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Posted: Mar 14 2010 02:20 pm

I just got it. Will play when I get home.

Posted: Mar 14 2010 02:24 pm

I'll probably get SoulSilver when I can, it has Vulpix/Ninetales and Groudon over Gold's pile of nothing for exclusive Pokes I like. Despite the fact I have an AR, but nonetheless. >_>

Been also playing Crystal version via pure coincidence.

Joined: Nov 11 2009 Location: Cajun Country Posts: 1511

Mr. Bomberman wrote:

I just got it. Will play when I get home.

Give us a quick review when you can. I'd like to hear how good or bad it is.

Posted: Mar 14 2010 02:40 pm

Well I can confirm that neither Toys R Us nor GameStop has the download pokemon, whether it's Lugia or Serebii. This leads me to think that whatever monster it is, it may either be a Nintendo World exclusive or a wi-fi download. That being said, I got SoulSilver at Toys R Us and got the following:

A sticker sheet, a Lugia and Ho-oh Stylus, Lugia and Ho-Oh screen cleaner, 2 game chip cases, and the Lugia statuette. I could've also gotten a kid's tee but I don't know any little kids it would fit. In retrospect I probably should've still taken it anyway, for eBay or something.

Joined: Nov 11 2009 Location: Cajun Country Posts: 1511

Awesome dude.

Posted: Mar 14 2010 03:29 pm

Oh, you also get a special $5 TRU gift card with Lugia and Ho-Oh on it

However those cards weren't working so the store was giving out normal ones. The good news is that since they gave me a regular one, it's doesn't have an expiration date. I'll probably use it to get Princess and the Frog on DVD Tuesday. They still gave me the fancy card but it didn't have any value on it.

Posted: Mar 14 2010 03:30 pm

Ba'al wrote:

I'll probably get SoulSilver when I can, it has Vulpix/Ninetales and Groudon over Gold's pile of nothing for exclusive Pokes I like. Despite the fact I have an AR, but nonetheless. >_>

I think they're pretty mixed as to pokemon. While Gold has Mankey/Primeape, Growlithe/Arcanine, and Gligar (When the hell did he get an evolution? I don't remember him in any gen 4 game.), Silver got Groudon, Delibird, Skarmory, Meowth/Persian, and Teddiursa/Ursaring. (Did they switch them around? I thought they were gold last time while Phanphy/Donphan were Silver.)

I just got SoulSilver as a birthday gift as I owned Gold when I was little.

Nice new avatar, by the way.

Posted: Mar 14 2010 04:03 pm

Thunderhorse wrote:

Nice new avatar, by the way.

It's like a real life Stroker from Stroker and Hoop.

Gligar evolves into Gliscor by leveling it up when holding a Razor Claw or Razor Fang (I forget which, but the other item evolves Sneasel into Weavile). Gliscor is really great as a defensive pokemon and now that every hatchable pokemon can learn at least one new egg move, it can be born knowing a move that swaps its Attack and Defense stats.

Posted: Mar 14 2010 05:04 pm

I just got Silver, had Gold as a kid. I also got the statue of Lugia, but didn't get any other extras. They tried to sell me a strategy guide for 18 bucks but I figure there will be a walkthrough sometime if I end up needing a guide(which isn't that likely).

Does the game explain egg moves and breeding and all of that stuff? I had no idea they were even in the game till you started talking about them Sath lol.

Put your figurines on Ebay if you don't plan on keeping them, the guys at the store said they think the figurines were a specialy thing that came with the first shipment of games only. Maybe some potential as a collector's item.

Posted: Mar 14 2010 05:35 pm

Thunderhorse wrote:

Ba'al wrote:

I'll probably get SoulSilver when I can, it has Vulpix/Ninetales and Groudon over Gold's pile of nothing for exclusive Pokes I like. Despite the fact I have an AR, but nonetheless. >_>

I think they're pretty mixed as to pokemon. While Gold has Mankey/Primeape, Growlithe/Arcanine, and Gligar (When the hell did he get an evolution? I don't remember him in any gen 4 game.), Silver got Groudon, Delibird, Skarmory, Meowth/Persian, and Teddiursa/Ursaring. (Did they switch them around? I thought they were gold last time while Phanphy/Donphan were Silver.)

I just got SoulSilver as a birthday gift as I owned Gold when I was little.

Nice new avatar, by the way.

Teddi/Ursa and Phan/Donn were indeed switched, I remember specifically in my Silver game it having the latter and lacking the former. But yeah, I don't really care for Kyogre, Godzilla Earthquake Monster > Flying Whale Thing.

And thanks, Extreme Rules has an awesome PPV poster, they should sell it as a white t-shirt.

Posted: Mar 14 2010 05:37 pm

I purchased Gold simply for the inclusion of Arcanine and Kyogre. I know Kyogre isn't all that popular but Groudon just never did it for me, plus the way his stomach flattens out looks a bit unnatural for a beast that size.

Posted: Mar 14 2010 07:01 pm

anorexorcist wrote:

Does the game explain egg moves and breeding and all of that stuff? I had no idea they were even in the game till you started talking about them Sath lol.

www.serebii.net
Look up any pokemon in the DPPlHGSS Pokedex and you can see all its egg moves (and what male pokemon with the move you need to pass it on), moves it can learn from move tutors, moves only its prevolutions can learn, moves it can only learn from the 3rd generation games (FR/LG/R/S/E), the range in stats it can have, how long it takes to hatch, etc. etc. etc. You really don't need a strategy guide/walk through when you have a site like this.
[/plug]

And now some fanart:

Posted: Mar 21 2010 09:44 am

Posted: Mar 21 2010 11:05 am

Haha, funny. I am in this guy's boat exactly. "I only want three choices for my Eevee."

Posted: Mar 21 2010 01:24 pm

I like the newer games better. Silver was my favorite.
Soul Silver is the best of them all. All the improvements you want with none of the bullshit they tried in the others.
I don't mind them adding mons. I mean some of the stuff I dislike but whatever. It's still a great series.
Oh well.
-----------------------
Can I just say the Pokewalker is a fanfuckingtastic addition? I had a kangaskhan (level Cool

before the first gym. It is a great way to get rare pokemon or just grab pokemon early in the game. Better variety overall but only if you want that much variety. Combine that with the fact it's FREE POKEMON and FREE ITEMS if you walk enough, I make a lot of my money from selling extra things. I also found a way to clone pokemon easily with the pokewalker. It was an accident but now I have two Spiky-eared pichus. (Which are one of a kind and only if you get this one one-of-a-kind colored pichu from a limited time wifi event then do an ingame event.)
SS/HG have a bunch of improvements. First and foremost is the saving is faster and safer. It saves hard to your cart and if corrupted, reverts to the last safe save. This means you can get a corrupted file and it'll only set you back maybe a few hours. Found that out when my battery died. Pokewalker is a great addition. They added a bunch more little things to find if you'd like, as well as a shitload more things like taking away the trading limit. Now you can trade whatever pokemon right away, no matter what pokedex it's on. This means that finally I can have my favorite pokemon AND fight with them. A lot of the ones I like you can only get later in the game but are low level. Now I can fight with the nincada family and be level appropiate. I've also noticed that the bonus EXP you get from trades have been lessened. Now my traded guys don't level 3 times as fast.
I am having such a great time with this game.

Joined: Oct 01 2009 Posts: 5316

lordsathien wrote:

I agree with this guy, I mean I like SOME of the aspects of Silver/Gold such as breeding, having multiple compartments for your items (ie: pokeballs, tms, special), and even having a second league.

But most of the Pokemon from Sliver/Gold sucked. They had to fuck with the formula by giving a lot of Pokemon multiple types, so "the rock, paper, scissors" way was gone. Also most of the newly designed Pokemon really look shitty compared to first generation.

What I would've accepted as a good follow up to Red/Blue would've been the Johto League with the same 150, and following the same storyline for the mostpart. I don't care if Totodile is vastly superior to Squirtle because it can learn a lot more moves, that's not the point to me, the point is to not allow the series to become as clusterfucked as it has, IMO.

I'll still behind my idea of having a Wii version of Pokemon, keeping with the Red/Blue formula, but allowing it to be in 3D.

Posted: Mar 21 2010 04:43 pm

Actually, now Squirtle can learn Water Spout (150 power, 100 Accuracy, Special move. Stronger the more HP it has, but it's an egg move.)

And yeah, things have progressed, evolution alone can come from:
* Leveling up to a certain level
* Level up when you have a certain statistic (The Hitmons, higher Atk than Def gets a Lee, higher Def than Atk gets Chan, equal stats gets Top)
* Use a stone
* Trading
* Leveling up when holding a certain item
* Holding a certain item when trading it
* Leveling up in a certain location
* Having certain other pokemon in your team
* Leveling up at a certain time of day
* Leveling up with maximum happiness
* Leveling up with a certain Nature
* Leveling up if a specific gender
* Leveling up knowing a certain move
* Leveling up with max happiness AND a held item

Not to mention the new ways to gain a pokemon or find different "formes" of them.

Joined: Oct 01 2009 Posts: 5316

I don't know what the fuck Water Spout is! I stopped playing with Gold/Silver.

And yeah, I hated the happiness evolution, it eats up a shitload of time. Especially with Blissy, it's just easier to just breed a Chansey with a Ditto and get an egg, otherwise you'll have to wait till around level 60-80 to get Blissy...fuck that.

And the Hitmonlee, Hitmonshan thing pissed me off, since I wanted them both...so I would do the Bill's PC trick.

Oh and btw:

How is Hitmontop even considered to be in league with Lee and Chan, what the fuck is that? Way to tack on a completely shitty Pokemon for no real reason.

While I'm at it, I wanted to actually post about my least favorite Pokemon. As far as other Pokemon I always hated using and essentially just caught them and put them in the Box to never use, I'll actually just stick with the first games:

5. Rattata/icate...seeing as you encounter them so much in the wild and used by Team Rocket, it's becomes quite boring to go the same route.

4. Tauros...oh wait...I never caught this fucking guy legit! Fuck you Tauros!

3. Ditto...actually has some use if you're exploting glitches in the game, otherwise not that good.

2. Venonat/moth...like almost all bug and plants, it usually learns Poison Powder/Stun Spore..all those same moves...I have about 15 other Pokemon to choose from that do the exact same thing.

1. Magnetmite/ton...this guy is just too uninviting to look at. He's the least appealing electric Pokemon to use. And Gold/Silver seem to do him less justice, since I always seemed to be using Pokemon that were always weaker than Steel/Electric. Also the whole three heads thing was only cool with Dugtrio. Magneton, Exectutute/r and Dodrio can suck my balls.

Posted: Mar 21 2010 06:43 pm

Re: Happiness. Now you can also raise happiness by just walking around, daily massages (in 4th generation) and even giving the pokemon certain berries. Plus, catching a pokemon with a Luxury Ball doubles the rate of happiness gains (as does holding a Soothe Bell).

Posted: Mar 21 2010 06:47 pm

Doddsino wrote:

2. Venonat/moth...like almost all bug and plants, it usually learns Poison Powder/Stun Spore..all those same moves...I have about 15 other Pokemon to choose from that do the exact same thing.

1. Magnetmite/ton...this guy is just too uninviting to look at. He's the least appealing electric Pokemon to use. And Gold/Silver seem to do him less justice, since I always seemed to be using Pokemon that were always weaker than Steel/Electric. Also the whole three heads thing was only cool with Dugtrio. Magneton, Exectutute/r and Dodrio can suck my balls.

Dude seriously, quiet. I use two of those in my team on my current Crystal game.

Posted: Mar 21 2010 07:32 pm

I agree with Doddsino. When Gold and Silver came out, I just said to hell with it. They touted 150 for so long that all the sudden there was a hundred more that were suddenly discovered? I don't think so. Plus they really did look shitty, none of the second gen ones looked like they fit with the first gen. I always hated Hitmontop too. There's punch and kick, now we have spin too? Doesn't work for me. How many Pokemon are there now? I'm guessing there's gotta be close to 500 now. That's a lot of Pokerapping.

Posted: Mar 21 2010 07:48 pm

I like a lot of Pokemon from all the generations after the first one.

And unless the fifth gen games have anything significantly new, I think I'll ignore them.

'Can't wait to get a hold of HeartGold...

Posted: Mar 21 2010 10:43 pm

This guy is working on alternative means to racking up the voltage on your Pokewalker (it's also a survey):
http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?hl=en&formkey=dHNFRmdXSE80RGZvamhPenkzbGdONFE6MA

An opinion piece about HG/SS:

YeOldeJacob wrote:

It has been nearly a decade since the North American release of Pokémon Gold and Silver. It has also been nearly a decade since Game Freak and Nintendo wowed me with a new installment of the series. The follow-ups to Gold and Silver, Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire, were the first real misstep in the series. The first games to have serious flaws. The first games in the series I found to be a chore to complete.

Before the release of a true sequel, we saw the release of enhanced-remakes of the original Pokémon Red and Green, Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen. These games, being nothing more than the original games with a fresh coat of paint, confirmed suspicions I had while playing Sapphire; Game Freak had begun coasting. They had started to disregard what made the series so iconic, so acclaimed, so addictive. Pokémon had entered a common phase of widely popular series, one that many never get out of.

Then came Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, the first games in the series for the Nintendo DS. Diamond and Pearl felt very much like experiments, which is to be expected, being that the DS is radically different than any console the series had appeared on to that point. While still not up-to-par with what their early predecessors accomplished, there were flashes of what makes Pokémon, Pokémon.

When Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver were announced, I had strong trepidations toward the idea of Gold and Silver being remade. After the less-than-amicable treatment that was given to Red and Green, I felt as if Game Freak and Nintendo were going to have a difficult time releasing games that could be favorably compared to the best games in the series. Because that is just what Gold and Silver are; the best games in the series.

Gold and Silver innovated the series. Perfected the series. They are the most well-rounded games in the series because they did the most for the series. Using the same successful formula that its predecessor used, these games still managed to step outside of the box enough to create a superior experience. Something that has been lacking since.

Now, the remakes are here. They are the most acclaimed games in the series since Gold and Silver, and, as always, are doing gangbusters in stores all over the globe. The burning question; do HeartGold and SoulSilver return the series to form?

The short answer; no.

Don't misunderstand me, though, these are the best games in the series since those they are based upon.

For the most part, HeartGold and SoulSilver amend most of what the series has done wrong over the last decade. They aren't plagued with an overwrought plot that doesn't mesh with the whimsy and simplicity the series established when it debuted. They return to the series' roots of being a fantastic meeting of the perfect casual gamer's RPG, while maintaing a deceptively deep game as a whole. They don't try to pile on unneeded or uninteresting new features and/or gadgets.

But there is a reason these glowing positives are here. And in that reason lies HeartGold and SoulSilver's most glaring of flaws; they are remakes.

I'm not against remakes, in fact I am perfectly fine with them. The inherent problem with them, though, is if not enough effort is taken to differentiate them from what they are making anew, there is no point in their existence in the first place (see: Gus Van Sant's Psycho). But at the same time, a balance has to be struck. Straying too far from what made something loved for the sake of remaking it is also a pointless exercise.

HeartGold and SoulSilver almost strike that balance. Almost.

The visceral reaction to the game when first played is how beautiful it is, even compared to Diamond, Pearl and Platinum (which only sheds more light on D/P/Pt's experimental nature). The Johto region is simply one of the most well designed in gaming, period. Not just in the Pokémon series. There is a fluidity there, and aesthetically, a fusion of actual culture and imagination that rarely is seen. HeartGold and SoulSilver contain a gorgeous version of this region. One that really brings to the surface the DS's capabilities.
English HeartGold and SoulSilver logos

As with FireRed and LeafGreen, each town, route, etc. gets its background music remixed for the DS. Most of these work perfectly (New Bark Town, Eckruteak City and Cianwood City stand out as pieces I'd listen to outside of the game), but there are a few (Goldenrod City, Vermilion City, and Cinnabar Island in particular), which have remixes that borderline annoying. These tracks don't take away from the core experience, though, so they aren't real detractions.

I'm not a fan of Contests. They have never been refined enough to be anything more than distractions from the progression of the main game. The new Pokéthlon falls under this same description. Though I will say, given that there is more direct interaction though a series of mini games, it is a much more entertaining distraction than Contests.

The new Pokéwalker is also a pleasant distraction. It isn't quite as perfected as it could be, but given that it is a new facet of the game, this is to be expected. The Pokéwalker has been compared to the Pokémon Pikachu, and Tamagotchi pets. Now while those are apt comparisons, I liken it more to the Sega Dreamcast's VMU Memory Cards. They were neat little ideas based on the electronic pet phenomena, and were more directly connected to the console and its games than the Pokemon Pikachu was to Gold, Silver and Crystal, much like the Pokéwalker is more prominently connected to HeartGold and SoulSilver. In the end, though, the Pokewalker is more of a well-played marketing scheme than anything else. Just like the VMUs.

Where does HeartGold and SoulSilver stand in the grand scheme that is the Pokémon franchise? It is the closest we have to a replication of the charm and colorful ideas the series brought to the table years ago. Though the idea that Game Freak and Nintendo had to directly replicate the games that originated, and innovated much of what made Pokémon stand out among the rest of the RPGs out there is a little scary. Generation V has been announced, and that, obviously, means new games, a new region and new Pokémon. This is where we will learn whether this series will really return to form, or will only be great when reliving its past.

Joined: Aug 04 2009 Posts: 2515

It's not out here till Friday though i got an email from GAME to tell me that my preorder will be arriving on Friday for me.

Can't wait.

Posted: Mar 22 2010 03:16 pm

There's supposed to be a release event for Ho-Oh, but I'm not sure how legit it is considering how the Lugia/Celebi event turned out to be fake.