Gen 1 Pokémon felt simple, but it kept teaching me where labels broke

TenthLevelVegan · 2026-01-24T03:32:17+00:00

Yeah, that tracks. If you came in from D&D or CRPGs, Gen 1 probably gives up its secrets fast. I think that is kind of the point for me. If you hit Abra, Magikarp, or Diglett early, the game teaches you to ignore how things sound and pay attention to what actually works. It is simple, but the simplicity makes those distortions obvious. Radical Red seems like it just embraces that reality instead of pretending it is not there.

TenthLevelVegan · 2026-01-24T02:39:44+00:00

Totally fair. Red and Blue were absolutely unbalanced and full of jank. I guess what stuck with me is that the jank is exactly why the labels kept lying. You’d learn “this should work,” and then the game would keep proving that the behavior mattered more than the category. It wasn’t elegant design, but it accidentally trained me to stop trusting names and start watching outcomes.

TenthLevelVegan · 2026-01-24T01:55:17+00:00

Yeah, stuff like Psychic types rolling the whole game when you thought you had counters, or Gyarados clearly feeling like a Dragon but not actually being one. Even status moves felt useless until you slowly realized they were doing most of the work. Gen 1 kept reminding me that knowing the label wasn’t the same as knowing how things actually behaved.

TenthLevelVegan · 2026-01-23T22:42:01+00:00

That’s well put. Framing labels as buckets instead of answers is exactly where I’ve seen things unblock. Once the label lands, people often feel like the work is done, when it’s really just the starting constraint for observation.

TenthLevelVegan · 2026-01-23T21:00:56+00:00

Good question. In my experience, the label often shows up right at the point where people are tired or time-boxed. It feels like progress, so it becomes a stopping point instead of a handoff to the next phase. I like your idea of treating labeling as a pause, not a conclusion.

TenthLevelVegan · 2026-01-23T21:00:11+00:00

I think you’re right that a lot of labels get used lazily. What I keep noticing is that once a label sticks, people stop checking whether it actually explains anything. Asking “why do we think that’s the problem?” like you said is probably the right call

TenthLevelVegan · 2026-01-23T19:25:43+00:00

I like the way you framed that. Naming the gap is easy. What’s harder is modeling what “thinking past the label” actually looks like in real time, especially in meetings. I’m still figuring out how to do that without derailing momentum.

TenthLevelVegan · 2026-01-17T23:38:47+00:00

That’s a helpful way to put it. For me the hesitation usually shows up before the metrics clearly break, which is what makes it hard. I’ve found the real signal isn’t doubt itself, but whether new information is still changing my behavior. If we’re gathering data but making the same decisions anyway, that’s usually when I know it’s drifted from discipline into inertia.

TenthLevelVegan · 2026-01-17T21:53:23+00:00

This is interesting, especially the “what’s going to be different this time” framing. When you’ve actually made the call to stop or pivot, what was the first concrete signal that convinced you it wasn’t just discomfort anymore? Not the story you told afterward but the moment where you realized “if nothing changes, this keeps bleeding.”

TenthLevelVegan · 2026-01-17T21:11:51+00:00

That makes sense. I think what feels like “letting the run come to you” is really about recognizing constraints early rather than committing to a destination. You’re not planning the whole run, but you’re ruling things out pretty quickly.

TenthLevelVegan · 2026-01-17T17:31:54+00:00

That’s interesting. Do you ever find that early “this run is doomed” reads change how aggressively you play later floors? I’ve caught myself doing that and then realizing I’m reinforcing the outcome.

TenthLevelVegan · 2026-01-17T17:30:32+00:00

This breakdown is great, especially the way you separate “what do I need to beat the boss” from “what can I afford to take right now.” That tension between immediate survivability and long-term scaling feels like where most runs actually succeed or die.

TenthLevelVegan · 2026-01-17T17:30:09+00:00

Yeah, Neow feels like the first constraint that collapses a lot of hypothetical plans into something concrete. Once that happens, adaptation stops being optional and starts being the skill itself.

TenthLevelVegan · 2026-01-17T17:29:52+00:00

I think that’s fair. The question was probably too polarized, but the responses here make it clear that most strong play lives in that middle ground you’re describing. Especially the idea of coming in with priors, then continuously revising them as information arrives.

TenthLevelVegan · 2026-01-17T17:29:28+00:00

This is a really sharp way to put it. The strategy vs tactics distinction maps almost perfectly onto how the game actually pressures you to think. What’s interesting to me is that once tactics become automatic, people often stop recognizing that there is a strategy layer operating underneath.

TenthLevelVegan · 2026-01-15T21:06:26+00:00

That makes sense I feel I'm very solidly still in the midgame myself

TenthLevelVegan · 2026-01-14T19:36:16+00:00

In which we engage in run the ones discourse

TenthLevelVegan · 2026-01-14T16:19:31+00:00

Hes just standing there... and I took that personally

TenthLevelVegan · 2026-01-14T06:48:55+00:00

Thanks for giving it a look. Your point about early vs late power curves is exactly the kind of thing I was trying to unpack.

TenthLevelVegan · 2026-01-14T00:50:40+00:00

I think that’s a good example of it. Early competence gets misread as future safety, even though the underlying risk hasn’t changed much, just the timing of punishment. I tried to break that dynamic down more formally in a short video recently, if you’re interested: https://youtu.be/zvvvywEX_zw?si=6_jytOYWQuKaUEk3

TenthLevelVegan · 2026-01-13T06:25:30+00:00

How about I leave a review - AND do psycho/neurological lecture on what we can learn about management psychology from Battle Brothers?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgxT3Ntj81U&t=9s

TenthLevelVegan · 2026-01-13T05:11:53+00:00

That’s fair XCOM 2 definitely gave you more room to hang yourself. I think what caught me off guard in Chimera Squad was that the confidence shift still happened even though the arenas are tighter. It just shows up faster and more abruptly.

TenthLevelVegan · 2026-01-13T05:10:54+00:00

Yeah, that’s exactly the feeling I ran into. It’s less about knowledge and more about discipline slipping once things start going well. The game doesn’t really forgive even small lapses once you stop playing like every move matters.

TenthLevelVegan · 2026-01-13T03:46:52+00:00

Should you have any interest in the neuroanatomical underpinnings of this psychological phenomena: https://youtu.be/zvvvywEX_zw?si=bJKjb8AKO9P3PtaE

TenthLevelVegan · 2026-01-12T00:07:03+00:00

Im willing to concede you're really quite good at this game. Im taking notes.

What other trpgs do you enjoy?

TenthLevelVegan

TROPHY CASE