29/07/2019

Pokemon Y: The Raichu Solo Run


This is it, dear fellow gamers: after Pikachu and Alolan Raichu, I'm now tackling regular Raichu and clearing my unfinished business with the Pikachu line. And in yet another entry, no less! I've seen enough of Pikachu in Gen I to not want to handle him again in that gen; not only is his battling prowess there pretty underwhelming, but cruising Kanto with him again would be boring as heck. Better let him strut his stuff in mellow Kalos indeed, all the more so as he can be recruited before the first Gym!

Since I already have a honest-to-god non-evolved Pikachu solo run under my belt, I had no qualms about letting my kalosian Pikachu cross the evolutionary Rubicon as soon as I got hold of a Thunder Stone. I had even less qualms as he started showing signs of weakness around Ambrette Town, with the Rock Gym being a particularly low point. Only a fiendish combination of Battle Items, avoiding Trainers, the Rocky Helmet, Rock Smash and heaps of luck got me through that roadblock; and as soon as I snatched the Thunder Stone on the outskirts of Cyllage City, I let my Pikachu evolve with a giant sigh of relief.

From then on, it was pretty much smooth sailing, with only the occasional tricky battle here and there to ruffle my slick progression. Regular Raichu's learnset is even more impossibly shallow than Pikachu's and Alolan Raichu's, with the use of the Thunder Stone preventing the acquisition of any new Move through leveling-up. My Move pool was pretty much set at the halfway mark, with Return, Grass Knot, Thundershock and Thunder Bolt; I knew from my experience with Pachirisu that such a Move pool worked quite neatly for an Electric 'Mon, so I had no complains at all.

Since I really itched to pet Raichu a bit in Pokemon Amie, I used the opportunity to test something I had wanted to verify for the longest time, namely if the XP-boosting effect of the Two hearts of affection and the Lucky Egg add up. The answer is: yep, they do add up. Now that's pure insanity! I rushed through the second half of Kalos like never before, skipping tons of Trainers and racking up Gyms like it was going out of fashion. I also finally dared to give many complimentary areas a pass, just to see if I would miss the items they hosted. The answer is: nope, I did not. Only now can I allow myself to admit how much the overabundance of items in Kalos irritates me, and how much I hate going out of my way just to get a crappy Ball or an healing item I can buy by the dozens. I swear that from now on, I'll only make detours to pick up the Rare Candies and Evolutionary Stones.

And with that, I'm done with the Pikachu line for good. What's my verdict, you may ask? Well, good ol' regular Raichu is the best by a long shot, with its one and only Type weakness that makes it superior to his Alolan counterpart and his buffed-up stats that give him an edge compared to his pre-evolution. And talking about this: what was all that fuss about Pikachu not wanting to evolve in the anime because he would get slower in the process? With a speed of 270 at lv.100 without any Nature benefits, my Raichu was crazy fast, and certainly much faster than he was as a mere Pikachu! Ah well, that wouldn't be the first time the anime contradicts the game's lore, now would it? And with those fatalistic words, my work with the series' mascot is done. And also my X&Y adventures for the summer, because I've had my fill of Kalos indeed. I have one more solo run to cover before the 2019 Pokemon Summer Season is over; and then, dear fellow gamers, we can sail together towards new gaming shores!

4 comments:

  1. "What was all that fuss about Pikachu not wanting to evolve in the anime because he would get slower in the process?"
    It's BS, that's what it is. The anime wanted Ash and Pikachu to always remain the same so the anime could keep going in perpetuity and make sense; after all, imagine if Pikachu had evolved back in season 1. That means it would have reached its peak very early, but it's still more powerful than a lot of non-evolved pokemon. At least this way, they can BS and say that Ash's Pikachu is 'special' and come up with other ways to power it up, BUT, also make it weak again by the time the next season starts and everything resets. Because that's what always happens; by the end of a season, Ash has a god-like powerful team, then ditches all those pokemon and Pikachu becomes so weak it has difficulty with first stage pokemon they encounter in the next region. Rinse and repeat for 20 goddamn years.

    I despise the pokemon anime. Yu-gi-oh and Digimon are always exciting to watch because each season has new characters and stories but pokemon, much like its games, is always the same. It's also the most childish, unlike Digimon and Yu-gi-oh that always had dark undertones and in some seasons they go full out with it, and others they just have fun. So those are fun to watch as an adult, wether you're looking for something to lift your spirits or something to actually get invested in. With pokemon, you can just pick 10 random episodes, put them on repeat, and get the same experience.

    There's also the fact that Pikachu's design is so popular so they don't want to let go of it lest it weaken their brand, though I think that's BS in of itself. Raichu is even cuter and more badass than Pikachu, so if it had been allowed to be the main pokemon, I have no doubt that it would be just as loved.

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    1. Raichu is definitely cuter than Pikachu in my book. People would totally have gotten used to it just as easily as they got used to Pikachu. Oh, well.

      I'll tell you what: in my humble yet firm opinion, each Pokemon game should be its own independent entity, with little to no ties to other games in the series. A direct sequel à la Gold&Silver would be acceptable, but don't try to connect all games together like GameFreak clumsily did these last years. Incidentally, anime seasons should follow the same model, with a different cast every time. We wouldn't have the National Dex controversy raging if GameFreak had adopted the Gen V approach throughout the series, with each entry featuring a brand-new and self-contained fauna not reappearing in other regions.

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    2. Raichu's colour scheme alone is too die for. I never liked Pikachu's red cheeks, for example, and how the tip of his ears and the bottom of his tail don't match in colour. And his rounded ears and tail look so much better! With Raichu, everything looks unified, it's all so pleasing.

      And...I really hate to defend GF nowadays, but I remember the reaction when gen V came out,and oh boy. I totally loved it, but others went "REEE WHERE'S MY FAVOURITE POKEMON, ALL THESE ONES SUCKKKKK, LOOK AT THE GARBAGE AND ICE CREAM POKEMON!!!!", and the spin offs that came around the same time (Pokepark 2 and the first mystery dungeon on 3DS) were also equally hated because they mostly had only gen V pokemon.

      Coincidentally, or most likely not, it was after that gen that GF started going hard on the nostalgia pandering we are so sick of today. It was also when all their ambition with things regarding post game was thrown out the window. Compare Black and White to the Ruby and Shapphire remasters, that outright removed the post game content. They also switched from making minor, but needed and persistent changes (poison not damaging you outside of battle, reusable TMs and the option to use a repel as soon as your current one runs out), and went hard on the story and gimmicks instead. A winning move, clearly...

      Gen V was decried as the worst generation for a long time. So while I will still blame GF for being stagnant, greedy, lazy and for the past few months, outright liars, it's not like the majority of the fanbase is innocent on all of this as well. And now we have the worst of both worlds; not only do we not get to have our favourite pokemon, but we don't a fully new set of 120-150 pokemon either. Oh joy!

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    3. That's a fine analysis, my friend. Indeed, the Pokemon series may have evolved (pun totally intended) vastly differently, had the fanbase reacted more positively to Gen V. Oh, well.

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