In the grand gaming tradition of mini-bosses, mini-games, and mini-quests I thought it'd be good to add some mini-posts when i get a chance. Today a snippet if my life. I have been seeing a doctor for the past 3 weeks for a stye (which is an eye lid infection much like a pimple). I just had a procedure to hopefully get it cleared out, but the thing that surprised me was what I was afraid of.
Being part hypochondriac, I of course always extrapolate to the worst possible scenario when it comes to any possible disease. In this case, the loss of my sight in one eye (which is totally not a possibility, but my brain does what it will). The weird thing (and the reason I am posting here) is that I did not lament necessarily the possible loss of my sight. No, I instead was worried that I would not be able to enjoy the 3D gaming that currently exists and that will exist in the future.
Priorities...I have them.
Sunday, May 25, 2014
Thursday, May 22, 2014
Pokemon Revisited
So an amazing friend of mine stopped by my office the other day and dropped off Pokemon X and Y telling me to pick one so we could battle (when he finally got a 3DS). Since then I have been dutifully playing through the Y variant and having a lot of fun, but there are some mixed feelings in there.
Firstly, the graphics are great! It's really fun to see the Pokemon in a glorious cell shaded 3D that puts the N64 games to shame (the last time I encountered 3D Pokemon was in Pokemon Stadium and Pokemon Snap). Also in this iteration they finally upped the ante on the animation for various attacks. They are still fairly generic deformations of the characters (used to be wobbling of the sprite), but now at least the arm moves when they are doing an arm based movement (like scratch). The 3D effect is great too if you can get past the reduced frame rate (I can't though).
It was also really nostalgic to encounter a good mix of the 151 I was familiar with, along with the new comers (or at least new since the first 3 games). I actually got my favorite Pokemon early on and he is the best one of my team (although I don't quite like the default name that the original NPC trainer gave him).
I feel like I am still early on (I only have one badge so far) and the game keeps introducing things to me at a reasonable (if not a bit slow) pace.
And that's where I start my mixed feelings. As I am going through this new region with new places to explore, I find myself pushing to get to the next area, almost not able to enjoy where I am right now. And to be honest, I think the problem is with me, not the game. I delved deep into the first Pokemons, so much that I got all 151 in the US (which, as some of you may know was not possible without a glitch). I dove into the Pokeverse with friends and we discovered new secrets that we talked about over lunch as we battled. I don't know if I am missing the social part, or if the game just doesn't have enough new for me.
That being said, some of the new things I have really enjoyed. There is a mansion where you can fight trainers (just like on the road) but in this case you are battling for higher titles. All of the people you battle are snooty entitled rich folk which gives an extra bit of satisfaction as you defeat them. Then there are a bunch of mini games to help train your Pokemon (and make them like you more) which I have just barely scratched the surface of. Not to mention I haven't even figured out how to battle real people yet.
I'm just beginning but unfortunately it's probably going to be like that for a long while. I get about 5 minutes to play a night (seriously, I do a battle or two while I floss) but at least I am making some progress. Every now and then the kids want me to play (when they aren't asking for me to play Minecraft) so that is where I get the bulk of my play time in.
Another area of mixed feelings came from that actually. My kids wanted to play their own Pokemon, but as you may know all the Pokemon games are one cartridge = one save. As I mentioned before I do have the original Pokemon, which were simpler and more likely that the kids would be able to play, so with a heavy heart I deleted my games and started new ones for my kids. All my Pokemon gone. I would probably still be down about it (especially because to this day the kids have only played their respective Pokemon games once), except I remember in one of the Pokemon games (I can't remember which), one of your parent's says something to the effect of "I remember when I went on my Pokemon journey. I'm so proud and can't wait to hear of your adventures." Sappy, sure, but it captures my feelings quite nicely. Let's hope G and A pick up their Pokemon journey again some time soon.
Firstly, the graphics are great! It's really fun to see the Pokemon in a glorious cell shaded 3D that puts the N64 games to shame (the last time I encountered 3D Pokemon was in Pokemon Stadium and Pokemon Snap). Also in this iteration they finally upped the ante on the animation for various attacks. They are still fairly generic deformations of the characters (used to be wobbling of the sprite), but now at least the arm moves when they are doing an arm based movement (like scratch). The 3D effect is great too if you can get past the reduced frame rate (I can't though).
It was also really nostalgic to encounter a good mix of the 151 I was familiar with, along with the new comers (or at least new since the first 3 games). I actually got my favorite Pokemon early on and he is the best one of my team (although I don't quite like the default name that the original NPC trainer gave him).
I feel like I am still early on (I only have one badge so far) and the game keeps introducing things to me at a reasonable (if not a bit slow) pace.
And that's where I start my mixed feelings. As I am going through this new region with new places to explore, I find myself pushing to get to the next area, almost not able to enjoy where I am right now. And to be honest, I think the problem is with me, not the game. I delved deep into the first Pokemons, so much that I got all 151 in the US (which, as some of you may know was not possible without a glitch). I dove into the Pokeverse with friends and we discovered new secrets that we talked about over lunch as we battled. I don't know if I am missing the social part, or if the game just doesn't have enough new for me.
That being said, some of the new things I have really enjoyed. There is a mansion where you can fight trainers (just like on the road) but in this case you are battling for higher titles. All of the people you battle are snooty entitled rich folk which gives an extra bit of satisfaction as you defeat them. Then there are a bunch of mini games to help train your Pokemon (and make them like you more) which I have just barely scratched the surface of. Not to mention I haven't even figured out how to battle real people yet.
I'm just beginning but unfortunately it's probably going to be like that for a long while. I get about 5 minutes to play a night (seriously, I do a battle or two while I floss) but at least I am making some progress. Every now and then the kids want me to play (when they aren't asking for me to play Minecraft) so that is where I get the bulk of my play time in.
Another area of mixed feelings came from that actually. My kids wanted to play their own Pokemon, but as you may know all the Pokemon games are one cartridge = one save. As I mentioned before I do have the original Pokemon, which were simpler and more likely that the kids would be able to play, so with a heavy heart I deleted my games and started new ones for my kids. All my Pokemon gone. I would probably still be down about it (especially because to this day the kids have only played their respective Pokemon games once), except I remember in one of the Pokemon games (I can't remember which), one of your parent's says something to the effect of "I remember when I went on my Pokemon journey. I'm so proud and can't wait to hear of your adventures." Sappy, sure, but it captures my feelings quite nicely. Let's hope G and A pick up their Pokemon journey again some time soon.
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