Ah. I didn't know Ice was weak to Rock. I knew Flying was of course. Ice is an uncommon type so I haven't internalised all the strengths/weaknesses. I also knew Dragon was weak to Ice, which is specifically why I used Articuno against them. My Aerodactyl did have Ancient Power but I replaced it with Hyper Beam. Its other moves are Dragon Claw (a backup weapon against Dragon types), Fly, and Earthquake. Another surprise was Ancient Power being super effective against Aerodactyl. For some reason I thought Rock was resistant to Rock, but apparently that isn't the case :lol:

Sept 29, 2018 17:42:35 GMT Emperor said:

Ah. I didn't know Ice was weak to Rock. I knew Flying was of course. Ice is an uncommon type so I haven't internalised all the strengths/weaknesses. I also knew Dragon was weak to Ice, which is specifically why I used Articuno against them. My Aerodactyl did have Ancient Power but I replaced it with Hyper Beam. Its other moves are Dragon Claw (a backup weapon against Dragon types), Fly, and Earthquake. Another surprise was Ancient Power being super effective against Aerodactyl. For some reason I thought Rock was resistant to Rock, but apparently that isn't the case

Ice is weak to a LOT of stuff lol

Dragonite is also especially weak to Ice because it is part Flying.

Rock type, despite the appearance it might give you, is quite a weak type defensively speaking, with five weaknesses and all of them being super common attacking types and rather uninteresting resistances.

They made some interesting design choices with those original games. If you played through the game casually, chances are you would have skipped over the legendary birds since they were out of the way, making the Elite 4 significantly harder. That's why it was so important to have those alternative routes to Fuscia City since it incentivized the player to explore the region and see what they could find. One of the better ideas was saving the last gym in Viridian City since it informed players to back-track. If you returned to Viridian, you'd notice you could use your HMs to access prizes, which made you wonder what else was out there. So naturally you check out the other towns and see if there's any nooks or crannies you may have missed, including the power station and seafoam islands. While you're doing all of this, your team is getting all the necessary experience to tackle the Elite 4.

Then you get to the Elite 4, and you're up against 4 uncommon types. You wouldn't be familiar with ice monsters and since 4/5 are Water monsters you'd be thrown off from using the natural weakness of fire. Unless you went out of your way to visit the power station, or hung around Viridian Forest trying to capture the mascot, the only feesible counter would have been Jolteon. Even so, you would had to realise how common water and fire monsters (you get access to Growlithe/Vulpix right before you get Eevee) are. Fortunately Lorelai's Pokemon are a little under-leveled, but she creates a good strong impression.

Bruno is a much needed breather. Most of his Pokemon are weak and for whatever reason, he hates the colour blue so Poliwrath isn't in his team.

It ramps up again with Agatha. Her Pokemon are mostly weak, but they're extremely fast and love to whittle you down with status ailments. I feel that ghost Pokemon were some of the worst design monsters in the game since they were supposed to be natural counters to Psychic and yet the Gengar line are extremely weak to them and their moves suck.

Then you take on Lance who is a Pokemon nerd. Unless you really studied up on the game, chances are you never encounted any of these monsters and have no idea what their weakness is. The game does make it fair on you by giving you a Lapras, but you would be excused in thinking that Lapras is a glorified boat with it's measly 15 Lvls. He would have made a great last boss in most games, but this is an all-time classic so they throw one last challenge at you. The rival, who is without doubt the most challenging fight through out the journey shows up one last time and gives you the best challenge of the game.

I just find it interesting how much GameFreak relied on the element of surprise. The Elite 4 could have easily been five extremely tough trainer battles back to back with all the toughest Pokemon, instead they were four gym battles in a row, followed by a rival battle. There's a level of familiarity present, but at the same time there's this feeling you're learning on your feet. I'm just glad one of the Elite 4 wasn't Basic Ben the Normal Type Elite 4. A team of Tauros, Persian, Snorlax & Chansey would have given me shivers - I know Whitney in Gold/Silver was the bane for a lot of kids.

@nighty has there ever been a RomHack where they try and give the Elite 4 their best possible teams? Or do I just have to look into Pokemon Stadium to realise how potentially dangerous they could have been? I'm looking at it now, and they gave Bruno, the toughest hombre in all of Kanto, a real man's man...a Clefable. At least somebody at Nintendo has a sense of humour.

Also Emperor, don't be a coward and go rematch the Elite 4 pronto. Their Pokemon are all different and should provide you a decent challenge. Put Nighty's wisdom to the test.

Oct 1, 2018 3:16:07 GMT Big Pete said:

Also Emperor, don't be a coward and go rematch the Elite 4 pronto. Their Pokemon are all different and should provide you a decent challenge. Put Nighty's wisdom to the test.

Whatchoo talking about? You're telling me I can fight the Elite Four again post-game and they have different Pokemon?

Yes, and stronger too.

Tell us how you go - I believe in you.

Big Pete  there are hundreds of romhacks of FireRed at this point, I am sure some have already done what you are asking, but frankly, I haven't found any that are truly good, since most people's concept of "difficulty" is just ramping up the levels pointlessly.

OG Red version romhacks are less common but they do exist, the thing there is that the Elite 4's teams are already basically as good as you could make them considering their type preferences (there only being one Dragon type line, etc).

I'll look into it through the week, maybe I can find something that fits your bill.

Yeah, I typically avoid the 'pointlessly difficult' remasters myself and dabble more with the complete original games. I really should get back into that scene now given the direction GameFreak have taken the series.

Yellow fixed a lot of problems with the original line-ups. Whereas most of the move-sets were baffling, the Yellow series typically gives all the monsters their best possible moves. You're right though, it's hard to see a lot wrong with the line-ups other than the fact they only use 5 of their 6 available slots. If you could give each trainer one more monster, what would it be?

Here's my nominations:
Lorelei - Vaporeon
Bruno - Electabuzz
Agatha - Marowak
Lance - Charizard

I would have given Bruno a Primeape, but you already covered the only other logical stretches you could have done for the other three if we were to bump them to full teams.

In reality, I don't have much of an issue with them only having 5 Pokemon the first time you fight them, I have played enough romhacks to know that giving everybody a full team doesn't really enhance the experience nor the difficulty, it just pads, there are better ways to enhance difficulty and make battles more interesting, especially for the big "boss battles" in the games, this is why Generation 7 is my favorite right now, since Totem Pokemon battles are some of the more inventive boss fights in the series yet, making use of stats boosts, creative movesets and synergyzing with the "call for help" mechanic to make for hard setups that you need to figure out and think to beat. Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon take it one step further in difficulty with this, making it the most enjoyable main game run I had in a long time.

I don't remember the specifics but at my last job (so this could be like 5 yrs ago) I guy I worked with was talking about a certain game of Pokemon. Basically you can only catch the first one you encounter on each route. And you treat their KO as a legit death and can no longer be part of the team. This Pokemon talk has me wanting to try it out and seeing how manageable it is. Not sure if there was more to it than that.

That's called a Nuzlocke run, I did a couple of those, documented them via screenshots and posted them back in the old forum, to the point a dedicated thread for people posting about their own Pokemon runs was made.

It's a fun way to replay old games, but it can get very hard depending on which game you want to Nuzlocke, I highly advise against trying it in, say....Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon.

Oct 1, 2018 15:12:20 GMT @nighty said:

I would have given Bruno a Primeape, but you already covered the only other logical stretches you could have done for the other three if we were to bump them to full teams.

In reality, I don't have much of an issue with them only having 5 Pokemon the first time you fight them, I have played enough romhacks to know that giving everybody a full team doesn't really enhance the experience nor the difficulty, it just pads, there are better ways to enhance difficulty and make battles more interesting, especially for the big "boss battles" in the games, this is why Generation 7 is my favorite right now, since Totem Pokemon battles are some of the more inventive boss fights in the series yet, making use of stats boosts, creative movesets and synergyzing with the "call for help" mechanic to make for hard setups that you need to figure out and think to beat. Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon take it one step further in difficulty with this, making it the most enjoyable main game run I had in a long time.

Sun & Moon had the best campaign yet, I'm just waiting for them to release a game where you've got to be mindful of held items, abilities and all the intricacies that make the battle system fun. The big mistake I made in the lead-up to Sun & Moon was playing through Stadium 2. The strategy required in those games are insane, and the meta has improved so much since then. If they could add a New Game+ mode like Black/White 2 I'd be in heaven.

Oct 1, 2018 15:25:28 GMT @nighty said:

That's called a Nuzlocke run, I did a couple of those, documented them via screenshots and posted them back in the old forum, to the point a dedicated thread for people posting about their own Pokemon runs was made.

It's a fun way to replay old games, but it can get very hard depending on which game you want to Nuzlocke, I highly advise against trying it in, say....Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon.

I think I remember seeing those posts but just assumed it was a regular playthru. Very hard eh? Dude did love him some Dark Souls.

Finally finished Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise. If you're a fan of the Yakuza series, definitely need to check this one, as it's basically Yakuza combat dialed up to 11. My one grievance, there's a single side story that requires an ungodly amount of grinding to finish. You need 100,000,000 of the game's currency, and the hostess mini-game is the fastest way to do that. By the time you completely finish ALL of the hostess missions...you'll need about 90,000,000. At which point, if you get a decently decked out team, you can make about 1,000,000 per. So you need to do this shit more than a hundred times to reach your goal. Took me several hours of straight grinding (thank god I saved it for last, so I had the money to upgrade hostesses).

I don't mind them making it a grind fuck if you want all the items and what not, but a substory should never be buried behind basically a (short) full length game's worth of grinding. I skipped all the non story focused grinding (well, I did the Colosseum), the Casino would be especially tedious, as you don't get the charms like Yakuza to knock out some decent chunks of cash. Also would have had to race SO MUCH if you wanted the materials for the best buggy parts. It's definitely very grindy, even by Yakuza standards, but if not for that one damned substory, none of it necessary to enjoy the experience.

Still, other than that, had a blast, I'll definitely buy it when I get the chance and budget.

Currently playing through both Mega Man 11 and Sonic Mania Plus, to pass the time waiting for Pokemon: Let's Go Pikachu to come out on the sixteenth. Anyways both games seem like nice throwbacks and I'm liking what little I've seen of them so far (especially Mega Man). I also picked up Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy not that long ago for the Switch, still need to play through it though as I haven't started any of the games yet.

Gauntlet Legends 64.

I'm going to be pretty annoyed when Gauntlet Legends isn't included in the N64 Classic. The system that was designed around four player co-op games, and they don't include one of the few stand-out titles of the genre.

How many N64 games do you own PI?

Nov 11, 2018 9:19:43 GMT Big Pete said:

I'm going to be pretty annoyed when Gauntlet Legends isn't included in the N64 Classic. The system that was designed around four player co-op games, and they don't include one of the few stand-out titles of the genre.

How many N64 games do you own PI?

Good question. I actually historically owned very few. Maybe no more than six when N64 was in it's prime. I think my core position was Mario (which might've come with the console), Golden Eye, WrestleMania 2000, Perfect Dark, No Mercy, and possibly Blitz and/or Mario Tennis. Then that core position was supplemented on a weekly basis through renting.

When I broke my PS3 back in (I'm guessing) 2011, instead of rewarding myself by buying another PS3, I decided to punish myself by just dusting off the ol' 64. This was also partly because I figured the PS4 was guaranteed to be released as soon as my dumb ass re-bought a PS3.

The only problem was, lots of the magical appeal of the games I had were their ability to be multiplayed with 1-3 friends. And at that time, I no longer had anyone nearby who was into the ol' 64 enough to play the fuck outta shit like the old days. So an idea occurred to me... Why not buy and play all my old rental favorites, and see if I can't build out the entire N64 game library years after the fact?

So I started. Turns out a lot of old games could be had for nothing. So I'd incrementally expand my collection by like batches of half a dozen games here and there. The only things really alluding me were your Mario Kart and Zeldas based on their obscene residual value. Over a year or so, I built up a collection of maybe 30 games before getting bored/stopping because I realized not only was I not playing the game I was buying... I wasn't really playing any N64 period.

A random urge to track down playable copies of Virtual Pro Wrestling and VPW2 changed all of that. Tracked those down, considered my THQ/AKI N64 library now complete, then decided to get into hacking/modding via GameShark (figuring it couldn't be THAT hard to program an N64 game, right?) to hack/mod together the best parts of all games CAW systems, then realized it was an impossible effort, all before going into another video game playing hibernation period.

When I came out of it earlier this year, I decided to start playing through story modes of some of the games. Things I'd avoided doing way back in the rental days either due to time constraints or because I was too tied up with friends in the multiplayer aspects of the games. So I started with Armorines and Body Harvest. Then finally quested by way through the entire Gauntlet Legends realm. Now that's behind me, I'm looking at knocking out the single player story of Perfect Dark.

I consider this lastest binge a sort of prep for finally diving back into the world of PlayStation, presumably later this month after Black Friday.

I think my core position was Mario (which might've come with the console), Golden Eye, WrestleMania 2000, Perfect Dark, No Mercy, and possibly Blitz and/or Mario Tennis. Then that core position was supplemented on a weekly basis through renting.

Damn, no Ocarina of Time? Star Fox 64?

I can certainly relate. A couple of years back when we shared those personal top 50 games lists, I realised one of the major reasons I enjoyed OoT is that I didn't buy another console game for another year. It was a shock, because I was incredibly passionate about the console and spent considerable time playing it. What I lost sight of, was that most of my time was spent playing rentals. I would have played something like 30-40 rentals during that time, I just didn't have anything to show for it.

When I came out of it earlier this year, I decided to start playing through story modes of some of the games. Things I'd avoided doing way back in the rental days either due to time constraints or because I was too tied up with friends in the multiplayer aspects of the games. So I started with Armorines and Body Harvest. Then finally quested by way through the entire Gauntlet Legends realm. Now that's behind me, I'm looking at knocking out the single player story of Perfect Dark.

How does Body Harvest hold up?

I'm incredibly jealous of the N64 situation over there. Prices have inflated over the years, but 5 years ago I was amazed to see so many games so cheap. Here game prices never slipped below $20, and even incredibly common titles like Mario 64 and Mario Kart 64 remained between $40-70 which is ridiculous. I figure I may as well wait for those games to come onto Switch and play them on the go than buying archaic hardware.

Still, there is an appeal to playing games on my original console, so I've got a list of third party games that are unlikely to receive a re-release that I intend on buying. So games like Rogue Squadron, Rocket: Robot on Wheels, Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness etc.

I consider this lastest binge a sort of prep for finally diving back into the world of PlayStation, presumably later this month after Black Friday.

Hopefully they have some good deals this year. Were there any games you were interested in?

Nov 14, 2018 14:28:11 GMT Big Pete said:

I think my core position was Mario (which might've come with the console), Golden Eye, WrestleMania 2000, Perfect Dark, No Mercy, and possibly Blitz and/or Mario Tennis. Then that core position was supplemented on a weekly basis through renting.

Damn, no Ocarina of Time? Star Fox 64?

I can certainly relate. A couple of years back when we shared those personal top 50 games lists, I realised one of the major reasons I enjoyed OoT is that I didn't buy another console game for another year. It was a shock, because I was incredibly passionate about the console and spent considerable time playing it. What I lost sight of, was that most of my time was spent playing rentals. I would have played something like 30-40 rentals during that time, I just didn't have anything to show for it.

When I came out of it earlier this year, I decided to start playing through story modes of some of the games. Things I'd avoided doing way back in the rental days either due to time constraints or because I was too tied up with friends in the multiplayer aspects of the games. So I started with Armorines and Body Harvest. Then finally quested by way through the entire Gauntlet Legends realm. Now that's behind me, I'm looking at knocking out the single player story of Perfect Dark.

How does Body Harvest hold up?

I'm incredibly jealous of the N64 situation over there. Prices have inflated over the years, but 5 years ago I was amazed to see so many games so cheap. Here game prices never slipped below $20, and even incredibly common titles like Mario 64 and Mario Kart 64 remained between $40-70 which is ridiculous. I figure I may as well wait for those games to come onto Switch and play them on the go than buying archaic hardware.

Still, there is an appeal to playing games on my original console, so I've got a list of third party games that are unlikely to receive a re-release that I intend on buying. So games like Rogue Squadron, Rocket: Robot on Wheels, Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness etc.

I consider this lastest binge a sort of prep for finally diving back into the world of PlayStation, presumably later this month after Black Friday.

Hopefully they have some good deals this year. Were there any games you were interested in?

Regarding Zelda and Star Fox, didn't need those because my best friend had them and was only a quick bike ride away. He was more into those games than I ever was anyways, so it worked out.

I keep wanting to give Body Harvest a harder time then it deserves, but I keep forgetting how early it was released. I think it was like one of the very very first games developed for the N64, no? And only pulled from being released with consoles at launch because of concerns about the violence? Anyway, I think it holds its own surprisingly well. Especially if you consider its context from the time it was developed and released. To me, I could definitely see how Body Harvest would have an influence on things like Grand Theft Auto.

As far as PS4 games I might be interested in... I'm open to suggestions.

Considering my core N64 games and my old PS3 days, I figure I need at minimum: a wrestling game (to fill the No Mercy void), a first-person shooter (to fill the Perfect Dark/CoD void), and perhaps some open world deal (to fill the GTA void), and maybe a football game (to fill the Blitz void).

Based on the hype, Red Dead Redemption 2 has my curiosity piqued.

And I just assume WWE 2K19 is my only real option for a wrestling game. Is Steam available on PS4? I think I bought and downloaded Fire Pro on my laptop. Would I be able to access that on the console?

Is Madden still a thing? If not, not the end of the world... I could probably live without a football game. Are there any other fun sports games to explore instead? Open to potentially anything: hockey, rugby, boxing, UFC, etc.

For first person shooters, I imagine Call of Duty is still trudging along... But is Medal of Honor or Battlefront a more interesting option at this point?

Then there are games I've heard about but have no idea what kind of games they are. Like Fallout (?), Skyfall(?), and Destiny(?)... The last of which some of my buddies back in Pittsburgh play, and say would be our vehicle for staying connected. Based on pictures of the game and what my buds have described, these games sound like maybe a mix of World of Warcraft and Halo?

Then everyone's been hyping Spiderman, right? The leaked Black Friday deals I've seen are a PS4 Slim bundled with that. I have a feeling that's what Wife will be getting me unless I advise her otherwise. I'm not sure if I should though or not, and need PW's consultation here. Is a pro worth it? Especially if I don't care about a Spiderman bundle? Or is a Slim sufficient for anything I could ever want/need?

Steam isn’t available on PS4, but you can get the new Fire Pro game on PS4.

PS4 Pro is pretty pointless if you don’t have a 4K TV, just get normal one. It’s only 4K for games too, doesn’t support 4K Blu Ray which I find baffling.

I think it was like one of the very very first games developed for the N64, no?

Smack dab in the middle. Originally it was intended to be an early release, but the troubled development pushed it back until they virtually rushed it out. It's one of those games I remember receiving great reviews, but nobody I knew had a copy and for whatever reason I can't recall seeing it in video stores. A shame too because the PAL cover looks sweet.

Considering my core N64 games and my old PS3 days, I figure I need at minimum: a wrestling game (to fill the No Mercy void), a first-person shooter (to fill the Perfect Dark/CoD void), and perhaps some open world deal (to fill the GTA void), and maybe a football game (to fill the Blitz void).

To be honest I can't speak to many of those. I haven't bought a Pro Wrestling game since WWE '13, the only FPS game I own is a survival horror (RE7) and I haven't bought a Madden game since '13. So hopefully somebody else can chime in, I've heard plenty of good things about DOOM & Titanfall 2 among others so if you wanted to look into it.

I completed RDR2 the other day and from a gameplay perspective wasn't blown away by the campaign. I loved the story though and the characters and came out of it feeling like I just watched the best TV show of the year, so if that interests you by all means. All the side stuff though is really good and I've barely scratched the surface. Otherwise, there's Yakuza 0, which does an excellent job of capturing the vibe of urban Tokyo and telling a compelling crime drama. I went into the game skeptical and came out of it wanting to get my hands on the rest of the games in the series. It has amazing characters and does a good job of distinguishing itself from GTA by focusing more on brawling. The recent release Kiwami 2 also has this sweet sub-story where you take on the Three Muskateers of NJPW in the construction business. There's nothing like teaching that punk Chono a thing or three! Super fun game with plenty of nods to SEGA and has a great sense of humour through out.

The other open world game in my collection is Nier: Automata. During the first half of my playthrough I thought it was quirky enough but bit of a cake-walk with some really cool animations. Then by the half-way point I was glued and didn't stop until I reached the true ending. No game has managed to have that effect on me and I owe it to the story and some of the amazing set-pieces the game throws at you. If you want to play a game that feels avante garde, I'd highly recommend it.

Oh I nearly forgot about Horizon Zero Dawn. Yeah that was a huge open-world game where you're virtually taking on these robot beasts with all sorts of traps and arrows. It's a bit more gameplay focused than Red Dead Redemption 2 and some of the encounters you'll have are exhilarating. I didn't really care for the story all that much beyond a certain point, even though Daniels from The Wire pops up and basically plays the coolest version of Navi imagineable.

Personally the one game I keep finding myself going back to is Nioh. It's developed by Team Ninja, the guys behind Ninja Gaiden and is a tough but incredibly dense Action RPG with tons to explore. Returning to the game, I was amazed at some of the level design and just how many secrets are hidden in each level. Further there's so many ways you can approach the game, so each playthrough feels different. One of my coziest gaming memories of recent years was during Christmas, playing through a Top 100 Hits of 1999 and exploring each nook and cranny in all the levels until I had all the Kodamas (think Jinjos or Skulltula's from Zelda). What makes Nioh stand-out is that it's more of a level-based game, so each level has a deliberate pace and doesn't suffer from the generic game design you'll find in big open world games.

Or you could just buy a Switch with Mario Odyssey, Breath of the Wild and Splatoon 2. The choice is yours.

So I break in my Switch purchase I bought Octopath, but it's still in the shrinkwrap because I restarted my Gamefly subscription.

Mario Odyssey - This was pretty awesome and may be my 2nd favorite of the 3D Marios. I think 3D World has the edge here. I also love that Captain Toad is still a thing in Nintendo. I needs more of that.

Lego Ninjago - I usually love the lego games, but this one bored me. Guess it matches the mehness of the game. Definitely the Xavier of Lego movies if Part 2 turns out to be awesome...

Splatoon 2 - 1/2 through the single player portion. Still hate the opening stuff every time I start the game. Is there a way to bypass it? Sigh.

And I was tempted to make the $60 plunge to buy Let's go Eevee on the eshop, but will probably wait for a bit until I try it out.

Anyone playing Battlefield V?

So I picked up Shadow of Mordor the other night after not playing it for like a year, and I gotta say: that game is fucking frustrating.

Did anyone else think the mechanics were clunky as hell? Like you're trying to climb a wall or dash across the map and the guy is just like "nah man, not gonna do that."

Also I never was able to master the combat and any time I had a mission where I had to storm a fort or kill like 30 orcs THEN fight a war chief, I was fucked. There was almost no point in trying.

I dunno maybe I just need to get gud and it's just me. But fuck, I remember now why I put that game down in the first place and only got half way through the story.

I do remember it being finicky but nothing I could handle and I played the game at it's worst as I didn't have a PS4 at the time and got the PS3 version. While patches helped improve the game, getting like 20+ on screen was rough. Was never to fond of the game and it's story though.

Was thinking of getting Fallout 76 but everyone tells me to avoid it at all cost. Boring, repetitive missions, create your own fun kinda mentality and all that jazz has kept me from buying it. Seems like a 30 dollar game to me. Hopefully the game improves down the road and Bethesda irons out all the bad bugs and add more content.

A week late, but I finally picked up a copy of Pokemon: Let's Go Pikachu, admittedly I'm not that far into the series, as I only just defeated Misty.

I was kind of worried with them mixing elements of the main series, with Pokemon Go, but I actually don't think it's all that bad, though it did take a few Pokeballs, to find the needed balance to throw them, and not miss the Pokemon with the Joy Con. Also with the Pokemon appearing on the screen, it's so god damn good to make it through Mt. Moon, and not have to deal with a thousand Zubat (curse you) poppinmg up to battle you, since you can now avoid them for the most part..

My current team consists of Pikachu (Lv. 22), Pidgeotto (Lv. 21), Charmeleon (Lv. 17), Oddish (Lv. 20), Nidorino (Lv. 20), and Geodude (Lv. 18).

Nov 23, 2018 0:10:53 GMT Lony said:

A week late, but I finally picked up a copy of Pokemon: Let's Go Pikachu, admittedly I'm not that far into the series, as I only just defeated Misty.

I was kind of worried with them mixing elements of the main series, with Pokemon Go, but I actually don't think it's all that bad, though it did take a few Pokeballs, to find the needed balance to throw them, and not miss the Pokemon with the Joy Con. Also with the Pokemon appearing on the screen, it's so god damn good to make it through Mt. Moon, and not have to deal with a thousand Zubat (curse you) poppinmg up to battle you, since you can now avoid them for the most part..

My current team consists of Pikachu (Lv. 22), Pidgeotto (Lv. 21), Charmeleon (Lv. 17), Oddish (Lv. 20), Nidorino (Lv. 20), and Geodude (Lv. 18).

So I watched a review and was kinda disappointed that it's not a straight remake with better graphics. Guess that's where the "lets GO" comes into play as I assume it's taking the Pokemon Go play into it. I know I could just play the originals or even the Firered or Leafgreen if I wanted a more standard remake (which I've never played to be honest), but I gotta be honest it's disappointing to hear. On the other hand the models look so good that I'm willing to give it a shot. Might like it but I'm kinda hesitant now.

It's a more simplified version of the game for sure, but it's not bad for what it is. Like I said though, I'm liking it so far, do I prefer the main series take on leveling up? Yeah, but this works, especially for getting new players into the series.

Still looking forward to next year's Pokemon game though.

Battlefield V.

***

Is it good? Yeah, it's good. But how well does it follow Battlefield 1? Not so great. It lacks the grandeur of it's predecessor, the game-play itself lacks that sheer chaotic urgency of battle, and overall feels much less an authentic period shooter and more of a modern affair.

While It lacks a familiar setting, instead opting for these obscure maps, for a game with so much potential, where's the Iwo Jima? Bastogne? The Bulge? Stalingrad? A casual WW2 nut might be able to loosely connect Twisted Steel to Operation Market Garden, but it's loose.

It's a miss, unless you're a serious BF fanboy. If you want D-Day and the Normandy landings, play CODWW2. Because you ain't getting that here.

Finished up Red Dead Redemption 2, story 10/10, more depth than the first, though the original still had the more poignant climax. Gameplay 9/10. The most realistic video game world to date, NPC's felt like people, wildlife felt organic, everything as smooth as silk...but it looses a point because the cover system is damn near broken, somehow worse than Rockstar's first efforts at cover. I get that it's easier to make cover with the square designs of cities rather than the endless designs of the wild, but so many bad cover moments in the this game. Pretty much every single gun fight larger than a handful had a bad cover moment, especially if you had to use rocks or trees. Everything else though, top notch. Oh, except chapter 5 sucked, needless filler, fuck chapter 5.

Game all around, 9.5. One competent cover system away from a perfect score.

Next up, Darksiders III.