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Old 11-29-2013, 11:17 PM   #1
Talon87
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Corinne's Adventure

This is a thread for Talon87's first playthrough of Pokémon XY. If it's desired by the community or staff, please feel encouraged to merge this thread with our community's official X&Y playthrough thread. But please wait until after I beat the game, if you can. The reason I'm posting outside of the thread for now is that, unlike with BW2 (which I completed one year late) where I posted my playthrough in the community thread because most UPNers were done talking about BW2 plus, aside from the story, nothing could spoil me, here we still have daily posts by members in the official playthrough thread and loads of chances to be spoiled. The way I see it, my options are either be spoiled by posting there, don't write my thoughts until I complete the game, or log my thoughts in a separate thread. I've opted for the third choice. The second is what I'll go for if the thread is ninja merged before I complete the game. ("Completion" refers to narrative-driven bits pre- and post-E4. For example, Gen 4's Stark Mountain would need to be dealt with before we could call Diamond or Pearl "completed".)

Members are encouraged to post responses if they like. No spoilers, obviously. I don't even want to see any spoiler tags. If it has to go inside of a spoiler tag to avoid spoiling me on something, then it doesn't belong in this thread period. If it's something I've already spoken about in the thread (e.g. you want to talk about the first gym leader's appearance and I am already through Gym 3), then not only may you post it here: you needn't use a spoiler tag to conceal it. I repeat: this thread will not use spoiler tags. So long as this thread remains unmerged from the main XY playthrough thread, people should know better than to look inside if they want to avoid spoilers themselves. If ever it becomes merged with the XY playthrough thread, well, you lot have already played the game anyway so nothing anyone says here could possibly be a bigger spoiler than what you've already discussed in that thread.

Hopefully there are some amusing or interesting things for you to find here. We'll just have to see together, now won't we?

Table of Contents
I. Introduction
II. Pre-Starter Stuff
III. Difficulties Getting a Female Starter
IV. Shiina
V. Shiina's EV Training (scroll up for earlier posts asking about the details)
VI. Santalune Forest
VII. Santalune City
VIII. Santalune Gym, Flabébé, and Zigzagoon
IX. Lumiose City - South Side
X. Camphrier Town and Parfum Palace
XI. General Comments on Gym Placement and NPC Teams
XII. And A Bit More
XIII. Fletchinder and Pokémon-amie
XIV. Questions about Evolution (lot of drama before and after)
XV. Routes 7/8/9 and Ambrette Town
XVI. Team Flare and Lots of Evolutions
XVII. Cyllage City and Geosenge Town
XVIII. Thoughts on Three More Evolutions
XIX. Team Roster @ 32h58m

The ToC will be updated as I post.

Last edited by Talon87; 12-08-2013 at 11:43 PM.
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Old 11-29-2013, 11:48 PM   #2
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I haven't even gone downstairs yet and already I have to post. This is just incredible.

Pick a Language: Unbelievable. Felt like I was playing the PAL game from Heaven. English, French, Japanese, Korean ... c'est trop incroyable! Was tempted to play in Japanese -- and may even buy X later just to try this out! -- but for now I stuck with my native tongue and my faith in the new translators.

Pick a Look: Didn't realize you had your pick of three. Disappointed a little because I thought I'd heard that you get to fully customize, and I wanted my girl to have slightly more golden-brown hair and golden eyes, but oh well. Some choice is better than no choice. Hoping to discover later that maybe this can be customized. (Please! No confirming nor denying! Thanks.)

My first words: "Oh my God it's a 3-D Pokémon game. :'D" What a goof. Obviously this isn't the first ever. But man oh man: the EMOTIONS. I've dreamed of this day since I was 13 years old. Can't believe I finally get to play the game of my dreams. (Possibly! Let's not jinx it! >.<)

Names: While I'd have picked Serena in a heartbeat because I'm canon-loving like that, I figured there are probably a million Serenas already including a half-dozen here. So I named my character one of my favorite names for girls and fittingly French: Corinne.

But what about my starter? I plan to reset until I get a female Fennekin. Wouldn't Corinne have been a better name for her? I mean, if she does turn out to be what I've long predicted she'll be, the furry companion of Sheena Fujibayashi's from Tales of Symphonia would be the perfect fit.

And that's when it hit me: name-role reversal. Not sure if I'll stick with it, but for now, I fancy the idea of Corinne the human girl and her animal fox partner Sheena.

Praying this starter is aberrantly 87.5% female or something. Wish me luck! T_T
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Old 11-30-2013, 10:27 AM   #3
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Trying for a Female: Umm ... are you not allowed to soft reset or something? I tried ten or twelve times last night and another twelve or fifteen this morning. Not one single female Fennekin.

Your Friends: Lord knows I've sat through that intro enough times that I may as well talk about them now. Tierno seems like the jolly, somewhat goofy friend of the group. Trevor seems like the somewhat quiet, socially anxious type. Shauna seems to be a bit brash or strong-headed. And Calum seems like a natural leader: calm, friendly, level-headed, he reminds me of similar characters in other stories I've seen or read where you have a young group of friends. Can't really say much else for now since I'm only going off of some four to five lines of dialogue per person.

How You Get Your Starter: While I love the group powwow, I'm not a fan of dopey Tierno being the one to give me my starter. I specifically headed out to go to Professor Sycamore's to get my starter. So why couldn't I get it from him!? Getting your starter is a momentous occasion. I dunno, it's funny ... because I didn't have a problem with Bel being the one who gave me my starter in BW2, yet I have a mild problem with Tierno being the one to do it here. Maybe it's because Bel was suited to the role (as the professor's assistant) and was a familiar and beloved face. I dunno. Anyway, no hard feelings to Tierno. He seems like a nice guy.

Going to keep on trying for this female Fennekin. Let me know if what I'm trying to do is impossible or if I'm going about it the wrong way. (lol, in before "Gen 6 introduced Gender Juice, Talon! ")
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Old 11-30-2013, 10:41 AM   #4
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I've read that people have been able to SR for shiny starters. I would assume you'd be able to do the same for male/female. I just think you're getting really unlucky unfortunately.
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Old 11-30-2013, 10:52 AM   #5
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The Fennekin I drew at the beginning of my game is female. Took awhile for a female Froakie on Y.
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Old 11-30-2013, 11:03 AM   #6
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Yeah, I started with a female Fennekin, and was thus convinced that Fennekin broke the trend by being female more often than male.

Until I was breeding them later and figured out LOLNOPE.
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Old 11-30-2013, 03:52 PM   #7
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Meet Shiina: After thirty to forty tries, I finally got a female Fennekin. Hoping the nature's a good one. (No spoilers, please. I'll share the nature with you down the road. Please don't say which natures are best or worst!) After a few minutes of agonizing over which spelling to go with, I ended up opting for the romanization of the Japanese name (Shiina) over the North American spelling intended to be read correctly by Westerners (Sheena). Not sure if the name will stick or not, but the starter certainly will.

The New Marts & Other Explorations: After I got my starter and PokéDex, I decided to explore town before heading home. And the thing which stood out the most to me was the marts. Part of it is just how authentic the marts feel like rustic French villages' shops. Pretty cool. But mostly it's the fact that they divided one age-old mart into two or more. Potions are now sold in an entirely different building from PokéBalls? The Pokémon Center is now a bookstore, its nurse replaced with a book store clerk? It's pretty crazy. And while I love it right now flavor-wise, I can see it getting very old very fast if most stores are split up like this.

My First Battle: So I head home (incidentally w/o approaching the hiker, who I can only assume was the turn-you-back NPC) ... only to be stopped in my tracks by Shauna and Li'l Chespin. Time to show her what Corinnerinne and Shiina are capable of! Two Embers later (with a burn after the first one to add insult to injury), Li'l Chespin is knocked out and Shiina's at Level 6.

I love what the battles look like now. They're not perfect, but good God are they the best we've ever had. Gone are the boycott-worthy horrors of Gen V and in their place are the best possible marriage of the anime with Pokémon Stadium. I can't wait to see some of the more competitively common attacks.

Mom & Rhyhorn: While I'm often disappointed the anime insists on keeping Ash rather than adapting the games' scripts more closely, it has to be said that the anime writers do try to "anime-ize" many of even the littlest things in the games. The protagonist's mother and pet Rhyhorn are good examples of this. Rhyhorn racing even has come up twice so far! (Once on TV, the other time mentioned by Mom.)

The Agony and the Ecstasy: Graphics: I'm frequently torn over these graphics. Emotionally, I'm giddy as a schoolgirl. I definitely see the glass as half full rather than as half empty. The game's aesthetic is incredible, seen in such little things as the laughably insignificant yet picturesque Route 1 and the gorgeous river in Aquadolce or whatever its name was. I have found myself, for the first time in perhaps fifteen years, wanting to walk rather than run to my next destination. I don't want to miss anything. I want to soak it all up. Every bite is delectable, every taste savored. So what then is the complaint? Well ... *sigh* ... it's the technical side of things. The graphics' aesthetic is top notch but their technical beauty is ... kind of embarassingly behind the times. Trainer sprites at times look like they're from the N64 era, nearly two decades ago. In fact, much of the graphics, good or bad, reminds me of the GameCube game Pokémon Colosseum. And that's great and all ... except that game's ten years old. ^^; Can this miracle of technology, can this portable Wii I hold in my hands, really not avoid the coarse edges and flat textures of the N64? Is this really the best Nintendo can do for their modern flagship franchise? I can't believe that. So yeah, I'm disappointed the graphics aren't better ... but over the moon at how good they are. Glass definitely, definitely half full here.
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Old 11-30-2013, 05:51 PM   #8
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Training Center Question: So, I discovered the training center thing in the menu and am wondering ...
  • does it level up quickly? (e.g. I can get +4 now but I can easily unlock subsequent levels and get +8, +12, etc.)
  • is access to EV-lowering methods early and plentiful?
Because ...
  • if yes and yes: will probably play on and casually enjoy Story Mode
  • if yes and no: totally going to reset to my last save (sadly post-Chespin fight, unless Chespin awards desired EVs, which in my case are {surprise1} and {surprise2})
  • if no and yes: totally going to play on
  • if no and no: bollocks
The sooner you answer, the sooner I get to play on.

*no one answers* ;_;
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Old 11-30-2013, 05:55 PM   #9
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1. Much faster than EV training has ever been. Caps at +12 but there's a bag that will double the amount. Horde battles are the best way to do this, though. Super Training one pokemon to completion takes roughly an hour to an hour and a half.

2. I've come across two or three reset bags in my hundred hour file. Seems like they're fairly uncommon, so berry farming is likely the best way to get rid of unwanted EVs. Haven't explored that so I'm not sure how early you have access to them.
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Old 11-30-2013, 06:37 PM   #10
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Deebs you've got some fairly significant mechanic spoilers in there. :/

Anyway, I'd answer yes and maybe. It levels really fast, and, well, you've got a random chance of getting a way to reset your EVs easily. The good news is that you can 'roll the dice' on that random chance over and over as many times as you'd like. Something I know isn't an insurmountable challenge for you. ^_^
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Though, I also dislike the concept of lamenting the current day while wishing to re-experience the past. At least, my modern attitude is to try and make each new day magical even if it's not, since exclusively reminiscing about the past is too pathetic.
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Old 11-30-2013, 06:51 PM   #11
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You technically could get access to another EV-reducing method early on (and I don't know how much I can elaborate without spoiling stuff), but honestly, going for Reset Bags would be much, much, much quicker.
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Old 11-30-2013, 07:30 PM   #12
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Guess I will have to ask then: what is a Reset Bag? I assume it's a punching bag that utterly wipes out your EVs. Great for fixing hopelessly botched Pokémon but terribad for people who train as they go and only want to subtract one or two points here or there. (In my case, a presumed 1 from Defense owing to Chespin.)

Can I expect to earn a Reset Bag here in the next hour if I do nothing but the training module? I already got three bags from three completed missions; I assume bags come fairly easily, but I've no idea if that goes for Reset Bags as well.

Wish people wouldn't spoil though. The swarm horde thingamabob wasn't one because that was spoiled ages ago. The Reset Bag sure is though. ^^; No harm meant by it, obviously, and I do appreciate the time-saving suggestion. Just please do mind that I don't want everyone spoiling every little surprise just because I've smiled and said these first two were okay. That's only going to lead to someone stupidly spoiling a huge deal to me but a small deal to them and then all Hell breaks loose. Best avoided.
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Old 11-30-2013, 07:38 PM   #13
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Actually, you can't get them from the missions- You see the blank punching bag on the bottom screen? You can have your pokemon speed up the pace (you can also do this with actual punching bags) by rapidly tapping it. By doing that you'll receive a random bag. Which can be the Reset Bag or... Well, any of the ones you can get from missions. And a few... Other ones.

...On second thoughts one of the bags is kinda a spoiler. Might want to save it for later.
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Though, I also dislike the concept of lamenting the current day while wishing to re-experience the past. At least, my modern attitude is to try and make each new day magical even if it's not, since exclusively reminiscing about the past is too pathetic.
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Old 12-02-2013, 01:24 AM   #14
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Suffer Now, Be Happy Later?: So, I find my game unexpectedly derailed by this EV training nonsense. Shiina's at 91 A, 44 B, and the presumed 1 Def from Chespin and 1 Speed from Pidgey. The going feels slow but steady but ultimately not that fun. ^^; They made Level 3 training too difficult for certain stats, and I'm not entirely convinced that this is faster than 2+4 EV gains from fighting wild +2 Pokemon in Gen V with a Power Item attached. That stated, I remind myself that Shiina's already nearly 40% of the way there for one of her stats and I'm motivated to stick with it.

I really wish that that stupid graph were replaced with raw numbers though. One of my least favorite aspects of EV training is having to meticulously keep track of them by hand with pencil and paper. Why can't the game just do it for me? Why do I have to worry about going over 252 points? Frustrating.

Are there any ways in this game to confirm that you've hit 252 in a stat? Before Gym No.2? There were in BW2, but I dunno about here since I stopped roughly 16 minutes into the game to do this EV training nonsense.
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Old 12-02-2013, 01:38 AM   #15
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If you've hit 252 in a stat in Super Training, the game will actually tell you that stat "won't go any higher". You can still participate in the mini-game for that stat and earn a punching bag, but you won't see any stat increase. Also, you won't be able to use the punching bag for that particular stat if you're at max.

Without spoiling anything, here's my advice: For Super Training, just make sure that you've "cleared" all the training sessions at least once (so that all of them have "cleared" in red letters over the icon). It doesn't have to be with the same Pokemon, but you should try to clear them all at least once. Other than that, I actually did not do any EV training until after the E4. I used reset bags on the Pokemon I wanted to use competitively and went from there. I can elaborate when you get to that point as to WHY I did that, but for now, I guess you'll have to trust me on this one. Super Training is great in that it's an intuitive way to train EVs, but it gets very... very... annoying. Especially for left-handed folks like myself, since it's very clearly designed with right-handed individuals in mind.
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Old 12-02-2013, 03:53 AM   #16
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Remember Talon, they didn't get rid of Carbos and stuff. That speeds things up a bit. Super Training is my preferred EV training method now. Fuck all that other shit.
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Old 12-02-2013, 10:48 AM   #17
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In case you're considering the Reset Bag to remove those 1 EVs in Defence and Speed - I wouldn't bother. It'd be easier just to finish your EV training, then use a defence and speed reducing berry when you come across them later in the game.

One of my favorite things about EV training in these games is the lack of finality you feel. I didn't mind that my starter had a sucky mix of EVs because I used the reset bag before the elite four and trained him up properly. Every other Pokémon I caught through my playthrough was properly EV trained from the get-go though.
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Old 12-02-2013, 12:34 PM   #18
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EVs actually cap at 252 now, so you don't have to worry about going over it.
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Though, I also dislike the concept of lamenting the current day while wishing to re-experience the past. At least, my modern attitude is to try and make each new day magical even if it's not, since exclusively reminiscing about the past is too pathetic.
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Old 12-02-2013, 12:36 PM   #19
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Exponential Growth: When I woke up this morning, Shiina had maybe 90 or so points in {A} and 60 or so points in {B}. Last I left her, she was having an okay time of beating the Level 3 {A} stage without assistance but it was still something we might easily lose if I lost my composure and got hit by 2+ soccer balls. She'd never done the Level 3 {B} stage, I believe, and so that was the first thing I decided to start us off with today.

Within roughly two hours, I had a fully EVed Fennekin @ 252 {A} / 252 {B} / 5 {C} / 1 Def. That's the power of this game's EV training, I guess: that the longer you stick with it, the exponentially easier it becomes. And I'm not talking about me getting better as a player. I'm talking about my Pokémon getting better as point scorers. When I first did Level 3 {A}, I'm pretty sure that Shiina's fully charged (red reticle) shots were scoring around 140 points. When I rejoined her this morning, I think they were doing around 200 (and I chalked it up to being an effect of the punching bags). By the time she was wrapping up the final 25% of her training, she was scoring 300 points per fully charged shot and around 100 points for even the most lame-o of shots. So it definitely seems like the better your Pokémon gets, the more the game believes it should be scoring. This was really encouraging to see since I'd been rather disheartened early on by how much of a tie (with respect to how much time it takes) this training regimen seemed to be with traditional methods.

Do I think it's glorious? No. Do I think it's an improvement over what we've had? Yes. Especially since ...

No More Wasted Max EVs: HAAAAAAAALLELUJAH! HAAAAAAAAALLELUJAH! Earlier this morning, I was thinking to myself how Game Freak really needs to make it, one of these days, where the games no longer allow you to waste 3 EVs on a stat by going to 255, where the games instead say to you, "Look, pal. You've already hit 252. That's good enough. Would you like to spend your remaining points somewhere else?" Seeing Marion's post (where she mentions 252 again), I figured it was just like in BW2 where Bel informs you that you've hit 252 but by no means are you prevented from going farther with it if you like. But no. No, glorious no. Gen 6 is that very generation I was hoping for this morning: they finally made it where your stats cap at 252. FUCK. YES.

I have questions though.
  • When you import older Pokémon who are accidentally 255/255 or 255/252/3, does the game auto-delevel their 255 to a 252 and reward you the three deducted EVs to spend again as you please? I imagine so.
  • Does this rule apply to EVs gained in the wild as well? Or does it only apply to the training module?
  • Does this rule apply if you greedily feed a +12 punching bag to someone who's sitting at 251 EVs? Or will they in fact go to 255?
It was because of a fear about that last bullet that I made sure to increase Shiina's stats by only one point at a time as I neared the end. But if that was overly cautious on my part, it would be great to know that -- as I would absolutely love to be able to just chuck a +12 at someone who's at 247 or something and know that I've properly gotten him to 252, not 255.

Santalune Forest: This is the next thing I did, and it's got several subsections I'd like to address individually.

Trainer Battle Sprites Replaced with Anime-Style Art: I really like this. I'm not saying I hated the old sprites or anything, but I quite like how the focus on the battlefield is on our creatures, not on our 3-D models, and how the intro and outro text now is accompanied by beautiful anime-style character art rather than a tiny, retro bit of sprite art.

Diversity of Santalune Forest's Fauna: This really impresses me too. I guess it might not be that much different from Viridian Forest regarding the number of unique species, but it feels so much more diverse I think because of the plentiful and powerful types and/or creatures available. In order, I saw a Panpour, a Metapod, a Pikachu, a Pansage, and a Caterpie in the wild. That suggests to me that there's also Pansear to be found. At least one enemy trainer also had a Weedle, which suggests that I might be able to find Weedle and Kakuna in the grass if I go back and look again. Oh, and perhaps I'm forgetting that I might have seen a Fletchling or two as well. (Hard to recall. Already seen so many. ) It just feels like there's something for everyone here. Maybe not quite as impressive to me as the Floccesy Ranch in BW2 what with its Riolu and its Azurill and its Mareep, but still pretty impressive. Grass, Water, Fire, Electric, Bug, Flying ... lots of choices for players to choose from.

Gen 6 Pikachu: Warning! Spoiler details follow! (That goes for the entire thread, but this is one of the big ones I was avoiding so I feel it's only polite to give a head's up.)

I've avoided anything to do with Pikachu since the Fairy type was announced. Why? Because of the theories that were circulating very early on that most or perhaps even every Pokémon in the Fairy Egg Group would be retyped to Fairy ... and that included Pikachu. Could it be? Could Ash Ketchum's starter have a secondary type we never knew about until just now? It seemed so unlikely. Hard to imagine the directors in charge would allow such an upheaval of the franchise mascot's very identity.

Sure enough ... he's not a Fairy. As far as my personal impressions of a Pikachu go, I'm happy with this news as nothing about Pikachu has ever made me think "Fairy". (Pichu, maybe, given that they're having Dedenne be a fairy and nothing about it suggests "Fairy" to me either unless we're suddenly using "Fairy" as a synonym for "cute" ... but Pikachu, no.) As far as my OCD sentiments go with the franchise, I'm a little disappointed since now it introduces some retardation with Pikachu's being a member of the Fairy Egg Group yet not being a Fairy type itself.

Please: no clarification regarding Pichu, Raichu, Pikachu's current Egg Groups, etc. I'll find out as I play. Thanks.

So what else about Pikachu stood out? Well duh: his voice! IIRC someone spoiled me on this ages ago but I completely forgot about it until just now. It ... well, I imagine I'm not the only one who feels this way. ^^;
  • I love the voice itself, what they've done with it, etc.
  • I regret that they couldn't do it for everyone else.
  • And I flat out dislike that, despite this inability, they still decided to push forward with implementing it for Pikachu.
IIRC, bbb mentioned a week or two ago that while he liked Gen 6 he considered it a rushed product. While I don't really want any clarification on that point, I can see for myself some early signs of this. Voicing only one Pokémon out of hundreds is one of them. Obviously it takes a lot of time and resources to record all 800-odd voices for every Pokémon. Then you have to multiply this problem by a factor of 10 or more to account for the different languages you'd be expected to record in to please the children of the world. Japanese, English, French, Spanish, German, Arabic, Korean, the list goes on. So I realize that this endeavor would've likely been too colossal for a one-year project ... but then why do a half-assed job of it at all? Now we're stuck with this bizarre asymmetry where Pikachu -- neither the star of this game nor a Pokémon of any particular importance in-universe -- has special dialogue while all of the other Pokémon have their ordinary grunts and whines. It's kinda clear that they only got away with Pikachu because his name is the same in all or most regions ... but still. Don't do it. I mean, I love Pikachu, and like I said: I absolutely love this voice stuff. But what I don't like is the distracting asymmetry. Either everyone gets a proper I-say-my-name voice or else none of them do.

I wonder what people who hate the fact that the Pokémon say their own names will make of this. Are they glad that Pikachu's the only one who got the voice? Are they terrorized that the choice to anime-voice Pikachu may mean future generations are heading in that same direction? Philosophically, I'll admit that there are times that I wish the Pokémon didn't say their names in the anime and instead made more realistic animal noises. But putting that aside for just right now, I have to say that I love how the ancient -- and frankly decrepit -- Gen 1 Game Boy sprite sounds are bit by bit being replaced with more acceptably modern noises. I'd love a happy middle ground where maybe the Pokémon don't say their names but they do make studio-recorded sounds. Thus far, that's exactly what it's sounded like for all of the Kalos Pokémon. I confess to not having paid attention to the others' sounds nor did they (aside from Pikachu) jump out at me. I'll have to pay closer attention next time I play. Perhaps Gen 6 has done exactly what I'm describing. If so, that's very cool -- now calibrate Pikachu along with the others. ^^;

Speaking of rushed things and speaking of Pikachu, I mentioned earlier that while I love the graphics' aesthetic I'm not too impressed by their technical quality at times. Pikachu is a solid example of this. I absolutely love how he looks! Aesthetically, that is. He's so pudgy and cute and just like in the anime. But technically, his model leaves some stuff to be desired. I'm not a fan of how his nose and mouth seem to alternate between existing and not existing when we're either a) far from him in battle or b) looking at him in the PokéDex. The latter is completely unacceptable since it's a fixed viewing angle and is meant to represent the picturesque form of the Pokémon in question. I realize that a lot of this has to be chalked up to limitations of the 3DS architecture ... but seriously? I hold in my hands something reportedly on par with a Nintendo Wii and you're telling me you can't make the models look better than 3-D engine models from 1999? C'mon, guys. If the problem is the tiny-ass screen, then it's fucking high time you either give us a home console main series Pokémon game or else you give us a gaming tablet with one enormous screen. If the problem is the programming staff's limited knowledge, you need to do some in-house tutoring, Nintendo, where you have some of the brightest programmers from your other houses pay a visit to Game Freak and get these guys up to speed.

Calem, Shauna, Tierno, and Trevor: having gotten to see a tiny bit more of them, I can say that I like what Game Freak is doing with them so far. I look forward to seeing how the group dynamic evolves as we (presumably) go our separate ways and then run into each other over the course of our adventures. I like how, for first-time players of Pokémon, Game Freak does a very subtle, very gentle job of encouraging players that there is more than one way to "beat" or to play Pokémon and that you should go do whichever it is that you like best. This is represented in Trevor's focus on completing the PokéDex, Calem's focus on conquering the gym circuit, and Shauna's and Tierno's ............... I'm not quite sure what yet. But yeah, it seems like each of the kids is going to find their own niche in the world and Game Freak is, through their individual aspirations, showing players that it's up to them to decide how they'll have fun with the game they hold in their hands. Nice.

...

A crapload of text for only 15 or so additional minutes of gameplay. My save file says something right now around 4 hours, but I had only logged 16 minutes before I began the EV training and I'm pretty sure I only played another 15 minutes or so before putting it down again this morning. (Later, I'll have to upload some photos I've taken with my phone. I believe one of them is the save menu when I was ready to move on from EV training.)

Last edited by Talon87; 12-02-2013 at 03:03 PM.
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Old 12-02-2013, 12:56 PM   #20
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I wonder what people who hate the fact that the Pokémon say their own names will make of this. Are they glad that Pikachu's the only one who got the voice? Are they terrorized that the choice to anime-voice Pikachu may mean future generations are heading in that same direction? Philosophically, I'll admit that there are times that I wish the Pokémon didn't say their names in the anime and instead made more realistic animal noises. But putting that aside for just right now, I have to say that I love how the ancient -- and frankly decrepit -- Gen 1 Game Boy sprite sounds are bit by bit being replaced with more acceptably modern noises. I'd love a happy middle ground where maybe the Pokémon don't say their names but they do make studio-recorded sounds. Thus far, that's exactly what it's sounded like for all of the Kalos Pokémon. I confess to not having paid attention to the others' sounds nor did they (aside from Pikachu) jump out at me. I'll have to pay closer attention next time I play. Perhaps Gen 6 has done exactly what I'm describing. If so, that's very cool -- now calibrate Pikachu along with the others. ^^;

Speaking of rushed things and speaking of Pikachu, I mentioned earlier that while I love the graphics' aesthetic I'm not too impressed by their technical quality at times. Pikachu is a solid example of this. I absolutely love how he looks! Aesthetically, that is. He's so pudgy and cute and just like in the anime. But technically, his model leaves some stuff to be desired. I'm not a fan of how his nose and mouth seem to alternate between existing and not existing when we're either a) far from him in battle or b) looking at him in the PokéDex. The latter is completely unacceptable since it's a fixed viewing angle and is meant to represent the picturesque form of the Pokémon in question. I realize that a lot of this has to be chalked up to limitations of the 3DS architecture ... but seriously? I hold in my hands something reportedly on par with a Nintendo Wii and you're telling me you can't make the models look better than 3-D engine models from 1999? C'mon, guys. If the problem is the tiny-ass screen, then it's fucking high time you either give us a home console main series Pokémon game or else you give us a gaming tablet with one enormous screen. If the problem is the programming staff's limited knowledge, you need to do some in-house tutoring, Nintendo, where you have some of the brightest programmers from your other houses pay a visit to Game Freak and get these guys up to speed.
As probably the biggest voice opposed to anime voices in FB, I didn’t mind this. Ever since Diamond and Pearl at least there have been Pikachu in the overworld that has said “Pika” or “Pika Pi” so in my head I’ve always imagined that’s the noise that Pikachu make, but other Pokémon make animal noises. If you interact with other overworld Pokémon in X and Y they still have the animal dialogue e.g. “awooof” with a certain canine Pokémon when they could have had it say its name. That’s my head cannon anyway. I think it makes a good argument for the anime voice supporters but it won’t make a difference to what I think.

As for your rushed comment, and this ties into my above beliefs, I don’t think gamefreak want all Pokémon to have their anime cries. Otherwise surely they could have ripped them for the anime – or would they have to pay the voice actors? I guess there’s the language point. They have revamped the Gen 1-3 cries though which you should have noticed encountering Caterpie, Metapod etc. I still don’t like how mechanical they still sound but it’s better than nothing.
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Old 12-02-2013, 01:23 PM   #21
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I remember hearing that they were revamped for either Gen 4 or 5, but honestly the sounds even in those games are still nothing like the MP3-recording-of-an-actual-animal like sounds my Fennekin makes or the many Fletchling I've been running into make.

That reminds me -- how could I forget!? -- that one of the things which I really loved about Santalune Forest was how you could hear Fletchling warbles in the ambient noise of the forest. There was a real sense of distance to them too -- sometimes they sounded close, other times they sounded far away. It was a really cool touch and I'm excited to discover for myself if it turns up again in future routes in the game.
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Old 12-02-2013, 03:17 PM   #22
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I didn't know about them redoing them for gen 4/5, but they reredid a lot of them (if not all) for gen 6. A lot of the cries actually sound like legitimate animal noises, yet a touch more... Pokemon-y. It's hard to explain until you've heard some of them.
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Old 12-02-2013, 06:33 PM   #23
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Exiting Santalune Forest: Not much to say as we covered most of this last time and what I actually ended up doing, quite deliberately, was going as far to the (first) right and (then) left as I could to avoid detection by the path's trainers such that I could make my way to the Pokémon Center, check out my captures, and see if anyone would be worth adding to the team at the current time, even if only temporarily.

Meet Fletchling: A Docile Metapod, a Naive Pikachu ... nobody had natures that really seemed to mesh well with their standard sets. But in the new Pokémon, I found an intriguing catch. A Level 4 female Fletchling ... Adamant ... whose Attack stat was just as high as her neighbor's (a Level 4 male who also had a +Atk nature) and whose other stats were all either the same as his or one point higher ... including her Speed stat. (Her attack was 9; her speed, 11.) Decided to take a gamble on her. The way I see it, she's either:
  • just like nearly every other Route 1 Bird except Noctowl in that she prefers to be physical rather than special
  • SURPRISE! Game Freak finally gave us the SpAtk equivalent of Staraptor with which to kick major ass.
And while I'd very much like the second one to be true as a fan of the franchise, for the time being I've banked on her being physical.

EV training her didn't actually take too long -- just one hour, with my save file now registering somewhere between 5h30m and 6h00m -- and she's maxed out now as a 252 Atk / 252 Speed / 6 HP Fletchling. Along the way, I got my first-ever Reset Bag ... and my second ... and my third ... and my fourth. ¬_¬ I'm sure they're fairly rare (given how, until I got three in the span of about two minutes, I'd never seen a single one in all my hours of training) but the fact that I have so many clogging my inventory and am so OCD about not fucking things up led me to go ahead and delete the fourth one for space. But yeah, if Fletchling's been fucked up, I can easily fix her, no problemo.

Let's Play Dress Up: On the one hand, I'm not hugely into dress up games or anything. On the other hand, I do enjoy wardrobe customization as much as the next guy. On the other, other hand, I feel like the female protagonist's wardrobe is already so kickin' that anything the game tried to offer me was a downgrade. An NPC mentioned that the offerings will increase as I get more gym badges; and another NPC mentioned that the offerings differ from store to store; so I'm not giving up just yet on this new gimmick feature of the franchise's. I definitely think it's the sort of thing though that is going to be 10x more fun for players playing as the female protagonist than those playing as the male protagonist. Maybe that's just me. *shrug*

Pansy: Or "Alexa", I guess, as she's called in English. (Game still hasn't confirmed that.) Ran into her on the northwest corner of town. Neato. I'm sure pure video game players probably don't care, but anyone who watched the anime first will certainly appreciate her appearance. (Note for non-anime watchers: she accompanied Ash & Co. for the final ten or so episodes of Ash's Unova adventure.)

Saving: So, I can't believe I've forgotten to mention this so many posts in a row. This is so huge it deserves to be said in large, hot pink: saving is so wonderfully fast now! T_T It's just great. This was a problem which peaked with Gen 4 but didn't really go completely away in Gen 5. It's wonderful to see that with Gen 6, no more excuses from Game Freak, the raw power of the 3DS is so great that it blasts through the save process in no time at all. Love it. Love it, love it, love it.

The Return of Gen 5-style Pokémon Centers: Ahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. So the first town in Kalos is a bit of a red herring. I seeeeee. ^^; I had thought that the split-up marts we saw in that town were indicative of what else I could expect in the region (minus department stores, obviously). But no, Santalune City has a proper Pokémon Center with a Nurse Joy and a Mart in the back staffed by two staffers. I do like though how they've split up the usefulness between the two. It's often bugged me how worthless the second clerk usually is. "Would you like to buy some mail? ;.;" I feel bad for him, but no, I don't want your shitty mail. I want potions, PokéBalls, Escape Ropes, TMs! (He did sell TMs on occasion.) It looks like Game Freak heard enough complaints on this point that they decided to go ahead and divide the first clerk's wares down the middle. A slight annoyance when you're in a rush, sure, but I do love it for the immersion value it lends these games.

Sitting in Chairs: I can't help myself: every time I see someone sitting down at a table with an open chair, I join them. ^^; I wish the game rewarded this behavior (e.g. giving you different dialogue when sitting and talking than when standing and talking) but sadly it doesn't seem to. Makes me wonder why we can sit down at all. Ever since the first demonstration of this with the group of five, I've been assuming that this game is going to at some point have its own version of Shenmue II's chawan sign missions.

Watching TV: While I'm disappointed to see that BW2's three or four different TV channels got condensed down into one, I am happy to see that some of the channel's contents survived the generation jump. Including my favorite! Watchy Watchog! I could never get enough of that cheeky little Watchog and his ignorant trainer, even if the number of unique lines of dialogue they gave Watchy were so few. ^^; I've only caught them on the TV once so far but it'll be fun to look for more of them later on. For now, though, I obviously have more important things to be doing than pretend-watching a bunch of fictional television.

Return to Route 03: After I finished EV training Fledgling, I went back here to fight all of the trainers in the area and split the experience points between Fletchling (who got most of them) and Shiina the Fennekin (who stepped in whenever necessary).

The Team's Current Levels: Level 11 for Fennekin and Level 8 for Fletchling if I'm not mistaken. This is slightly on the low side compared with what I'm used to, especially since it's been only four months since I played BW2 where I feel the old way is at its apex. In past games, it was only too easy to wind up at Level 15 or 16 by the time you reached the first gym, even by accident and even with a team of several Pokémon. Yet here, with only Shiina until reaching Santalune City and even now only just Shiina and Fletchling, I'm only at 11 and 8. It's refreshing, to be perfectly honest. In BW2, I went through the game mashing the B button constantly whenever Tomoe and others tried to evolve. This was because I wanted to spend time with them at their lower stages of evolution and build memories with each and every one of them. And it worked! So I was poised to do it again, eagerly. But if the game's going to make it so that my growth is much slower than I'm used to, that could be nice too, I suppose. Just so long as this isn't a repeat of Hoenn's abominably low levels overall! >_<

Immediate To-Do List:
- go to the school
- go to the northeast and see what the rollerblader's deal is
- go to the gym, of course
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Old 12-03-2013, 12:50 AM   #24
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Question: if I cancel evolution for my Fennekin until we get our third gym badge (circa Level 25? 30 erring on the side of caution?), am I going to miss out on any moves learned only by the evolution? (E.g. the evolution is Fire/Electric and learns Thunderbolt at Level 24 while Fennekin does not.) Asking for this spoiler's a necessary evil to buy myself peace of mind with my preferred approach of valuing my time together with Fennekin and not rushing her evolution just because the game says it's time for her to evolve. I did this with BW2 and was quite satisfied with it. But there, I was obviously poring over everyone's level up lists like a hawk to make sure I missed nothing good. Can't do that this time. Not if I want to be surprised by as much as I do, I can't.

All you need to answer is "Yes, you'd miss a move or moves" or "No, you wouldn't miss anything." Please don't specify the moves, their types, or even the levels they're learned at. For the time being, it's good enough if I know that by doing the following I would be okay and miss out on nothing: Level 30 Fennekin --> Level 31 evolution #1 --> Level 32 or higher evolution #2. If the answer's "Yes," I'll let her evolve now. If the answer's "No," I'd like to keep her around for a little while longer.
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Old 12-03-2013, 01:00 AM   #25
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Question: if I cancel evolution for my Fennekin until we get our third gym badge (circa Level 25? 30 erring on the side of caution?), am I going to miss out on any moves learned only by the evolution? (E.g. the evolution is Fire/Electric and learns Thunderbolt at Level 24 while Fennekin does not.) Asking for this spoiler's a necessary evil to buy myself peace of mind with my preferred approach of valuing my time together with Fennekin and not rushing her evolution just because the game says it's time for her to evolve. I did this with BW2 and was quite satisfied with it. But there, I was obviously poring over everyone's level up lists like a hawk to make sure I missed nothing good. Can't do that this time. Not if I want to be surprised by as much as I do, I can't.

All you need to answer is "Yes, you'd miss a move or moves" or "No, you wouldn't miss anything." Please don't specify the moves, their types, or even the levels they're learned at. For the time being, it's good enough if I know that by doing the following I would be okay and miss out on nothing: Level 30 Fennekin --> Level 31 evolution #1 --> Level 32 or higher evolution #2. If the answer's "Yes," I'll let her evolve now. If the answer's "No," I'd like to keep her around for a little while longer.
Short answer: No, you can rest easy man.
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