WORD OF THE DAY! 11/12/13! POKÉBLOG X #5 HORDE BATTLES!

horde [hohrd]
noun
1. A large number, mass, crowd, multitude, group, etc.
2. A tribe or group of Asian nomads.
3. Any nomadic group of people or animals.
verb
4. To gather into a large number.

EX.  Let me start by saying... I don't like horde battles.

Ideally, in any rpg, when you start out fighting weaker enemies, moving up the ranks of difficulty, until you can take on more and more difficult challenges with each step forward. In a very simple and typical Dungeons and Dragons adventure you'd expect to see a low level party take on, you might start by fighting a small group of goblins, then usually a bigger monster or two like a couple bugbears, then you fight a boss monster like a young dragon they'd been keeping as a pet. That is the progression you wanna see in an RPG. As an added bonus, you have those players fight not just a bunch but a small horde of goblins. Unlike when they first fought they goblins, they now have the tools to properly take them on and, if they use them properly, can dispose of the great number of foes with ease. They can compare their two experiences with goblins and feel as if they have grown tremendously by realizing how they've gone from struggling with a small group of goblins to dominating a small army of them. In 4th Edition, they specifically created minions to help DMs construct this power trip of an experience.

Pokémon is an RPG too. You're supposed to feel that you're team has grown so that, by the time you're the champ, you can believe it. Ideally, horde battles should be challenging but give you the opportunity to feel powerful. While your Chespin once struggled to knock out a Pidgey at the beginning of your journey, your Quilladin should be able to easily handle a gang of Scraggy by the time you run into them but, instead, that is not the case. Rather than taking out several Pokémon at once, you have to usually take them out one at a time while they get five hits on your Pokémon. Rather than feeling like your knocking them out with your raw power, you're instead slogging through several turns to get the EXP and/or catch the last conscious Pokémon. It doesn't feel rewarding because a) there are not many moves that hit multiple opponents and b) it is a tedious affair if and especially if you wish to catch one of the members of the horde.

In the end, what could've been a satisfying part of the experience comes off a frustratingly mediocre addition that may be the weakest type of battle ever introduce.

Think about how satisfying it would be to be able to target multiple targets like, let's say, a horde of Zubats, with Thunder and wipe them off the screen? Maybe you could get rewarded based on your performance? What do you think?

WORD OF THE DAY! 9/25/13!

self-conscious [self-kon-shus]
adjective

1. Excessively aware of being observed by others.

2. Conscious of oneself or one's own being.

EX. I'm so tired of all the judging and all the shaming and all attempts to make the new starters or their evolution's self-conscious about their coolness, prettiness, cuteness, etc. So what if Braixen looks like she has a stick in its butt and Quilladin looks like it's put on some pounds, they still haven't evolved and they're still going to become someone's, if not a lot of someones', favorite Pokémon of all time.

NERDCULTURE SMACKDOWN! POKÉMON X & Y UPDATE! #3

POKÉMON DIRECT: SEP. 4, 2013!

POKÉMON X & Y SEP. 13th: 10 NEW POKÉMON

JWITZ's POKEMON NEWS: 9 NEW POKÉMON, ETC.

 JWITZ's SEP 13th UPDATE

I'm afraid most of the news isn't conveniently in video form, just yet, as the corocoro spoilers hit the web yesterday.

This week we haven't gotten a big shake-up like with Mega Monday but there is probably about as much if not more than the E3 Trailer update! We got the second stage evolutions of the Kalos staters, the other mega evolution of Mewtwo, a mega evolution for Garchomp, four new Pokémon, information about Fairy typing and a bunch of information on the Pokémon Bank & Transfer system coming out this year.

Let's start with the Pokémon, specifically with the mega evolutions:

You see that on the right? We're getting two mega evolutions with Mega Mewtwo X being exclusive to Pokémon X (with the other Mega Mewtwo U being exclusive to Y version) and the mega evolution is pretty cool and, to a lot of fans, represents what fans were looking for in a Mega Evolution of Mewtwo. He is going to be a Psychic/Fighting type, so that definitely wins him some cool points. Maybe Y will turn out to be Psychic and Fairy?

This is a problem. Garchomp is already sitting high and mighty up in the Uber Tier and is generally considered to be one of the most overpowered Pokémon in the competitive meta. MEGA Garchomp getting the ability Sand Force and some sort of stat boost is ridiculous. This is a Pokémon that will sweep teams that don't have an answer to it. Maybe fairy type can stand a chance?

KANTO MEGA EVOLUTIONS HERE! (CLICK THE LINK)

Let's start with the evolutions of the Kalros starters (which seem to fit a theory that they are based on the basic fantasy RPG characters):

Chespin's evolution has been taking more insults for putting on pounds than a teenage girl coming back from summer vacation a Paul Dean's butter buffet. Putting this out there... does anyone really care about the second stage of a starter's evolution tree? The only one I particularly liked a lot was Wartortle. Furthermore, I know you guy's wanted a badass gopher ninja, but I like this cute and cuddly chestnut themed fellow. Reminds me of Pignite. I can dig it. I'll wait to see the final stages to make my choice for starter, though.

UPDATE: Chespin's evolution is called Quilladin. Perhaps, we'll be seeing a lot more quills in his next form?

Apparently, a lot of people are jumping on the Froakie bandwagon after the reveal of his rather sleek tree-fog evolution. With a sleek body shape, a pair of slicked back horns on his head, and a really cool color coordination gives this frog Pokémon an upgrade that still leave us mostly in the dark about what the third stage is gonna be. Froakie is still probably just a nose ahead of Chespin for my pick.

UPDATE: Froakie's evolution is called Frogadier? Like Bombadier? We're getting some bomb themed rogue, mayhaps?

You know why I dig Fennekin's second stage? There is a clear theme emerging that indicates she won't be a Fire/Fighting type because of all of the witch imagery-- the skirt, black stockings, and a broom for a tail-- and I'm thinking Fire/Psychic or Fire/Fairy or Fire/Dark or Fire/Ghost (yes, those're what they can be) would all make for cool third stages. A witch fox is definitely different than the kitsune theme of Ninetails.

UPDATE: Fennekin's evolution is Braixen and definitely uses the stick in her art as a wand! Fire/Pyschic final form or bust.

Beauty is definitely a theme in this set if you think getting a customizable poodle Pokémon (in the wild it is covered in fur, but you can get it groomed) with normal typing is any indicator (there are many others) and, as we're dealing with a Pokémon that is otherwise difficult to qualify at this point, I'm gonna make a guest to it's name. Here are three guesses: 1. Pompadour+ Poodle= Pompadoodle, 2. Pom Pom + Pompadour= Pompompadour, 3. Poodle + Salon= Poodleon.

UPDATE: I actually thought of the name they chose...but thought it was too stupid. The poodle's name is Furfrou.

MOTHER F***ING T-REX! We're getting a Rock/Dragon Pokémon based on everyone's favorite dinosaur, the T-Rex. Folks are glad to see a confirmed pair of fossil monsters in the set. I wouldn't be surprised to see it's evolution covered in feathers (look at the ring of feathers around his neck and his chicken body shape). Just a theory. The other dinosaur is an Ice/Rock sauropod that, honestly, I am excited to see it's evolution.

UPDATE: Tyrunt is the perfect name for a chicken sized T-rex and Amaura has ability, Refrigerate, that turns normal moves into ice moves.

A new Psychic cat Pokémon that differ, drastically, based on their gender were revealed with this two slick two-tailed felines. The male, on the left, has more supportive moves and the female, on the right, has more aggressive moves. I'm excited to see if they're one offs, which I think they are, and whether they'll be worth taking a slot on your team.

UPDATE: Just a couple of Mewstics.

The final image to get spoiled, by accident on IGN, was of Litleo's evolution the Fire/Normal type Pyroar. I really hope this isn't his final stage, as I think we all wanted to see some more manticore qualities, but I'm pretty pleased with his overall design. We've had another lion Pokémon in the form of Luxray, but Pyroar certainly looks unique with his bright main and unique coloration. It has also been confirmed the female will have an alternate longer, sleeker haired form.

That's it for new Pokémon. Let's keep the show rolling with the new info on type weaknesses and strengths...

You can see the updated type match-up chart on serebii.net, but here are the basics. They divulged the info on Fairy's strength in weaknesses, as follows: resistant to fighting, bug, & dark, immune to dragon, and weak against poison and steal. They're super effective against fighting, dragon, and dark. Fire, poison, and steel are resistant to fairy type. We also saw some updates to the meta of steel, which allegedly will be losing it's resistances to dark and ghost (to help balance the meta).

There were some other unusual immunities added (I apologize if I didn't know about these): Fire types cannot be burned, Grass types are unaffected by leech seed, powder, or spore moves, Electric types cannot be paralyzed, Ice type cannot be frozen or affected by hail, Flying type are immune to spikes and poison spikes, Rock types get a Sp. Def boost from sandstorms, and Ghost types are not affected by moves that prevent them from fleeing (boo).

These sound like great changes since fairy's addition will counter some stronger types and give some weaker types a chance to shine.

Pokémon Bank is going to be an important step forward for the games into the digital age; as a cloud-based application that you can download onto your 3DS, you will be able to store up to 3,000 Pokémon from the fifth and sixth generation of games. This application will also come with the Poké Transporter, allowing you to transfer your Pokémon from the Black & White games (and their sequels) to the Pokémon Bank for convenient transfer to your X or Y game. The service will be free for a 30-day trial period until it's official launch on January 31st. After that date, the service will have a yearly fee of five dollars (at least that's the idea).

I hope that the service allows you to retrieve Pokémon from your account, whether you pay or not, but requires you to pay to deposit Pokémon so that you're friends aren't trapped behind a pay wall. Otherwise, I think the fee of five dollars would be reasonable for the most hardcore Pokémon fans. Personally, I'll probably just use it to transfer my Pokémon during the trial period.

We also got an update that confirmed we would be able to customize our character's hair, clothes, and more at a salon.

We also found out Diantha is a stylish actress who will help us in our quest.

Finally, it was confirmed that Team Flare's objectives revolve around beauty and are ran by five scientists/executives. Maybe an evil fashion/makeup company?

And that's all folks. What do you think? Which starter are you leaning towards? Which version are you getting?