James Chen @ 14/10/2013 21:06

so XL is worth the extra 25 bucks or w/e it is?

if you want the larger screen and better battery life yeah.
The battery on mine works fine for what I use it for though. With the 3D off it lasts quite a while.

Damn, this game is huge. I still haven't got to the second gym and I've been playing sporadically all day.

Also Spewpa, Skiddo?

Really, translations team, really?

Counselor Paulus @ 14/10/2013 21:09

Also Spewpa, Skiddo? Really, translations team, really?

This has been lacking for quite sometime, I must admit.

Skidoooooo

I was surprised at the gap between the first and second gym. I just beat the second gym and then stopped, but I hope the other gaps are just as long. I kind of doubt they will be, though.

Also my team: (SPOILERS ABOUT STUFF I GUESS?)

Spoiler

+

Braxien (26) Butterfree (26) Ivysaur (26) Floette (26) Honedge (24) Aerodactyl (21) I am going to miss butterfree so much, but I realize I'm gonna have to get rid of her. I want to get the fighting/flying and the rock/water to round out the team (will replace aerodactyl as well), but I can't remember the names right now. Flabebe sucks but I'm having much more success with the evolved form. Can't wait for Florges and Moon Blast.

I already can't stop thinking of things I want to do for my next playthrough.

So I finally beat the second gym. Changed my team up a bit from before.

Evolved Kakuna into Beedrill and replaced it because it's quite a boring pokemon with nothing really outstanding to offer. I think I played through with a beedrill to the elite four before and I'm not sure why. Fennekin went the second it evolved. I usually keep the starter right through but I just don't like where this line is going.

Scatterbug was lost when it became Spewpa. I could evolve it into Vivillon but that means raising it as Spewpa and I just can't love me no mon with a name like Spewpa. Also ditched Pikachu. He very much was pulling his weight but I'm just not a fan. I don't like stone evolving pokemon at the best of times. Natural evolution is much better.

I lost bidoof almost immediately. No thanks. So of the team I posted before, only Fletchling stayed on. He's now a Fletchinder and is great.

Briefly used an Espurr but I'm not big on cat pokemon and I found a much, much better replacement on the psychic front. He also wasn't pulling his weight, so he went. Can't be having them let the side down. Of all the drops I think pikachu was the most painful.

That being said, it's all looking up with my brand new and exciting team:

Fletchinder
Wartortle
Litleo
Axew
Honedge

Axew is great. As soon as I fought him and he was slamming dragon rage at me (at a time before I'd even found the second gym, quite a bit before actually) I knew he was a keeper. Never been my favourite dragon line (I'm a traditionalist with the Dragonite love but I can go for Salamence too) but I can't resist.

Litleo is shaping up nicely. Curious to see his evolution (if he evolves. No spoilers please!). I keep pronouncing his name mentally as "Little-O" which doesn't cease to amuse me for some reason. Fletchinder is a duplicate with the fire type which normally I avoid like the plague but since he's the only one of my original line up to make the cut, I sort of feel attached and he's quite a fighter.

Wartortle goes without saying really. I didn't like having two starters and I've been contemplating replacing him, but he saved my ass in the fight against Grant. Currently my strongest and with me ditching the all new starter, I might just take him to the end, subverting my usual fire-starter trend. I got Wartortle to avoid having two of the same type to begin with and Blastoise is much, much cooler than Venusaur (grass types suck).

Honedge is wonderful. Saw some mention of him earlier in the thread and was instantly curious. The second I ran into one, I needed to try it and I haven't looked back. With swords dance and fury cutter going hand in hand, not to mention that wonderful type combo, he's a keeper for sure. Also hoping he evolves but no spoilers please. I can settle if he doesn't.

Last but not least, this guy needs his own paragraph because I think I have a new favourite pokemon. Now bear in mind I have, and always have had a tremendous amount of love for Quagsire. To replace Quagsire as the favourite in my heart would take an awful amount of doing. But not long after meeting this guy, I think we already have a winner.

Spoiler

+

It's Inkay. Start things off with the fact he's a floating squid with a smiley face. I like cephalopods in general, so any pokemon in that realm is fine by me. There's not been a full on squid before. Some would say tentacool, but in my mind tentacool is more a Jellyfish than a pureborn squid. Moving on from that, the type variation. In spite of being a squid, he's a psychic and dark type. Therein was Espurr's immediate replacement. No contest for me really. It's a great combination that works well on a number of occasions and I like the fact it subverts expectations. Somebody unfamiliar with X and Y will assume water and send out a grass type and I will smirk. And last but not least is the schtick. His entire basis of being is the fact that he subverts stat boosting to a wonderful degree. He comes with an ability that instantly turns all negative stat changes aimed at himself to positive ones (so your opponent will hammer you with defense decreasing moves and the like whilst you get ever stronger and the AI never seems to quite pick up on this fact). He also learns a move called topsy-turvy which flips the OPPONENT'S accumulated stat boosts on their head. Ever have a pokemon that hammers minimise or harden for turns and turns and turns and becomes a walking fortress? Send Inkay out, use a single move and watch them squirm into a puddle of jelly. Thirdly, he came equipped with Swagger and a move called Foul Play. Foul Play gets stronger, the stronger your opponent is. So with a very powerful attacking opponent, this move is at its peak. Couple this with the Swagger move which spikes your opponents attack and confuses them in one and you've got a lethal mix. It's risky, but against a strong foe you can use Swagger, hope the opponent hits itself whilst in a state of confusion (doing ridiculous damage to itself in the process), use Foul Play to do your own powered up attack and finally, when the confusion wears off and you're screwed, throw topsy-turvy at the foe and invert their attack stat to tiny levels. I love how psychologically screwy it all is. No idea if he evolves but I'm assuming he does at this point. My dex had Inkay, a space and then Lunatone. Hadn't found Solrock at the time so it could've gone either way but I was pleased to see Solrock in the space after Lunatone. That leaves a slot for an Inkay evolution. No spoilers on this please (really, really please) but I'll be thrilled to see the evolved form that I'm holding on hope for existing. If not? I'll cope. He's fine as he is really but an evolution would be wonderful. Had to really squirm away from the results when digging up that image so I wouldn't be spoiled on possible evolutionary forms.

Elite 4, here I go!

Ok I have beaten the game:

The Elite 4 and the Champion

+

The pokemon league in this game is special, here you get to choose the order in defeating the Elite Four. The Pokemon types they used from easiest to hardest were Fire, Water, Dragon and Steel. My pokemon were like Level 72+ and the E4 fell with ease. Then it was the Champion. She was easy, her pokemon could be dealt with my Blaziken and Blastoise in OHKOs except for her Goodra which was a Dragon type "tank" pokemon. It was the easiest Pokemon League in the series and it didn't help if the Four had four pokemon each.

Paul you should put an exp share on spewpa, I'd like to see what your Vivillon looks like.

Is there any way to screenshot the game? All pictures of it I've seen are photos of the 3DS... it would be a shame if they didn't include a screenshot option like Animal Crossing did.

Exp. Share works differently now Mal, It is a Key Item and you turn it on or off and it has been buffed. It's like if you turn it on it gives 50% ex for the battling pokemon and like 50% EACH for the rest.

As for capturing photos I think you need a capturing device card. You could always use your camera or phone to capture photos but it looks ugly.

Also the 3 birds from Kanto are back and they are a bitch to capture, they act like the 3 dogs of Johto/Latios/Latias that you have to chase around the region to catch, plus they are level 70! Makes you wish that you have 3 Master Balls, I haven't used mine yet and I'm debating if I'm going to use it on Mewtwo.

The Crapkeeper @ 15/10/2013 10:30

Exp. Share works differently now Mal, It is a Key Item and you turn it on or off and it has been buffed. It's like if you turn it on it gives 50% ex for the battling pokemon and like 50% EACH for the rest. As for capturing photos I think you need a capturing device card. You could always use your camera or phone to capture photos but it looks ugly.

oh so it's like exp all again? weird.

still there is always the switch it out after having it first method.

It really won't take long to evolve Spewpa tbh. And yeah, the experience share is weird in this. Always in two minds whether I should use it or not. Generally veer towards the not side.