Thread XXVII: Pokémon GO Recharge Your Phone!

[noparlpf]

Fansubs and scanlations can be kind of a fuzzy area, but once a show gets licensed in your home country and there's an official dub, yeah, it's technically piracy to download a subbed version of the original dub. Which is kinda weird, because the content you want (the Japanese dub) still isn't actually available in your country, just the localised dub. But I guess if you're concerned with doing things legitimately, you could always buy the original Japanese dub on dvd (or whatever the kids use for video these days), see if you can find srt subtitles online, and hope they're synced to the videos you bought.

[Flickerdart]

I've got the Pokemon GO buddy update! They raised km requirements to get candy (groups are 1, 3, 5 instead of 1, 2, 3), but sometimes your buddy will find 2 candies instead of one.

[noparlpf]

Now I can finally level up my Snorlax (it's still around level 23-24; the rest of my main Pokémon are level 27-28). And my Exeggutor has started to lag behind a little too since it turns out there are hardly any wild Exeggcute around here.

[Aotrs Commander]

*watches Ash getting knocked out of Sinnoh League*

Yep. Pretty much what I expected. Curb-stomp, even if he did manage to push Tobias harder than the other guys. At least he fragging got ONE of the buggers. But even Pikachu can't take five to one.

Which, frankly, seems like bullcrap, as I find it hard to believe anyone other than Ash competant enough to get into the semi-finals wouldn't have specifically planned for fighting Darkrai.

(I agree with Pokemopolis - aside from the last bit with Pikachu vs Latios, it wasn't even an interesting fight, it was just "lookit! My legendary iz ta bestest!" When Ash got stomped on by Paul, you at least felt Paul has earned it with clever tactics and planning. Tobias just boringly brute forced his way through whle being all smug about it. He didn't even get upset much when Ash did beat Darkrai, taking away even that little bit of entertainement.)

In my own mind, when Tobias next enters a league, he gets reamed in the first round by a guy from Kalos (who did his research) who turns up with a lowly Vivillion who friendship-dodges his first attack, sleeps Darkrai and proceeds to level him with quiver dance and bug buzz/hurricane.

(Yes, I'm petty.)

Really though, Ash, what was even the hell with that team? Torkoal? Sceptile? Did... you not even attempt to PLAN for fighting the Darkrai you knew damn well was coming? Torkoal especially seems a really strange choice, especially for second up. Infernape would REALLY have helped there with Mach Punch (given how few fighting and bug moves Ash has). And as for strategy... Pikachu was the only one you really did anything other than "go head to head with clearly stronger Pokémon." Come on, dude, you're better than that.

[Lvl 2 Expert]

Wheeeeeeeh, buddies!

I really should go with eggxecutor, but rhyhorn, I choose you!

Took me a while to find the button though. *shame* I was looking in the pokémon menu, but it's in the trainer menu.

[Aotrs Commander]

Whelp. That's it - end of the DP arc and bye bye to Brock (dangit!)

Also, Pikachu - seriously, your would-be girlfriend is going to be a model. Brock would straight up murder a guy to have that sort of oppurtunity, y'know? (Except he wouldn't.) I mean, I'm far from the expert, but maybe missed the boat a bit there, mate? (And we know you're not a clueless as Ash...)



Final thoughts:

Definitely one of the better arcs of the series. The filler was of lower frequency and of higher quality - helped by the much larger recurring cast members. Paul was stellar as an adversary to Ash and in the end, Ash got to him after all (sort of).

Top of the supporting cast was Zoey, I think, with a runner up for Nando. Kenny and Barry were kind of blah, but an improvement over "random trainer of the week."

As I mentioned before, I think my biggest gripe about the series was it was just a little bit too gamey at times. On the one hand, I think they only once forgot a typing (mamoswine being ground verses Ursala's twin Plusle and Minum) and about three times they were right about typing and I was wrong). On the other, it felt as if they could have eased up on the game-mechanic-y exposition from Brock and on the typing advantages.

Tobias remians the second next sticking point (and I can't be alone in that). They could have made a far better job of him than they did - just dropping the "he's only used his Darkrai" angle for one would have madr him seem like somebody's hax self-insert. Unlike basically every other trainer who's beaten Ash when it mattered, Tobias didn't feel like he'd earned the win. And narratively it only existed because of the frack-daft reason that Ash can't win a league and say "y'know what, I'mma do the next league anyway, because damn if I don't love me some travelling and competing" because by DP's own admission, it's not even the end if he wins the league; he's got plenty of places to go.

I think the first season was the most solid in terms of arc, simply because as everyone was catching their Pokémon, it reduced the filler to almost zero. But it also had the really most drab episode of the series as well, so there's that.



I think I need to go watch Battle Frontier, as I sort fo expected, if only to see Ash Win A Thing for once (and I'll start on XY now my DVDs have arrived once I've finished W.i.t.c.h!)

I am trying to decide whether or not to try with BW... we'll see, I guess!

[Red Fel]

Yeah, I'm currently using a Magikarp as my buddy. Not because it's any good, but because (1) Gyarados requires a metric crapton of candy; (2) Magikarp spits out candy every KM, so easy motivation to walk around (which is one of my primary reasons for playing this thing); and (3) I don't yet have a 15-15-15 worth truly powering up, so I'm just going with a "why not"¹ Pokemon until I get one.

¹ "Why not" / Wynaut puns are not welcome.

[Hiro Protagonest]

Pikachu is 1km/candy, and Raichu has the only decent electric moveset. Easy choice.

[Lethologica]

¹ "Why not" / Wynaut puns are not welcome.

[Flickerdart]

Pikachu is 1km/candy, and Raichu has the only decent electric moveset. Easy choice.

Electric Pokemon don't have a use - the only common flyer is Dragonite (resisting electricity thanks to Dragon type), and the common water types are Vaporeon and Lapras (murdering the attacked with brute power). Plus they are all Speed-focused in the main games, and therefore useless in PoGo.

I'm using Charmander as my buddy because he was my starter, he's rarer than Squirtle and Bulbasaur, and Charizard is in the top 20 attackers (unlike Raichu).

[Red Fel]

I'm using Charmander as my buddy because he was my starter, he's rarer than Squirtle and Bulbasaur, and Charizard is in the top 20 attackers (unlike Raichu).

Yeah... Fact is, all of the fully-evolved starters are stable, if not chart-topping like Snorlapradosite. And they do take some solid candy to get to that state. I could see using one as a buddy if I had one worth evolving.

Side note, here's a question: Does an evolved 'mon generate candy at the same rate as prior evolutions? Or do you basically need to keep one unevolved one as a buddy to spawn powerup candies for a bigger evolved one?

[noparlpf]

Pikachu is 1km/candy, and Raichu has the only decent electric moveset. Easy choice.

Electric-types are pretty seriously underpowered in PoGo. The only strong defender worth using an Electric-type against is Gyarados because it doesn't have the weakness to Grass. (Although there's no 4x-effective bonus in PoGo, which kinda sucks). The other two strong Flying-types are Dragonite, which takes neutral damage from Electric anyway, and Charizard, which you're better off facing with a Vaporeon. Other than Flying, what's left is Water-types, and Vaporeon and Lapras are just so overpowered that Raichu and Jolteon can't compete. Something like Exeggutor (stronger overall, but no Grass-type standard move) or Victreebell (a bit weaker, but gets Razor Leaf) is better if you're looking for a type advantage against Vaporeon. As for Lapras, it can actually only learn Ice-type or Dragon-type moves, so it's actually not a bad idea to face it with an Arcanine or maybe a high-level Flareon; you only hit neutral, but its attacks are mostly weak against Fire-types.

[Flickerdart]

Yeah... Fact is, all of the fully-evolved starters are stable, if not chart-topping like Snorlapradosite. And they do take some solid candy to get to that state. I could see using one as a buddy if I had one worth evolving.

I was fortunate that of the few Charmanders I've encountered, two were hatched, giving me 80 and 89% perfection specimens. But I'm using my starter one as a buddy, because come on, that's just the obvious thing to do.

Side note, here's a question: Does an evolved 'mon generate candy at the same rate as prior evolutions? Or do you basically need to keep one unevolved one as a buddy to spawn powerup candies for a bigger evolved one?

Same, I'm pretty sure.

(Although there's no 4x-effective bonus in PoGo, which kinda sucks)

I thought there was? Double weakness, anyway. For a total 2x modifier.

*Arcanine and Gyarados as defenders*

I see this a lot, but it's such a terrible idea. Save your monsters for attacking, and slot in a Bubble Poliwrath or Confusion Exeggutor, which are dirt-common and much more resilient.

[noparlpf]

I thought there was? Double weakness, anyway. For a total 2x modifier.

Oh wait, apparently there is something. Either I was just misremembering, or nobody had figured out that part of the code last time I checked.

So super effective does 1.25x damage, double super effective does 1.56x damage, not very effective does 0.8x damage, and double not very effective does 0.64x damage.

And it seems like no-effect type combos were simplified to standard not-very-effective.

I see this a lot, but it's such a terrible idea. Save your monsters for attacking, and slot in a Bubble Poliwrath or Confusion Exeggutor, which are dirt-common and much more resilient.

Yeah, seriously. Although it does vary by area; there are hardly any Poliwag or Exeggcute up here, so my Exeggutor is lagging behind a couple of levels now.

Personally I've been working on raising an extra five high-IV Vaporeon for the gyms around here, aside from my main team Vaporeon that's already at its current max level.

[Flickerdart]

extra five high-IV Vaporeon

How common is Eevee where you live? You don't need any Poliwag or Exeggcute when your go-to strategy is "I can just get more Vaporeons."

[Lord Raziere]

In my own mind, when Tobias next enters a league, he gets reamed in the first round by a guy from Kalos (who did his research) who turns up with a lowly Vivillion who friendship-dodges his first attack, sleeps Darkrai and proceeds to level him with quiver dance and bug buzz/hurricane.

(Yes, I'm petty.)

If it makes you feel better, league winners go on to fight the Elite Four and the Champion....and Cynthia when we see her later, is still the Champion of Sinnoh. meaning, either one of the Elite Four beat Tobias, or Cynthia did it herself.

meaning despite all of Tobias's power, he either lost against Cynthia-one of the hardest fights an most badass trainers in pokemon- or he never got to her.

[noparlpf]

How common is Eevee where you live? You don't need any Poliwag or Exeggcute when your go-to strategy is "I can just get more Vaporeons."

Fairly common, but it's actually just that 90% of my 10km eggs hatch Eevee.

[Flickerdart]

Fairly common, but it's actually just that 90% of my 10km eggs hatch Eevee.

I wish I had your problem, all I get are Electabuzz. Barely have one competitive Vaporeon to my name.

My top guys right now are:
2186 Exeggutor: 87%, Zen Headbutt/Solarbeam
2065 Vaporeon: 93%, Water Gun/Hydro Pump
1835 Poliwrath: Something dumb like 40%, Bubble/Ice Punch
1758 Gyarados: Doesn't matter because Twister
1736 Flareon: 40%, only evolved him because the Eevee was max-level

Then goes a wild Vaporeon I caught with middling IVs at 1569, Victreebel rounds out my 1500+ roster with 1556, followed by Golduck, Starmie, Vileplume, and Nidoqueen.

[Lvl 2 Expert]

Side note, here's a question: Does an evolved 'mon generate candy at the same rate as prior evolutions? Or do you basically need to keep one unevolved one as a buddy to spawn powerup candies for a bigger evolved one?

That first one, looks like. The distances are the same, and I don't expect a difference in the chance to spawn multiple candies or something.

[BiblioRook]

If it makes you feel better, league winners go on to fight the Elite Four and the Champion....and Cynthia when we see her later, is still the Champion of Sinnoh. meaning, either one of the Elite Four beat Tobias, or Cynthia did it herself.

meaning despite all of Tobias's power, he either lost against Cynthia-one of the hardest fights an most badass trainers in pokemon- or he never got to her.

Granted I don;t know one way or another on how things actually ended up but I was just thinking about how Ash never actually ever ends up beating the Elite Four of a given area as well as how Iris is his main travel companion in the Best Wishes anime who (in the games at least) eventually becomes that region's Champion. It probably didn't happen like this but it's amusing to think that by the time Ash took on the Elite Four in the Unova region that he proceeded to try and fail as usual only for Iris to try right after him and mop the floor with them.

[Aotrs Commander]

Oh COME ON, Battle Frontier!

Queen Lucy was totally into Brock! He was, like IN there! Seriously!

Max, you little thing-I'm-not-allowed-to-say-n-the-forums-blocker!

Frag dammit!

*skulldesk*

*skulldesk*

I mean, this is a weird stance coming from me, but dear FRAG at this point even I want to see Brock catch a break! (And yes, I know this is set before DP so couldnt have happened, shut-up!)

(Ever more appreiative of Ashs of the past actually setting him up with someone...)




Actually, this might show why Lucy is a Frontier Brain; she's might be smart/perceptive enough to instantly see something in Brock that almost no-one else does until they actually get to know him...

[Alabenson]

If it makes you feel better, league winners go on to fight the Elite Four and the Champion....and Cynthia when we see her later, is still the Champion of Sinnoh. meaning, either one of the Elite Four beat Tobias, or Cynthia did it herself.

meaning despite all of Tobias's power, he either lost against Cynthia-one of the hardest fights an most badass trainers in pokemon- or he never got to her.

Considering one of the Sinnoh elite 4 is a bug type specialist (a weakness shared by Darkrai and Latios), my guess is that Tobias never even got to Cynthia.

[Lvl 2 Expert]

How does that even work in the series, the elite 4? Do you have to marathon them like in the games, making it really unfair, or are they simply scary good compared to any trainer we've ever seen other than perhaps Tobias himself? After all, even if his other four pokémon are no legendaries themselves but "just" the badasses that helped him catch those two his team could easily handle any two opponents he met in that tournament.

(Alternate explanation: the elite 4 are actually complete pushovers, and Tobias had no interest in joining them, so he pulled a Red (gold/silver/crystal) and left the old guard in charge.

[Woodzyowl]

Actually, this might show why Lucy is a Frontier Brain; she's might be smart/perceptive enough to instantly see something in Brock that almost no-one else does until they actually get to know him...

His eyes. You're thinking of his eyes.

[Kitten Champion]

How does that even work in the series, the elite 4? Do you have to marathon them like in the games, making it really unfair, or are they simply scary good compared to any trainer we've ever seen other than perhaps Tobias himself? After all, even if his other four pokémon are no legendaries themselves but "just" the badasses that helped him catch those two his team could easily handle any two opponents he met in that tournament.

Although the actual answer for the anime is probably just an unintelligible mumble followed by a dismissive cough and quick change of subject, in my mind there's probably another level of competition with broader media attention and more experienced contestants (i.e. adults) than the one we see prepubescent Ash participate in.

In this theoretical superior league the Elite Four represent the highest seeds. Something like the professional tennis association I suppose - with a complicated ranking system - but the Four get more leeway as top-ranked contestants than in tennis and can arrange individual challenges between them rather than having grand slams or whatever.

(Alternate explanation: the elite 4 are actually complete pushovers, and Tobias had no interest in joining them, so he pulled a Red (gold/silver/crystal) and left the old guard in charge.

...and he just shows up in every subsequent regional league Ash participates in, with new freshly caught Legendary Pokemon in his team. Next time we see him he arrives into the Alola league on Arceus-back, and just crushes everyone with his MissingNo,

[Hunter Noventa]

In unrelated news, I've been playing Pokemon Red on my New 3DS (i got the pokemon edition one). And I've been exploiting item duplication via Missingno for fun and profit. Mostly duplicating TMs that don't exist past Gen 1 to see how many weird moves I can get into Sun/Moon once that part of Pokebank is set up. I hope they don't mess with those and let them be passed down via breeding. Having pay Day as a TM is hilarious, as is Water Gun.

[noparlpf]

Wait, did they actually say they would let you transfer Pokémon from the 1st gen games up?

[Hunter Noventa]

Wait, did they actually say they would let you transfer Pokémon from the 1st gen games up?

Yes, they've specifically said you'll be able to move Pokemon from the VC versions of RBY up to Pokemon Bank, and from there to Sun/Moon. If they don't mess with the moves they know in the process, it could result in hilarious things like a Machamp with No Guard that knows Fissure.

They also made VC RBY able to trade using the 3DS wireless, which is pretty cool. But yeah we don't have more details other than that it would be possible. I'm not sure how they'd handle IVs and EVs, given that those are completely different in RBY.

[Aotrs Commander]

His eyes. You're thinking of his eyes.

That's one of those things that starts off being funny and become more hilariously accurate the more you think about it.



New crack theory (after watching Ash and Anabelle the Frontier Brain no.6): Ash is not actually completely oblivious to girls, but just pretends he is, to cover up his long-running secret relationship with the only girl he ever showed overt interest in - Giselle, from alllll the way back in The School of Hard Knocks.

Discuss. (Or ignore, one of the two...)



But seriously, wow. Them frontier brains lasses seem to have an eye for Our Heroes, don't they?

...

Oh dear Lichemaster, please do not let Brandon does't have a Thing for May.

Or Max.

Or Pikachu.

[BiblioRook]

Or Pikachu.

Pikachu only has eyes for Ketchup