Unless you've been living under a rock, you know that the Nintendo direct finally aired on 9/13/18. It was an exciting time as game news was announced for almost 40 minutes. In that time, some interesting Pokémon news did come out and I want to discuss it. If you haven't seen the direct, you can watch it here (skip to 17:32 for the Pokémon part if that's all you want to see).
The quick trailer shows off more Pokémon walk/ride animations such as Dodrio. It also showcases more game area footage like Celadon City, the interior of the S.S. Anne, and Erica's gym. It also mentions something else - no HMs! Let me explain, HMs like Cut, Surf, etc. are now considered secret techniques that can be used exclusively by your partner Pokémon (Pikachu or Eevee). This is good - it keeps you from bogging down your move sets with unnecessary moves (who needs Cut in Victory Road?!) I like this a lot and hope this is a sign that this will be the trend (no HMs not secret techniques) for future core games. If you watch carefully, you can see that Cut is now called Chop Down... this seems superfluous to me... the names mean the same thing so why change them?? Also, the Fly technique is just a bike frame attached to balloons. How are you supposed to control where you float?? Is there a motor/rudder on it somewhere that I am just not seeing? Oh well, let's move on!
Partner Pokémon have more perks including special moves for battle that only they can use. Pikachu's move is definitely electric type while Eevee's move is fire type. This makes me wonder if Eevee will learn a move for each type in can evolve into (3, if we're sticking to Kanto-only Pokémon). This is an interesting idea. I see a lot of potential in this. Lastly, if you pet your partner Pokémon while in 'handheld' mode, you can style their hair differently. This is cute... meh, but cute. Also, there will be a special Switch bundle for the games including a special system and controllers but I would only get that if I didn't already have a Switch or you really like collecting Pokémon memorabilia.
I am aware there was also a new trailer put out this same week but I chose to focus on the Direct this time around. I hope you enjoyed this post and will Follow Me so you won't miss out on future posts. Leave a comment below telling me your thoughts on the Nintendo Direct. Are you excited or disappointed? Which bit of news was your favorite?? Anyway, have a great weekend and as always, keep on gaming!!!
Saturday, September 15, 2018
Friday, September 7, 2018
Duels Links Gaia Genesis Box - 5 Cards That Make No Sense
Hello, we are back to once again look at Duel Links and ponder Konami's choices. Up for debate this time are 5 cards from the latest box: Gaia Genesis. This new box contains new Archetypes: Aquaactress, Mermail, U.A., and Koa'ki Meiru. All of these new Archetypes show great promise and some great new cards. There are also some more support cards for various Archetypes and general types: Frogs, Elemental Heroes, Gemini, Fiends, Fire Fist, Atlantean, Ice Barrier, Cloudians, Fish, Rock, and Aqua types. There are also some generic cards sprinkled throughout this box that can be used in any deck like Snowman Eater (a slower Man-Eater Bug). Most of this box is pretty good and gets me excited about new deck possibilities. However, there are a few cards that I just do not understand why Konami felt they needed to be added to this box. Let's take a look at these cards so I can explain why I am so perplexed.
5) Burst Return
This is a normal spell card with the following effect: if you have E.H. Burstinatrix on your field, return all of your face-up Elemental Heroes to your hand except for your Burstinatrix. I will be frank here: why is this in Duel Links?! I can't think of any cards that this could combo with (that are in Duel Links right now) and it seems very situational. Aside from being used the anime, why was this put in the latest box? The other Elemental Hero support cards at least had some potential but this one is a mystery. Still, there could be some way to use this card so that 's why it gets the #5 spot.
4) Wodan the Resident of the Forest
This is a level 3, Earth attribute Warrior monster with 900 ATK and 1200 DEF. It's effect is that it gains 100 ATK for every face-up Plant monster on the field. Where do I begin with this one?? First of all, at best this is a gain of 500 ATK if A) your opponent is using a Plant deck and B) both players have a full field. Second, that only means 1400 ATK and in today's meta, that isn't much. Maybe you can bulk it with some equip/field spells and protect it with some back row but aside from that, the card doesn't offer much. This card has a glimmer of potential but I still don't see why it was added to the box.
3) Little Swordsman of Aile
This is a level 3, Water attribute Warrior monster with 800 ATK and 1300 DEF. It's effect is: tribute 1 monster on your field to increase this card's ATK by 700. This only lasts for one turn. Wow... you lose a monster so this card can have 1500 ATK... for 1 turn then it returns to 800 and gets obliterated. I don't know who thought this was a good idea. Decks these days are all about swarming but I would not get rid of one of my monsters for some temporary, weak ATK boosting. It is not worth it. This card was useful early on in the TCG but now... I think I'll give this one a pass.
2) Yado Karu
This is a level 4, Water attribute Aqua monster with 900 ATK and 1700 DEF. If this card is changed from attack to defense position, you can put any amount of cards from your hand to the bottom of your deck in whatever order you want. Um.... first of all, this card has to survive a turn in attack position which isn't that hard with the right back row. The issue is... what good is it to put cards from my hand to the bottom of my deck??? That's giving up part of your hand for no reason. Why is this in Duel Links???
1) Zone Eater
This is a level 1, Water attribute Aqua monster with 250 ATK and 200 DEF. What does it do? If it attacks a monster, that monster will be destroyed during the End Phase of the 5th turn that follows said attack. Let that sink in for a bit.... First, you have to attack something which means you will have to bulk this card up somehow or lose serious life points. Then, you have to wait 5 turns- that's 5 turns - for the monster to be destroyed. You will lose the duel before that happens. This card has no point to it - especially in Duel Links. I can't think of a single situation where this would be useful. In short, this is the worst card in this box (and maybe the entire game). So... why was this in Gaia Genesis again???
Well, that does it for this week. I know I'm early but I'm not sure what tomorrow holds so I figured it better to get it done early than possibly not at all. I hope you enjoyed this post. Follow me so you won't miss out on future posts. Leave a comment below telling what you think of the newest box in Duel Links. Is it great? Is it bad? Are there cards you think are worse than this list? I'd love to know what you think. Have a great weekend and as always, keep on gaming!!!
5) Burst Return
This is a normal spell card with the following effect: if you have E.H. Burstinatrix on your field, return all of your face-up Elemental Heroes to your hand except for your Burstinatrix. I will be frank here: why is this in Duel Links?! I can't think of any cards that this could combo with (that are in Duel Links right now) and it seems very situational. Aside from being used the anime, why was this put in the latest box? The other Elemental Hero support cards at least had some potential but this one is a mystery. Still, there could be some way to use this card so that 's why it gets the #5 spot.
4) Wodan the Resident of the Forest
This is a level 3, Earth attribute Warrior monster with 900 ATK and 1200 DEF. It's effect is that it gains 100 ATK for every face-up Plant monster on the field. Where do I begin with this one?? First of all, at best this is a gain of 500 ATK if A) your opponent is using a Plant deck and B) both players have a full field. Second, that only means 1400 ATK and in today's meta, that isn't much. Maybe you can bulk it with some equip/field spells and protect it with some back row but aside from that, the card doesn't offer much. This card has a glimmer of potential but I still don't see why it was added to the box.
3) Little Swordsman of Aile
This is a level 3, Water attribute Warrior monster with 800 ATK and 1300 DEF. It's effect is: tribute 1 monster on your field to increase this card's ATK by 700. This only lasts for one turn. Wow... you lose a monster so this card can have 1500 ATK... for 1 turn then it returns to 800 and gets obliterated. I don't know who thought this was a good idea. Decks these days are all about swarming but I would not get rid of one of my monsters for some temporary, weak ATK boosting. It is not worth it. This card was useful early on in the TCG but now... I think I'll give this one a pass.
2) Yado Karu
This is a level 4, Water attribute Aqua monster with 900 ATK and 1700 DEF. If this card is changed from attack to defense position, you can put any amount of cards from your hand to the bottom of your deck in whatever order you want. Um.... first of all, this card has to survive a turn in attack position which isn't that hard with the right back row. The issue is... what good is it to put cards from my hand to the bottom of my deck??? That's giving up part of your hand for no reason. Why is this in Duel Links???
1) Zone Eater
This is a level 1, Water attribute Aqua monster with 250 ATK and 200 DEF. What does it do? If it attacks a monster, that monster will be destroyed during the End Phase of the 5th turn that follows said attack. Let that sink in for a bit.... First, you have to attack something which means you will have to bulk this card up somehow or lose serious life points. Then, you have to wait 5 turns- that's 5 turns - for the monster to be destroyed. You will lose the duel before that happens. This card has no point to it - especially in Duel Links. I can't think of a single situation where this would be useful. In short, this is the worst card in this box (and maybe the entire game). So... why was this in Gaia Genesis again???
Well, that does it for this week. I know I'm early but I'm not sure what tomorrow holds so I figured it better to get it done early than possibly not at all. I hope you enjoyed this post. Follow me so you won't miss out on future posts. Leave a comment below telling what you think of the newest box in Duel Links. Is it great? Is it bad? Are there cards you think are worse than this list? I'd love to know what you think. Have a great weekend and as always, keep on gaming!!!
Saturday, August 25, 2018
Duel Links: Monster World Event Review
Another event has been launched this week in Duel Links and as usual, the results are hit and miss. I'm not saying I hate this event - I do enjoy it quite a bit. I just feel that there are a few things that can be improved upon. Let's get into it!
1) Not Enough Stamina
The event is basically traversing a game board area. You collect chest rewards, do dice battles, and duel boss monsters. To traverse each area, you need stamina. You get a set amount and after its used up it replenishes at a rate of 1 stamina every 4 minutes. That is fine in the beginning but it slowly gets tedious once you hit the higher areas with bigger boards. For instance, I am at Area 27 as of writing this post and have 70 Stamina (my max). This amount of stamina seems like a lot but I feel it won't get me past halfway through this board if I am lucky. Dice battles and duel boss battles cost an increasing amount of stamina (along with the -1 for moving to plain new spaces) so you'll use up your stamina quite quickly - especially since the number of dice duels and battles also increases as you go up to higher levels. What about potions? That is fine but only small ones are given for a long time - I've only recently received my 2nd large potion thus far. The point is, the amount of boosting stamina items should be proportional to the amount needed to get back through the board.
2) Disappointing Chest Rewards
Ooh, a treasure chest! What's in it?! Oh, a small amount of gold or a small amount of coins for the lottery. These values appear to have been the same since the beginning of the event and they are quite disappointing. Sometimes, I get a few gems but mostly gold and lottery coins. It doesn't feel very rewarding.at all.
3) Terrible Lottery Pull Rates
Okay, consider that you get a free pull each day (worth 300 coins) plus you can earn 300 coins in PVP battles. If you earn enough each day for at least one pull that would be 900 coins a day for 30 items. I have spent about 600 (I think) a day for the first 4 days or so which equals about 2400 coins or 80 items. In that time, I have pulled 2 UR cards (Zorc and Skilled Blue Magician), 5 SR cards (1 Skilled White Magician, 2 Earthbound Spirits, and 1 Berserk Gorilla). My point is, that I feel like I had a very low pull rate for good cards. I don't know if I have bad luck or if this is the same for all duelists.
4) Disappointing Map Completion Rewards
This is like the treasure chest rewards above. I don't like to nitpick but the increasing time needed to complete each board does not seem to be worth it for the rewards given. Granted, the rewards for Areas 26+ are better than the first 25 but only 1 SR jewel when we get 50 and 100 R jewels for other levels?! We can get 10000 gold but only 60 and 75 gems?! I feel like gems are more desirable than gold so you would think that gems would be the more common reward.
Anyway, the point is that if you are going to sink time (and possibly money) into this event, the rewards should serve as an incentive to keep playing. Right now... I'm not sure if I want to spend so much time on meager rewards. I'll keep playing but probably not as much as I originally intended. Konami, please, fix the rewards to keep duelists engaged or they will stop playing.
Well, that's it for this week. It was quite a rant but I felt it was justified. I hope you enjoyed this post and will follow me so you don't miss out on future posts. Leave a comment below telling me your thoughts on the current event and suggestions for improving it. Have a great weekend and as always: keep on gaming!!!
1) Not Enough Stamina
The event is basically traversing a game board area. You collect chest rewards, do dice battles, and duel boss monsters. To traverse each area, you need stamina. You get a set amount and after its used up it replenishes at a rate of 1 stamina every 4 minutes. That is fine in the beginning but it slowly gets tedious once you hit the higher areas with bigger boards. For instance, I am at Area 27 as of writing this post and have 70 Stamina (my max). This amount of stamina seems like a lot but I feel it won't get me past halfway through this board if I am lucky. Dice battles and duel boss battles cost an increasing amount of stamina (along with the -1 for moving to plain new spaces) so you'll use up your stamina quite quickly - especially since the number of dice duels and battles also increases as you go up to higher levels. What about potions? That is fine but only small ones are given for a long time - I've only recently received my 2nd large potion thus far. The point is, the amount of boosting stamina items should be proportional to the amount needed to get back through the board.
2) Disappointing Chest Rewards
Ooh, a treasure chest! What's in it?! Oh, a small amount of gold or a small amount of coins for the lottery. These values appear to have been the same since the beginning of the event and they are quite disappointing. Sometimes, I get a few gems but mostly gold and lottery coins. It doesn't feel very rewarding.at all.
3) Terrible Lottery Pull Rates
Okay, consider that you get a free pull each day (worth 300 coins) plus you can earn 300 coins in PVP battles. If you earn enough each day for at least one pull that would be 900 coins a day for 30 items. I have spent about 600 (I think) a day for the first 4 days or so which equals about 2400 coins or 80 items. In that time, I have pulled 2 UR cards (Zorc and Skilled Blue Magician), 5 SR cards (1 Skilled White Magician, 2 Earthbound Spirits, and 1 Berserk Gorilla). My point is, that I feel like I had a very low pull rate for good cards. I don't know if I have bad luck or if this is the same for all duelists.
4) Disappointing Map Completion Rewards
This is like the treasure chest rewards above. I don't like to nitpick but the increasing time needed to complete each board does not seem to be worth it for the rewards given. Granted, the rewards for Areas 26+ are better than the first 25 but only 1 SR jewel when we get 50 and 100 R jewels for other levels?! We can get 10000 gold but only 60 and 75 gems?! I feel like gems are more desirable than gold so you would think that gems would be the more common reward.
Anyway, the point is that if you are going to sink time (and possibly money) into this event, the rewards should serve as an incentive to keep playing. Right now... I'm not sure if I want to spend so much time on meager rewards. I'll keep playing but probably not as much as I originally intended. Konami, please, fix the rewards to keep duelists engaged or they will stop playing.
Well, that's it for this week. It was quite a rant but I felt it was justified. I hope you enjoyed this post and will follow me so you don't miss out on future posts. Leave a comment below telling me your thoughts on the current event and suggestions for improving it. Have a great weekend and as always: keep on gaming!!!
Saturday, August 18, 2018
Newest Let's Go, Pikachu/Eevee Trailers Showcase Mega-Evolution!!!
I'm back and we have new trailers for the upcoming Pokémon games! If you wish to see the trailers yourself, you can see the English trailer here and the Japanese trailer here. Ready? Okay, let's jump right into it!!!
The English trailer shows us more gameplay, specifically: Vermilion City, the S.S. Anne, and Lt. Surge's Gym. All of the footage looks wonderful and the S.S. Anne is especially impressive compared to its previous 2D incarnations. The gym footage seems to suggest that the gym puzzles will remain the same. That's fine for most gyms but it raises concerns for Koga's gym. If you didn't know (or need a refresher), Koga utilizes invisible walls to create a maze. This is fine in 2D when you can see the entire gym from above but I wonder what it will look like in 3D. Would it even work? If invisible walls were used in reality, they would be glass. You could see them by either smacking into them or noticing all the smudges from previous trainers' encounters with the walls. It just doesn't seem that practical, to be honest. We'll just have to see what Game Freak comes up with for this game.
Next, is the reveal of our favorite Team Rocket trio: Jessie, James, and Meowth - that's right! I am glad they were included in this game since the Team Rocket is a big part of the story. I even like how James is holding a rose like in the anime. Anyway, the last part is the most surprising: mega-evolution! I was certain that since Sun/Moon and US/UM, mega-evolution would never be mentioned again except as a post-game extra. While it's not quite clear if this is the case or not, it is still nice to see mega-evolution will be in the game. It also gives me hope for new mega-evolutions like maybe Butterfree, Lapras, Farfetch'd, or even Nidoqueen! Again, Sun/Moon and US/UM seemed to give the impression that all focus was going to be on Z-Moves and newer mechanics so any hope is great!
If you look at the Japanese trailer, you will see something else. When Charizard is evolved, the button has both an X and a Y on it. Charizard is the only Pokémon with 2 evolutions: Charizard-X and Charizard-Y. My points is: why are both forms shown on the same button? Does that mean there will be a generic Charizardite and you can choose which form you want to evolve into or did the game developers just make a fancy button to show both options despite which mega stone you are holding??? I don't know. It's again not clear but it is something else to look forward to in the new games.
Well, that's it for this week - wait, there is one last thing. I managed to pick up an extra legendary Pokémon code at GameStop last week and decided that I would share it with my readers. Please remember this is a first come, first serve deal. Whoever gets it, please leave a comment below telling us - and maybe tell me about the Pokémon you got: Groudon or Kyogre? Okay, here's the code: A8522PF8M247A8WE . This code is for either a Kyogre (Sun/US) or a Groudon (Moon/UM). The code expires on Nov 28, 2018. Remember, to get it you have to go to your game menu and select Mystery Gift then Receive Gift then Get with Code/Password. I wish you all the best of luck and if I get any more extras this year, I will post them (if I am lucky). Have fun!!
Leave a comment below telling me your thoughts on the latest trailers. Don't forget to follow me if you enjoyed this post so you won't miss out on future posts. Have a great weekend and as always, keep on gaming!!! Next week's topic will be about Duel Links. See you then!
The English trailer shows us more gameplay, specifically: Vermilion City, the S.S. Anne, and Lt. Surge's Gym. All of the footage looks wonderful and the S.S. Anne is especially impressive compared to its previous 2D incarnations. The gym footage seems to suggest that the gym puzzles will remain the same. That's fine for most gyms but it raises concerns for Koga's gym. If you didn't know (or need a refresher), Koga utilizes invisible walls to create a maze. This is fine in 2D when you can see the entire gym from above but I wonder what it will look like in 3D. Would it even work? If invisible walls were used in reality, they would be glass. You could see them by either smacking into them or noticing all the smudges from previous trainers' encounters with the walls. It just doesn't seem that practical, to be honest. We'll just have to see what Game Freak comes up with for this game.
Next, is the reveal of our favorite Team Rocket trio: Jessie, James, and Meowth - that's right! I am glad they were included in this game since the Team Rocket is a big part of the story. I even like how James is holding a rose like in the anime. Anyway, the last part is the most surprising: mega-evolution! I was certain that since Sun/Moon and US/UM, mega-evolution would never be mentioned again except as a post-game extra. While it's not quite clear if this is the case or not, it is still nice to see mega-evolution will be in the game. It also gives me hope for new mega-evolutions like maybe Butterfree, Lapras, Farfetch'd, or even Nidoqueen! Again, Sun/Moon and US/UM seemed to give the impression that all focus was going to be on Z-Moves and newer mechanics so any hope is great!
If you look at the Japanese trailer, you will see something else. When Charizard is evolved, the button has both an X and a Y on it. Charizard is the only Pokémon with 2 evolutions: Charizard-X and Charizard-Y. My points is: why are both forms shown on the same button? Does that mean there will be a generic Charizardite and you can choose which form you want to evolve into or did the game developers just make a fancy button to show both options despite which mega stone you are holding??? I don't know. It's again not clear but it is something else to look forward to in the new games.
Well, that's it for this week - wait, there is one last thing. I managed to pick up an extra legendary Pokémon code at GameStop last week and decided that I would share it with my readers. Please remember this is a first come, first serve deal. Whoever gets it, please leave a comment below telling us - and maybe tell me about the Pokémon you got: Groudon or Kyogre? Okay, here's the code: A8522PF8M247A8WE . This code is for either a Kyogre (Sun/US) or a Groudon (Moon/UM). The code expires on Nov 28, 2018. Remember, to get it you have to go to your game menu and select Mystery Gift then Receive Gift then Get with Code/Password. I wish you all the best of luck and if I get any more extras this year, I will post them (if I am lucky). Have fun!!
Leave a comment below telling me your thoughts on the latest trailers. Don't forget to follow me if you enjoyed this post so you won't miss out on future posts. Have a great weekend and as always, keep on gaming!!! Next week's topic will be about Duel Links. See you then!
Saturday, July 21, 2018
Duel Links: Train Your Kuriboh Event Review
Oh Duel Links, why must your events be so hit or miss?? The event in question this time is the currently ongoing 'Train Your Kuriboh' event. You'd think this would be an easy event to pull off but as usual, it's not what it's hyped up to be. Let's get into it!
First of all, you are 'training' a Kuriboh that lives on the right side of your app screen. Training means you duel every day and can add a maximum of 300 points to the Kuriboh's life bar. Here is where things get annoying. You can only add 300 points which are really easy to get and then you have to wait a day to add more points. When the Kuriboh levels up to a new form, a new prize is available. To get said prize, you must release your Kuriboh. You will not get another one. That's right - only 1 Kuriboh per campaign and which means one prize for the event. Yeah.... not exactly as great as it first seemed, huh??? To make matters worse, the point levels aren't for one continuous bar like usual. Once you evolve your Kuriboh to a Kuribandit with 700 points, for example, the bar resets to 0 (plus any extra points from the previous bar) and you have to start all over again. If you are working towards the highest form, like me, you will have to amass roughly 6000 points in total to fill the last bar up to 2500 and at only 300 points a day, that will take weeks to accomplish. I think I will get my Kuribohrn by next Saturday or July 28 which means it will take me 2 and a half weeks to earn one prismatic ticket. If the bar had been continuous, I'd have reached it half that time with the 300 point restriction.
My main point is that you are doing a lot of work for not so much. Other events of this nature (going on at the same time) give a lot more incentive. Even worse, someone could not read the instructions clearly and release their Kuriboh early with the idea that they will get another. But... they won't. Thankfully, Duel Links has fixed that with a shortened iteration of this event campaign and the addition of a second one right after. Still, if they had been more clear and had it been done better, this wouldn't have been necessary. Oh well, back to grinding so I can get that sweet prismatic ticket. I just wish the Kuriboh could have some other function like a digital pet or something. Either way, this event needs work and hopefully by next iteration it will be much better.
That's it for this week and I want to apologize in advance for next week. There will be no post due to my need of a break from the blog. I will return to the blog either Aug 4 or the week thereafter. Thanks again for reading and leave me a comment below telling me what you think of this latest Duel Links event. I can't wait to see what you think. Have a great weekend and as always, keep on gaming!!! :D
First of all, you are 'training' a Kuriboh that lives on the right side of your app screen. Training means you duel every day and can add a maximum of 300 points to the Kuriboh's life bar. Here is where things get annoying. You can only add 300 points which are really easy to get and then you have to wait a day to add more points. When the Kuriboh levels up to a new form, a new prize is available. To get said prize, you must release your Kuriboh. You will not get another one. That's right - only 1 Kuriboh per campaign and which means one prize for the event. Yeah.... not exactly as great as it first seemed, huh??? To make matters worse, the point levels aren't for one continuous bar like usual. Once you evolve your Kuriboh to a Kuribandit with 700 points, for example, the bar resets to 0 (plus any extra points from the previous bar) and you have to start all over again. If you are working towards the highest form, like me, you will have to amass roughly 6000 points in total to fill the last bar up to 2500 and at only 300 points a day, that will take weeks to accomplish. I think I will get my Kuribohrn by next Saturday or July 28 which means it will take me 2 and a half weeks to earn one prismatic ticket. If the bar had been continuous, I'd have reached it half that time with the 300 point restriction.
My main point is that you are doing a lot of work for not so much. Other events of this nature (going on at the same time) give a lot more incentive. Even worse, someone could not read the instructions clearly and release their Kuriboh early with the idea that they will get another. But... they won't. Thankfully, Duel Links has fixed that with a shortened iteration of this event campaign and the addition of a second one right after. Still, if they had been more clear and had it been done better, this wouldn't have been necessary. Oh well, back to grinding so I can get that sweet prismatic ticket. I just wish the Kuriboh could have some other function like a digital pet or something. Either way, this event needs work and hopefully by next iteration it will be much better.
That's it for this week and I want to apologize in advance for next week. There will be no post due to my need of a break from the blog. I will return to the blog either Aug 4 or the week thereafter. Thanks again for reading and leave me a comment below telling me what you think of this latest Duel Links event. I can't wait to see what you think. Have a great weekend and as always, keep on gaming!!! :D
Saturday, July 14, 2018
New Pokemon Let's Go, Eevee/Pikachu Game Trailers!!
First of all, I meant to do a post last week but the Duel Links' newest box came out a bit later than I expected. Oh well, RIP last week's post... anyway, this week some new trailers showed up for the next Pokémon games: Let's Go, Eevee and Let's Go, Pikachu. If you want to see the trailers yourself, here is the US trailer and here is the Japanese trailer. Anyway, let's get into it!!
First of all, they show more footage of Kanto (up to Cerulean City, as far as I can tell). The art style is still not my favorite, but I do think it suits this game very well. I especially like the look of the gyms - even though all we get to see is Brock's and Misty's gyms. Misty's gym in particular looks really interesting. The gym leader designs are nice, too. In the Japanese trailer, they even show the region map. I have to admit it looks gorgeous in this style. Of course, they next show Prof. Oak and our 'friendly' rival. To be honest, I prefer rivals like Gary and Silver. Those kind of rivals give you incentive to train and grow while the friendly ones just... get annoying after a while. That's just me, though, I'm sure there are some who love friendly rivals.
Anyway, there is also a big emphasis on interacting with your partner Pokémon (Eevee or Pikachu) including petting, grooming, and even dressing up in little outfits. I like the outfits but I am not so sure about the hair cuts. They are... fine just a little... goofy, I guess? They don't really seem to suit the Pokémon and I hope there are more options than just the two shown. Speaking of customizing, you can also customize your trainer's clothes. It doesn't look like you can customize the trainer appearance (eyes, skin, and hair) but maybe they'll show that later on.
That reminds me, Eevee now has a gender difference. Like Pikachu, the difference is in the tails. The beige patch on the tip of the tail has smooth swoops for edges on a female (I assume) and normal ragged edges on a male (again, assuming even though the differences were shown but not which gender is which... I am just going off of the Pikachu difference to guess which gender is which right now).
They showed Pokémon following you (yay) and even some more riding (Charizard, Lapras, Onix, Arcanine) animation. I like this and hope it carries over to the gen 8 games. Also, your following Pokémon can find hidden items for you. That's nice - I never enjoyed using the hidden item finder (for LG/FR, I mean... I love the one for BW/B2W2 though).
After the clips of co-op play (which is nice, but 2 player would be better), they confirmed that the games will have WIFI capability. This includes WIFI battles and trading. I had hoped this would be the case. I like the animation for trading in particular... again, I hope this is carried over to gen 8. Finally, the last thing shown is the release date: Nov 16, 2018.
I still don't think I will get this one since I don't have a Switch. If I ever do break down and purchase a Switch, I might pick it up... maybe. I think I will wait to see what gen 8 has for us instead. But, that's just me. What do you think? Leave me a comment below telling me your thoughts on the new trailers. I look forward to reading your thoughts. Follow me if you enjoyed this post and share it with others. Have a great weekend, and as always: keep on gaming!!!
First of all, they show more footage of Kanto (up to Cerulean City, as far as I can tell). The art style is still not my favorite, but I do think it suits this game very well. I especially like the look of the gyms - even though all we get to see is Brock's and Misty's gyms. Misty's gym in particular looks really interesting. The gym leader designs are nice, too. In the Japanese trailer, they even show the region map. I have to admit it looks gorgeous in this style. Of course, they next show Prof. Oak and our 'friendly' rival. To be honest, I prefer rivals like Gary and Silver. Those kind of rivals give you incentive to train and grow while the friendly ones just... get annoying after a while. That's just me, though, I'm sure there are some who love friendly rivals.
Anyway, there is also a big emphasis on interacting with your partner Pokémon (Eevee or Pikachu) including petting, grooming, and even dressing up in little outfits. I like the outfits but I am not so sure about the hair cuts. They are... fine just a little... goofy, I guess? They don't really seem to suit the Pokémon and I hope there are more options than just the two shown. Speaking of customizing, you can also customize your trainer's clothes. It doesn't look like you can customize the trainer appearance (eyes, skin, and hair) but maybe they'll show that later on.
That reminds me, Eevee now has a gender difference. Like Pikachu, the difference is in the tails. The beige patch on the tip of the tail has smooth swoops for edges on a female (I assume) and normal ragged edges on a male (again, assuming even though the differences were shown but not which gender is which... I am just going off of the Pikachu difference to guess which gender is which right now).
They showed Pokémon following you (yay) and even some more riding (Charizard, Lapras, Onix, Arcanine) animation. I like this and hope it carries over to the gen 8 games. Also, your following Pokémon can find hidden items for you. That's nice - I never enjoyed using the hidden item finder (for LG/FR, I mean... I love the one for BW/B2W2 though).
After the clips of co-op play (which is nice, but 2 player would be better), they confirmed that the games will have WIFI capability. This includes WIFI battles and trading. I had hoped this would be the case. I like the animation for trading in particular... again, I hope this is carried over to gen 8. Finally, the last thing shown is the release date: Nov 16, 2018.
I still don't think I will get this one since I don't have a Switch. If I ever do break down and purchase a Switch, I might pick it up... maybe. I think I will wait to see what gen 8 has for us instead. But, that's just me. What do you think? Leave me a comment below telling me your thoughts on the new trailers. I look forward to reading your thoughts. Follow me if you enjoyed this post and share it with others. Have a great weekend, and as always: keep on gaming!!!
Saturday, June 30, 2018
Espa Roba's Duel Links Carnival Review
The newest event has been in full swing on Duel Links. The event in question is a 'Duel Carnival' in honor of Espa Roba. I have played through 2 rounds of it and have just started on the third. What do I think? Is this a good idea or not? Let's have a look at the pros and cons of this event to find out.
Pro: You can unlock Espa Roba.
Finally, Espa is unlockable and he brings his Jinzo with him. I look forward to creating a Psychic deck for this character. This is a good start for the Duel Carnival.
Con: Duels sometimes end with duelists drawing more cards then getting a 'disconnect' message.
I won't rag on this too much since the day after I noticed this, Duel Links had fixed it. I haven't seen this glitch since and I am glad they fixed it so quickly. Well done, Duel Links, but it was still annoying.
Pro: The points are easy to acquire.
I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly I amassed the points to not only unlock Espa but also to acquire the newest cards. Usually, it takes much longer to get the right of amount of points. I hope all future events are like this.
Con: The card reward selection is not the best.
Okay, I admit that most of the cumulative reward cards were pretty good: either new or extra copies of good cards. However, I do not understand the addition of Pulse Mines. I already had a play set of these since they were rewards in the previous Espa Roba event. The Treasure Box reward cards are the same as the cumulative reward cards plus a few others. I do not understand why Cyber Esper was part of this set. I guess the point is being able to 'see' what your opponent draws is like Espa Roba's trick of knowing what cards his opponent used but I feel like that card would have been more suitable in the Zane event. Anyway, it could definitely be worse - the cards could all be weak normal types that most people don't even use - oh wait... that's what four of the cards in the Silver reward box list are! I understand that 2 of them are fusion materials for the also available Metal Dragon, but the others make no sense. The worse part is I have at least 10 copies of each (some of which I have 20 copies) since the better rewards are of the higher rarity. Next time, Duel Links, at least choose cards we want to use for the Normal Rank rewards.
Pro: This counts toward your Ranked Duels cumulative rewards.
I do like this idea very much. I was able to earn several tickets for cards during this event. I hope this is carried over for future events.
Con: Espa Roba shows up in duel world - after 1 pm on Jun 30, 2018.
This event is all about PVP dueling. It makes very little sense to suddenly also throw Espa Roba into the duel world. It's not too bad it does seem extraneous.
Well, how does it stand up? Overall, not bad. Again, my only real issue was actually resolved within a day so Duel Links did a great job. Still, there is room for improvement. It does give me hope for future events though. I highly recommend that you participate in this event if you play Duel Links. Anyway, leave me a comment telling me what you thought of this event. Which teams did you pick for the 3 rounds (thus far)? I chose Spellcaster, Beast-Warrior, and Dinosaur.
I hope you enjoyed this post and will continue to enjoy future posts. Have a great weekend and as always, keep on gaming!!!
Pro: You can unlock Espa Roba.
Finally, Espa is unlockable and he brings his Jinzo with him. I look forward to creating a Psychic deck for this character. This is a good start for the Duel Carnival.
Con: Duels sometimes end with duelists drawing more cards then getting a 'disconnect' message.
I won't rag on this too much since the day after I noticed this, Duel Links had fixed it. I haven't seen this glitch since and I am glad they fixed it so quickly. Well done, Duel Links, but it was still annoying.
Pro: The points are easy to acquire.
I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly I amassed the points to not only unlock Espa but also to acquire the newest cards. Usually, it takes much longer to get the right of amount of points. I hope all future events are like this.
Con: The card reward selection is not the best.
Okay, I admit that most of the cumulative reward cards were pretty good: either new or extra copies of good cards. However, I do not understand the addition of Pulse Mines. I already had a play set of these since they were rewards in the previous Espa Roba event. The Treasure Box reward cards are the same as the cumulative reward cards plus a few others. I do not understand why Cyber Esper was part of this set. I guess the point is being able to 'see' what your opponent draws is like Espa Roba's trick of knowing what cards his opponent used but I feel like that card would have been more suitable in the Zane event. Anyway, it could definitely be worse - the cards could all be weak normal types that most people don't even use - oh wait... that's what four of the cards in the Silver reward box list are! I understand that 2 of them are fusion materials for the also available Metal Dragon, but the others make no sense. The worse part is I have at least 10 copies of each (some of which I have 20 copies) since the better rewards are of the higher rarity. Next time, Duel Links, at least choose cards we want to use for the Normal Rank rewards.
Pro: This counts toward your Ranked Duels cumulative rewards.
I do like this idea very much. I was able to earn several tickets for cards during this event. I hope this is carried over for future events.
Con: Espa Roba shows up in duel world - after 1 pm on Jun 30, 2018.
This event is all about PVP dueling. It makes very little sense to suddenly also throw Espa Roba into the duel world. It's not too bad it does seem extraneous.
Well, how does it stand up? Overall, not bad. Again, my only real issue was actually resolved within a day so Duel Links did a great job. Still, there is room for improvement. It does give me hope for future events though. I highly recommend that you participate in this event if you play Duel Links. Anyway, leave me a comment telling me what you thought of this event. Which teams did you pick for the 3 rounds (thus far)? I chose Spellcaster, Beast-Warrior, and Dinosaur.
I hope you enjoyed this post and will continue to enjoy future posts. Have a great weekend and as always, keep on gaming!!!
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