Glen-i

And Eeveelutions! Seriously, they make up a lot more than you'd expect. It's mostly Gen 1. But boy, if you ever wanted a Venomoth or Zubat plushie, than this is the place for you!

Yeah, it was ridiculous. Makes me glad that I got to go one day before it opened. Temper your expectations though, the plushies in particular really lack diversity there.

GP1 GP2 Thanks to @BowserBasher for getting the results to me. It's always hard to maintain a high average on your second night. It just takes one unlucky streak. Anyway! Next League Night: 24th October 8pm Room 1: @BowserBasher is host @Glen-i @BowserBasher @viceview51 @martinist @RedShell Player's Choice will be one week early this month. If I need to tell you why, perhaps you should go to a nice hotel and think about it. Sign up Now!

So, BoJo sent that extension letter. Unsigned, and with another letter basically saying "I don't actually want an extension." He's like a bloody child!

Bam! There it is!

Speaking of inevitable Jimquisitions, some US senators have written a letter urging Blizzard to reconsider their stance on that protestor they banned from competitive gaming events. You know you eff'd up when you have US politicians from both Democrats and Republicans writing to you.

There's no denying that the Dragon Ball anime is much more edgy and action packed than Dragon Quest is (Well, at least from Z onward, let's face it, that was the one that made it popular over in the west) Toriyama's designs lend themselves really well to 2D animations, so a lot of the audience can look past any goofiness that happens because it provides a nice contrast to the action scenes. Dragon Quest is like, 80% silliness and puns. Also, Dragon Ball is not a video game series (No matter how much Smash fans asking for Goku would tell you otherwise), so while there may be some overlap in the audience, it's not just gamers who like Dragon Ball, but I can guarantee pretty much every fan of Dragon Quest is a gamer.

I guess it wouldn't just be the cartoony graphics, but the actual monster designs themselves. When your evil, threatening monsters look something like this... ...and have punny names like the above "Night Clubber", it can be hard to sell to people who want their RPG's more serious. The sad truth is that the majority of older gamers want their games to be as realistic and serious as possible. Anything that really shows its Japanese silliness are bound to be hurt by it in the sales department once it gets released over here. Of course, that brings us to Pokémon, which is cartoony and turn-based. Against all odds, it still sells gangbusters. I can never pinpoint why, because I like silly, goofy, turn-based RPG's so I'm clearly in the minority. (Who's looking forward to Tokyo Mirage Sessions Encore? I sure am!) But if I had to guess, a big part of the appeal is how much the Pokémon themselves become a personal aspect of the game. It sounds melodramatic, but people get really attached to their favourite Pokémon. Probably because most people play their first Pokémon game during their childhood, and let's face it, when you're a kid, you're bound to find one Pokémon that you'd wish you had as a pet. Nicknaming them, customising their moveset to how you like and so on helps to make your random Sandile feel like your own special Sandile. And the sheer marketability of Pokémon certainly helps. I can tell you that I definitely did not just buy a Greninja plushie when I went to the London Pokémon Centre preview event yesterday. Other RPG's just don't have that going for them, and if they try to go for the monster-collecting aspect... well, just look at Digimon. That's actually one of the more successful Pokémon style RPG's and it's still leagues below Pikachu and pals. (BTW, I just want to point out how much I love the monster design Toriyama pulls off in Dragon Quest, they are almost consistently more interesting than his human characters)

OK, fine. Fair point. Then I have no clue why Dragon Quest struggles so much.

Turn based RPG's that aren't Pokémon are just not mainstream enough to break into that market in a successful way. Which is a massive shame. But yeah, cartoony graphics certainly did not help in that regard as well. Which is stupid, beause it's a gorgeous game, even on Switch.

Typical gamer outrage about a game having less blatant fanservice and swimsuits. I've already made my views clear.

Just a heads up that I'll have to finish at 11.

Wow! What an amazing match! @S.C.G That couldn't be any closer. It was so amazing it broke the game!

Room's open now.

Done, shall I wait until 4 people are in the room before choosing it?

I should be able to partake in post MK Smash tonight at 9:15pm. Not a guarantee I'll be ready in time, so it might be a bit later. Stamina was last week, so it'll be time this week.

Oh right, yeah, almost forgot. I'm busy today, so @BowserBasher, if you could get the results of each GP (and all 4 battle mode matches) for me please. Best take a snapshot of each race as well, in case of disconnection. Have fun.

Nope, I like Pokémon too much. Let's GO is no doubt the reason Sword/Shield has a forced EXP Share, and the even lower diffculty that will come about from it will no doubt affect my enjoyment of Sword/Shield. So in other words, I'll stop complaining about it when it stops having an impact on Pokémon games I play.

Until someone is able to prove that I have Let's GO on my Switch play history. As of now, you can't, because I don't.

I have no idea if it's tradable. Don't see why not. Tell you what, I'll cut you a deal. @Dcubed has an unopened physical copy of Let's GO Pikachu. I'll be open to sullying my Switch Play History to start a save file and get one for you if it can be traded. In return, if anyone tries to pull the "But Glen, I thought you hated Let's GO, why is it on your play history?" argument, you have to respond to my eventual mention and explain why that is. Deal?

Well, yeah. It's a Weedle. It's Bug/Poison.

Yeah, sorry @RedShell for being unclear. @MindFreak explained it perfectly.

Oh, there's certainly no denying that. I already miss Mega Evolutions. BTW, if anyone is worried that they'll miss out on getting the OP Pikachu or Eevee from Let's GO, don't be, it won't be the same Pokémon, you'll just get a Pikachu/Eevee for having save data on your Switch. It's gonna be a seperate Pikachu/Eevee that can use the Gigantamax form. Competitively speaking, they'll be next to useless, because if you want to evolve any of them, you'll lose that form, and Pikachu and Eevee (and Meowth) have rubbish stats, so you'd be better off Gigantamaxing something else. Can I just point how Charizard now officially has 4 forms! For once, the people who complain that "Pokémon is turning into Digimon" actually might be right.

Gigantamax only applies to a small number of Pokémon. Only the Pikachu/Eevee for Let's GO will be able to change form. Other Pikachu/Eevee will just look the same as they normally do, only bigger and not get the special move. You're thinking of Dynamax, which any Pokémon can use, but they don't change their appearance. Simply put, why bother Dynamaxing your crappy normal Pokémon when you'd be better off Gigantamaxing a Charizard instead and get a way better attack? The whole system just screams imbalanced towards a handful of Pokémon (Mostly Gen 1, because of course they bloody are) that you'll no doubt see everywhere online. Mega Evolution was a way more elegant version of this, basically. But that's not in this game anymore.

What, now? Infatuation has been a status condition since 1999, that ship has long sailed!