Pokemon Scarlet Proper Review

Okay, so I have now finished the main three Pokemon Scarlet storylines and I'm about to embark on the post-game or whatever. My main take-away is that I've had fun. I haven't encountered many glitches and the game only shut down on me twice. Overall, the most frustrating thing is, as usual with every Pokemon title aside from Pokemon Legends: Arceus, having massively overpowered Pokemon to travel around with in order to complete the Pokedex. Either the Pokemon you want gets caught by the Quick Ball immediately or you pray you don't make it faint with your first and only attack before peppering it with other Pokeballs.

Speaking of Pokeballs, I enjoy how they float in the air when you're catching Pokemon that were flying or floating. I don't know why the mechanics of that just make me smile, but they do. I am also at the point where I might just sell off all the random Pokeballs in my inventory aside from Quick and Ultra Balls. Doubt I'll use any of them... though I guess they do come in handy for Tera Raids. Much shrugging.

So, I have found a real hatred for the battle music that starts playing when the Gym Leaders Terastalize their Pokemon. It's the same music that was used in Pokemon Sword and Shield for the Gigantamaxing. It's gotten stuck in my head, which is extra annoying as there, of course, aren't any words. I hate it and I hope to never hear it again.

Another aspect of game play that I've had a slight issue with is the Mass Outbreaks. I was expecting them to be closer to the Pokemon Legends: Arceus Mass Outbreaks and Massive Mass Outbreaks where the Pokemon would spawn in a clump and keep spawning until the outbreak was over. However, I've visited four separate Mass Outbreaks in Pokemon Scarlet and this was only the case once. In fact, I was confused by the lack of Pokemon at the Outbreak sites. If it wasn't for the map always being in the corner of the screen, I wouldn't have known I was even in the right place! In Pokemon Scarlet, a Mass Outbreak is over once you've defeated or caught (mostly defeated, let's be real) 100 of the Outbreak Pokemon... for which there is no counter and you basically have to either keep track yourself or just guess. You get four notifications during an Outbreak: 1) You've found the Outbreak of (insert Pokemon here), 2) The amount of Pokemon has gone down, 3) The amount of Pokemon has gone down, 4) The Pokemon from the original outbreak are gone. All on the right side of the screen in rather rapidly disappearing notifications. I would have really liked a counter and really liked not to have to run around waiting for respawns.

My last thing is the Champion Assessment Test you have to take before challenging the Elite Four. Thank the universe for the internet because apparently, the answers you give must be correct or you have to take the entire thing again. And lord forbid your answer to wanting to become Champion is "For fun, I guess." Because it is. I have no real convictions about becoming Champion or not, it's gonna happen because I'm the gamer and I know I can beat the Elite Four no problem... especially with ready access to the internet and my boxes. Heck, I prepped a Sylveon and Tatsugiri to battle the last dude right before I battled him. Easy peasy. Seriously, the fact that I had to take a dumb test three times in order to actually do the battling is stupid. I hate it. Hope it doesn't make another appearance in a Pokemon game.

But anyway, as much as this post is complaining about things, I really have been enjoying my Pokemon adventure. Can't wait to see what's in store for the post-game, and maybe actually finish a Pokedex for once... thanks to my brother-in-law. I will probably be doing more Pokemon Scarlet Image Posts as I finish the game. It's just so pretty and amusing at times.

Scarlet Adventures #4

Just finished the main three storylines! I'll share my thoughts on the game so far in a separate post, cuz this one's just for pics!

I was amused by Stantler's face under that big Terastalizing Jewel

My worst sandwich

I was battling a Team Star Grunt and this Scyther just decided to back me up... ie. Stand there

Scyther getting in the way of the camera

Pretty view

Just liked the Vaporeon animation here, just treading water while I beat it to a pulp.

Age of Legends Overview

Age of Legends by Kelley Armstrong

There are spoilers contained in this overview

 

I really enjoyed Kelley Armstrong’s Age of Legends, surprisingly so. Coming off the Darkest Powers and Darkness Rising trilogies, Age of Legends is a breath of fresh air. It is totally different. Everything from the setting to the trilogy formula is just so different and really, really refreshing. I’m pretty sure I said that Armstrong could do better, and she definitely did with Age of Legends.

Age of Legends has a vaguely medieval but not really geographically set empire. Like, it’s definitely Chinese/Japanese inspired, but that’s not really shoved in your face as far as the actual setting goes. Could really be any medieval-y style society given that most of the time the characters don’t spend anywhere with particular architecture. I mean, the surnames of the clans are all Japanese, but the first names aren’t. The “Empire Born” are also given preferential treatment here and are not white, which makes a change from a lot of this kind of fantasy. Yes, the Moria and Ashyn are white, but they’re just about the only two in the entire trilogy who are. I liked that even though I honestly didn’t think about it until afterward. Also, there’s a poorly explained caste system that basically serves to explain how to tell the good guys apart from the bad guys and Gavril’s sense of honor. Not sure it was strictly necessary, but it was there.

There isn’t really a love triangle, which I appreciated. There’s plenty of relationship drama, for those interested, but it’s really mostly Ronan and Ashyn misunderstanding each other a lot. The whole Gavril-Moria-Tyrus thing is mostly a non-issue as far as the usual love triangle antics are concerned. Moria knows where she stands and who she wants to be with and both men respect her decisions on that score… with gusto is either direction, really. I like that Moria and Gavril are able to go from platonic to vaguely romantic to enemies to platonic again without much in the way of melodrama. Age of Legends had plenty of actual plot drama to keep me engaged.

I’m honestly disappointed we got so little of the Seeker and Keeper power set. In fact, their powers have very little do with anything in the entire trilogy. They don’t rely on them at all and appear to not even know the full extent of their own powers, no one does, not even the elder Seeker and Keeper who trained them. Really, their powers just seemed to be an excuse to give them their animal sidekicks — Daigo and Tova — and to explain the differing personalities of the girls. The sensing of spirits and ability to dispel them barely come in handy until the last book and then only in certain circumstances… Anyway, I was disappointed. Also, what does the Empire do with male twins?

From the Seeker and Keeper stuff, we do get some mention of the Empire’s religion, but again, that’s kept quite vague. The Seekers and Keepers play some role in pacifying real spirits that… are apparently kept in really good shape given we see nothing bad happen apart from the shadowstalkers and occasional possessed dead body. I’m pretty sure the religion some kind of state-sanctioned Buddhism with a Shinto twist, probably, given we’ve got a sect monks mummifying themselves. And, of course, there’s a big emphasis on the filial piety thing. It plays big into Alvar Kitsune’s plans for taking over the Empire… speaking of which…

I also wasn’t very impressed with Alvar Kitsune as a villain. He’s like Lord Voldemort from the Harry Potter books (I said this in my Forest of Ruin review) except he doesn’t fulfill that promise of ultimate menace. I felt nothing as he cleared the way for Tyrus to take the throne there at the end, because honestly, the other princes got zero “screentime” and mean nothing to the reader. Alvar’s downfall at the end was also unsatisfying because as soon as he started chanting upon accidentally killing Gavril, I knew what was coming next… a life for a life. Super obvious. I also really don’t understand how he got shadowstalker spirits into and then out of the children with no one noticing. It doesn’t make any sense, partially due to no one really understanding how his sorcery works at all. Just… Alvar was such a disappointment in the end.

Even though Alvar himself was a crap antagonist, the way he worked in the shadows was actually kind of impressive. His use of rumor and deception on the people of the Empire worked really well. This is where the little-explained caste system really came into play. If you knew that Warrior Caste were the only ones who could legally wield swords, it stood to reason that any publicly acting dude with swords was Warrior Caste and therefore carrying out the will of the Emperor. Using rumor to discredit Gavril, Moria, and Tyrus was pretty well executed, even if I did have an issue with how that plot line was resolved.

I personally would have liked to see more of the fantasy elements explored. We get a good bit with the shadowstalkers and fiend dogs and dragons, but everything else showed up once and disappeared. The fantasy elements honestly almost seem to be there just so the story wouldn’t have to be historical fiction. It’s not a detriment to the story, just, ya know, I like more fantasy in my fantasy.

Age of Legends is definitely a good trilogy and worth a read. The fact that a good portion of my gripes have to do with wanting more out of the world is a good thing, I think. It was well enough fleshed out for the story, but I definitely wouldn't mid stepping back into this world to learn more about it.

Scarlet Adventures #3

I swear this isn't turning into a gaming blog, it's just, ya know, new Pokemon game is taking up most of my attention at the moment. I'm currently reading Victoria the Queen: An Intimate Biography of the Woman Who Ruled and Empire by Julia Baird and Fury's Kiss by Karen Chance in between the gaming. If you'd like, you can see my progress with those over on GoodReads (link in the sidebar). Anyway, on to the few pics I snapped while playing Pokemon Scarlet.

I was amused by this battle angle

Capsakid has a slightly less creepy evolution. Slightly less creepy.

Kind of a pretty view

Gonna have to ask my mom to crochet me this scarf at some stage

Probably would have done this earlier if I'd have realized how dang easy it was

Scarlet Adventures #2

 Pics from my second "full day" of playing Pokemon Scarlet. Enjoy. 😊

Just a Tinkatink being all weirdly bright

 

Tinkatuff, the evolution of Tinkatink

The more sunlight this Pokemon bathes in,, the more spicy chemicals are produced by its body, and thus the spicier its move become.... mmmhmm... definitely its moves...

This just made me tilt my head and go "wtf"

WTF is this fluffy drag queen of a Pokemon?

An attempt to make it look cool

Seriously, the frigging ruffles on this thing

Me, too, Vigoroth. Me too.

AWWWWW... poor puppies.

Scarlet Adventures #1

 Just some cute and random pictures from my Pokemon Scarlet adventure today.

This is my super cute sleepy Maschiff

I am just amused by how Oinkologne shoots Mud Shot out of his tail

Oh hey! I am indeed!

Just an example of the Pokemon noticing me and literally not moving

This thing is evil and Charcadet is a tank

Random, completely unexpected Shiny Marill!

My two new favorites: Finizen and Charcadet

Forest of Ruin by Kelley Armstrong

I really feel like a good chunk of Forest of Ruin drastically slowed the plot and killed the urgency. There’s just so much relationship stuff going on here, and not just romantic relationship stuff. Also, Alvar Kitsune really goes from being this big looming threat to, like, Voldemort in the first couple of Harry Potter books. Like, you know he’s there but he’s not a direct or even an actual threat anymore.

There’s a lot of running around throughout Forest of Ruin that’s essentially tying up the very loose ends from the previous two books. We left Ashyn and Ronan with her grandfather and the revelation that dragons are being brought into this. Moria and Gavril have to deal with their mission from the Emperor, which Tyrus also has to deal with because he can’t just stay put for two seconds if he’s not ill. And then we gotta find the kids — finally — and foil Albar Kitsune’s big giant plans that no one has any idea about… and resolve the various relationship issues at the same time. Led to a very draggy book, to be honest. The sense of urgency from the previous books just up and died.

The resolution to the whole “we must keep Tyrus away from the capital or Emperor Tatsu’s going to be forced to imprison him or whatever” thing was super underwhelming. If it was that easy to just walk up and air grievances in front of the city, why didn’t you do that before? The deal was barely sweetened by the children and the macguffin of a dragon. Honestly, the only other thing gained by that whole runaround was Gavril’s Mom Trauma.

And speaking of Alvar’s plans that could have and essentially did go wrong… he basically turned Gavril against him at every turn. This weird belief in Gavril’s unfailing filial piety above all else is just toxic and annoying… and Gavril reall should have stabbed Alvar before Alvar murdered the princes. Alvar Kitsune is honestly one of the weakest villains I’ve read in a while, and that includes a book I more-or-less hated recently. Every single one of his plans past the Edgewood/Fairview thing just kept failing and barely made sense. It’s like there’s this weird subterfuge he’s trying to pull and it just doesn’t work in world or character-wise.

I can honestly say I’m happy with how the Tyrus-Moria-Gavril “love triangle” worked out. It really wasn’t one and in the end, that’s totally okay with everyone involved. Platonic friendships FTW. I can also honestly say that Ronan’s clearly got baggage and I really disliked how his baggage was handled. Just came off like he was being stupid and completely obtuse half the time. He and Ashyn are going to need what passes for therapy in their world if they end up making it in their long-distance relationship.

Forest of Ruin was overall just alright. Armstrong kind of stuck the landing, but only after a lot of faffing about. I will also say that, after the climax, the ending of the book went straight back to the very slow pace the book had toward the middle, which was frustrating, really. But I guess all’s well that ends well and everyone got their happy endings.

Stay Tuned For Pokemon Scarlet Image Posts