Last time, my character changed out of her perfectly good pajamas and into her terrible official outfit.
I go down in the hopes Mom will tell me to go back up and take off the designer’s fetish outfit, but she’s fine with it.
It’s about time you got going! Why don’t you step out and say hello to the neighbors?
MOOOOOOOOOOOM
Walking around the house, I find I can’t interact with most of it, as usual these days.
Maybe they figure that now that graphics are so much better, they don’t need flavor text, but I really liked that.
AIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIE AND I THOUGHT THE DEFAULT SPRITE WAS BAD WHY GAME WHY LOOK AT THIS
Plus she looks dumb. Is this going to be the art style? It this going to be like one of those Disney movies where only the two main characters have normal proportions and everyone else is freakish to a greater or lesser degree and everyone’s all why are you so joyless it’s like that because caricatures are funny and sometimes I don’t want funny and also caricature funny is stupid and I hate you.
Welcome to Vaniville Town!
So we’re without even the slight solace of not having annoying tagalong idiots.
God, how is it the game started so well with Gary and then did nothing but run downhill from there?
The name’s Calem. I live next door. says a reasonable blue that fits well with the current color scheme.
And I’m Shauna! squeals the pink box of pink. Great to meet you!
WHY DO YOU ALL HATE PANTS
Guess what! We’ve come to get you!
AND PROPER RIVAL BEHAVIOR I COULD TOLERATE THE “SKIRTS” IF ONLY YOU WERE MORE LIKE GARY
The renowned Professor Sycamore lives here in the Kalos region. I heard he has a task for five kids, including us.
Listen I’m not normally into the pedo jokes just because a character involves kids but there’s just something about his face.
But I’m surprised he knows who you are. You did just move to Vaniville, after all.
Okay on second thought while that actually makes total sense tying into the pedo theory that he’s just stalking kids I don’t care, an NPC knows I’m awesome! An NPC asked for me by name even though I just moved here for something important! It’s because I will be the best trainer ever and he knows it. He’s a great and wonderful professor.
We’ll wait for you in the next town over! And you know what?! We’re going to get…a Pokemon!
Yes excellent.
C’mon! Hurry! Let’s go!
Out in the yard is a rhyhorn! Cool! The bird indoors was just your usual random pokemon, but here’s a big powerful one as a pet too. And sleeping among toy balls because they’re a cutie.
First person I meet is even smaller than my avatar and expresses her wish to have a pokemon and go where she likes. Next door is my rival/alt self (since it looks like there’ll be two rivals this time, again).
Oh, you must be the new young lady from next door. Welcome to Vaniville Town! We have a son who is just about the same age as you. If you do meet our Calem, I hope you two will become good friends, his mom tells me.
Upstairs, I can look in the trashcan to see it’s empty! It’s the simple pleasures in life that make it worthwhile.
ARG THE AREA IS BEAUTIFUL BUT APPARENTLY I CAN’T WALK ON THE GRASS THIS IS INFURIATING
Science is amazing! If you use communication technology, you can look all over the world for players who are playing at the same time you are. Then you can play together!
Well, that’s intriguing. I wonder how many hoops I have to jump through to do that, though.
Huh, this appears to be a walled town with a gate. The gate opens at my approach too, well before I reach it. Psychic powers?
…and Route 1 is a straight line between one town and the next, bordered by plant walls. The town beyond has a stone arch resting in the middle of the otherwise flat ground, no walls in sight.
Spikey dialogue box informs me: Hey, Serena! This way! Over here!
So, I go the other way and find someone hanging out among the tables.
Do you love Pokemon?
Yes: Me too! Aren’t they great?
No: Hrmph… Well, to each her own.
Anyway, to the plot. Pinkie, Alt-Self-Rival, and two others are sitting together.
We were just talking about you! Pinkie tells me. C’mon, have a seat!
So I do.
This is the meeting place, Serena, says Alt-Self. I’ll introduce you. Everyone, this is Serena.
Orange box then says: Wow…Shauna’s description was spot on!
Alt-Self: This is Tierno. He can really tear up the dance floor… And this is Trevor. He’s a little shy, but he always gets perfect scores on his tests… confirming the last one is a boy. So it’s the usual five-character equality of two girls, three boys. I could make the NPCs half and half, but only at the cost of being the boy to imbalance things.
Anyway, what about Shauna? What’s her meaningful personality trait? Go on, introduce her properly.
Orange box: All right! Nice to meetcha! You know, it’d feel like we’re a closer crew if we call each other by nicknames. Can I call you Lady S?
Pinkie goes for a respectable spikey hate box done in lovely, lovely white. Why can’t all her words be in white?
What? No way! She’s a Li’l S, for sure! She then goes back to her normal voice: What do you think, Trevor?
What?! demands green box. You want me to nickname someone I just met>!
Getting bored.
Shauna, you shouldn’t put people on the spot like this.
I think the ruder thing is insisting on nicknaming someone.
Well…how about something low key? Maybe…something like S-kins?
Alt-self chimes in: You should decide what we call you. Ah. I was wondering if I was going to get something imposed on me. And it seems I don’t even need to pick an option, I can make my own.
Pre-restart, I eyed the options and decided to go with Empress from last game, and was amused that Pinkie loved that one when she hated Lady F. But thinking about Serena’s character… S-kins just doesn’t really work in English, and Li’l S is obviously terrible. I’m not sure if she wants to be a lady exactly, but she certainly seems closest to that.
You want us to call you Lady S? Pinkie asks, and I confirm. OK! And a musical note. Lady S fits you perfectly! I’m sure we’re gonna be great friends, so I’ll call you that, too! Hey! Can we see the Pokemon now?I want to meet my new partner soon! And another musical note.
Pinkie is growing on me. She knows what the priority is and it’s pokemon. Let’s have them.
I know, right? It was such a cool feeling when Trevs and I met our Pokemon! Hope you feel the same way we did!
So they already have some unknown pokemon? Hm, actually it doesn’t say if the professor was handing out five total or if the two are already trainers.
And yeah he pulls out a case with three pokeballs, so presumably they already have some.
Chespin seems to have nothing much to recommend it (and no one, for that matter). But as I mentioned in the comments, now that I see the froggle, it seems cuter. The big eyes, the silly frogness…
But it’s Fennekin that fits her best at the moment, and I’m thinking of going with that. Checking Froakie out, he looks really aggressive when thrown into battle and it’s the innocent look I liked about him, so that’s partly it too. But I’m thinking of doing something different.
I got as far as the first battle and the AI is still stupid. Act says the gym will be harder, but…well, my problem in these games now is that I quickly end up overleveled. So how about a pacifist run?
Serena doesn’t seem to have had much of a drive to be a trainer. Perhaps she always wanted to be one, but she doesn’t seem to have much thought for the reality of it when she wouldn’t change her clothes before going out. So, Fennekin…and I don’t beat up wild pokemon as is my usual custom. I’m going to be trying to mold Serena toward being a practical badass and get her in pants as soon as I can, so it’s fair I move out of my usual way of playing in return.
Also-
I like to find out what pokemon will turn into on my own, so don’t give spoilers. That said, if I’m raising something and it evolves by stone or trade or miscellaneous landmark, you can warn me about that.
Chespin is the only mammalian grass pokemon starter, as well as the only grass starter to contain brown in its color scheme.
I am pleased to note that, at least to me, all of the starters’ final forms look totally badass and not ugly at all.
I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the levelling curve so far, FWIW. Though I also very quickly ended up with six pokemon. It’s certainly lightyears better than BW/2, where I was 30 levels ahead of the Elite 4.
One of the few things that I really don’t like is that for some reason they have upped it to four annoying children following you around instead of paring it back down to one genderswapped rival. It’s obnoxious and I’m not sure what the point of it is.
Also! I am totally loving the new minigames and wifi features. You literally just turn on the internet from the touchscreen, and that’s it, you can tag people. Meanwhile, I am addicted to the Pokemon-Amie. It’s like Nintendogs! MUST HAVE THEM ALL LOVE ME.
EDIT: Ah! So they’ve finally added in a feature wherein the more your pokemon like you the better they do in battles! Christ, it only took ten years. Although it does have the downside of making battles easier when they’re super happy.
The game is very plot-lite, which I’ve really liked so far. It feels freer and looser than any gen in a long time.
Also FWIW! This is my avatar shortly after the first gym. I have since acquired a yellow purse.
https://scontent-a-iad.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/1374318_10200925154354784_891287047_n.jpg
OMGGGGG I kind of regret not using the female avatar first, she looks fantastic in actual pants. Looking forward to playing as her in Y.
“Chespin seems to have nothing much to recommend it (and no one, for that matter).” He was the starter I took and I quite like him in combat so far. Though he main appeal for me is what he ends up being but due to your request I won’t spoil it. I thought it’d be interesting to see someone play through with froakie – it seems everyone has been picking fennekin.
“Act says the gym will be harder, but…well, my problem in these games now is that I quickly end up overleveled.” ..if you do the first gym will not be hard. I over leveled and didn’t bother healing after defeating all the trainers in the gym before challenging the leader. I over leveled again for the second gym and it was pretty easy as well. I also might advise against training too much in the Pokemon Amie because with max affection… um, I don’t know if it’s spoilers or not so I’ll just say it makes battles even easier.
I’m finding the second gym easier than the first. I got really blindsided by her [1st leader’s] team, as I had fletchling and fennekin at the time. It was one of the more clever things the game has done in a while.
The nickname bit was so obviously badly translated out of Japanese in the style of really bad literalness popular ten years ago. I don’t even know why any native speaker of English thought that was a good idea.
I’m playing the game only/almost only training new gen pokemon, that’s my thing. I’m pretty happy with the game so far. Fairly minimal on plot, not like the huge walls and walls of text between NPCs constantly in 5th gen. Mostly I’m just running around beating up the wildlife. My pokemon aren’t hugely overlevel but aren’t struggling. I’m satisfied with how my avatar looks–a little more feminine than I am, but things I could see wearing in real life. I haven’t done any of the special training/wireless things, so can’t comment on those.
My brother showed me the special training thing and it looks awesome. I can actually fully EV train my post-game team without going insane!
I guess they couldn’t change much since the games all go out together. Still, they could have done a little better. -kins should be -kin and be the diminutive, where I’m pretty sure it’s -kun or something since it’s supposedly the neautral choice despite being so babyish (taking off the s helps slightly) (Li’l being -chan – Li’l is not a nickname dammit your first clue was it being a separate word). There’s also -ster, and -y, plus just calling you by the first letter, and also one person could suggest not nicknaming you. THEY HAD OTHER OPTIONS DAMMIT.