tegan

(the joke is that Persona 4 frequently tests players on their knowledge of Japanese cuisine, history, and literature; along with deliberately misleading or esoteric trivia questions. I still love them for it though)

"Pay respects."

Sunrise, sunset.

I loved the bizarre mashup of promo spots at the end of the cast. You guys seem to be part of the same ad network that does Bombcast ads. Does that mean that next week you'll be telling us about Crunchyroll?

I think it might have something to do with how hard the software is pushing the hardware. Smash Bros. doesn't let you use Miiverse at all. Either way, it's disappointing. I just caught a shiny Taillow! That didn't take long at all.

Okay, I love the way this game opens with your character watching the intro to the original game on their Pokénav.

I need a little help. Are there any current Idle Thumbs or Giant Bomb deals going on for Squarespace or Hover? Also, does Squarespace also handle hosting or would I need both services if I wanted to use a Squarespace template thing? (I'm making a portfolio thingy)

I really love that Dan Ryckert is watching anime now, and that his response to Akira was "a man's flesh filled a football stadium and crushed a lady because he was jealous of Canada's bike." I would legitimately enjoy the hell out of some premium Danime podcast or something. Also, the next thing on his list is apparently Redline, which is exactly the anime I would recommend to Dan Ryckert.

I woke up early and can't get back to sleep and my download code showed up while I was asleep (I tried Nintendo's digital predorder system) so I'm downloading Alpha Sapphire right noooowwwww.

You can trade more or less immediately in X/Y, so I don't imagine it would be any different in OR/AS.

Apparently Nintendo really doesn't like people referring to Pokémon as Pocket Monsters ever since the Monster in My Pocket guys tried to sue them. You get to Anville Town by riding the subway from Nimbasa City! There's not much of interest there though. I always wanted to put Galvantula on a team. Gen V had the best bugs.

I mainly enjoyed it because it had a really good mixture of classic and new Pokémon available right off the bat (my final team was Samurott, Leavanny, Arcanine, Swoobat, Lucario, and Magnezone), a really fantastic worldmap (seasons and almost no HM requirements!) and because there was a ridiculous amount of postgame content (literally half of the map isn't accessible until after the E4). I dumped a ton of time into it, much more than I did in the first Gen V games, which I didn't particularly care for. Oh, and Roxie's gym being a hole-in-the-ground nightclub with dynamic music was just the best goddamn thing.

OH MY GOOOOD

Very easy! You can just go online and trade for a Meowth.

Noted hate group/Orson Scott Card pet project The National Organization For Marriage is finally collapsing in on itself. Hooray!

OKAY SO All Pokémon belong to either one or two groups, called Egg Groups, which determine potential breeding partners for viable offspring. A Pokémon left at the Daycare with another Pokémon of the opposite sex and the same Egg Group can produce offspring, while a Pokémon left at the Daycare with a Pokémon of the same sex or a different Egg Group cannot. The sole exceptions are Pokémon that belong to the "Undiscovered" Egg Group (mostly Legendaries, which are supposed to be one-per-game type deals) and Ditto, which can breed with anything except for Pokémon in the "Undiscovered" Egg Group or other Ditto, hence the confusion about where Ditto come from. When two Pokémon from the same Egg Group but of different species breed, the species of the resulting offspring will be determined by the mother. The primary purpose of breeding within Egg Groups (as opposed to just breeding everything with Ditto) is to pass down certain select attacks that the father can learn, but the mother ordinarily cannot. This allows for offspring to have normally unlearnable moves, and even to chain moves across multiple species. Pokémon can also pass down their Ability Slot. All Pokémon have a single passive skill called an Ability pulled from a pool of one to three potential abilities, determined by the species: two normal abilities and one "Hidden" Ability not normally available in the wild. The mother in a breeding pair has an 80% chance to pass down its Ability (or, if the offspring changes Ability by evolving, it has an 80% chance to be born with the Ability that will eventually change into its mother's Ability when it evolves). A Pokémon with a Hidden Ability has a 60% chance to pass it down when bred with Ditto. Additionally, all Pokémon have a sort of genetic code determined by six hidden variables called "Individual Values" or IVs. Each one corresponds to one of the six stats (HP, Attack, Defense, Special Attack, Special Defense, and Speed) and has a value from 0 to 31. A Pokémon with a Speed IV of 31 has the potential to be the fastest possible Pokémon in that species, while a Pokémon with a Speed IV of 0 has the potential to be the slowest. 3 IVs chosen at random from a breeding pair will be passed down to any offspring. For instance, a baby may inherit the value of its mother's Speed IV and the father's HP and Defense IVs, with the other three being chosen at random. Inheritance can be affected by making one parent hold an item called the Destiny Knot, which forces the parents to pass down five IVs instead of just three. IVs are never clearly spelled out to the player, but they can be determined through certain means: the short descriptive characteristic on a Pokémon's summary page ("Likes to run," "quick tempered," "somewhat vain," etc) is determined by its best IV and the value of that IV. Additionally, there is an NPC in the game who will judge your Pokémon's "potential," giving you a rough mean average of its IVs, letting you know which IV is highest and a rough idea of how high it is, and telling you if any of its IVs are 0. There are legitimate reasons to want a 0 in a certain IV, but I won't get into them here. The last thing that can be inherited is a Pokémon's Nature, the one-word description of its personality on its summary page ("Modest," "Lonely," "Sassy," etc). This is actually an indication of a combination of two stats that are being given a 10% buff to growth and a 10% debuff. eg: a Modest Pokémon will have 10% higher Special Attack than normal, but 10% lower Attack. You can see which stats are being affected on a Pokémon's stats page: a stat written in blue text is getting debuffed, a stat in red text is being buffed, and a stat in black text is growing normally. If all stats are in black text, your Pokémon has a nature that is actually buffing and debuffing the same stat for a neutral result (Hardy, Docile, Serious, Bashful or Quirky). A Pokémon holding the Everstone item is guaranteed to pass down its Nature to its offspring. So through dedication it's possible to breed a Pokémon with ideal Egg Moves, Ability, IVs, and EVs to create Pokémon much more naturally powerful than those in the wild. From there it's a matter of raising them: the final factor of a Pokémon's stat growth is another set of variables called "Effort Values," or EVs, which are gained whenever a Pokémon participates in a battle, participates in the "Super Training" minigames, or is given certain items; with the stat into which the EVs are applied determined by the type of Pokémon being battled, minigame being played, or item being consumed. Pokémon can gain up to 510 EVs total, with a cap of 252 EVs in any given stat. So basically, for absolute minmaxing, you could breed a Pokémon to have a Speed IV of 31, a Nature that gives a 10% buff to Speed, and then put 252 EVs into its Speed stat through proper training. This would make it the absolute fastest possible member of its respective species. Personally, I like to breed for perfect Pokémon, then use those as parents to breed perfect Shiny Pokémon -incredibly rare pallet-swapped Pokémon with a 1/4096 appearance rate (formerly 1/8192)- because I'm some kind of goddamned lunatic.

Yes. (now ask me about Pokémon breeding!)

The finale of the first arc of Lumberjanes came out today! So gooooood.

I made soy dijon chicken thighs with sweet potatoes: It was goddamn delicious. Recipe here.

Short answer: skip all the old games and go straight to Pokémon Omega Ruby when it comes out on Friday (it's one of the few games Nintendo allows you to download at midnight, even). My personal favourite in the series is Black 2, but the servers for all the DS-era games have been shut down and I'm fairly confident that the new games are going to be a more complete experience than X/Y, the most recent games. Turn the text speed up to maximum, turn the 3D off because it's terrible, and get ready to deal with a somewhat dated and clunky UI. Consult Bulbapedia when you think you need help (like if you're not sure what a certain ability does or why one of your Pokémon isn't evolving), battle and trade with Danielle at your convenience. If you're having trouble with a particular area or boss, swap some of your Pokémon out or give them new attacks and items instead of just grinding. Keep this type matchup chart handy until you internalize it: Long answer: So Pokémon is a weird game, because it's really more like two games: there is the friendly, approachable veneer of "you're a kid in a fun world full of cool monsters" that the games sell themselves on; and then there is the crazy hardcore underbelly of competitive Pokémon that the games gently hint about and nudge you toward without ever actually spelling it out for you. Competitive Pokémon requires a lot more dedication, but is a more satisfying experience with the potential for much more dramatic styles of play. I'd say that the best way to approach it from a newcomer's perspective would be watching replays of matches on Pokémon Showdown, a popular battle simulator that's easy to set up and gives a bit more visual information about what's going on than the games do, and reading articles on Smogon (like these slightly dated but still fairly comprehensive articles from the previous generation of games). I also recommend viewing -in which Korean player Se Jun Park used a team built around a weak, obscure Pokémon to take the title- to see how a clever strategy and being able to get into your opponent's head will take you further than just picking the strongest attacks. I do a lot of Pokémon breeding and have a complete Pokédex and a fairly comprehensive knowledge of the game's mechanics, so PM me if you're interested in learning more about high-level play, or if you just want me to breed you a Pokémon to add to your Pokédex or team.

Nope, sorry. So regarding Jake's questions about how you can do a Pokémon remake: each set of games is set in a different region with its own Team Rocket equivalent, NPCs, music, regional Pokémon, and potential gameplay features that might be dropped in later generations. The original Ruby and Sapphire were set in a balmy, volcanic coastal region and had a few elements that were eventually dropped from later games, like the beauty pageant-esque "Pokémon Contests" or the greater importance of the Bicycle. Everything is coming back for these remakes. Also, Pokémon East Virginia/West Virginia (or whatever) could totally be a thing. The regions are always based on real-world locations even though they never spell it out. The one Danielle's playing is based on Kyushu. Other games have been based on Kanto, Kansai, Hokkaido, New York, and northern France.

They think that the all-female future society presented by the game is supposed to be a "post-feminist dystopia," because these are still the kind of idiots who think that feminism wants to kill all men.