Hello everyone.
I'm back with my rants that nobody reads. Currently on the menu is World of Warcraft: Legion.
While the game isn't out yet, the pre-patch totally is, and even those who only posess the starter edition can check up most of the changes.
I decided to make fresh characters to see what new players, returning players looking for a fresh start and current players creating an alt would see. Considering it is not possible to change your class, yet most of the story is told in the class order halls, everyone needs one of each class to get the whole picture. So leveling is pretty awesome, right? It has to be. Right? Riiiight?!
Nope. It's actually terrible. Quests tell you to talk to NPCs that don't exist, animations loop, the worgen starting area was unfinishable untill a hotfix came along, class trainers had their last quests taken away from them and now literally serve no function whatsoever.
And then there is the combat. Or should I say "combat". I've heared complaints that FFXIV has a boring combat because the global cooldown is too long. Well that may be true, but at least you can do stuff when the cooldown ends. For your first 10 levels, hunter literally has only one ability that you press over and over again. The rogue specs all play the same, with only flavor text and animation differences (even though one is a supposed to be an in your face pirate and the other a stealthy ninja), affliction warlock only has dots and channeled spells, so you spend most of the combat waiting, and monk simply feels weak. In WoD on the same level with the same gear I kicked a lot more ass.
In fact I had so little enjoyment that i uninstalled wow without even trying all the classes. I just couldn't bring myself to look at the others. the 1-20 leveling experience in Legion is the very antithesis of fun. This is not going to save a game that has been behind on recent trends for years. The achievement system was the last time WoW did something and the rest of the MMOs followed. Now, the other MMOs do something neat, and WoW doesn't follow.
I'm not gonna say WoW will die because people have been saying it for years and it never happened. But it should. It's not an RPG, it's not fun and it's failing standards instead of setting them. I really hope Legion ends up being the last WoW expansion, and after that we get a WoW 2. One with dynamic events, housing, inventive class mechanics, multiple ways to level, and a story that flows organicly instead of confusin the hell out of new players.
Monday, August 15, 2016
Sunday, July 17, 2016
Star Wars Celebration - Back in canon
Among the Pokemon Go craze, new Sun and Moon reveals (Mimikkyu for president), and the english launch of Brave Exvius we mustn't forget that the Star Wars Celebration is currently underway. Why? Because ideally everything star wars related will be there with juicy announcements.
This year we got more details on the Ahsoka novel, the reveal of a Rogue One novel written by James Luceano who is notorious for his loregasm filled novels, a very convincing sizzle reel for Rogue One, our first look at Mads Mikkelsen as Galen Erso, a new Battlefront DLC focusing on Rogue One and discovered that the much hyped swtor reveal was an artwork and an expansion title: Knights of the Eternal Throne. Really Bioware?
But don't worry, I was saving the best for last. And that was the Rebels panel. You might be wondering how can a show with graffity artist kids moving down stormtroopers and beams of light used as helicopters can be the best of star wars. If not, you should. Or maybe shouldn't, cause the answer is pretty simple.
The Season 3 trailer showed us a character Dave Filoni wanted to include in Rebels since the show was created. This guy:
Grand Admiral Mith'raw'nuruodo AKA: Thrawn. Yes, ladies, gentlemen, and those in between. One of the first and most beloved Legends characters is officially as canon as Luke and Leia. And he is still the same blue skinned art fetishist we all know and love.
For those who were living under a rock since 1991, Thrawn is the Empire's greatest military commander who can figure out the exact military tactic to utterly decimate the enemy based on what art the enemy commander likes. Sort of like an evil Sherlock Holmes. Of course Timothy Zahn (the author who created him) is not a military genius so said tactic rarely ends up being more complex than zerg rush or flanking, but that's beside the point. He is a very cultured, pragmatic individual, who rose the top position in a xenophobic establishment, despite being clearly an alien.
How faithful will this new version be to the Zahn original? Well since Filoni consulted with Timothy Zahn himself (who will also release a new canon Thrawn novel in 2017) I'd say very. Add to that the voice of Lars Mikkelsen and we have instant success.
More importantly, this might very well be the beginning of a trend of bringing the best of the old EU into the new canon. With Rakata Prime, Moraband and Malachor already in, we can maybe hope that Revan will soon follow the iconic Chiss military genius.
But I am getting ahead of myself. We just got Thrawn. Let's celebrate that for now.
Welcome back Admiral.
This year we got more details on the Ahsoka novel, the reveal of a Rogue One novel written by James Luceano who is notorious for his loregasm filled novels, a very convincing sizzle reel for Rogue One, our first look at Mads Mikkelsen as Galen Erso, a new Battlefront DLC focusing on Rogue One and discovered that the much hyped swtor reveal was an artwork and an expansion title: Knights of the Eternal Throne. Really Bioware?
But don't worry, I was saving the best for last. And that was the Rebels panel. You might be wondering how can a show with graffity artist kids moving down stormtroopers and beams of light used as helicopters can be the best of star wars. If not, you should. Or maybe shouldn't, cause the answer is pretty simple.
The Season 3 trailer showed us a character Dave Filoni wanted to include in Rebels since the show was created. This guy:
Grand Admiral Mith'raw'nuruodo AKA: Thrawn. Yes, ladies, gentlemen, and those in between. One of the first and most beloved Legends characters is officially as canon as Luke and Leia. And he is still the same blue skinned art fetishist we all know and love.
For those who were living under a rock since 1991, Thrawn is the Empire's greatest military commander who can figure out the exact military tactic to utterly decimate the enemy based on what art the enemy commander likes. Sort of like an evil Sherlock Holmes. Of course Timothy Zahn (the author who created him) is not a military genius so said tactic rarely ends up being more complex than zerg rush or flanking, but that's beside the point. He is a very cultured, pragmatic individual, who rose the top position in a xenophobic establishment, despite being clearly an alien.
How faithful will this new version be to the Zahn original? Well since Filoni consulted with Timothy Zahn himself (who will also release a new canon Thrawn novel in 2017) I'd say very. Add to that the voice of Lars Mikkelsen and we have instant success.
More importantly, this might very well be the beginning of a trend of bringing the best of the old EU into the new canon. With Rakata Prime, Moraband and Malachor already in, we can maybe hope that Revan will soon follow the iconic Chiss military genius.
But I am getting ahead of myself. We just got Thrawn. Let's celebrate that for now.
Welcome back Admiral.
Friday, July 1, 2016
Pokemon Sun and Moon - Freaky Friday
Don't wanna grow up
I wanna get out
Hey, take me away
I wanna shout out
Take me, away away awaaaaay
Of course it would be more appropriate to sing:
Don't wanna grow up
I wanna be
the very best
Or something like that.
Aaaanyroad the friday info dump is out. It's mostly what was leaked yesterday just in english. Unfortunately Lillie's lines dialogue is not included. It was something about the guardian god helping us(the player).
When I did my speculation entry my number one guess was the official reveal of Nekkoara and Iwanko. Guess what guys, It happened. The US site is a bit behind on info, but the UK site for Sun and Moon has entries for every Gen VII pokemon and Zygarde forme. Nekkoara and Iwanko are Komala and Rockruff respectively.
As for Hala, we didn't get much. Poor guy still doesn't have a website entry. Still with him having a yellow coat and the equally yellow Tapu Koko appearing next to him, some even go as far as claim that Tapu Koko is Hala's pokemon. That's obviously bollocks, but there might be a connection between the two and the assumption that Hala is an electric trainer might be correct.
We got official confirmation that the first island is called Melemele (hawaiian for yellow. Makes sense if you look at its guardian).
Nothing on points 4 and 5 but 7 new pokemon certainly qualifies as a whole bunch. And if we add Komala and Rockruff that's 9 new pokemon. Or at least newly acknowledged.
And then we have Tapu Koko. My last blog entry was mostly about him (it?) so I won't talk long, but he was and is probably the star of this reveal. The biggest mistery of the E3 gameplay footage has been more or less solved. Tapu Koko is an electric fairy type legendary pokemon with an amazing design and a perfect name for a Lalafel if you want to (re)start playing Final Fantasy XIV. In fact if I finally start earning some money and resume playing I am totally making a character called Tapu Koko. Of course it might be smarter to wait for the next expansion. And perhaps the other 3 guardians.
I wanna get out
Hey, take me away
I wanna shout out
Take me, away away awaaaaay
Of course it would be more appropriate to sing:
Don't wanna grow up
I wanna be
the very best
Or something like that.
Aaaanyroad the friday info dump is out. It's mostly what was leaked yesterday just in english. Unfortunately Lillie's lines dialogue is not included. It was something about the guardian god helping us(the player).
When I did my speculation entry my number one guess was the official reveal of Nekkoara and Iwanko. Guess what guys, It happened. The US site is a bit behind on info, but the UK site for Sun and Moon has entries for every Gen VII pokemon and Zygarde forme. Nekkoara and Iwanko are Komala and Rockruff respectively.
As for Hala, we didn't get much. Poor guy still doesn't have a website entry. Still with him having a yellow coat and the equally yellow Tapu Koko appearing next to him, some even go as far as claim that Tapu Koko is Hala's pokemon. That's obviously bollocks, but there might be a connection between the two and the assumption that Hala is an electric trainer might be correct.
We got official confirmation that the first island is called Melemele (hawaiian for yellow. Makes sense if you look at its guardian).
Nothing on points 4 and 5 but 7 new pokemon certainly qualifies as a whole bunch. And if we add Komala and Rockruff that's 9 new pokemon. Or at least newly acknowledged.
And then we have Tapu Koko. My last blog entry was mostly about him (it?) so I won't talk long, but he was and is probably the star of this reveal. The biggest mistery of the E3 gameplay footage has been more or less solved. Tapu Koko is an electric fairy type legendary pokemon with an amazing design and a perfect name for a Lalafel if you want to (re)start playing Final Fantasy XIV. In fact if I finally start earning some money and resume playing I am totally making a character called Tapu Koko. Of course it might be smarter to wait for the next expansion. And perhaps the other 3 guardians.
Thursday, June 30, 2016
Pokemon Sun and Moon - All bets are off
Well guys here I am a day early. Apparently the russians leaked the tomorrow reveal (or part of it) and Nintendo was forced to acknowledge it and post the official trailer for seven new pokemon. Yes, seven, We can finally do top ten lists.
We have , among other things, a new, very colorful fish, the new evolution stages for Grubbin and Drampa, who is basically Falkor withouth the ability to fly. Funny thing is, I wondered why we don't have an asian dragon for a pokemom. Now we do. Gyarados doesn't count as he isn't a dragon type for some reason.
BUT the most important reveal is Tapu Koko. I got my wish, we have more info. And the new info is strange. For one Tapu Koko is really the name of the pokemon. The one word name trend is officially broken. You know what else is broken? The alchemy theory. Tapu Koko doesn't represent any of the basic elements. It is an electric fairy. Quite a lot of electric pokemon in this reveal. Four to be exact.
Despite ruining a lot of theories I kinda like Tapu Koko. It's design is super cool. Fits his role as a guardian spirit very well. Hope we can capture it cause I want that guy on my team.
You can watch the Nintendo video here
We have , among other things, a new, very colorful fish, the new evolution stages for Grubbin and Drampa, who is basically Falkor withouth the ability to fly. Funny thing is, I wondered why we don't have an asian dragon for a pokemom. Now we do. Gyarados doesn't count as he isn't a dragon type for some reason.
BUT the most important reveal is Tapu Koko. I got my wish, we have more info. And the new info is strange. For one Tapu Koko is really the name of the pokemon. The one word name trend is officially broken. You know what else is broken? The alchemy theory. Tapu Koko doesn't represent any of the basic elements. It is an electric fairy. Quite a lot of electric pokemon in this reveal. Four to be exact.
Despite ruining a lot of theories I kinda like Tapu Koko. It's design is super cool. Fits his role as a guardian spirit very well. Hope we can capture it cause I want that guy on my team.
You can watch the Nintendo video here
 |
| Hala and Tapu Koko |
Wednesday, June 29, 2016
Pokemon Sun and Moon - July 1 Information Speculation
Hellllllllo my nonexistent reader base. Did you miss me? Hopefully yes, cause I'm comming back. This time I set my eyes (and teeth) on Pokemon Sun and Moon. I planned to do a youtube video about this as the Theory Panda and abandon this blog, but that's just not possible. I did some recordings and my voice is sooo bad even I can't bear to listen to it so I figured I would spare others the misery.
But enough expository banter. Let's jump in. As you know, or should now this friday on the first of July 6. am. PDT (so 3 pm here where I live) we will be getting a lots of interesting news about Pokemon Sun and Moon. At least that is what the Pokemon Company promised. So what is it gonna be? No freakin idea. But what COULD it be? Well that's what we will discuss now.
1. Official reveal of Nekkoara and Iwanko.
Now this would be the worst kind of reveal if we don't get anything else, but unfortunately this one makes the most sense as well. Nekkoara and Iwanko were revealed in Corocoro. I don't know how we got this far without a koala pokemon, then again the first panda came with Gen VI. We have names, pcitures, abilities, bios and types for these two so there is very little to actually reveal. But We only know the japanese names and unlike the pokemon from the E3 gameplay footage Nekkoara and Iwanko aren't even on the official Sun and Moon website.
I'm 100% sure their official introduction will be included in the friday info, but I hope we get more. After all the none info we received I'm a bit scared.
2. Hala
Speaking of things not on the website there is Hala. Hala was one of the first characters we have seen. He gives you your starter pokemon and runs the festival during which you fight Hau at the end of the E3 stream. He is named after a tree but isn't the resident professor and neither is he his father because he would be named Something Kukui instead of a different tree.
That's pretty much all we know about him and despite appearing to be a very important person he has no entry on the webpage. So who is he? There are several theories. Gym leader, Elite Four Member, Champion, former champion. Personally I think he might be a former professor. Maybe he never had children, maybe his children died, maybe his children joined the villain team. Bottom line is nobody could become the next Professor Hala, so he instead gave the mantle (lab coat?) to Kukui and retired to the more peaceful role of spiritual leader.
3. The Alola region itself
We know remarkably little about the Alola region. It includes four natural and one artificial island and is the home of lots of rare and exotic pokemon The E3 stream hints that the first island is called Melemele, and we also learn that each island has a guardian. That's it. No name for the other three islands, no info on the number of cities. Or gyms. Nothing on contests or battle frontier. Nope. Nor do we learn about the regions exact place in the Pokemon World.
4. The protagonist
Another topic that could benefit from new info is that of the player characters. Their default names would be most welcome for instance. The E3 demo used Sun, but that's definitely just a placeholder. Unlike the manga, the game consistently gave actual names. We also don't know where the player character moved in from. Likely Kalos, but no confirmation. The one we don't chose will play some role in the game but we don't know what. Plenty to reveal. And that's not even mentioning the customization options.
5. Starter evolutions
This is a no brainer really. When gamefreak revealed the new starters, the internet exploded. Giving us the second stage evolutions could alone provide us with enough fodder to happily draw and speculate for at least a month. And since the games are four and a half months from release that's a lot of time. Not only would we get new names and visuals that could indicate what we can expect from the stage three evolutions, but we would get type changes. According to datamined info Rowlet will lose his flying type and become grass ground, Litten would stay fire and Popplio would turn into water fighting. Wether we are correct or not it would give us a lot to think about. We might reevaluate which of the starters is best and worst. Currently I am Team Litten.
6. A Whole bunch of new pokemon
This is another easy choice. We only have 11 new pokemon so far including Nekkoara and Iwanko so S&M could really use more mons. And let's be honest. New revealed pokemon are always welcome. Except if they suck of course, but none of them do so far this time. Even the least popular ones like Yungoos have some neat lore or interesting ability. Also if we get maybe half a dozen or more new pokemon now, there will finally be a point in doing Top 10 pokemon lists. Everyone wins.
7. Tapu Koko
Remember how I mentioned the four guardians? Tapu Koko is the guardian of the first island. Apparently we bump into Tapu Koko itself on our first day in the Alola region. One local mentions that this fits TK's playful mischievous nature. So what kind of playful pokemon is Tapu Koko? Some believe that the four guardians are legendaries, but I have a very good reason to believe that. Pokemon have one word names. All of them. Mr Mime and Mime Jr sort of break the rule, but that's more of a spelling thing. Tapu Koko is obviously a nickname. However legendaries are one of a kind so I doubt anyone would assign them nicknames as well. There is no other one to differentiate the four guardians from.
Another theory proposed by people more knowledgable by me is that the four guardians are specific examples of the stage 3 evolutions of the 3 starters and Iwanko. According to CoroCoro the starters and Iwanow hold a secret inside themselves. This might be it. As an added bonus, let's make them shinies. We haven't had a shiny pokemon important to the story since the red Gyarados in Gen II. If this theory is indeed correct, Tapu Koko is most likely stage 3 Popplio. He seems to be the most playful after all and the above mentioned knowledgable people consider the first island to be tied to the alchemical symbol of water. Perfect. Now all we need from Gamefreak is an official confirmation.
8. Villain Team
Moving on to less obvious information to expect, let's talk about the villain team. Of course we will have one. Or some anyway. There are several angles for Sun and Moon to explore. We can have one new team. That's pretty standard. Let's call them Team Eclipse as that seems to be the most popular name in fan circles. Team Eclipse would plan to do something involving the legendaries to put the world in danger and would fall before the might of a ten year old kid and his pets. Seriously if some kid would wander into the secret gangster hideout or terrorist base he/she would get either a chloroform soaked rag or a round of bullets in the face depending on the ruthlessness of the bad guys. Another choice would be to have two new villain teams. One for each game. Let's call them Team Edward and Team Jacob. Three guesses which is which, and the first two don't count. It is also possible that an older team would return. Practically everyone noticed how closely X and Y resembles Red and Blue, and most of them guessed that Sun and Moon would do the same with Gold and Silver. The hints are there. This suggests that Team Flare would show up again, and adds even more fuel to the theory that Lillie is Lysandre's daughter.
Another team that could make a return is Team Galactic. In fact the reasons for their return are so numerous it's remarkable that it isn't official yet. Obviously Galactic fits well with a game named after celestial bodies. Also, not only did TG not disband, Cyrus woved to continue his work of creating a world without spirit. According to the developers the Alola region is meant to be a place overflowing with life force. Sort of the exact opposite of what Cyrus wants. Also it was Charon, a TG member that originally discovered and named Rotom. In fact, the room where you can change Rotom's forms is in the Team Galactic HQ. It is not entirely impossible that the Rotom Pokedex was developed by Galactic Scientists. Or rather a legal front used by TG. Last but not least, the next game in line for a remake is Diamon and Pearl. So if Galactic were to returns in the Alola region, we could get their entire story in Gen VII. How cool is that?
And of course we could get Team Rocket again. Why? Because this is the 20th anniversary and Team Rocket is still the most iconic of all the villain teams. Mostly due to the anime still using Jessie, James and Meowth, but still.
Of course we can also have One new and one old team, or two old teams returning. My personal pic would be Team Flare and Team Galactic returning. Based on their colors, Flare for Sun and Galactic for Moon. As if I weren't Team Moon enough.
9. Eeveelution
Not much to say. You know you want it and there is still a lot of types left for Eevee. We might not get more since we got a new one in the last generation, but we can still hope. I have my fingers crossed for a ghost type. The evolution process would likely be pretty crazy, but that adds to the fun. I freakin love ghost type pokemon. Another dream of mine just to spice things up is a normal evolution for Eevee. Let's suppose that if we don't trigger any special evolution till it reaches saaay level 30, Eevee's weird genetic code forces it to adapt further to the normal conditions and turns it into..dunno Aanaa. Aanaa could then have branching evolutions of its own. Maybe that's how you evolve Vaporeon and the rest.
10. Marshadow
Marshadow was found in a trademark along with Solgaleo, Lunala and the japanese names for the three starters. Since five turned out to be legit, it stands for reason that Marshadow is as well. Marshadow immediately captured the immagination of theory crafters and artist, resulting in images like this one I love very very much. Of course nothing confirms either a third game or that Marshadow is a legendary. With a name like this I would guess a poison dark or poison ghost type. Definitely something toxic and something shadowy. Of course Solgaleo didn't get a fire type despite everyone expecting it so i might be totally wrong. Either way it would be nice to learn more about Marshadow
11. The Bracelet
I'm talking about the bracelet we see the protagonist is wearing. The one with the yellow jewel resembling the one in the japanese logo of Pokemon Moon. It doesn't look like a mega stone. Some say it looks like a burst heart, a crystal used to merge with Pokemon, But that only appeared in a none-canon spinoff manga, and nobody actually likes the idea. Of course it might just be something similar to Ash-Greninja in the anime, but Ash didn't need a special stone for that, and he is a pretty lame trainer compared to the player characters so i doubt we would need extra help to do what he does. So what is it? Gamefreak is very tight lipped about it. Naturally I have my own idea. It is indeed fusion, but not between pokemon and trainer. It is between two different pokemon. Kukui is researching Pokemon moves anyway. Why not research how to combine those. Since only evoluition less and final stage evolution pokemon can mega evolve, this fusion could give something to the rest. Not only would this end with some cool looking results that add a new interesting dynamic to pokemon battles, it is a very economical way of adding new mons to battle with. You don't have to add close to a hundred new monsters every game if you already have seven hundred that can either mega evolve or fuse.
12. New Mega Evolutions/Primal Reversions
Whatever the bracelet does it is pretty much expected that we get new megas. While there has been no official confirmation, it would be stupid for Gamefreak to abandon the whole mechanic and replace it with something else. Fingers crossed for Mega/Primal Lugia and Ho-Oh.
13. New Type
The final, unlucky place goes to new type. I put it last because it is the least likely to happen. Not only is it hard to find one theme to give a type, but the game is pretty balanced now as it is. I love variety and new stuff but the hassle might not be worth it. Still this is a speculation that will never die. Out of all the fan made types, I prefer the sound type. It might actually happen. Either way if we get a new type it should be revealed now. I'm not saying it's now or never, but it can't be kept secret for long. When Steel and Dark were added in Gen II, the former got a gym and the latter got an eeveelution and an elite four member. When Gen VI added fairy, it got a gym and an eeveelution. Not to mention all the retroactive type changes and new pokemon. That's a lot of new info for the devs to reveal and the players to process. All of this had to be held off untill any new type is revealed.
Phew that turned out to be one long entry. Hope you read it all if you find it, and like what i wrote. If you think I'm full of shit, or a genius, or want me to talk a bit more about one of these entries, leave a comment. Bye, and have a nice everything. I'll be back on friday to talk about anything I got right.
But enough expository banter. Let's jump in. As you know, or should now this friday on the first of July 6. am. PDT (so 3 pm here where I live) we will be getting a lots of interesting news about Pokemon Sun and Moon. At least that is what the Pokemon Company promised. So what is it gonna be? No freakin idea. But what COULD it be? Well that's what we will discuss now.
1. Official reveal of Nekkoara and Iwanko.
Now this would be the worst kind of reveal if we don't get anything else, but unfortunately this one makes the most sense as well. Nekkoara and Iwanko were revealed in Corocoro. I don't know how we got this far without a koala pokemon, then again the first panda came with Gen VI. We have names, pcitures, abilities, bios and types for these two so there is very little to actually reveal. But We only know the japanese names and unlike the pokemon from the E3 gameplay footage Nekkoara and Iwanko aren't even on the official Sun and Moon website.
I'm 100% sure their official introduction will be included in the friday info, but I hope we get more. After all the none info we received I'm a bit scared.
2. Hala
Speaking of things not on the website there is Hala. Hala was one of the first characters we have seen. He gives you your starter pokemon and runs the festival during which you fight Hau at the end of the E3 stream. He is named after a tree but isn't the resident professor and neither is he his father because he would be named Something Kukui instead of a different tree.
That's pretty much all we know about him and despite appearing to be a very important person he has no entry on the webpage. So who is he? There are several theories. Gym leader, Elite Four Member, Champion, former champion. Personally I think he might be a former professor. Maybe he never had children, maybe his children died, maybe his children joined the villain team. Bottom line is nobody could become the next Professor Hala, so he instead gave the mantle (lab coat?) to Kukui and retired to the more peaceful role of spiritual leader.
3. The Alola region itself
We know remarkably little about the Alola region. It includes four natural and one artificial island and is the home of lots of rare and exotic pokemon The E3 stream hints that the first island is called Melemele, and we also learn that each island has a guardian. That's it. No name for the other three islands, no info on the number of cities. Or gyms. Nothing on contests or battle frontier. Nope. Nor do we learn about the regions exact place in the Pokemon World.
4. The protagonist
Another topic that could benefit from new info is that of the player characters. Their default names would be most welcome for instance. The E3 demo used Sun, but that's definitely just a placeholder. Unlike the manga, the game consistently gave actual names. We also don't know where the player character moved in from. Likely Kalos, but no confirmation. The one we don't chose will play some role in the game but we don't know what. Plenty to reveal. And that's not even mentioning the customization options.
5. Starter evolutions
This is a no brainer really. When gamefreak revealed the new starters, the internet exploded. Giving us the second stage evolutions could alone provide us with enough fodder to happily draw and speculate for at least a month. And since the games are four and a half months from release that's a lot of time. Not only would we get new names and visuals that could indicate what we can expect from the stage three evolutions, but we would get type changes. According to datamined info Rowlet will lose his flying type and become grass ground, Litten would stay fire and Popplio would turn into water fighting. Wether we are correct or not it would give us a lot to think about. We might reevaluate which of the starters is best and worst. Currently I am Team Litten.
6. A Whole bunch of new pokemon
This is another easy choice. We only have 11 new pokemon so far including Nekkoara and Iwanko so S&M could really use more mons. And let's be honest. New revealed pokemon are always welcome. Except if they suck of course, but none of them do so far this time. Even the least popular ones like Yungoos have some neat lore or interesting ability. Also if we get maybe half a dozen or more new pokemon now, there will finally be a point in doing Top 10 pokemon lists. Everyone wins.
7. Tapu Koko
Remember how I mentioned the four guardians? Tapu Koko is the guardian of the first island. Apparently we bump into Tapu Koko itself on our first day in the Alola region. One local mentions that this fits TK's playful mischievous nature. So what kind of playful pokemon is Tapu Koko? Some believe that the four guardians are legendaries, but I have a very good reason to believe that. Pokemon have one word names. All of them. Mr Mime and Mime Jr sort of break the rule, but that's more of a spelling thing. Tapu Koko is obviously a nickname. However legendaries are one of a kind so I doubt anyone would assign them nicknames as well. There is no other one to differentiate the four guardians from.
Another theory proposed by people more knowledgable by me is that the four guardians are specific examples of the stage 3 evolutions of the 3 starters and Iwanko. According to CoroCoro the starters and Iwanow hold a secret inside themselves. This might be it. As an added bonus, let's make them shinies. We haven't had a shiny pokemon important to the story since the red Gyarados in Gen II. If this theory is indeed correct, Tapu Koko is most likely stage 3 Popplio. He seems to be the most playful after all and the above mentioned knowledgable people consider the first island to be tied to the alchemical symbol of water. Perfect. Now all we need from Gamefreak is an official confirmation.
8. Villain Team
Moving on to less obvious information to expect, let's talk about the villain team. Of course we will have one. Or some anyway. There are several angles for Sun and Moon to explore. We can have one new team. That's pretty standard. Let's call them Team Eclipse as that seems to be the most popular name in fan circles. Team Eclipse would plan to do something involving the legendaries to put the world in danger and would fall before the might of a ten year old kid and his pets. Seriously if some kid would wander into the secret gangster hideout or terrorist base he/she would get either a chloroform soaked rag or a round of bullets in the face depending on the ruthlessness of the bad guys. Another choice would be to have two new villain teams. One for each game. Let's call them Team Edward and Team Jacob. Three guesses which is which, and the first two don't count. It is also possible that an older team would return. Practically everyone noticed how closely X and Y resembles Red and Blue, and most of them guessed that Sun and Moon would do the same with Gold and Silver. The hints are there. This suggests that Team Flare would show up again, and adds even more fuel to the theory that Lillie is Lysandre's daughter.
Another team that could make a return is Team Galactic. In fact the reasons for their return are so numerous it's remarkable that it isn't official yet. Obviously Galactic fits well with a game named after celestial bodies. Also, not only did TG not disband, Cyrus woved to continue his work of creating a world without spirit. According to the developers the Alola region is meant to be a place overflowing with life force. Sort of the exact opposite of what Cyrus wants. Also it was Charon, a TG member that originally discovered and named Rotom. In fact, the room where you can change Rotom's forms is in the Team Galactic HQ. It is not entirely impossible that the Rotom Pokedex was developed by Galactic Scientists. Or rather a legal front used by TG. Last but not least, the next game in line for a remake is Diamon and Pearl. So if Galactic were to returns in the Alola region, we could get their entire story in Gen VII. How cool is that?
And of course we could get Team Rocket again. Why? Because this is the 20th anniversary and Team Rocket is still the most iconic of all the villain teams. Mostly due to the anime still using Jessie, James and Meowth, but still.
Of course we can also have One new and one old team, or two old teams returning. My personal pic would be Team Flare and Team Galactic returning. Based on their colors, Flare for Sun and Galactic for Moon. As if I weren't Team Moon enough.
9. Eeveelution
Not much to say. You know you want it and there is still a lot of types left for Eevee. We might not get more since we got a new one in the last generation, but we can still hope. I have my fingers crossed for a ghost type. The evolution process would likely be pretty crazy, but that adds to the fun. I freakin love ghost type pokemon. Another dream of mine just to spice things up is a normal evolution for Eevee. Let's suppose that if we don't trigger any special evolution till it reaches saaay level 30, Eevee's weird genetic code forces it to adapt further to the normal conditions and turns it into..dunno Aanaa. Aanaa could then have branching evolutions of its own. Maybe that's how you evolve Vaporeon and the rest.
10. Marshadow
Marshadow was found in a trademark along with Solgaleo, Lunala and the japanese names for the three starters. Since five turned out to be legit, it stands for reason that Marshadow is as well. Marshadow immediately captured the immagination of theory crafters and artist, resulting in images like this one I love very very much. Of course nothing confirms either a third game or that Marshadow is a legendary. With a name like this I would guess a poison dark or poison ghost type. Definitely something toxic and something shadowy. Of course Solgaleo didn't get a fire type despite everyone expecting it so i might be totally wrong. Either way it would be nice to learn more about Marshadow
11. The Bracelet
I'm talking about the bracelet we see the protagonist is wearing. The one with the yellow jewel resembling the one in the japanese logo of Pokemon Moon. It doesn't look like a mega stone. Some say it looks like a burst heart, a crystal used to merge with Pokemon, But that only appeared in a none-canon spinoff manga, and nobody actually likes the idea. Of course it might just be something similar to Ash-Greninja in the anime, but Ash didn't need a special stone for that, and he is a pretty lame trainer compared to the player characters so i doubt we would need extra help to do what he does. So what is it? Gamefreak is very tight lipped about it. Naturally I have my own idea. It is indeed fusion, but not between pokemon and trainer. It is between two different pokemon. Kukui is researching Pokemon moves anyway. Why not research how to combine those. Since only evoluition less and final stage evolution pokemon can mega evolve, this fusion could give something to the rest. Not only would this end with some cool looking results that add a new interesting dynamic to pokemon battles, it is a very economical way of adding new mons to battle with. You don't have to add close to a hundred new monsters every game if you already have seven hundred that can either mega evolve or fuse.
12. New Mega Evolutions/Primal Reversions
Whatever the bracelet does it is pretty much expected that we get new megas. While there has been no official confirmation, it would be stupid for Gamefreak to abandon the whole mechanic and replace it with something else. Fingers crossed for Mega/Primal Lugia and Ho-Oh.
13. New Type
The final, unlucky place goes to new type. I put it last because it is the least likely to happen. Not only is it hard to find one theme to give a type, but the game is pretty balanced now as it is. I love variety and new stuff but the hassle might not be worth it. Still this is a speculation that will never die. Out of all the fan made types, I prefer the sound type. It might actually happen. Either way if we get a new type it should be revealed now. I'm not saying it's now or never, but it can't be kept secret for long. When Steel and Dark were added in Gen II, the former got a gym and the latter got an eeveelution and an elite four member. When Gen VI added fairy, it got a gym and an eeveelution. Not to mention all the retroactive type changes and new pokemon. That's a lot of new info for the devs to reveal and the players to process. All of this had to be held off untill any new type is revealed.
Phew that turned out to be one long entry. Hope you read it all if you find it, and like what i wrote. If you think I'm full of shit, or a genius, or want me to talk a bit more about one of these entries, leave a comment. Bye, and have a nice everything. I'll be back on friday to talk about anything I got right.
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