Tag Archives: Video game

Pokémon VGC 2014 Rules Announced!

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If you’re a competitive Pokémon player, I’m sure you’ve heard the news: the official Video Game Championship (VGC) ruleset for 2014 was announced by The Pokémon Company International (TPCi) about a week ago. I’m here to give you my opinion on the format. I will be taking directly from the official document (link will be provided at the bottom).

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9.      Sanctioned Format

Pokémon Organized Play supports one format for sanctioned play: Standard. Sanctioned events are listed on the POP website, and the results are reported to POP after the event concludes.

9.1. Standard Format

The Standard format is the standard tournament format for Play! Pokémon video game events. This format will be used at all premier events unless specified otherwise. The Standard format for the 2014 season will use the following restrictions:

· Only Pokémon X and Pokémon Y Game Cards or downloadable versions are permitted for use.

· Players may use Pokémon from the Central Kalos Pokédex from #001 to #150, Coastal Kalos Pokédex from #001 to #153, or Mountain Kalos Pokédex from #001 to #147.

· Pokémon must be placed in the Battle Box.

· Pokémon are allowed to Mega Evolve.

· Pokémon above Level 50 are permitted, but they are auto-leveled down to 50 for the duration of battle.

· Players may use Pokémon with Hidden Abilities.

· Players may use items that have been officially released via Pokémon X, Pokémon Y, the Pokémon Global Link, or an official event or promotion.

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9.2. Kalos Native

Pokémon used in the Standard Format must be native to the Kalos region in Pokémon X or Pokémon Y. A native Pokémon is a Pokémon that is hatched or caught in Pokémon X or Pokémon Y. Pokémon that have been transferred to Pokémon X or Pokémon Y via Pokémon Bank or Poké Transporter are not native.

So this right here is the “big” news. Rumors had been flying around about the rules being Kalos Dex only, and here it is: Kalos Dex only. What does this mean? A lot of Pokémon in the Friend Safari are NOT allowed. While this may seem confusing and frustrating to those who want to use Togekiss or Breloom, I’m okay with this. I don’t enjoy that they’re restricting Pokemon, but I get it – they don’t want any Pokémon RNG’d from older gens in, and so they’re eliminating that possibility entirely by simply banning them from play.

One interesting thing about this group of Pokémon is the lack of legendaries. Many teams used at least one or two legendary Pokémon from trios because they were very strong, and others would use those such as Heatran, Cresselia, Latios, etc… because of how well they played. In fact, Latios’ Dragon Gem Draco Meteor was THE special move to EV around in 5th gen.

This sudden lack of those legendaries means two things: 1) Casuals who hate it when people use those legendaries may actually decide to play competitively, and 2) the metagame will definitely be shaken up a little. I don’t think it’s going to be a crazy shake-up, but there will be Pokémon that will replace Cresselia, Thundurus, Heatran, Terrakion, etc…

One thing to note: You can breed egg moves from Pokémon transferred from 5th gen to 6th gen Pokémon and have it be legal, so that’s a plus!

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4. Time Limits
Tournament staff is responsible for running a timely event. To assist in this effort, POP has established guidelines for time limits during various portions of the event. Players may take notes at any time during their match but
must begin each match with a blank sheet.

4.1. Pre-game Time Limit

Players will have 90 seconds to view their opponent’s team and select their Pokémon.

4.2. Mid-game Time Limit

Any mid-game effects, such as selecting a move or retreating Pokémon, are to take place within the 45 seconds allocated per turn.

4.3. Match Time Limits

Single-game matches will be 15 minutes. For best-of-three matches, each game in the match will be 15 minutes.

This is the part I’m not super-fond of. I take a long time to decide my moves. You have to think about a lot more than just the turn you’re about to play. Reducing the time from 60 to 45 hits hard – I’ve already had quite a few moments where my turn was decided by the game for me because I took longer than 45 seconds. That’s the only part that I don’t like – 90 seconds for team preview has always been enough for me, and 15 minutes I’m indifferent about.

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Those are the two BIG sections I wanted to talk about. If you’d like to see the full rules document, CLICK HERE.

If you want a list of all legal Pokémon in the Kalos Dex, CLICK HERE.

Just Sayin’.

The ebb and flow of Animal Crossing

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I wanted to write about Smash today, but I didn’t do the research I wanted to, so I apologize for the late post. Instead, I’m going to write a small little blurb about Animal Crossing.

Two days ago, I got Mario & Luigi: Dream Team, and now I find that I don’t play Animal Crossing: New Leaf anymore. I love the AC series, but there’s one thing about it that always turns me off as I continue to play: there’s not enough to do.

I’ve upgraded my house to almost full completion, have almost 20 public works projects, all but one fossil, most of the fish and bugs, and my Nook store is one away from being the biggest expansion. In every previous AC game I’ve played, I’ve been able to “beat” the game by expanding everything to its maximum size and almost completing the museum (I could never get all those works of art…). And usually, games come out and I play them, but I was pretty rigorous in my routine to play Animal Crossing every single day until I had everything. Unfortunately, doing jobs for villagers, buying and selling stuff, digging for fossils, and farming bells on the island can only go so far. Even with multi player, the most you can do are tours and self-proclaimed fish and bug-catching contests. At some point, it gets boring (it would be helpful to point out that I am no artist, and so I have spent exactly 10 minutes making a flag design, and that’s it. I’m sure artists get way more out of the Able Sisters’ designing than I do).

Inevitably, though, my interest wanes. Everything becomes a little monotonous, and I eventually stop playing. Unlike in MMO‘s, where dev teams are constantly trying to update their game to keep players hooked alongside guilds forming and whatnot, Animal Crossing is a simulation game, so at some point it feels like you’re living life there, and not here. Or it would feel like that if there were more stuff to do. At some point, you only play for 5 minutes a day because there’s really nothing else you want to do in your town.

Now that that tiny complaint is out of the way, has anyone whom has experienced this notice that, after you’ve beaten the new games and have nothing to do, Animal Crossing suddenly becomes addictive again? It’s crazy how there’s almost a tide to my interest in Animal Crossing. Sometimes it’s very high and I enjoy it, and other times it feels like a chore and I eventually stop, only to come back months later with a fresh desire to play.

This is different than with MMO’s, which I tend to play heavily for a month and then stop completely. No, Animal Crossing somehow ropes me back in when I have nothing to do and becomes my new game of choice. There’s no real competitive value to it, no incentive for me to improve my skills (which there is little of) in the game, so why do I keep coming back?

Has anyone else ever felt this way about Animal Crossing?

Also, except a post about Smash or a review of something next Monday!

Just Sayin’.

Madison Pokémon Regional Recap

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Wow, what a weekend!

The weekend began Saturday, when I was picked up by friends Adib and Kamaal and promptly headed for Madison. We had been invited to a small cookout/get together by someone I had met a month ago, Zach, and we stopped there to have some ridiculously good food and awesome conversation with the guys I met. It was a ton of fun, and we even got some multi battles (where Adib’s Honchcrow KO’d 4 of the opposing team’s mons) in alongside Super Smash Bros. and Super Smash Bros. Melee, which were a lot of fun as well.

Mark my words, Kamaal, I’m going to take revenge for that 0-death you had on me!!

The next day was the tournament, which was at one of the nicest venues I’ve ever been to. I wish Smash tournaments were this organized, because besides one little hiccup where someone didn’t get a bye first round, the entire tournament ran incredibly smooth. Swiss rounds (which are simply one round sets) finished very quickly, and it just seemed really organized. Kudos to TCPI for running such a smooth event. I got home before 8 PM, which was awesome considering the tournament had started only 10 hours prior.

I did better than I expected, reaching my goal of going positive in Swiss rounds. I went 4-3, losing to some good players and losing only one match to hax, whereas a lot of my friends had hax play a big role in their wins and losses. I had very little hax in my matches. I guess the RNG gods decided to not mess with me.

I am definitely going to try and practice, however, as I had no time to practice before going in. I’ll definitely be practicing for Nationals with a new idea I came up with on the drive back.

Also, because I absolutely have to, I have to relate to you all a few key moments of my first match. You see, I went up against a guy with a Pachirisu (a very, very weak Pokémon), and a Smeargle. I led Scrafty/Volcarona, and set up a Quiver Dance on Volcarona, which led to it being Toxic’d by Pachirisu. Pachirisu then used Attract on my Scrafty, resulting in it being immobilized by love twice (the most hax I had in a game, by the way), and when he sent out the Smeargle, he used Sketch (which copies a move) onto Scrafty, copying Fake Out (which only works the first turn your mon is out on the field) and used it, resulting in it failing. By the end of the game, my Volcarona had 4 HP left because the only damage that was done to it was through Toxic’s increasing poison.

All in all, the tournament was incredibly fun. I can’t wait to go to Nationals!

Also, shouts out to Espeon for not being dead weight in any match I brought her to.

Just Sayin’

OPINION: Casual players have less fun than competitive players.

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Do any of the following phrases sound familiar?

“I just want to have fun.”

“I play for fun.”

“You’re ruining games by playing competitively.”

Maybe you’re one of those who says this to others when getting beaten to a pulp. That’s okay, I understand; I’m just going to point out that your ego is bigger than my ego, and I play games competitively.

Outrageous? Not at all. When hardcore and casual – especially in games with a competitive scene – collide, there’s an almost instant animosity: casuals do not like competitive. Why? Because we, the collective competitive, take away from the experience (apparently), and make games not fun.

Before I delve further, I’m going to define what a casual is for this post (as to not offend everyone. LOL). Casuals are not retired competitive players, they are not players who only play every once in a while, they are not players that respect competitive play; casuals are players who degrade competitive play and players, and complain when they lose to said competitive players by utilizing those three phrases (among others similar to those).

See, the problem with those three phrases are that they implant this kind of hierarchy onto “how to have fun”. “Having fun” is at the top, and “playing competitively” is at the bottom.

I guess now is as good a time as any – casuals, you’re not having as much fun as I am.

See, no one likes to lose. We like to succeed. When we lose, we stop having fun (this is somewhat true – you can learn to accept defeat and still have fun, but I’m digressing). When casuals say they want to play for fun, they’re not just playing a game to “have fun”. No, they’re playing with friends that they can beat, or with a randomness factor so large that sometimes you can’t tell who is better and winning is almost purely by chance (Mario Party comes to mind as an example).

Casuals say that playing a game at a high level takes away from the experience, but think about this: have you ever played through a game and not gotten better at it? Difficulty curve is part of game design; the game is designed to become more difficult as you progress and improve. That means all the casuals who are beating these games are doing so because they’re improving, getting better; they’re playing at a higher level.

They’re justifying their losses by putting down those who are better, or put in more time and effort than they do, but it’s still not fun to lose. They’d be having more fun if they accepted that they’re not going to put effort into a game and will lose to those who do most of the time, or if they start putting in that effort and seeing some results. They’d have more fun if they learned how to take a loss and still have fun instead of getting salty and trying to make excuses as to why they’re getting their ass beat. They’d have more fun if they respected competitive play.

Oh, you play for “fun”? Yeah, right. Everyone wants to be good at what they play. The difference between casual and competitive is that casual blames the competitive for their loss, while the competitive blames themselves (or the game. LOL) for their loss.

Just Sayin’.

REVIEW: Ghost Trick

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About a month ago, a friend suggested I purchase a game called Ghost Trick for the Nintendo DS. He hooked me by saying it was one of the best stories he’d ever seen. Curious, I decided to make the purchase, and I found myself with an absolute gem of a game.

Plot:
 
I won’t spoil this plot because I think it’s something everyone should try, but it is incredible. It starts out simple enough: you’re the ghost of a recently killed man, and another ghost, Ray, tells you to save the girl that is about to be killed right beside your body. It goes on from there. Really, it’s one of the finest plots I’ve ever experienced, and it’s all character-driven. There is only one external factor, and it’s the coolest twist ever. 
 
Characters:
 
All the characters have their own unique personalities and hidden motives for things they’re doing in the game, and it’s cool to see how they all come together to create the plot. My favorite has to be Missile, the dog that Sissel comes in contact with.
 
 
This is a really cool feature. As a ghost, Sissel has the power to manipulate small, inanimate objects, and has the ability to go back to 5 minutes before a person’s death and try to change it. The changing of someone’s fate is the core mechanic in the game, as Sissel must utilize his abilities to manipulate objects to change the past, and thus the future. This comes in the form of puzzles you must figure out, and I have to say, some of them were pretty challenging.
About midway through the game, you’re able to utilize another ghost ability – switching objects with similar shapes.
The only problem with Ghost Trick is the lack of re-playability. Once you figure the puzzles out, you know what to do and you already know how the mystery unfolds, and so replaying it takes away from so much of the game.
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Ghost Trick is a gem. It’s a game I had never heard of until suggested to me, and I’m glad I decided to try it, and it easily has one of my favorite game plots of all time. This game proves that games can have a deep, meaningful story, and still be an interactive success. If you like puzzle games or a good story, definitely pick this game up!
Score:
 
Plot: 10/10
Characters: 10/10
Gameplay: 7/10

Just sayin’

REVIEW: Wreck-It Ralph

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Last weekend, after much hyping on my friends’ parts, I finally got to go see Wreck-It Ralph, a movie that is not so much about video games as it is a movie featuring a video game theme. This film could easily be the best video game-themed film I’ve seen. Ever. So, let’s get into the review!

Plot:

Wreck-It Ralph is the bad guy of Fix It Felix Jr. During the game, he gets thrown off a building while Felix gets a medal if the player wins the game. He’s okay with that. What he’s not okay with is how the game’s characters continue to treat him like a bad guy when the arcade is closed. To fix this, he decides to prove that he can be a good guy and go get a medal and bring it back.

This is a really interesting (and completely character-driven) plot, and I really enjoyed it. When I think of a good movie, I think of a movie that doesn’t waste a single scene. I think Wreck-It Ralph does that, so kudos to Disney. You’ve made the video game equivalent of Toy Story!

Acting:

The acting is spot-on. Every character is casted perfectly (and I love Jane Lynch). To add some bonus points, every recognizable video game character (besides the zombie and the Pac Man ghost) was voiced by their respective actors in the game. How can you go wrong with that?

Atmosphere:

I’ll admit, I’m a little biased towards the atmosphere because I’m a gamer, but I want to point out something about this film that I thought really made it stand out: you don’t have to be a gamer to truly enjoy this film. Gamer’s get that nostalgia boost and will be excited to see some recognizable video game characters (Sonic, Bowser, Zangief, Ken, Ryu, Pac Man, etc…), but really, that’s it. The games portrayed (to my knowledge) are completely original games, and so gamers and non-gamers alike are introduced to it.

This is really important. Everyone’s calling Wreck-It Ralph a “video game” movie. To me, placing that label on it kind of pushes a few prospective viewers away, but the film does an absolutely fantastic job not excluding anyone in terms of its look and feel. This is a film any non-gamer will enjoy, maybe even more than a gamer would.

The music is great. The 8-bit retro was awesome when it was played, but the only composition that really stood out was the ending theme (I admit I love Owl City).

Character:

The characters are fantastic, and complement each other really well. The humor that comes from these characters interacting is great! And, they all have clear-cut arcs that you can see change in throughout the film, and all of them are resolved. It’s nice to see every major character resolving their arcs instead of being left in the dark.

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Wreck-It Ralph, while being hyped as one of the best “video game” films of all time, is one of the finest films I’ve seen all year. If you love games, go see it. If you don’t love games, go see it. If you love Pixar or Toy Story, go see it!

Actually, don’t even put the if statement in there. Just go see it!

Rating: 5 out of 5 (stars)

Just sayin’.