Video Games

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Wed May 14, 2008 8:30 am

Did it still have the beautiful art for the heroes and units? Out of battle, that is. Not the tiny sprites used in combat or whatever, but the portrait kind.

PhoneLobster · Post by **PhoneLobster** » Wed May 14, 2008 11:00 pm

I'm pretty certain the artist you are thinking of is, er... Alister Lockhart. Though you'll have a hard time proving it without owning a bunch of warlords the CCG. (I bought it when it was on the Mil Sims Crazy Specials)

His stuff pretty much appeared as of Warlords 3:dark lords rising and has been reused since. Though a lot of other artists were used as well.

He isn't great. Infact, My sister is a lot better. But I do like his style.

Maxus · Post by **Maxus** » Thu May 15, 2008 11:22 pm

I've been watching out for news about a game, recently.

Anyone know much about game called Prototype that's going to be released late this year or early next year?

cthulhu · Post by **cthulhu** » Fri May 16, 2008 1:05 am

I acutally don't mind Sins, but seriously the AI is so bad that it curb stomps the game. Even on the hardest difficulty mode it does retarded stuff like turtling up and only building the weakest ships. The raids with seige bombers are annoying, but eventually you get to the point you can take them out easily and the game then becomes "Mass force. Dismantle AI planet. Regroup. Repeat"

Maxus · Post by **Maxus** » Fri May 16, 2008 2:15 am

I normally abstain from Flash games, but this had kept me playing for the afternoon...It actually has some decent ideas going for it about class roles and abilities...

It's whetting my appetite for a dungeon crawl, when there's little prospect of one in the near future.

http://www.freewebarcade.com/game/monst ... -of-dread/

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Fri May 16, 2008 2:50 am

Ooh, I like that game. I played it a while ago before they added the barbarian, conjurer and passive skills.

Maxus · Post by **Maxus** » Fri May 16, 2008 3:10 am

Koumei wrote:Ooh, I like that game. I played it a while ago before they added the barbarian, conjurer and passive skills.

It gets better. They actually have multiple campaigns now. You can select which one you play at the beginning.

Count Arioch the 28th · Sat May 17, 2008 5:56 pm

I just got Pokemon Pearl recently.

It's basically the same game as it was back in the RBY days, but I've grown to hate dark and steel types, because I just don't know what to do with them.

Maxus · Post by **Maxus** » Sat May 17, 2008 6:04 pm

Count_Arioch_the_28th wrote:I just got Pokemon Pearl recently.

It's basically the same game as it was back in the RBY days, but I've grown to hate dark and steel types, because I just don't know what to do with them.

Dark types are useful to have around if they have an interesting subtype and some other moves. Back in the GSC days, I was quite found of a Houndoom (Dark/Fire) as part of the team.

I've never really used Steel-types, though I understand that Diamond and Pearl have some pretty exotic ones now.

If you last played at RBY, you may be surprised as how Fighting types are now actually useful to have around.

Count Arioch the 28th · Sat May 17, 2008 6:06 pm

I picked up a machop to beat Roark, due to the fact that my fire/fighting flaming monkey thing kept getting pwned. I've used it consistently ever since, he's useful in taking out the swarms of fucking bidoofs they have everywhere.

Maxus · Post by **Maxus** » Sat May 17, 2008 6:37 pm

Count_Arioch_the_28th wrote:I picked up a machop to beat Roark, due to the fact that my fire/fighting flaming monkey thing kept getting pwned. I've used it consistently ever since, he's useful in taking out the swarms of fucking bidoofs they have everywhere.

According to Serebii, the fire monkey thing only gets a handful of fighting-type moves.

That's a shame. Torchic (which evolved into Fire-Fighting) was a damn good choice in Ruby and Sapphire...

Anyway, things have come a long way from the RBY days. Being able to breed your own pokemon lets you get pokemon with really crazy moves. The type game has changed, because they've balanced out Psychic types. And each generation gets more and more weird type-combinations (I remain fond of Medicham--Fighting/Psychic ftw!) and the move list continues to grow, making some pokemon worth considering for the variety of moves they can learn (I can definitely see a place for Lucario in just about any team, for example).

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Sun May 18, 2008 2:24 am

I also recently bought Pearl. I also bought (with money given to me for this purpose) another DS, for my youngest sister. So in the meantime, I took advantage of this for crazy Diamond-Pearl trading. So now I have two starters in Diamond, and in Pearl, I've only defeated Roark and I just happen to have a few level 30+ Pokemon, including a Golem.

This will be the first time I've ever managed to get any of the "Trade me!" evolutions.

Oh, and Dark/Ghost for the win. My Spiritomb is awesome. It looks like a galaxy (with a spooky face) bursting out of a lava lamp. Dark is immune to psychic attacks, Ghost is immune to fighting and normal attacks! Also, no type-based weaknesses at all.

Surgo · Post by **Surgo** » Sun May 18, 2008 2:36 am

The type game has changed, because they've balanced out Psychic types.

More like nerfed it as an attacking type into oblivion, but I guess you can call that balance.

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Sun May 18, 2008 3:34 am

Really? Nasty Plot (increases Special Attack by two degrees) + Future Sight + Psychic is a very nice combination. If Psychic gets a 1-hit KO, then the next thing they bring in takes the Future Sight attack, and if Psychic doesn't KO them, Future Sight generally finishes them off (especially if Psychic lowers their Special Defence).

Sure, there are risks, such as "KADABRA!!! uses Nasty Plot. Sneasel uses Bite/Beat Up/Dark Pulse. KADABRA!!! faints."

Maxus · Post by **Maxus** » Sun May 18, 2008 5:22 am

In RBY, Psychics were the cornerstone of everyone's team because most of the Psychic-types had nigh-unbeatable speeds and could inflict major damage on most things. In GSC, they became a good idea to have, and I remember with fondness an Alakazam that I got to have Recover, Psychic, Thunderpunch, and Ice Punch. In RSE, they're something to consider with favoritism, but you don't *need* one (although some of them are pretty exotic and have some gnarly tricks). I don't know about Diamond/Pearl. I can only assume they've gotten closer to being just another type, if they're not one already.

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Sun May 18, 2008 6:08 am

They're still powerful on the offence, though lacking in defence, and many of them are fast, but (gasp) some things are faster. Especially the legendaries everyone uses in tournament play - look it up and you'll find the "Overused" and "Overpowered" lists.

Also, the addition of Dark (100% immune) does mean they actually have a serious weakness, as opposed to previous games (ghost is supereffective against psychic, but psychic is super against ghost, too. Bug is super against psychic, but bugs are usually poison as well, and psychic is super against poison).

This also means we might one day see starters other than Fire, Grass and Water. I'd love to see starters of Fighting, Ghost/Psychic and Dark. That'd be awesome.

And Mewtwo is still not only the most powerful Psychic type, but one of the most powerful pokemon full-stop.

Maxus · Post by **Maxus** » Sun May 18, 2008 6:29 am

Koumei wrote:They're still powerful on the offence, though lacking in defence, and many of them are fast, but (gasp) some things are faster. Especially the legendaries everyone uses in tournament play - look it up and you'll find the "Overused" and "Overpowered" lists.

Also, the addition of Dark (100% immune) does mean they actually have a serious weakness, as opposed to previous games (ghost is supereffective against psychic, but psychic is super against ghost, too. Bug is super against psychic, but bugs are usually poison as well, and psychic is super against poison).

This also means we might one day see starters other than Fire, Grass and Water. I'd love to see starters of Fighting, Ghost/Psychic and Dark. That'd be awesome.

And Mewtwo is still not only the most powerful Psychic type, but one of the most powerful pokemon full-stop.

Point of fact: Ghosts take normal damage from Psychic-types.

And I used to have a completely badass Mewtwo whose stats I'd pumped every way I knew how and had a speed exactly two points short of the absolute max, and his attack and special weren't bad at all. It was a serial rapist.

It helped that I had an epiphany and duplicated the Body Slam TM and used one on him. People tried to send out Alakazams or other Mewtwos on him, and there would be wailing and gnashing of teeth as their Pokemon were paralyzed and then pounded down.

It helped that Pokemon Stadium gave Mewtwo an awesome animation for Body Slam, too.

CatharzGodfoot · Post by **CatharzGodfoot** » Sun May 18, 2008 4:01 pm

Maxus wrote:I normally abstain from Flash games, but this had kept me playing for the afternoon...It actually has some decent ideas going for it about class roles and abilities...

It's whetting my appetite for a dungeon crawl, when there's little prospect of one in the near future.

http://www.freewebarcade.com/game/monst ... -of-dread/

Dungeon crawling cocaine.

Maxus · Post by **Maxus** » Sun May 18, 2008 4:10 pm

CatharzGodfoot wrote:
Maxus wrote:I normally abstain from Flash games, but this had kept me playing for the afternoon...It actually has some decent ideas going for it about class roles and abilities...

It's whetting my appetite for a dungeon crawl, when there's little prospect of one in the near future.

http://www.freewebarcade.com/game/monst ... -of-dread/
Dungeon crawling cocaine.

Ain't it, though?

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Sun May 18, 2008 6:21 pm

On Pokemon: http://www.sporcle.com/games/pokemon.php

I am ashamed to say I got 124/151. I'm just not sure if it's because I know that many (well into the geek/nerd territory there) or because I couldn't recall all of them. I could have named them all if shown the pictures, though.

Surgo · Post by **Surgo** » Mon May 19, 2008 12:55 am

Koumei wrote:Really? Nasty Plot (increases Special Attack by two degrees) + Future Sight + Psychic is a very nice combination. If Psychic gets a 1-hit KO, then the next thing they bring in takes the Future Sight attack, and if Psychic doesn't KO them, Future Sight generally finishes them off (especially if Psychic lowers their Special Defence).

Sure, there are risks, such as "KADABRA!!! uses Nasty Plot. Sneasel uses Bite/Beat Up/Dark Pulse. KADABRA!!! faints."

Future Sight is a horrible attack that never sees use for good reason. (Doom Desire, on the other hand, does have a bit of a specialty use.) Here's what your opponent could have done to totally destroy you in the 3 turns you're spending doing that stuff: anything.

As for Nasty Plot, the only psychic types that can actually learn the move are Hypno (if you're playing underused) and Azelf*. The only reason these guys actually -use- Psychic is because it's STABbed. Other moves have far better type advantages.

Nobody who isn't a psychic type is going to use a psychic type move unless they really hate Heracross. Psychic just has inferior type coverage to shit like ice, fire, etc.

* Also Mew, but Mew is stuck in that uncomfortable limbo where it's banned from overused for being too good, but isn't good enough for anyone to actually use it effectively in ubers.

Maxus wrote:It helped that I had an epiphany and duplicated the Body Slam TM

Heh, wise decision. Body Slam was the best move in RBY.

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Mon May 19, 2008 2:52 am

Future Sight is often used in tournaments, actually. I believe it's usually used when they feel the opponent is going to be a bitch and use a Full Restore soon - enemy Full Restores, enemy gets hit with Psychic, enemy gets hit with Future Sight all in the same return, end result: 1 wasted Full Restore.

It's also good when an enemy is asleep and isn't a Sleep Talker (that being said, there are a number of Sleep Talker builds these days). After all, you effectively have one free turn while your opponent uses their flute or whatever. Next turn you hopefully KO them, then after that the next sucker gets the Future Sight attack.

That being said, I'm aware that it's nowhere near as good as it used to be - I don't bother with Psychic types any more, though that's largely because I'm just as likely to select a Pokemon based on cuteness/coolness as anything else (the benefit of not playing against other humans: you can afford to use vastly suboptimal teams).

Incidentally, I'm surprised at how much we discuss Pokemon here. Sometimes it seems like it comes in third, after D&D and politics.

Surgo · Post by **Surgo** » Mon May 19, 2008 5:03 am

Koumei wrote:Future Sight is often used in tournaments, actually. I believe it's usually used when they feel the opponent is going to be a bitch and use a Full Restore soon - enemy Full Restores, enemy gets hit with Psychic, enemy gets hit with Future Sight all in the same return, end result: 1 wasted Full Restore.

Okay, you have to be trolling me here. But in the strange case that you aren't...
Have you actually played Pokemon in multiplayer? The "item" option doesn't even exist in those battles. That means no full restores. No pokeflutes. You are literally unable to use them.

No, Future Sight is never used in tournaments. Unless you want to lose, or you're Goofball using another hilarious gimmick team that he makes win anyway.

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Mon May 19, 2008 9:06 am

Nope, I haven't played it multiplayer. I don't actually like other people. And I like the sound of "No items (Final destination!)", because it pisses me off to no end when gym leaders/elite 4/[EDITED] (my rival) keep using full restores.

Of course, if the Pokemon isn't holding a Lum berry or... whatever the sleep-curing berry is, then putting them to sleep is even better: they'll likely trade out if they have another pokemon, so you get a free attack (or Pursuit if you have it), otherwise you can just Nasty Plot until they wake up.

Then again, if you're, for instance, not Psychic, you could instead Focus Punch them while they sleep, saving yourself 3 rounds of powering up (and it'll even work if they trade. The traded-in one gets to leap right into a focus punch).

So I guess you're right in that fapping around with "Power up!", practically a requirement for Psychics who aren't called Mewtwo, isn't worth the effort when you could instead just 1-shot enemies with a Fire, Dragon, Fighting or whatever.

Count Arioch the 28th · Mon May 19, 2008 6:09 pm

I wish I had something fast enough to put an abra to sleep so I could catch one of the blasted things before it teleported out, I have fought enemy trainers with Kadabras, and they have taken out non-weak pokemon with one hit with psybeam. I'd like to have some of that offensive power myself.

Right now though, I'm just flat out not satisfied with my team. Ghosts tear me to pieces, because I have no attacks that are good against them. For example; I went into that haunted tower, and had to turn back after the first random encounter because a gastly tore through three of my pokemon before I managed to catch it. I don't have psychic and gastlies are now immune against ground, which blows.

I've just got random pokemon that I've picked up along the way.

My team is:

Fire-fighting starter monkey. (I don't know what the first evolution is, I nicknamed it Pooflinger.)

Geodude

Shellos

Luxio

Staravia

Machop

I try to level them up evenly, although Staravia tends to be higher level simply because fly knocks the living crap out of anything not resistant to flying. I've found that if I'm not fighting rock, steel, or electric pokemon, Staravia wins against anything no higher than two or three levels higher than it is.

I've found a way to beat steel pokemon, I didn't think that steel would be weak against fire, but there you go. (Although those damn bronzors give me trouble, the bastids have psychic attacks that tear up my monkey.)

Are meditites any good? I haven't caught one because I accidentally killed it trying to weaken it, and didn't bother to catch one, but a psychic/fighting pokemon might be a good choice to replace Machop with. Or maybe add in a grass pokemon, I feel odd without one.