Sunday, September 2, 2012

New poll: Operation Sand Fail

Sorry if I've been neglecting this blog lately, been really busy with my new home and my new job. Anyway, last poll was about getting Pokémon Conquest and your progress in it, and after 212 people weighed in, two people claim to have beaten it 100%. Considering how incredibly long it must take, allow me to question whether they actually did it or not, especially since no one else said they'd beaten upwards of 20 episodes (there are 37 in total). Five of you have beaten between 10 and 19 episodes, 27, including me, answered they'd beaten the main story but less than 10 episodes, 23 are still in the main story, a whopping 85 don't have the game but want it, and 70 are not interested. Do the math, more people are interested in the game but don't have it than people who do have it. Is the game really this rare? I easily bought it at the local Wal-Mart (at least what was the local Wal-Mart until I moved away from town) on day one...

Next question is a metagame question, and a tough one to answer unless you're following the competitive scene! Smogon wants to get rid of Sand Veil entirely in order to bring back Garchomp. Is that okay? I ranted at length in part 40 of my White LP on why I disagree with it, so I'll refer you to that for my stance. But I still want you to answer honestly, okay? It's not like I can hunt you down and brutally murder you for disagreeing with me, and even if I could it's not like I actually want to. These polls are for honest answers, and I want to know if I'm the one failing miserably by clinging on to certain principles.

Edit: Wow, "the ban Sand Veil Garchomp" is surprisingly popular. I'm wondering, though, would you also do the same for Blaziken, Excadrill, and Thundurus-I?

21 comments:

  1. I voted for the status quo because it sounds like the most logical option. Keep in mind that I only find things out about the current states of the meta game through you. For all we know, they would go after Serene Grace next. From what I understand of the meta game, it only makes Sky Shaymin broken, Jirachi awesome, and Togekiss usable but outclassed by Jirachi. If Serene Grace guaranteed that there would be status, it would be different. What issues with the meta game do you think there are (broken Pokemon). Here is a fun fact to close, I saw a match in Showdown about a month or so ago featuring White Kyurem...in OU. What? Even if that were not a flaw in the program, would you seriously think White Kyurem is not Uber? Great but redundant STABs, a move to cover Steels, and the second highest SA in the game. A monster only hindered by entry hazards, poison, Fighting, Rock, and Dragon moves, and Base 90 Speed Okay, those are big hindrances, but it is still Empty Kyurem's wet dream come true. Anyway, Status Quo is what it should be. Granted, if it stays that way, NO ONE will use Rough Skin. Sure, you could try to trick the opponent into thinking it, but the 20% extra insurance is worth it. And an Ice weakening Berry (Yache?). If Garchomp were reintroduced to OU with Rough Skin, how do you think he would fare. He would at least stay OU because of everything else that makes him good, but that is my opinion...

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  2. I CHOOSE YOU ! MASSIVE PROFILE CHANGE OUT OF BOREDOM !
    (Still HunterRyosuke, just in case it wasn't obvious...)

    I don't care about Garchomp all that much. While it is indeed a very powerful Pokemon, I personally think the design is bland and that it was only created for its sheer power. 3 out of 4 different Pokedex entries state that it can fly, even though it can't learn the actual move. Sure, it wouldn't make any use of it, but it could at least have it for consistence sake.

    Maybe the reason I can't take Garchomp seriously is just that I think it looks like a goofy, retarded, bipedal cousin of the Cephalos and the Cephadrome from the Monster Hunter franchise... Both are probably just as rage-inducing in their own game too...

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    1. Dammit ! When will I finally learn my lesson ? I should have waited until this morning before commenting !

      Just scratch the word "retarded" from that previous comment and it should remove any possibly offensive element...

      And I also forgot to state which option I chose, but I don't think I know enough about competitive battling for my opinion to matter.

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  3. I don't agree with it at all. You can't just ban Sand Veil to allow Garchomp, as it's unfair on Pokemon that have it that aren't broken, and as you said, it's a combination of things that makes Garchomp broken, not just its ability. Plus, if you ban Sand Veil and it's still broken without it, they'll probably just ban it again but not un-ban Sand Veil. So they should just leave it be instead of making worse and more complicated.

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  4. Ability bans are stupid for the sole reason that it destroys other Pokemon that are uninvolved with the target. In most cases, Pokemon only have one or two abilities (two or three now with the DW), and limiting those options can have severe consequences. Also, it kind of skeeves me out when they ban luck-based moves, items, and abilities. Double Team is understandable because it can be stacked and it's a buff rather than a debuff, but as for the others... It's really not that bad, and luck is an integral part of the game. With each luck-based ban, we're coming closer to the only luck-based part of the game being chance of missing, and what then? I would hate to see a future of 'ideal' teams and perfect games.

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  5. According to people on Showdown, they banned Sand Veil, but not Rough Skin Garchomp...

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    1. AFAIK no decision has been taken yet. Officially, at least.

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    2. The common folk at Showdown are not known for their genius-level IQ and tolerance of others opinions. Just like people's reactions to Obama getting reelected, I am going to enjoy the backlash at Smogon IF things stay the way they are. Oh, and they apparently are not as fanboyish as the chatters at TSG. Why? Because saying "Hi Slowflake" only distracted them once, and saying "Hi Chugga" did not work at all. Even if Rough Skin Garchomp is allowed in OU, why use it in Ubers when you can use Sand Veil? Sure, it helps with Sturdy and Focus Sash, but still...

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  6. Status Quo. I think a Pokémon should be assessed as a whole, at the peak of its abilities: not with certain outcomes and exceptions taken into account. Otherwise the whole thing becomes a huge headache, a list of clauses and exceptions nobody could be bothered deciphering.
    Garchomp should be banned, and if anyone wants to use Rough Skin with it, well, good luck to them.

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  7. I'm sort of in the middle of both sides. The problem with the whole thing is that it looks like the council is banning sand veil for the sake of bringing back Garchomp. That being said, if they are going to ban anything, they should ban sv and not the sand stream + sand veil combo ban some are demanding.
    Btw, if you think this is bad, you should look at the general suspect thread, where some idiots want rain, sun, and Deoxys-D to be banned so the metagame is "less based on team match ups"... *facepalm*.

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    1. Idiots. Pokémon has always been based on team match-ups, it's just more in-your-face this gen.

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    2. Next they will want Ferrothorn banned because he is awesome in OU and Ubers and very annoying to kill (especially with no Fire move). Granted, as you say, the standard Pokemon noob wants a competitive setting where his Charizard with 4 Fire moves can dominate. Okay, so you can only use Pokemon with offensive STAB moves? No problem, I will just pull out my Reshiram! What? I cannot use any Legendaries?! FUUUU-Oh, wait! Tyranitar has great offensive STABs! What do you mean in their world, I cannot use Rock types?!...

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    3. As bad as Smogon is right now, it's nowhere compared to how bad PO is. They're the geniuses that, of all things that could be retested instead, are testing Kyurem-B in OU. I know stats normally don't completely make pokes (hell, Darmanitan and Chandelure are UU and Mew is boarderline OU as it is), but all I can think of is that base 170 Atk...

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    4. Hitler strikes again! (I hope someone gets the reference.)

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    5. Um...Mewtwo, can you probe his mind so I can get the reference?...

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    6. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3-DOE0TtfE

      Especially the bit at the end about legendaries and Rock moves.

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    7. Seeing as how Charizard could potentially actually beat Articuno, that says a lot. Also, you still reference that video after, what, a year or two of Blaziken being Uber and being awesome in Ubers. I did not know Hitler was a Zardtard. He did not say anything about banning Stealth Rock, Water moves, Electric moves, Dragons (coughmostofthepsuedoLegendaries), Heatran, varied move sets, or smart playing. Oh, and why do Zardtards put aside that he is a Flying type as well? Granted, the coverage Fire and Flying provide are redundant at best and still neutered by Rock types. Really, for everything gone that should make Charizard better, I will always find a way to neuter its threat. Cue the clip of the Cinema Snob, Nostalgia Chick, and Linkara laughing evilly in Kickassia...

      Crap. I cannot find a clip of that alone on YouTube...

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    8. On the Kyurem-B front, and I know I'm gonna get burned for this...sure that attack is ridiculous, but other than Outrage and Dragon Claw, there isn't a whole lot to back it. Not even Earthquake....it's got those two, Fusion Bolt, and that's about it as far as I can remember

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  8. I used to care about what Smogon did about their tiers... I really did. [sigh] But I've pretty much given up arguing this sort of thing on their forums ever since the Brightpowder ban. I still play in the occasional tournament, though (especially involving the Ubers "tier").

    As for the ban itself, I don't see how introducing Garchomp would make the metagame any better. Other than appeasing their Garchomp fetish, that is. Garchomp is certainly in the same boat as those other minor Ubers in that they are more than the sum of their parts. That magic balance of good movepool, good stat distribution, good typing (usually), and a good ability is what makes a Pokémon good. Sure, taking away the good ability might just be enough to work in Chomp's case, but that is just as arbitrary as banning Garchomp + Swords Dance or Garchomp + Attack EVs. In other words, I'm with Slowflake.

    Now, back to Conquest... I just voted "don't have, but want" not because it wasn't available to me, but because I am just on the fence about it. I haven't really been into the genre, but on the other hand it's Pokémon in feudal Japan! I'll probably get it before the year is up, but I don't have much time to play video games because of college + marching band + tutoring... Just basically procrastination. I guess I'm just waiting until I see it, and it sees me, and we engage in some awkward introductory conversation. :P

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  9. Slowflake, you don't really know me, but you acknowledged me as "somebody" in two of your videos by my count. I'm the guy who came up with that dual-type moves idea back in generation 3. I knew two stabs would be broken if something wasn't done about it, so I'm (pretty sure) I also chalked up the idea to give dual-type moves half-STAB and half type effectiveness. What this means is that each type in the move would get 25% STAB instead of 50%, and that super-effective moves would be multiplied by 1.5x, and 4x moves would turn into 2x (same with NVE moves, turning into 0.75x and 0.5x. If the pokemon itself is a dual type with both types of the move (let's say blaze kick blaziken for example) the 25% stabs are compounded into a 50% stab.

    As for effectiveness, if both of the target pokemon's types are weak against half of the moves typing, that's 1.5 x 1.5 = 2x damage for that alone. Taking the other type into account, you could get varied results, like only one of the target's types being weak, resulting in 3x damage, or one type being resistant and the other neutral bringing it down to 1.5x.

    Well, I'm pretty sure I planned out that theorem way back when, I probably just never wrote it down. And even though it wouldn't be broken this way, it's like you said: it's just too complicated for players to keep track of everything when they have to start taking 6 types into account (user, attack, opponent).

    You also mentioned me one time in your Soul Silver LP, back when I made a comment about Johto's layout with that fork in Ecruteak that can take you all the way to the lake of rage without even fighting Morty.

    I'm one of your biggest long-time fans, but sadly you blocked me from commenting after I constantly begged you to finish Hello Kitty. I'm sorry, I knew it was a joke, but I'm the kind of guy who enjoys watching joke games. You probably have a perma-ban policy to never unblock anybody, but I wish I could comment again...

    Oh, and the Garchomp thing. I think we all know that sand veil alone isn't what made Garchomp broken last gen. This just seems like the admins saying "I like garchomp. Let's find some obscure loophole to unban him!" Yeah, total Zardtard mentality (err.. Gartard in this case).

    In this generation, and now with nearly all the hidden abilities available, there's a lot of new amazing pokemon choices that I don't think have been fully explored yet, and need to be tested with Garchomp to decide who's broken and who isn't. Smogon's been really ban-happy this generation because pokemon are getting so good... It's like we might as well make a new "uber borderline" tier between OU and Uber, because that's what it seems like: a bunch of in-betweeners. But that's kidna dumb, because then THAT would become the new OU, and OU would turn into some other tier above borderline.

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  10. What I think should happen is separate tiering for Pokemon obtainable in the Dream World and regular Pokemon that you catch in the game. For example, Speed Boost Blaziken would be Uber while Blaze Blaziken would be UU or something.

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