Tag Archives: pokemon

Well, this basically encompasses most of my own thoughts

Well, Gametrailers has finally come out with the review of the recent Pokémon game.  I can’t say that I disagree with their sentiments at all.

While this series is rather solid and effective at performing the tasks that it sets out to accomplish, the games are fundamentally hurt by the repetitive tasks.  This series has never required much thought, you might as well turn off your mind while playing the game.  There is no real challenge unless you are going against another live player.  This has been true since the first game that came out.  The games also need to branch out in more ways than just adding new moves and creatures to collect, seriously.

If GameFreaks can follow through and actually innovate in this series with the next installment, I’ll be floored.  For now, I shall continue to tell everyone these two facts: you can survive the game by hitting a total of five buttons (up, down, left, right, a); and that if you’ve played one pokémon game, you’ve played them all.

Despite my harsh words, these games are not horrid.  They just need to reinvent themselves.  I also have not explored all the side-games that are related to this series.  However, I cannot honestly considered the spin-offs to be innovation for the actual series.

Confessions of a cheater.

First and foremost, I wish to admit that I have used Action Replays, Game Genies, and all that thorough my gaming lifetime.  If you are the type of person who thinks that the fact that I’ve cheated to get rid of those annoying headaches of grinds or just annoying games, well…  Sorry?

Anyway, I wish to speak of this subject for a moment and bring up the reasons why people like I cheat.  Whether or not you agree with my reasons, so that is your call.  Just remember: I am not ruining your game.

Oh, before I get any further, I want to make one thing clear.  I have a personal etiquette.  I don’t cheat on multiplayer games, even I can tell you that is no fun.  I only cheat against the AIs in games.  I also do minimal cheating in general, so in general, you’ll find that I have completed games honestly.

Now, here’s my main reason for cheating, this little game called Pokémon.  This game alone makes me cheat like crazy, and I will tell you why.  First and foremost: I beat this game when I was in 10th grade.  I know, the name and some functions have changed, but admit it, the game is the same.  You’ve played one pokémon game, so you’ve played them all.  The only real difference between the games is the critters that you can catch.  The mechanics have been tweaked only slightly, so none of the “impovements” change my statement.

Second, I was 16 when the first Pokémon came out, I am now much older.  So, I just don’t find it right to go walking around looking for kids to trade pokémon with.  So, I have gone to various legnths to try to get all the critters.  In the GBA days, I had multiple GBAs and a GBA Player for my Gamecube.  I also had the Pokémon Box.  So, I simply bought two cartridges and tried to get as many of the guys all on my own.  However, this is a very tedious process.  Hence, I turned to the action replay to make my life easier there.  I boosted experience so that I could get through the game a bit faster on one cartridge and so on to try to complete my deck.  I never really achieved much though because I quickly became bored.

Once the DS editions came out, I found that I did not have the desire nor funds to get multiple editions of a DS, let alone the game.  Also, I determined that the DS doesn’t support the type of security I put on my wireless network.  While I could turn the security on and off, this would also require reconfiguring about 10 parts of my network each time.  That is simply a waste of time and effort to occasionally go online with my DS.  I’ve tried the Nintendo WiFi adapter as well.  Let’s just say that I was never successful and leave it at that.

So, instead, I hunted down encounter codes.  Oh, not to mention, Nintendo in their kindness made things harder on the fan that doesn’t want to make their life center around this game.  If I wanted the event pokémon legitly, I would have to stop caring about nearly all other games and keep tabs on when and where to go to get these things.  I have a life, so I just don’t find that to be a very worthwhile endeavor.  Hence, the encounter code became my friend.  With that code alone, I was able to fill up my deck with fully customizable critters without giving myself a huge headache.

So, will I cheat at Pokémon games?  Most definitely.  I feel no remorse at all.

Note, I have also cheated on other games like GTA and Fallout 3.  Sometimes, I just want to play the game or mess around.  The developers put in cheats in these games, so I am just having fun in a way that they approve.  Anyway, I wanted the tank to blow up people!  If I have five tanks, even better.

On my final remarks, I want to remind anyone reading this that most games that I’ve played involved no cheating with the exception of guides.  Even then, I try to go in blindly first then turn to the guide after my butt has been kicked.  In the end, no matter what your morals are on this issue, have fun with games.

Now, for the reason I put up this article.  The encounter codes are out, and I’m going to abuse them!

here AR codes – Pokemon SoulSilver Version Message Board for DS – GameFAQs.

Mini-review: Piece of junk peripheral.

Well, I come today to speak of an annoyance that I originally thought may possibly have some potential: the pokéwalker.

pokewalker

This tool, which I originally thought was a potentially useful item has turned out to be nothing more than a hassle.  Here is the premise that it was sold to me on (granted, I didn’t do full research at any point): that this device would be useful in power-leveling pokémon due to the fact that the counter could be tricked (I will get back on that).   Now, here is the reality: this device should never be used for leveling pokémon, ever.  Not unless you don’t plan on using them.   For starters, you can only level a pokémon a single level per walk.  Second, if the said pokémon does level, it does not queue you on the additional abilities that you should have access to.  Instead, you lose the chance to learn those abilities all together.  So, this is the worst way to level an effective pokémon.

Now, this device can be easily tricked.  I’ve been able to trick it into thinking that hundreds to thousands of steps have been taken by some rather simple tricks.  First: simply wave your hand up and down.  This will get the device to think you are taking steps.  Thus, you can get it to gain watts just by sitting at your desk or on your couch.  Next, I’ve had the thing clipped to my bag and then simply drove on shaky road.  That alone gave the device enough jults that it awarded me 30 watts.  Quick math here, but that is 750 “steps” for a 10 minute drive.  Hence, I can see very few people taking the cue to walk around as this device is supposed to convince a person to do.

Now, there is one useful thing that this device does provide.  There is a mini-game in which a person can catch wild pokémon.  This single mini-game alone makes up for the pathetically limiting leveling scheme that is implemented (though in retrospective, given that the device has a person miss out on evolution and move choices, I suppose that the one level limit is good).  In general, catching a wild pokémon on this device is rather simple: get ten watts, pick the mini-game, click on the bushes with !s, weaken the pokémon, then catch it.  Of course, each path only has about 6 choices of wild encounters, so it is rather limiting there as well.

All I can say is that I am glad that I didn’t have to pay extra money for this peripheral.  It simply would not be worth it if it did not come packaged with the game.  Now, I can provide thoughts on the game; however, for fairness, I should wait until I’ve messed around enough to unlock all the game-play choices.

Reference: Pokémon Heart Gold & Soul Silver – PokéWalker.