Author Archives: Raizen

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet: My Opinion Based On the Reveal Trailer

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It’s been a few hours since the reveal of the upcoming installments of the Pokémon series, Scarlet and Violet. I think that’s enough time to allow what I’ve seen to congeal in my mind, and develop a non-hot-take opinion.

For one thing, it’s obvious that expansive areas with gorgeous scenery is going to be the way forward for the Pokémon franchise. Things tended towards that direction since Sword and Shield, and Legends: Arceus took it much further. While Legends has a very Breath of the Wild look to it, I’m interested in whether Game Freak will take that style of play and give it a voice more it’s own.

It seems like open-world adventures is going to be the direction that more games go in, which Skyrim did a lot to pioneer, and Breath of the Wild did a lot to popularize. I’ve been wanting to see Pokémon games like this since the Gold and Silver days, as I’ve considered the follow-route-to-destination formula to be a tad on-the-rails, and not really living up to the potential of a grand adventure in the great outdoors that a Pokémon journey can easily be imagined to be.

I’m also noticing that Pokémon games are now showing more realistic architecture in its settings, and I know I’m not the only person who appreciates this. I remember a time when Pokémon games largely just featured a bunch of large boxes, many of them without doors, and what of them that had doors usually just had them facing one direction. I also remember a time when Pokémon had no dynamic camera, and this was often the case even though the hardware running the games was capable of this. Link could run around Hyrule with a dynamic camera in Ocarina of Time in 1998, and playing Pokémon Colosseum on GameCube, I wondered whether Game Freak would get around to making a Pokémon game with a dynamic camera.

I’m liking that Pokémon are shown wandering about like they do in Legends: Arceus. But that also comes with a concern: Are the upcoming Pokémon games going to have much about them that differentiates them from Pokémon Legends? I beat the main story and post-game in Pokémon Legends, and I’m kind-of concerned that Scarlet and Violet might just provide more of the same experience. While that’s to be expected from a new game in nearly any series (not just Pokémon), Pokémon Legends is still new, and Scarlet and Violet come out later in the same year! Considering that Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl were released a few months ago, I can understand if some of the die-hards would like to take a break for a little while.

But as for the Pokémon, I’m noticing that the only new Pokémon that were shown were the starters. I know that Pokémon games are getting to be challenging to make in such a way that they include all (or even most) of the many characters that have been developed up to this point. So, I’m wondering whether Game Freak is deciding to keep the number of new Pokémon low, and focus more on developing other areas of the game, and choosing from among the many designs from earlier games.

As for the starters:

At first, I thought they looked goofy. But since then, they’ve grown on me. But among the three, I still haven’t decided which is my favorite. Knowing as little as I do about them, I’d probably go with the duck, then the cat second. If I knew what their evolved forms look like before playing, that might play a factor in my decision.

Now for the player character:

Sorry, but he just looks boring. I do like the bucket hat, which is very practical for one who plans to spend a lot of time in the sun. But a shirt and tie? That makes him look more like he’s ready to spend 8 hours in the office. That blank, unemotive expression doesn’t help much, either. This is one character that would benefit from some customization options. Is the girl character going to have more personality?

So far, from what I’ve seen, I’m actually not terribly excited. There’s likely going to be a lot more to show in the months to come, and hopefully, that will do a lot more to stoke interest from gamers who are probably still busy with Game Freak’s most recent offering.

Pros:

  • Expansive wild areas, showing that Game Freak is serious about implementing these in their games,
  • The familiar Pokémon are a welcome sight,
  • The new region is simply beautiful, and reminds me of a Mediterranean setting. Perhaps Greece, Italy, or Spain?

Cons:

  • The starters look kinda silly, but they’re not off-putting,
  • The dullest-looking main character I’ve ever seen.

What I’d like to see:

  • More human characters, particularly a more interesting main character,
  • The return of game mechanics that players liked, such as Mega Evolutions. Even Z-moves would be welcome,
  • More details about the adventure, such as important locations, characters, and opponents.

Because Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are being developed in-house by Game Freak, the team who made Pokémon Legends: Arceus, it’s likely that these upcoming games are going to have a whole lot of heart. I’m looking forward to seeing more in the months ahead.

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet Versions Just Announced, Coming Late 2022

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A Pokémon Direct has just concluded, and with it comes the announcement of two upcoming Pokémon games, named Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet.

Here is the reveal trailer:

In the announcement, a detective investigates an apartment, then sees the trailer for the upcoming games.

We see some details of the new region, and get a first glimpse:

Like Pokémon Legends: Arceus, this new region seems to favor expansive explorable areas:

It also shows Pokémon wandering about, also like Legends:

There a town plaza, which seems very European. Perhaps the setting for this one is inspired by Greece or Italy.

The main character seems to get an oceanfront home, this time:

We were also shown the player character. There likely will also be a girl, as is the case in most Pokémon games.

We also get a brief glimpse of part of the region map:

Afterwards, we return to the detective. Perhaps the apartment is filled with clues as to the setting of the upcoming games, such as this food that’s sitting out:

Then, we see what is likely the new starters for these games:

According to the official reveal page, the cat is named Sprigatito, the croc is named Fuecoco, and the duck is called Quaxly. I like the cat and the duck, but the croc reminds me of Bubble Bobble.

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are coming later this year to Nintendo Switch. What do you think?

Project Veritas Catches FDA Exec On Hidden Camera Admitting That Annual Covid Shots to Be a “Recurring Fountain of Revenue”

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Let’s hear it for actual journalism! As reported by Daily Mail, an undercover reporter for Project Veritas has caught FDA executive Christopher Cole on hidden camera admitting to plans for annual shots for Covid-19, saying that they’d be a “recurring fountain of revenue”, and that president Biden himself has financial incentives for pushing the vaccine.

What makes this matter particularly amusing is that the reporter disguised herself as a romantic interest, going on a date with Christopher Cole, wherein he admitted to the scheme.

It’s because of this, it’s possible that his confession actually isn’t true. It’s possible that he’s just another douchebag out to get his rooster warmed, and like many such people, he was willing to bullshit to make himself look more connected and influential than he actually is.

However, if true, this is yet another indication of a merger between corporation and state, where wealth is continually extracted from the population in the form of mandated and continual purchases of products and services, or in the cases where the products and services appear free, they are subsidized with taxpayer money, which is another form of wealth extraction.

Remember that when the Affordable Care Act was concocted, the intention was to mandate many millions of people to get health insurance. While insurance can be a great thing, the insurance industry has long since become yet another way to legally steal. If you’ve ever been in a car accident, you know that getting an insurance company to honor a claim that is explicitly covered under their policy is far more stressful than the accident itself.

Christopher Cole apparently didn’t like that his confession was obtained undercover, saying “You videotaped me talking with someone on a date – didn’t tell me anything, didn’t say it was being videotaped,”

Apparently, Christopher Cole thinks it would be more fair if his role in the merger of corporation and state were to remain under wraps, so that he may continue abusing his position in a regulatory agency to extract wealth using pharmaceutical companies that the very same agency is supposed to be regulating, while at the same time accepting kickbacks from those same pharmaceutical companies.

Either that, or he was bullshitting a woman in an effort to get his dick wet. In either case, it’s bad optics. But from what I’ve seen from the video below, he seems totally serious:

If Biden is somehow involved, the whole scheme is likely to turn to shit, anyway.

Malthusians: Destroying Humanity For Profit

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Original image source: wallup.net (edited by me)

A common position of the Malthusian is that overpopulation is resulting in an overconsumption of resources, which may result in humanity endangering itself. Professing this motivation, the Malthusian feels justified in making actions that prohibit procreation among human beings, in an effort to keep human numbers in check. To this end, they encourage people to live single.

However, it’s easy to see that people living single actually consume more resources than if a male-female couple were to share the same dwelling space.

This should be simple to comprehend when you look at the resources consumed by couples, as opposed to what they’d consume if they were to live independently.

In terms of dwelling space, two people living single would require more space overall, as they would live in different homes, each with different sinks, refrigerators, air conditioners, and bathroom facilities. On the other hand, a couple would share all these facilities. Couples would easily use up half as much living space.

Next, let’s consider utilities. In the summer time, when people are uncomfortably hot, two people living single would air condition two different living spaces, whereas a cohabiting man and woman would only need to air condition one living space. Thus, the consumption of electricity would easily be halved when couples live together, and the electrical grid would be far less stressed.

Then, there’s winter time, when people get uncomfortably cold. A person with a one-bedroom flat in the northeast United States can easily spend as much as $200 a month keeping their place warm in the winter. However, a couple wouldn’t face the same hardship, as they’d share the utility expense, and their situation would be better still for the warmth the couple would provide one another.

When it comes to transportation, matters are less clear. I’ve seen couples that manage by sharing one automobile, but this isn’t always desirable for every situation. However, when people live by themselves, they each require their own transportation, which in many cases means many single people needing their own cars. This gets more significant as the result is the consumption of more fossil fuels, as well as ethanol, which is largely derived from corn. This is more significant as concerns agriculture and landmass when you consider that most corn grown in the United States is not for consumption as food, but for conversion to fuel.

As one considers all this, it’s plain to see who makes a killing off of Malthusianism: Real estate interests, utility companies, and oil barons.

If more people are living independently of other human beings, that means more people spending more on products and services than if they were to share these things with other human beings. Real estate companies profit when more people are buying homes and apartments for themselves than if they were to cohabit. Utility companies maximize the number of spending customers when each potential customer is spending for themselves, rather than sharing the benefit with another person. Oil barons profit huge when demand is increased, and this happens when more people are fueling more cars, rather than sharing cars with partners.

From this, we see that the product of Malthusianism is reduced living space, resources being depleted, and the environment being destroyed. Which is, of course, the exact opposite of what many of their own sincere believers may have wanted. But for the ones that really benefit from the ideology, it means dying rich while fucking over the entire world for successive generations.

All while pretending that the opposite is happening.

The Trailer for Rings of Power Has Aired. Does Evil Have a Problem With Creativity?

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The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power takes aim. But will it be a miss?

The trailer for The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power has aired during the Super Bowl. Embedded below is the trailer, in case you haven’t seen it, and are interested:

People had thoughts, which largely had to do with whether The Lord of the Rings (LotR) would become yet another victim of corporate entities milking franchises for money with little regard for the established material, while at the same time using it to virtue signal, and subsequently using intersectionality as a high horse in the event that the fans point out its shortcomings. Similar to what’s happened with the Star Wars sequel trilogy.

Among the answers to the trailer is the following quote, attributed to J.R.R. Tolkien, and presented in different languages:

“Evil cannot create anything new, they can only corrupt and ruin what good forces have invented or made.”

While this is presented as a quote from J.R.R. Tolkien, the quote actually came from TV Tropes’ page, Evil Is Sterile, where it is used to describe an apparent philosophy to the worldbuilding of LotR.

While the quote is misattributed, I find it thought-provoking, as it brings to mind the apparent adversarial relationship between creativity and the forces of evil.

It’s long been thought that the opposite of life is death. However, this is not the case. Death is what occurs at the terminal point of an individual organism’s life. In nature, organisms do not adapt to have perpetual, permanently self-sustained lives. Their lives are of a span that takes them to the point that they’d be most likely to procreate, then perform whatever actions are necessary to ensure the success of their progeny.

In reality, the opposite of life is destruction. It’s not just the opposite of life, it’s the opposite of creativity.

As life continues onwards, organisms develop in increasingly complex, creative ways that suggests a certain guidance that is not accidental. As one considers this, one can appreciate that the Christian religion teaches that God made humanity in His own image. Of all the terrestrial creatures that we’ve yet discovered, humans are the most creative.

Standing in opposition to creativity is the forces of wickedness, which tend to destruction. The forces of destruction have an adversarial relationship to anything creative in any form, and the closer that one’s mind is to the core of wickedness, the more absolute that one is in their determination to destroy.

I have no reservation in calling those who I take issue with by their virtues: they are evil. Those who are evil hate creativity, hate creation, hate freedom to create, hate planning, hate procreating, hate expression, and even hate all forms of art, literature, music, and any other form of expression that doesn’t fit their own narrow band of preferences. But if their tendency towards evil were to be taken to its natural conclusion, they’d eventually want to destroy those, too.

The forces of evil are seldom completely evil. Their thirst for destruction does clash with their own self-preservation. The fact is, evil is able to survive for a time, by simply imitating what’s been proven to be effective, as far as they can perceive its benefit to themselves.

Sam: Don’t orcs eat, and don’t they drink? Or do they just live on foul air and poison?
Frodo: No, they eat and drink, Sam. The Shadow that bred them can only mock; it cannot make: not real, new things of its own. I don’t think it gave life to the orcs, it only ruined and twisted them, and if they are to live at all, they have to live like other living creatures.

Sam and Frodo, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

While all living things imitate to an extent, the forces of evil are disproportionately reliant on it, for their own lack of capacity to create, and inflexibility of mind to adapt.

“I don’t care that they stole my idea… I care that they don’t have any of their own.”

Nikola Tesla

If you’ve been following this blog for a while, you might have gotten the idea that I tend to favor the creative when it comes to disputes over sensibilities. I’m a Freedom-of-Expression kind of guy. A world where expression is not stifled is the kind of environment where humanity can be allowed to develop to it’s fullest.

Creativity does have its enemies, however. And they’re evident in what they do. It’s easy to think of examples off the top of my head, but I think they’ll be evident to most people if they were to take a moment to think of them in terms of what they accomplish.

A lot of people out there have their concerns about Rings of Power, which is coming to Amazon Prime Video. I agree that when intersectionality is ram-rodded into a creative work it jeopardizes the quality of the work.

But as I see it, there’s another problem: To a hammer, everything looks like a nail. There are people out there whose minds are so trained to see intersectionality poisoning their entertainment, that they’ll take even the slightest sign of intersectionality as a sign that a work is turning into a dumpster fire.

While intersectionality is problematic, not every apparent virtue-signal of diversity and inclusion is a deliberate move in the culture war.

Is it the case for Rings of Power? It’s kinda looking like it. But if Middle Earth ends up disappointing fans, there are other fantasies out there. Perhaps, if you feel inclined, you can express your own creativity, and share a fantasy of your own with the world.

“My apologies, Captain Slavin. I forgot not everyone is able to appreciate art as I do.”

Grand Admiral Thrawn

TWAT News: Ex-Pat Bombs as Chinese Olympic Skater

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If you’re among those insistent that fail can’t be epic, there are many examples to challenge your position. Among these being one presented by Chinese figure skater Zhu Yi.

Zhu Yi is a Chinese Olympic figure skater, and as such, she’s under a lot of pressure to perform exceptionally, as the performance of Olympic athletes has long been considered a matter of national pride.

Especially so for Zhu Yi, the daughter of Chinese immigrants, who changed her name from Beverly Zu and renounced her U.S. citizenship to defect to the Chinese Communist Party, turning her back on the abundance that a free market has to offer in favor of the strictures of Communism.

To illustrate the providence of communism, here is a photograph depicting the monthly food ration of a Polish citizen in the mid-80s:

Zhu thought she could bring honor to her communist dystopia by representing them on the global stage. But that didn’t work out, as during her performance, she fell and hit a wall, then later fell over again. She ended up coming in last for the entire competition.

Because Zhu is so fond of changing her name, perhaps it would be fitting for her to change it again to Wah Waaah.

As bad as all that was, the difficulties are only beginning for Zhu. The Olympics are such a matter of national pride for the Chinese that if a Chinese athlete were to win any less than a gold medal, they are made to issue a public apology. After that, they tend to have difficult lives from that point on.

I suppose the nice guy thing to do would be to pity her, if the nice guy were to forget that she turned her back on her country and went commie.

After her failure, the phrase “Zhu Yi has fallen” started trending on Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter. That is, until the hashtag was censored. Commies gonna commie.

If you don’t want to end up on That Was Actually The News, you’d be safer if you don’t fail hard while representing your new country, especially after turning your back on your old one.

Democrat Governor Caught Sending Federal Covid-19 Relief Funds to BLM

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The Coronavirus epidemic, and especially the lockdowns that came along with it, really didn’t tickle. People were ordered to remain in their homes, which really sucked for those of us who wanted to make a living. People were ordered to wear masks in public, which really sucked for people who like fresh air.

Making matters worse was the riots caused by BLM, colloquially referred to as Burn Loot Murder, which really sucked for those who wanted to avoid violence and property damage.

So, you can imagine the outrage when it was discovered that Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker had provided $300,000 in funding directly to BLM. The kicker? This money was funneled directly from federal Covid-19 relief funds.

While that already sounds like a kick in the teeth, it gets even better when you understand that part of the intention behind the Covid-19 relief concerned “the increased potential for violence in underserved and disproportionately impacted communities.”

So naturally, a Democrat that received funds that were intended to help deal with violent crime under the pretense of Covid relief had allocated those funds to a bunch of violent terrorist extremists operating under the pretense of racial justice.

There comes a point where it’s no longer fitting to call someone “incompetent”, because it’s much more apparent that there’s malice involved. What else does one attribute to Pritzker’s use of the Covid-19 relief funds, which is like receiving the gasoline needed to fuel his family’s automobile, but instead throwing the same gasoline directly into a housefire?

Apparently, the Coronavirus Apocalypse is over, because governors can now afford to spend Covid-relief funds on stupid bullshit.

George Soros, Do You See What I See?

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As surprising as it may seem, George Soros, who has long been viewed as a sort of boogeyman by the political right, is surprisingly candid when it comes to the threat posed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

See for yourself:

The tweet was screen-grabbed, in case something were to happen to it. Here is a link to the tweet, which will work if the tweet is still active.

If you’ve been following my writing, you know that my viewpoints don’t always align with Soros. I actually view many of the conspiracy theories revolving around him as ridiculous, because they are. Soros is a donor to various left-wing causes, and is only different from most such donors for the concentrated attention that he specifically has garnered. He’s probably actually enjoying it.

Soros has just joined the growing list of influential individuals who are critical of the CCP. While his perspective may be different from that of many of us, considering that he views matters from the perspective of a wealthy and highly-successful investor, that doesn’t mean that his views aren’t valid.

The fact is, the CCP is a huge threat to the culture and freedoms of peoples around the world, and using their wealth, the CCP has succeeded in purchasing influence from prominent and unprincipled individuals. The CCP is currently engaged in the jailing of political dissidents, not to mention the genocide of Uighurs within their borders. In spite of this, the 2022 Winter Olympic games is scheduled to commence within their borders this Friday.

I know I might seem like I’m laboring the point, but when a fascistic regime is committing a literal genocide that is recognized as such by the international community, the same regime should face harsh consequences, rather than be rewarded with the honor of hosting the flipping Olympic games.

It bears pointing out that the CCP is not even the legitimate government of China. The government of Taiwan is China’s legitimate government. There was once a civil war over the land of China. The communists succeeded in taking the mainland, but China’s legitimate government remained in Taiwan. When you understand this, you understand why the CCP obsesses over the island of Taiwan.

Because Taiwan is geographically close to China, one may wonder why the CCP doesn’t just take it. For one thing, Taiwan is protected by it’s own highly-advanced armed forces. What’s more, Taiwan is protected by a pact between the United States and Japan, who agree that in the event that Taiwan is attacked by the CCP, both countries would repel the attempted invasion. The CCP likes to pretend that such a pact doesn’t exist.

Currently, the CCP is working around-the-clock to undermine worldwide stability for its own benefit. This includes engaging in psyops in an effort to erode the cultures of rival countries. Personally, it wouldn’t surprise me if the woke or gender-confusion movements were a product of Chinese psyops, considering that the CCP strongly encourages traditional masculinity among its men.

The CCP has been behind the Confucius Institute, which has been undergoing changes in branding in an effort to evade detection. The Confucius Institute is so zealous, that it actively monitors Chinese students attending American colleges, and in some cases attempting to discourage them from participating too heavily in American culture.

If one is going to take opposition to the CCP to its conclusion, then a person is going to come to be at odds with the Biden administration at some point along the way. After all, the Biden family has had a considerable investment in a CCP company, which they did as bad a job of keeping secret as they did with Hunter Biden’s drug-induced escapades. Even now, the Biden administration prefers to punch down at Russia, a large country with an economy the size of the state of New York, because Russia’s activities threaten the Biden family’s investments in Ukraine.

If trends are to change for the better, the western world needs to make drastic changes, fast. As far as this goes, there’s reason to be optimistic, as the CCP’s threat has escalated to the point that an influential individual like George Soros is speaking up about them.

Even if you’re not fond of the guy, it can still be appreciated that he’s speaking up about a threat that’s been doing a terrible job at masking its malice as of late.

Review: Pokémon Legends: Arceus

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On the timeline that we are currently on, GameFreak outsourced development on a Pokémon game to another developer, and then released a different Pokémon project just months later, in the cold of winter. And what’s more, this new Pokémon project blows everything that they have ever done clear out of the water.

No one expected this. This is the franchise that’s almost as famous as Madden for playing it safe. Since it’s inception, the Pokémon franchise has stuck to typical formulae for their releases, which have come to the point of being yearly installments where the most recent would be considered the definitive edition, and remaining current on the franchise required purchasing a new installment every year.

As Pokémon Legends: Arceus shows, GameFreak is willing to give a fresh take on a franchise that’s been regarded as among the most conservative. In fact, so much has apparently been poured into this one, that it’s more than a willingness, it’s a passionate desire.

Pokémon Legends: Arceus (hereafter Legends) takes place in Hisui, which is the Pokémon world’s region of Sinnoh as it would have been in centuries past (Sinnoh being inspired by the real-life location of Hokkaido). In this period of time, the people of Hisui are relatively few in number, and largely view the Pokémon creatures themselves as dangerous, and with some amount of suspicion. But then the main character comes along, and joins the Galaxy Team, a group of outliers that capture Pokémon and study them in their habitats.

As for how the main character got there, that could probably be called a spoiler, even though it happens at the game’s outset. However, it carries potentially huge implications for the Pokémon franchise’s branching timelines. In fact, the Pokémon community is already buzzing with speculation as to the impact that events in Legends would have in the continuity of Pokémon’s multiverse. So no, it’s not just some banal story about a kid from a small town collecting badges from gyms.

In Legends, the main character sets out on expeditions, where he (or she) catalogs data on a proto-Pokédex for Galaxy team. As you control him, he wanders freely about in one of the game’s immense open areas. I admit that I was a little concerned about this, as Pokémon Sword and Shield’s wild areas seemed like they’d be sprawling in early materials, but turned out somewhat small in the final game. Legends’ many areas may not be interconnected in the same way as in Breath of the Wild, but Legends’ wild areas are so huge in size that you’ll hardly feel confined. Not quite BotW, but the feel is almost the same. Better still, the Pokemon characters and other interactables such as trees and pick-ups are drawn from a considerable distance, which is another huge improvement over Sword and Shield.

Legends may not be the hyper-edgy game that some fans might be making it out to be, but it does have a bit of edge to it. Noticeably, there’s a connotation of danger from the Pokémon themselves. Pokémon can actually attack the main character, and if he takes too much damage at a time, he’ll be rescued, but lose a few items in his inventory. Players can capture Pokémon by throwing Pokéballs at them, though if they notice you first, that might not work. Even then, it’s still an option to send out a Pokémon, and battle the wild Pokémon one-on-one.

Except, it’s not always one-on-one. If there are other Pokémon nearby that notice you, they might join in and gang up on you. Interestingly, during battles, you can use the left control stick to reposition your character. Considering that it’s possible to take damage from being in an attack’s area of effect, it’s not a bad idea to stay out of the way. Adding to this is that the battle takes place on-location, rather than in some generic battle environment.

Over the course of your adventure, you’ll come across some Alpha Pokémon which, if you were to attempt to battle them, might give you a hard time. But if you can catch one, it might be a great asset, as they tend to come at a high level, with high stats and great moves. But, they might not obey until you progress in a certain way. My first one was a Golduck, but it disobeyed orders when I tried using it in battle.

Certain Pokémon are encountered as part of the story as “Lords”, which act as boss battles in this game. The battles with them involves avoiding their attacks while attempting to calm them with satchels, but only infrequently do you have the opportunity to use your own Pokémon during the battle. Other Pokémon still are the kind that you befriend, and they increase your mobility when called upon, which is handled in a way that is super-convenient. These can help you do things like cross water and climb cliffs.

One of the best mechanics that I’ve seen involves crafting your own items, which you get the capacity to do on-the-go early on. In most Pokémon games, stocking up involved buying lots of items at PokéMarts, which still remains in a certain way in Legends. However, you can obtain recipes so you can craft items like Potions and Pokéballs from items that you gather while on expeditions, which does a lot to make the expeditions feel really worthwhile.

Legends also brings some welcome changes to battles and Pokémon customization. One is that the Speed stat works differently, giving faster Pokémon opportunity to attack more often, rather than going first in strictly turn-based battles. Pokémon can also “master” moves, giving them the option of use “agile” or “strong” moves, which can offer more or less power and have an effect on turn order. This adds a lot more finesse to battles that was missing from many of the older games, not to mention a new element of strategy. Also, Pokemon no longer forget moves. While Pokemon still select from four moves during a battle, players can customize these moves from learned moves while outside of battle.

I can also point out that Legends is certainly harder than the core titles that Pokémon players would be used to. For a short while after getting started, I was surprised at how durable opposing Pokémon were, and their ability to consistently deal about 50% of my Pokémon’s HP in damage. Even level-grinding didn’t seem to result in as huge an advantage as it would in other RPGs in the franchise. Perhaps there was a change in the formula for damage calculation. Whatever the reason may be, I suspect that players wanting a higher level of challenge from the Pokémon franchise may appreciate Legends.

While many are comparing Legends to Breath of the Wild, I’ve heard others say that it’s more comparable to Monster Hunter. I haven’t played Monster Hunter, but if it’s anything like Legends, I’ve been missing out. But hey, has everyone already forgotten about Skyrim, all of a sudden? Skyrim did a lot to popularize this style of game, too.

In any case, it seems like more games are tending towards the freedom of an open-world adventure. While the story in Legends is linear, the gameplay has a sweet sense of freedom, and is certainly a blast of fresh air, which is something that this franchise has needed for a long time.

For those of you wanting to skip ahead to the score, here you go: Pokémon Legends: Arceus gets a score of 9.5 out of 10.

If you wrote Pokémon off as some nineties fad, then day trading might not be your thing.

The G4 Meltdown

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G4’s attempted return didn’t go so well, as shortly after the brand’s relaunch, hostess Froskurinn went on a tirade about sexism in response to a viewer’s comment.

It’s a bit of a dirty secret among content creators that once you’re big enough, you don’t interact with the audience. Mainly because of stuff like this.

Back when G4 was at its height, it was actually considered a respectable outlet by gamers. I didn’t pay it much mind, considering that I preferred to use the internet to hear the opinions of my peers, rather than have journalists attempt to tell me what they are. But I did have an IRL friend that was into G4, so it was something that I heard of. I didn’t care or notice when they were gone, however. Life goes on.

When commenters were going on about how they didn’t find Froskurinn as attractive as a previous host, this clearly got under her skin, which led up to the explosion. Personally, I suspect that the comments were troll comments. If so, she handled them the wrong way.

When you’re being trolled, you’re not supposed to let them know they’re getting to you, as the usual point of trolling is to get a reaction. An angry outburst was the exact opposite of how Froskurinn should have handled it, as it’s giving the trolls what they want. When Chris-chan was being trolled, it got to the point that trolls suspected that they were being trolled right back, because he consistently handled the matter poorly, often by completely flipping out.

Right now, G4’s ratings are plunging. And I don’t feel bad for them. Attacking your own fans is a bad strategy for content creators. While one might bring up the co-hosts, and how they might not sincerely hold Froskurinn’s views, the fact is, they were right there, clapping like trained seals, playing along to try to avoid being a pariah in the eyes of a dominant feminist, and they found themselves in that position because of a failure to gatekeep.

This matter conveniently comes up just as I’m hearing chatter about how journalists want to try to bring back GamerGate. Why would they want that? Because journalism is in the gutter, clicks are down, people don’t trust them, and they want that enraged engagement that they got from the GamerGate days.

But it’s not going to work, and here’s why: GamerGate was a precursor to the woke movement that’s been around for a while. It may not have been the main catalyst, but it played a huge foundational role. The fact is, GamerGate already happened, and the woke debacle is still ongoing, and has progressed to the point that people are getting sick of it, and is getting public pushback. If another GamerGate were to happen now, it would just be considered another element of the woke movement that people are already sick of.

Trying to bring back GamerGate now would be like trying to ignite an engine that’s already running, and on the brink of failure.

Right now, journalism is in a shitty state. At this point, few people trust them, and journalists are attempting to hang on to viewership with a steady stream of outrage-porn to keep the few they have left interested. That, and they have old people who remember way back when news was their only outlet for information.

They pursued the quick-and-easy, waving off the price that they’d have to pay in the long-term. Now, the time has come for them to pay the price. Naturally, they don’t want to pay it.

The moral of the story is, gatekeep as though your business depends on it. Once someone from one of the many flavors of woke get in, they have a knack for hijacking your brand, and making everything about themselves. Once it gets to that point, it gets hard to remove them in a way that avoids causing more damage.

I wasn’t interested in G4 back in the day, and I’m still not. And if they’re going to lash out at their viewers and go woke, they’re just going to end up with attention that they don’t want. Maybe they’ll go as far as to say that they’ve fallen while on a moral high-ground, as a cynic’s quest typically ends.

Those who die on the hill of their choice, still die.