Glen-i

Fast travel microtransactions is definitely a new one to me. This is precisely why Baldur's Gate 3 is so well received. But no, can't be copying the huge hit if it means not nickel and dime'ing the customer! That'd be silly!

Gonna have to stop you there, mate. But there is a point to this. Well, was. These days, it definitely is only a thing because it's become symbolic of the show. Back before Jeopardy was first broadcast in America, quiz shows there had become embroiled in a number of scandals of rigging. Contestants that were deemed popular were routinely given the answers to questions to ensure they win and return in future episodes. The most notorious examples were "21" and "Dotto". So when Merv and Julann Griffin pitched their idea to broadcasters, they suggested they reverse the format and give contestants the answer and have them provide the question. Yeah, I know. That idea wouldn't stop potential for rigging, really. But it did convince viewers that there wasn't anything of the sort in this show. (Probably helps that Jeopardy wasn't rigged, mind) Safe to say, it saved American Quiz Shows.

Don't mistake me. Good mingames are needed. Otherwise, you get Mario Party 1.

Absolutely, the only thing I'll say is that once you get to the tavern, you can use it to create the other three members of your party. You would not believe the amount of times I've seen people overlook this and play through most of the game with one character.

You know that mingames alone do not a good Mario Party make. Also, Advance doesn't count, and I'd still rather play 8 then 4.

Wow, how can someone be so incredibly wrong!? The mushroom system in that game is god awful! They're all you ever get and when you can't use the double dice one because it makes you skip the star space, that's how you know it sucks. It also goes at a snail's pace, and the boards aren't very interesting. It's the lamest Mario Party.

There is a win condition for each stage. Don't expect to reach it at the start, though. And yeah, the unlocks are basically what people consider the main meat of 100%-ing the game.

Well, yeah. The mindset goes from "How the hell do I survive!?" to "What do I need to make the framerate go as low as possible?"

Actually, I think this is my preferred solution. I like stages where some characters might have an inherent advantage, it can make the random character choice feel a bit more dynamic. In this case, having a "Safe Zone" for when someone gets a Final Smash or an item that is immensely powerful, but temporary, like the hammer, to escape to, is fine by me. But you do need a Gentleman's Agreement to not bring the pace of the match to an absolute halt by exploiting it.

Oh cool, I'm not the only one then. And I don't even have a backlog anymore! You know, except for games that I'm waiting for a sale on. For me, it's just the increasingly diminishing returns on more powerful hardware. Visually speaking, generational leaps just no longer impress me. And let's face it, stronger hardware won't fix problems like frame rate, because they'll just use said stronger hardware for graphical upgrades, and games will run just as well as they do now.

I mean, that's fair. It was quite sudden.

Free DLC is coming April 4th. New characters, new modes, online co-op, and a VS mode, among other smaller things. Online co-op is very much the thing that excites me the most. Probably time I jumped on once April comes around.

Stamina matches tonight from 7:30pm.

The second, Japanese only one is very, very good. Naturally, I had to play a fan translation, but it was great.

A pity, but that's the best way to handle it, at least. @Julius says it's crazy to think this is only 6 weeks ago. Not for me, I've been going mad from the wait, I have nothing on my Switch backlog now, so this is the next big game for me.

Only place where you can use all three main console controllers. Seems the most appropriate place to me.

I think I have an inkling on what one you're talking about (Don't tell me, I'll make it clear which one I think it is when we get to it) and if I'm right, then we're not friends anymore. Because I think it's the single biggest improvement evolution has ever given a starter Pokémon.

The thing has hair. Hair, for Christ's sake! It's also a total jobber. Charizard, for Christ's sake! If it was Blaziken, then I could buy that, Greninja's weak to Fighting and Blaziken is super OP! But Charizard? Come on! Quite frankly, you should be insulted by this thing co-opting your name, not at me.

Generation 6, or X and Y, are set in Kalos. Kalos takes it's inspiration from France and this generation marks the jump to full 3D for the mainline games. Well, unless you count Colosseum, which doesn't really have the same structure as most Pokémon games, so... Anyway, Kalos is the region that the recently revealed "Pokémon Legends Z-A" will take place in, so you'll almost certainly see these Pokémon somewhere there. And they might not be completely overshadowed by the game giving you a Gen 1 starter with a Mega Evolution. Gen 5 flopping in comparison to previous games really spooked Game Freak. Gen 6 is a far cry from "No old Pokémon until the credits". Now there are so many Gen 1 Pokémon, I'd swear we were in Kanto. Bet you can't remember most of the Kalos based Pokémon. I don't blame you. Here are 9 of them. According to the Pokédex, you can hit Chespin (CHESS-pin) with a truck and it wouldn't hurt it a bit. Chespin's base Defense is 65, so I'm calling BS on that claim. Chespin struggles at the start of the game, the first gym is Bug, and while the second gym is rock, both of the Gym Leader's Pokémon have secondary types that make Chespin's life difficult. Chespin is also in the fourth Smash game, and in Smash Ultimate, as a Pokémon that appears from the Poké Ball item. It stands in one spot and periodically uses Seed Bomb. The range is rubbish, but it's very powerful. Smart people will stay clear when it shows up. Quilladin (QUILL-uh-din) is in the running for most awkward looking middle evolution Pokémon. It's not pretty. I honestly believe it's the main reason why this starter line is the least popular of Gen 6. Absolutely no proof of that, by the way. Just a gut feeling. Chesnaught (CHESS-nawt) is the starter Pokémon that kicks off the modern trend of the final evolution of starter Pokémon having a theme. The starter Pokémon in Gen 6 each represent a traditional RPG class. Chesnaught is the Knight of the group, and it's Grass/Fighting. It's arms have this neat little trick where they morph into a shield. Can't find a decent screenshot, but that's how it looks. From now on, almost every starter Pokémon has a signature move that's unique to them, at least in the generation they debut in. Chesnaught's is "Spiky Shield". It's basically an improved version of the move "Protect" that damages the opponent if they happen to use a physical contact move on Chesnaught when it uses the move. But how is Chesnaught in general? Actually, one of the better Grass starters in the series. It's an excellent physical tank, with access to some good utility moves. Fighting is always a solid secondary type to have, even with the newly introduced Fairy type running around. Fennekin (FEN-ik-in) has a serious ear hair problem. And also is mediocre in the early game. Good against one gym, bad against the other. Fennekin is also in the two latest Smash Bros games as another Poké Ball Pokemon. It basically just does what every annoying Ness main does and spam PK Fire. OK, it's supposed to be the move Incinerate, but it functions like PK Fire in Smash. So... Braixen... (BRAKE-sen) This middle evolution is strange. It's the third, and last, middle evolution that is more popular then the final evolution. But unlike Ivysaur and Grovyle, Braixen isn't popular because of a game outside of the mainline series, Braixen is popular because it's evolution is definitively unpopular! It's so unpopular that when Pokkén was released for WiiU, Braixen was a playable character in that instead of that final evolution. I have never seen the general reception of a starter Pokémon turn sour as much as when Braixen evolves into Delphox (DELL-fox). Which is strange, because this one finally breaks the pattern of Fire Starters by being Fire/Psychic this time. I'm not even sure why it's so universally derived, it seems fine to me as a concept. That concept is mage, by the way. In case it wasn't obvious from the artwork. Delphox's signature move is "Mystical Fire" a Fire attack of average strength that also lowers the opponent's Special Attack. It's OK. Delphox is not terrible by any means, but it's not great. It's just outclassed by pretty much every other Fire starter in existence, and it's certainly the least good starter for Gen 6. The fact that Delphox is the worst Fire starter ever kinda goes to show just how universally good fire starters are. Man, a Pokémon game that has the starter lineup of Chikorita, Fennekin, and Piplup would suck. Well, actually, not really. Fennekin would still be the obvious choice, because Delphox doesn't completely blow chunks like the other two. The things around Froakie's (FRO-kee) neck are bubbles, in case you're wondering. Being a Water type, it's the best choice for the early game gyms in Gen 6. This first stage starter doesn't appear in Smash, but unlike Tepig, where it was just arbitrarily left out, Froakie has a good reason to not be in it. Smash fans likely already know why. Frogadier (FROG-uh-deer) is a thing. Nothing interesting to say, but I do dig it. One of my favourite middle evolutions, actually. That's Greninja (greh-NIN-jah), and that's not a scarf, that's it's tongue. It becomes Water/Dark, which means that the trio of final evolutions in Gen 6 actually form a second triangle of type advantages. Fighting beats Dark, Dark beats Psychic, and Psychic beats Fighting. It's a nice touch. Anyway, Greninja is very much the Ninja of the RPG class theme here. Or rogue, if you want to keep it strictly Dungeons and Dragons. Greninja has a signature move, but it's not unique. "Water Shuriken" is also a move that the Pokémon Accelgor can learn in Gen 6. It's one of those multi-hit moves like Fury Swipes, but it has speed priority like Quick Attack. It usually doesn't gel well with Greninja's stats, weirdly enough. It's a physical attack in Gen 6. Water Shuriken actually becomes a Special Attack in Gen 7. Probably because Greninja's Attack is pretty subpar. In most cases though, Water Shuriken isn't that good of a move, anyway. So no big loss. Greninja is an absolutely excellent Pokémon for playthroughs, even without Water Shuriken! It's blisteringly fast and hits pretty hard with Special Attacks. Combine this with the free Mega Charizard you're given in Gen 6, and you've got a great couple of Pokémon to tackle the game with. And on top of that, Greninja's Hidden Ability is "Protean", an absolutely insane ability that changes Greninja's type to whatever attack it's about to use. Being able to change your type on the fly like that is one of the most effective tools a Pokémon can have. Doing so while attacking at the same time is amazingly efficient! And because the ability happens before the actual attack, this means that every attack Greninja does benefits from STAB (Same Type Attack Bonus) and does 50% more damage then normal. Boy, Delphox may have been a complete flop with the fans, but Greninja certainly wasn't. Kalos's resident ninja frog became an instant hit. Hadn't seen a sudden popularity surge on a Pokémon since Lucario really. So it wasn't really surprising when it was the new playable Pokémon character in the fourth Smash game. Yeah, this is why Froakie doesn't appear in Smash. It's also a Pokémon that I really hope @BowserBasher can spell correctly by now. (Genuine question, did you even realise it was a starter Pokémon?) The lead developer of the Smash games, Masahiro Sakurai, has said that he likes ninjas, so with X and Y having a ninja based Pokémon that's stupid popular, the perfect character fell into his lap. Naturally, Greninja in Smash is very quick when it comes to movement and it's attacks were mostly swift as well, but various patches the game got would not be kind to it. The poor thing got nerfed... a lot... So much so, that whenever an update came out that didn't nerf Greninja, it was considered a massive victory. The phrase "Better nerf Greninja" actually became a bit of a meme because of this. It's weird, at launch, it was decent, but not so powerful that it warranted such a hammering. A lot of it's attacks have so much endlag now in Ultimate. A shame... OK, so Greninja has another form, but it's weird, it's not a form that originates from any game. It's also really lame. Ash-Greninja... God, I hate this thing, it's such a downgrade, design wise. It's got a crummy name too. As said crummy name implies, this form is based on the form that Ash Ketchum's Greninja takes because... friendship, I don't know. It's probably friendship. Generally, the anime is kept seperate from the actual games, but in Gen 7, Greninja got a third ability (The only starter Pokémon that has three abilities) called "Battle Bond". If it knocks out an opposing Pokémon with that ability, it becomes Ash-Greninja. Ash-Greninja has very high stats and Water Shuriken becomes 20 power per hit and always attacks three times. It's kinda stupid how good it is. Which makes it very ironic, and hilarious, that Ash's Greninja lost a pivotal League match to some random Charizard. It wasn't even a Mega Evolution or anything. Ash is just that lame! That said, Ash-Greninja doesn't seem to be a thing anymore. Battle Bond no longer transforms Greninja, it only boosts it's stats. And it's only a temporary boost (It'll go away if you switch it out), and it only works once per battle now. It also doesn't improve Water Shuriken anymore. Even outside of Smash, poor Greninja still can't escape the nerf hammer. Hell, the anime seems to have retconned it out. Flashbacks of scenes that orignally had Ash-Greninja only showed the normal Greninja form in the final season where Ash was the protagonist, so they seem to want to phase it out of the series as a whole. Good, it's lame. Actually, Greninja as a whole seemed to just vanish for quite a long time after the seventh generation. It's essentially absent from every Switch entry and only came back in the DLC for Scarlet/Violet. It's so weird, seeing how popular it is. This annoyed me greatly, because the Shiny Greninja I spent months trying to get was stuck in my 3DS for 6 years, and now Shinies are effectively worthless anyway, so why did I even bother? Anyway, better wrap this up before people realise I'm bitter. So yeah, what's your favourite starter here? No surprise, I adore Greninja. It's my favourite starter ever. It's such a cool design! Then again, I do have a bit of a bias for frogs... Seriously, the tongue scarf is such a clever idea. Top-tier design! Chesnaught's really cool too. I think that Pokémon gets a bit of a bum rap, actually.

We have been waiting all game to do that! I'm annoyed he beat me to it!

It seems like Japan have just had enough of Square's action based philosophy in regards of FF. Don't blame them.

We're overdue some battle mode. I trust that we're smart enough to eventually do all 8 courses over the night. See you tonight at 8pm.

This is the next game on Switch's Game Trials feature. "First hit's free".

My word, I've only just realised that "Jungle Fever" just reuses the Yoshi voice throughout. Somehow makes it even funnier!

People got all up in arms about that certain aspect of the plot that they failed to realise that it's still more engaging then BotW. Zelda has a great character arc. Turns out not having the player imagine what happened in between all the cutscenes helps a ton, who'd have thunk? I feel like I was the only one that enjoyed it for that. Best new Zelda title the Switch has.