“They say that he created the universe and was born from nothing. I know this is basically a rip-off of the Christian God, so why wouldn’t it be able to, say, reincarnate a human.” For God’s sake does no one teach mythology anymore.
Otherwise, people were very polite.
[25] The Other Pokereviews, Part 56
Today we have a male self-insert/gardevoir romance that manages to make the gardevoir the rapey one! Truly, it can always get worse.
The Other Pokeauthors, Part 55
“I hope I answered your questions and complaints, as I didn’t really read too much of the review.”
[25] The Other Pokereviews, Part 55
“[Hilda] was […] always kind to strangers and making sure her Pokemon wanted to travel with her and battle on her behalf.” An N shipping fic that actually brings up the pokemon treatment issue, but obviously doesn’t go far enough. We also got another one of those totally realistic technobabble fics, and a hilariously over-the-top sue.
Pokeauthors Special Spotlight: In Which I Play Armchair Therapist
A histrionic kid has a meltdown and I have to explain to them how to block people because…
“How I’m reading your arguement, I keep hearing you telling me to stop writing anything.”
(more…)
The Other Pokeauthors, Part 54
Some capitalization whining, but otherwise very calm.
[25] The Other Pokereviews, Part 54
One decent fic about Guzma and a really disjointed N/Hilda fic that does nothing to sell the relationship. Otherwise boring.
The Other Pokeauthors, Part 53
“I named him Charmander because that’s what happens when pokemon hatch and you don’t name them that was my point this takes place in the future where trainers are hard to come by so that’s why Charmander wasn’t named.”
[25] The Other Pokereviews, Part 53
A fic where the trainer can talk to his partner pokemon, who calls him “Master”. But it’s totally not slavery! Other than that, very boring.
Night in the Woods
This game is really good and you should play it. I cried so many times. It’s a bit small for a $20 game, but definitely pick it up if there’s a sale.
I briefly mentioned Night in the Woods during my review of Always Sometimes Monsters, and I think it’s time to go a bit more in-depth on that. Night in the Woods is an amazing example of how to do realistic right. It doesn’t just have realism, it has verisimilitude. The whole story, from beginning to end, is amazingly, painfully real, not because of cynicism and darkness, but because of sentimentality and hope. I saw myself and the people I know in these characters and their relationships over and over again. This is a story about finding something to cling to in a world that’s falling apart, which I think is something a lot of people need right now — and the ending is eerily topical for something that started development in 2013.
Also, Demontower is super fun and the central mechanic is really clever.
Only thing you need to know that the game isn’t very clear about: whoever you hang out with on the first day, stick with them through the rest of the game.
Feel free to use this as a discussion post.
The Fifth Season
The Other Pokeauthors, Part 52
“This kid is a genius. He’s just not mature. He’s socially secluded and has a speech impediment that causes him to stutter MUCH more than a normal person when trying to form a complex sentence. While other children were off playing bootleg-soccer, he was screwing around with the toaster that wouldn’t work. His mind developed differently than others, and therefore is more attuned to technicality than social interaction. His vocabulary is so huge that it makes his speech impediment WORSE. The only reason he can talk to characters in this chapter is because his responses are short, and not very complicated.
[…]
This isn’t more morally dubious than several other fictions that I’ve read, which involved a trainer adopting pokémon, anthropomorphic, female pokémon and then later screwing them in a one-shot chapter of a series of one-shots. Totally consensual incestal adoption! At least I’m not THAT screwed in the head to make a trainer x gallade x blaziken x delphox x hermaphrodite rattata gay orgy vore inside a breadbox at an abandoned leaf-spring factory.
[…]
If they were going to be together and the age gap bothered you, the age gap between my parents is twelve years. The age gap between him and the riolu is eight.
[…]
As far as I’m concerned, you ARE my beta reader.”
[25] The Other Pokereviews, Part 52
Today we’ve got a fic about N that just ends up being generic grimdark, a grimdark fic where humans are enslaved by very human-like pokemon, and a terrible pokephilia thing with a hardboiled noir teenager.
Also, by popular demand, I have now created a copypasta on why OT fics are bad and the author should feel bad. You’re welcome!
Pokemon Moon Day 57
Let’s finish up the last dangling threads. (more…)
The Book of Phoenix
Book of Phoenix is a prequel to Who Fears Death, and I found it very disappointing. The technical quality of the writing was the same, but it smacked of the publisher demanding a money-grab followup and was just not well-constructed. It was well-written enough to be quite compelling, but the actual story was just a mess.