Pokemon BDSP: Play Like A Designer Episode 5, Eterna City Showdown!

Good. Time zone internet. I am your humble host Will, joined as always by my pal Jeff. This is Design Club. Well, it's kind of Design Club. It's playing Pokémon like a designer. But that's part of Design Club. I don't know what we're officially calling this, but it's here and you're here watching it. So, thank you for being here. Yeah, that's it. Uh say hi to Jeff.
Hi Jeff.
Hey Jeff.
I am Jeff Lzaki, the studio director of Extra Credits Studios, and more importantly for this, a game designer who's been game designing for more than 25 years now. Which is a while. It's designed to break. Oh, yeah. And if you're joining us, you have happily missed Twitch being extra twitchy this morning, which is why Will's a little frazzled because
That's correct.
18 different things seem to have broken all at the same time, but we are still supportive of the small indie company

that is Twitch.
Yeah, right.
efforts bring streaming to the masses.
Right, yeah. Small indie company, small budget, certainly no parent company that could throw them a bone on on hosting or design costs. No, definitely not. So, uh we won't have terribly much ado before we get into it. So, we're going to Today we're going to be playing uh Brilliant Diamond Shining Pearl. I want to thank everyone, if you're watching this, for all of the great comments on the last episode, some of which we'll be talking about sort of indirectly. Um uh as we as we make our way to Eterna City. One of the things that I wanted to tell you and Jeff is that I've heard you about taking our time and going the wrong way. Jeff, I've been too efficient.
Okay.
Lots of people have asked that we take a little longer and go the wrong way more often, because the wrong way in Pokémon is often the right way. How is this contained items or trades between that you can catch a wild Pokémon and get a Pokémon you couldn't normally catch. Um, there there's interesting stuff uh down the

wrong pathway in in plenty of places. So, uh well, we're going to try
So this is a game about breaking into people's houses like most other RPGs?
Maybe a little. Maybe a little. It's it it is, I would say. Not to the extent that like Zelda is, right? Cuz Zelda is just like that's that's a time-honored tradition. You like break in and break everything. Uh here it's more like you break in and see if there's anyone cool to talk to and if there's an item lying on the floor, maybe you snag it. Um so yeah.
larceny.
Yeah, yes, correct. As opposed to Grand Theft Vaz.
Mhm.
I was trying to think of like a two So I couldn't think of one. It's okay. Uh anyway, let's uh slide into the game and we'll we'll get started with everything. Uh I think that's I think that's what's up next. So, uh let's do that. Okay, great. Excellent. Uh so, when last

we left our intrepid hero, Jeff, uh we had found ourselves uh in uh oh god. Can I Can I remember my my stuff? No. Uh so we're in Yeah, we were in Floaroma Town and we had uh defeated the bad guys and we had unlocked uh Floaroma Meadows and now we're heading through the Eterna Forest to get to Eterna City.
Our first battles against Team Galactic.
Yeah, that's right.
nowhere is cool as Team Rocket based on what I've seen so far.
I don't think anyone's really as cool as Team Rocket. I feel like well, Aqua and Magma might be, but that's like a whole different gen. Uh also, well, thank you so much. Grand Theft Pottery. Um so, uh we're going to we're going to head through the forest and head head that direction.
We We've forgotten an important thing. Right near the end of last time, casually walking through town, somebody

offered us two legendary Pokemons.
Yeah. So, we have we have Starlord and Meow. And that was actually another topic. So, the This is kind of interesting, right? Because for a casual play through where you don't know better, which is certainly possible.
catching people up. I have played many many many many many games. I've never played a Pokemon that wasn't Pokemon Go.
Yeah.
So, part of this whole playing like a designer series is Will, who has played a lot of Pokemon, guiding me through a Pokemon adventure.
Yeah. So, because I have played Pokemon before and because this Switch 2 that we're playing on has both the um Pokemon Shield and Let's Go Eevee data on it, we were given a Jirachi and a Mew just by by people

because in
I mean, walking through town, they're like, "Here, legendary Pokemon."
Correct. And that's sort of a first because these are not normally available outside of like limited events that you had to like take your device to a place and trade with a weird like NPC trade console thing to get or like had to use a special card or whatever. There's a bunch of different ways that people have gotten them across the years. But this is one that's just baked into the game. And so, one of the one of our discussion points is as we walk forward is do we want to keep them?
That's what I want Actually, I was about to ask is like, "Okay. So, this is my first Pokemon play through other than Go.
Yeah.
I am familiar with these from having played Go. Like Chimichanga is our normal main Oh, for those looking, Chimichanga is our normal main. Because Chimichanga is level 18, we were throwing some other

Pokémon to be first on the fighting
Yeah.
first into battle just to get some extra level ups.
Yeah.
But Okay, Will. So, how much more powerful are Star-Lord and Mew?
Uh so, let's let's look at some stuff. So, here's a great example. Star-Lord, granted has a nature for it, but has a special attack of 27 uh and an attack of 25 and 38 HP and is level nine.
Okay.
Psyduck has less special attack and less attack and less speed and less defense and only slightly more HP and is level 14. So,
Is that because Psyduck is being Psyduck or is that just because Star-Lord is
So, the base stat totals for mythical

Pokémon are much higher.
Ah, okay. So, that is part of what makes a mythical Is that true of like all tiers up like legendary and mythical is just they get more stat points allocated?
Yes, in general. Um
Part of the other problem I know there's always going to be an asterisk. It's Pokémon.
Right. Part of the other problem is that we have to talk about how many evolutions a Pokémon has. So, if there's a Pokémon that has no evolutionary stages, it's going to have its stat bonus it's going to have its stat growth
Ah, okay.
for all of its levels, right? Versus something like um uh Pidgey has three forms. And so, it will get better stats as it goes up.
Mhm. But, will like a mythical legendary be better There, let's talk about um
At like at every bracket.
about the chart since I know
Yeah.
Like I can't actually remember what the final Pidgey is, but but really, final

form Pidgey, will it have roughly the same stat points as legendary?
No, it still won't. It'll be closer,
Mhm.
but it won't. And the other part part of this is also
Pidgeotto. Thank you, Richard Speer.
Yeah, um uh is that um the uh the Pidgey is an early game Pokémon, so like they do fall into certain brackets where they they will like be useful for a little bit and then cap out.
Okay.
Um it's highly unlikely that a Pidgey will ever be like competitively viable or like end game viable compared to something like
which seems to be good for the entire length of 14 series.
Uh Pikachu's weird in that when Pikachu shows up, Pikachu kind of gets mascot treatment.
Okay.
So, like Pikachu, not a good example.

Okay.
Unfortunately, um cuz like Pikachu can learn There's like cases where Pikachu can learn surf, which is like an incredible coverage move that also makes no sense unless you're familiar with the fact that Pikachu's a mascot and can surf on a surfboard. Like, examples like that are just where it's like ah, right? So,
So, shouldn't follow what I've been watching with my child on watching through We're on to season 3 starting from the original and working our way through.
Correct.
Okay.
Yeah. Um so, I think I think it's probably in our best interest to box the Mythicals for now because if we let them go like if we just let them go first off Steel Psychic is a ridiculous typing and second off I have a feeling will just they will just run over

everything. Um and that's well so that's the other question and I wanted to put this to chat. Um do you want us to bring one of them or none of them cuz I think both of them I think we all agree is just too much right cuz like the team could literally just like we could put everything else in the box right now and just go Jirachi Mew and probably run most of the game over. Like not all of it but a lot of it we could probably run over at this point. Um so the the question is not like whether we're going to like uh
So I pretty much see in chat right now everybody thinks we should leave Jirachi behind so far.
Yeah except except for people who think Jirachi is cute yeah.
Right.
And I people said keep Mew and some

people said keep neither.
And I think that this is sort of this is sort of example wise why we're asking this question right because this isn't the typical Pokémon experience and if we want Jeff to have something that approximates as closely as possible given all of the accoutrements necessary to do this at all as a piece of content for you to observe it's already not a traditional play through let's try and avoid things that make it so untraditional that he won't get like the typing thing. Jeff have you played Monster Hunter?
No, I've not played Monster Hunter.
Okay. I'll give you I'll give you another example.
Okay.
When Monster Hunter World did its first DLC did its DLC Iceborne, they wanted players who were new to Monster Hunter to be able to get to Iceborne as quickly as possible.
Okay.
you a set of starting gear. And that set of starting gear was so good that you could beat all of the base game to the point where you moved into the DLC

without ever switching your armor. Now, if you've never played Monster Hunter, switching your armor is as fundamental to Monster Hunter as knowing what the type weakness of an opposing gym is.
Right.
you need to know how you're switching your armor. So, when it gives you armor that you never need to change out, you suddenly walk into the end game and just get absolutely run over because you haven't developed the skills and understanding that are necessary to become competent at the at a core part of the game. And I'm not saying that that'll happen here, but that is sort of what happens when we have access to extremely powerful things early on.
Got it. So, you're saying it's kind of like Baldur's Gate 3 killing that big um demon on the nautiloid and walking in with a basically end game sword starting from
level one.
level one.
Yeah, right. Exactly. Um
Okay.
Yeah, uh all right. So,
I understand this then. So, I would say for sure we don't keep

both.
Yeah. And I think we can bring them out for like fun weird stuff. Um
Should we keep them in our party near the end so that they level up and they can be used?
Well, so here's the other question. If we're not bringing them, do we need other things like Constantine to cover things like having a psychic type that isn't Psyduck. Or Right? Or bringing things like
So how quickly is Psyduck going to like actually let's take a let's talk a little strategy here since we also have limited time.
Mhm.
If you look at this you say there are some of these like a Pidgey that are just going to like be bad in the next couple hours.
I think we're not quite at the point where Staravia is going to be useless especially because the next gym is grass and it would be kind of cool if we actually didn't use our starter to take on the grass gym.

And flying is good against grass. And I also think that we're sort of bringing Constantine along because he's bad now but will be good later.
Right.
Right? So like we're in like the advantage of having Constantine in the back is that Constantine will be better later but we have to invest time and energy by essentially sandbagging a slot for him until then.
Oh yeah, let's throw Jimmy let's throw Constantine in then.
Yeah. Uh Okay, that's good. Nova says that Staravia will actually be useful for the entire game cuz Staraptor is one of the route one birds that's actually really good. So
Okay.
And everything else is Onix is not good but Onix is great. I don't know if that makes sense and then we've got our intimidate user and then uh Psyduck for confusion stuff.
So how we looking as a team?
Uh we've currently got our bases

largely covered. Uh our solution Oh no, we have a we have a water type. We're not really like hugely missing out on any core like weaknesses weakness strength pairings. I think if we run into a Oh, we're not even worried if we run into a dragon, right? Cuz we have a This has a dragon move, right? It is not itself a dragon, but does have dragon breath. Great. Um Fairy is a bit of a problem, but I don't know when that starts to become a problem.
Okay, so for the moment, we're good and we can continue on.
Yeah, we're good and we can continue on.
to swap Now that Misty's up to level 16, do we want to swap the order of our Pokis?
That's a really great question. Um let's uh Misty is only 14. So, it should probably be Misty, Onix, uh and not Constantine cuz Constantine literally can't attack. Um
Like I know Chimichanga was just

murdering things.
That's correct. Uh he was. Ste- Yeah, Steelix is an answer to fairy types. That's true, because it's steel.
Steelix.
Uh cuz we don't Chat, I have a stupid question. Actually, it's not a stupid question. I don't have a Pokedex in my brain. Klefki is not in this gen, right? And neither is um the one that becomes a living sword and shield, right? Those are the two that like send terror down my spine. I'm checking.
way, I am very impressed with chat's institutional knowledge.
Yeah. No, Klefki is not in BDSP. No and no, correct. Okay, great. Awesome. Good. Uh cuz when I played uh Sword and Shield, those were things that I knew to look out for.
Well, am I blocking Oh, I am blocking. Now you can There is an It tells you the number of them you own.
Yeah. Yeah. That was That was not a uh we need to worry about that. That was a piece of

housekeeping that if I'd had forethought, I would have done off stream. Uh because
we need to check our flowers?
Unfortunately, no.
Okay. Oh, did you log back on for like that thing that was going to happen 12 hours later? Okay.
I completely forgot because the last time we did this I had other things to do. Okay, so we are heading north through the eternal forest.
All right.
Yeah, and
Let's go take some lunch money from kids.
That's right. Um, where is route 205?
Well, are there any houses here that have that trade thing you were talking about?
Don't know. You can poke around.
So, Will was telling me that this is indeed a game that you actually do break into people's houses.
You think it's cute how Pokémon pluck berries? Yeah. Yes, you agreed. Here are some TMs for the move pluck. Obtained TM 88. So, like this is an example, right? We come in, we have a conversation, we get a thing.

Um
What's a Does that let you switch your move?
Yes.
Okay.
Uh, because it was such a sad place but nothing would grow. People didn't know what to do and then one day someone expressed thanks for the blessings of nature and the whole pearl burst into bloom. Isn't that strange and wonderful? I mean, I guess. Yeah. So, the right ending is okay.
things, tell me about this move switching.
Okay, great. So, uh, you may have noticed that as we go, um we uh, learn moves with our Pokémon as they level up.
Mhm.
That only gives us certain moves but Pokémon can learn more moves than the moves that they learn naturally. They have a list of moves that they're allowed to learn.
Okay.
Um, and so TMs are the mechanism by which we do that. So,
Got you.
It might be
trademark?
Uh, technical machine

as opposed to HM which is a hidden machine. I've completely ruined your joke and that is okay.
Ponyo, pony.
Yes. All Pokémon Yeah, exactly. Zazz has it. All Pokemon have discribes. Uh, water pulse.
Okay, it did say somebody in chat and these are single use so it's kind of like you feed them a potion or scroll and
Correct.
Okay.
Uh, in in some later games that is not the case. Um, I don't know where Z A is.
Probably at the end of the alphabet.
Yeah.
I like how Psyduck is really good at dodging.
Uh, has the difference between fast and charge attacks Pokemon Go and physical and special in the main series games been explained? Yes. Uh, we've talked about that um,

that moves fall into physical moves which use the attack stat and defense stat and special attacks which use the um, special attack and special defense stat and that speed is irrelevant uh, to the nature of the attack that both of them still use the speed stat.
Yeah, speed is your initiative order.
Correct. Uh, this game has single use TM specifically cuz it was single use in the orig- Okay. So, I have a bigger bone to pick and maybe maybe we'll we'll do this while I'm busy beating up people and taking their lunch money. Jeff.
Mhm.
Let us say for a moment that I'm designing a remake of a game which I intend to sell at full price to consumers in the year of somebody's lord 2025.
Okay. One sec. This is the first time we've seen mountain man.
Hiker?
A hiker.
Yeah, this is just a this is another one of the generic like
Okay, so this is another kid whose lunch money we're taking but this time it's

old hiker.
Yeah, this time it's a big guy with a beard whose lunch money we're taking but same rules apply.
Woah.
Um So,
Okay, so tell me this thing.
So, we're we're making we're remaking a game, right?
That's right.
How do you find a balance
My job.
between
his my job.
Huh?
I want to steal his pokey. I want that one.
No, this is not uh oh god, Gale of Darkness. Right? Chat. Uh GameCube game where you steal people's Pokémon because they've been treating them poorly and then you rehabilitate them.
Dude, he kicked you in the dick.
I give up. Should not be that funny, BUT I'VE HAD a day, so it's that funny. Okay.

Yeah, Gale of Darkness and Colosseum. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um So, uh where do we strike the line between adding things that have changed or moved on in the time since the original came out and the remake comes out?
Okay.
Right? And remaining faithful to the original is sort of an homage or a interpretation of like a a re- like a strict re-release of the original. Do you think that there's a a place where that normally happens or do you think that that's like on a case-by-case basis? Cuz like here, right, we have TMs which are single use in this because they were single use in Gen 4, even though the modern standard for Pokémon games is that TMs are a thing that you get once and then you just have a library of them that you can teach your Pokémon whenever you want.
Hm.
Like, do you do you think that there's a place that that Your thoughts on faithfulness to the original versus adding new quality-of-life features.
I'm a pretty big fan of quality of life. Um but also the question is how much

does it impact gameplay? Like if the whole point of these games is it's we it's rare to find ways to train your Pokey or to switch out moves means that you basically are playing with more of whatever you find or you're grinding a lot to try and find the thing that levels up the way you want.
Right.
From the way I understand it the TM kind of let you circumvent that by you don't have to grind through or let you pull out moves that aren't normally there. So it's allowing for customization and optimization of your party in a way that you want it to be customized or optimized.
Right.
And that sounds like good stuff. But also, you know, if a majority of the game is I'm trying to make the perfect party circumventing that might actually make you feel not as good about the game.
Right. You could over smooth the process, right? It could trivialize the thing that is the engaging part of the game for some people.
Mhm. Well, it's one of the arguments against

for example like buying gold on MMOs and purchasing end level items is you know, if if the whole goal of the MM not the whole goal, if one of the main things is get better gear over time and you're like, here's 20 bucks. I'm starting with better gear and I can't find anything better for another month. You know, that you're kind of short changing yourself on the process of all that cool acquisition.
Yeah. Meanwhile, I'm just busy mulching Geo dudes with the side up. It's fine. Yeah, I think that um, we we've played a couple of of remakes recently this and tactics and both of them have sort of done a thing which I think is laudable, right? Because so it is good to have a way to play a game in a reasonably unaltered format from its original release so that before everyone jumps down my throat about that, so that you can understand

that part of gaming history, right? Because the chain of gaming history is not that long, but it is really complicated, right? So, like understanding how each of the generations of Pokémon changed when like Y'all ever try and get a a working copy of Red or Blue recently? Kind of annoying both to find a Game Boy to play it, right? Like you can ROM it for sure, right? But if you want to go inside the copyright law, like it could be a little difficult, right? And it's certainly a little more difficult than What if I want to jump off this and get that? One of I'm okay. Now, I'm going that way to get stuff. Um Like there there is there is something to that and to tactics, right? Versus there's another school of thought uh that I am an adherent of that says that like while it's cool to have that, there should also be some effort to make more reasonable quality of life changes because the standards that consumers have in 2025 is very different than the

standards the consumer have when those games came out. Yeah, we lost Jeff. Waiting for the I'm waiting for the message about Oh, please. Jeff's internet going out. Fortunately, none of this is important. Yeah. Yeah, salutes in chat to Jeff. I think he like straight out lost internet, which, you know, terrible. Sure. And I And I also think like when we're talking about this, we shouldn't also be talking about like glitches. Like while those are true, those aren't designed like parts of the game, right? Just like we don't consider missing no like a designed portion of the game. It's an error.

Is the uh weird rumbling getting louder? Thanks. This Yeah, this one is on Jeff's internet, not Twitch for once. Yes. There's the message. We're just going to do some uh some Pokémon chores chat while we wait for uh for Jeff's internet to come back. This is unfortunately the downside of doing uh of of live content. Um Yeah, Jeff's ISP, the other small startup corporate corporation. You're correct. That's just That is That is fact what it is.

Wow, it's it's literally just a Poké Ball in a Poké Ball. Um chat, anything interesting on the catch list for um uh for this route? It's route uh 205. Anything interesting on the 205 catch list that we can get while we're waiting for Jeff to get back in? Hot Charizard was chewing wires. True. True. Yep, sometimes everything breaks mid-show and you just have to roll with it. Correct. Not that things weren't breaking at the beginning of the show, but now they broke in new and interesting ways in the middle of the show. Haha, he can't see me. There's a cool fish if you have a rod. I don't think we have A ROD YET. YO, it's a Buizel.

This may knock. Oh, Jeff thinks it might be an area-wide outage. Uh and if that's the case, we may just be out of luck for today, in which case we'll retake this next week. Uh There's a slug. Which slug? Oh, that's right. I need to paralysis heal. Don't worry about that later. It's out there. Also, has this Gen's Pikachu client, the one-time world champion. Oh, yeah. Pachirisu. Shellos. West Shellos. Okay, cool. Chat, where did we get the um Where do you get the old rod? In this one? Cuz I don't think we have a um

I don't think we have the rod. On honey trees, there's an Aipom. Yeah, we won't be able to do that, unfortunately, cuz time. Uh we can That is correct. We cannot get balloon Pokémon because we only play on Thursdays. I don't think we have a uh a um I don't think that we have a rod yet. Uh before I forget, let me actually cure Psyduck's paralysis, cuz I'm trying to play Pokémon and uh also at the same time, uh entertain chat while I wait for word from Jeff. Correct. We're not going to do Okay, so we could do the settings switch time thing. Actually, that's a big question. How do we feel about that, chat? Chat, how do you feel about

How do you feel about um time time traveling on uh on in a Pokémon game? The first route in Jubilife. Okay, cool. I'll go back to Jubilife and get it. So, we've got time travel is totally legal as one opinion. Okay. Okay, so we've got uh Bob says it that changing console time is annoying and you think it's more fun to just roll

with it. Okay. Say hi, Jeff.
Hi, Jeff.
Okay, great. You're back.
That was an unexpected outage in my home city.
Yeah, so it wasn't just you, it was your whole It was your whole area?
I think so. It's sometimes hard to tell on information like this because they don't always volunteer it.
Yeah, well, they don't want to because it makes them look bad. Uh all right, we're going back to Jubilife City.
Rearranging my windows so I can
Yep, and I'm getting you back.
hear all this. Okay. Sorry, everybody.
No, that's
Usually my ISP is pretty strong, but not every day.

Uh, it takes me a second, Zazz, to get him back on screen.
out.
Hm? So, you got you got to give me a second here cuz I am doing like 12 things at once. Um
Oh, I just said, I think it looked like you just had a Psyduck or Psyduck just ducked out.
That's correct. Too much. That's okay. Okay, so we're going uh back to Jubilife real quick.
So, I can't remember. Do those people along the way block you?
Some of them do. Some of them do, some of them don't. So, like for instance, this one was standing

right here facing this way and so had a line of sight that was all the way across. So, we couldn't progress without it. But some people um and and this one was the same, but some people like this one we can sneak behind. Right? Cuz I can like move like this and get around them. My kingdom for a speed up button.
Are Pokémon in the grass always singles?
Yes, they're never I don't believe they're ever doubles in the grass. Um
And those are and these are basically the catchable ones cuz they are non-owned.
Correct.
Uh, Okay, if we're going back to Jubilife, there's a watering can in Floaroma, and um, I don't think because we're behind now and we're trying to get to a certain place so that the This is weird. So that the title and thumbnail makes sense, we're going to go back to Eterna, um, but I need a second to reorient myself because, uh,

everything just got scrambled.
Psyduck. You're confused.
Everything just got scrambled.
By the way, I'm pretty sure what fixed my internet was realizing that it was down. I just went and got some pretzels.
Yeah, sure.
the internet was like, "Okay, pretzels unlocked. Go for it."
And apparently there's special grass with double battles in a few other games, but not this one. Uh, it should be doable based on what I've seen. Okay. Oh, that's right. It got Storm Drain. Amazing.
Why is Storm Drain amazing?
Storm Drain is its ability that if it gets hit by a water attack, uh, it raises its special attack. And what's really cool about that is that, um, if you are facing a another water type,

and you have a fire type in in play. So we have Chimchar in play. We are reasonably certain that the computer will use a water type move. So if once it's locked in, we can switch to Shellos, and then use storm and then Storm Drain will trigger, so we will get a free stat up on our Shellos, and be protected from the full effects of the water move, no matter how powerful it is. Right? All is a big All is a big word, right? All It prevents all damage and effects from a water type move.
Yeah, I feel like we've done whole design town but collab episodes on all and double are both
Yeah.
larger than most people think.
Yeah. All, double, half, and none are like the biggest words. Uh and I'm going to Uh no.
And to give a nickname?
Well, we could, but I'm speeding

cuz I'm trying to get us back
Okay, you got to pause on the names, Will.
Okay, okay. I'll work on pausing on the names. In the meantime, I'm running uh quickly to get this thing that we missed, which is actually really important cuz we don't have a fishing rod. So, one of the things we were talking about as you were gone was how people feel about time traveling. So, we talked about that there are certain things which take real world time to happen in game, right? And that on certain real world days things happen in the game. So, for instance, only on Fridays can you catch the balloon Pokémon in uh Feraligatr.
Yeah. I'm going the right way, right? Uh and then Nova, can I get a point to the um
What are we fishing for?

Uh lots of things.
Wait, wait. Will, are we doing this just so we can secretly indulge in your
No.
armrest fetish?
No. No. No. Okay. So, what Jeff is referring to is the fact that in Final Fantasy XIV, my main MMO of choice, I am a fishing connoisseur connoisseur Jeff.
It's got to be a fishing auto.
Okay. Um I'm leaving. Uh and uh I've I've gone fishing in many many a different game cuz I think that there actually is some interesting stuff that you can do with uh fishing.
There's a Poké Ball up there to the left.
Yes. I'm going to go get right now. Look left. Keep going till you enter the western exit gate. Thank you. Um so I have uh the title if you're if

you're a 14 player, you may have seen it. I have the title the final fish for having caught every big fish up through the last expansion and I currently have every big fish that's available in the current expansion. I'm missing one fish at all in the entire game uh and it's a ocean fish because ocean fish suck.
I play any games which are exclusively about fishing? No, because games that are exclusively about fishing tend to be boring to me. Oh, this guy. Oh, rod's a good thing. You think so, too? Am I right? Yeah. Good answer. We can be friends. Here you go. That's my old rod. Obtained the old rod. Great. Put the old rod in your bag to see it in pockets. You should fish wherever there's a body of water. Oh, and by the way, do you need any tips on using that fishing rod? Nope. First hurdle when you're fishing for Pokémon is getting a bite and you got to battle the Pokémon after you reel it in. So, fishing gives you twice as much fun. Thanks.
Oh, wait. Is this a way to catch water Poké?
Yes. There are certain Pokémon that you can only catch by fishing. Among them, one of the best Pokémon for uh long

playthroughs, Magikarp. Um
Oh, wait. Wait. Wait. You just said the magic word. Do we get a Gyarados at some point?
Did I miss her the first time or something? All right, that's fine.
No, I think she's only coming now Now you have a rod poking out of your uh backpack.
Stop it. Get help. Um We're going to get Feebas fishing in 20 parts? Oh, no. No, we we got to talk about Feebas at some point as an exercise in suffering. Uh Imagine if you had to physically fight fish after you reel them in onto the dock. You do. That's why they've got those big nets on fishing boats. It for bigger fish. Like little fish they just kind of flop. But like big fish, oh yeah.
In this version as well, are the water ones some of the ones that basically um can go from weakest to strongest? Oh.

I don't know.
Cuz I heard they scale.
I I'm not putting up with this anymore. All right, we have a Kadabra.
abracadabra
And he's no longer useless.
Is he actually getting an attack now?
Yes.
Confusion. Oh, does this mean Psyduck is now pretty useless?
No, Psyduck now just can uh forget confusion and focus on water moves if we want. Cuz they're only water type, I think. Escape Rope has learned how to attack.
Correct. I should have been using a repel, but that's that's on me. Okay.
So, tell me what we're doing here, Will.
We're getting we we went to get the old rod just because I realized that that

was a keen oversight and because I was uh committed to that path cuz I was trying to find ways to stall for time to do something productive. Well, I didn't know how long was to take for your internet to come back so
Me either so good choice.
Yeah. Uh
I do. Is there any penalty for fleeing?
No.
Okay.
Not not on you can't flee trainer battles and you can't always flee Um wild battles but often. Uh
Okay so we're back to Flower Town.
We are back to Flower Town. Chat where is the watering can? Someone mentioned that that was a thing that we missed here. Uh where is the watering can cuz I totally missed that bit and then we're going
I will say this is an element of some games that I do not and I'm not a big fan of the we've seated small items that can be missed and therefore

hours later you realize you missed a thing and have to go back and find it.
Stickers.
Though I am also a fan of like buying one of everything in a shop just in case.
Right. Got a cherry berry.
I see a trash can. Oh another plenty berry okay.
He's watering berries using this spray duck watering can. Okay great.
Okay.
Yeah if you fail to flee it does skip your turn. Um but generally speaking that's not the biggest obstacle. All right.
Don't forget to plant the berry.
Uh whoops I forgot to plant the berry. So see this is this is an example so like this trainer I can't get past right? Cuz I have to walk in front of him but this one

I could do that and and get around and I don't even think I fought this one yet All And I could do the same here, or here, right?
Are any of them important? If you can get by them.
They are a source of XP. Uh and money. And in that respect are important for routing if we're playing by more stringent rules.
Mhm.
In a casual play through, no. And for us right now, I'm trying to reclaim time. That's pretty much it.
Um Cheryl.
Hello, my name's Cheryl, and you are? Guess your name's Jeff. I'm sincerely glad to meet you. Jeff, may I ask you a big favor? I want to get through this forest, but I'm afraid of doing it alone. I've heard that there is
dangerous to go alone.
Yeah, take us. I've heard that there is a sinister group of people called Team Galactic about. I think there'll be safety in numbers. Please, may I go through with you? You decided to go with Cheryl.
Oh, I like how it's not a choice. They're just like
Yeah, correct. Yeah, correct. I'll keep

your Pokémon in perfect health. All right.
Is she a nurse?
Uh kind of. Yeah, this this Yeah, you can get double battles here because uh Cheryl exists. I'm actually going to like full-on cheat and pull up the map real quick.
Oh, okay. So, this is how we get double battles in the grass.
Didn't give me No, okay. Okay, we are going this way. So, this is um
Mhm.
This is These are trees that could be cut down with the move cut. Um but we can't because we don't have the move cut, so we have to go the long way through the grass.
Okay, so kind of like rock smash.
Correct. Exactly.

We're just out on a power walk. What's cool you might ask? No, I'll tell you anyway, bug Pokémon. Great. Yeah, now we slash with cut. Okay, so we have a Pachirisu and a Wurmple. Oh. We get an egg. Egg. Chansey. How likely do I think it is that the Pachirisu is going to one-shot Psyduck? Like decent? Nah, it's fine. Super effective.
Woah.
So So yeah, okay. So this is this is a great example. Some moves affect both enemy slots. Some moves affect

all slots. Some moves affect both friendly slots. Um
Onix.
Yeah, surf is a really good example. Also, Chansey has 100 HP.
So that at least matches Go where Chanseys are tanks.
Correct. But that's
What Chansey
the Yeah, the way that I forget. Yeah, that's right. The way that defense values work in Go is very simplified.
Yeah, oh, I'm sure. Did I Did that say critical hit?

Uh I did not see.
I do like how the verb- verbage of like not very effective and super effective stayed the same.
There there uh in one of the new Pokémon games, we're getting words for the four x effective. Cuz currently, it's just very effective or it's just effective. There's going to be like an extremely effective voice line for when you do four x. So, for instance, using a uh electric move a- uh against um Gyarados. Uh which would be four x effective. Currently, it's just super effective. All right. Well, uh swap.
Onix, return.

Jinx.
Oh, we get our summon effect.
Where it went from very effective to very effective exclamation mark. I would argue that that isn't a big enough A, not a big enough change if that is it. And B, I don't think that's it.
It could be. This is actually a pretty serious battle.
Uh yes, in part because I'm not really playing at full capacity. Uh but yes.
Beautifly.
Hey, could you just bite this squirrel? Yes.
I think it's interesting how you get XP in the middle of a battle.

I do think that's very interesting. Uh so curse is Oh yeah, that's right. No, we don't want to do this. We're going to do that then.
Especially because it can involve some configuration mid-battle.
Yes, for instance, Jimmy Janga learns flame wheel, right? So like now we're in the middle of a battle, but I got to go see if flame wheel is worth it, right? So flame wheel is a 100 accuracy 60 power uh attack physical attack that may leave the target with a burn. Uh versus Ember, which uses our special attack and in this case is worse. Uh that may leave the target with a burn. So I think we're going to forget Ember and learn flame wheel. Cuz in my mind Oh.
Or you could do it backwards.
Or I could do it backwards.
Don't you get another chance at that?
Yeah, we will. Yeah. Um there is chat, town where the move rememberer is?

Streamer debuff in full effect. Correct.
Okay, well, ready? I know it's battle, but Zen.
Right, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
We got this.
Oh, we totally do. I'm just also Chat, you ever have those days where everything's going great until it all of a sudden abruptly is not going great all at once? Oh, just the one with the great marsh nearby. Okay, cool. Uh
We got some good catch-up going here with all of our
Move reminder is a ways away. Okay. Is this correct? 65 accuracy 100.

Think we're going to forget Thunder Shock? Well, we should probably forget hm Is this Yeah, mainly browses. Uh we're going to forget Thunder Shock. Um
So, what are you evaluating on as you're looking at these moves through like
So, uh so some of the evaluation is whether it's a special or physical move. So, in this case, uh our Shinx has high physical attack and low special attack. So, in this case, we're trading a special attack with lower base power for a physical attack with higher base power, which means it's a significant upgrade.
Right. Uh and I want to keep tackle and matching type, so it's still you're still getting your bonus.
And I want to keep tackle just in case there's some godforsaken instance where we end up in a place where I can't use a lightning attack.

So, you're looking for a little bit of um width as opposed to or staying wide.
Correct. Going tall on a particular strategy can work. But, it does leave you vulnerable to having a Pokémon that's just useless for a while, right? So, like um we're we are in a dark cave, you know, you are likely to be eaten by a Groudon. Now, Shinx is useless because we only taught her electric moves and everything in the cave is ground type.
Okay.
Right? And like that doesn't feel great. Now, we can switch out at any time, which is a big buff, right? That's one of the big quality of life things is that you can swap out Pokémon at any time, which is nice. I'm just from the school of thought that thinks that having Pokémon that do more than one thing is good.
Yeah.
Bugs, man. People ignore the awesome

coolness of bug Pokémon. Yeah, that's a word for it. Um okay, uh somebody asked about the voluntary layoffs. Uh we're here We are going to be talking about that Monday. Monday's breakfast is going to be packed. Uh if you want to see me and Matt talk about that, uh you should stay tuned uh for Monday. We are definitely going to be talking about the Krafton voluntary layoffs and their move to generative AI. We're definitely going to be talking about the Steam releases, the tri the the trio of of Steam releases, and uh there was one more that was definitely going to make my list. It was Oh, the State of Play and the announcement of the Galaxy trailer, Super Mario Galaxy movie trailer. Both of the All of those are making breakfast. I see it. I see it. I see you going down in defeat. That's great.
It will be a day of infamy long remembered as the day of Wait, they're not wearing shoes. I guess

it is the day of defeat.
They literally can't do anything unless those Abras know offensive moves. Oh, they do. Okay. How?
Man, should have ducked.
Did they double up? Ah! They doubled up. Oh, I'm amazed.
What's double up?
They uh both went into the same They both attacked the same Pokémon. So, they both attacked the left side rather than
So, they focus fired.
Yeah.
Or concentrated their attacks.
Correct. Which is dangerous. Uh, and someone in the comments also mentioned this, and we'll get to it. The re- The main reason not to do that, and you asked about why you wouldn't do that, um, and I neglected to bring this up last time. The main reason not to do

that is the move protect.
So, the main reason is what?
Is the move protect. So, protect is a defensive move that says, in essence, this Pokémon is immune from attack for one turn. In exchange for not doing anything and one of its move slots. Um, past that, it gets a little wibbly about when it does and doesn't work and all that jazz, but for the sake of this discussion, we'll focus on the singular turn. If both of my Pokémon go into a single, uh, slot, and either that Pokémon switches out to a type that is defensive against my attacks, or worse, that Pokémon protects, and I do nothing,
Mhm. You're using two moves against one move. So, you're we're talking action economy.
Correct. Yeah, these are the TMs are good actually said yes.

Yeah, Chansey's a tanky little beach ball.
I believe it needs to be because I believe it's her only Pokémon.
Still a tanky little beach ball.
Yeah, absolutely.
I don't know about broken. Chansey still looks pretty strong.
Well, part of the problem is that it's and this is sort of a thing that happens in a lot of games. When the game showcases a thing in a controlled environment, players draw certain conclusions about it. And then those conclusions may or may not be bear born out by the rest of the game, right? A common place to see this is in gotcha games where they they have you do like a trial before you like can

pull for it. Um and the trial is always like the single most favorable setup possible for that five-star character that they want you to spend 70 pulls on, right?
Yeah.
And then actually it takes a bunch of time and energy to get all the stuff you need to get the the five-star into that position with that weapon in order to make that circumstance happen somewhat reliably and it'll never be that good, right?
Yeah.
Did she She did. Amazing.
Let's see.
She brought She brought uh it back. All right, and I'm going.
Um
We got this way.
Games I enjoy. I'm a big fan of rogue games similar to Will. I like strategy games like Civilization a lot. I like MOBAs, play a lot of League of Legends. Um and a little bit of just variety in there, but um oh, and RPGs. So, RPGs, strategies,

MOBAs, and kind of big big Civilization-style games are
Cuz chat chat already has a a pretty good handle on what I like because they spent so long listening to me talk about the games that I like.
Actually, anything that's crunchy with mechs, too. I'm uh I both enjoyed uh BattleTech and then uh the RogueTech mod. RogueTech mod is amazing.
Um And yes, Chansey and Blissey do have the highest HP stat in the game. That is a good thing and does do certain things for it. My thought is also that like raw HP is only one of many ways to be tanky, right? Look at um Shedinja. One HP, can only be affected by things that are super effective. That's a different way to be tanky, right? As an example.
I have not played Ring of Red or Frontline Thunder.

One of the problems is there are so many good games.
Okay.
Despite playing a lot of games, there are still so MANY GOOD GAMES.
IT DID THE THING!
WAIT, WHAT DID IT DO?
IT PROTECTED.
OH.
Um okay, so so let's bring up this cuz I think this is really good as a as a topic. Um It's written that you like RPGs but have never played a Pokémon game. Most people would not think of Pokémon as an RPG.
Mhm.
For a lot of people, I would say some designers included, um the
Well, it's a non-traditional one, Will.
Correct, right? Like monster
Age, this isn't Baldur's Gate.
Yeah.
Um this isn't Divinity, this is I mean there are there's
Yeah.
a whole bunch of or

And a lot of games have RPG elements.
Right.
Like you even go back to like the old System Shock, still has RPG elements. Your character is leveling up with skills and gear like that kind of has that RPG collection mechanic.
Yeah.
And Pokémon doesn't. Like you're not slotting gear onto your Pokés.
Well,
No.
you are now. Cuz they can have a whole but the point remains, yes. Not not in the traditional sense. They don't have armor.
Mhm.
Though that would be cool. Um So, I I love how we have people who are very much on the side of Pokémon isn't an RPG and Pokémon is definitely an RPG, right? And I think the the interesting part is that there isn't a clear I think most people have a

mental image of what an RPG is. And I think for some people Pokémon is in that bucket and for some people Pokémon is not in that bucket and for some people Pokémon is sort of in a quantum state of in and not in that bucket depending on the day, the Pokémon title, etc., etc.
Well, for a lot of there's actually two types of RPGs and I think the ones that people play the most of would like if you're playing a um Knights of the Old Republic
Yep.
or you know, if you're or Baldur's Gate, you know, if you're playing a party-based RPG Pokémon might feel more like one or if you're playing an RPG more like say Skyrim or something else where sure you can get a companion, but most of the time it's you doing your thing.
Yes.
This would feel very very different.

Yeah. And I think that this is true, right? That Pokémon wasn't this defining force of its weird niche subgenre. I agree with that. And that people don't generally consider that to overlap with RPGs because it's a Pokémon game. It's its own thing, right? Even though we can pull it apart and say that choosing Pokémon is like choosing the character classes for a party, right? Instead of six members to a party, I'm choosing six Pokémon, but I've essentially created six characters with their own unique classes and abilities and strengths and weaknesses, right?
And there's also a level of abstraction in almost every other RPG, your character is the one heading into battle. This very specifically, you're not.
Yeah.
Like your character never battles.
Right. Also, I I would like
summons
Yeah. I would like to thank Nockem for being absolutely objectively correct in that any game in which you fight God with the power of friendship is a JRPG,

no matter how you do it. If you fight God with the power of friendship, it's a JRPG, period. So yes, Halo is a JRPG. You may now continue to debate the many ways in which I am right, but I'm just right. Um Right. So there are stats and stat growth, and I think it's it's I agree with Jeff absolutely that the level of abstraction makes it hard to put it in that bucket. Um I also think the replaceable nature of Pokémon makes it hard to feel like it feels much more like a tactics RPG than it does like a like a main series like Baldur's Gate CRPG or like a Final Fantasy RPG, right? Even though there are many similarities there.
Yeah, like

Pokémon feel more like tools and deployable gear. They're not Astarion or Karlach or anything.
I would keep it this. There are what It's not This is not This isn't the best, but there are some things we can do with this. So, we're going to forget tackle and keep endeavor.
Oop, let me check a thing while you level up.
Yeah. Uh you didn't think there was that much friendship in Halo? That's cuz you played solo. Friends are your co-op buddies. Yes, it is me and chair, chat.

Oh, that's right. Uh this is Pearl. I believe we arbitrarily chose Pearl. Uh I actually don't even remember how we did that, but we we just Pearl. Uh no. Yeah, I have played I have beaten um Blue, yellow, gold, crystal, shield.
I'm good.
I gave up on Eevee at some point cuz it just was boring. One of my problems is that I understand Pokémon, generally speaking, uh

but I don't have the patience for it at like top levels. Uh Alexis, we talked about double battles on a previous episode. Yes.
Mhm. Funny story, Will. We have a house guest staying with us who showed up she has a cockatrice or [ __ ] uh
Cockatiel?
Cockatiel, thank you. Cockatrice, man. So, I was hearing a little meowing and was making sure that our cats had not found a way into where the bird is um currently hanging out. Cuz it is bad manners to eat your uh house guest's um pet.
Chat. It just really wants Zen headbutt. I don't think it's good. But I want it, so we're taking What? Just pull those parts because you own Diamond. Oh yeah, in case trade shenanigans, that's true.

Chimichanga level 20.
Have I played Legends Legends Arceus?
and then all your stuff levels up.
Yeah. Um have I played Legends Legends Arceus? Yes, I didn't like it, but that is not its fault. Uh it can take one of the one of the problems that I continually have is that um turn-based stuff doesn't do a lot for me and Pokémon in general is extremely formulaic. And the formulaic nature of it sort of decays for me pretty quickly. Do you want to name this worm, Jeff?
Are we actually going to keep it for a while?
Probably not. It's a worm.
Um in that case let's name it instead of Wurmple, how about Dumple?
Dumple, okay. Or actually, we'll just

name it Dumpel. That. Okay, great. We are 12 today apparently.
Oh, we're going to dump it. What is this? Ooh, you found a potion in the grass.
Did. We're totally going to use it and nothing will go wrong.
Are you foreshadowing, Will?
No. I've I've played Legends, uh, Alexis. I just didn't like it very much. Um. I definitely think it did a bunch of really good things for the series. It just wasn't for me. Uh.
Watching through this, it's definitely interesting, but I could also see like the constant grindy battles may not be

everybody's cup of tea.
Yeah.
Oh, it looks like we're almost to the new place.
Yep.
What are those? Oh, okay.
Oh, uh, berries, which we're going to grab just in case we need them for stuff. You can't be foreshadowing. That's a literary device and this is a live stream. Jokes on you. I can five shadow. Bum, bum, bum. No. Uh, are we in the right time zone to be encountering night encounters? No. That's the thing we keep getting distracted from. So, we were talking about changing the system clock to get the events that don't occur
Mhm.
in our time zone and how people felt felt about that. Jeff, do you have like a particular, not like a a designer brain feeling, but like a player gut-sided feeling about needing to change the clock on your console to get

certain encounters that you couldn't get in other ways?
Um Like I'm I hear I understand having like timed events and things. I tend to think that's very unfriendly design because there's a lot of people that only have certain amounts of time to play or certain periods to play in. Like I can play once my kids are in bed or you know, I can play for an hour in the afternoon before I after school and before I do homework kind of things. And you're setting up a a game at that point which people who have schedules of when they're when they can play can't engage with your game. Yeah. Or aspects of your game. Like hacking a clock is not elegant, but I I completely understand why people would want to do it.
Yeah. No, your Pokémon still use moves on a turn-based like thing. You're not like spamming buttons. It's not actiony. It's like

It's like an ATB system. Right? It's not fully real-time. Like yes, you can run around and catch Pokémon with the And that's cool. But the battles are like in this weird middle space that didn't do anything for me. But Oh, it's okay. Never mind. You look tough. I won't take um I'll just let you keep your Pokémon. Uh carry on. Yeah, it's cool down based, right?
All right, let's get these Poké healed up.
All right, goal one completed. Fully real-time ATB it worst of both worlds. Then why am I remembering it so differently? Man, I must have really hated it if that's how little of it I remember. Cuz I remember like the the the the loading

and everything. And I remember real-time catching stuff, but I remember feeling like the the battles themselves like dragged for me. And I don't remember why. So if I remember it that poorly, I must have really disliked it. That's not saying it's bad, just letting you know that like it's not for me. Oh, is that a Pokedex? You must be helping Professor Rowan. What's your name? Okay, hello Jeff. I'll be sure to remember that name. My name is Cynthia. I'm a trainer, just like you. I've been studying Pokémon mythology lately, just out of curiosity. Ooh. In the Eterna City, there's a statue of an ancient Pokémon.
I want to see the statue. This was almost our thumbnail.
According to myth, it was an extremely powerful Pokémon. Who knows, you may encounter something like it while you're traveling with your Pokedex. Okay, Arceus and ZA have different systems. Okay, good. That's what I thought. Okay, yeah yeah. I'm talking about Arceus, chat, not ZA. I haven't played

ZA. I make no claims to understand ZA. I'm talking about Arceus. By using these, they should help you on your way. You obtain TM93s. Like a stack of them. Put the TM93s in your bag's TM pocket. Cut in the in the hidden moves app allows you to chop down small trees that are blocking your way. Remember, you can use the hidden move cut from your Poke Gear in the field. It'll let you go places that were previously inaccessible to you. That's important for filling every Pokedex, right? And luck be with you, young trainer. Okay, and here's the big old statue. There's something There's some writing on the Pokémon statue. "How once created brought forth the many dimensions. All things alive or not are at the same space. Such is the blessing of pal. Text is very legible and is faded completely in places.
Wait, is this foreshadowing pal world?

Yes. Yes, that's exactly it. Interesting, here's an interesting factoid. This is neither of the two this is neither Palkia nor Dialga, but the statue is a weird combination of both such that it could be interpreted to be either depending on what you want to see.
So they didn't have the ability to do an easy asset swap for this.
I actually don't think that's the case. I think that they did it that way on purpose. Um but I I mean I don't know that it's easy to say that you could like do it that it's bad in 3D. I think for an entire I think for a large number of people they will just think that the pixel art looks worse on account of being pixel art. Like for people who grew up with the

pixel art, I understand the adherence to it as a desire, but also remember that lots of people there are people who don't like pixel art. Who have grown up without pixel art, who have never known a pixel art game to be like one of their favorites unless it was a retro game which incorporated some of the newer pixel art styles. They may just not like it. Okay. Uh we could go on, but we're running out of time, so I think for the last little bit of stream we'll we'll
to go find the gym leader since we put her on the thumbnail?
Uh yeah, I I mean we can.
Or we don't have to.
I mean we Chat was just saying that it would be cool to invade all of the houses. Also, who are you?
We could do that, too.
Say, this is an old city. It doesn't look like it, though, not with all these tall buildings. Can I get No.

Talk. That's the new city. Is this Great Balls? Let's see. What's this? Turn a condominiums name rating service available. Okay.
What's that mean?
We could have our Pokémon's name rated.
Hm.
Turn a city Pokémon gym. Gym leader Gardenia, master of vivid plant Pokémon.
Good. We can at least say hi, so we will have seen her.
My gym, no one gets to battle with the gym leader, me, until they've beaten all the other trainers. I'll be waiting for you in the back. Good luck, challenger. Oh, okay. I mean, we can just go. Oh, Poké Marts upgrade based on badge, not location. Did not know that. I'm going to come up with one. All right.
Chimichanga. Oh, are we now in a gauntlet?
Yeah.

I have no idea where I'm going. I'm just wandering around looking for stuff. I know.
Can you chop one of these trees?
Uh, no. I can't actually yet use Cut. Uh, because I haven't beaten this gym, and beating this gym is what gives you the badge that lets you use Cut.
Hm.
Name rated Oh, and that's the also the name changer. Thank you, video game guru. That's helpful. Oh, there's someone. All right. How'd you know where to find me? Let's have our battle.
Cherubi Chimichangas back in the front.

Woah. Chimichanga, you are super
a grass type and I've got stab.
Roselia
Yeah, the gym background is absolutely gorgeous. Big fan. Do like nothing? Approximately nothing? Approximately nothing.
I was expecting that to be a drain attack.
It is.
Or like sort of health drain.
It is.
Or health Oh, okay, it did go up. It took a minute.
it healed. It ta- It takes a second, but it it does heal. So, it processes as two different things.
Mhm.
It the it procs So, wait, you get this the leech status, then it procs, then it then the opposing Pokémon heals. Like, it's three different

effects.
I do like that it's necromantic roses.
Yeah. I was going to beat you while you were still in a state of shock. You got like three bucks. Next trainer is at the end past the two boulders, I think. At the end past the two boulders.
Here we go down.
Out.
Two boulders?
There it is. A grass type Pokémon can learn some serious special attacks. I won't let you win easily. Unfortunately for you,
We've got a flamethrower.
I chose the fire starter, so that seems unlikely just on on the face of it. I don't know.
Chubby Chongo.
While we're while we're busy taking people's lunch money with our fire starter, I I keep thinking about like this time thing. And I Yeah, we also have a Serperior. Yeah, we're not in any danger of losing.

Um I keep thinking about the time thing, right? And how like
the
Oh, time of day and stuff?
Yeah. I kind of wish there were two options.
Mhm.
Like it's a huge amount of extra work, but I understand the desire to have a game that could conforms to like real-life time as a sort of a an affectation or a gimmick, right? But I also very keenly believe that that's not a fair to people who, you know, new parent, right? New parent wants to play Pokémon. Doesn't have time to play except when kid is asleep or uh you know, late at night. Can't catch daytime Pokémon because time doesn't allow for that. Now they have to go through additional steps to play the game in a way that's desirable to them. And like yes, it's not a big step, but it's still a step where you have to change the clock on your system,

which can mess up other things. That doesn't feel
There's some games like for Actually, let me take Pokémon Go. In Pokémon Go, it doesn't bother me because the entire game's premise is you physically walk around to certain places at different times to have things happen. Like that's the central premise of the game. Where this isn't that. This is like an incidental thrown in.
Yeah.
In the middle Oh, there they are. In the middle of the three trees. Yeah, the original Animal Crossing would only after school. Right, the original Animal Crossing's a pretty um is a pretty good example, right? I just wonder how what to do about that. Oh, yeah. Could you Yeah, I remember Kojima's idea for a game that could only be played in direct sunlight with the

solar sensor accessory? That sure is a Kojima idea. Reminder that his most recent project is one in which he wants to 3D scan ghosts to put in his game. So, you know, he's been at the forefront of cutting-edge gaming technology for a long time. Ghost scanning.
It is interesting that this many years later his ideas still haunt the industry.
I like this one. That's what it's beside four flowers. Oh, I like right there. Right there. Okay. Maze.
This is a pretty amazing level.
Oh, that's a good question. Do you What do you think about uh continent-locked Pokémon in Go?
Um Oh, I haven't seen this outfit before.
Yeah, this is the beauty outfit.

They tend to be um there's like a whole category of Pokémon. There's like a Pokémon beauty contest kind of thing. Uh so, they tend to be Pokémon that score well in that.
Interesting.
Boktai
types.
Um I By the way, chat, I I I see people talking about Boktai. I've never heard of this game, so I will have to look it up and learn things about it.
I don't know if I'm a big fan of geographically locked Pokémon, but that's also like it doesn't surprise me in a game that's about traveling around to different places to find things.
Yeah.
To realize that there are different Pokémon that show up in different places you go.
Yeah.
But I mean that seems like roughly on par for the theme that's getting proposed when you learn about the game.
Yeah. We can there there's this thing there's

this tension, right? Between um There's only a gym leader left. Go on, don't be afraid. Uh okay. Um There is this tension, right? Between not enjoying a specific mechanic and recognizing and acknowledging that it is in line with a version of the game's premise albeit not one that you might share exactly, but like you can see how it aligns versus things that are like not really aligned and feel a little worse to the player.
Yeah, like for example, jumping puzzles in Destiny for end game content. Not aligned.
Yeah, it's a great one.
But also like you have to accept that certain things are just part of what you're buying into. Like if you're going to go pick up Gran Turismo and you're like, I don't like racing. Like why are you playing Gran Turismo?

Yeah, that's correct. All right, I'm going to turn this gym leader. Gardenia, the grass type master. When I first saw you I was convinced you'd find your way to me. My hunch was right on the money. You have a winning aura about you. So anyway, this will be fun. Let's have our battle. It's going to be me casting Ember using Ember until all of her Pokémon are fainted, by the That's That's how this is going to go. Yeah, I think that we're platforming sections, particularly platforming sections in first person, are like And you can get out of first person in Destiny in a bunch of ways, but like at the same time
Actually, we were just going to say this before, but um yeah. Weird platforming sections in games that aren't based around platforming almost made me quit Destiny.
Yeah, using sword as your as your weapon specifically to avoid that is a thing.

Right? But also it feels like suddenly adding a new dimension to the game in like a way that's not converse. Like plenty of MMOs add in rage as a mechanic at higher difficulties. That is to say that you need to beat the fight in a certain amount of time or the boss will perform a move that just kills all of you. Or may perform a move that just kills all of you if other conditions are met. For instance, if you have a double boss situation and the bosses get too far away from each other in terms of HP, the one that has more HP may simply enrage because there's a condition, right?
Well, like something like that saying like you're here to fight bosses and then there's later it's like you're here to fight bosses and there's a time limit. Like
Yeah. It's Right.
That is an incremental part or it's an extra It is a modifier to the thing

you're already doing.
Mhm.
Like again, that feels in line.
I love I love this answer. Random super difficult platforming made my wife write an a maybe write an auto hotkey script in Darksiders Genesis. I just want to point out how amazing that is that you'd rather work with auto hotkey than do the platforming in Darksiders Genesis. Like I did like Windows so I learned Arch Linux. That is certainly a solution to the problem but that seems like a lot more work to me.
Maybe they're just very bad at platforming or platforming annoys them.
Yeah.
It's not the end yet, Will.
Yeah, there's a Roserade.
I like that we're actually getting Pokémon again that are like equal or higher level.
Yeah, uh

Yeah.
Woah. This is a tier three evolution, right?
Uh
Or this is the final form of this one. I can't remember if it's Pichu or Pichu.
there are only two Roselia Roserade, right? There's not a third form there I'm missing. Okay, yeah, there are only two forms to this.
Okay.
I thought Budew was a different Oh. That's right, Budew splits.
Yeah. Oh, so introduced later kind of like they introduced baby Pikachu or
Pichu, yeah.
Pichu, yeah. Wow, she actually defeated Chimichanga.

I Is this the first time Chimichanga's been knocked out?
Probably. I'm also I will fully admit, playing a little sloppily.
Star League, go.
Doom, Roselia were introduced in Gen 4 of either side. Okay. Roserade were introduced on either fight Okay, got it. Got it, got it, got it. That's my confusion. All right.
Boom.
Uh, DS, this bar of something making more sense than Windows does is in hell. Bar is in hell. Bar is in the lowest pits of the freezing cold depths of

hell, actively being buried in ice by the wingbeats of Satan. It's in hell.
one of the things I really enjoy about the Pokémon series is how you get rivalries, but everybody's really happy for you to do well.
Right. So, there's this uh, there's this thing that's
the exception of some of the bad bad guys, but like
Right.
Yeah. Gym leaders like, "Good job. Hey."
Yeah. Um, one of the very interesting things is that these are not the gym leaders' like strongest teams. That all of these gyms are designed specifically to test you not against the gym leader's powerful power. Uh, and we've seen this in in like uh, later on in several seasons of the anime and in some games, you have to refight several gym leaders or you see them refight later with much stronger teams, and they're all equals, but they're sort of giving they're sort of facing you with kid gloves so that you can prove that you've learned something, right? But that's the goal. It's not to like to defeat them going all out, it's to prove that you've learned and mastered an idea.

Right.
Amazing. you're very good, aren't you? Might have said it before, but you're really tough. Wasn't it hard for you to raise your Pokémon to be so good? I guess that's a measure of how much you love your Pokémon. In recognition of that, I proudly grant you this.
Badge number two.
You received the Forest Badge.
Badgers, we don't need no stinking badgers.
And move cut will be available from your Pokétech. Now that you have two gym badges, all Pokémon you received in trades will obey you up to level 30. We've also got something else for you. These are a gift from me. Obtain the stickers that Gardenia uses. Stickers. You obtained TM86. Put the TM86 in your bag's TMs pocket. Each TM86 contains a Grass Knot. It's one of my favorite moves. The heavier the opposing Pokémon, the more damage this move will cause. Hm. Okay. Tada! Gardenia achieved.

Uh So, I think that is a good place to wrap up today, but chat, don't let us forget that next time when we begin, we need to run around and invade everyone's home. Uh there are many buildings here that have cool uh stuff um that we need to find and trade to investigate and things like that. We need to go check out the name rater and talk about that whole thing. So, I think the next one may be uh exploring Eterna um Eterna City and and going everywhere. Uh does that does that seem like a good plan? Cuz I think this uh with our victory Yeah, plus the Grand Underground. Yes, don't let me forget the Underground. Uh this seems like a very good place for us to wrap up. Oh boy. Okay. I had to change all of my everything when Jeff winked out of existence cuz this was an entire stream with absolutely no tech problems whatsoever. It definitely was.

Weren't any tech problems whatsoever. I hate ISPs in the US.
the internet shutdown.
Right, exactly. Um that's going to do it for us. Uh thank you so much for joining us. We'll be back on Monday with games and breakfast and we are talking about in no particular order the valve trio of hardware announcements, uh the stuff going on with Crafton and voluntary layoffs. We're going to talk a little bit about the announcements from last week and oh god, there's one more. I forget what it is, but tune in Monday to figure out what I forgot. Uh that'll be it. Uh if you're hanging out here, please come over to Twitch. Join us. Matt and I are going to play some night rain and talk about the upcoming DLC probably. If we can do that while I'm running around trying very hard not to die. Um until next time.
Thank you for joining us everybody and helping me learn, observe, watch an

actual Pokémon game that is not Go.
Yeah. I I I think we're going to get to the really interesting part here soon. We're sort of in like the It's not the pre-game, but like lower levels are always kind of Did you Did you do the type match up right? Yes? Okay, you win. Good job. Right? And so we'll we'll get we'll get more complicated things here in a little bit. Uh I think all that remains is for Jeff to say bye to the people.
Bye to the people. Thank you everybody. We'll see you next or I'll see you next time.
Yeah, we'll see you next time.