Pokemon Legends Arceus: A Phony Revolution

[@TheLudomancer]

I hope you enjoyed! Like, Subscribe, and for the love of god Comment, I love hearing detailed thoughts on these things. I'm never getting over that Stupid "Birthplace of the Universe". New Low for the franchise.

[@jerra1168]

I didnt

[@Hawkatana]

@@jerra1168 Well good for you, you're wrong.

[@jerra1168]

@@Hawkatana Ohhhh my bellyyy. It’s so big and round and inflated >-

[@Hawkatana]

@@jerra1168 Exposing your fetish isn't an argument.

[@ccheart8574]

I hate the 'all pokemon shrink' thing because then wouldn't all pokemon be able to learn Minimize? But also: That's literally the explanation given in the manga, too.

[@TheLudomancer]

That it is, but the games anime and manga all use very different visual language for Pokeballs. The anime has always had that thing where they turn into red energy and get siphoned inside. The games did start with the same smoke puffs as the manga, but they’ve moved away to be more akin to the manga. I don’t ultimately have an issue with the shrinking excuse, just so long as they do anything with it. If they’re in there, just Tiny, let ‘em alert to to dangers! Let them express something about themselves while inside. There’s potential there but it is ash in their hands.

[@Lesbiwolf92]

@@TheLudomancer there were a few times through out the show where we saw pokemon let themselves out of their pokeballs in response to what's happening outside and pokemon like pikachu who refuse to be inside a ball, so that shows the pokemon are not entirely dormant and can release themselves at will without their trainers input, how you would implement that into a game I dunno, unless certain traits and types of mons react to different stimuli and pop out to alert you to items/other mons/berries and so on so you are encouraged to cycle different mons into your team to utilize their alerts.

[@TheLudomancer]

​ @Lesbiwolf92 That's the show, and it's something I genuinely like that they do. The canonicity of how Pokeballs work is very inconsistent across mediums. Unfortunately, the game's universe is something GameFreak has control over and hasn't really given that any precedent. I don't mind any of the main fan explanations (Data, Shrinking, Paradise habitat pocket dimension) so long as they do something with them. The Pokemon Adventures manga uses the Shrinking explanation I favor the least, but I still think it addresses the issue best because they do something with it, using it to allow a trainer's Pokemon to enter the scene quietly for brief panels to communicate or muse over without needing to pull them out and Mechanical implementation might turn out kinda pesky or annoying depending on circumstance, but you raise a decent idea. I think that restricting it as something that happens in cutscenes could still be useful. I picture they play it mostly as a joke, or unruly 'mon their trainer has a heated relationship with before at some point it happens at a plot-critical juncture.

[@CesarTorres61296]

Honestly, BDSP ruined the potential of Legends Arceus.

[@Nameless_mixes]

Thank you for discussing PMD! Someone was ready to get into a fist fight with me over comparing the two. Like… You get transported into a new world, natural disasters cause Pokemon to go rampant, you try fixing things and get exiled, etc etc. That’s Rescue Team to a T. Plus, being a Gen 4 remake brings in obvious ties to Explorers. I wish we could get a new PMD installment already.

[@TheLudomancer]

It's amazing that they stole the two defining characteristics of PMD, the Isekai angle and the heavy emphasis on the Darkest Hour of the hero's journey, and completely biffed both of 'em.

[@avenger4027]

@@TheLudomancer They also absolutely stole even more from Pokemon Ranger: Guardian Signs and butchered it all even more than the PMD things(

[@diamondmemer9754]

This is an entire hour of a man trying to deny he enjoyed a pokemon game and I'm here for it

[@TheLudomancer]

Can I put you in a community post, This is the best description possible.

[@diamondmemer9754]

@@TheLudomancer yeah sure Honestly I think one of pokemon's problems is that ganefreak is straight up...bad at programming, but they refuse to get help from any other studio because they're "the highest grossing franchise ever"

[@Minohorse]

@@diamondmemer9754 "'M-Masuda-san, do you really know how to make a game?' Masuda closes his eyes, laughs while shaking his head and says: Haha, I don't really know."

[@diamondmemer9754]

@@Minohorse and then they kissed

[@Wasted_AF]

Honestly PLA is my favorite Pokémon game of all time. Mainly because, when compared to almost all other Pokémon games, it’s FINALLY something different. Super excited for the vid to drop to hear your opinions!

[@TheLudomancer]

Well hey! Tomorrow! Today Technically.... I should go to bed.

[@nichiyes26]

To be fair, Red/Green was totally original when it came out.

[@nichiyes26]

@@ChadVigilante Why?

[@nichiyes26]

@@ChadVigilante Damn. I think that finally captures why I find the game so meh. Thanks for the thorough answer.

[@BlufireTheifprince]

Honestly though PLA's strong/agile style turn system would be good for Doubles but PLA doesn't have doubles. And the main reason why singles is most prominent in a casual playthrough is that THE META IS ALL DOUBLES!

[@thomasffrench3639]

You know there’s something wrong with the franchise when you are using the anime for what to do correctly.

[@natalimoina]

How so? The anime has always been the idealized pokemon experience. Pretty much one of the only good things coming out of this franchise is the anime"s quality 😅, wish the games could have that level of quality in the future.

[@commonviewer2488]

I don't _like_ Pokémon, I *LOVE* Pokémon. If it's unfinished, then I don't play it.

[@electricrage272]

BDSP was so bad, me and my gf were really disappointed. Legends Arceus was only interesting to me the first few times I played and shiny hunted, then I never touched it again xD I liked how they tried something different at least!

[@TheLudomancer]

Agreed. BDSP is trash. Coincidentally, it is also completely identical to the originals.

[@kilimachevsk623]

I like Pokemon a lot. There's tons about the core gameplay loop I like. I played the hell out of Legends Arceus and Violet, because something about going around in an open world and catching Pokemon really clicks with me. They're the only Pokemon games, ever, where I felt compelled to actually complete the Pokedex, and it was also something that even seemed like it was possible. But there's also so, so, so, SO much that's just... horribly wrong. I LIKE Legends Arceus. I like the new things it does, I like that it portrays Pokemon as an actual threat because of COURSE people would be scared when the random fish you get out of the river has a chance of evolving into a Gyarados and torching your entire town. I like that people are wary of you at first, I like that the Pokemon feel more monumental, I like the twist with Volo- and while there are a lot of things I like, I also recognize that a lot of it is the /bare minimum/ that should be expected of a game, and there's a lot that's just, WRONG. Like how GODDAMN contrived it is to blame your character for things going wrong and tossing them out. And Violet? God, I'm /EMBARRASSED/ at how much time I've put into it. I'm /ASHAMED/ that I spent money on this thing. Even if I personally got a ton of enjoyment out of it, that doesn't change that it's a MESS. I can't say that it's good. The gameplay loop I enjoyed was wrapped in an ugly, glitchy mess. The contrast of the very detailed high-poly Pokeball sitting on top of the WORST GRASS TEXTURE I HAVE EVER SEEN every single time I catch a Pokemon never failed to make me shake my head. The story is an absolute joke- I liked Nemona, I found her obsession with battles charming- but that's all she's got going on. She never does anything, never advances, never contributes to the story other than 'being there', and one character I kinda like can never make up for the absolute godawful storytelling of Team Star, who's one and only redeeming factor is 'at least they're not Team Yell.' Except that Team Yell at least doesn't eat up as much screentime as they do, even if I think their premise is stupider, so it's tough to say which is really worse. I liked the DLC- Teal Mask is bland and forgettable, but Indigo Disk actually has some cooler stuff- I like the much higher level of difficulty, I like that it's pretty much exclusively double battles. The story's as bland as ever on the surface, but there's one thing in the back half of it that actually started catching my attention, and that's the metanarrative elements going on with Kieran. This character starts to RECOGNIZE your place in the story- people who are aggressive to you, his own sister who's distrustful towards outsiders, suddenly becomes totally enamored with you for... not really any good reason. The legendary Pokemon that he's OBSESSED with, the one that he sympathizes with and adores while everyone else treats it like a villain... wants to be with you, the person who only learned it existed today. Over and over, he battles you, EVERYONE battles you, and you just keep winning- and instead of that unrealistically creating friendship, the endless defeats just foster resentment. Nothing goes wrong for you, everyone loves you, every legendary Pokemon flocks to you, and he's recognizing how BULLSHIT it is, how unfair it is to be an NPC in a world where someone like the main character in Pokemon exists. Yet another legendary pops up, and he's determined to catch it, he grabs it while it's in stasis with his own two hands- and as soon as it wakes up, it INSTANTLY locks eyes on you and starts approaching with a friendly smile- and this guy SNAPS, chucking a goddamn masterball at it on the spot rather than letting you be the main character, getting everything handed to you YET AGAIN. And then, after all this, it resolves this heavily meta, self-aware plotline by, uh... You beat him in a battle, the legendary breaks free of his control, you catch it, and now he's calmed down and friends with you again, just like everyone else, with nothing to say and no statements made. Everyone loves you, you get all the legendaries, and you always win, once again. Squandered potential, silly me for thinking they might actually be GOING somewhere with this. Fact is, Pokemon hasn't had a good story since Sun/Moon. ...And even then, they completely BUTCHERED that story in UltraSun/UltraMoon. The game spends SO much time with Lillie, SO much time showing her struggles, SO much time showing her growing independence and confidence, SO much time showing how despicable of a person Lusamine is; and then Ultra completely changes Lusamine and her motivations (without removing any of those awful things she does), removes Lillie's involvement in the climax, removes her calling out her abusive mother, but LEAVES IN all that time with Lillie, that now no longer has any sort of pay-off or purpose. The ending of Sun/Moon's plot was small, low-stakes, and personal, with nobody at risk but Lusamine and Guzma- but Lillie still wanting to help them because that's the kind of person she is. But fuck that, I guess, we gotta have a crazy new legendary that wants to EAT THE SUN instead of something character-focused! This comment wound up being longer than I intended. But after watching this and your other videos on Pokemon all back to back, I had a lot of thoughts on my mind.

[@TheLudomancer]

Hey, Ace Comment. I’ve clearly voiced my grievances about the game loop, but I ain’t gonna take preference away from ya. Based USUM hate. All my homies hate USUM. I WILL however, go to bat for Team Yell. Yes they’re obnoxious, yes they’re pointless, but: they’re football hooligans. They’re just sports nuts going bonkers over their hometown rep. The game’s decent when it’s being about the league, and Team Yell shows people’s investment in it up-close and personal.

[@kilimachevsk623]

@@TheLudomancer Just because I happen to like it doesn't mean that you aren't correct that the loop could, and SHOULD, be improved already. I suppose that's where some tastes differ- while the island challenges of Sun/Moon are pretty much identical to the gyms gameplay wise, the altered context of it being a coming-of-age ceremony that you're participating in got me more interested and invested in it than I'd ever been with the Gym Challenge. It made it /feel/ like my character was actually advancing and had something to prove by doing it. (They didn't because the character's a blank slate, but like, imagine if Lillie had been the main character you played as and the island challenge was helping her establish her own independence and the strength to stand on her own. That could've actually been something compelling if Game Freak had ambition.) Then, when Sword/Shield not only went back to the Gym Challenge, but doubled down on it harder than ever, it completely lost me. Scarlet/Violet at least had Area Zero going for it, even if one cool area at the very end of the game does not save its story. Sword/Shield didn't have anything besides making a big spectacle out of the thing I haven't been invested in and which hasn't changed since Gen 1. It's JUST a sport, that's all the game's about, nobody cares about anything else and nothing else is going on, there's no PLOT. (I mean, it TRIED to have a plot right at the very tail end, but I don't think ANYONE would ever disagree that it's one of the worst plots in the series along with X/Y.) I can obviously see liking it, appreciating the increased focus on the sport of it, making it a bigger deal in-universe; but it just didn't do it for me.

[@TheLudomancer]

Yeah. Of course the league won’t do it for everyone!! A refreshed focus doesn’t change the fact that it’s the 15th damn time you’ve done it!

[@uniatq]

I think a great comparison about showing and not telling in town and world design is botw and tok a great example being that every town has different woodworking, from the rito having wing shaped tables to the tables in kakariko bring more naturalistic. They don’t have to take your head and forcibly highlight these things but they are nice details if you notice them. Even the towns in BOTW and TOK are layered and interesting layout wise and not flatly laid out in grids all at the same elevation. The Pokémon company needs to realize this and change. Detail is everything in modeling and UV work(my job) (don’t get me started on the terrible work in these games) otherwise they won’t get anywhere.

[@desdar100]

What I personally enjoyed about Legends ( outside of it being a pretty interesting twist on the colonization of the real life Hokkaido) is how will the gameplay loop ties into each other. You researching the Pokemon directly affects the way the characters in Hisui view them and it really builds up the village and changes how the citizens receives them. There's also the tragedy that Sinnioh is a land that has lost so much of its culture because of the intense colonization not only by the descendants of the Galaxy team but even by the culture vultures that are the DP clan

[@RoninCatholic]

Oh boy, I know nothing about Mega Man Star Force but I'm here for it and hey, it's been almost eight months since this video but the algorithm told me about this video here today.

[@TheLudomancer]

Yeah my vids finally HIT it in the past weeks, so yea. Glad you like this video enough to want more!

[@javiermiron1351]

your channel is very underrated, i feel like i’ve found a gem. you have amazing editing skills

[@TheLudomancer]

I needed that today

[@javiermiron1351]

@@TheLudomancer ofc man! hopefully there are better days to come. Also, what software do you use for video editing?

[@TheLudomancer]

@@javiermiron1351 adobe Premiere, but it’s a very big hassle, OBS for recording video, and Audacity for voiceover.

[@pokemaniac333]

28:18 I love that you used Cynthia as a *bleep* sound 🤣

[@EpicEIF]

Solid video, laid out basically everything I would've said, no bad points and solid video.

[@stupidmonkey089]

I've said this before, but Gamefreak needs to just fire all their writers. They are some of the worst in the entire industry and it shocks me these are professionals who get paid to write thi

[@diegomedina9637]

Yeah... you should see the shit other people write. It makes Pokemon Green look like an epic blockbuster

[@stupidmonkey089]

@@diegomedina9637 what other people?

[@lubbo5261]

Not just the writers, but also others like the lead artists. Like as example the ugly purple shader in Legends Arceus, the lead artist must have said that it looks good. Or Masuda, hes a good musican but hes a terrible Director.

[@redactedinfo8557]

i wonder sometimes though if the issue is actually how many writers are there i remember someone mentioning that Paper Mario Sticker Star had like, 10 writers. it becomes a case of too many cooks in the kitchen where everyone's creative differences override each other and ends up making a soulless disaster of a story meanwhile, The Thousand Year Door had, what? one or two people making the story? that's a lot easier to communicate at the workplace and plan, so it's no wonder the story is as praised as it is. even in TV shows, there might be four writers working on a series but they're never or rarely all writing the same episode at the same time, they're split up to get different episodes done efficiently. of course, i might need to be fact-checked on all this. I'll eat my words if this isn't the case, but i did notice how many writers there were on Legends Arceus when Ludomancer pointed it out and can't remember or find the timestamp

[@CainTheBoss]

Guess i'm watching all of your videos now. I agree with most of your opinions and complaints on PLA, especially with the portrayal of Arceus. Alas, PLA is probably my favorite 'mainline' pokemon game, unless legends actually becomes a side series. (which honestly i hope for because the new direction has so much potential) I think if they continue setting games hundreds of years ago, they should definitely mess with the lore to have it make more sense why everyone is afraid of pokemon, because i actually like the idea of having the world be afraid of most of these creatures. Probably gonna move onto your Scarlet and Violet video now! Thanks for making thoughtful and entertaining pokemon content : )

[@Aerafuz]

Honestly, I wouldn't really even call Legends Arceus "Open-World" It's at best a "Free-Roam Sandbox" - Open-World implies you can travel the entire world with at best certain areas located in separate loading screens. But with Legends Arceus you have so many divided areas and you MUST return to Jubilife to go to another area. That's akin to going back to Princess Peach's Castle after clearing the objective in Mario 64. No one calls Mario 64 a Open-World game. No, they call it a Sandbox. To say though that it was as though Mama GameFreak wanted Pokemon to ape Breath of the Wild, though - accurate. Because that's exactly what they did, and they didn't do that great a job. Breath of the Wild, and Tears of the Kingdom, do their job well. I don't need to tell you that, you defined that perfectly. The fact is, Pokemon originally wasn't even going to go on the Switch, but after Breath of the Wild sold well, it convinced Pokemon CEO Ishihara that the Switch was viable. And supposedly, pressure from investors was what caused GameFreak to implement the Wild Area in Sword and Shield as a sort of patchwork Free-Roam area to emulate Breath of the Wild. _Everything_ from Sword & Shield onwards was to emulate Breath of the Wild: The Wild Area, Isle of Armor, Crown Tundra, Legends Arceus, Scarlet and Violet. The only thing I can note is that it seems that Legends Arceus probably wasn't the game it was, that it was originally going to be BDSP - remakes rendered in the 'style' of Gen 8, before the project became what it became, and the actual BDSP were whipped up to sell, because all three games look unfinished. (But then again this series always looks unfinished.)

[@TechnoArpan]

I almost completely agree but there's one point about the Ingo plothole you mentioned. Ingo is part of the pearl clan, the pearl clan isn't banishing you, it's coming to your aid. But yes, it was still handled poorly because Kamado had nothing to say on Ingo rather than at least mentioning that it's outside his jurisdiction

[@TheLudomancer]

Yeah. The whole idea was that it could just as easily be his fault as it was mine. Kamado failing to go on a witch hunt for him too is the issue.

[@skyhawk9710]

For me, this game's biggest issue is that it stops innovating after 3 hours in. Once the novelty wears off and you look at the actual design and content of the game, it ranges from mediocre to shockingly awful at times. Every Pokemon behavior, for example, is nearly identical and can be sorted into 2 categories 99% of the time - they either run away or fight. Almost no Pokemon forces you to approach it in ways you didn't do with the other Pokemon. There's no cool behaviors like fire Pokemon setting grass on fire or flying Pokemon creating gusts that slow your movement speed or anything of that nature. Also, every map in this game has as much complexity as the Obsidian Fieldlands - the tutorial map. The Crimson Mirelands is the only map with an interesting gimmick. I'd count Prelude Beach, but the catching while swimming feels so awful and clunky that I don't want to. Otherwise, every map is identical and does absolutely nothing to put some desperately needed variety into the catching mechanics that become still after a few hours. Sorry if I sound like a dick, but everyone praises this game for being innovative, but it barely does anything to expand on its brand new concepts, leading to an extremely repetitive gameplay loop where you do the exact same thing in the exact same way over and over again. By the time I got halfway through, I was so sick of playing it and so baffled at how unanimous the praise for it was.

[@DrCoeloCephalo]

I've been playing competitive Pokemon for years and just like you, playing other games made me realize how shallow the system is. I also basically made a video that boiled down to calling it RPS with extra steps.

[@Barakon]

What if those deities need a conduit to use their power more gently or more precisely, and Giratina was already using someone else as a conduit? It’s kinda like how some foods can be eaten with your hands, but some need a utensil.

[@TheLudomancer]

That'd be sound reasoning if A) The conduits did anything remotely divine or B) They mentioned that at all. To clarify, I would LOVE if that were the case. Very ReBurst manga of them.

[@Barakon]

@@TheLudomancer but because it’s goyfreak, that’s not the case.

[@markcochrane9523]

All foods can be eaten with your hands, if only one has the courage.

[@KzudemRiM]

I never played the game but the more I seee gameplay footage the more i think how attrocious the grafics are and the stylistic choices

[@TheLudomancer]

Yeah, the game ain't pretty. Plays better than anything else gamefreak has ever put out tho.

[@hubhikarilives]

You got a sub from me, I had so many opinions watching this game be played in my house for 90 hours

[@commonviewer2488]

A friend asked me why I didn't want to play what is obviously the best Pokémon game in years. That's my problem though, they could still have done a lot better.

[@thomascircle245]

I have never played this game, so my introduction to its protagonists was their event in Pokemon Masters. Interestingly, so far as I recall, that game treated them as being FROM the past instead of modern people transported there.

[@TheLudomancer]

That’s… weird. I mean, they’re sent to the past and then Back to the present there, so I guess it tracks??

[@thomascircle245]

@@TheLudomancer Maybe, except I think I also recall them being confused by modern things. While we're on this subject: If the PLA protagonists are modern people transported 150 years back in time, then why do they follow the game's general rule of everyone in Hisui having descendants who look like them? If they're not the ancestors of Lucas and Dawn, why do they look like them? Are they their cousins? Then why are they confused by Lucas and Dawn when they finally meet them in PM?

[@TheLudomancer]

@@thomascircle245 The answer is that the question gives Game Freak WAYYY too much credit. It was a shallow excuse for nostalgia bait with no further context given. There was never any chance of it becoming sensible or plot-relevant. You can’t name a thing Dawn/Lucas does after the game ends, you can’t name a thing about the PLA protag before the Isekai. So any of that weird canon-building is pointless. Even if you could find familial relation it would not change anything, since there’s nothing to change. Source: nothing about PLA changes anything about the plot of Diamond/Pearl beyond surface level allusions to physical features, or repeated mistakes in antagonist handling. When the big things like that make no difference, why does every character’s Great-Great-Great Grandparent matter for Jack?

[@russellloveridge6041]

Holy moly just found this account and you make some great vids thank you for taking the time to make em for us!

[@TheLudomancer]

Glad to see you like it! I'm really blowing up recently, it's freaky to see.

[@russellloveridge6041]

@@TheLudomancer the algorithm finally decided to be in your favor! And it's well deserved

[@twilightguardian]

Very thought provoking, funny review. Loved the snappy editing work. Also love to see some love for Digimon in here~

[@sparkxii.]

Fantastic video! You put all my feelings about the game into words. The most egregious part of the worldbuilding for me was the whole 'pokemon scary for jubilife citizens' part. Given the fact that one of the most Key Parts of modern pokemon lore (I'm talking about Mr. Az's fantastic WMD) from 3k years ago was all because he lost his beloved pokemon, it just highlighted the inconsistancies in people and pokemon coexisting when we've seen it before, long ago, in other titles.

[@TheLudomancer]

I've completely given up on Pokémon carrying anything between games, so I genuinely hadn't thought to compare it to AZ and his history. Neat Stuff. I do think there is still a way that they could make Jubilife's Pokemon fear work. Like by, say, actually making the people fearful of them by turning it into a sort of refugee camp for people whose homes were destroyed by rampaging Pokemon. Instead, five minutes after Kamado sets them up for a home run, everybody else in the village makes him seem like a fruit bat.

[@sparkxii.]

@@TheLudomancer Exactly! That would make for some really interesting stories on the side of people rejecting to form bonds with pokemon because of distaste for them and refusing to open their horizons, instead of a fear that feels like it's just plot convenience. IF we ever get another Legends game knowing how TPC loves spinoffs, I hope to see more worldbuilding around how befriending pokemon became a common practice...

[@captainhamilton]

I mean, Megaman Star Force could use some love...

[@justsomejojo]

Jesus, the analogy at the end is incredibly bleak. But I get what you mean. I did say before that Legends filled me with joy and optimism as to me it represents a willingness to change and experiment. And I still stand by that opinion, but it is true that next to the good new things, a lot of the old problems still exist, as you said. I play Pokemon like I play modern Fire Emblem - I'm in for the gameplay, I completetely ignore the story. And because Legends is very hands off for large chunks of its gameplay (contrary to, say, Sun and Moon, which break up their gameplay with scenes a lot) I overall had a good time with the game. I guess I can consider myself lucky I can be that ignorant about parts of a game, because I feel like it lets me enjoy more games that way. By the way, the part about bug collecting was VERY interesting. I never thought of it that way, but it's true - the wooden behavior of caught mons in Legends really is a weird analogue to the base inspiration. The analogy makes even more sense once you realize there's bug fighting tournaments in Japan (I once watched a video of one. It was fascinating)

[@MesieurOjete]

I always wondered since playing blue if there could be trainers who wouldn't use pokeballs, it's so nice to see them actually treating them as creatures and not weapons (not so nice as potential partners tho maybe they went a bit too far). The show and the text in game tries really hard to push that you are somehow very kind and close to your slaves, but you have them 24/7 fighting on the wild to get stronger, and in the second generation you can actually have a team that hates you form making them eat bitter herbs. It's just ironic that the 2nd gen villain is all edgy and tryhard and still is more human than the main character. At the end he just goes to meditate to a cave and maybe we should learn something from that.

[@springbonnie5249]

I don't understand where they got that trainers “enslave” the Pokémon, and although it may be, I feel that human / Pokémon relationships are much more than that (although, yes, the games do not help in that aspect)

[@TechnoArpan]

@@springbonnie5249 The video is obviously talking about the games. He mentions the anime and manga showing bonds

[@ruanvictorcabraldelima4752]

I always watch things in 2x, but this guy talks so fast that I had to watch in 0.75 speed instead. It was a great video, btw

[@mayayamato7351]

49:04 inside job hell yeah. i already miss that show so much. anyway i love this game but i get the criticism and also you're funny.

[@floxdeliz]

Could you talk some time of Pokemon Mistery Dungeon? One of my favorites games of all time is explorers and I NEED your opinion with your chaotic adhd perfect edition

[@TheLudomancer]

If I started talking about Mystery Dungeon, I would never stop. There’s so much to go over. I STILL play through Sky and notice new things and subtleties to the structure.

[@cryptidkisser4276]

I just found you recently, but oh my god you're so underrated. You have good takes and excellent, funny editing. Can't wait to see you grow!

[@TheLudomancer]

Welcome aboard! I upload every three years. Glad you enjoy, I always love seeing these comments.

[@dylus7434]

12:59 HECK. YES. Turn-based combat can ABSOLUTELY be interesting, but the battle system of the most popular RPG just HAS to be archaic and just plain boring to twist people’s thoughts on the matter. 42:57 I think this would have made a LOT more sense if it was following Gen I where Pokémon were shown and told to exist alongside a bunch of other normal animals. Nowadays, it’s become increasingly shown that the ecosystem is run by Pokémon, so this makes no sense. I myself am extremely curious about Palworld and the varying degrees of bonding with creatures it can do. I want to SEE life in Pokémon, not just told it. I want to SEE a Drifloon kidnapping children or a Rapidash crushing diamonds. Otherwise, I won’t believe you as an adult fan, and I’ll be turned away.

[@TheLudomancer]

Still absolutely wild to me that they're self aware enough to know that "Pokemon as Dangerous creatures" is a popular take, but not self aware enough to use anything more than bidoof and starly to show that off.

[@ty-seansenior6660]

You know it's weird that you bring up PETA's hypocrisy, because that's the entire point of Ghetsis being the true mastermind in the first Black and White. The game wasn't trying to hide that he was bad, that was dramatic irony for the characters since we know he was manipulating N and that he's not acting alone. Of course Ghetsis wants to control Pokémon for his own means, that's just what PETA would do if they ever had the sort of power Team Plasma had. Plus, ilegitimate

[@TheLudomancer]

Cool.. Ghetsis is very relevant to this discussion about a game he isn’t in. No DUH they weren’t trying to hide Ghetsis’ villainy. I don’t think “Dramatic Irony” is good if it blatantly refuses and invalidates the conflict of interest its trying to bring up. If it IS dramatic irony, then all the characters who philosophize the same two sentence about the dilemma is just wasting the player’s time. Point being: The Diamond and Pearl clans don’t have that “Dramatic Irony” and thus, the opinions they have on Pokeballs and captivity actually matter for shit. I didn’t need your approval to stamp this video and legitimize it so I question what that last sentence means to me.

[@ty-seansenior6660]

@@TheLudomancer While I've never played any Pokémon games, my problem is that they don't tap into the potential of some of their best ideas. The newest games have spectacular concepts, but Game Freak never truly took advantage of it. I find it quite hypocritical and ironic that Pokémon Uranium was taken down because Nintendo must know that Game Freak can no longer write real stories for shit. In fact, the fans can write their own epic Pokémon story and Game Freak knows it. I've been writing a trilogy of Pokémon films taking place within the anime universe with the more philosophical angle of Black and White, and inspired by action-adventure greats such as James Bond and Indiana Jones. Allow me to pitch the story: The story is that Team Rocket is threatened - and later hijacked - by a cult named Team Chaos, which is also hiding in plain sight. They're searching for magical gemstones that are responsible for Mega Evolution and can give anyone immense power (think Dragon Balls or Chaos Emeralds). When Giovonni is threatened, Jessie, James and Meowth asks Ash, Delia and his friends for help (since they've teamed up in the past). Through traveling, the group uncover a global conspiracy and become closer to each other with their relationship. One of the main rivals is CJ, an N-inspired character that James knew way back when and the only child of Team Chaos' leader Sarah. Fan favorite characters are also here with stories of their own (things like Cynthia descending into madness like Volo) and things build up until Sarah achieves god status and attempts to take over the entire Poke-verse. Now Ash, James and Pikachu have to stop her. If this is exciting as a film, imagine what we can do for a game! There's a goldmine of possibilities that Game Freak is just sitting on and not doing anything with. I'm a writer and I love making up stories. So it pains me to see stories like with Sword and Shield that get put through the ringer like this because you can tell that there is some talent and some good ideas that aren't being utilized. To quote the last line of your first video, "This series died with N." Honestly, I don't think Game Freak is negligent, they're doing the best they can… But when the official anime and even the fans can do better stories with no backing from the Pokémon company… yeah, even I'll admit that perhaps it is time to just cut their losses. If this is what we're getting now, things should've ended a long time ago. Or at the very least get some new blood on the development team, dear Arceus... But that's just me.

[@commonviewer2488]

​@@ty-seansenior6660 The saddest part is there are interesting stories in the games that we the player just don't get to experience. Imagine Sun/Moon, but you play from Lillie/Gladion's perspectives, XYZ but you see humans' destruction of nature Lysandre is referring to as nature itself seems to turn against humanity, Sword/Shield with an actual energy crisis causing PCs to fail, preventing trainers from accessing their Pokémon while Attack on Titan is suddenly occuring among Gigantomax Pokémon! The cowards!

[@springbonnie5249]

@@ty-seansenior6660 It's not you. Your story is very interesting. In fact, as a writer in the making, one of my writing projects is a Pokémon fanfic set in a region that is dominated/controlled by an evil corporation, whose goal is to make sure that trainers have the necessary tools for their Pokémon journey be less “dangerous” (the idea that Pokémon are dangerous creatures that must be controlled is just propaganda they use) And I have other worldbulding details that I did.

[@Mannymba]

I watched the whole thing thinking this was 1.2 M views video. What's wrong with KZbin??

[@TheLudomancer]

I dunno. My competition is Maxxor and that mans is on crack.

[@VixYW]

I think it's reasonable to assume that people from Jubilife got really traumatized by whichever previous events drove them to the village, and that they don't exchange that much knowledge with the other clans to learn to live without fear of pokemon. It's not a great explanation, but I think it's passable for the sake of what they were going for here. That being said, I'm hoping so hard that this was just them tipping their toes into experimenting with all of this and that they'll dive head first in the next entry now that people seems to be welcoming it. But I'm also ready to be disappointed, and so I go back to Digimon Survive...

[@TheLudomancer]

Yeah. It’s a totally reasonable assumption. Framing this small village/outpost as a developed refugee camp after whatever disaster Kamado faced would be a way to justify a lot of this. By that coin, it’s perfectly reasonable for us to expect Game Freak to put any of that into the text of the game. I hope that when they try the formula again, they actually learn from any of this. But then again, these are all lessons they could’ve learned from any of their mainline games.

[@VixYW]

@@TheLudomancer True, true. But it's the first time in... how long ever since we saw any step towards improvement? Maybe it's just a fluke, but gen 10 or the next legends game has the groundwork built for it to be great. All they have to do is... actually do it and not go for the bare minimum.

[@TheLudomancer]

@@VixYW I think every generation has been a step towards improvement, however small and however non-committal. Issue being, every time the next thing comes around, they step off from the same ground zero as last time instead of actually following through. I seriously wonder what they’d do if they were mandated to design some features that would appear in the next game as-is.

[@BasicSub]

10:11 WAIT WHAT?! I'm finally playing this game and I never knew that! I just thought it would unlock after I get to a certain part in the game or they didn't make a multi-release. Cause like you said I kept going back to organize my pastures. Thats terrible.

[@MesieurOjete]

54:20 Imagine if you could fight with the pokemon kicking them, or having weapons, you could do that in Azure Dreams and it was great, I only played the GBA version tho but as I said, it's worth trying, the story is not too long and it's easy to cheese.

[@TheLudomancer]

I actually have some really complicated thoughts on why more fights against non-pokemon would be a fantastic direction for the series to take. Definitely too abstract for a youtube comment.

[@MesieurOjete]

@@TheLudomancer Understandable, I hope you put them on a video in the future. I always thought that pokemon were the ultimate weapon, that a baby pokemon fresh out of the egg could already kill a person with a tackle, pokemon were used in wars and even cops and criminals use them rather than guns and whatever so yeah, it would make sense thematically.

[@Chadfill8348]

Pokemon Souls when?

[@LainWithSweetTea]

The fan made pokemon tabletop allows this as well as trainer on trainer combat and its been the most refreshing pokemon experience my table has had in years

[@MesieurOjete]

@@LainWithSweetTea really? I must check that out

[@spyr0guy]

Really looking forward to the palworld video if such a thing is on the table, considering... the kind of people who tend to show up when someone says nice or even neutral things about it.

[@TheLudomancer]

It’s more than just Palworld.

[@spyr0guy]

@@TheLudomancer Oh nice, multi-topic videos are really cool too!

[@FloridusMan]

I played PLA once in my senior year of high school thinking it would be the Forgotten Land of Pokemon but nah its just Pokemon with a slightly altered battle system that's still boring that Smogon people tried to delude me into thinking was "completely different". Nah, it mostly feels the same and I'm going to indulge myself with Forgotten Land because its actually not stale crap and because I like Kirby a lot more than Pokemon now.

[@TheLudomancer]

Kirby is a better RPG than Pokemon, which is a hilarious statement to make about a 3d platformer.

[@FloridusMan]

Felt like I had a stroke reading that lol. Still point is that Legends Arceus that was hyping up being a revolution to Pokemon should've actually revolutionized it rather than just being slightly different.

[@aubreyfiredrill]

when i saw drag race on screen at 16:10 my heart almost stopped oh my GOD :')

[@TheLudomancer]

High key, Electrode had me imagining Homer Simpson on that show.

[@zynet_eseled]

let's go with starforce!!!

[@tomykong2915]

Digimon, Digital monsters! Digimon is fucking amazing, and yeah, we should recognize the good game design it often has

[@TheReZisTLust]

I'm genuinely disappointed this game wasnt worked into S&V with its mechanics and feels, I skipped this one thinking itd just be a test game for the new style and game after would be improved upon it. Somehow they went backwards.

[@TheLudomancer]

I am praying that they continue this spinoff series. It's the evolution we should've had on the Gamecube.

[@wesnohathas1993]

I will absolutely blame Pokémon for the widespread disdain of turn-based RPGs. The series is a huge stain on the entire genre's reputation when literally every other game that came later than the NES era does a better job of handling turn-based combat.

[@TheLudomancer]

Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest WERE very simple games when they came out. But like, Chronotrigger came out the year before Red, and Square has continued to change their games on fundamental levels. There's central elements to what makes those games fun, like Optimizing, balancing your team for attrition, prioritization, that Pokemon just... Can Not Do.

[@PoipoleBoi]

Yeah, the most annoying part about this game is how there's no point for the protagonist being an isikai or however you spell it. In pmd it always had a reason for things happening like why you have visions and etc. The plot in this game just feels like coincidence some stuff happens. Like what a coincidence the ore in spear pillar just so happened to be a master ball for dialga. Its so boring...

[@haruhirogrimgar6047]

39:20 Takes me back to a comment I put in another video. Except in this instance "wow. You have the opportunity to not only have a conversation and fight with the cannonical God of the universe. Imagine how powerful it must be." And then it is just a tough Rattata. It doesn't have any godly abilities alongside its heralds (Dialga + Palkia). It can't control the weather, summon/create Pokemon, travel you back through time, or ANYTHING more than punch really hard.

[@ChangedMyNameFinally69]

@@haruhirogrimgar6047 this ain't a difficulty hack dude

[@Tony_AM009]

For the record, I have yet to play Legends Arceus due to not having enough money to buy it. I'm going off of what videos and clips I've seen about it. In the event that the Gen 4 remakes and Legends Arceus were done right, what I would have loved is if the Gen 4 remakes contained many in-game references to Legends Arceus while also allowing players to use Hisuian Pokémon in present-day Sinnoh. We could transfer them from Hisui(PLA) to Sinnoh and perhaps unlock areas where we can find lost Hisuian Pokémon in present-day Sinnoh(via the Grand Underground, distortions in space & time, or something rational). It would also have been great if having played Legends Arceus enough unlocked in the Gen 4 remakes the ability to evolve certain Pokémon like Ursaring into Ursaluna and Stantler into Wyrdeer. For Kleavor, the item needed to evolve Scyther into it could've been discovered at Stark Mountain and the Grand Underground areas beneath it. They could explain that it's a volcanic substance like obsidian. Both sets of games had so much potential. It's so frustrating, upsetting, and disappointing. I do hope that you make videos on the games you mentioned at some point, including Palworld.

[@TheLudomancer]

Thanks for commenting! Don’t worry, I’m going over games I LIKE now. The rage arc is over.

[@robbycooper6787]

What’s the difference between explosions sky and the other explorers versions

[@TheLudomancer]

Time and Darkness just have slightly different available Pokémon, Sky is a definitive version like Platinum or Emerald with bonus features, more items, some very minor qol and postgame dungeons/side content.

[@infiniteoctopaw]

You know what pokemon is in desperate need of? A pet simulator. Sonic Adventure 2 from 2001 on the dreamcast had a better pet monster system than pokemon has EVER had on anything ever. The Pokemon pastures should have been like a Chao Garden.

[@darkmetal2412]

28:15 as a Kamado hater this made me laugh God so true, that guy was just talking out of ass Anyway about the game itself i am glad how easy it is to shiny hunt. Hell it's honestly the first Pokemon game i actually decided to complete the Pokedex for that sweet sweet Shiny Charm I got my beautiful Shiny Zoroka (i didn't spell that Pokemon name right but I'm too lazy to fix it)

[@TheLudomancer]

I also love gambling when I always win!

[@EthanTheDinoNerd]

Still believe the two GameCube games are the best Pokemon games just because it's combat isn't 1v1.

[@ChangedMyNameFinally69]

@@EthanTheDinoNerd cringe

[@EthanTheDinoNerd]

@@ChangedMyNameFinally69 sorry. Not a fan of brain dead combat. RPG combat is better when you have more then one person in your group and control them.

[@ChangedMyNameFinally69]

@@EthanTheDinoNerd Well these games weren't intended for insecure 20 year olds.

[@D-Havoc]

To be fair, the manga also have Pokémon shrinking.

[@TheLudomancer]

The manga does things with the shrinking and is up front about the way they work, so I have no complaints about it there. Whatever they do in the games, I just want them to acknowledge it and keep it in mind as they write. Maybe tie it into gameplay somehow. Otherwise, it's just dangling suspension of disbelief off of a goddamn cliff.

[@edorasmarauder5761]

I would have loved it if they actually utilized the idea of a Arceus cult as the evil team, instead of not having anything. Personally, I liked Legends Arceus because of the openness rather than the usual closed and linear areas. I do have a problem with the fact that the music is cut off whenever a wild Pokemon sees you, and the only way you can hear it is by stay still.

[@TheREALSimagination]

The shut-out from the village ywist was the best part of the game.

[@TheLudomancer]

Turning my head 540 degrees like an Owl to look you dead in the eyes is a twist. Doesn’t mean I’m not breaking several bones to do it or that it’s the best way for me to show my confusion.

[@TheREALSimagination]

@@TheLudomancer Sorry, I guess you thought I must've said YOU thought it was the best twist in the game.

[@TheLudomancer]

@@TheREALSimagination OG comment said jack about thoughts. Make a statement about your thoughts, that’s you. Make a statement about the thing itself and that’s a claim on the reality of it. Deadass I think it’s up there but that’s not a high bar.

[@TheREALSimagination]

@@TheLudomancer Well, I can't speak for everyone else.

[@TheLudomancer]

@@TheREALSimagination True. But, if you said it as an opinion, that's not something I can discuss. If you just say it's the best, that's open for discussion.

[@justasimplenobody2666]

Woah woah woah did you just *pop* two of those drifloons with whatever that deer pokemon is?! 😳 does popping a balloon pokemon mean you just.. I think you just unalived two ghost pokemon..

[@TheLudomancer]

They can't be unalived if they're already dead.

[@iMentula]

I'd like to believe it's just a matter of time until the player base is so fed up and actually forces Game Freak and the Pokémon Company to handle Pokémon games with the responsibility that comes with being the biggest media franchise. However, I know that's not going to happen soon, and I know I'm part of the problem - so used to the way this franchise capitalises on my fantastical imagination and nostalgia, that I willingly fill in the gaps and turn into the Three Wise Monkeys whenever I'm presented with another plot hole, threatening to pull me into the abyss of "not caring any longer for this franchise", and gladly hand over my credit card information. Every. Single. Time. It's almost funny how Digimon Cyber Sleuth had a more impactful way of handling the "connecting with monsters" aspect, when it's a game in which you box your "starter" almost immediately, when Pokémon only makes me really bond with my starter, and rarely anything else - and that's not even Game Freak doing their job but plainly Stockholm Syndrome. I love Pokémon and the concepts, feelings, and memories I associate with it, so I can empathise with you. PLA is the greatest Pokémon game and I'm really glad for it existing, but I really don't know how much longer I can care.. I'm so overwhelmed and ecstatic by what actually is outstandingly mediocre. It's almost stupid how much love I have for this franchise that I can only rationalise it by reminding myself that love is irrational by nature, like it's a toxic boyfriend that I just can't let go off. Great video, I saw your video on SV earlier and I'm so happy that you improved on those text crawl jumpscares, as this video had a lot of those, too, and I almost called it out once more. If I can suggest something - the way you stopped talking for 1-2 seconds before one longer block was really appreciated. Your thoughts are valuable, and I know the "chaotic good" editing style is alluring, I feel your takes are too good to hide in just one frame. It lessens the impact, creates a feel of lacking confidence behind the message or the humour. I know there's no reason for that, most takes are brilliant at best and simply funny at worst, so maybe allow us to dwell in those. 😬 Thanks for making me feel understood with this video... especially with the slight shade towards Adore Delano and your allegiance to the fight in the name of the Moon. ❤

[@murkywaters5502]

Nice video.

[@TheLudomancer]

Thanks for leaving a comment!

[@harley202]

Soooo... you mentioned having the script for star force 3 was it? Where is it? I cannot find it anywhere on your channel did you scrap the idea?

[@TheLudomancer]

Thirty gorillion revisions…

[@desdar100]

I would also maybe like to offer a bottle to a few points. - Why are the people afraid of Pokemon if they ought to be used to them in their home regions? IMO,b I feel like historians could ask the same thing of the Europeans who had their own wildlife prior to coming to the Americas yet still felt the need to exterminate not only the people all those lands but the creatures that were there with them just because they found them to be a inconvenience. Human fear and prejudice typically leads to irrational thinking and just the mere fact that something is different can warrant all kinds of horrific things in our own world be it murder, racism, or any other thing that I could say about what's currently going on in Palestine. - your actions don't affect the world around you. I think the various missions that you do causes the village to open up a lot more to the point that even The villages theme song starts to sound like Jubilife City's from modern-day Sinnoh. The player is also the only person who's consistently interacting with the other clans and through your feet you caused them to believe not only in you but the cause of the Galaxy team. - why didn't the llama God help us? Based on what I've seen in my second playthrough, it seems like Arceus created a bootstrap paradox. Many people that are part of the tribes talked about an ancient hero whom not only partner themselves up with the noble Pokemon but managed to save the region from some sort of ancient catastrophe. The player effectively ends up becoming that in real time which means that the ancient hero did exist but it's unknown were they originated.

[@lnsflare1]

I would like to see someone compare Pokémon Legends: Arceus to Digimon World: Next Order and/or Monster Hunter Stories 2 since they both seem to be certifications on the same concept.

[@insupportofjunhado]

Oh come on, we knew you had interests other than Pokemon just from that one video, where you mentioned about seventeen other pieces of media and twenty things that weren't even media. Had to pause the video a few times to read all the text, making an over hour long viewing last even longer, but we got it.

[@TheLudomancer]

Yeahhh still not happy with those text crawls. It’s something I’m trying very hard to stop doing cold turkey in my current project.

[@forgototherpassword]

You know what would have been an insane thing to change with the whole sky turning red? Make it so almost all pokemon are Alpha pokemon, which also changes their behavior to aggressive regardless of species, and make it so that, for whatever reason, we can't catch alpha pokemon during this section of the game. I mean, you could even say that we had to leave our bag behind so we lose access to all of our items for the duration as well. Seriously, imagine it, having no access to any items, including healing items, and pokeballs, until you at least capture Dialga or Palkia, whichever you get first. Makes the whole thing feel more dangerous, and limits our gameplay options so that the player feels the need to advance the story to fix it.

[@bluetimesskyrii]

Just started watching but I already tell this video's gonna be great. Legends Arceus tempted me, but I ultimately didn't go for buying the game. Part of the reason was because I didn't want to play games that heavily utilized the joystick, which had really bad drift for me haha. But I was still skeptical of how the game would turn out once people got their hands on it, and I was ultimately convinced to just skip it altogether. Game just wasn't up to standards for me, especially following my great experiences with Monster Hunter Stories 2, Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth, and even Touhou Puppet Dance Performance lmao (the closest thing to Pokemon I've played for a while) I'd say more but ehh TL;DR I'm glad I skipped this game

[@TheLudomancer]

It’s the best GameFreak Pokémon Title. Still widely underwhelming compared to what everyone else is putting out.

[@らいどう-c5m]

Thats a bummer I think you should have at least given it a shot

[@bluetimesskyrii]

@@らいどう-c5m Maybe one day, if I have the money and time for it. I'll most likely buy Legends Arceus used though

[@bluetimesskyrii]

@@TheLudomancer True, if any other game company made a game comparable to Legends Arceus' quality it would be a 7/10 game at best for their standards

[@ramihajyounesmontoya5194]

Great job.

[@notdwaddler2013]

Lemme have that fuckin Star Force food already man, I NEED IT

[@TheLudomancer]

I need it also. It is coming.

[@X3nophiliac]

you should look at Ragnarok Hybrids review of Legends, you have similar points about the story lol

[@swaanm]

I genuinely enjoy the new Pokémon games but watch these videos for to gain a more nuanced perspective. Genuinely shocked that you don’t get more views- even if I don’t agree with all your points (for instance, while the games underutilize them, the mechanics of Pokémon battling can actually be incredibly rich and complex when you get into challenge runs and competitive battling), they’re wonderfully made and clearly have a lot of passion put into them. I’d love to see your thoughts on other franchises.

[@TheLudomancer]

Hey, that's all I can ask of anyone. If you'll call me screaming about Volo "nuanced". I figure that the mechanical depth of these games appearing in challenge runs isn't reflective of any innate qualities of Pokemon. I see nuzlockes as people desperate for interesting mechanics, so they optimize the hell out of it. I respect the hell out of it but at some point, just play another game if you're not satisfied with what Pokemon's giving you. It's a sort of challenge that any other turn-based games can accomodate, and often create the same results (Tension, planning, etc) without needing to be modified.

[@swaanm]

@@TheLudomancer I can agree with that. I’ve found myself being bored with playing the games “normally” lately, but I still greatly enjoy competitive and nuzlockes, even though I usually find strategy games pretty mid, so I guess that’s where I find the value in Pokémon games. I’m trying to think of a reason why I think enforcing arbitrary rules on an otherwise boring game is more fun than games actually designed to make you think, and the only one I can come up with is “Pokemon has my favorite little guys in it” lol.

[@TheLudomancer]

@@swaanm "It has my favorite little guys in it" is a damn fine reason. Aesthetics are a major part of a person's experience with a game. The addition of rules and stakes can frequently make something more interesting. People like challenge, adding more rules can add challenge when done right. Nuzlocke rules specifically create amazing incentive to optimize, minimize risk, maximize sacrifices, it's LEAGUES beyond baseline Pokemon's literal nothing. And to clarify, being turn based isn't the problem. It's just that It's the most bland, boring and lifeless example of turn-based combat with no easy fix that wouldn't be closer to reinvention.

[@swaanm]

@@TheLudomancer I get you. Warning for another wall of text coming up- This is extremely off-topic, but I find it interesting. There is a small but not insignificant portion of the fanbase for which online (or in-person tournament) competitive battling is the game, and who don’t care about the main story being shit because it’s just a means to an end. Every game since Platinum, when official tournaments were expanded to include the video games as well as the cards, were likely designed with competitive in mind. The introduction of things like the ability patch and nature mints supports this. In that regard, Pokemon succeeds in being an engaging PvP experience. Still, Pokemon is marketed as a single-player RPG with competitive as a side attraction, and as such it doesn’t really matter how good or well-designed the esports are if it fails to deliver on its basic promises. For every innovation that makes competitive play more interesting (as clumsy as the lore for the generational gimmicks is, they do add depth when you’re playing against a real person), there seems to be another feature taken away to make it more tedious (like the removal of Super Training). Plus, prize money for official Pokémon tournaments is peanuts compared to other major esports titles. I don’t know where I was going with this; I kind of just felt like rambling about Pokémon. To clarify, I’m not trying to defend it, other players shouldn’t have to sacrifice literally everything for me to get my Eugenics Dogfighting Simulator, especially since those playing Pokémon for the Eugenics Dogfighting Simulator are in the minority. I just wanted to talk about a different perspective that I don’t see much in these conversations. Apologies if you’ve already talked about this and I just missed it or forgot.

[@TheLudomancer]

@@swaanm Nah man that's extremely on-point. I did go over the competitive stance a bit in the video and It's fine if you try to defend it. I would find that very interesting. I'm not so shallow that I can't understand disagreement. I do find myself enjoying playing Pokemon against people, but I don't feel like that's really because of anything the game does. I go into it a bit in my S&V Script because Terastalizing does seem fairly directed at expanding teambuilding options. I will vouch for Dynamaxing forever, not on lore, not on competitive fronts (if only because I don't know enough about it's impact) But just experientally in-game. Exclusivity to gym leaders and Raids, sheer spectacle, revamping the moves, it works. It genuinely spices things up without creating enormous problems through repetition.

[@daniala9091]

Show don't tell is a guideline rather than an actual rule. There are times when tell is better than show.

[@TheLudomancer]

Yep! Great observation. Usually you would tell rather than show if you want to save time on something unimportant, or be purposefully vague. It's pretty bad for "I Made a Deal with the Devil to kill god and now you have to fight me." When that's the main villain's Only Action.

[@luziaguerralatelevision2670]

28:45 I mean, it is still lazy writing... But, in my opinion, I think he says that because he is the only one who doesn't trust the main character/ player and that there's really no other person who doesn't trust them. It's just him, not wanting to admit that he is the only one who doesn't trust you. In fact, I believe that's why the other characters "help" you (in some extent), despite his orders. But, once again, this is my personal opinion and it is still lazy writing, as I said 😕

[@TheLudomancer]

I guess that tracks. I dunno if I'm able to give them that much credit because Kamado also has lines saying that you've successfully proven yourself. Hell, one of the first thing he says after MEETING you is that he likes your spirit.

[@luziaguerralatelevision2670]

@@TheLudomancer Yeah, that's right; I forgot. They are inconsistent as hell with the way they want to portray their characters and history... :/

[@haruhirogrimgar6047]

I am excited to move on to your Crosscode and Fossil Fighter videos leaving with incredibly high agreement on Pokemon. But I do feel it is worth pushing back on your statements about the battle system. I argue that the issue is more one of balancing and how they are treated. Pokemon's Battle system has become quite robust and flexible. Its more casual PvP experiences exemplify this as do some romhacks. Set-ups can be for 1 Pokemon + be either defensive or offensive, and then can be carried to at least 1 other. Status moves are more varied than most games. Damage moves are split into many different categories, And the toolbox is so deep all people need to do is shuffle some numbers and learnpools to "balance" Pokemon or make them have a valuable niche. It is just the devs/ai doesn't utilize any of this. The closest thing we have is Skill Swap + Slaking in a double battle final boss. We could have these dungeons and fights that force you to learn how to use buffs rhe same way SMT does.

[@TheLudomancer]

My biggest issue is that there's little to no way to wean yourself onto the more tactical effects because of the lacking turn economy. An individual pokemon has far fewer options than any other TTRPG party member and the game incentivizes a simple, OHKO-focus strategy of wide type coverage at any cost by making that the only way to really speed up fights.

[@tomykong2915]

Explaining the 'subtlety' is also better if you do it in a natural way, I'd have excused it if it amounted to "arceus, this happens too often. Sorry you had to see that". That is a natural way to state the obvious, without it feeling like stating the obvious. Could also just say "We really gotta keep those 2 apart with how often this happens". There are so many ways to do that without making it being patronizing, if it needs said

[@TheLudomancer]

Yyyup. It’s really easy to twist words away from exposition and towards naturalist dialogue. Just… any internal opinion on the matter, something proactive instead of simple instructing the player on what they’ve just seen. I gotta wonder if these issues exist in the original Japanese or if it’s just lazy localization.

[@tomykong2915]

@@TheLudomancer usually I assume it's lazy localization for things like that, but didn't think of that this time, would be worth looking into how much if the awful dialogue is the fault of the localization

[@TheLudomancer]

@@tomykong2915 it is definitely strange. The usual benchmarks of lazy localization are characters sounding similar and overly literal sentences. I found that a lot in Tears of the Kingdom. Pokémon has a lot of the same problems, but characters like Nemona still express a reasonable amount of individual personality in their text, but it’s a thin veil of vocabulary over the same sentence structures. They arrive at similar problems, but it’s ambiguous if they have the same cause.

[@celiafrostborn]

PLA did one thing right and thats the catching, everything else was a downgrade from the battling to the world and people in it. Ot doesnt even have any meaningful aide activities unlike BDSP so even for as bad as people thing it is it has more content to it. Personally PLA is my worst pokemon game ever, be it for the reasons stated, the lack or battles and so many more reasons. I dont eant a catching similulator, I need more!

[@TheLudomancer]

Honestly I think the battling is an upgrade. For one, there's less of it. For two, there's more options. It's my personal Top Game Freak title. Still like, 2/10 and that's generous given the way you heard me screaming about everything Irida ever says.

[@celiafrostborn]

@@TheLudomancer It really comes down to the type of player you are. I like my in depth battling and lots of it, the catching is secondary and I don't wanna have to catch 20 of the same Pokemon to get resources. Some will love the gameplay loop and the lack of battles, I'm not one of those players. Personally I was sick of it a few hours into the game and hated the fact I had to catch every single Pokemon to get Arceus. Not to mention the fact some Pokemon were downright annoying to get like the genies with their constant running away. The only worthwhile battle was towards the end and that is plagued by the turn order thing not even working sometimes like every other battle. My hopes are if they make another legends game it will have more core series mechanics as well as the new catching, otherwise it'll be another slog I have to go through to get some hard to get Pokemon.

[@EpicevanXD]

Pokémon go was one of the greatest things to happen to humanity and the pandemic killing it right as it started to get more mechanically advanced was bullshit. Seriously download it again it is so much better now

[@stanzacosmi]

You say pokemon don't disobey, but they actually do. You CAN catch a level 45 snorlax at the start of legends arceus... but if you don't have at least the final area unlocked, it won't obey you period. If you catch pokemon that are overleveled, they don't respect you and would rather hurt themselves than obey you.

[@stanzacosmi]

Main reason why they do obey you to begin with is mainly for gameplay purposes primarily, If a pokemon refuses to obey, that means that the battles you do encounter need to have a lower level so all of your pokemon can survive if they just. Snorlax disobeyed! Snorlax hurt itself! Snorlax hurt itself! Snorlax hurt itself!

[@TheLudomancer]

I suppose it's less about obedience in battle, but that they don't do anything outside of perfect obedience. I could suspend my disbelief about their autonomy if they showed any.

[@stanzacosmi]

@@TheLudomancer that's fair. I just thought it was something that wasn't fully considered since the most I got out of it was pokemon don't disobey enough. If you send all your pokemon out without a target, they'll start talking with eachother, or sleep, or do some sort of little dance animation. But since you have to manually send them out and it's only positive things they do, you have a point. One way they could fix that would be to have some interactions tied to their "proud of it's power' characteristic. Like "Proud of it's power" will show off a bit in battle by randomly doing a physical attack animation without actually doing a move, or "Likes to laze around" will close it's eyes for a bit. something like that. Don't need to make new animations even. just use existing ones. I like legends arceus a lot, and I will admit, technical issues aside, scarlet and violet were a good time to me since they got me to like the open world gameplay. Before you say anything, I skipped bdsp for being 'faithful'ly bad, and swsh for not actually improving anything with dexit other than making it possible to catch all pokemon within one region. only got sv because they were doing something new, and they visibly upgraded the 3D models (eelektross stands on the ground when not in battle now)

[@stanzacosmi]

also let me say, I am so sad I didn't know about your content sooner, you've earned a sub

[@TheLudomancer]

@@stanzacosmi I'm glad that you enjoy it! A loooot of people are only finding my stuff right now. I... WISH I'd skipped bdsp, that game HURT. Gen 4 is my personal nostalgia bank. I have my... Other video on Gen 9. I won't spoil it if you haven't seen it.

[@leonardodelimaferreira8509]

Wait, I need to ask, what do you think about Digimon?

[@TheLudomancer]

It's got it's ups and downs, Like 60% of it is kinda garbo, but I'm more than willing to put up with it's lows because it creates a setting, has an aesthetic, and commits to both. E.G. Cyber Sleuth is translated by an avocado tumbling on a keyboard, but it makes good set pieces and shows interesting ideas. A lot of the games are genuinely solid, better at creating bonds with your creatures than Pokemon has ever pretended to be. And some structural things baked into the series like the early Digidestined do something to set the player apart, and the fact that Digimon are always framed as some kind of Incursion or Isekai scenario in an otherwise ordinary world manages to upsell their otherness, excuse bland worldbuilding and open up monster-of-the-week moments. The digimon talking is just... Good? Wow, if you give something dialogue, you can have exchanges with it that boil down to more than "What's that Lappy? Timmy fell down a well?!". The Digimon are allowed to be characters. Most of all, Things Happen in those games. On a regular basis. It also doesn't piss it's pants if it sees a T rating. Overall? VERY fond of it. It's unhinged shark-jumping at it's worst and good clean monster taming fun in what I'd call it's most distilled form.

[@leonardodelimaferreira8509]

​@@TheLudomancer great, do you ever plan on doing videos about it? I'd recommend the world series or the story series (Cyber Sleuth being the most recent of the dyory series), mainly World, imo the best thing of Digimon as a franchise, specially Digimon World Re:Digitize Decode for 3DS

[@TheLudomancer]

@@leonardodelimaferreira8509 I don’t really have anything but an inkling to cover it in comparison to Pokémon and how the base concepts enable storytelling, but I’ll always take a recommendation for a 3ds game!

[@leonardodelimaferreira8509]

Also, another thing, while yes the Isekai aspect is present in every single digimon game making it feel sepparated, unique and more believable simply by being another world (if that was what you meant and I'm not misinterpreting), it's important to mention how Digimons, the world and it's inhabitants, are a reflection of our world, Digimons are data on the internet, meaning that whatever is on the internet, our culture and beliefs, is reflected on a Digimon, hence why there's so many Digimons that are literally based on Christianity, on Greek, Nordic, Egipcian, Japanese, Buddhist and many others mythologies, why so many digimons have GUN somewhere on their designs, Clockmon can travel freely to any point in time if its before january 1st 2000, Y2K, or even less specific references, western midia, fantasy, sci-fi, real life animals, whatever it is, it is something based on something from our world, but that's not to say the digiworld doesn't have it's own ideas, Ulforceveedramon literally not being able to be damaged from any type of weapon that isn't from the future like him, or the 10 ancient warriors that saved the digiworld of old from a huge war; but the best part of all of this, is that digimon are data, it can be changed freely, hence why even tho it's literally impossible that a Chaosmon is made on a digiworld (not exist, made as in a Joggress evolution) a tamer, someone from outside of the digiworld that can help to mold the digimon's data more freely than any digimon alone, can make a Banjoleomon and a Darkdramon fuse into a Chaosmon, something that literally should not be possible in any digiworld, it's such an interesting and vast world that can be made into any type of story, or completely changed or repurposed, like Tamers or Survive did

[@EmeralBookwise]

Part of the problem with Pokémon and "domestication" is pinning down exactly what Pokémon are even supposed to be in the first place. Are Pokémon animals or are they kami? Because the games seem to want to have it both ways and that just doesn't really work.

[@springbonnie5249]

kami? what is a "kami"?

[@EmeralBookwise]

@@springbonnie5249: not sure if DBZA gag or serious...

[@kalipple]

I don't think it is a stretch to say that the team working with Pokémon could have made a great game, if they just had more time, outsourced the workload to trusting partners that has in the past made enjoyable games and lively animation or ideally done both. It is infuriating seeing details in the games that show that there is someone in the development team that cares, weather it is by the fun entries in the Pokédex, Nosepass facing north or when seeing the effort they put in the cartography compared to previous entries or even the games that came afterwards. Of course, such effort is a waste of money, and they make more money than their big brother Zelda who they so desperately try to mimic but Zelda series give their devs so much more time and the wait is worth it. I'm afraid that no matter how many people express their disappointment that nothing will change. I know people who are not vocal GameFreak defenders, but will consume all games released because they enjoy the games and it's gameplay-loop uncritical of the state it is released at. And they are people with money, money that can afford multiple double copies. And it is for these people GameFreak makes the games for. Which is a shame as Pokémon got a monopoly on the monster collection genre of games, they basically nailed the formula at day one by sheer luck and other series could only hope to see a pie-slice that was their success. And the arrogance of said monopoly shows. I really hope that Palworld or any other game coming out that wants to capture the feeling GameFreak is capable but refuses to do finds success to either make GameFreak get their shit together or watch Pokémon fall hard and be obsolete at the refusal to improve.

[@robertlupa8273]

So Pokemon was never good, isn't good and will never be? Should I just quit and leave it be? Should I abandon even the old games? Or should I get a therapist and do something with my negativity? 😕

[@kalipple]

@@robertlupa8273 I mean, therapy is always good to have, but I do not think you must abandon the old games personally. Hell, I still enjoy playing these games and just today continued my return to Soul Silver. Nothing is stopping you from making the most out of these games that receive critique. Looking into other games outside of Pokémon such as Five Nights at Freddy's Security Breach or Sonic Boom, people were both horrified at the state those games were released at, yet at the same time got overjoyed breaking those games, speed-running them and gaining an understanding of the code the game is built on. Returning to Pokémon though, it is an okay series as a game, but an outstanding concept. And it is shown by Pokémon fans with how they engage in said content from fan-games, to mystery dungeon role-plays to art depicting an ordinary life in the world of pokémon, to comics, to nuzlocke challenges, to shiny hunting communities. I can rant on and on about how cool the community around Pokémon is when ignoring the games GameFreak has released. So I encourage you that if you enjoy Pokémon to not let anyone stop you, but if you feel like you have been let down by the games lately, look into some older games that may be a little more promising or games made by fans that have a lot of passion behind them. And remember piracy is the moral thing to do.

[@robertlupa8273]

@@kalipple Thank you. I don't know if I use any of your advice, but it was nice reading it, nice to know that someone cared enough about a random depressed manchild on the internet to write a paragraph for them.

[@kalipple]

@@robertlupa8273 You don't have to take my advice, but I really do hope that you can find yourself in better circumstances to treat your depression. I of course do not know you, but people are not depressed for no reason. Whatever you do, I hope you can be proactive in fighting the depression even if depression in of itself does it make it incredibly difficult.

[@LainWithSweetTea]

People clown on digimon but if a pokemons game goal is to get you attached digimon somehow manages that 9/10 times you made the joke about numemon and his shit throwing but after one playthrough of digimon world 1 that mfer is a ride or die homie bruh

[@TheLudomancer]

Oh, absolutely. I fuckin LOVE Digimon. There aren’t many good entry games aside from Cyber Sleuth but god it goes hard.

[@LainWithSweetTea]

@@TheLudomancer I'd say it's heavily taste based. I adore the tamgotchi style games in series despite their flaws. I've grown attached to many digital critters I otherwise wouldn't due to the life span system and being forced to raise them from lil goo ball fellas

[@lucarioknightb7685]

Wheres the Star force video Ludo. You promised me this.

[@TheLudomancer]

Hahahahaha uuuuuh

[@helixsol7171]

I love Yu-Gi-Oh

[@InciniumVGC]

Honestly PLA is my favorite Pokemon game on Switch still. It exceeded my expectations... those being zero. Pokemon could be so much more if it weren't this massive franchise that is more dependent on selling cards and toys than on the games, requiring generations to be rushed out in order to keep printing money. Amateur programmers with roms and a lot of spare time make better Pokemon games than GameFreak does, and they do it for free because it is a labor of love. Fan games are a lot closer to what Pokemon COULD be if the developers still put the love and care they did into the games that they did in the earlier days.

[@johanandersson8252]

Can i go home now

[@TheLudomancer]

No. You clicked on my video which means I own you.

[@gamedragonja8962]

pokemon is and will always be trash.legends is no exception

[@braindeadporter]

13:41 As someone who plays a lot pf Yu-Gi-Oh. I agree never play the game, I hate it as much as I enjoy it.

[@killer429]

I 100% agree with the commenter that critiqued the use of text. I myself pause just to pick up every detail that you put in the video, and while they're witty and humurous, they DEFINITELY ruin the pace of the video and it's difficult to keep up with what you're saying if I'm having to pause and rewind a lot of the time! It seems like you're not doing it that much in the video, at least not from what I've seen so far!

[@TheLudomancer]

Yeah, I’m definitely toning them down.

[@MrAsh1100]

I'll share my two cents about PLA. It was fun for me at least for the first few hours, until it wasn't. I like that its different than the usual Pokémon game formula but somehow somewhere I just lost interest in continuing. Unlike Mystery Dungeon, which I've played all the way to the end. My best guest is just repetitiveness but in an extremely bad way. PLA isn't bad but for me it feels the game just limits you in some ways it soon kills any hype for me in continuing on. That and the loading screens and hand holding doesn't make things better. PMD on the other hand, says here ya go, and proceeds to kick your butt until you learn how PMD plays. It doesn't need to always handhold you and when you fail a dungeon, yeah, you failed it, try again.

[@devastatheseeker9967]

The best part is legitimately the marketing. Every fucking time I say "nah it's gonna be shit...not gonna buy it" then I see one trailer and think "God fucking damn it I'm buying this..."

[@aliciahuang6329]

Is like verlisify 2.

[@TheLudomancer]

how Dare

[@SakuraAvalon]

It's funny, the single battle system of Pokemon is the only reason I can tolerate Turn Based combat. I would drop Pokemon if it went that way. lol

[@TheLudomancer]

I am begging you. What am I missing about Singles? What games with multiple party members have you played for reference about what you dislike about turn-based combat. I've got like, ten comments defending singles but I haven't gotten any clarification.

[@SakuraAvalon]

​ @TheLudomancer Xenoblade 2, FFX, FFX-2, FF7, Earthbound, Dragon Quest 11, and Persona 5, and a little bit of a Tales game. I can't really explain it. Other then I feel like having more than one member out, just leads to enemies ganging up on one member(and in some of these games, if the main member dies, regardless of the other characters being alive and well, we all die) Bosses with WAY too much health and multiple forms, justified by the idea that it's a 3 vs 1 situation And team mates that feel like they're a dead weight at times. And by virtue of being on your team and on the field, they're wasting a turn and giving the enemy a turn. Not to mention the times when you get a team mate who's under leveled. In Pokemon, you can keep them in the back until they're able to survive a single hit. In party combat, they're dragged out, and get nuked in one hit, so you need to stop progressing, and return to grinding, cause you can't just put them off til later. Then if your team mates are downed, while you're trying to bring them back, it's now open season on your last standing character.

[@TheLudomancer]

Whoa. That's seriously unfortunate that this is your experience with such a stacked lineup of games. So you feel that enemies ganging up on a single member is an issue that Pokemon avoids, but Pokemon compensates for the lacking turn economy by making things very swingy. So what you said about a teammate getting downed and being open season while you revive is equally true in Pokemon whether you try to revive Or push forward with attacks. Competitive players call it Tempo. You point to traditional RPG Bosses as HP Sponges. In my view, they almost have to be to show off their central mechanics and make themselves feel like challenges that you can't just fluke your way past by nuking them. That extra staying power lets them set themselves apart, encourage different strategies to overcome them. Compare to Pokemon Bosses that are usually just Spikes in the level curve and that's it. No unique mechanics or anything to consider that you wouldn't in an ordinary trainer battle, just... Longer since they have more Pokemon. "By being on the field, they're wasting a turn and giving the enemy a turn." What sort of ass backwards JRPG does that describe? Every RPG I've seen operates on a Linear turn order. Every entity gets their spot on the queue, when everybody's had one, we circle around to the top. At base, both sides get one action per party member per round. This is one of the wildest takes I've seen on Turn-Based Combat I've seen and I'm kinda transfixed by it because you obviously have had experiences with these games to create this opinion, but I don't see how Singles really fixes those issues with the system. Loss of Tempo, necessitating a grind for underlevelled party members, all get exacerbated by singles rather than mitigated. Instead of using one of your 3 remaining party member's turns to revive a downed member, you just sit there and let your only dude take the hit. Usually fatally, and need to spend a SECOND turn switching them in if they don't die. In Pokemon you can keep them in the back until they can take a hit? Not in Generations 1-6 you can't. You had to switch train. XP Shares have become standard in Pokemon, but they were standard even earlier in other RPG Series. Due to either a small party (Earthbound Style) Or having a native XP Share. SMT's reserve demons get XP, Persona 5 added Mishima's confidant for that purpose. Even without that bonus QoL, you can just have two strong members to carry the weak one with minimal loss of Tempo. Yeah you'd have to spend more healing items and revives on the carried member, but in Switch Training you'd have to spend more healing items on the one you switch to.

[@SakuraAvalon]

​ lmao I just spent a bunch of time typing a response, and this stupid glitch deleted my entire fawking comment. Usually when it happens, I can hit 'Undo', but not this time I guess. I aint got the stamina retype this shit out. I'll have to come back to this later. lol

[@SakuraAvalon]

@@TheLudomancer ​ Shit! I forgot I had used Copy to save it incase that shit happened. "@TheLudomancer Sure, I get what you mean. And that can happen, but for the most part, unless you're playing Pokemon competitively, it's very rare this situation happens. And when it does, it can be tense and really funny, as you use people as shields, to get your other Pokemon out there unscathed, or using a revival item. In the party dynamic, while they're down, sure you can do a similar thing(provided this isn't one of the games where the main character going down takes everyone with them), but in those situations, you don't chose who the enemy attacks. In Pokemon, you can make one Pokemon into a shield, while you heal or revive an important member. In party battles, if the enemy wants to, they can still smash your injured team mate, or in some more rare cases, but still happens, kill your healer before you can get the heal off. Or alternatively, you need your whole team standing to handle the situation you're in, and now they're down trying to get back the person who previously fell/needed a heal. While I understand the length of a boss can help hit home how powerful they are, and let them show off everything while giving more of a challenge. If you die long into a lengthy fight, and have to go back to the start of a fight or a save point, you're now facing the boss with a bit of annoyance. Die again, and frustration sets in, soon mistakes follow, and the boss gets harder. And even if you only die once, the excitement of a new boss can be lost, because now you're just going through the motions to get back. " There was more that didn't get saved, but I'll have to finish it later. Busy eating supper. lol

[@D-Havoc]

What exactly do you want from a Pokémon once it's caught? I know you say it's brainwashing, but if hypothetically it was brainwashing, you wouldn't exactly enjoy that despite the edginess it would give. The example you bring up with Mystery Dungeon fails to bring up the fact that humans/trainers for all intents and purposes don't exist. Therefore, the Pokémon are now given those would be human characteristics like the human npcs in the mainline Pokémon games have. And if you want Pokémon to scrap all jumans and just be about role-playing as a Pokémon, that's fine but that's got to be made clear. It beats the alternative which is you catch a Pokémon like Sneasel but yoi have to spend hours taking out to dinner, finding it's favorite food and do trust exercises just so it doesn't immediately kick you in the balls and run off because "free expression" in the face of obeying trainers by default in battle.

[@TheLudomancer]

... You're extrapolating a lot. The games are trying to emulate the human-pokemon friendships shown in the anime and I can't suspend my disbelief as to that friendship's existence if the Pokemon do nothing but obey you. There are things to implement beyond Combat Disobedience that can give the impression of them having internal thoughts, likes and dislikes. Persona's Social Links exist but even at Rank 1 the party members still listen to in-game commands, and flesh out further as people if you do the side content. The PMD Games show a different world with a different dynamic. Comparing the way they do the human/tamed monster thing is stupid because PMD isn't trying to do that.

[@AedraRising]

@@TheLudomancer Are you basically just saying you wished more could be done with Affection/Friendship? I can see that, and I would like some more interaction with Pokémon when they're following with you and stuff (in the games where they actually do that, at least), but like, combat is the main gameplay of the games. They're usually pretty easy most of the time (I'd say the hardest is probably USUM) and their complexity and depth is usually only able to be shown off in the postgame, but it IS the main thing you do as a Pokémon Trainer. What else would you propose they do when you're talking about them "obeying" you? "Oh, my Staraptor decided it DIDN'T want to fly me to another town right now?" That kinda thing?

[@toonlink1372]

Eh, palworld seems cool but legends arceus was honestly better than every pokemon game except black and white 2. A series that has never been that great but each game has same high highs and same insane lows. I would say with legends and scarlet and violet the series is truly evolving for itself in an exciting way for fans.

[@TheLudomancer]

B&W2's most outstanding trait is that they butchered any scraps of hope N had of becoming interesting after the B&W1 Finale and I'm not entertaining any further discussion. I am very cynical about S&V and that should not come as a surprise.

[@willcooper8028]

It may not be a great game, but it has many of the best ideas every brought to the franchise

[@TheLudomancer]

True. The stealth gameplay is pretty decent and the Strong/Agile stances are good, they just aren't in the best contexts to shine. The Diamond and Pearl clans are the same. They could've been really dope if they had just a bit more going on.

[@willcooper8028]

@@TheLudomancer yeah, i mean simply allowing the player to throw pokeballs and Pokémon manually in an open environement is possibly the single best path forward for modern Pokémon if you ask me

[@diegomedina9637]

And ill still play Scarlet and Violet over something like Persona or Fire Emblem. Heck I've been playing the games since Gen 1 and Arceus is still easily Top 3.

[@TheLudomancer]

If you’re going to look me in the eye and say this undisciplined open world with no throughline is superior to persona, you’d better have some reason to back up that opinion or I’m gonna be SAD.

[@diegomedina9637]

@@TheLudomancer Well at the end of the game the game is... Fun to play. Can't say the same about Persona and Fire Emblem and their crappy ass story telling paired with the equivalent of a badly dubbed Anime from the 90s trying to take themselves too seriously. Like what people thought Final Fantasy VII was instead of what it really is. Basically those games are designed for people who peaked at highschool trying so hard with their "Social links" trying to fill a hole in their emptyness jaded selves vs some games that can still be quite fun despite their flaws. Like ironically enough Final Fantasy VII when even in its remake managed to strike a better balance between its serious tone and their over the top cartoony bullshit.

[@TheLudomancer]

@@diegomedina9637 Where is the connection between a game taking time to flesh out its characters, and a game that acts as replacement for social interaction. You can dislike it without degrading the work people put into it, or the people who enjoy it. You cannot look me in the eyes and stan Pokemon while degrading these classics for their storytelling. If you value Storytelling enough to denigrate a bunch of very plot-focussed games off of them, Pokemon has NOTHING to offer in that department. You don't seem smart, you just seem like you hate reading.

[@randomedgygamer2191]

Wish they make better games someday