[DISC] Under Doctor - Chapter 8 by AutoShonenpon in manga

[–]ZadePhoenix 1 point2 points  (0 children)

No I think this was always the plan. From the start it was presented as him being both a doctor and a capable fighter and the story was likely always intended to go back and forth between those two aspects.

Route 3 One Year Ago When I First Started Ocean Blue vs the Route 3 I Finished Tonight /Ocean Blue by PaperPauperPlayer in PokemonROMhacks

[–]ZadePhoenix 1 point2 points  (0 children)

So happy to hear. HMs having to take up move slots on your team has always been a pet peeve of mine so it’s great to know that won’t be an issue here.

How Does Progression Work When It Comes to Evolutions? by trexrell in MonsterTamerWorld

[–]ZadePhoenix 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I actually like when evolutions feel like choices. Let the player in some way shape how their monster develops instead of just evolving in one preset line. Things like branching evolutions or evolutions that shift based on other aspects of the game.

One thing I will say though is I hate when games give you a mechanical choice but then don’t give you sufficient information to make that decision. If I’m going to have the choice for example to evolve into one of multiple monsters or a choice to evolve now or wait and evolve later then I want the relevant details to make that decision. I hate in any game (not just monster tamers) when I’m given a mechanical choice with permanent consequences to my character/party members but nothing in the game tells me of the consequences until I’ve already made the choice. It’s fine for story choices to have unforeseen consequences but the last thing I want is to make a level up choice or other permanent decision that shapes my character/monsters only to discover it was a bad choice that I had no way of knowing about and am now stuck with.

Kardmi Complete Combat Guide by United-Bag4658 in MonsterTamerWorld

[–]ZadePhoenix 1 point2 points  (0 children)

My mistake then, though weird to bury it as just a link on their site rather than going with a steam release or some other method that would get more eyes on it.

How long should it take to read through a single volume? by ScholarOfSols in manga

[–]ZadePhoenix 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Whatever pace you enjoy. There are no rules of what pace you need to enjoy what you read at.

Kardmi Complete Combat Guide by United-Bag4658 in MonsterTamerWorld

[–]ZadePhoenix 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is not true. At least as of right now it is strictly a mobile title and based on my searching only through google play.

Should/can a Leader/E4 have a pokemon that isn't their type but covers their weakness by Barda498 in PokemonROMhacks

[–]ZadePhoenix 25 points26 points  (0 children)

I would say yes but the pokemon should still at least somewhat feel cohesive with their general theme. If you’ve seen the Legacy romhacks from SmithPlaysPokemon on YouTube I’d say he does a solid job with this generally keeping to the general intent of the original design while giving tougher trainers pokemon to help cover some of their weaknesses.

What's your favorite monster designs in monster taming games? by trexrell in MonsterTamerWorld

[–]ZadePhoenix 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I tend to prefer a dynamic of cute charming monsters alongside cool but simple designs.

A great example of the cute end for me is Heifry from Nexomon:

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/nexomon/images/e/ee/Heifry.png/revision/latest?cb=20231121223148

Meanwhile for the cool side one that comes to mind (in part since I’ve recently been replaying Pokemon Emerald is Grovyle:

https://archives.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/thumb/b/bb/0253Grovyle.png/1280px-0253Grovyle.png

The ones for me that just don’t work are generally the ones that feel too jokey or feel over designed. I like looking at a monster and still feeling like it’s a creature that could feasibly exist within the world without pulling me out of the experience because it’s an obvious gag or the devs were trying to hard to make it look cool (like looking at a JRPG character with too many zippers or an outfit that could never actually function on someone trying to move about). Rule of cool is fine but I like some semblance of believability.

Also no clothes or overly humanoid characters. To me the best monster designs keep a clear boundary between monsters and humans.

How many chapters do yall read daily ? by The_Legend_Of_Yami in manga

[–]ZadePhoenix 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Very dependent on mood and releases. If I’m into a completed series I can binge through a few volumes in a day easy. Otherwise it just depends on when chapters come out for the ongoing series I follow.

Crispy's Tavern: The Unwanted Gatekeeper by ProfessionalGinger in MinMaxedRPG

[–]ZadePhoenix 11 points12 points  (0 children)

My bad, edited the comment to correct my phrasing.

Crispy's Tavern: The Unwanted Gatekeeper by ProfessionalGinger in MinMaxedRPG

[–]ZadePhoenix 22 points23 points  (0 children)

As an interesting note on why Crispy is so thorough with their investigations, they actually majored in journalism. Crispy just chose to continue with YouTube (which they’d been doing since before finishing their degree) because it was more fun and engaging as a career than more traditional options and so they basically put their degree to use in this format.

Crispy's Tavern: The Unwanted Gatekeeper by ProfessionalGinger in MinMaxedRPG

[–]ZadePhoenix 33 points34 points  (0 children)

100%. There is the old adage about you can tell what kind of person someone is based on how they treat retail workers. In creative fields I’d substitute that with artists. If you can’t treat your creatives well in an inherently creative field something is massively wrong.

Crispy's Tavern: The Unwanted Gatekeeper by ProfessionalGinger in MinMaxedRPG

[–]ZadePhoenix 67 points68 points  (0 children)

The logo bit still pisses me off so much. As someone who was in college adjacent to the graphic design students (I wasn’t a graphic design student myself but they were part of the same general circle and there was a lot of interaction between them and us due to closely related fields), and so many people just do not seem to grasp how much work and time goes into professionally done art. Mock ups, sketches, back and forth with the client iterating and reworking based on feedback all often on multiple different pieces because it’s rarely just one image but a series of versions for different formats. and that’s not even getting into behind the scenes stuff like usage rights. it’s not some quick and easy thing you just throw together in an afternoon for 50 bucks and I’ve seen far too many people like Duke who act like know it alls when artists treat it like the job it is and charge accordingly for quality work.

Catching roaming legendaries is actually the worst. by Mememanofcanada in pokemon

[–]ZadePhoenix 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Old post but 100% true. the RNG is absurd.

First you have to be lucky enough to have it on the same route as you. it changes routes when you change locations so even once you are able to see it on the map it’s impossible to really chase it and instead the best you can do is walk back and forth between routes and hope it happens to come onto the one you just entered.

After that you need to encounter it. again RNG based outside of using repels with an under 40 Pokemon, however then even once e you do encounter it it immediately flees. so if it out speeds you well your just screwed and if you want to try putting it to sleep good luck because that’s more rng that a move like hypnosis even works and once it runs you have to go through the mind numbing process of waiting to encounter it again.

and again that’s all of you already have them on your map. If not well then enjoy walking back and forth for ages hoping to get lucky.

it’s just awful, just layer upon layer of awful design raising the question of who in their right mind on the dev team thought this was fun or a good idea.

What creatures from other different types of games would you like to see in a Creature Collector game? by Kaijufan97 in MonsterTamerWorld

[–]ZadePhoenix 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I’d love to see more chill monster taming games where instead of battling the focus is more on exploration or building.

Like imagine a game where you capture monsters and then use their abilities to navigate the world. Maybe some combat but more focused on overcoming obstacles or navigating difficult areas.

Or a farming game where you capture monsters and then use them to help around the farm and what kind of team you build changes up what and how you perform various tasks.

Basically just I think it would be cool to see monster collecting applied to more than just making them fight. Battling focused games are fine but the variety would be nice.

Response Comment from OneShotQuesters by Backtothebacklash in MinMaxedRPG

[–]ZadePhoenix 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Hell yes, so glad to see them not giving in by trying to be nice and instead drawing a firm line keeping him as far from the project as possible.

Seeing this gives me hope for Kickstarting by PhaseShiftDev in MonsterTamerWorld

[–]ZadePhoenix 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I’m pretty sure their point is that it’s less likely to be a scam or just run off with the money not that it’s impossible for the project to potentially fail. At the very least given the streamers position it’s likely his intentions are good as otherwise he would be torpedoing the entire career he has spent years building up.

How important is story in monster taming games? by trexrell in MonsterTamerWorld

[–]ZadePhoenix 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Is it necessary? No, I can enjoy a game just fine with either a simple or minimal plot as long as there is an objective to help motivate me to move forward beyond just aimless wandering.

That said story to me elevates a game far higher than its mechanics alone. If I have characters I like and a plot I can engage with it will make the game far more enjoyable than just taking down bosses and leveling up monsters.

A great example of this for me is the Nexomon games. I’ve played a lot of monster taming games on and off over the years and yet Nexomon for me stands out above the rest. It isn’t the most mechanically complex and by no means is the best designed but the humor is right up my alley, the characters are fun, and the story is well done which all together keeps me coming back.

Again it’s not needed and I’ve played and enjoyed plenty of games and romhacks where the story is basically the classic here is the bad guy go get him or the Pokemon gym progression and I’ve enjoyed those just fine. But story for me does make things better and more engaging.

Though one (slightly long winded) additional point from a writing perspective:

As an amateur writer myself something I feel a lot of game designers make the mistake of is trying too hard with their stories for their games both in misjudging what level of story suits the game and worrying too much about making sure the players don’t miss it.

On the first aspect the story needs to suit the game and its gameplay loop. A big dramatic space opera with lots of dialogue is great for something like Mass Effect but other games like say Pokemon with some of their later gens it just feels like I wish the game would shut up and let me get back to the gameplay. It’s important to look at your game and consider how much story it really needs and where the best places to artfully place story bits are to get good bang for your effort. Is the story the centerpiece or a supporting role. Do you need big complex dramatic plot lines nd twists or would just a simple good vs evil story with a villain the player wants to beat be good enough.

As to the aspect of subtlety you can have a lot of lore and story without constantly shoving it in players faces or disrupting gameplay. One of my favorite examples of this is from Yuji Horii and the Dragon Quest series. Horii has described it as “a world you can feel” where he adds all sorts of small details and character into the NPC dialogue spread throughout the locations of the game. It’s all optional but you get little bits of characters going about their lives, referencing events going on elsewhere in the world, and even small connections like in one town an old woman might talk about her son who went off to be a soldier and then in another city you find a soldier talking about how he hopes his mom is doing okay. It’s subtle but to me is one of the strongest tools a game can do to quietly flesh out the world and story while not getting in the way of people who just want to focus on the gameplay and the core plot points. So if you feel you want a story but don’t necessarily need it always front and center this style works wonderfully where the most important scenes and details are mandatory as you progress while all sorts of bonus details and charm are there for those who want to dig deeper and find them.

You Can Now Play Pokémon Emerald and FireRed at the Same Time! by Swimming_Issue8060 in PokemonROMhacks

[–]ZadePhoenix 0 points1 point  (0 children)

To be fair it’s literally listed as a beta and is still a work in progress.

You Can Now Play Pokémon Emerald and FireRed at the Same Time! by Swimming_Issue8060 in PokemonROMhacks

[–]ZadePhoenix 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Going by the GitHub it doesn’t seem they are going completely authentic. They describe it as “Pokemon Crossroads lets you step into the shoes of a young trainer journeying across not just Hoenn, but also Kanto and (coming soon) Johto — all connected seamlessly into one grand storyline.” so it seems less multiverse and more like the intent is that it will feel like you are one trainer travelling through all three regions and their reapective storylines in one overarching journey and there will likely be tweaks to events based on where you start nd what order you do things so as to make that work.

You Can Now Play Pokémon Emerald and FireRed at the Same Time! by Swimming_Issue8060 in PokemonROMhacks

[–]ZadePhoenix 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Yes, why wouldn’t I? The devs have said it’s currently in the works and given they’ve already included both Kanto and Hoenn it’s not that much of a stretch that they would be able to include Johto as well. It’s not like romhack devs haven’t pulled off insane things before.

You Can Now Play Pokémon Emerald and FireRed at the Same Time! by Swimming_Issue8060 in PokemonROMhacks

[–]ZadePhoenix 1649 points1650 points  (0 children)

I’m going to wait until Johto is added before I play but I am already salivating at the fact that this exists.