☆ 007 | Accidental Video/Text

[unkinder]

[Video]

[It's evening, and a video seems to be starting up with a very brief bit of static, along with a muffled voice that keeps cutting in and out.]

...-ori...-n't paw...-he 'Gear-



[By the time the video starts the culprit has clearly assumed a position of total innocence. Who's touching the 'Gear, she's not. You're touching the 'Gear. She's been sleeping this whole time.

There's a heavy sigh and the sound of sheets shifting across each other as the Gear jerks when the person on the other side realizes it's been switched on, and a second later it quickly goes back off.]

[Text]

[A little while later a text appears from the same Gear.]

When I first arrived to this place, I had a certain idea of what Pokémon was supposed to be like. There were only about a little over half a hundred species of Pokémon in total with very few 'Legendaries'. Just as many moves total for them to learn were available. Dark type, Steel type, and Fairy type did not exist. Breeding, evolution via friendship...none of that existed. I found it interesting, then, to note that Psychic type was unparalleled in its power. The only weakness it had was Bug, and there were only three Bug type moves available to be learned. And, of course, you were only allowed to teach your Pokémon four moves at a time. They simply could not learn everything.

There were also far more technical issues with the Pokémon that I knew that I didn't realize until I came here. You could only carry twenty items in total at once. Items had to be stored in the PC to make room for new items, particularly key items that were used frequently.

I encountered many bugs in battle that were potentially game breaking. For example, there is a move called Struggle that a Pokémon would use if all of the PP for its moves had been depleted. It wouldn't be of much use here, since there is room for far too many moves for that to be an issue. But the problem lay in the fact that the move would inherently take on a Normal typing, no matter what type the Pokémon using it was...meaning that if they were in battle with a Ghost type, they would be helpless. The move Rage was useless; the user would immediately become enraged and disobedient after using it, making it unable to use any other move until it fainted. What was more, moves that struck multiple times- such as Fury Swipes- retained the same amount of power for each turn. So, if the first strike was critical, all subsequent attacks would be critical hits as well. Critical hit ratios were also directly related to speed, meaning that a faster Pokemon with Fury Swipes could potentially deal unfairly massive amounts of damage. The same applied to One-hit K.Os. If you were slower than the target, you would never possibly be able to knock them out in one hit.

I wonder how different things would be like in this world if the same, original rules applied? They would certainly be more challenging than they are now. There was far more strategy involved in only having access to four moves at a time during battle, after all.

Comments

[peach_boy]

having only 4 moves would be a little boring dont you think????? but you really said some interesting things! i knew the game but not as much as you do!

[unkinder]

It was the opposite, in my experience. However, the thing here that makes it challenging lies in the fact that you never know what move someone may choose. If a battle continues long enough in the games, you at least know what moves are at your opponent's disposal and can work to compensate.

[peach_boy]

Well... yeah, that makes things really hard. You never know what the other person might have under their sleeve!

[unkinder]

That's also what makes it interesting, isn't it?

[peach_boy]

It is! This world is incredible, don't you think?

[unkinder]

This world tends to have its share of surprises, yes.

[peach_boy]

yeah!! like that egg that everyone got that hatched into a shiny. I wonder where it came from?!?!!

[unkinder]

I doubt we will ever learn the answer to that.

[He's asked his Lunatone just out of curiosity, but she doesn't seem to know either.]

[peach_boy]

Do you think it was... Santa?!

[unkinder]

...no.

[peach_boy]

...aw...

[islandshore]

Sheesh, only two bug moves? And what were they? These days, there's at least some variety. Bug Bite, Megahorn, U-Turn... Can't imagine what it'd be like without them.

But even if this world followed those rules, battles would probably still be in real time, with free movement and open environments. I think the only way it'd ever be just like a video game is if everything got restricted, like what happened when the MISSINGNO. attacked.

[unkinder]

Three, actually. The moves were Leech Life, Pin Missle, and Twin Needle. There was a fourth non-damaging move, String Shot, but those three were the only moves that actually did the opponent any damage.

[...wait.]

What do you mean?

[islandshore]

Well, at least Pin Missile hits a few times, but the others... I can see why it'd be so unbalanced. But aren't most Psychic types still pretty frail? There must've been some way to take them out.

And as for the MISSINGNO., it happened years back. The whole place got all pixelated, Pokémon included, the music turned into this creepy backwards loop, and all the locals acted more like robots than actual people.

[unkinder]

There were a few stronger Pokemon that could match up to them, but not enough for it to really be deemed fair.

So you're saying that MISSINGNO. caused...a glitch?

[islandshore]

Well, good thing dark and steel types came around. I don't know what I'd do without either of those types to bolster my team.

And yeah, it caused a glitch. And there was a second time they popped up, but it wasn't on the same scale.

[unkinder]

I am starting to get used to dark types...though I have yet to acquire any steel.

...What do you mean, not the same scale? What happened?

[islandshore]

I'd definitely give it a shot if you ever have the chance. They're hands down one of the best defensive types out there.

The gears went down for a while, and sometimes the place would wind up pixelated again, but it wasn't as widespread, and there wasn't that creepy music. Still weird, though. I tried catching one, and my items kept duplicating. Wound up getting teleported around, and some of my Pokémon even started using weird moves.

It just wasn't as creepy. More annoying than dangerous.

[unkinder]

I am interested in acquiring a Beldum one day, if only for the Psychic typing.

...When you say "pixelated", do you mean the world literally became so? I'm not surprised such a thing happened when catching it. Apparently that occurred when catching that "Pokemon" due to the glitch it carried anyway.

[islandshore]

It's a good pick, but I'd also recommend Scizor or Lucario if you ever feel like branching out.

And yeah, that's exactly what I mean. Why, were those MISSINGNO. part of the game?

[unkinder]

Perhaps.

And...yes and no. It was a real glitch that was found not long after the games had been out for some time. Some people claimed to be able to catch it as if it were a real Pokemon, but then it would cause their game file to become corrupted.

[islandshore]

Huh. Hope that bit about deleting data wasn't true. How would something like that even work here?

[unkinder]

[...]

The only alternative I can think of would be death.

[Actual death, mind, not what goes on here.]

[islandshore]

[There's a long pause.

Not that it's totally apparent when they're talking through text, but--]

Huh.

Well, apparently the locals can die.

So... maybe the MISSINGNO. have something to do with it.

[unkinder]

[....well.]

Is that right? I wonder why we are the exemption to that rule.

[islandshore]

Beats me, but I can't say I'm complaining.

Maybe it's because dying here would screw up our worlds. Or we might be caught in some kinda weird anomaly, I guess, but that might be a bit too Sci-Fi, even for this place.

[fortunatetoaster]

you don't think this place is weird enough without it bein even more like a video game?

but i guess it might be... interestin kinda? you'd have to strategise a whole lot more. if you were plannin on sticking with battling still anyway

[unkinder]

It seems like this place is constantly trying to outdo itself as far as weirdness is concerned, so...no, not really.

Perhaps one of these days I will propose such a battle to someone and see what happens. Restricting the both of us to four moves each for the duration.

[fortunatetoaster]

man though you could end up against someone who just picks their four strongest moves and keeps usin them

To brute force it, but I guess that's a risk when you battle anyone really

[unkinder]

That wouldn't necessarily guarantee a success on their part. If you know how to use status afflicting/changing moves and use them well, you could easily defeat a Pokemon of nearly any strength.

[infinityunlimitedflame]

Under those rules, the perils of this world would be far more challenging. However, perhaps too challenging for those who are used to things as they are now.

[unkinder]

Perhaps. I suppose it is just stranger to me since I was used to an entirely different system, before.

Personally, I think such restrictions would be a welcome change for competitions. It would make things...more interesting.

[infinityunlimitedflame]

[He thinks for a moment before responding.]

Then perhaps you should try and have a competition with them. Seek out the most worthy and challenge them to do battle under those rules. Or as close to those rules as you can come to in this world.

[unkinder]

[...you know, that isn't that bad of an idea.]

I may just do that someday. It would have to be someone who knew a bit about what they were doing, of course.

[infinityunlimitedflame]

That much is also true. Forcing such constraints upon the ignorant masses would only invite doom.

[unkinder]

That, and it wouldn't be much of a challenge if I could just wipe out the opponent due to the fact that they couldn't handle that sort of battling style.

[infinityunlimitedflame]

Very true. If such a challenge is to be taken, then the opponent must be a worthy one!

[unkinder]

You talk as if you have a good idea of what a worthy opponent would be like.

[infinityunlimitedflame]

Perhaps I do have such an idea.

[unkinder]

Would you care to elaborate?

[infinityunlimitedflame]

I believe that with time, my Pokemon, the Pokemon of Gundam Tanaka, could provide the challenge you seek.

[unkinder]

[Well then.]

Mm. Perhaps if you are in the same area as I am, one day, we could battle and see, then.

[infinityunlimitedflame]

Perhaps indeed.

[unkinder]

You seem confident in your abilities. I trust that the battle would be an interesting one, if nothing else.

[infinityunlimitedflame]

To do battle with the Tanaka Empire and live to tell the tale would indeed be an interesting encounter.

[unkinder]

[What do you know, Nagi's actually smiling a little on the other end of his screen. More of a smirk, though.]

I'm sure.