i don't like any of the starters tbh

region looks nice though

- for the past seven generations, i've always coincidentally chosen the latter game in the pairing (blue, silver, sapphire, pearl, white, Y, and moon), but because i enjoy the sword motif more, there's a chance that i'll actually end up breaking this pattern and picking the former game in the pair instead—however, i'd also rather my choice be informed by the exclusives in each game, so i may end up picking shield in the end, but sword is what i'm currently leaning on

- the starters are all bad, but i've pretty much made my decision on which one i'll be picking—it's common for me to choose the grass-type, but because i'm sick and tired of monkey-based 'mons, and grookey seems to just be a pansage 2.0, that leaves me somewhere between sobble and scorbunny (both of those names are awful)—and between those two, i think i'll wind up choosing scorbunny, mostly because i've only ever chosen the fire-type in one other generation, and also because i have this feeling in my gut that he's going to evolve into something cool—so, flame chungus it is

- i'm kinda disappointed that they seem to be going back to the old formula, since gen 7 dared to dive into some uncommon territory, but i can't say it doesn't make sense—i just wish i could be more excited than i currently am

- since the switch allows for multiple accounts, as any modern console should, this should be the first (real) games in the series that will allow us to have multiple saves, which is a big deal for me and something i've always wanted ever since i became a fan

since we're going back to gyms, though, here's a mildly interesting chart:

Water    |||||
Electric |||||
Rock     ||||
Grass    ||||
Normal   ||||
Fighting ||||
Ice      ||||
Psychic  |||
Fire     |||
Flying   |||
Bug      |||
Poison   ||
Ground   ||
Ghost    ||
Steel    ||
Dragon   ||
Various  |
Fairy    |

this illustrates type representation for every gym in the first six generations

i don't wanna see ANY electric-type gyms or water-type gyms in this game unless they do something very special

all the bandages on scorbunny are making me think it's gonna be another fire/fighting-type

which would be HILARIOUS

Think we will be able to change our character's outfit?

I hope so, I don't like the male trainer's hat, or the fact that his jeans don't cover his ankles. Might actually go with the girl this time if we can't change clothes.

absolutely guaranteed

most people who care about that sort of thing go with the girl anyway since she always has more clothing options

Was bored

I'm leaning towards Sobble, but, as always, I'm gonna wait until the final evolutions are revealed before I choose.

i'm always conflicted about stuff like this, because on one hand, i'm obviously gonna do the same thing

but i also have this desire to play the games totally blind and try to recapture how i felt playing these games as a kid, knowing absolutely nothing, and having a genuine surprise not only what my team evolves into, but when they evolve and all that jazz

but the internet makes it super hard to go into anything blind these days

Going in blind is cool and all but half the time these Pokemon evolve into incredibly lame creatures (I'm looking at you, Chestnaut).

i know it's not exactly relevant but i finally bought ultra moon

i havent played pokemon since moon in 2016 and it feels good to play again

nice

enjoy, gen 7 gets a bad rap for pretty dumb reasons imo

like?

slow pace, abundance of tutorials, low exploration (not that pokémon ever had great exploration anyway)

I've been playing through Gold on the 3DS. I accidentally deleted my Spinarak's Poison Sting instead of another move and now she's useless for the time being. I keep her in my team out of pity at this point.

I've been playing through Gold on the 3DS. I accidentally deleted my Spinarak's Poison Sting instead of another move and now she's useless for the time being. I keep her in my team out of pity at this point.

it'll learn another thing soon enough

i wish i could say she'll become a beast later but lmao ariados sucks unfortunately

better than ledian at least, who i always keep on my gen 2 team in spite of that

last night i beat the first grand trial, wasnt too much of a hassle but it wasnt a cakewalk which is good ig

also, the battle music for those ultra robot people is great