EWB-Play Along: Pokémon!

[Monkey D. Lars]

I just saw that old topic and I thought, I want to play Pokémon, haven't played that game is ages. Don't know why I didn't because they are great games. So anyone up for another Play-Along? And because Ollie's description was great I will post it here

If you think about it Pokemon are really, really weird. They look weird, they sound weird, they live in spheres 1/10th of their actual size, they do magic (I think, kind of, I have no idea), and Ash Ketchum's philosiphy of "Gotta Catch 'Em All" is somewhat redundant when you consider the fact he doesn't even bother trying to catch half of the shit he comes across. I mean honestly now, he's had long enough (dude's gotta be in his late twenties by now, surely), in theory he should be able to run his own sweatshop with the amount of Sandshrew's he didn't bother catching. There was also that one called Seel, which was a Seal, and that was just kinda lazy, and it evolved into a Dewgong, which was a Dugong, which is actually a whole different species, which brings forth lots of ethical and exestential questions. So yeah, in a nutshell, Pokémon was weird.

Although as weird as it was, it also brought forth some of the best games ever created (and some classic jokes, such as the timeless 'Why couldn't Ash see Brock? Because it was Misty' or the ever hilarious 'Why did all the cutlery stick to Ash? Because he had a Magneton'), I can still remember sitting in my porch (!) with my friend busting out our duelling copies of Pokemon Blue and Red with the old connector thingy that allowed you to trade pokemon. I wasted hours of my life on Pokemon Blue, and I still have my save game where I own all 150 pokemon (fuck Mew, actually no, I think I got Mew somehow. Still, fuck him), and even though every single game is pretty much exactly the same just with different town names and weirder creatures, it's still damn good fun to bust out for an hour or two.

So yeah, it's a great game, but there's plenty of other great games out there, why aren't we playing them instead of this? Well, it's simple, it'd be really, really dull to do an EWB play-along for something like Metal Gear Solid or Gears of War, I mean yeah, they're great fun but they're just way too linear, there's no diversity, no difference in each time you play and although it'd be great fun on your own, a mass play-through would bring forth no discussion, no "shit, what should I do guys?" moments and pretty much no mass fun. Even a game like GTA, which is as big as it is clever would be kinda dull for an EWB play-through, because we all know that as soon as we found a rocket launcher or a flame thrower or even one of the fabled double-ended dildos we'd get sidetracked with beating the shit out of townsfolk instead of actually doing anything strategic.

It's why we've kept to Final Fantasy games every time we've attempted one of these. Everyone will have different parties, everyone will choose different classes or materia combinations or routes on the sphere grid (although each and everyone one of us would junction 100 Tornado spells to our STR stat, because hey, nobody likes a challenge), and everyone will be doing something different. We'll all be playing the same story, the same game and the same universe, but it'd be diverse enough to actually have some fun whilst doing it. And you can times that by about 1000 when playing Pokemon because instead of having the choice between six guys, you've got the choice between 150, and although the story isn't as engaging and it's a lot shorter, there's potentially a hell of a lot more to discuss.

But enough with the oversized introduction, lets all twist our baseball caps 180 degrees whilst that weird anime flash thingy goes in the background. Let's all pick Charmander because he's made of fucking fire. Let's all go and collect eight badges and beat the shit out of that snot nosed punk Gary (awesome name for a main antagonist, btw, no name in the English Baby Book strikes more fear than Gary) so we can all become pokemon masters.

EWB, I choose you for a Pokemon play-through!

So my question is: Anyone up for a 2012 version? You can choose you're own generation!

[tenaciousg]

I've been mulling around doing a SoulSilver run, so sure, I'm in.

[Benji]

I was thinking of exactly this the other day. What game? I'm thinking Kanto will probably get the most people involved, but I'm also an absolute sucker for Johto and Emerald in Hoenn.

[Monkey D. Lars]

Yeah I had that in my mind to, doing the classic Gold/Silver to beat RED at the top of MT. SILVER

I don't mind which we game play

[tenaciousg]

I've got Ruby, FireRed, SoulSilver, and Black. As long as it's in any of those four generations, I'm fine.

[MGW]

Ye I've got LeafGreen, Ruby and Sapphire, Diamond and Black. So I'm good with any of those versions

[Monkey D. Lars]

I don't mind if we do Kanto, Hoenn or Johto

[Dave T]

I'm up for this. Don't mind which gen.

[Monkey D. Lars]

Let's start with Pokemon FireRed/LeafGreen

[Nerf]

I was thinking about this the other day too, weirdly. Even downloaded the ROM again, but closed it when I got to Oak's parcel from the Mart because I had to shoot out. I'm game, but only for red/green. I liked gold/silver/crystal but I'd want to play 1st gen to get back into the swing of things.

[Plubby]

Could also just do Bring Your Own Generation, where we all play whatever we're up to playing.

[mystikz]

pfft should play a gen 4 or gen 5 game and then people battle after gyms.

heart gold/soul silver could even be used.

just stop after every gym and post progress and or battle other ewb'ers.

[SRN]

Fuck it, it is nostalgia. If I can tear myself from X-COM: UFO Defense for a while, surely, I'll partake with FireRed.

[tenaciousg]

Could also just do Bring Your Own Generation, where we all play whatever we're up to playing.

That seems to be the best, especially considering how open the Pokemon series is. Besides, I started a game of SoulSilver last night and named my starter CHIKARITA,

[stephenbutler]

Anything to do with Pokemon, and I'm in! I have at least one game from every Gen, so any are good...but I'd be happiest with Kanto or Hoenn.

[Monkey D. Lars]

Could also just do Bring Your Own Generation, where we all play whatever we're up to playing.

That seems to be the best, especially considering how open the Pokemon series is. Besides, I started a game of SoulSilver last night and named my starter CHIKARITA,

I thinks that;s the best idea, that way people can also play more than one generation and it would get the most people in.

I started with FireRed and choose Bulbasaur as my starter. Don't know the rest of my team yet. Playing on a emulator speeds up the training though.

[Millsybeast]

Is this happening right now or a certain time? Also do you post here or somewhere else?

[Monkey D. Lars]

Just play a pokémon game whenever you want and you can post your progress here in this thread.

I will be getting either SoulSilver or HeartGold next week. Want to play in the Johto region badly again.

I am ready to battle Misty! Should be a easy with a Ivysaur lv 21 and a Pikachu lv 20

[Berober]

Fire Red sounds like the way to go for me too, plus cause I'm playing it on my phone, there may be screenshots

[NobBe Nobbs]

When I get back home and have access to it, I'm going to give Pokemon Black another run through.