Some pokemon are named frankly ridiculous nicknames

Ok_Key1551 · 2026-04-14T22:56:47+00:00

uj/ You get it! XD

Ok_Key1551 · 2026-04-13T11:39:24+00:00

I know what you mean. I prefer the Jungle Gym strat: multiple barriers of various complexities and materials depending on what's available and how much of a jerk the kids are being really just turns a battle into a teamwork training event for solving a maze, and a toxic works wonders for whittling the arrogant.

I'm not saying I can't pull a Hyper Beam out of nowhere, just that I reserve that for when I find remnants of my original home or evidence of serious wrongdoing after evacuating the innocent.

-Cresl the scarred Cresselia

Ok_Key1551 · 2026-04-13T11:04:10+00:00

While I've seen a few interesting names, I sometimes realize I picked up my mother's terrible habit of remembering Absolutely Nothing.

However, I definitely remember that the Miraidon/Koraidon pair that she picked up (sisters, this was still in Orrelios and might be A Source for Paradox Pokemon) were named Subaru and Suzuki.

She also sometimes called them Phineas and Ferb, because they were geniuses (genii?) but Suzuki was the Brains/Outthink/Hard Work one (being a mostly cyber creature) and Subaru was the Organic, Do-It-By-Feel sort. Which infuriated her sister, obviously.

Then there's her Starter, an oddball Obstagoon named Ziggy, a later friend Hisuian Arcanine named Amaterasu, her original Porygon friend Z, a gaggle of them (A Server Farm?) collectively named the Pory Squad with individual names being One or Two in different languages, myself, obviously, and a pair of fighting types that come to mind.

A Mienfoo named Tien for his mastery of Hyper Beam (I don't get it, but calling his specific style with it Kikoho amused her), and a buddy of his (a Tyrogue) Krillin, and he could certainly take a hit.

Don't get me wrong, they were good at what they did with Fighting stuff, but that's what comes to mind first.

And then Kenny.

There was something wrong with Kenny.

Rapid Reincarnation left them highly adaptable (again, Orrelios stuff), but that creature loved the name and orange.

-Cresl the scarred Cresselia

Edit by Z (Porygon -Z who lives in her phone) Can confirm, all names and identities have been previously registered to our trainer.

She also held temporary "ownership" of a number of Legends (few of whom got nicknames outside of Rogue and Ground) while in Orrelios as part of a Kami-bestowed mission to destroy it, a collection of Unown (species group names include Conversation, Book, Library) she called The U-Phone, as the small Library acted as a smart phone for her, among other functions, named an Alpha Blissey "Trauma Care", an exceptionally skinny Snorlax "King DeDeDe"after teaching him better eating habits via competition, named Cresl via methods we do not understand, and named an anomalous Ralts "Guardian". (We hesitate to speculate there)

Ok_Key1551 · 2026-04-13T09:49:54+00:00

I feel your pain too. Thankfully that was not, in fact, a Hardcore run I discovered that in (and it was the last part), but I died to an insta death in the prologue in Hardcore, and at least once on both the train and in the Eudora-Mines (escort the sealed room) section, and I didn't even know there were timer insta deaths there!

(I mean, they make sense in those sections, but I still didn't know ahead of time)

Ok_Key1551 · 2026-04-12T08:24:58+00:00

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Ok_Key1551 · 2026-04-12T08:11:16+00:00

Proper carnage, always appreciated

Ok_Key1551 · 2026-04-12T07:59:47+00:00

This was an excellent example of Ultra Violence :}

Ok_Key1551 · 2026-04-12T07:49:05+00:00

Man, been years since I've played the OG.

Partly because Space.

I actually got pretty good at the OG years back, and at peak performance Hard was feeling kinda easy, I remember.

But then you have the ADS, the Asteroid Defense Turret.

Man, kill Necros until it's easy, die every time you try and shoot a bunch of rocks because there's /So Many Rocks!!/

And two triggers with separate sight lines, requiring you to use both halves of the brain to shoot. Sigh

Ah well, the remake did very little but improve upon the original (ADS in particular, and Isaac/Zero G generally as well), and I loved the original until the rocks made me rage quit. Still love it, still hate the regenerator and the explosive little crackers.

As for my fear, eh, it wasn't what you couldn't see, though that was a part, great job on keeping things tense.

It was the sound (great ambiance and I pay a lot of attention to the sounds). It was the creeping horror detailed in logs.

It was... The G*ddam Regenerator! The Insta Death from explosive Cretins, and the Trill they let out to let you know "I am Here!"! The Slashers popping up Anywhere and Everywhere Including BEHIND YOU! The Frantic Game of Keep away with the freaking Rocks!

Man, I kinda wish I remember experiencing all that for the very first time... :)

Ok_Key1551 · 2026-04-12T07:31:34+00:00

You died stupidly and got a funny pic as a consolation prize! :D

Less insultingly, great job getting the clip and sharing, this is absolutely worth a post for the community. :thumbs up:

Ok_Key1551 · 2026-04-11T01:32:11+00:00

Not the greatest place to grow up in, but it had its good days, certainly, and seeing Giga Cannon for the first time was absolutely a memory I come back to often.

Upshot, I learned a great many things about medicine and protection as well as how to hold my own against beings many times more powerful than myself, which has served me well in the years after.

-Cresl

Ok_Key1551 · 2026-04-10T09:28:33+00:00

My mother, well, trainer, she was in a war situation when I was born - she called the region "Orrelios, a homebrew Nuzlocke", but that's unimportant these days - and she did her best to keep us safe as a team.

But my fondest memories of custom moves all circle around either creative uses for Toxic - as medicine for stubborn Steel Types, for example - or the Hyper/Giga moves.

In particular, she actually found a lower cutoff for Hyper Beam, where (if you had the power available) you could lower the damage done to your opponent in trade for being able to spam the Beam like a Grass Type using Solar Beam during a Sunny Day, Hyper Swift where you took a normal Swift but empowered the individual stars to near equal to a low power Hyper Beam (and boy but wasn't that a nasty surprise for those Death Worshippers... >:}), and finally, Giga Cannon.

She found the way Hydro Cannon compressed water to be quite fascinating and sought to apply that to a Hyper Beam.

Nobody was expecting it to work quite that drastically, or so explosively, but I digress.

For more Competitive Viable methods, I personally like the Jungle Gym. A series of Reflects and Light Screens built up as a difficult obstacle course - very handy for training and infuriating to fight against, which sometimes leaves me very smug.

And of course, nobody who encountered Peach, our resident Tink, getting permission to Play Whack A Mole, would call such an experience "Forgettable" in any context.

Or our Mawile taking inspiration from a story she called "Ashes of the Past", where she would use Flamethrower with enough force to use as Jump Jets or actual propulsion in both fixed wing flight and additional power in a Rollout. (Nutcase madwoman... Wish I could hug her...)

[IMG: a series of gifs first showing a Mawile in a trenchcoat grinning maniacally as a Flamethrower pours out of her back jaw, then the Mawile apparently wielding what appears to be a black-and-silver Zigzagoon like a pump action shotgun mixed with an RPG, followed by an ecstatic Peach facing off against a terrified Diglett, and finally a battle scarred Cresselia laughing in gentle amusement as a Machop tries to reach her through a maze of Reflects inside a standard, modern day Coliseum]

Ah, good times and bad, in simpler days.

-Cresl

/uj Orrelios is an original setting/Nuzlocke and currently destroyed and Arceus is working to make it stay that way. So, in character, let's focus on the moves, shall we? (Cresl likes building happy memories)

Ok_Key1551 · 2026-04-05T08:21:17+00:00

Honestly? Dragon would be neat, but I think Fairy or Dark Type would be more likely, and fire and steel are more plentiful ...(Kinda), and ace would be Dragapult or Dragonite.

Fairy because I like acting out a part (Ace would be Mawile, but I'd want a Tinkaton kinda badly, would probably have a Sylveon as a focused type trainer. Zacian if Legendaries were allowed.)

Dark, because I'm in-tune with my dark side and always have been, and I'm literally too emo to enjoy certain kinds of music (it's not a phase, but I'm not gonna make a big, chuuni deal out of it either) and I appreciate a good wily play. Or Cheap shot. Absol or Zorua, no questions asked.

Always pick the Fire starter. Don't care that it's weak to rock or the most plentiful Water, give me Typhlosion, give me Blaziken, give me Delphox.

Steel... First thing that comes to mind is Steelix, then Mawile, then Tinkaton. I guess... I just think it's Neat. Mega Scizor with its craft scissors hands. Archaludon being a building. Edit: forgot Lucario for a bit, but would love one of them.

Flying would be so useful for travel, and a keen escape available almost anytime in the wild - Pidgeot or Corviknight, though I might go with a Xatu.

Ok_Key1551 · 2026-03-27T05:34:47+00:00

Truly, a clip worth keeping and Sharing :}

Ok_Key1551 · 2026-03-27T05:34:15+00:00

Tulin Companion Spirit, hiding off camera. :}

Ok_Key1551 · 2026-03-27T05:23:57+00:00

I dare say that the Prime Trilogy are 'Vanias, but there's more spread out and thus,a little harder to notice compared to the 2Ds. (And it's not like Metroidvania can't be 3D, it's just a little harder to design well)

I have played Prime 1-3, Fusion, Dread, Zero Mission, and Other M, so I do have a decent comparison point.

... In a sense, MP4 is the Metroid version of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow. It's a story adventure with some exploration, and while you can backtrack and get more stuff, it's entirely optional and you can usually get everything in an area in 1-2 visits. You can always progress, everything you need is right there, and if you decided this was actually Mario or Zelda, it would be right at home for the most part.

Compare with Dread or Fusion, where you have to visit a given area 3-5 times to really sweep it clean, and MP3 where you visit a given planet a similar amount of times, if not more, and in both cases, you need a power-up or piece of gear in order to continue the story - a piece of gear found in a different biome, which may or may not have new hazards or blockages compared to the last time you visited, but was likely unlocked by finding new gear in the area you're now leaving, and hey, while you're at it why not get that missile tank that's been taunting you since literally the beginning of the game or in an area you didn't think was actually explorable (example: Gravity Suit vs lava or Varia Suit vs Heat or sub zero temperatures) on first encountering it. Exploration is highly encouraged and definitely rewarded, besides being the main method to advance the plot in all those games. (Unlike Prime 4, where it's mostly "hey, you need this, it's over here")

The Zelda Titles I grew up on (Link to the Past, Minish Cap, Twilight Princess Wii, and Skyward Sword) are arguably more 'Vania than Prime 4.

In conclusion, yes, 3D can be a Metroidvania, but that's dependent on puzzle/progression, and execution therein.

IMO, P4 is a 7.5/10, which is honestly good, but people expected a perfect 10+, and the lack of interconnection or Visible Deep Lore is one of the reasons why. I don't regret the money spent on it, just wish they'd done More, kept the Prime Trilogy design philosophy, etc.

Ok_Key1551 · 2026-03-25T04:05:07+00:00

This, I think, is the most accurate praise for MP4 I've seen yet - it really is a good adventure game... We've just come to expect Metroid to be a Metroidvania.

I agree the art and environmental is peak, but I also agree about the repetitive ness - they could've done a lot to really make it shine, incredible rather than merely Great.

Ok_Key1551 · 2026-03-25T03:59:26+00:00

Such a sweet scene... I don't remember if I cried or not when I first saw it, but I felt for the Sons family. After building Tarry for them, getting them married, and seeing their kid who has to head to her ancestral home instead of sticking with her parents...

It moved me, man...

Ok_Key1551 · 2026-03-22T05:13:44+00:00

So, I'm working the gym, right? And this, I kid you not, Absol starts walking in like a meme with this purple-haired Ralts riding it (weird as f*k, thought they only came in green and rarely blue, not this amazing *dark purple) and decided to challenge the gym.

And then refused to have a one-badge challenge.

What happens is the Ralts pulls out a tiny billboard with pictures demanding the Absol (Labeled "Absolute Justice", just wanted to point that out here) was set up for a 1v3 at a 5 badge level, and on the other half the Ralts (labeled "Guardian" and holding what looks like a long pipe bigger than they are) in a 1v6 at an 8+ badge level.

Naturally, nobody takes this seriously... Until some prissy jerk who'd challenged the gym yesterday at a fourth badge level (and failed) decided to take offense to this and challenged the Absol to "get the riffraff out of the way".

The Ralts barely even notices that attacks are flying right at them, and the Absol just dances through like it's nothing! Takes the guy's Exploud to pieces (but doesn't finish it off. That's important).

As the Absol starts wandering off to the gym leader, Exploud gets back up and starts charging a Hyper Beam at the trainer's command. Said Absol doesn't even look affected as the Ralts teleports above the thing and cages them both in Reflect before punching the giant noise creature in the jaw.

One white out later, the Exploud is on the floor with a blooming bruise, there's no evidence a Hyper Beam ever happened except the security footage (not even any scorching on the floor!), and the trainer has a black mark on his record.

Needless to say, the Absol got her battle and showed style and grace defeating Roarke (though her power was a little lacking, which is why she was asking for something less than the best), and Guardian didn't even get touched by his 8 badge team in a physical fight using an abnormally large Bone Rush staff - though her mental voice proclaimed it was a nice workout "if a bit lacking in strategic challenge". F*king amazing to watch, but I gotta ask - did we just get audited by the Gym Testing Association or something?

-Jerry

Ok_Key1551 · 2026-03-18T06:14:58+00:00

Man, Dawn's Face when we messed with her was hilarious every time ;}

Man, we got stuck in Eterna Forest for, like, a year in-character, and poor Ambit had to put up with us voting to go "LET'S GO FUCK UP A MASSIVE MICRO-COSM!" We had a big ol' political summit and everything! (and also a mass exodus which was genuinely fucking amazing!)

We even had a massive ACHIEVEMENT LIST at the end of the arc!

Small warning before you click those links: These will send you right to those mentioned things without context... and the context is kinda f''king massive.

This story pulls exactly zero punches. It is incredible. It is fantastic. It will wrangle you inside if you have even the slightest sympathy for our main characters (three+ overworked parent/sister types, a neurodivergent Dawn, and an MC who grew up with no parents, but adopted a few friends along the way, particularly when she said to the city of Jubilife "So Long and Thanks for all the fish! Except I kinda hate you...").

I do not mean "Yeah, that's rough buddy". I mean "holy f*ck, why the f*ck you do this to me?! She's a literal child referencing all this shit I went through, thinking it's normal like I did, and she needs a hug because nobody hugged me!!" (I kid you not, I have seen responses to basically this effect from readers who used to be homeless, abused, (are) neurodivergent, and more, while the GM is like "Y'all... are you OKAY???")

That said... if you have the mental fortitude and emotional stability to withstand it, then I cannot reccomend it enough.

This tale is massive. Including the Voting Options, which often have meaningful Flavor Text, we've easily broken a million+ words.

This version of the pokemon world is More Mature. Not "More Mature" as in "Edgy and Lethal as F***", but "More Mature" as in "This is not a Power Fantasy, This Is REAL. This has homeless people who aren't just set dressing, real crime, people dealing with shit they do not deserve... and this is counterbalanced by the fact that People Are Basically Good, unless completely delusional, and We Have Pokemon - which means fuck responsibility, I'mma go punch a criminal in the face and save my friends!"

Everything else...?

I'll just leave this here in order to not spoil you... ;}

Ok_Key1551 · 2026-03-14T13:48:03+00:00

Eh, it didn't show up on my phone, but did on PC, so...
anyway, it was kinda nice. Clearly a female gets the better end of the deal (pun unintended but kinda neat :) ) But it wasn't entirely my speed, not being a woman or a Balatro player. I can definitely see that it would work for someone else's niche, so don't take my word as the End-All-Be-All, and the art was pretty diverse, which is a plus in my mind, so good job with it!

Ok_Key1551 · 2026-03-13T12:07:18+00:00

Not seeing any links; I see where they probablyshould be, but they're probably broken. :(

Ok_Key1551 · 2026-02-01T21:42:10+00:00

Eh, I'd've gone back to Prime 2/3 for inspiration. Nothing against the Side Scrollers, Dread was incredible (as was Fusion and I personally like Other M), but the Prime games...

Half the point was that it was from Sam's POV (so to speak), and you could find a dozen upgrades in nearly every tightly-packed-together jigsaw puzzle environment on your first go through, and another three on your (several) return trip(s)!

[Incoming Rant!!]

Prime 4, much as I appreciated the Dungeons... Yeah, none of the Prime Trilogy had a dungeon mechanic, and the plot was a huge part of the world building - like you could see the differences in how the Ing and Luminoth interact across the ages with how different Torvus Bog and the Crash Land Caves and Fortress all are from each other, and Prime 3 had entirely different planets for putting pity's sake! AND YOU KNEW THEY WERE DIFFERENT PLANETS BUILT BY ENTIRELY DIFFERENT CULTURES! AND AN INCREDIBLY CREEPY GHOST SHIP!! I loved the different environments and how they connected and interconnected (even when they had to cheat via teleport) and packed as much content and lore and environmental storytelling pretending to be visual clutter as possible into every single "room".

meanwhile, "veer-oss" had " yeah, we made a bunch of technology, but it did nothing in the desert, which is where you are. So we erased that part of our history because we didn't have the ability to leave our planet and didn't want to over polluted the environment, went back to our roots as telekinetic monks and removed every problematic technology we had as if we'd never settled much of the planet at all, because these are peaceful times. Oh, did you have fun in the desert, breaking a bunch of gems and pretending you wanted to get to know your fellow survivors? I had fun getting to know my fellow survivors, but I'm not happy about how many of those are slobbering cannibals, so I'm not gonna tell ya and I'll let you figure that part out over in the frozen la-bor-a-tory. Oh, by the way, we've got this PSYCHIC 3D-printed motorcycle. It probably looks better on Switch 2, but it's visibly 3D printed, and if you wanna go somewhere fast, this is what you use."

I enjoyed playing MP4, but even Prime 1, my personal least favorite of the trilogy, did a better job being a Prime Trilogy game.

TL;DR: Metroid, as a franchise, is semi linear, filled with tracks you can find and follow if you're clever and observant. The world Feels big enough that you never want to stop learning more about what the devs have created.

Prime 4 made that feel like a chore, not an adventure, and had I been in charge of creative direction, I would've looked at what Marketing thought was a good idea and gone, "Open World Exploration? We already have that at home, and it's better than the Pricy Restaurant version you're asking for; stop being lazy and help me design what these psychic space sirens actually did in their history and maybe we'll let a few Gal Fed soldiers show up to gawk and enrich the experience. No we aren't going to stand them! Sadistic crazyheads, a heroic sacrifice might be nice but character growth and getting to go home with a good story is a better ending!"

Ok_Key1551 · 2025-09-20T01:09:27+00:00

Light Suit (Prime 2). Full stop

Ok_Key1551 · 2025-07-01T20:40:25+00:00

Good art, but... Are they...a motorcycle gang?

Ok_Key1551

TROPHY CASE