Pokemon!

[Azunara]

Spent a few minutes on the Top 100 pokemon thing...

So far, I've seen umbreon and leafeon. I've seen manectric several times. Skarmory several times. No espeon. D: Did see Dialga.

EDIT:

Just saw Espeon. It was Espeon versus Haunter.

...Speck versus Solara. Figures.

[Saturo]

LoL Saturo

Could you tell that I've hardly played Pokemon at all? xD

[rubybeam]

We just talked bout old cartoons at the table
It turned into digimon vs pokemon
Then it just turned into how much pokemon sucks (Well the anime)
So I started talking about the new black and white games, and my parents left immdeatly in embarssment

[Makoes]

Crash course on EV training.
Nice guide here
or keep reading.

What is EV training? EV stands for Effort Value. For each pokemon you feint you get a certain number of "points" into a stat. Each pokemon gives a different point for a different stat. For every 4 points you get, that stat increases by 1.

Now, a pokemon can only gain so many points. 510 to be exact. Of that, you cannot gain more then 255 points into one stat.

Now Vitamines are awsome for EV training because each single vitamin gives 10 points. And you can only feed a max of 10 of one type of vitamine to a pokemon. So, 10x10=100, wow thats 100 points down just by using vitamins.

there are items a pokemon can hold to increase the amount of points it gains (see first link). as well as getting the pokerus.
Another great thing to note, exp.share is AWSOME for EV training multiple pokemon in the SAME stats.
6 pokemon in your team, first one being the attacker, the other 5 holding exp.share. after defeating your opponent ALL pokemon will gain the same amount of points in the stat. so, you can raise 6 pokemon up at the same time, awsome
A feinted pokemon will gain no points.

Now, most people choose 2 stats to level.
and because 4 points=incease of 1 in chosen sat, 255/4=not a whole number...so, the closest divisable by 4 is 252.

so, 2 stats at 252 points each, pluse the 6 extra points.

stat 1) 252
Stat 2) 252
stat 3) 6
adds up to 510!

Wow, thats alot of points to get!!!, but wait, Vitamins!

Stat 1) 252-100=152
Stat 2) 252-100=152
Stat 3) 6

well, 152, 152, 6 seems more managable. So, how to we get these points?

Well, as said, each time you fight a pokemon it gives you points. So, what pokemon do you fight to get those points? Well, that depends entirely on which stat you are increasing.

Stats pokemon give

Serebii's guide is nice and clear. By clicking on the stat icon of the stat you want to raise your pokemon in, it will take you to a nice list of all the pokemon that give you point(s) in that stat. astrex * beside the points indicates that it also gives stats in another stat as well. I advise against fighting these pokemon as it can get very confusing.

So for example:

Say I wanted to make a very high atk/spd pokemon.
for the atk stat I would feed my pokemon 10 proteins.
and I would fight Absol, absol gives 2 atk points, so 152/2=76, I would have to fight 76 absols

for the spd stat I would feed my pokemon 10 calciums.
and I would fight Raticate, raticate gives 2 spd points, so 152/2=76, I would have to fight 76 raticates.

and lastly for the 6 remainder points...lets go with HP
Noctowl gives 2 points, so 6/2=3, I would fight 3 noctowls.

Finished!!
I now have a very high atk/spd, hp pokemon ready to kick butt!!
510=(10x10 vitamins)+(76x2)+(10x10 vitamins)+(76x2)+(3x2)
(510=100+152+100+152+6)

There are other things that effect the stats of your pokemon, and that is:
Nature, personality, and natural growth (for natural growth, click on a pokemon, and there will be a bar chart showing which stats naturaly higher for that pokemon) Also handy is at the top there, you can change the order of the list by the pokemons stats(ie, highest def pokemon).
ex. Umbreon
Note the high def/s.def stats, imagine if you could make those stats even better! It wouldn't take much damage from anything! An excelent tank pokemon (*cough*Rust*cough*) that with a complimentry move set...yeah!

So, it is best to choose a stat that your pokemon naturaly excels at, plus getting one with a nature to support that, plus a personality to match.

Natures will either be neutral (=no improved growth)
or positive with a negative counterpart (+atk/-s.atk)

Personalities will always have a positive growth with no negatives

I personally take a higher lv pokemon as my lead pokemon and then train 5 pokemon at a time, via exp.share.
I also, to help keep track of how many pokemon I've "farmed" for points, use a pokemon that has 4 attacls with 20pp each. And I save my game at 10 intervats, so 10/20pp left=save, 0/20pp,save, use next attack 10/20pp save, etc, till my pokemons run out of pp. This makes doing math so much easier.
Since, say I am fighting those absol, I fight 10, 10x2=20points done, save. repeat.
I also use a piece of paper to write down after each save, how many I've fought. Mt paper tends to look like this:

( x10)save, ( x10)save, ( x10)save, ( x10)save...etc until I've gotten all 152 points. this also means I can leave my game for a bit without having to worry about losing my place, since I can check how many PP I have left to the next save.

I hope this has helped any who were still confused by EV training, and further helped those already doing this.

[Magnakilro]

BIG NEWS!

THE GLOBAL LINK SITE AND DREAM WORLD WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR USE ON APRIL 13!!!!!!! This will allow us to send our pokemon into the internet and catch stuff that doesn't normally appear in Unova. Also we can plant and grow berries here. This also means that we get our special Eeveelutions from the game on the pokemon website.

Also, the Victini event has been extended till at least April 27 so you still have time XD

Important edit: BE SURE TO REMEMBER YOUR LOG-IN INFO FOR POKEMON.COM! This info is used for Global Link as well!

More news: New event! From April 27 to May 31st, you can go to Toys R Us stores and download a special egg. This egg will hatch into either Pidove (based on Ash's from the anime), Pansage (based on Cilan's from the anime) or Axew (based on Iris's from the anime.

Pidove will know Gust, Air Cutter and Quick Attack

Axew will have Scratch and Dragon Rage

Pansage will have Bullet Seed, Bite, Dig and Solarbeam.

[Magnakilro]

NEWS! THE GLOBAL LINK SITE IS UP AND FUNCTIONAL!

[Makoes]

finally made it through all 4 levels of that cursed pong game!!! I ended up with Umbreon, and since I dont feel like doing that all again, Umbreon it is.

Now I should go try out the Global link!!!

**Edit...I think they have high traffic, I cant seem to log onto it, the page just doesnt load. Kinda like when the site went down for maintinance

[Arwyn]

Thanks for the heads up about the Global Link.

Now to find a nice, cozy, hidden spot at Barnes and Nobles tomorrow to take advantage of their wi-fi.

[Senna-Umbreon]

Ugh. Stupid Dream World refuses to let me on >.<

... In the meantime, I've been fiddling around with that Pokemon Face-Off thing on IGN again. ... I hate it when I end up having to choose between two Pokemon that I like. Porygon2 vs Oshawott.. ERG. As much as I adore Oshawott.. I love my epic little Porygon2 <3

... Glaceon vs Vaporeon.. NUUUU. WHO DO I CHOOSE.


.. Speaking of those two.. I REALLY REALLY REALLY regret getting Dream World Espeon... Why? I have a SHINY Espeon. Do I really need a normal one that just has a fancy ability? Not really, in my opinion... Green Espeon is SO much better than a Magic Bounce Espeon. So.. Yeah. I want the Vaporeon or Glaceon ;__; I'm really hoping that the site glitches and kills what Eeveelutions have chosen once they're "released" when the game gets taken down. Why? Because if that happens.. There's a good chance we'll be able to get a new Eeveelution, whether it be the original one we chose or a new one. It'd be ironic if it was still the original one... Then again, I doubt they can just go by what people have said they got, since all the data saying the person got the Eeveelution would be gone, from what I'm guessing.. So maybe they'd bring the game back so people can get the Eeveelution again. Or maybe they'll just go by what people say they got, that way people can lie and say they got a different one if they ended up regretting what they chose.

... Or maybe I can just find someone who got one of the two blue Eeveelutions who regrets it and would like Espeon instead. Yay trading XD

[Moonlost]

.. Speaking of those two.. I REALLY REALLY REALLY regret getting Dream World Espeon... Why? I have a SHINY Espeon. Do I really need a normal one that just has a fancy ability? Not really, in my opinion... Green Espeon is SO much better than a Magic Bounce Espeon. So.. Yeah. I want the Vaporeon or Glaceon ;__; I'm really hoping that the site glitches and kills what Eeveelutions have chosen once they're "released" when the game gets taken down. Why? Because if that happens.. There's a good chance we'll be able to get a new Eeveelution, whether it be the original one we chose or a new one. It'd be ironic if it was still the original one... Then again, I doubt they can just go by what people have said they got, since all the data saying the person got the Eeveelution would be gone, from what I'm guessing.. So maybe they'd bring the game back so people can get the Eeveelution again. Or maybe they'll just go by what people say they got, that way people can lie and say they got a different one if they ended up regretting what they chose.

... Or maybe I can just find someone who got one of the two blue Eeveelutions who regrets it and would like Espeon instead. Yay trading XD

Or you could hope your espeon/someone else's eeveelution is a female, that way you/they can breed them and get some dream word ability eevees. :3

Uh, I should probably point out that Yatzee of Zero Punctuation fame has done both:
a) A Zero Punctuation of Pokemon White and
b) A followup article relating to pokemon about the need to collect everything you can within games, even though you have no real need to.
If you're not familiar with Yatzee or Zero Punctuation, well, he's a very hard critic to put it mildly. Do not watch/read if you don't like the idea of someone tearing into Pokemon remorselessly. Do watch, however, if you like having your preconceptions challenged.

Honestly? I think he brings up some very good points. As much as I enjoy the new pokemon game with it's new designs and the few, small updates to gameplay, the core series has changed very, very little from it's Red and Blue days. We get new shiny things added to the game, but in the end, we're still running around beating up 8 gym leaders and ocassionally fighting Team Flavour-of-the-month. The plot is a little deeper than it has been in previous games of the series, but certainly nothing earthshattering or challenging.

Combine Yatzee's arguments about the series with the Extra Credit's episode on The Skinner Box (and in a different tangent, the Gamification episode) and... well, it certainly makes you think.

[Magnakilro]

ok so last night, me and Kira tried out the Dream World (I sent in a Deoxys XD) and it was pretty cool!

The 5th gen Secret Base is in the Dream World (a house that costs Berries to upgrade/decorate), 5th gen's berry growing is done here, and you can trade items with friends here! The main attraction is Dream Isle. Here you can catch Pokemon from 1st - 4th gen, some not being available in B/W without it (ignoring transfer), such as Skarmory, Tauros and Tentacool (never thought you'd see Tentacool not be included huh? XD). When you go to befriend a Pokemon, they challenge you to a mini game. your goal is to either win, or hit the target score. Once complete, the Pokemon will be your friend and you can send it to Entree Forest to catch. As you do stuff in Dream World, you get Dream Points. These points are basically like Watts from the Pokewalker. Earn enough and you unlock stuff.

2500: Open Sky Dream Isle area

5000: Bright Ocean Dream Isle Area

7500: More Pokemon/Items in Dream Isle areas

10,000: same as 7500

Areas: Pleasant Forest, Open Sky, Bright Ocean.

If you earn 500 Dream Points in 1 session, your pokemon lvls up.

earning points is easy:

1 Point for trading items.

10 for watering someone else's berries

10 for gathering berries

10-30 for winning mini games

50 for sending a new pokemon to your game.

The Pokemon in Dream World can have attacks they can't learn EVER (Giga Drain Surskit), or attacks that are Egg Moves or from 4th gen means. They also have unusual abilities (Scrappy Taillow).

There is a catch though.....you can only play for 1 CONSECUTIVE HOUR PER DAY. After that, you gotta wait 24 hrs till it opens up again.

[Tyuriwen]

We get new shiny things added to the game, but in the end, we're still running around beating up 8 gym leaders and ocassionally fighting Team Flavour-of-the-month. The plot is a little deeper than it has been in previous games of the series, but certainly nothing earthshattering or challenging.

I think that's the main reason I still play. I like the familiarity of it all, especially when it comes to a franchise like this. If I want a challenge, I tend to play other games, but Pokémon games are just about the nostalgia for me ;P

[Moonlost]

We get new shiny things added to the game, but in the end, we're still running around beating up 8 gym leaders and ocassionally fighting Team Flavour-of-the-month. The plot is a little deeper than it has been in previous games of the series, but certainly nothing earthshattering or challenging.

I think that's the main reason I still play. I like the familiarity of it all, especially when it comes to a franchise like this. If I want a challenge, I tend to play other games, but Pokémon games are just about the nostalgia for me ;P

Aye, I can respect that. I suppose the opposite side of the argument is that if you deviate too far from the original concept, you end up with something completely different and unwarrented that it barely resembles the name it goes under. I mean, just look at the latest few Final Fantasy games. >.>

But would it be too hard or unwelcome to change the formula just a little? How about you originally start working for Team Flavour-of-the-month, but your adventures though Pokemonland cause you to reconsider your actions? Or how about Gyms where the goal isn't to defeat a bunch of lackeys followed by a gym leader for a badge, but rather to prove mastery and understanding over that typing though a series of themed puzzles and trials?
Don't get me wrong, the latest games are definately a step forward in the right direction. TMs that don't get used up? Awesome. Wild Pokemon that award a ton of exp, so grinding becomes a little less tedious? Sign me up. A plot beyond "Bwahaha! We're Team Rum and Raisin and we want to do evil things with pokemon!", however basic it still might be? Lovely.

Pokemon doesn't need to have the same amount of depth of Mass Effect or The Elder Scrolls; that would be a great shame and would destroy a lot of the innocence and charm of the series. But again, I guess I personally don't just want nostalgia in a different coloured box with more sparkles. If I want nostalgia, I still have my old brick gameboy and a working copy of pokemon yellow.

[Magnakilro]

little more info on Dream World: The games are on SEPARATE LOCKOUTS! So you can play 1 hour with Black and another hour with White. Found this out today when I synced up Black and tried to enter.

Befriended Lotad, Rattata and Sunkern. Sadly only one pokemon could go with me so I took Lotad.

[Senna-Umbreon]

Just to poke my opinion in here... Here's the thing, there's a lot of other Pokemon games that have good stories. I don't think the main games really need that much of a change. If you want a change in pace, try one of the Shadow Pokemon games (Colosseum and Gale of Darkness), one of the Ranger games or, even better, Mystery Dungeon. Want a darker themed story line that is absolutely amazing? Look no further than Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time, Darkness and the Sky. Great Arceus is the story in those games amazing, and a LOT darker than the main game story lines.

How about you originally start working for Team Flavour-of-the-month, but your adventures though Pokemonland cause you to reconsider your actions?

Wellll.... Actually, that's been done. Not in the main games, but in Colosseum, where that's kind of the story of the main character.

[Moonlost]

Always love more opinions Senna. :3
I should probably note that I love nothing more than an awesome and civil debate. XD

I freely admit I would love to try the Shadow Pokemon games and that I would probably enjoy them. But I just can't justify spending any of our ever diminishing budget on them when there's a billion other games I would rather pick up instead, many of which we've had to ignore just so we can pay the bills. I should try and find a decent Let's Play of the game though, just to see how it unfolds.
But they were released a number of years ago now. We haven't seen a similar theme of pokemon games crop up since their release. Why not?

As for Ranger and Mystery Dungeon... This is going to sound horrible, but I just don't like how those games play. The capture/taming/I LOVE YOU mechanic for Ranger felt clunky and I really disliked slogging though the longer Mystery Dungeon dungeons. I'm sorry, but being stuck in an area with little to no variation in decor for a good half an hour between story segments is boring to me. I find myself hoping that each floor I go into is the last so I can just get out and back to the interesting stuff. I know dungeon crawling is pretty stock standard stuff for RPGs, but in most good ones there's always something new to keep your attention. A cutscene, a puzzle or a change of scenery, something similar.
I'm rambling. Good for you if you enjoy those games, but they're not my cup of tea.

Anyway, my argument isn't against the side games. It's the core stuff. Seems a lot of people are on the side of keeping the formula the same. (Not just here, but on other sites as well.) Let me ask you then; Why? Is it purely for nostalgia, the fear that by stepping outside of the familiar, the game will somehow twist into something unrecognisable and horrible? Or do you just want the game to be something that you can turn your brain off to play, something simple that doesn't make you think beyond the combat system? Is it so wrong for me to desire a Pokemon Turn-based JRPG in in which I cannot immediately guess what the basic plot will be?

Again, I'm not asking for Pokemon to be turned into Shin Meganium Tensei: Pokesona 4 or Salamance Age: Origins. (Although those would be kinda cool >.>) I don't need to see swearing and blood and other mature themes to have a rewarding gaming experience. I just think that seeing the series divert a little from the formula they've kept with for 15 years can't be a bad thing.

[Senna-Umbreon]

I can definitely understand the dislike for the longer dungeons in the PMD games. Those are horrid. Though.. I've personally found the storyline dungeons to not be very long at all. Usually about 20 floors at the most with the exception of the last one, which is about 30 floors. It may seem like a lot, but compared to the longer dungeons.. They're fairly nice XD Though I can say that the dungeons in the post-game storyline are long.. So playing the newer PMD games just for the story can't really work if you don't like the long dungeons. To be honest.. I'd just suggesting finding playthrough videos of the game to see the storyline. The plot in PMD2 is, like I said before, absolutely amazing. <3

Also, another thing.. I think they've been inching slightly further away from the main theme with each generation, with Black and White being the furthest from the original than any of the others (Obviously), so.. It is a step in the right direction XD Though, personally, I'm pretty much fine with how it's going. All I'd REALLY like is an actual plot after beating the main storyline, like there is in PMD2. It just seems so... Boring to go from saving the world and being immersed in an amazing story one second.. And the next.. Being just thrown out into the rest of the game that has no story whatsoever. At least the Johto games were a bit better with that since there's Kanto to explore after beating the Elite Four... But I want a REAL storyline afterwards. It'd definitely make the games a lot more enjoyable to me.

[Moonlost]

Also, another thing.. I think they've been inching slightly further away from the main theme with each generation, with Black and White being the furthest from the original than any of the others (Obviously), so.. It is a step in the right direction XD Though, personally, I'm pretty much fine with how it's going. All I'd REALLY like is an actual plot after beating the main storyline, like there is in PMD2. It just seems so... Boring to go from saving the world and being immersed in an amazing story one second.. And the next.. Being just thrown out into the rest of the game that has no story whatsoever. At least the Johto games were a bit better with that since there's Kanto to explore after beating the Elite Four... But I want a REAL storyline afterwards. It'd definitely make the games a lot more enjoyable to me.

I pretty much agree with 90% of that paragraph, and the few things I don't I've already gone over in earier posts. XD
I've stopped playing White pretty much for this reason, indeed most of my other pokemon games stop being played once I beat the Elite 4. The only thing compelling me to keep playing is tracking down the, ah, stray fragments at the end of the game (Avoiding spoilers just in case. You know what I mean) and seeing the new towns. And even then, that's not really much incentive.
I also freely admit part of my problem continuing is that I've been a bit wishy washy over my team, grinding up some new pokemon for it for the past few days has evaporated my interest. Although I love Thresher, my female Garchomp. XD

[Makoes]

I think this is why my favourite of the gameboy pokemon games was Pokemon Crystal. Not only do you go through Johto but then you gain access to Kento as well. It was like having two games in one.
I agree though that thr story line is pretty much copy/paste for much of the generations, with B&W adding a little more depth. I was still defeat Team ____, aquire all the badges, beat the chanpion and Catch em all.

What i would love for them to do though is implinemt a game where you choose what you want to be. Trainer, breeder, contests, gym leader, etc, and the game's story line adjusts to that. Of course that would be something far more complex to program. Since it would have to have several games programmed into it, and play whichever one fits your choice. Although it is possible to do for a wii game.

This latest generation also did some great improvements on the graphics compaired to previouse generations, but again falls far short of what the system is actually capable of. See Golden sun, See Final Fantasy, etc. Those games have had 3demansional characters, battle animations, detailed battle scene and animated monsters for several years, while Pokemon is still highly pixilated, has very basic battle scene and pokemon are just now starting to move constantly in battle, but are still badly pixilated.

As much as I love the pokemon games, and all the awsome pokemon. I am wondering just how much longer we will have to wait before they finally catch up to everyone else in technological advancements.
They only seem to want to put that kind of effort into tv consol games like Gamecube and wii.

Also, they have over the generations introduced several really fun features, that for whatever reason, are not carried over into the following generations. (pokemon rebattles, poketech, pokemon following you, mystery island, pokemon outside of battles -more then just one or two in a town, varied contests, etc)

whoops, kinda wrote more then I was expecting!

[Makoes]

And I still cant get into dreamworld