Alpha Sapphire: First Impressions

Last Friday, I raced home, pushed a few people down the stairs running to my tube station and opened the post box with such a frenzy that I almost tore the door off. For it was finally the UK release of Pokemon: Alpha Sapphire, and sure enough, my copy was waiting for me after waiting impatiently all day at home.

Sadly, I haven't even had that much time to play it. Me and my team have just landed on Dewford. Nevertheless, am super happy about getting to replay my favourite game again with pretty 3DS graphics. Please excuse my awful photos; my home WiFi won't allow my DS in and I haven't been bothered to change it yet. I PROMISE I WILL so I can show you everything nice and shiny.

SO, what are my first impressions?

 It's hard writing on this game as I'm unsure what to compare it to - Pokemon Sapphire or Pokemon X. Naturally, there are staggering differences from Alpha to standard Sapphire. I'll focus mostly on X as it's what's freshest in my head and probably the best comparison considering the massive development differences since Sapphire - which came out in 2002, if you can believe it!!!

 The game looks impressive and slick as ever. I found the change from Black to X (that's the way I did it..) quite dramatic, as, for the first time, a Pokemon game felt less like a Pokemon game and more like Animal Crossing. It's hard to pinpoint why Alpha Sapphire feels more like Pokemon again; maybe it's the familiarity with the Hoenn region, maybe it's because I've played X as a way to ease myself in. Despite that, the point of view is more comfortably third person and more 'Pokemon' - although they still play around with angles and point of view, it doesn't feel as extreme or different as X.

My arrival at Dewford

 The game still follows on a lot from the new developments from X. EXP share is given to you early and it gives EXP to all your Pokemon. It also doesn't split the EXP gained as much, making it a lot easier to level up your whole team, making it more akin to a generic RPG. Likewise, your Pokemon also gains EXP (full) even if you catch a Pokemon. Whilst this helps in encouraging people to try and catch them all (after all, you don't lose out on some potentially good EXP,) it again, makes it a lot easier - so far, my Pokemon are already at a higher level than they previously have been when I've played this game on my good old DS Lite.

 The battle system is similar, yet again, to X. Haven't experienced any mega evolutions - in fact, they haven't even been mentioned in game yet - but the animation is still an incredible step up from the older DS lite games.

 In fact, the biggest new feature - excluding the nav/dex updates which change with every game - that I've found so far in my small playtime of just over 2 hours (pitiful I know... I had a busy weekend, okay?) is the new 'sneak' feature. Again, much like an RPG, you can now sneak up on Pokemon. Whilst previous games had the rustling grass hinting at a rare Pokemon, you now get a notification on your DexNav screen (a magnifying glass pops up) and you get a sound and the silhouette of a Pokemon will pop it. It'll either be an uncommon Pokemon, or a Pokemon with a rare move. They do seem to be quite frequent however - I ran into an endless amount of Slakoths in Petalburg Woods.

SO, moving onto what is often, asides from the graphics, the biggest change between each Pokemon game. The navigator system. From memory, (because there have really been a lot of Pokemon games,) this came into play in the original Ruby and Sapphires under PokeNav (developed from the PokeGear, which was a communication device.) Now, we have the PokeNav Plus, the new, updated version which makes full use of the DS's dual screens.

The DS is used SO much better in these later games than it was previously. The first Pokemon DS games, Diamond and Pearl, used the bottom screen well in battles (basically as they do now,) but failed to make the bottom screen that useful outside of battle. They've now finally done what I've always wanted them to do, and included the map down there. No longer do you have to rummage through your bag in 'key items' for your 'town map' (okay, they stopped that a while ago, I know.) Instead, you have the option, under AreaNav, to have your map there all the time!

Another pretty useful feature is the DexNav. Here, it shows the kinds of Pokemon that can be found in an area. From what I've worked out (I didn't pay attention when the guy telling me what it did was talking all too much,) most of them only show up after you've encountered them. Still pretty useful to quickly remember what turns up where (and it does show silhouettes of Pokemon you can encounter so unless you completed missed 'who's that Pokemon' as a child, you should be able to figure it out.) I'm not sure if it shows you ALL the Pokemon you can catch (including rare ones,) but I'm hoping it doesn't as it'd take away some of the fun in entering a new area and having something surprising jump out at you. This is also the thing that has the magnifying glass pop up on.

PlayNav combines the few in game 'apps' that were the main players in X's bottom screen - Pokemon Amie and Super Training are both there, as is the Play With Others app (which name I can't remember and that I won't check.) I tried these out a bit in the last game but am never that into mini-games, (only exception is the captivating 'Mesal Gear Solid' which was in Ape Escape 3, and which I played entirely in Japanese.) I also don't really play games to interact with people (I am the online gaming nightmare,) plus I don't have any friends with Pokemon and/or a 3DS, so haven't tried out any online features.

Lastly installed on there (for now...) is BuzzNav, which is basically their version of the radio app in the PokeNav. Instead, it's a news app that gives you little stories and updates - mine's currently showing the kidnapping of Peeko. There's a capability to do stuff with others with a DS on it, but since, like I mentioned, I don't know anyone with one so haven't tried that yet.

Basic features aside, let's get started on my lifeblog journey: so, who's my team? I've gone for my usual starter of Torchic - because BLAZIKEN is the only starter Pokemon given the prestigious rank of UBER on Pokemon showdown. Because it is literally that badass. Chiklet (YES of COURSE I name all my Pokemon silly cutesy things) has just evolved into a Combusken.

I've also picked up PEEBO (my alternative to PEEKO, who I fell in love with in the anime)

Peebo was the main player in my battle against first Gym Leader Roxanne, which was pretty easy. Despite a Rock Throw almost taking him out in one hit, Peebo managed to obliterate with water gun. Rock gym as the first gym is always pretty simple.

After some evening wandering, caught a Shroomish (Blum,) who I will evolve into my poison heal powerhouse that is Breloom. I LOVE Breloom. Thoroughly underrated Pokemon. Although I'm pretty well equipped to handle Brawly (Chiket still has peck,) and of course Peeko's Wing Attack should have no problems, I'm sure Blum will be able to throw some moves.

Anyway, that sums up my little bit of gameplay and some fairly long-winded first impressions. Stay tuned for Brawly's imminent beat down and I'M ON DEWFORD I CAN CATCH AN ARON NOW!

Celebrating the Mage

[Note: classes are serious business in RPGS. The mage can go by many other names/variations i.e. medic, healer, etc etc but let's class it as "magic user" in this. Also note that this is based on my experience of games and there are OF COURSE, countless and countless games I haven't played with all various other types of magic and users. This is very general, but I'd love to learn more so throw comments at me!] 

This is the first part of my little series of articles on YOUR BASIC RPG CLASS CHARACTERS.  I wasn't really thinking about posting something like this, until I got into a little argument with Vanille in Final Fantasy 13 (it was very one sided,) which basically went along the lines of "VANILLE STOP HEALING YOURSELF HEAL ME FIRST IF I DIE, WE ALL DIE." So, despite Vanille's downfalls as a medic, let's celebrate the mage! I will be discussing some of the different types of mages I've come across and what I like about them/why they are great and should definitely have a place on your team. BRAWN, MOVE OVER.

Offensive Mage
Depending on the game, magic users tend to be very important and also very awesome in most RPGS.

Super super cool re-render by John-Lozano on Deviantart

 I've learnt through gaming that most games like systems and rules - which is great, because I love learning them. In class/job based RPGS, you thus tend to have abilities limited to certain jobs. Your soldier may be able to use some simple magic, but it's going to be your mage that does the real damage. In games that let you choose your own jobs, thus, it makes sense for you to have your character with the highest magic power be your mage.

 And games like you to have to strategise and carefully form your party. That's a whole part of the fun of them really - carefully thinking through who you will need to defeat this boss. High physical defense but weak magic defense? That's where your mage comes in.

Magic also (usually - again, this is all presumption) is element based, meaning it can come in many forms. Whilst this is fun because it gives you a whole range of moves to choose from, it also allows you to be tactical in fighting your enemy: what are they weak against? What will deal the most magic? Games have always been about strategy, and magic is especially great because it opens up whole new realms of strategy that physical combat can't often give.

And you will undoubtedly at some point face an enemy who can barely be touched by physical moves. STAND ASIDE LADIES AND GENTLEMAN, THE OFFENSIVE MAGE IS HERE.

Status-Dealing Mages
A lot of the times, these will be clumped in as either offensive ('black') or defensive ('white') mages. Final Fantasy: Tactics had their 'green' mage as the status inflicter. These mages (or these moves,) are used to protect your team, or destroy the enemy through status effects.

I never really used to use them before (oh, naive young me,) preferring to finish off battles quickly and mostly with an all-out offense. Particularly difficult battles, however, can definitely be made easier if you're clever with your defensive and offensive statuses.

Defensive statuses can be amazing against tough enemies - ESPECIALLY when you can use them several times and boost your defenses up to ridiculously amazing. Offensive statuses, however, are often looked past because at the end of the day, they take up round time and often it's easy to get into the mentality that you should may as well just keep attacking head on with big damage, as opposed to little draining damage. However, little draining damage, as you probably know when you've been inflicted with it yourself, is a complete and utter pain! Successfully casting a poison, sleep or slow on your enemy will just make the battle so much easier for you.

Final Fantasy XIII (I KNOW, I keep banging on about Final Fantasy but this is basically 70% of my thoughts on a day to day basis) ramped up the status mage by having two roles: SYNERGIST and SABOTEUR. Syn boosts the party/protects the party, whilst Sab casts nasty magic to slowly drain and well, sabotage, the enemy. Whilst it is a bit of a pain having the roles separate, I've also found it incredibly useful to have a sab/syn team, as it tends to make it much easier to get those bosses with ridiculously high def/hp but also strong attack.

So, status based mages perhaps aren't as effective in everyday ~ random encounters ~, but use them properly and save them for the sluggish matches and they will become at least 40% easier, probably.

Healing Mages
And perhaps the biggest one to celebrate - the blessed medic. Anyone who's faced any overpowered bosses with ridiculous attacks that take out 90% of your HP in one go know to worship the medic. If it weren't for them throwing constant cures/heals etc at you, you would have been knocked out a long time ago.

The only sad thing for medics is that - well - they essentially have only a supporting role. Sure, it's super important and a lot of the time you can't do without it, but for pure mages who can literally only do white/healing magic, you imagine it would be...well... a little boring. Systems that allow you to switch out and change your party in battle handle this well, but when a battle isn't particularly difficult, the healing mage often just sits back.

I NEVER understood why Atoli of .Hack//GU: Rebirth wanted to be a magic and follow my dumb ass around healing me.

Naturally, the best compromise is a general mage who can perform black and white magic, and a system that allows you to prioritise healing when it's needed (whether you choose it yourself in turn-based or set conditions that allow this.) A lot of games do allow all characters to use not just healing spells, but all spells. This is really the best case scenario, even though limitations on how many moves/attacks you're allowed to have may make it very difficult for you to make a decision!

Unfortunately, for some other games, this is just TOO GREAT and puts way too much power in one character. FF compromised by creating the 'red mage' class - a mage who could perform both types of magic but was limited to only performing low level magic. Super useful early on in the game, but given that you'll find a need for high level curing spells later on, it's always worth investing heavily in a good white mage. 

The original medic

 So what have we learned from this summary? Mages are very cool.

Not only that, but they are an integral part of any RPG, and many systems would fall apart without them. Furthermore, there is SO MUCH potential with mages and magic in games and so much more out there than my measly observations on a few games. Go forth and explore!

What's your favourite system of magic?
What kind of magic do you like using most?
What's the best mage class/who is the best mage in a game you've come across?
What game has used magic the most innovatively?

Shoot!

Love, 

Revival!

*Throws revives*

Welcome back blog! I've decided to resuscitate my blog because (a) I need somewhere to vent about Final Fantasy XIII (which I'm replaying) and (b) to celebrate the monumental occasion that is happening next week... the release of...

TA DA!

So excited for my version to land in the mailbox next week! 

To start off with, I will be logging my Alpha Sapphire adventure. Gen III of the Pokemon games has always been my favourite (I had Ruby on my GBA, decided to change things up going with Sapphire this time.) I will, however, not be changing things with with my starter, which is a given: TORCHIC! Because -

Really looking forward to what the game has to offer. Despite feeling slightly too much like I was in Animal Crossing for the first part of it, I grew to love X's interface. The graphics really are a big jump up and I'm excited to see how Hoenn translates over.

Also looking forward to seeing if I can destroy Watson in one go this time (WHY did I always have trouble with him in the past? We'll find out now...) 

Exciting reason (c) for me restarting my blog and taking it in a general video game based direction, is the forthcoming arrival of my birthday PS4! Dragon Age: Inquisition SHALL be ordered in short time. The real wait, of course, is for Final Fantasy XIV but we'll see if that actually does end up coming out at some point next year. And let's not even think about Kingdom Hearts 3...

So basically, I'm super excited to be launching this as a platform for me to rant about things I love to rant about. I'm already very eager to post about THE WEIRDEST GAMEBOY KNOCKOFFS I HAVE COME ACROSS AND PLAYED (living in Asia has exposed me to some weird knockoffs...) 

 UM.

... as well as some detailed analysis of some of the most difficult fights I've faced (hopefully with input from others, I seem to stupidly struggle with some really simple bosses but manage to easily defeat others - each to their own, I guess!) Best villains, most shocking parts of storylines (Yes, Aeris, I know,) and most importantly, a RANKING OF THE BEST CHOCOBOS. 

Some Good Revision Playlists

I can't just listen to any music when I revise. It needs to be intensely instrumental and inspirational at the same time. I know so many people who listen to the Lord of the Rings soundtrack whilst they work, but as amazing as it is, I usually gravitate towards game soundtracks of my favourite games just because they make me happy. Even if you don't know any of them though, here are some youtube playlists of my favourite ones. They're all beautiful, beautiful pieces of music.

Sometimes I get distracted and insist on humming along to all the instrumental parts.
*Aggressively tries to sing 3 different notes at once*



Final Fantasy IX Piano Collections
Although I literally love ALL the music in all of the games basically, FFIX may be the winner for most of my favourite songs. The piano collection is great because it's got songs of all tempos and they sound beautiful.




Spirited Away Soundtrack
Half the songs on here make me weepy. One of my favourite films of all time as I'm obsessed and grew up with Studio Ghibli as my Disney so half the time these are on I drift into nostalgic memories. The other half, I'm productive.




Suikoden Complete OST
Another game that has a special place in my heart. There is some really gorgeous music on here, and a lot of it is perfect for concentration. And like the others, a change in tempo to get you PUMPED to revise!




Final Fantasy VIII Piano Collections
I tend to gravitate towards the piano collections as they're a bit more relaxing without the multiple instrumental arrangements going on. FF8 has an amazing soundtrack (Fisherman's Horizon is one of my favourite songs ever,) and like IX, is lovely to listen to in the background whilst you be productive.




Anyway there are four of my favourite ones! I will stop making lists of youtube videos and posting them as "blog posts" soon. I also like keeping these up here because now it's easy for me to find them all... Happy revision!

❤️ SPRING! ❤️ (Or "Look how easily a seemingly normal blog post turns to Pokemon")

 Just to get back into it, here is a little recap of my last few days, and some photos off my instagram/phone. It's finally warming up again! I now say that with DELIGHT, and no longer the hatred of my old sun-hating vampiric self. It's amazing what living in the World's gloomiest country does to you.

P.S. Listen to this! It's wonderful!

 Yesterday/Today General Life Stuff etc. etc.  

Yesterday me and Sophie went to the Solihull shopping center as it's the only place with an Apple store in a bazillion mile radius. It turned out to be a lovely day so we spent quite a while wandering around outside in the sun dotting from shop to shop.

Sitting in Starbucks waiting for our Apple shop appointment. Got the best people watching seats! Not that there was anything interesting going on because it was a Friday afternoon PRE gaggle-of-school-kids arriving time. (YES, for Fridays off!) (And the gaggles of school kids arrived as we were leaving thank god.)

I got the exact same thing from TGI's as I did the first (which was also the most recent) time I went because I have a tendency of clinging obsessively to my favourite foods in any place I go and being afraid of change. WHAT IF I MISS OUT ON A CHANCE TO EAT MY VERY FAVOURITE THING BECAUSE I'VE CHOSEN A SUBPAR THING?! Nope. 

TGI's also got a +1 because they have an allergy menu meaning Sophie can eat there! Always an exciting revelation. There was only one starter on the menu but there was a load of hummus on it and I love hummus so much that I can't see how that could potentially be a bad thing. 

In between all the food we managed to eat - we had to have a lot of powerbreaks - we also managed to do a bit of shopping. I'm actually really good when it comes to spontaneous shopping... I don't have the money to go out and buy stuff-that's-not-necessary for myself a lot - and when I do, I prioritise stupid stuff rather than things like clothes and accessories. HOWEVER, I haven't had to pay a stupid amount of money to silly things this month so it means I'm able to get stuff!!! I didn't actually buy a lot as I'm still in a stingy mindset and trying to only get ~ what I really really need want ~

Main things were more cute lil' socks to wear, some ribbon-y hair ties and a new pair of sunglasses as there's a chance I might get to use them soon! I also got a pair of shoes which I'm in love with but it's really more for the fact that my old boots are falling apart and now when I wear them when the ground's wet my feet get wet and there are really very few things worse than that. 

Today, meanwhile, was the first day I did not have to wear a coat!!! I got to wear a jacket instead which is kind of annoying as I need to dig out a lot of my jackets now and I don't know where half of them are. Today feeling like Spring gave us an excuse to walk to Subway for lunch and then it meant I could go pick up my bosu ball which finally arrived!

I'm a bully who makes my boyfriend take photos of me when I'm super pleased about the little bow thing I've got in my hair.

Apart from that, all I've really been doing is researching for my Psychopathology essay "Explore representations of Mental Illness in popular contemporary films and potential ethical implications" or something like that, haven't actually figured out the title, and playing Pokemon!!

This was the real point of making this post.

Pokemon!!!

Last time I played it was on my DS BUT me and Joe, after binge-watching Kanto season 1 on netflix the last week, decided to actually start playing it. Last time we played it together ended in a series of horrific fights over each other's playing techniques, who we wanted on our teams, and how to do everything basically. This time, we decided to play the same game, at the same time, separately, which actually makes a whole lot more sense.

In playing Soul Silver now, my team is currently Quilava, Wooper, Hoot Hoot & Flaafy. I've always been a grass starter type, mainly due to my eternal love for Bulbsaur. But frequent disappointments in the latest games mean I generally end up using the fire or water starters. I've played with all starters in Gen II (although It's technically Gen IV as it's the remake OF a Gen II game..) and went with Cyndaquil this time - maybe mostly to do with FLAME WHEEL - ! (Joe went with Totodile.) I also end up getting Hoot Hoot and Mareep purely because I love their evolved forms and I'm one of those people who likes having a full team early on, so you can have a nice balanced team.

I'd forgotten how much I loved these games. The perfect combination of adventure exploring and battle action! Plus the graphics are looking so good - the games were great even when they weren't - and I just love the strategising that comes with rpgs. I'm pretty sure my childhood love for the games led to my later obsessions with other RPGS (read: Final Fantasy & Zelda in particular) and I can remember as a child, playing on my first gameboy with barely any clue what was actually going on but still LOVING IT.

Next gym up is Goldenrod (oh no) so that means Whitney (oh no) and Miltank (oh no.) Normal gyms are always so hard. It's like they have to compensate for the fact that in general, normal pokemon just aren't...very good. (Except now they've turned half of them fairy ugh grumble.) I mean, everyone hates rollout and upon looking at Pokemon stats... SLAKING IS RIGHT UP THERE WITH LEG/PSUEDO-LEG what is up with that. (I'm looking at YOU, Norman-from-Petalberg) 

This post has been a bit of a crazy mess BUT I kind of know where I'm going. I'll probably post a little Pokemon update at the end of each entry depending on where I am, but will also try and post more actual content as well. I seem to just make lists all the time now, but not of anything really interesting!

Enjoy the sunshine everyone, IT WON'T LAST.