Pokémon Heart Gold / Soul Silver

[Sakunyuusha]

Brief intro: these games use the 4th-generation Pokémon graphics engine (introduced with Pokémon Diamond and Pearl and also later used in Pokémon Platinum). They are visually-upgraded re-releases of the original Gold and Silver games from 1999 (JP) / 2000 (USA) but with some slight alterations here or there to all aspects of gameplay: the story, available Pokemon, available items, and playable zones.

Use Google to learn more.

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Playing Pokémon Heart Gold on my DS Lite. Disappointed with the new menu design but a lot of the fandom seems to be head-over-heels in love with it (BLAH! >_<), so whatever, I guess I'm stuck with it. The graphics are cool. It makes 2nd gen much more palatable. GSC (2nd gen) was and remains my least favorite generation, and unfortunately all the graphical updates in the world haven't addressed the major reasons for this:
- a bizarre story
- poor town-to-town layout
- Johto had such shitty monsters -_-;

The fanbase is sort of split over that last comment. A lot of people like me love 1st and 3rd gen's monsters best. Most people love 1st and 2nd gen's monsters best. Just as many people as are in my group are in the group that loves 2nd and 4th gen's best. There's a wide range of opinions. So all I'll say is, if you love 2nd gen's monsters, don't freak out that I insulted them. ^_^; I'm still playing the game, aren't I?

I'm having freezing problems because of the alleged anti-piracy measures Nintendo has put into place with this title. So is everybody else. The true cause isn't known with certainty, though the predominant theory right now is that the freezing problem is one manifestation of Nintendo's newest anti-piracy measures for NDS software. Likewise, many patches have been attempted but none have worked -- so says the Internet, anyway. I haven't even bothered to try. ^_^;

Picked a Chikorita back in the day. Decided to go with Cyndaquil this time. I gave him a lot of shit back in the day (hated him in the anime) and I didn't like him much in 3rd or 4th gens because he was useless in competitive play. But I've warmed up to the idea of using him, and he sure does beat the pants off of Feraligatr. :|

 

[HENTAIBEN]

Pokemon Silver was the first game I've ever imported. I chose a Cyndaquil as my starter Pokemon, and made it all the way up to the Ash/Satoshi fight at the end of the game - that really happened right? I didn't dream that?

Anyway, I bought the English version when it came out, but never bothered to play through it again. I was falling out of love with Pokemon at that point. Never played Third Generation, or the First Generation remakes. Finally fell in love with Pokemon again when Diamond and Pearl came out. I'm not terribly interested in these remakes though, probably largely due to the fact that I've already played a later game with access to all the available Pokemon, but I dunno, I might try it out.

As for my favorite generation of Pokemon, it's gotta be the first gen. I originally fell in love with those first 151 Pokemon, and most of my favorites are still from that set. My all time favorite being Gengar. I also like the fourth generation, but you can see where I might be biased there. Speaking of fourth gen, Dawn/Hikari is the best main character in my opinion. Love her. Also Cynthia/Shirona is quite awesome as well.

/ramblings

Sucks about the Anti-Piracy thing. Not that I'd ever use an R4 or CycloDS. >,> <,<

 

[Sakunyuusha]

My favorites by nostalgia are almost entirely Gen 1. My favorites by design are roughly split between Gens 1 and 3, with very few coming from 2 or 4. My favorites by utility (e.g. in competitive play) are spread throughout the gens, go figure.

Design examples: Nidoking, Charizard, Bulbasaur lineage, Haunter, Vileplume, Pikachu (so far all Gen 1), Metagross, Swampert, Torchic, Latias, Absol, Trapinch lineage, Seviper (and now Gen 3)

Nostalgia examples: Pikachu, Bulbasaur, Squirtle, Butterfree, Pidgeotto, (yeah, I was a big anime fan, and watched the syndicated run all season long before playing the games for the first time circa Christmas 1998)

Competitive play examples: well gee, Gengar (RBY), Tyranitar (GSC), Metagross (RSE), and Staraptor and Togekiss (DPP) all come to mind.

That reminds me: I love Togekiss, and can't wait to put my Mysterious Egg to good use this time. Togepi/Togetic sucked so much ass in GSC, but now that there's the promise of it evolving into the amazing-looking, amazingly-fun, surprisingly-beefy Togekiss, hell yeah.

Current team: Level 16 Magumarashi (Quilava), Level 14 Batafurii (Butterfree), Level 13 or 14 Meriipu (Mareep), and a Mysterious Egg.

Current location: I just reached the 2nd gym's city. I forget both its Japanese and its English names. lol ^^; Azalea iirc is the English name. Trying to remember the Japanese one. I just saw it, too! ^^;

Thoughts: I played Pocket Monsters Red a couple of years back on my modded XBox and was delighted (and surprised!) to discover that the original game's dialogue was a lot better than than the translated version's. I mean, it's upsetting to know that our translation is so inferior :\ , especially since we're made to wait for it for a good 6 months up to a year before we get the goddamn game (relative to Japan), but it makes playing the game in Japanese all the more worthwhile.

Well, the same thing is turning out to be true once again for GSC, although it's a lot less pronounced. So far, the only people who have really stood out have been Hayato (Faulkner) and the Rocket grunt guarding the Slowpoke Well. When you beat Hayato, the way he describes his loss -- allowing the Pokémon his father entrusted to him to be battered like this -- is so stereotypically "the filial Japanese son," but it beats the pants off of pretty much any English gym leader's crybaby or smart-aleck retorts post-battle. When you encounter the Rocket grunt, the Japanese intonation he uses is stereotypically creepy villain. He talks to your character in a really unctuous manner. Sort of like a pedophile trying to lure a kid into a car with some candy. It's pretty creepy, but appropriately so. The Rocket grunts' English dialogue always comes off as just being assholish rather than creepy villainish. I prefer the latter. Asshole Team Rocket isn't scary. Creepy Villain Team Rocket is.

 

[Sakunyuusha]

Currently en route to the 7th gym town.

The release of PokeSav for HGSS makes life a lot easier. I don't plan on manipulating my team's stats until I've completed Story Mode since I want to retain the main story's element of challenge (and the feeling of accomplishment that goes with it), but it's nice to have access to infinite TMs, infinite berries, and infinite PokéBalls once again. And, once I do complete Story Mode, it'll be nice to go in there and edit my team's stats, EVs, etc.

I can see why these games were popular in Japan. Most of the main NPCs use Kansai-ben frequently, making their dialogue fun and quirky to the Kantou-trained ear. Then there's the moe factor which I don't remember being present in the North American translated versions of Gold and Silver. Akane's a go-get-'em girl with a crush on you. Mikan's a shy girl who wants to become stronger -- so she identifies with steel-types, and she's also shyly got a crush on you, no doubt egged on by your help in saving her Ampharos's life. I don't remember the romantic angles in GSC, not one little bit. I remember Whitney crying when you beat her. I remember Jasmine being a shy girl who switched from being an electric-type trainer to being a steel-type trainer much to the dismay of her city. But I don't really remember the girls saying anything in English which would have felt moe. And as a teenage boy with raging hormones, you'd think I would have taken any chance I got to read into something as having sexual undertones if it were there. :\ So ... stumped. But no matter: I get to enjoy the cute moe moments now and I guess that's all that matters.

 

[Sakunyuusha]

Status update:

- about to fight Erika
- already defeated Surge and Sabrina (for a current total of 10 gym badges)
- already did the power plant sidequest (in full)
- already captured Snorlax
- have visited all routes and towns except for Cinnabar, Seafoam Islands, surfing routes, the Kanto side of Victory Road, and of course Mt. Silver
- have obtained Ho-oh (as per story mode in Heart Gold), have not yet obtained Lugia (but do have Silver Wing obtained in Nibi/Pewter City)

Current team:
- Typhlosion, Level 52
- PBR Pikachu, Level 55
- Nidoking, Level 53
- Butterfree, Level 43
- HM Whore #1 (Kingler, Level 36)
- HM Whore #2 (Pidgeot, Level 40)

Excited to add to the in-game team eventually:
- Steelix (but holding off b/c he'll remove what little challenge is left ^^; ) --> rotate between him and Nidoking, I love 'em both
- Bulbasaur (but haven't gotten one yet) --> replace Butterfree, maybe
- Squirtle (ditto) --> replace Kingler whenever I don't need him
- Charizard (ditto) --> rotate between him and Typhlosion, sadly Typhlosion has a really shitty movepool but I have grown to love the guy

Plans:
- go to Cerulean next. Then Fuschia. Then Pewter. At that point, all I'll have left is Cinnabar/Seafoam and Viridian. Finish those up and head on back to the Elite Four.
- I'd like to raise an Indigo League anime team in time for challenging Red. Would be pretty sweet.
- Alternatively, I'm thinking about raising a Johto mirror of Red's team. Might be sweeter!! So it'd have Meganium, Feraligatr, Typhlosion (in place of Venusaur, Blastoise, and Charizard); and it'd have Steelix (in place of Snorlax), since I don't much care for Sudowoodo ; but I haven't decided who would fill in the final two spots.

 

[HENTAIBEN]

So I guess they redesigned some of the original trainers? Like Misty and Sabrina. They look pretty awesome to me. Never liked Misty before now. Interest in this game rising.

 

[Sakunyuusha]

I never posted in this thread again because interest appeared to be minimal (or zero barring myself ^^; ), but by all means, feel free to ask questions and generate discussion.

They redesigned all of the original sixteen gym leaders insofar as they gave them new battle poses, but the original eight from Kanto received anywhere from minor (Gary) to major (Sabrina) overhauls in terms of their character design. This includes hairstyle, clothing, and body pose.

They also redesigned several of the gyms. Sort of a spoiler, I suppose, so I'll put each of them in the spoiler tag:
Cinnabar City Gym:
[hide]You already know what happened to this gym if you played the originals. But what you probably don't know unless you've played the remakes is that Blaine is no longer the same pitiful bloke all by himself in the bottom of the Seafoam Islands. Instead of attempting to rebuild his gym in Seafoam (as he did in the originals), he has successfully already completed the gym in the remakes. It's located at the upper level of the island (presumably to help keep out the tide? ^^; ;D) and is reached fairly quickly. Inside, you see a nicely decorated chamber. Floor, walls, the whole schebang is decked out. And there are a good eight or so trainers inside waiting to fight or talk with you before you reach Blaine. Pretty cool! [/hide]

Viridian City Gym:
[hide]The trainers, I suspect, are the same as before. However, the layout of the gym is very different. Much more colorful and much more expansive. Enjoy! [/hide]

The fan response to Sabrina's been pretty mixed. Her original design in Pokemon Red, Green, and Blue was -GAG ME- mannish. She looked like a man-girl wearing a military brat's green uniform. The anime gave her a new costume which was then adopted into Gold, Silver, Crystal, and the later remakes of the original games Fire Red and Leaf Green. This costume was also seen in the TCG, and it's probably the one Sabrina is best known for.

In HGSS, however, she's gotten a hair cut, has her hair sprayed to give it a coquettish fanned-out look, and she's wearing a short halter-top with her midriff exposed. She looks less like a psycho bitch about to murder you and more like a sexy teen ready to get her groove on at the Saffron City discotheque.

Personally, I don't see what all the fuss is about. But then again, Sabrina's never been one of my very very very very few Pokemon crushes, so that's probably why. But it seems like half of her fans are devastated by her new look and are accusing her (lol, a fictional character) of whoring out, whereas the other half of her fanbase is salivating at her sexy makeover.

original Sabrina - dyke!
anime Sabrina - still sorta mannish, but with the potential to be a pretty lady
TCG Sabrina - meow~! :3 Inspired by the anime, this full-body leotard is accompanied by some nice boobs and a much more feminine visage. It's easy to imagine why people fantasized about this incarnation of Sabrina.
FR/LG Sabrina - same as above. Actually, this specific picture is from FL/LG, but it's the exact same costume (minus one or two minor color changes) to the TCG Sabrina.
HGSS Sabrina = whoa! Major makeover!

 

[AlexNorman]

Very funny cartoon and games for it!!!

 

[Sakunyuusha]

Here's a rather fair depiction of what it's like to face off against the original hero (and reigning Pokemon League Champion) the first time you face him. I reached him for the first time with a squad of maybe one Level 70 and the rest all levels 60s and 50s. Most of the videos on Youtube are uploaded by wanky little children who (a) are too ashamed to upload their real first encounters, so they bullshit "oh yeah this was da first time I fought him," yeah fucking right; and (b) who use heaps of legendaries (booooooooooooring -_-; ) to defeat him. Kudos to this player for using a real team of great-but-non-legendary Pokemon and at good-but-not-good-enough levels.

My only regret with the remakes is that, for all the improvements elsewhere, they didn't up his team's levels to 100 for the 2nd-thru-infinity battles you fight him. That would have been really very nice. Even if he no longer awarded EXP, I'd still want to go fight him.

 

[HENTAIBEN]

Wow, I seem to remember thinking Sabrina was pretty hot, even in the original games. But she certainly isn't from the looks of it. More so I remember her from the anime, where admittedly she is a little hotter, but still not very hot. But DAMN, she is pretty smokin' in FR/LG - games I've sadly missed out on from the looks of it.

At this point, I can't tell which version I like better. Certainly the one from FR/LG is true to her original character theme. Where I can see why fans of her would certainly be offended by her new look. All I know is my friend was showing me some pictures last night and showed me this one (attachment) and said it was Sabrina. Needless to say I had a pretty "whoa" moment. I'm not going to complain about it though, I still think she's looking damn hot.

And again, the new Misty is so, so superior to the old one. It's amazing what a change of haircut and outfit can do. She no longer looks like some trailer trash skank (I know, a bit hypocritical given that Sabrina isn't that far removed from a trashy whore now)

I clearly have a thing for Pokemon girls.

Man, Red looks insane. I'll freely admit that I don't think I'm above using Legendaries to beat him if it's going to take too much effort to level my team up. Granted, I don't know how useful Legendaries are in HG/SS. I played the original games, but my memory is foggy. All I know is that Mewtwo wrecked shit in the original games, and Dialga was alright in D/P/Plt.

I'm excited for HG/SS now, but that was true for D/P as well. I went through Diamond without having to put out too much effort, and then hit a wall in the end game content when I really needed to start slaving away on improving my team, or building an entirely new one. I don't really want to go through that again. I can get pretty dedicated to RPGs, but never with Pokemon for some reason.