Pokemon Trainers

[Osterzone]

Yeah, I may be taking a chance at admitting something embarrassing here, but I am a big Pokemon fan. I still train and battle regularly. I figured since Alteil is also a game of collecting and strategy (and yes, there is plenty of strategy in Pokemon) some people here might also be into it.

[Kyrie]

I also am a Pokemon Trainer, albeit a very casual one.

[DanTheTimid]

I played pokemon since the blue/red and I've owned atleast one color of every portable main-series pokemon game thats been released to date. That said, now adays I can't seem to get into pokemon as much as I used to. Part of the magic is gone, the game really hasn't improved much since the old days and flaws I used to be willing to over look just annoy me too much. The biggest fun killer for me though is that whenever I'd find people in my area that play I'd find out they had hacked their pokemon in some way or traded for a hacked pokemon online. Whats the point of going through all the trouble of training and raising your pokemon when the average person either cheats or will just assume you cheat if your pokemon is good.

This wouldn't be as big an issue if pokemon was a story rich rpg, but its not, its built more like an MMORPG then it is a traditional single player rpg with light story, lots of freedom, and the ultimate goal not of completing the story but of training powerful creatures you can show off in multiplayer matches. Unless they make a pokemon game that stores your data on their servers (preferably a set up like guild wars has no monthly fee) instead of on your game cheating will always be prevalent and there will continue to be little motivation to actually play the game.

[GunCastor]

I used to play the card game but I just quit after school started to take more of my time. I'll probably still get the next generation of the DS game but I usually stop playing after I beat the E4 and catch all the ledgendaries.

[Grain]

This wouldn't be as big an issue if pokemon was a story rich rpg,

Few look into the world of pokemon very closely.

No education seems to be needed after grade 6. 10 year olds are permitted to live by themselves, and it isn't uncommon to see them traversing through forests, deserts, caves, and other generally dangerous areas completely alone. Despite the high level of technology, there seems to be no high government throughout the regions. Towns govern themselves individually, all the nurses & police officers are related, and people of all regions seem to speak the same language (all pokemon are also able to understand this language).

People devote their entire lives to pokemon. Ten year olds dream of capturing pokemon and training them to battle each other to the point of unconsciousness. Pokemon battles & contests are professional sport. Several evil masterminds have attempted to conquer the world using extremely powerful pokemon.

Children are sent out to capture wild beasts will extraordinary powers. These animals would cetainly be able to dominate mankind if not for their low intelligence. Most rare pokemon, such as Celebi, and some not-so rare, such as Tentacruel, are completely capable of destroying entire cities. Ho-oh is able to resurrect the dead. The existence of humanity seems to be at the mercy of these terrible creatures. A small number of pokemon, such as Team Rocket's Meowth, have proven that Pokemon are capable of developing a level of intelligence on par with humans. Humanity's only protection seems to be the pokemon trainers, breeders, and scientiests who have discovered ways of manipulating these monsters.

Makes ya think, huh?

[Osterzone]

When you lay it all out like that, yeah, it does sound a little creepy. They kind of talk about the same thing on this pokemon podcast I listen to called WTPT (The Pokemon Times). They also go into the back story and legends of the world on certain episodes.

So there is actually an RPGish storyline to the games, but you have to do work inside and outside of the games to figure it out.

[MeleeNewb]

Up until D/P I had been seriously into competitive battling online (anyone else play on netbattle?). However I never really made the switch to D/P. The same thing happened to me when R/S came out and I didn't feel like learning all the new strategies coming over from G/S/C, but this time I think it's pretty much quits for me. I still play a bit, but I have other things (alteil and go) which I like spending my free time on.

[DanTheTimid]

Not to hi-jack this pokemon thread but...

I still play a bit, but I have other things (alteil and go) which I like spending my free time on.

Go!? As in iGo, the board game with white and black stones that even computers can't play well or beat the best human players at do to the depth of strategy and vast number of potential moves involved? Back when Hikaru-no-Go first came out in Japan I got really into Go and was playing it all the time, never was very good (had a record of like 45-100 on pogo or yahoo or wherever it was I used to play online) but was definitely a fun and addictive game. Haven't played it online in forever but every once in a blue moon I'll talk my girlfriend into playing me, I try to play easy on her but my own rusti-ness with the game usually leads me into going all out to avoid embarassment lol. I've looked for local go clubs but never found one that was still active. Where do you play?

[MeleeNewb]

Not to hi-jack this pokemon thread but...

I still play a bit, but I have other things (alteil and go) which I like spending my free time on.

Go!? As in iGo, the board game with white and black stones that even computers can't play well or beat the best human players at do to the depth of strategy and vast number of potential moves involved? Back when Hikaru-no-Go first came out in Japan I got really into Go and was playing it all the time, never was very good (had a record of like 45-100 on pogo or yahoo or wherever it was I used to play online) but was definitely a fun and addictive game. Haven't played it online in forever but every once in a blue moon I'll talk my girlfriend into playing me, I try to play easy on her but my own rusti-ness with the game usually leads me into going all out to avoid embarassment lol. I've looked for local go clubs but never found one that was still active. Where do you play?

Yes, that would be the go I was talking about (also known as baduk, igo, weiqi). I play on kgs mostly, sometimes on cyberoro (a korean server) or igs if I'm bored. Never play on yahoo, it is terrible! I started on yahoo and, like almost everyone, had terrible experiences with cheaters and a poor interface. As for local go clubs, I'm sure you can find one somewhere. When I lived in Alabama I had to drive 2 hours, but there was still one that met. You could also start one as well. Here in LA there's a crazy (relatively) amount of go, and I regularly go to 2 different clubs. Anyways, I'd be glad to play you sometime, I am currently 2 dan kgs.

And now back to your regularly scheduled thread.

Venusaur RULES!

[Illyasviel]

This wouldn't be as big an issue if pokemon was a story rich rpg,

Few look into the world of pokemon very closely.

No education seems to be needed after grade 6. 10 year olds are permitted to live by themselves, and it isn't uncommon to see them traversing through forests, deserts, caves, and other generally dangerous areas completely alone. Despite the high level of technology, there seems to be no high government throughout the regions. Towns govern themselves individually, all the nurses & police officers are related, and people of all regions seem to speak the same language (all pokemon are also able to understand this language).

People devote their entire lives to pokemon. Ten year olds dream of capturing pokemon and training them to battle each other to the point of unconsciousness. Pokemon battles & contests are professional sport. Several evil masterminds have attempted to conquer the world using extremely powerful pokemon.

Children are sent out to capture wild beasts will extraordinary powers. These animals would cetainly be able to dominate mankind if not for their low intelligence. Most rare pokemon, such as Celebi, and some not-so rare, such as Tentacruel, are completely capable of destroying entire cities. Ho-oh is able to resurrect the dead. The existence of humanity seems to be at the mercy of these terrible creatures. A small number of pokemon, such as Team Rocket's Meowth, have proven that Pokemon are capable of developing a level of intelligence on par with humans. Humanity's only protection seems to be the pokemon trainers, breeders, and scientiests who have discovered ways of manipulating these monsters.

Makes ya think, huh?

You forgot to mention that despite the technological sophistication, a simple bike costs an approximate equivalent of $100,000.00. When you aren't given it for free. As well, people's sense of privacy has eroded to nothing, because everyone seems perfectly at ease when you walk into their home and look at all their stuff. Also, if PokeMon can be converted to energy and beamed across vast distances, or even held in stasis, why can't anything else? A simple construction girder is a lot less complex than a living breathing Pikachu, yet a small sphere is capable of converting the Pikachu to energy, while retaining all of it's experience, knowledge and memories.
-Going to stop here before I transit into a different Poke rant not suited for this forum...-

And for what it's worth, I like Steel-types.