy diva, and I do still think Flygon's front sprite and general character art give that vibe. With those and her Hasty nature, I'm not giving that interpretation up. She's still our glamorous party girl. But man, her game face. When the battle gets serious, so does she, apparently. Which is awesome; I love that duality about her. She's here for a good time but do not underestimate her or her devotion to our team; she will level your entire Gym in her trainer's name.
The two of them made an amazing team, too, especially on the S.S. Aqua. Leading with Rock Biter, between its electric moves and its Hidden Power, it could handle just about everything except Fire types (one of the few defensive "ah, I see, no thank you" types it actually fears.) Every time we ran into one of those, oh hey guess what element's attacks Priscilla openly laughs at and Super-Effective Earthquakes in return? Those two working together could handle... quite a lot of things, probably.
So yeah, our team is looking pretty good right now, and Badgertwo hasn't even grown up yet. Let alone everyone else who was already there! (Yes hello we still have a Dragonite too, among other things.)
And yet, even among all of that overwhelming power, the heart and soul of the team, Her Imperial Majesty, Empress Moonchild Herself still very much had a legitimate role in Lt. Surge's gym. I could not have been more wrong about my original assumption that we'd be carrying her through the Johto League more as a sort of thematic storyline favor than out of legitimate usefulness, and that we would then drop her like a hot stone as soon as the real team became available in the postgame. No, she still continues to be the absolute best and we love her so much.
In this update:
* The new arrivals arrive!
* Celine explains where she draws the line on cheating!
* Everyone wants a rematch!
* At long last, our Kanto journey begins!
* Freighter engines are noisy, it turns out!
* GAME DESIGN
* Our first Kanto Gym badge!
Follow us on Twitch
Some notable clips and highlights from this session:
* Another Pokewalker explanation
* This is a good UI.
* Turn white nuts into kurt's balls, and throw them at pokemon (Thanks to SeireaSong for this clip)
* Its name is Rock Biter for a reason, okay
* Describe Flygon Poorly Challenge
* Smile!
* Priscilla's Game Face
* guitarist vincent? (Thanks to SeireaSong for this clip)
* Casual destruction
And lastly, for those who like our writing as well, I'll leave this entry with some thoughts on at least two of the three newcomers now that they've actually tasted battle and shown us our stuff. (Badgertwo is still growing and being Exp. Share carried until he can gain his final moveset and evolve.)
We were torn I was about which of the five highly qualified Magnemites to choose, and in the end, I reevaluated what the "right" or "wrong" abilities and such were based less on the Smogon meta (are we really going to need a trapper to Magnet Pull enemies' Steel types and then Hidden Power [Fire] them down? Magnezone was the best Bronzong/Skarmory counter in Gen IV but how often will we actually be fighting those, and how often will the trainers be trying to switch out against their obvious weaknesses even when we do?) and more on what challenges this particular run would be throwing at us. To that end, I decided that the ones with Magnet Pull were less important; perhaps Sturdy actually might come into play more often in non-meta environments anyway? The definitive tie-breaker that gave Rock Biter the job was that it had a Hidden Power with 62 power (I was wrong when I said 68 but 62 is still incredibly good) and the Grass type. The idea was that, since Rock Biter was supposed to be our answer to Water types (including ones that sneakily know Ice moves, thus preventing Empress or Badgertwo from facing them,) its biggest obstacle would be things like Quagsire, Swampert, or Lanturn--Water-types who happen to be immune to Electric (and also resistant to its other STAB, Steel.) Grass is a 4x weakness for two of those three, after all.
That was the theory. So how did Rock Biter do in practice?
Holy shit, did you see that "It's called Rock Biter for a reason, okay" clip above? If anything, I actually underestimated how useful that would be. I knew that was going to be what kept it going if someone tried to interrupt its sweep of a Water Gym or something with a sneaky double type; I forgot that it also gave it a way to vaporize all those random Onixes and Gravelers and Cubones and such that random Hiker trainers threw at us. I also had high expectations for Rock Biter's power, having a comparable base Special Attack (along with comparable... actually all their stats, they're basically the same Pokemon stat-wise, oddly enough) as Glaceon, but I forgot what a difference Rock Biter's improved IVs (30 vs. 2), nature (+SpA/-Atk vs. neutral), and EVs (I gave Rock Biter 100 EVs' worth of Special Attack vitamins before we left) would all make. Rock Biter hits with Hidden Power--which, again, has a base power of 62 on this particular mon and is not a STAB--the way Oracle hits with Ice Beam, if not Blizzard. Its Speed is still awful, sure, but it's a fairly tanky mon with amazing defensive typing; unless you're throwing an Earthquake before it gets Magnet Rise off, it'll be fine.
So, yeah, I think Rock Biter gets an A+ on its debut.
Speaking of A+ debuts and Earthquakes, Priscilla excelled as well; the "Priscilla's Game Face" and "Casual destruction" clips should make that abundantly clear. Again, the idea was to have a good solid ground-dragon-antlion-thing with Earthquake and the Attack stat to use it, and if anything, she swept Lt. Surge's entire gym even harder and with even less effort than I'd expected. She even gave herself an unexpected bit of characterization; I saw her as this flashy diva, and I do still think Flygon's front sprite and general character art give that vibe. With those and her Hasty nature, I'm not giving that interpretation up. She's still our glamorous party girl. But man, her game face. When the battle gets serious, so does she, apparently. Which is awesome; I love that duality about her. She's here for a good time but do not underestimate her or her devotion to our team; she will level your entire Gym in her trainer's name.
The two of them made an amazing team, too, especially on the S.S. Aqua. Leading with Rock Biter, between its electric moves and its Hidden Power, it could handle just about everything except Fire types (one of the few defensive "ah, I see, no thank you" types it actually fears.) Every time we ran into one of those, oh hey guess what element's attacks Priscilla openly laughs at and Super-Effective Earthquakes in return? Those two working together could handle... quite a lot of things, probably.
So yeah, our team is looking pretty good right now, and Badgertwo hasn't even grown up yet. Let alone everyone else who was already there! (Yes hello we still have a Dragonite too, among other things.)
And yet, even among all of that overwhelming power, the heart and soul of the team, Her Imperial Majesty, Empress Moonchild Herself still very much had a legitimate role in Lt. Surge's gym. I could not have been more wrong about my original assumption that we'd be carrying her through the Johto League more as a sort of thematic storyline favor than out of legitimate usefulness, and that we would then drop her like a hot stone as soon as the real team became available in the postgame. No, she still continues to be the absolute best and we love her so much.
no subject
Date: 2022-05-17 09:06 am (UTC)Priscilla, Queen of Burying You Alive
Sweeper of the Desert
I Am Here To Kick Ass And Look Pretty
Sweepscilla, Queen of Get Dunked
Can Priscilla just be an emote please twitch?
And congratulations on burying Surge's entire gym and getting your first Kanto badge! Welcome to the end game apparently. Have fun going around Kanto's gyms in a really weird order and exploring stuff! Look out for angry birds.
no subject
Date: 2022-05-17 09:10 am (UTC)But yeah, you know Priscilla has the situation under control when you have a Dragonite whose main contribution to the battle is "be a Flying Type so that you won't get in the way when your partner just Earthquakes everything on the other side of the field all at once."
She got to dance, though, which I'm sure Priscilla probably got a kick out of once srs mode was disengaged.
no subject
Date: 2022-05-17 09:19 am (UTC)And then she just casually claws a poor voltorb to death while the queen continues to bully everyone in sight with a pushbroom and blast eurobeats.
no subject
Date: 2022-05-17 09:25 am (UTC)Also, have we just established the second ship pairing in this party (after Empress Moonchild and Oracle)?
(Also, pushbroom?)
no subject
Date: 2022-05-17 09:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-05-17 09:53 am (UTC)Also possibly hockey metaphors I don't know ice hockey help.
no subject
Date: 2022-05-17 10:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-05-17 12:04 pm (UTC)wait no this isn't Xyzzy's blog
huh
no subject
Date: 2022-05-17 07:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-05-17 10:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-05-17 11:09 pm (UTC)And Symphogear now apparently why has this show taken over my brain help
no subject
Date: 2022-05-20 01:25 pm (UTC)