20 years of pokemon!

So Pokemon celebrates it's 20th year today, and although I was a little late to the games. I'd like to tell a bit about my experiences when I first played it, and how I got into it. Also, my experiences since then.

I think everyone, who's everyone has heard of Pokémon, so I don't really need to explain what it is. So if you don't know much I'll try to keep it simple. Just know that pokemon are monsters who live alongside people in the pokemon world. Some pokemon are wild, some aren't. Some people use pokemon as helpers to lift, and move stuff, have as pets, or use as workers. Some people deicate their lives to find out more about the creatures, others use them to battle them (it's okay though, it's not till the death, it's just until they're knocked out or out of breathe.) Each pokemon are given what's know as types, when fighting in battles they uses types to gain advantages to win. Think of it like a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors, but with lizard, and spock.....and a bunch more!

I remember it first appearing over here in game, card, and TV form. I didn't watch the show, although, I have seen the odd episode since then. I have tried to watch from the beginning, but it's so annoying to watch.

Anyway, I remember being in 1998/99 and people going crazy over the cards, and I didn't really have to much interest in it. But I remember wanting the cards (just purely to fit in with friends), and being given Ponyta (A white pony that's on fire), Rapidash (a white horse that's on fire), Machop (a sort of duck like human with lots of muscles), and Machoke (a bigger duck like human with bigger muscles and a wrestling belt.)cards. Yup, it's easier to remember which ones were which as there was only 150 pokemon then.

After being given those cards, I wanted to know more about them, and this is were it probably took off. My friend Lewis let me borrow his copy of Blue (provided I didn't delete his save) to play on a snes to Gameboy adaptor (Yes, no playstation for me. I had Snes only!!) So I borrowed it for a weekend, and it was great. I liked the different monsters to fight with, didn't really understand what I was meant to be doing or going, as lewis had completed the game, and he was doing side quests. (There's no reminders in pokemon games to help you remember what you're doing.)

Eventually in late 2000, I brought myself a Gameboy Colour with a Copy of Pokémon Blue. I already had a much better knowledge of the game through Lewis' help, and sort of new what I was suppose to be doing. Basically, to become a great trainer for pokemon you're given a series of challenges to complete. These challenges are called Gyms fights. Usually it'll be a building where people only use one type of pokemon.

My first pokemon, as you always get the first one free, was a plant dinosaur, called Bulbasaur (four legged dinosaur with a plant bulb on it's back.). As I knew the first challenge I would have to face was to do with Rock type Pokémon, and Bulbasaur is a grass type. (In there rock paper scissors idea, Grass beats Rock in typings.) Anyway, I loved the game, and really took my time with it; but was instantly hooked now I knew what I was doing.

 There was one point in Blue in which I nearly gave up. There's a City called Saffron, and there's four entrances to gain access to the city, but the guard wouldn't let me pass as he was too hot. It turned out I needed to get him some water to allow me access. Cheapskate!!

Eventually, I got Yellow for that Christmas, which I wasn't really interested in as it focused heavily on Pikachu (a yellow mouse which has a shocking personality, which is really popular and everyone knows what it looks like) but I absolutely hate that pokemon. Then there was talk of two new games coming out, and that there would be new pokemon too! This was after I left school, and I had internet to find out more. The rumors turned out to be true!

I loved everything about the process of these new games coming out. There was going to be new pokemon, some older pokemon were going to get new evolutions (an evolution happens when a pokemon gains enough experience to change it's physical form.) and some were going to get pre-evolutions (which means a baby form, and when the baby gets enough experience, it'll change into it's next form.), there was even going to be a new area, new people!

Now I'm a sucker for worlds and world designs. So I love this idea that there are places not seen in the old games, and that's why some of these pokemon would have never been seen before.

And then, there was even more good news, in that they were creating new types of pokemon, which was designed to balance out the rock paper scissor as there was a type called Psychic, and it had nothing to beat it, Another thing I glossed over was the Baby forms. To get these baby versions of pokemon......Well, how is baby formed? Pokémon now had genders, and they could now breed by leaving them with a day-care like service. If you were lucky you could find an egg later on which eventually hatch into these rare baby forms.

Pokémon has continued this trend of always adding new ideas to the game, and new areas to explore. I can guarantee someone who's only played the first one, will be amazed at how different, yet familiar it now is. With things like abilities, which not all pokemon have the same ones, natures which determines how it grows ups, and recently a new type of pokemon was announce which balanced out the game even more (apparently a type called Dragon was too powerful.)

The act of new games coming out, and the slow info of what's in store is generally part pokemon's charm for me; and can generally be just as fun as the actual games themselves. I've stayed up sometimes just to watch Japanese shows to find out new information, while talking to people in chatrooms as and when it happens; and recently with Nintendo's Direct (an announcement program on twitch), where again I'm talking to people while information is being freshly told. I've even discussed the games with friends, made new friends while playing it, and even made friends with people online, just because we've talked about these games.

The simplicity of these games means that everyone from 5 to 100 can pick up and play these games, and I know plenty of people who are into their mid-life years who still play it. And I'm sure it's going to be one of the games I'll be playing until the coffin lid shuts on me.

Sun and Moon part two.

So, they were confirmed as true. Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon are the next two games being released. Late 2016, next order of business.

There was no gameplay footage, nor anything more stated about them.

They could possibly not be a new generation. They could be the legendary "Z" game. Remember the 5th gen. They technically had two games as their 3rd game. This could be the same.

It's shown a glimpses of concept art, and a glimpse of what possible could be a new pokemon. I thought it was Fletchling for a second. But on second viewing, I'm not too sure.

So yeah, don't count your torchics before they hatch. The next couple of months are going to be interesting.

Pokemon Sun, and Pokemon Moon.

Okay, so I'm sure we all by now have seen the two new trademarked name by Nintendo for the next upcoming pokemon games. (Potentially the 7th gen). I just want to remind everyone that there's quite a few names that they're trademarked and done nothing with Brown and Amethyst spring to mind.

The fact that they've trademarked them before the direct announcement tomorrow, is interesting, but still take this trademark news with a pinch of salt.

Although, if Moon is real. That's gonna be my game. Haha. Also, if it is 7th gen, this'll be the first time that they've released a new gen, without adding a 3rd game to the current gen. Very strange, and unusual.

More from me tomorrow, or later on. If the direct is the 7th gen, or 6th gen's third game.

Deadpool (and not the one in X-men Origins: Wolverine.

Ugh! Mentioning that wolverine film has made me throw up a little....anyway...

Also, gonna try and keep this mostly spoiler-free.

So I went and watched this today, and it was magical. It was everything the trailer showed, and more. From opening credits to the end of credits scene, the whole audience was laughing the whole time.

The pacing and plot is quick and to the point, and I didn't see any plot holes either. All characters were well written, and acted. Although, there was one character which did appear, and I felt they need more screen time.  Hydra Bob, or in this film. It was just "Bob"

I think it probably should have been a higher rating, as I felt it had the same amount of violence (and goriness) as the 98 "Blade" film. As there's lots of graphic decapitations, and impalements. I've heard people have been trying to bring kids as young as 8 to the cinema to see it, and I don't recommend it.

However, I can't wait for the Blu-ray release, so I can add it to my collection. Also, the studio has agreed to do Deadpool 2. Can't wait for that. I've heard the Cable will be in it, and I think that Ron Perlman should play Cable.

Dark Cloud

So I've gone back to this Gem of a game. Loved playing it, but never got to the end. It's on the PS2, and I think it came out near the early stages of the consoles release. (I remember playing a demo of it, not long after PS2 came out.)

It revolves around a young boy. One night at a festival, and evil is released into the world called the "Dark Genie" Who, other than eating people whole, wipes out most nearly all life on the planet. As the attack happened the great fairy king sealed people away inside magic orbs and hid them, except the young boy. Who's given a jewel to reclaim the sealed people.

And to be honest, that's as much of the story as I know. I mean sure if the fairy king saved the boy without sealing him in magic, he probably could have done that for the rest of the world. I'm not sure why this boy either.

However, after gaining a few people back, you can take them back to their nearest town. Then sort of rebuild the town how you see fit, akin to Sim City, or Populous. You can then, once placed back in their town, you can ask the people how they want their town to be arranged. If you can get everyone happy, you'll net handy rewards. Their requests aren't normally hard, so it's easy to do.

But it's not all building, getting to the magically sealed orbs involves jumping into danger filled dungeons. Where brutish monsters live. Real time action fighting means you have to have your wits about you. Which brings up a strange mechanic. Thirst bar, you have to keep an eye on your thirst levels, and drink water regularly. It's an unusual thing to have in a game, and sometimes I do forget to keep an eye on it.

The Weapons to defeat enemies are also a bit unusual. They have a health bar, an experience bar, and item slots. The item slots can have jewels, or attachments. Which depending on what they are increases the weapons power, or what it's good against. Health bar takes damage as the item is being used, and if it "dies" the weapon shatters, and is...well, dead. Experience is gained from use, once it's filled. You can upgrade the weapon, upgrading swallows any items attached to the weapon making the effects permanent, and then frees up those spots for new items. Once a weapon is levelled up five times, you can break it down into a jewel. It'll lose some power, but it'll be a lot better than a normal gem or stat increaser. Once you increase a set number of stats, like give it +20 to fire attribute, and +30 against plant monsters, then a weapon can be upgraded into a completely different weapon.

Every time you go into a dungeon, you have to go down levels. You can replay a level, or carry on down to the next level. It doesn't really matter what you do, but a level only has certain amount of magical orbs. want more? Gotta go deeper. However this is a problem. The second level down in the first dungeon, has some seriously tougher monsters. Kill you in two hits. Then comes the other strange mechanic another couple of levels down.....quick time events! Yup, similar to papa the rapper, or any normal qte. You have a scrolling bar, with a win zone, and you have to press certain buttons at the correct time. Doing it flawlessly makes jewels appear, so it's always handy to do them perfectly. The other strange mechanic, is limit zones. Which will give you a set of rules for a level until you get to the next level. For example, only use swords on this zone, plus they lose exp, plus you can't change the one you have in your hand. Or you can only use the newly acquired character who only has a weak slingshot for a weapon.

That's okay, tho. You said I can go back and redo levels. Easy. No so much. The levels like to re-arrange themselves, so there's never a same layout twice. Although, they do all look very similar. Although, one thing that does have a weird habit of sometimes appearing, is the back dungeon area. Which, no isn't a naughty as it sounds, but is a lot harder. And things can one hit you their, but the random chest loot is a lot more rewarding. Also, chests come in three forms. Nice ones, big ones that are trapped (but if you have a key or can guess it, you can disarm it.), or everyone's favourite monster...the Mimic. And this game, they're usually always mimics in back dungeons.

Still, I love the game in it's blocky colourfulness, and billions of weird mechanics. However, I think a lot of my love for this game is through rose-tinted glasses. As I remember a bit where I was blown away as the main character drank soup, and you could see it disappear when it touched his lips.

The sequel was just as good, it was called Dark Chronicle. But I hope to play that after this.

Disgaea 5

So here we are again, a new Disgaea game. Okay, so not really here, as it came out a while ago. It's just that my laptop died, and I forgot the password for this site. Anyway.... After last times disappointment, (I didn't like Disgaea 4 much.) I weren't sure how this one was going to plan out. However, I was happily surprised, and managed to complete the main story mode, which I usually play Disgaea for.

For those that don't know about Disgaea, it is a tactical RPG series made by Nippon Ichi Software (or NIS for short). Many of the games aren't directly related to each other, although, characters from previous games (and even from different games from NIS) make appearances. Each Disgaea game takes place in different netherworlds, and has a host of colourful characters to tell a vibrant, and imaginative, story. The story is told via still poses and voice acting (although, there is a script running under them, and I suggest you read it. As the voice acting in this one is bad.) After a short bit of story there's a fight. Fights are played out on kind of a chess grid, the player goes first, and moves his units and fights, then after his turn is ended the enemies get a turn. Usually, you have to wipe out the opposition team, but sometimes there's other winning situations.

Disgaea 5 is no exception to this trend. It's story starts with various netherworlds at war with a demon called "Void Dark" and his army called "The Lost". In one netherworld a Demon Overlord called Seraphina, is protecting her homeworld from attack. During a battle and lone wanderer called Killia, appears on the battlefield. He has a thrist for vengeance, and wants Void dead. He reluctantly agrees to help Seraphina take out Void. They go chasing after void hunting him down in different netherworlds. During the story you'll gain new allies, and abilities.

You'd think by the fifth time, this would get a bit repetitive. But there's more to the game than this. Like in most rpg's your character will level up. Disgaea has always taken this to the extreme, and from the first game, they made the level cap 9999. I've never gotten anywhere near it. I think the highest level I've ever had is 147, that was back on Disgaea 3. With this game however, I've got about 10 units so far over level 200, and another 7 more over level 100.

This seems ridiculous enough, but wait.... What about your armour and weapons? Surely, being at 100 or 200 won't be that much of a stat increase, if your sword is still the same. Well, they thought of that in the first game too. There's a person in the game called "Item Worlder", she unlocks a way to go into an item, and level it up by basically beating out it's faults (basically, there's baddies inside it, kill them and improve the weapons stats.)

You can also, go inside characters in a person called "Character Worlder" and similar improve things like base stats, and even learn new skills.

But these things have been in the game series for a long time. New things they've added are.
Quest Shop: Ranging from things like collecting certain items, getting certain levels in stats, even killing so many breeds of demons. All wins you money, items, or rare weapons and armour.
Interrogation room: Occasionally, when you clear a map. You'll capture an enemy unit. You can persuade them here to join your cause.
Netherworld exploration: Basically, send some of your characters out on a spaceship to find new worlds and find items. People you send out can't be used in future battles, until they return from their exploration.
Curry shop: Gives you stat boosts for next map.
Netherworld creation: Mostly just to change the lay out of the base that you move around in.

The game doesn't finish with the story, there's huge after story bit, plus tons of hidden characters and boss fights.

While I dislike the voice acting, the gameplay has kept me coming back every day to play it.If you're a fan of games like fire emblem, and Final Fantasy Tactics, then I highly suggest this gem.

Doctor Who "Series 8"

Okay, I originally started writing this last year, but with series 9 on the horizan. I guess I should really get around to finishing this, let's cast our minds back to last series.....
~~~~Wibbly wobbly, timey wimey lines ~~~

Okay, it's taken me a few days to write this as I've been a little busy, but while I have a few moments I thought I jot down my thoughts of this series rather than individual episodes....mainly because I've been lazy. I apologise for that. I write down stuff to remember later on, and then completely forget about it once I've done it.

Anyway, by now all of series 8 has aired. While I've loved Capaldi as the new Doctor. I do have major gripes with the series as it is. It's been a bit of a love-hate affair to be honest, and as always.....Spoilers, duh!

Let's start with a Love thing about the new series....Capaldi.

I've not watched much of Peter Capaldi in any other programs (apart from the Torchwood episode, and when he appeared in the Fires of Pompeii episode of David Tennants era of Doctor Who. I really liked him in that those episodes) Anyway, when he was shown to be the new Doctor. I was happy, really happy. I thought "Yes! They'll be less likely to do a love affair with any assistant now!", my second thought was "Wow, he has a really menacing face. Please be a darker doctor, please be a darker doctor!!" He has lived up to my expectations, and more. He still has that silly, quirky side. To me, that's more Doctor-ish.

Now for a hate.....Earth, the only sci-fi setting you'll ever need.

I think the TARDIS should be renamed the "Time and Relative Dimension in London." 4 out of the 12 episodes take place in Outer space. That's right, 8 episodes take place on Earth, and six of those are in london, one in sherwood, and one in Bristol (but they were on their way to London.) Plus One of the four episodes that wasn't in Londo....I meant Earth. Was on the Moon!

I'm not saying this for the sake of saying it, but two of my favourite episodes of this series were two of the episodes set in space. "Mummy on the Orient Express" (it's a space train), and "Time Heist". I mean, don't get me wrong, the Lon....Earth episodes are great. But I'd really like an equal footing of Space travel with Earth travel. Even go to different places around Earth rather than spending every episode in London.

Speaking of something different...bow to your Master!

Female Master. Do like. Remember The Master hasn't always looked like a man. He hasn't always looked human. Plus I really didn't see her coming out as The Master. Although, "Killing her" seems a really lame way of finishing the episode. We know that The Master never stays dead, it's really old hat of dealing with them.

Something that should have died....Clara.

Well, okay. Probably not died, but she's way past her time. One to two series is great time for an assistant. I was being to tire of her half way through this series. Maybe it was her lying to both Danny and The Doctor. It's not Jenna, I think Jenna is a great Actress, but everything runs it's course, and I feel like hers in Doctor Who should be over.

Of course, saying all this. I'm still going to watch Series Nine, and heck, I'll probably enjoy it. Still, there will always be one or two little bits that could do with Tweeking. However, I must say, without a doubt. Capaldi, is probably, my Doctor. (And I've always had a hard time choosing a favourite Doctor.)