BIG ASHLEY
ashley
i am very happy that alomomola isn't a luvdisc evolution
Why?
Gym Challenges went downhill when they started to be full-time gimmicks.When leaks were coming out, the portraits we had of the Gym Leaders were pretty disappointing, but I ended up liking most of them. Going from a character perspective, Tulip probably is the weakest, but that puts her about on par with the best of the XY Gym Leaders (the weakest set of them in the franchise, IMO). Her Gym Challenge was pretty bad, but that's because unlike most of the others in SV, it didn't make use of the overworld (Ryme and IIRC Iono share this).
Gym Challenges haven't been super interesting for the most part for some time, and... maybe they haven't worn out their welcome, but it's gotta be hard to come up with something novel when you're getting to around 70 Gyms throughout the franchise.
At least Tulip's "challenge" gave us this moment:
Basically, I'm not judging Gym Leaders based on their challenges, because at best, they're a fun gimmick, and at worst, they're just a mild time waster.
I agree that they should be mini-dungeons of some sort, but what exactly that means in Pokémon is pretty vague. The series has never had great ways of interacting with the actual environment (HM blockades like Cut/Strength/Rock Smash are about it, and of those, there's only potential puzzle elements when Strength is involved). They can incorporate small setpieces for puzzles, and they've done this, but by design these have to be simple to interact with and understand, since they're not going to be used outside of this one instance. I suppose I'm not sure how "interactive setpieces used only in one building" is less of a gimmick than what SV usually did.Gym Challenges went downhill when they started to be full-time gimmicks.
It's supposed to be a simple idea, have an environment full of trainers to showcase a type. That's it.
They should be closer to mini-dungeons than weird amusement park attractions or whatever the SV Gyms were doing.
It depends a lot on how they address it. It feels gross to say it, but Alola was on to something with the trials because of the exploration factor tied to the trial sites.I agree that they should be mini-dungeons of some sort, but what exactly that means in Pokémon is pretty vague. The series has never had great ways of interacting with the actual environment (HM blockades like Cut/Strength/Rock Smash are about it, and of those, there's only potential puzzle elements when Strength is involved). They can incorporate small setpieces for puzzles, and they've done this, but by design these have to be simple to interact with and understand, since they're not going to be used outside of this one instance. I suppose I'm not sure how "interactive setpieces used only in one building" is less of a gimmick than what SV usually did.
Maybe they didn't succeed in execution, but I liked most of SV's gym challenges as concepts because they forced you to interact with the world in some way, usually tying it to local theming. If anything, given how mini-dungeons/caves/whatever locations in Pokémon you consider dungeons usually go, forcing you to explore a little fits that design better than a goofy little puzzle.
Again, they want to make these challenges a fun diversion, but they also need to make them simple enough to not cause problems for younger players. I am a lifelong gamer™ so I can't say how difficult other sorts of puzzles would be. I vaguely remember not solving Chuck's Strength puzzle in GSC first try, and actually being briefly stumped by it, despite it only being 3 boulders (and I was around 9 or 10 at the time, so not particularly young). I think it is a loss that they set up all this work for gym challenges only to use them once and discard that effort immediately after. Could be fun to reuse some of the assets for a minigame somewhere else, or to have a tougher, redone gym challenge using the same system for potential Gym Leader rematches.
- Katy had the Olive Roll, which you can mess around with outside of the Gym, and is thematic to Cortondo.
- Brassius's Sunflora hunt fits in with his Sunflora statues, and the city's generally impressive greenery.
- Iono didn't do this, really, but she has her own theming and it plays along with that. Not a particularly inspired challenge but it was okay; maybe they held back for hers because Levincia is the second biggest city in Paldea.
- Kofu's intended challenge is never seen; instead we trek to a neighboring city to participate in its auction minigame, which can be used to obtain rare items.
- Larry's challenge works a bit like an investigative puzzle. I think some of the location's clues are not as clear as they should be to find, but it still made players interact with 3D space.
- Ryme's challenge is mostly just a way for players to try and get a feel for double battles, because they otherwise don't exist in SV. There's some poor rapping dialog interspersed to fit her theme, which gratefully doesn't impact the fight except for stat boosts from the crowd's cheers (is this also meant as an introduction to raid cheers?).
- Tulip's ESP is a bad acronym pun and the easiest Simon Says minigame ever, and doesn't really tie into Alfornada or her character at all aside from the aforementioned pun (and I guess her friendship with Dendra). Maybe it's intended to show off camera poses and expressions?
- Grusha's challenge is a very easy snowboarding minigame. It doesn't add anything, but it ties in with his gym's remote location and his history with the sport.
When doing these Gen 1 sprite analysis you have to remember that no, actually most of these were not done with some actual artistic vision, and in fact non-artists on the team did make sprites for Pokemon that made it into the final, because that was how crunched the team was making this game.Mew’s Gen 1 sprite has often been criticized for being ugly or creepy:
But I’ve always really liked that about it. The lumpy, fetal, vaguely eerie look of it always felt like a good match for the concept of a Pokémon that’s supposed to be a rediscovered universal ancestor. It feels underdeveloped and moldable, like a prototype of a lifeform. Cute Mew is nice and all, but this depiction was always more intriguing and evocative to me.
It was from the trailer for XY where they showed off Wonder Trade. They're just X and Y in the manga.Idr whether it was Special or a forgotten piece of XY prerelease material that did this first but they should've called the protagonists Xavier and Yvonne across all media. Insanely clever names
I believe Y's full name in the Adventures manga actually is Yvonne; there's a recurring character called Yvette in the XY chapter as well.Idr whether it was Special or a forgotten piece of XY prerelease material that did this first but they should've called the protagonists Xavier and Yvonne across all media. Insanely clever names
This is correct, her full name is Yvonne Gabena. But for some reason, X was never given a full name. I wonder why? And Yvette is very loosely based on a character from the games, a Sky Trainer on Route 11.I believe Y's full name in the Adventures manga actually is Yvonne; there's a recurring character called Yvette in the XY chapter as well.
I agree, it is way better in G/S/C. Regarding the first boulder, I never thought of it as a "practice boulder", but looking at it from this perspective, it makes sense. I recently completed the Blackthorn Gym in my playthrough of VC Crystal, and I thought the first boulder felt very unnecessary. But if we see it as a practice boulder, it feels more logical.Okay so here's the actual unpopular opinion I came here to make: HGSS's iteration of Blackthorn Gym suuuucks
I also like that there's a "practice boulder" at the start - I assume that's why it's there, to demonstrate how the rest works - which gets you tantalisingly close to the gym leader.
ftfy
- Katy had the Olive Roll, which you can mess around with outside of the Gym, and is thematic to Cortondo.
- Brassius's Sunflora hunt fits in with his Sunflora statues, and the city's generally impressive greenery.
- Iono didn't do this, really, but she has her own theming and it plays along with that. Not a particularly inspired challenge but it was okay; maybe they held back for hers because Levincia is the second biggest city in Paldea.
- Kofu's intended challenge is never seen; instead we trek to a neighboring city to participate in its auction minigame, which can be used to obtain rare items.
- Larry's challenge works a bit like an investigative puzzle. I think some of the location's clues are not as clear as they should be to find, but it still made players interact with 3D space.
- Ryme's challenge is mostly just a way for players to try and get a feel for double battles, because they otherwise don't exist in SV. There's some great rapping dialog interspersed to fit her theme, which gratefully doesn't impact the fight except for stat boosts from the crowd's cheers (is this also meant as an introduction to raid cheers?).
- Tulip's ESP is a bad acronym pun and the easiest Simon Says minigame ever, and doesn't really tie into Alfornada or her character at all aside from the aforementioned pun (and I guess her friendship with Dendra). Maybe it's intended to show off camera poses and expressions?
- Grusha's challenge is a very easy snowboarding minigame. It doesn't add anything, but it ties in with his gym's remote location and his history with the sport.
X and Y are good games.
HGSS deliberately removed all instances of HMs being required in Gyms.I'm baffled as to why Blackthorn Gym was the one that the developers felt needed the biggest overhall out of all the gyms (including changing Clair's team). Like, am I supposed to find the dragon pattern in the lava impressive? Because I don't and I won't.
You know you can just talk to the trainers without even doing the quiz to fight them? The door'll still open in both Gens 1 and 3.I've never faced a gym leader with my pokémon not in full health unless I was challenging myself, it's easy to beat every trainer on the gym and complete the puzzle, go to the pokémon center and come back to face the gym leader. I've always gave the wrong answers on the Blaine's puzzle too, it would be a waste of exp otherwise.
You can battle them even if you give them the right answer. I do it this way for my own amusement.You know you can just talk to the trainers without even doing the quiz to fight them? The door'll still open in both Gens 1 and 3.
That's so but most of the gyms (Violet, Goldenrod, Ecruteak, Olivine, Mahogany) got a minor cosmetic overhaul rather than a complete redesign. They could have kept the puzzle the same and just made the boulders bridges activated by switches or something.HGSS deliberately removed all instances of HMs being required in Gyms.
Violet was more than just cosmetic, you could skip the trainers.That's so but most of the gyms (Violet, Goldenrod, Ecruteak, Olivine, Mahogany) got a minor cosmetic overhaul rather than a complete redesign. They could have kept the puzzle the same and just made the boulders bridges activated by switches or something.
Okay so cosmetic was the wrong word then but the changes I'm referring to are extremely small. Yes Violet added the outside path but the overall gym itself was basically the same, they didn't add a puzzle or any additional features.Violet was more than just cosmetic, you could skip the trainers.
Goldenrod is entirely different aside from being vaguely Clefairy shaped.
Ecruteak is literally nothing like the Gen 2 version.
Mahogany shares the fact that it's an ice puzzle and nothing else, it is literally split into multiple rooms.
Beyond replacing the Strength puzzle with the roto-bridges, Blackthorn's closer in overall design than Mahogany or Ecruteak.