Pokémon RPG OOC Discussion

[Dark Hawk]

My question is what were th.ethemes for, and who won the contest with the guesssing.

[neko-chan]

Themes? What themes?

[Notty]

I think he's referring to when I asked about battle themes a long ass time ago, prior to the Hoenn Tournament? That had no real point, it was just me being silly, for the most part.

As far as the guessing game goes, as Hoenn is over, so too is the opportunity to make guesses.

The winner, with nine out of seventeen correct guesses is Iyestorm. I'll get to his in-game reward when the time is right.

[Notty]

Okay, I've sent PMs out to all relevent persons, but just to drill home the message.

Chapter 9 begins tomorrow at 10:00 PM Central Time.

Please do not panic if you're unable to be here at this exact time, we will make allowances over the first few days to maintain fairness.

[Red Silvers]

1.) What do you consider the biggest surprise of the Hoenn Arc?
Probably the end of Chapter 7.

2.) Lune's been a pretty controversial character. What's your take on her now?
I feel like her sole purpose was to be there for the backstab moment. After that, she really didn't seem to do anything important, that stands out.

3.) What's your favorite sprite that you've seen?
Jagura. Mainly because of what an improvement it was.

4.) What was your favorite battle?
Yeah, I'm totally going to sound self centered, but Azlen vs. Lyn was awesome for me because there was no one else left to fight. But you've heard that.

More recently, Rayquaza and Regigigas both had us using new tactics so that was interesting in its own ways.

5.) It's a little late in the game to be asking this, but is there anything about how the game works that you think we could improve?
Freeform trainer battles, though I think you already had that idea.

6.) On the flipside, is there anything that just clicks, and we shouldn't touch?
Difficult battles are still rewarding feeling.

7.) What did you like/not like about the ending?
When you said there would be an epilogue, I thought it would an interactive epilogue so everyone would have one last chance to post their characters.

8.) Random guess time: Who are the three mystery people in the last post of Book 1?
Lucas, Dawn, and Barry. Or whatever their RP names will be.

9.) Most important question of all: How glad are you that Hoenn is over? On a scale of 1 to 10?
Honestly, I'm torn, since now I'm going to miss Tyler! But Looking forward to a change of scenery. 7.

10.) Do you think Hoenn was better or worse than Kanto/Johto overall? Why?
Pass.

11.) What plot thread are you most looking forward to seeing resolved?
Long ago, you said that the Gyms and E4 in Sinnoh would be changing, and we made some guesses, so I'm curious to see who changed, and why.

Also, if Henry isn't the Champion, I wonder if it would become an existing NPC or someone new.

12.) If you could alter or add anything to your personal epilogue, what would it be?
Only thought I had is... where did Tyler and Azlen go when they left Hoenn? Since some people were giving locations it made me wonder.

13.) Among our plethora of NPCs, who do you feel deserves more or less screentime? This is not a question of popularity.
I wouldn't have minded seeing more Hematite and Chalcedony.

14.) Do you have any dangling theories about what's going on in our world? Please share.
I'd rather wait and see.

15.) Who struck you as the more menacing Final Boss? Will? Willtwo? ...Malus?
Willtwo was menacing... but after so many battles, it started to wear a little thin.

16.) So, honestly, who has the more handsome face? Notty or Cran? (PS: The answer is not Cran.)
I haven't seen your faces!

[Nifar]

Aww, I missed the end of Devel. Still, Shadowrun was nice today, so I don't mind that much.

[Nefidean]

I feel like I can finally post here again... but am I the only one who's sitting here waiting for 11 o'clock to roll around sitting here refreshing the thread hoping something will happen ahead of time.



**listens to the crickets**


I'll take that as a yes.

[raiderrpg]

Nefi! Come on the server then, silly! >:3

[Iyestorm]

1.) What do you consider the biggest surprise of the Hoenn Arc?
Heno, Taylor, and Henry actually having superpowers. Too bad none of them actually know how to use them yet…

2.) Lune's been a pretty controversial character. What's your take on her now?
I wanna know what you had originally planned for her. I know she wasn’t really supposed to be a shade. Was she supposed to heel-face if Nicholas had responded to her affections? Or was she just supposed to be a superclone like Arder, Ua Fiore, and Jagura?

3.) What's your favorite sprite that you've seen?
I’m not sure... They’re all really good. I only wish I were good enough at spriting to make something halfway decent. You do too, I bet.

4.) What was your favorite battle?
Hard to say. I liked fighting Arder because I soloed him and totally kicked his ass even after he got rid of my entry hazards. I thought I was gonna lose that fight. However, I think I would have liked to face Ua Fiore instead, in hindsight. He and Heno have that whole nature thing going on, only Ua Fiore represents plants, while Heno represents animals. They would serve as foils to each other. I just wasn’t quick enough on the draw. I also had awesome win/tie/lose quotes for that fight too, but I lost them.

I know there’s more that I don’t remember.

5.) It's a little late in the game to be asking this, but is there anything about how the game works that you think we could improve?

It’s not too late for this, but I would have liked a playable epilogue. Like, before the day they part ways. We could start a thread for it—the trainers’ last week together, or something like that. And of course, whenever Shoddy 2 or whatever the upgrade is decides to come out, that’d be sweet.

It might be nice to see the fruits of the efforts trainers make on the side. Like, have an impact on the world in areas other than story. I know that’s difficult to do gracefully. Give players too much freedom and things get awkward fast. Still, little things might have been nice. Heno hearing NPC or catchable pokemon dialogue occasionally, or Winona actually *thanking* the trainers for trying to help her. Well, actually, that one’s perfectly explainable. Liza and Tate said it best. She’s kind of a bitch. They weren’t kidding. Come to think of it, Taylor pissing her off so latecomers had a difficult battle was an excellent example of this. So you are doing it, but I want moar. But then, I don’t want it to be my fault if you do this and everything falls apart, so… your judgement is probably better than mine.

Furthermore, I think there should be more true 2v2 or 2v1 battles—where two PCs can pool their pokemon and communicate via PM or something. All it would take would be for each to select 3 pokemon, choose a player to proxy, and use Netbattle’s private message function, or AIM to issue commands. It might take longer, but I think it’s worth a try at least once or twice.

Lastly, and this might just be because I’m on a Tales of Symphonia kick, but I think we all need to have more fun with titles. I’ve noticed that most of us are “Pokemon Trainers”. Yeah, I know we can change it at any time—and I always meant to but just forgot. Anyway, I don’t really know what I mean by having fun with titles, but…

6.) On the flipside, is there anything that just clicks, and we shouldn't touch?

I’m hesitant to offer. There’s no such thing as perfection, and tweaking things always holds the possibility of improvement.
But, I like the tweaks made to some pokemon in order to spice them up a bit. I’m the kind of guy that falls in love with tweaks and mods and stuff like that.
Anyway, I like the battles, but I’m not gonna tell you not to change anything because I trust your judgement. The reason that doesn’t go the other way is because you’re not gonna be as likely to fix something that’s not broken.

7.) What did you like/not like about the ending?
I didn’t like my own performance. I got totally Worfed. I want a rematch! Still, it was totally worth it to see Willtwo get owned by Blissey.

That aside, technically Heno *does* have better things to do, those things being the attempt to fulfill the dreams of his pokemon. However, there’s no reason that travelling to Johto would get in the way of that—indeed, it’s probably a good idea to search there for any clues, so that’s fine. Plus, it's a nod to how much I like Johto. So I'm just nitpicking.

8.) Random guess time: Who are the three mystery people in the last post of Book 1?
The most obvious guess is Lucas, Dawn, and Barry. Lucas kinda seemed like the dour, serious type. However, since Occam’s razor isn’t sharp enough to cut fog, I’m guessing Emerald, Yellow, and… Miror B.?

…okay, that’s just silly. I’m gonna go with my first guess. Either that or Wes, Rui, and… uh, Michael? Whoever it is from XD.

9.) Most important question of all: How glad are you that Hoenn is over? On a scale of 1 to 10?
5. It’s bittersweet. I kinda wanted more time with Heno… Even if we’re gonna see him again, it’s gonna be seven years. I won’t be able to play off of his naiveté for humor. Also, when we see him again, there’s gonna be an obligatory battle… and when that day comes… Look, it’s scary enough facing down Crimson Deity, but Dragon Dance Machamp… I am so gonna get my ass kicked. My only hope is that *maybe* Skarhilde won’t be in the party, so I *might* not need to worry about spikes.

10.) Do you think Hoenn was better or worse than Kanto/Johto overall? Why?
I have no idea. I wonder what Johto would have been like if I’d joined then.

11.) What plot thread are you most looking forward to seeing resolved?
Probably all the ones I made myself, so those don’t count. Also, I’m curious about Jupiter and how she’ll work to repent. Will she ever be forgiven? I kinda wanna see her in the future as a scarred, grizzled veteran, fighting against evil and failing to forgive herself. I’m curious as to whether Atmos truly exists, or if Kumoko’s just delusional. Okay, I made that one myself, but it still counts!

12.) If you could alter or add anything to your personal epilogue, what would it be?
Ooh! I didn’t see this one! I’d rather do it myself, though, but here goes.

First of all, everyone would force Heno to *finally* take a *bath*. Seriously, almost nobody’s commented on that.
Second, I think it would have made sense for Heno to try and repair Hoenn. He might not have Groudon or Kyogre, but he could amass an army of pokemon to help repair little by little, except they’re probably doing it without his help anyway, but still. Then there’s the things Heno was planning to do anyway, like train under Norman’s Spinda and learn Drunken Fist. Then, he’d try and learn how to control his aura.

Third, I would have given each of his pokemon an epilogue as well:
Machiavelli wouldn’t learn to speak, but he’d learn to read, and finish that book, and finally earn his name, copying it from the author. He’d also finally defeat Heno in combat… but Heno would call it cheating because he used Dragon Dance and Speed Boost. Eventually though, Machop would win fair and square, and earn the right to evolve. He decided to wait, though, so as to not give himself an unfair advantage against Crystal’s Pikachu, his best friendenemy, rival, and possibly more? We'll see.
Sara Swampert would enter contests and popularize an entirely new area—comedy. For instance, moves like “Lick” and “Muddy Water” should be funny, to put it in game terms, but in RP terms, the battle would revolve around using moves in a slapstick manner.
Hearthound would hit on Sunburst, but it wouldn’t really work out and he’d continue just seeking tail while travelling with Heno. He’d try hitting on some of the pokemon of their comrades, such as Asia, Nicholas’s Espeon, Strike Rouge/Rogue, Flinx, and more. However, if any of them actually responded positively, he’d get shy and back down. Eventually, he’d mature and get over his insecurity and machismo and gender-war issues, meeting with and kicking the collective asses of his former pack in the process.
Heno would meet with Moritz and Cocoa and let their Skarmory date. (I’m pretty sure the plural for Skarmory is Skarmory.) I’m not sure if they’d hit it off or not, but assuming happy-end-they-did, he’d allow Skarhilde to stay with them. Skarhilde would allow herself to be ordered around in battle by either of them, and they could double-battle while dual wielding Skarmories. Heno would visit occasionally to keep in touch, and they’d forge more swords together. Eventually, Heno would seek out a professional to learn how to make real swords. After this, he’d reforge Survivor’s Will into a proper sword, and continue to dual wield it along with Heartfeather, which would be kept as close to its original condition as possible. He’d also make it a point to learn how to actually *use* swords properly.
He’d ask Agate about ninja and what to do about Ninjask, and in the mean-time just try and make her stronger. She’d continue insulting him the whole time, while Shedinja would serve obediently and compliment him occasionally. Eventually, Sara Swampert would call them on not only being tsunderes, but totally *failing* at it. Eventually, they’d sway from the brainwashings of their clan, and open up more to Heno.
He’d actually build a shrine to Crimson Deity, and try to amass followers. However, he wouldn’t be very good at it, and most followers would probably be pokemon. Crimson Deity would continue to teach Heno the ways and wisdom of the world through example—I meant to have a dialogue about how he’d been doing this the whole time, and wasn’t just mindless rage—while Kumoko would teach Heno the other side of the coin. Perhaps one day, after he was versed in the ways of aura, he’d fight his Gyarados again, this time without a sword.
Heno would search for Kumoko’s parents and a way to turn Kumoko human. Kumoko would declare Heno her personal knight, and give him her favor. Kumoko would continue to teach Heno the ways of the world, in her own way, opposite Crimson Deity. The two would maintain a professional relationship, though rarely they would come to blows—during which Kumoko would prove herself the second strongest of Heno’s team, and Crimson Deity would prove himself still prone to underestimating his opponents, yet willing to accept their strength and respect them for it. Then, they would learn the pain that Nicholas and Green went through until Kumoko finally confessed her true reason for wanting to become human was desire to promote Heno from Royal Knight to Prince of Atmos. Heno, being Heno, wouldn’t understand at all.
Buriki Daioh, learning humility from all his failures, would continue to train and become even stronger. He also tried to learn from everyone around him, about how to be good, and how to be a hero. Wherever he travelled, he’d try to do as much good as he could—even when that meant foiling a robbery where his master was the perpetrator. He’d learn to speak up a bit more, and would hold debates with Heno and the others about morality. Because of this behavior, he’d soon grow to be Machiavelli’s favorite little brother, and the two would work together to keep Heno from trying to take over the world, or any other bad things.
Sunburst, honestly not having much else to do and nowhere else to go, would travel with Heno. Heno would eventually get the hang of her quirks and issues, and she’d become slightly less timid and prove herself a competent battler and contestant alike. Their relationship would embody the public opinion of everything the relationship between a pokemon trainer and his pokemon should be. She promised that when she thought of a wish, she’d tell him. But right now, she could finally be happy.

Fourth, I would have added in something about finally facing off against Valter in a friendly match. I have no idea how that’d work, I’d have to talk with Immy.

Finally, change Heno’s title to “Feral Child”.

13.) Among our plethora of NPCs, who do you feel deserves more or less screentime? This is not a question of popularity.

Anyone who was formerly a PC or PC partner. This makes it easier for people who disappear to come back… maybe.

14.) Do you have any dangling theories about what's going on in our world? Please share.

One of them is answered in the next question.

15.) Who struck you as the more menacing Final Boss? Will? Willtwo? ...Malus?

Willtwo. I never faced Will myself, but Will still kinda seemed human… and then got ripped to shreds by Mewtwo. I kind of wondered if Will was really under Willtwo’s control the entire time. I don’t just mean under his command, I mean like “I have no mouth and I must scream” under his command. I’m not saying Will was innocent, but I’m wondering… if there was any part of that plan that wasn’t his, how much of it wasn’t?

16.) So, honestly, who has the more handsome face? Notty or Cran? (PS: The answer is not Cran.)
Notty is the better Face. Cran’s obviously the Heel, and enjoys being so, and we enjoy that too. Though, I wonder what would happen if they switched roles… I’ve been told I was a midcarder, or something like that…