More news on Diancie and the black Floette

First, Serebii fixed Diancie's Pokédex page: it can indeed learn Trick Room by TM. Still no confirmation on whether Trick Room actually replaces Power Gem in the level-up list, as well as whether or not it can learn Torment (not that anyone cares about the latter). But if Serebii actually changed something manually, it's not looking good.

But perhaps more interestingly is him spilling the beans on AZ's Floette, which was found in the game code a while back. Far from being filler data, or the second coming of the Notched-Ear Pichu, this thing seems to have been made as a more offensive counterpart to Florges, with less special defense, but more special attack and speed. Its stats add up to only one less point than Florges, which is to say, 180 more points than regular Floette. It's also the exclusive holder of the move called Light of Ruin, which, based on the description, seems like a less powerful but more accurate Head Smash, complete with 50% recoil. Not sure I like. Moonblast is such a sweet move as it is, I bet it'll probably remain the Fairy move of choice, especially since Stone Edge is often the move of choice versus Rock Head-less Head Smash.

Here's the problem, though: Floette/Florges' offensive movepool is trash. Moonblast, Energy Ball, Psychic. Not gonna scare a lot of people with that, and the Eternal Flower Floette (as it's officially known) has some speed issues as well. I guess it can try a Calm Mind set, maybe with Wish thrown in, but this family was clearly meant as a cleric... in UU, that is, because it's Sylveon's bitch through and through. Point is, what's the point of having more offensive stats if you can't attack properly?

Like the Notched-Ear Pichu, it's unable to evolve or breed, but one slight question remains: what about the Eviolite? After all, Floette as a species is still capable of evolving, even if this particular specimen can't. It all depends on how the game is programmed. If it CAN use the Eviolite, it might be able to go places (and in fact probably will). Otherwise, it'll be nothing more than a faster, but more frail and arguably weaker (thanks to Pixilate) Sylveon.

Finally, Serebii says it can only be obtained through an event, so expect to see AZ in a movie at some point this generation.

I just learned Waluigi has fans.

And not the kind who just get a kick out of ProtonJon's portrayal, either. Actual fans.

Excuse me while I go reconsider my perception of the universe.

Serebii confirms Diancie stats and movepool

They weren't there a few days ago when I checked, so this is a recent development. Thanks to Looneyman for bringing this to my attention!

The stats are exactly what was expected after those screenshots from a while ago, just Carbink's with 50 more to both attack stats. Predictably, the level-up movepool is a copypaste of Carbink's, with Diamond Storm added at level 50. The added effect rate is also confirmed to be 50%, which is pretty decent all things considered. On the TM front, moves that Diancie gets but not Carbink include Psyshock, Hyper Beam and Giga Impact. Woo hoo, get ready to storm ubers with this thing! And in a strange twist of events, Carbink gets Torment and Trick Room but not Diancie. What. It's especially sad considering Carbink actually USES Trick Room.

So, are you disappointed, disappointed or disappointed? I'm not sure whether I'm disappointed or disappointed myself.

Edit: I just realized Diancie learns Trick Room through level-up, but (allegedly) not through TM. So I'm just going to assume Serebii screwed up somewhere and it keeps Torment too.

Edit 2: This presence of Trick Room in the level-up movepool comes at a cost, though: Power Gem. So maybe Serebii messed everything up and it gets Power Gem at level 46, but not Trick Room at all? Not impossible, since the only other Pokémon that gets Trick Room by level-up is PorygonZ, and it makes sense in that case since it fits its dimensional travel flavor.

Swagplay currently under scrutiny

And by Swagplay, I mean this. While this is clearly a worst case scenario, it still epitomizes how much luck can influence a Pokémon battle. Swagplay is arguably the best way to turn a game into a game of pure luck, and it's currently being looked at by Smogon, with several possible outcomes, but the only two that are likely at this point are either a combo ban or nothing. While Swagger is pretty much never used outside of this little trick, banning it altogether still seems excessive. Banning individual Pokémon would also be a very stupid move, especially since the likes of Klefki and Sableye can run other sets and still be very effective. These two notions are agreed upon by just about everybody, so that's not happening.

There are still a few questions worth asking, though. If Pokémon can (and usually will) get banned according to their best set, and this is the best set the likes of Klefki have to offer, what's so different in this case that the ban needs to go elsewhere than the species? The obvious answer is that unlike the top sets for Pokémon like Blaziken, Kangaskhan or Genesect, this requires no skill to use, just some luck. However, is that enough to justify combo-banning Swagger with either Prankster or Foul Play (or maybe even both)? Also, if no one has problems with the very luck-based paraflinch, then what's so different about this? Is it even as effective as paraflinch? Questions like that are worth pondering, and show that nothing can be black or white in such a complicated game.

I've always personally been in favor of keeping an element of luck in the game, as long as it doesn't become the big focus. Have we reached that point with Swagplay? You can win a lot by using it, and you can also lose a lot, but the damage you do with it (or lack thereof) is not dictated by skill at all, which is an issue. Let's just say I have less of a problem with a game being turned around with a lucky Fire Blast miss than this, because the former isn't really intentional (not to mention, that's the price of using Fire Blast compared to Flamethrower), and being the beneficiary of such luck happens a lot less often.

Hey Bethesda, that's not how you make a game.

It's common knowledge that Skyrim, although great, is a broken mess of a game from a programming standpoint, with a seemingly neverending list of bugs. That's understandable since the game is so bloody massive, but... well, I just ran into one that completely prevented me from watching a climactic cutscene about three quarters of the way through the main questline.

What you're supposed to do is read one of the eponymous Elder Scrolls at a specific location, then watch a five-minute flashback, immediately followed by a boss fight. At least that's what's SUPPOSED to happen. Instead, as the flashback begins, I see some dude run past me, I hear a dragon roar, and that's it. I can't move. At all. Can't hear anything either. I can stand there for ten minutes, NOTHING. I tried a few "fixes" that apparently worked for other people, but they didn't work, presumably because those fixes are for ANOTHER bug later on in the flashback. (Wow, such stellar programmers you have there.)

So I had to watch the flashback on YouTube, then instead of reading the Elder Scroll, input a few commands in the console that would allow me to skip the flashback and go straight to the boss fight, while still learning the boss' weakness in the process (the entire point of the flashback being to teach you that weakness). Fortunately I was playing the one version of the game (PC) that has the console, but I don't want to imagine a PS3 or 360 player running into the same issue and being completely locked out of finishing the main questline as a result.

Still. A game not working properly and forcing me to watch an important scene on YouTube is something that's never happened to me, and probably will never happen again.

STOP SENDING ME CRAP BELL I HATE YOU.

I've lived in this apartment for a year and a half, and upon moving here I made it a point to permanently throw Bell out of my life forever. I don't want their phones, I don't want their TV, I don't want their internet. Not only do they charge way too goddamn much for their shitty unreliable garbage, but if you have a problem, good luck speaking with someone in the same province as you. Nope, you get redirected to a call center in what I can only assume is India. And guess who has issues understanding people with accents? Yeah, Indian French really isn't the easiest thing to understand for me. So they no longer provide any sort of service for me, and I'm grateful for that.

But they refuse to let go. Every month, without fail, I get mail from them promoting whatever they want to promote at the moment. I don't even open the envelopes anymore before throwing them into my recycling box. And the sad thing is, I can't do anything about it, because they're addressed TO THE PREVIOUS TENANT. I take it he/she also ditched Bell at some point, and that's why they're blissfully unaware that he/she moved away a long time ago. Sure, I can just throw it all away, but it's the principle of the thing that gets to me. They make Overly Attached Girlfriend look like the least clingy thing on the planet. Look, if you've been sending stuff to this address for what's safe to assume is at least two years, and you haven't gotten anything back, LEAVE ME THE FUCK ALONE.

Mega Lati@s stats leaked by Serebii

I don't know how long they've been up, but in case anyone's not aware yet (I sure wasn't), here's the rundown: They suck. They're nothing compared to the Soul Dew, and quite possibly Life Orb and Choiced variants as well.

Mega Latias: +20 attack, +30 defense, +30 special attack, +20 special defense
Mega Latios: +40 attack, +20 defense, +30 special attack, +10 special defense

And they both keep Levitate too. Talk about underwhelming.

Theorymon time: Body Slam Mega Kangaskhan

I was thinking about how we haven't had anything to teach Body Slam since gen 3, when it occurred to me that such a move would, in theory, be a really nice fit on Mega Kangaskhan. Typically, the balance between Return and Body Slam is that you sacrifice one sixth of your damage output for a 30% chance of paralysis. However, on Mega Kangaskhan that chance increases to 51%, and you still lose only one sixth of your damage compared to Return. So I was wondering, why is it so rarely seen on it? Just about nobody used it prior to its ban, and now that it's in ubers Return is still the near-unanimous choice.

There IS an opportunity cost that comes with Body Slam, however, and it's the fact that it's only legal with Early Bird. The benefits of Scrappy are well documented by now, but are they really enough to make up for the lack of paralysis cheese? Besides, the specific quirks of the uber metagame make Early Bird much more desirable than in OU, with the always threatening Darkrai and the lesser presence of the Ghost type. (Edit: Why do I always forget about the Ability Capsule? Probably because its relevance in simulator play is restricted to a handful of extremely niche scenarios. Such as this one.)

Other than being forced into Early Bird, though, there really is nothing else important you can use. All the major moves seen on Kangaskhan are legal with Body Slam. So why is it never used? Is the extra damage that crucial? Or is it just that no one thinks of gen 3 tutors anymore?

Microtransactions: where to draw the line?

So I've been doing some research on Bravely Default, considering I want to get it at some point in the future, and one feature in particular, Sleep Points, got me thinking. Basically, for those who don't know jack all about the game, this is a feature that allows one of your characters to get a free turn in, and is also the only way (at least that I'm aware of) to break the damage limit. You can have at most three Sleep Points at a time, and you obtain them by leaving your game in sleep mode for eight hours apiece (fortunately the leftover time is saved, so if you left your game in sleep mode for 12 hours you'll only need four more to get another point). And considering that there are other benefits to keeping the game in sleep mode, this is something you'll be doing a lot, so those Sleep Points will naturally be coming in.

However, you can also buy SP Drinks for a real-life dollar, which instantly replenish your Sleep Points to full (that's 33 cents apiece). Having not played the game, I don't really have much of a grasp on the finer points of the Brave/Default system, so the value of a free turn, especially with a break-damage-limit trait, may be drastically different, but in any other JRPG, would you really pay real money to get an extra turn on one of your characters? The answer is simple: hell no. Especially not in a game that features free ways to cheat through the content if you want to go down that road (I sure don't), such as the Abilink feature which, to my understanding, lets you use any ability a friend has. In fact, personally, I refuse to pay any kind of extra for content that can be normally accessed through other means. I grew up in the NES era, I think I know how to be patient. If I need to grind, fine, I'll grind, I won't pay a dollar, or even a nickel, to get over a difficulty spike.

With that said, the uproar over SP Drinks got me thinking: is there any way developers can win with microtransactions? Make them too trivial, and you'll come across as a money-grubber. Design your game with them in mind (as in, make progression a painful process unless you're willing to pay, and/or try to make them as visible as possible), and you'll also come across as a money-grubber. While I see the logic in both scenarios, I still hate the former less, because at the end of the day, your wallet is much more likely to come out intact.

It's clear to me, however, that the savage abuse of the microtransaction concept by companies such as EA made gamers far too emotional over the notion itself. There are scenarios where they aren't the almighty evil they're made out to be, but after being exposed to the worst of the worst, and being blatantly told to our faces by certain companies that we're just glorified wallets for them, I feel like the others aren't even being given a fighting chance.

So, where do you stand on this issue? I'm not sure where I stand myself. On one hand, as I said, I refuse to pay more than the cost of the game, and I'm not sure whether it's out of principle, because I'm stingy (you've seen how much I am even with in-game currency for crying out loud), or something else entirely. However, I can understand the appeal in certain, more logical scenarios for them to exist for people that aren't me. Ethics are such fun stuff, huh?

Edit: In the time it took me to write this, a rumor appeared according to which one could level a WoW character to 90 automatically for the low, low price of $60 (according to test server data). WHAT THE FUCK. It's already a game with abusive microtransactions to start with, such as $30 for a faction change, $25 for a race change, or $10 for a name change. Holy shit.

Mega Lucario and Genesect banned, Deoxys-E remains

Can't say I'm surprised by this outcome, either. The percentages, on the other hand... Well, not Mega Lucario's staggering 94% score, in fact I wouldn't have been at all shocked by a unanimous vote. Genesect also barely snags the supermajority needed, with 62%. I thought it'd be closer than that, but hey, thing's evil as all hell to face.

The surprise, however, is Deoxys-E getting a whopping 37% score. Yes, a Pokémon that's not even used enough to be OU still had three voters out of eight wishing to give it the boot. Furthermore, it's commonly accepted that the reason why it paid for itself so well was its synergy with Mega Lucario, and everyone could see that the latter's days were numbered. They were probably thinking that it'd work just as nicely when paired up with top-level sweepers. Will it? We'll see. Still, the fact is that it's hard to pinpoint how it'll go down with Mega Lucario gone, so at least go with the "wait and see" approach. Which may explain the huge number of abstains, which aren't counted in the final tally - because if they were, Deoxys-E would've barely broken 30%.

Also, it's worth noting that the rules changed a bit since last gen. Back then you needed either two straight majorities in a row or one supermajority of 66.6% to get banned, however now a supermajority of 60% is required for a ban, and anything below doesn't count in any way, so scoring 55% four times in a row would still not result in a ban.

Best idea ever or worst idea ever?

One of the most famous phrases in Quebec's political folklore tells us it's not a good idea to have three pairs of hands on the same steering wheel. Well, how about thousands of pairs of hands on a (nonexistent) Game Boy playing Pokémon? I'm amazed it took only two days to get to Cerulean.

Edit: As of this writing, Pokémon Red/Blue is the second most popular game on Twitch, and this stream is the third most popular behind two LoL streams. Which is surprising - they've been on route 9 forever, I'd think there would be much ragequit over the lack of progress.

Edit 2: And not only is it now the most popular stream on Twitch, but in the game department it's not getting totally wiped out by LoL either. I thought for sure it would be the victim of its own popularity, but so far that's not the case.

New game announced: Pokémon Kricketot Chirp

Oh, sorry, this was my reaction at Trozei 2's reveal. Or rather, non-reveal, since we've known this was in the works for a while, it just lacked an official announcement. Which we got today. And I don't care.

We've been teased about the possibility of a Conquest 2 somewhere down the line before, and I'd much rather see that. Or Ranger 4. Or Mystery Dungeon 4 (they still owe us an apology for MD3, remember?). But WOOHOO, here comes Trozei 2 with FOUR-PLAYER CO-OP! New Super Mario Bros. U can go home now!

Explain to me one thing, though: why different titles in Europe and North America? What kind of marketing decision is that? If you're not too savvy about that kind of thing, once the game's out you're going to get confused when you inevitably see the other title on the internet. Did we learn nothing from FF4 and 6? Or SMB2 (both of them)? And that was back when there was no internet, mind you!

Well there goes Diancie.

Any chance this thing had of being good seems to have been thrown out the window, with the reveal that Diancie has Clear Body. It's not THAT much of a surprise, since Carbink has it too, but honestly, are you really interested in a Carbink that has better attack stats and Diamond Storm? I mean, look at Carbink's offensive movepool for crying out loud! Unless there are a lot of additions, I can't see it succeed, really.

What does the Fox say?

Bullshit, as usual.

Then again, Lego originated in Denmark, evil kingdom of darkness suffering under the crushing stranglehold of freely rampaging business-killing, baby-eating liberalism, so why should I be surprised?

Oh my god it's Diancie! I never saw that coming!

Sarcasm aside, I genuinely didn't see it coming this soon. I thought they were going to do the same thing they did with Keldeo and hold on to it for one more year. Then again, Victini was present in the Reshiram/Zekrom movie, and I tend to forget about it because of the Liberty Island launch event (as well as its unusual Pokédex position), so I guess I misjudged everything.

With that said, now that we know Diancie is going to be in the next movie, we can assume Hoopa will be in the one after that, and then Volcanion. So supposing this generation lasts four years, which is a reasonable guess, what's going to be in the last gen 6 movie? A gen 7 Pokémon, perhaps (like Lucario and Zoroark did before)? Or are three-year cycles the new standard for Pokémon? That's a question worth pondering.

Edit: Mega Lati@s, of course. Why'd I forget about it? So if that's the case, gen 6 will probably be four years long again.

No, I'm not planning a comeback.

No one asked yet, but with the impending shitstorm of suck striking the Pokémon LP scene, you can bet someone would have (and probably will anyway). So he who shall not be named decided to do a fifth Pokémon LP (that's going to be only one half less than me once he completes it, mind you), that being XD. But if that wasn't enough, I've heard the Game Grumps took it upon themselves to make him look like Ray Rizzo. I mean, I haven't seen that train wreck myself, but training a Weedle to take on Brock? Please, everyone knows it's BUTTERFREE you take up against Brock, not BEEDRILL. And that's if you take Charmander at the beginning, otherwise there's no problem... guess what starter they picked? Heck, Gamefreak even gave Metal Claw to Charmander just so chumps bad enough to pick it would stand a chance, but nope. Here comes the invincible armada of Weedle, Rattata, Pikachu and Metal Claw-less Charmander! Can you think of a worse four-Pokémon team to fight Brock with?

Bottom line, I'm glad I jumped the hell out of that ship once it started sinking. No sense in trying to keep it afloat against all odds, right? I mean, who am I, that squid from this horrible Titanic animated movie? Screw the scuba gear, screw the submarines, I'm not going back there.

And I thought mega evolution was only a Pokémon thing...

Knuckles @ Knucklesite
Huge Power
- What
- The
- Fuck
- Sega?

I think by this point we've all seen the new designs for the core Sonic cast, and like just about everyone else I have mixed feelings on this. Tails and Amy are perfectly fine, no complaints, so if you thought I was going negative Nancy all the way on you you're going to be disappointed. Sonic would be fine too if not for the disproportionate legs, but I have the same problem everyone else does - Knuckles. Oh my god what a train wreck. Did they think it was aesthetically pleasing or something?

I can sort of understand giving the whole franchise a makeover, it hasn't had a huge update on that front since Sonic Adventure, which was 15 years ago (yep, way to make myself feel old), but I'm sorry, but this new Knuckles is an eyesore. Granted, his usual design didn't do his physical strength justice, but I'm sure there are many other ways this could've been highlighted better. With that in mind, I'm not going to go all "childhood destroyed" like your average internet moron. Nothing's going to take away S3&K, the Adventure games, Heroes, and so on. I'm just saying I don't like this design. No exaggeration, no hyperbole. One thing I'd like everyone to remember, though, is that the last two times they tried giving a character a makeover (Rouge in Heroes, Eggman in 2006), the end results were just as terrible, but they didn't last very long either. Fingers crossed.

One thing that really threw me for a loop, though, is that I've seen people complaining about Shadow and Rouge being nowhere to be found. Seriously? Of all the characters that people would miss? SHADOW AND ROUGE? Shadow brought an element of angst that simply never had its place in a series like Sonic (and I guess we can also attribute him the paternity of the endless wave of fan recolors), and Rouge brought out the absolute worst of the most disturbing fanbase in gaming, if not all of fiction altogether. Besides, it's not like they've been very active lately. They both missed out on Unleashed and Colors, before having minor cameos in Generations, then not appearing in Lost World. After 2006 they were relegated to filler characters in minor games, which by all means should be their place forever. And only now do people really complain. Sonic fans, I swear...

Thank you for your cooperation!

You guys are awesome, you know that? I ask for five of the rarest, most coveted Pokémon in the game, and I don't even need an hour to have just about everything covered.

Special thanks to charizardoreo, Johnathan Cochran, ShadianVise and Sullivan Conner for graciously trading me these Pokémon. (Sullivan's trade hasn't taken place yet, but it's first come first serve, and there's really no rush as far as I'm concerned.)

Seeking five event legendaries

Well, turns out the GTS won't take event legendaries at all, even if they don't have a Classic Ribbon, which means my plan to get the five I'm still missing is out the window. Looks like I'll be doing it the old-fashioned way then!

If you have Mew, Deoxys, Keldeo, Meloetta or Genesect (preferably spares of them, of course) and are willing to part with them in exchange for something I have, I'm all ears! I don't care about natures or whatever, it's just for my collection. Here's some stuff I have that might (MIGHT) be worth that:

- An Arceus (Gentle nature, sadly, but it's still a fucking Arceus!)
- A Liberty Island Victini (Rash nature... I knew I should've been more picky...)
- A Darkrai (Lax nature, for you physically defensive Darkrai fans)
- The movie 13 shiny legendary dog trio (still the only way to obtain many moves on them, including Flare Blitz Entei and Extreme Speed on all three, also natures are fixed) (RAIKOU IS ALREADY TAKEN)

Other stuff I'm willing to part with, just in case (not expecting a one-for-one trade for these though):

- Movie 12 shiny Pichu, Jolly nature
- The fabled Ranger 3 Eruption Heatran with its fixed Quiet nature
- An event Mewtwo from February 2012, with a Bold nature and Psystrike despite being level 70
- Random shinies: two one Meditites, a Geodude, a Stunky
- Random legendaries: two Articunos, a Mewtwo (not the one from above), the Regi trio, a Calm Reshiram

I can also add Pokérus to any of them if you still don't have it yet for some reason.

Tropical Freeze eargasm

With DKC5's release right around the corner, we get to see and hear more of all kinds of media for the game. And just like its predecessor, it features many remixes of songs from the SNES trilogy, such as these. And here's a closer look at the brand new Aquatic Ambience, for your hearing pleasure. (Yep, swimming levels make a return, after being completely absent from DKC4.) I'm really hoping to see Mining Melancholy get remixed. Can you humor me just this once, Retro?

January stats: Welcome your new Charizard overlords

Yep, we got our first batch of post-Bank usage stats, and what immediately jumps at one's eyes is CHARIZARD AT NUMBER SIX. The scary thing is, BOTH of its mega evolutions can be credited for that massive leap. Mega Charizard X is often mentioned as a nightmare to face, what with its STABbed, Tough Claws-boosted Flare Blitz and Outrage, but its Y counterpart is actually slightly more popular. And I can't blame anyone using it, either. STAB Drought-boosted Flamethrower/Fire Blast, STAB Air Slash, and Drought-boosted Solar Beam off this ginormous special attack stat? Why the heck not? So instead of putting up with a crappy Pokémon without even knowing it, the little kiddies get a choice between two nigh unstoppable forces. Wonderful.

Any good strategies for the Battle Institute?

I'm missing the achievements for getting 6000 and 6500 points, and I'd like to go after them, but the problem is, I don't know any decently reliable way of getting that. Does anyone have any ideas? Even 6000 is an extremely high score, so imagine 6500... I've heard it's much easier in doubles, so if you have anything for that, I'm not going to be picky. The only guy I've seen that actually gives out a team during a quick Google search said Garchomp, Noivern, Talonflame and Greninja, but no specifics other than that.

And no, Durant doesn't work here, because the longer the fight drags on, the less points you get.

The quest for Nita: The aftermath

Since I had nothing better to do, I decided to push on and see how far I could take my winning streak in the Battle Maison after taking out Nita. Oddly enough, near-misses were much less frequent after Nita than before, and I saw a lot less legendaries than in the six or so battles right before her as well.

The first occurence of things going wrong, at battle 69 (hur hur its funneh cuz its a secks thang), would also be the last, with a Protect-loving Tauros in the lead. Of course, this meant I couldn't land Entrainment, so I had to send Heracross to clean up. Durant was quite damaged, and as a result I was hoping for a Pokémon that was bad with special attacks.

What I got was a Latios.

My only chance at this point was to click Pin Missile, hoping that Heracross could tank the incoming Psychic with its improved defenses and perfect IVs. Of course, that didn't happen, so in desperation I sent out Durant to X-Scissor it. It did about 75%, which wasn't enough, and Durant got obliterated, which meant the end of my streak, since Blaziken didn't have anything to deal damage.

So that's how it ended, sadly. I was hoping the final fight would be a little more epic at least, not like... this.