Thursday, October 30, 2014

Adventures in Pokemon Y Part 3: Santalune City

Alright! We're here in Santalune City, the first real city the player visits in Pokémon X/Y. The first place I decide to visit is the local Pokémon Center to check it out. When there, I ran into Tierno. He's here to get his Pokémon healed up. I wonder what he has in his team...

Anyway, he explains what the Center is for, for all the rookie players (Every Pokémon game is someone's first, so it doesn't bother me that much). He also shows that the Centers now have Poké Marts built into them. In previous games, they were separate buildings. I actually like the idea of the Pokémon Center and the Poké Mart being one building. It's much more convenient. You can get your team healed up and stocked up in one place. Very nice.

There was also an area where a Trainer could adjust their outfits. I had noticed that there was a clothing store nearby. Upon entering the clothing store, I found it was a place that sold hats. I have to admit, this is an interesting new feature for the Pokémon games. I have to admit, it's a cool idea. I'm sure that there are players that would like to customize their trainers' outfits, and shops like this are a great idea to help players make their avatars look unique. Now to my understanding, shops have different items available every day. Personally, I'd prefer all the choices available all at once, but I can see how this can be used as incentive to get people to play the game daily, like rewards on some iOS games.

I had decided to make an adjustment to my team. I decided to switch out Chevy (my Fletchling), for Stingerette (my Weedle). Yeah, it means I now have three bug Pokémon on my team, but I want to build up Stingerette's power levels and evolve her into a Beedrill. Route 3 also is a great opportunity to add some more Pokémon to my collection. Route 22 is also nearby, so that'll be nice to see what Pokémon reside there. I've managed to get my hands on a Litleo on Route 22 (Cute little Pokémon. If I didn't have a Fennekin, I'd use one in my regular team) and I got a Pansear in Santalune Forest. With my Fennekin, that means I have THREE Fire-type Pokémon. Viola is a Gym Leader in specializes in Bug-type Pokémon. Fire beats Bug. All I have to do is train them a bit, and she'll go down faster than a building rigged by an expert demolition crew.

The Gym's front door was guarded by a roller skater named Rinka. I had to beat her in order to get inside. When you win, she gives a nice reward: special attachments to your shoes that'll make them into roller skates. As an idea, the roller skates are awesome. They allow you to move real fast, which cuts down on time it takes to get places (at least until you can get a Pokémon to learn Fly). The thing is, it can be hard to control with the stick.

One of the centerpieces of the City, besides the Gym itself, is the Trainers' School. This place is mainly here to explain to players about the various status changes Pokémon can endure in battle, like Paralysis, Poisoned, and Frozen. Now, I have played many a Pokémon main series game. When it comes to status changes, I can remember my Pokémon getting paralyzed, poisoned, or being put to sleep quite a few times, but I didn't encounter them getting burned or frozen that much. And keep in mind, I've battled and captured quite a few Fire and Ice-type Pokémon in my time. I'm guessing those two are rarer inflictions.

As for the Gym itself, it's quite a beautiful little Gym. The first room is essentially an art gallery. Turns out Viola, when she's not making life miserable for rookie Trainers, is a photographer. She hangs up her photos of Bug Pokémon on the walls. I can imagine that in this world, she lets people visit the Gallery, and sells prints and souvenirs in order to bring a little extra income into the Gym.

Well, time to get ready. Gotta train my Pokémon some more, and then...I'll battle Viola for my first badge. Wish me luck!

Pokémon Obtained:
Neptune (Froakie)
Chestnut (Chespin)
Gnaw (Bidoof)
Stingerette (Kakuna) - evolved from Weedle
Spiral (Dunsparce)
Church (Frillish) - Obtained via Wonder Trade
Honedge (Honedge) - Obtained via Wonder Trade
Tula (Azurill)
Spewpa (Mothra) - evolved from Scatterbug
Butterfree (Kojima) - evolved from Metapod
Beedrill (Stingerette) - evolved from Kakuna
Shada (Burmy)
Firemane (Litleo)
Daffy (Psyduck)
Hanzo (Farfetch'd)

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase 3

Marvel's Cinematic Universe has grown. Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, Captain America, the Avengers, the Guardians of the Galaxy. And it is continuing to grow. The Avengers' sequel, Age of Ultron, is coming. And Marvel Studios has announced Phase Three is coming over the next six years. As such, I thought I'd give my thoughts on them. Now keep in mind, I may not say much about some of these films, as all there is about them are release dates. So, not much to work with here.


Ant-Man - July 2015
I have talked about this film already, but I have found that I some more to say on it. I want to be excited about this one. I really did. After all, all the Marvel movies before this one got me excited. I liked and enjoyed every one of them. However, this one will definitely be the big stumbling block. I think this one may be a misfire. With all the liberties taken with the mythos in this film, and the controversies regarding the production, and the exclusion of the founding Avenger Janet Van Dyne/The Wasp, I sadly think this one will be Marvel Studios' first disaster. Hank Pym deserved better. Scott Lang deserved better. Janet Van Dyne DEFINITELY deserves better.




Captain America: Civil War - May 2016
To be honest, I winced a bit when I saw this title. I hated Civil War in the comic books. Well, to be fair, I thought it was an interesting idea, just the execution stunk. I'm guessing this film will involve a conflict between Captain America and Iron Man. I'm just hoping that this film just involves an issue between them and it doesn't drag every other superhero into it. One thing for sure, this film probably will be better than the mini-series.




Doctor Strange: Serpent Society - November 2016
I was surprised to hear him being mentioned in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and now he's getting his own film. I've never read much of his solo stuff, just his Defenders and New Avengers adventures, so for me, this is new territory. I'm curious how they will incorporate the Master of Mystic Arts into the MCU, as that universe is more science and real world-themed. I have read that MCU's magic and mysticism will involve quantum physics and string theory and stuff like that. I will be honest, it'll be...well...strange hearing Doctor Strange quote Werner Heisenberg and Niels Bohr instead of yelling "By the hoary hosts of Hoggoth!"




Guardians of the Galaxy 2 - May 2017
OH, YEAH! I LOVED the Guardians' big film debut! I wrote my thoughts on it here. When it was announced a sequel will be made, I was so happy! I cannot WAIT to see Star-Lord, Gamora, Drax, Groot, and Rocket back on the big screen! I'm hoping this one will be as good as the first!


Thor: Ragnarok - July 2017
This one will be interesting. Ragnarok was the final end for the Norse Gods in the myths, so I'm fearing that this will spell the end for the God of Thunder and his family and friends in Asgard. I am hoping we get to see Balder appear in this movie. Or at least Amora the Enchantress. After all, her sister Lorelei appeared in Agents of SHIELD.


Black Panther - November 2017
Much like The Winter Soldier, I can see this film going to political thriller territory as T'Challa is the King of Wakanda. They've cast Chadwick Boseman for the role. I'm not familiar with his work, so I'm hoping he's good. I can't wait to see how Wakanda is going to look.


Captain Marvel - July 2018
Carol Danvers is making her MCU debut! The first MCU film with a female superhero in the lead! Awesome! Can't wait for this one! Hopefully this'll lead to Black Widow getting her own movie as well.


Inhumans - November 2018
MCU's X-Men movie. 'Nuff Said. I do wonder how they are going to adapt Black Bolt, Medusa, Karnak, Triton, Gorgon, and Crystal into the MCU, though.


Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 - May 2018
Avengers: Infinty War Part 2 - May 2019
This is it. The big one. The Main Event. Every MCU film has built towards this in some way. Avengers vs. Thanos. I can't WAIT five years! I want this NOWWWW! NOW NOW NOW NOW! I'm hoping we get a big epic super-team-up! Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy, Inhumans, all teaming up to fight Thanos! If this is what it'll be...the epicness will make Marvel fans' heads explode with joy.



Sunday, October 19, 2014

My Thoughts on Ghostbusters 3

Well, it has been confirmed. Ghostbusters 3 is coming. Now, not much has been revealed about the new film, whether it's going to be a sequel or a reboot of the franchise. As such, I don't have a whole lot to say about it.



To be honest, I'm hoping that the new film is a continuation of the series rather than a reboot. To me, a reboot is something that to me the Ghostbusters franchise does not really need. It's a franchise that really doesn't need rejuvenation like the Star Trek franchise did. Not to mention that recent attempts at reboots and remakes, like Robocop, didn't exactly work out very well.


Another thing that has seemed to cause a lot of anger for some reason as far as I understand is that the new Ghostbusters will all be female. I don't really see a problem with this myself. It's not like we haven't seen women wear the proton packs before. In The Real Ghostbusters, Janine Melnitz herself donned the proton pack herself. In the sequel cartoon Extreme Ghostbusters, one of the "next generation" 'Busters was a Goth teen named Kylie Griffin, who is also now appearing in the IDW comics. The game Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime (a game I enjoyed personally) had a female Ghostbuster named Bridget Gibbons. There are a lot of genuinely great funny women out there, so I can see an all-female team working out on film. I would be genuinely disappointed if Tina Fey wasn't in this movie, though. She'd be a great Egon-type.


I would love to see the third film have more of a "passing-the-torch" theme to it, which a continuation would allow. Ray Stantz and Winston Zeddemore (Since Murray won't get involved, I'll say that he's not available, and since Harold Ramis is sadly no longer with us, I'll have to say that Egon is also deceased), realize that age is catching up to them, and decide to recruit a new team of Ghostbusters to do the actual legwork. However, only four applicants show up: four women with their own quirks and wacky personalities. You can get the humor from the surviving Original 'Busters training the rookies, and after one big epic adventure saving the city once again, Ray and Winston hang up the proton packs for good, letting the ladies be the defenders of New York against the supernatural.


Yup, that's how I'd do it.



Monday, October 13, 2014

Adventures in Pokemon Y Part 2: Santalune Forest

So here I am in Santalune Forest. It's a big ol' forest. I kinda wish that my Zigzagoon, Rocket, had the Pickup ability because he could pick up plenty of free potions and Poké Balls.

I'm not going to traverse through this big ol' forest alone, though. Shauna is going to be joining me on my trek through the forest. She is real handy. The girl is a living Pokémon Center, healing your Pokémon up for you when you need to. How does she do that? Does she magically conjure up Potions and Ethers or something? Is she a witch? Ah, it doesn't matter, she's going to be handy exploring this forest. Can I have her with me throughout the whole game?

While I'm here, I might as well take a shot at training some of my Pokémon, and prepare them for the first Gym. During my training, I'm adding on to my collection. One of the Pokémon you can encounter in the Forest is Pikachu. A neat little detail the game designers put in is when you encounter Pikachu, his cry is not the standard-style Pokémon cry. It's the speech Pikachu does from the anime series. I thought that was a really nice touch the game designers did. Kudos to them.

One thing I do like about the Santalune Forest is that there is a wide variety of Pokémon to catch here. Bug, Flying, Electric, Fire, Water, Grass, it's really diverse. You could build a diverse beginner team out of Pokémon here alone.

A ways into the forest, I encounter my new friends. Serena just rushes off, saying something about beginning training. Nice to see you too, pal. -_-(). Trevor remarks that he has observations to perform. Okay... To be honest, I don't get Trevor's purpose at this point. At least with Shauna, she heals my Pokémon here in the Forest, and Serena is probably going to be in the role of the traditional rival in these games. Tierno says he was challenged to a battle, and he and the youngster he's battling are just standing there, staring at each other. Okay...

Anyway, after further traveling, I got to battle a couple trainers for the first time. One tried to fight me with a Pikachu, but my Scatterbug Mothra easily dispatched it. Speaking of Scatterbug, the other Trainer there had one, but fell in one blast of Ember thanks to Vulcan, my Fennekin. His Fletchling also fell to Rocket.

I also encountered Serena again, who gave me a Poké Ball. Hey, you can never have too many of those. I also noticed that Tierno had finished his stare-off, I mean battle, and he's found in a grassy area, looking for Pokémon to dance with. To be honest, I find the image of him dancing with the Elemental Monkeys hilarious.

The Santalune Forest is a wonderful little place. Has a couple trainers so you can get some money, a diverse array of Pokémon to add to the collection, and you can get your Trainer some exercise with all the running around. The amount of wild Pokémon running around also means that your Pokémon team will get some much-needed experience. Not to mention that with Shauna by your side, you can keep your Pokémon in fighting shape.

As much as Santalune Forest is beautiful, it's time to leave the forest and hit the next town. Besides, towns have Pokémon Centers, which have PCs. I need one to make some adjustments to my team.

Upon leaving, Serena runs up and says I'm the first to arrive. Well duh, you were just standing in a grass patch when I was running around grabbing items and training my Pokémon! She does tell me I have potential, which is awful nice of her. Tierno and Trevor catch up, Tierno remarking how much he loves seeing Pokémon move and he's hoping his dancing has that much spirit. Yeah. Good luck to you on that, buddy. Trevor admonishes Tierno for this, make me like him more. Anyway, Shauna expresses her excitement on going to Santalune City.

Upon leaving the forest, Serena asks what the group's plans are. Trevor says he's out to complete the Pokedex. Tierno wants to observe how different Pokémon move, so to improve his dancing. Okay. Serena plans to take on the Gym Leader there. She gives me a book of tips called "Adventure Rules", for all the rookie Trainers out there. Serena says she's going to spend some time getting to know her Chespin. I hope she trains it well. She asks me what I'm going to do.

What am I going to do? Go to Santalune, kick some Gym Leader butt, and then keep it up until I become Champion! ...But first, I gotta get through Route 3...where I got nearly ran over by a rollerblader! HEY!

Pokémon Obtained:
Panpour (Kappa)
Pansear (Bunsen)
Metapod (Kojima) - Evolved from Caterpie
Pansage (Shrub)
Pikachu (Amperage)
Weedle (Stingerette)