Still Gotta Catch 'Em All: Pokémon Black and White Review

This review was originally written for the ASMSU Exponent.

After hiding it all through high school, we could come out in college, we would no longer be judged. We were finally free. I’m of course talking about Pokémon. On March 6, the ever-swelling number of monsters grew again as the fifth generation of games, Pokémon Black and White, was released. Nearly 15 years after the franchise came to American shores, it storms them once again.

Game Freak has succeeded in making something new out of a tried and true formula. Even longtime veterans will feel as if they’re playing a brand new experience when popping this cartridge into their DS. The games are set in a brand new region, completely populated with never-before-seen Pokémon. In fact, none of the monsters from older generations can be found within the Unova region until after the game is beaten. This makes the game incredibly accessible for new fans, while providing longtime fans with an entirely new challenge.

Part of the game’s brand new experience is the improved in-game story. The games have slowly been developing more involved stories over the years, but the story for Black and White stands tall above those that came before it. The players witness the rise and fall of a mysterious figure known only as N, and fight the most compelling villainous team yet: Team Plasma, a group that seeks to “liberate” Pokémon from humans, though their intentions may not be as benevolent as they seem.

Of course, it would be a disservice to the game to not mention graphics. Pokémon has come a long way from the top-down, semi-isometric graphics of Red and Blue. The world is rendered in a pleasing blend of 3D graphics and 2D sprites. The cities and towns of the Unova region are all visually distinct, and presented in dynamic camera angles that best showcase them. The in-game battles have also received a visual upgrade. In the past, the Pokémon were represented as still images, but now are fully animated throughout the battle.

Even if you fell out of Pokémon over the years, Black and White are worth returning to. The brand new experience makes it easy to catch up with. If you’re in need of a nice distraction over Spring Break, then look no further than these games. The same old formula is as addicting as ever. Just as true as it was in 1998, you gotta catch ‘em all.

Exponent Article: Anonymous and Online

I thought I would start re-posting my ASMSU Exponent articles online at this blog. Enjoy!
-Pat

If you want to see human idiocy at its finest, check the comment section of a news story, a blog or a YouTube video. You’ll be greeted by legions of self-righteous posters, also known as trolls, who’ll not only decry the content of the page, but direct personal attacks at the creator, and perhaps some insults against his or her mother for good measure.

Yet the ironic thing is, these same people would be hard-pressed to say the same harsh words to the person’s face. What drives us to make asses of ourselves behind a computer screen?

Lack of empathy is the perpetrator here. When the only information you have to base a person off is a wall of text they wrote and possibly a still picture, it is all too easy to hurl insults at this straw man built in their likeness. There is no real life contact. There is no tone of voice, facial expressions or gestures that develop this online “enemy” from pastiche to person.

Making it easier is the online disinhibition effect, a psychological term for the anarchic behavior people are prone to indulge on the Internet. Behind walls of anonymity and invisibility, one can feel invincible. The worst thing that can happen on a typical website is banishment, but even that punishment can be sidestepped as simply as creating a new account. There is no consequence when you cannot be seen or found, right?

With inhibitions removed, primal pride and territorial attitude are free to run roughshod. You’d never have to own up to whatever you say, so fire away. Disagree with the actions of Congress? Light up the comment section with a lengthy rant demonizing them as the baby-eating devils you know them to be. A blogger criticizes your favorite TV series? Comment on how he is a complete and total failure at life and should contemplate suicide.

The antisocial behavior that anonymity and a screen provide isn’t limited to the Internet, either. The wonderfully enlightening scrawl on bathroom stalls shows the effect is alive and well in the real world. Even when you know the person, a text message seems like such a safe way to tell someone what you really feel about them. The impenetrable wall of a computer screen makes it all too appealing. Which then begs the question: What does it all accomplish? Nothing, nothing at all.

There is no benefit to Internet tomfoolery. The ironic thing is that most of the people who will make fools of themselves online are rather reasonable, normal-seeming people in the real world. Instead of firing off the ignorance cannon, people should instead think about what they want to insult or argue about. Most of these Internet “conflicts” are petty and only make us look like fools for indulging in them. You may feel mighty as you light up the comment section, but it amounts to nothing more than one moronic drop in a sea of idiocy.

Pimpin' Spider Blend

This year I've been learning Blender through a class at my college. This picture started out as something for an assignment, but ended up evolving into me playing with with textures and fibers. Fun fact, my MacBook absolutely hated me for trying to render this baby out. 

But, enjoy the Pimpin' Spider! Feel free to comment and/or critique.


Pimpin' Spider by ~GodofPH on deviantART

An Introduction to Competitive Pokémon Battling

So you want to be the very best like no one ever was? Getting 8 badges and defeating the Elite Four was only the beginning. There's a whole new challenge out there: Competitive Battling. The Pokémon metagame is one of the largest in the world, with thousands of players worldwide, with National and World Championships held each year. Think this is a challenge you want to take? Then read on, this article will teach you how to get in there and get on your way to winning.


1) Know the Game- They may use the same battle system, but the style of battling in the Pokémon video games and in competitive circles couldn't be more different. Competitive battling is leagues more complex, and must be treated as a different beast. The single best resource for Pokémon battling on the internet is Smogon University, a community with thousands of members all over the world. The website provides moveset suggestions for Pokémon, articles about various techniques and strategies, and much, much more. Study the game, learn the terminology. Knowing is half the battle.

2) Use the Community- Hundreds of Pokémon communities exist on the internet. Any respectable community usually has a forum dedicated to competitive battling. Members will disuss strategies, request critiques on their teams and movesets, and share stories of their own battles. Experience may be the single best way to learn a skill, but this is second best to learn from others' experiences. In addition, you can find a partner or a mentor; someone to help show you the ropes.

3) Ge Out There- As mentioned above, the best way to master something is experience. Whether it be grabbing some friend codes and fighting on WiFi, or downloading a battle simulator such as Pokémon Online or Pokémon Laboratory jump in and start fighting. The battles will be tough at first, and there will be many losses, but every battle is a learning experience. Persist, and before long you can be winning tournaments or burning up brackets at the National Championships.

The secret to becoming a great competitive battler is to persist and to learn. Every fight will teach you about what works, and what doesn't. Don't be discouraged, if you lose, decide what could be improved with your strategy, then hop back in and try again.

External Links
Smogon University
Pokémon Laboratory
Pokémon Online

Hayley Williams Custom Figure

The fiery redhead herself, Hayley Williams!
I thought the Marvel Universe Mary Jane toy was one of the laziest, half-assed attempts at a figure I'd ever seen, and then encountering one in a store made me realize, the hair and clothing were the perfect shape for making a custom of Hayley Williams of Paramore. I'm a huge fan, and it was an incredibly simple job to do. Just some repainting and making a microphone prop out of an old lightsaber toy, and bam!
Comments appreciated!


Hayley Williams Custom by ~GodofPH on deviantART

Pokémon Alignment Chart

Whipped this up over last night and earlier today. It's a D&D style alignment chart done with Pokémon and their Pokédex entries. I hope you like it!

Looking Forward: Forever Speculating

Welcome to a new Pokémon journey.

It all leads up to Saturday. Pokémon Black and White are released this Saturday, but you already know that. You’ve followed the news each week, and even if you haven’t, you probably noticed the countdown ticking down ever closer on the Bulbapedia front page. The games won’t be released stateside until next Spring, but the information floodgates will be opened. We’ll see every single new Pokémon, we’ll know all of the new features, we’ll know the new moves. Forums everywhere will ignite with discussions, praises, and arguments about Generation V. Flame wars like we’ve never seen could be waiting to erupt and burn this side of the internet to the ground.

Some of us will take to our Japanese DSs to play the games straight out of the gate. Another group (myself included), will bore so deep into internet articles on new features we’ll be trapped in a Bulbapedia mine collapse and have to eat our fellow man to survive. Chances are we’ll know everything there is to know about the games before we rip the plastic off of the package. That brings up a question on my end: the information volcano is about to erupt, so what does that mean for a column boasting being about “Outlook and speculation”?

The imminent Japanese release of Black and White may invalidate the purpose of this column now, but that doesn’t put speculation to rest. Black and White are the beginning, not the end. I’ll bet a year’s worth of my college tuition they won’t be the only main series games ofGeneration V. Even if the speculated Ruby and Sapphire remakes never materialize, a Third Version seems as inevitable as death and taxes. Then there is the future of the fandom and the metagame. We have no idea how these games are going to affect how we view the franchise as a whole. Even after we see every new Pokémon and their move sets, we can only guess the effects they’ll have on the competitive battling community until the fights themselves begin.

This is the great thing about this franchise: it has, like the titular monsters, evolved over the years. Notice I said franchise, not just the games. It’s a constant, never ending cycle of change. The experience of being a Pokémon fan is more than playing the games. The experience comes from playing with others, taking part in fan communities, making your own thoughts and theories about it all. I’ve spent the last two months speculating about the games through this column, but I know that I can’t even begin to try to predict what the Pokémon experience as a whole will be like with the advent of Generation V. That’s the beauty of it. The excitement and payoff comes from the journey, not the destination.

So this is my farewell to this column. Originally I had planned to keep going until around the American release of Black and White, but sophomore film classes are dictating other uses of my time, so I’ve decided to end coinciding with the Japanese release date. It’s been a great experience writing for Bulbanews these past few months. I’ve loved reading the feedback, and I even am thankful for my detractors in the discussion threads each week. So I would like to take this opportunity to thank Bulbanews for hosting my column, and thank the readers, for, you know, reading.

Cue the sad music.

I’m not done yet though. I thought I wouldn’t end on such a somber note, so there’s one more article coming from me for this column. Stay tuned next week for the biggest flamewar inducer of them all: Top Ten Lists. YeOldeJacob and I will rank the top and bottom ten Generation V Pokémon after we’ve seen them all. Until then, farewell!

Looking Forward can also be read on Bulbanews.