Deepest Discussion: Pokemon Scarlet and Violet ft. DevilFruit Joe

What's up, and welcome to the Single Player Experience. As always, I'm your host, Sebastian Malden, and today we're doing a deep dive into Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. For a topic of this magnitude, I had to bring in a special guest. My guest today is none other than Devil Fruit. Joe. Joe is the host of the Anime podcast, the Devil Fruit Podcast. He's been playing the Pokemon Games all his life. He's a master of these games, and he's a huge fan of Nintendo games, period. In this episode, we're talking about all things Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, the pros, the cons, and everything in between, because this is the deepest discussion edition of the single player experience. So without further ado, let's get started. Dj, start the intro, man. Joe, how you doing today? I'm doing pretty good. It's always a good time with you, Sebastian. Always fun. Always fun. Glad to have you back on the show. So, Joe, just for the people who don't know you, can you introduce yourself to the audience?

Sure. Yeah. So I mean, like you said, I'm one of the three hosts of the Devil Fruit Podcast. Um, you can find us on the devil fruit podcast.com if you want. Uh, we also have, uh, pretty much out everywhere on Spotify and any massive listening platform, uh, you can get a little taste of me and my three buddies, or me and my two buddies. Um, and, uh, beyond that, you know, I, my day job is a personal trainer and I work in a gym and all that fun stuff, so, Hey, nerds can exercise too. Yeah, All right,

Yeah, for sure, for sure. So, Joe, like before we begin, I asked you like the last time we, we talked about your top five anime of all time, what are your top five games of all time, though?

I, I should've, I should've known. You would've not just, just been like, ah, okay. Okay.

Um, I got a funny question for you. Coming next though. Games. Mm-hmm.

games. Okay. Uh, I'm just gonna do my best to be as fast as I can be cuz I know I can take my time, um, in, in no specific order right now. I'm just gonna say the titles as I think, and then I might put them in a later or, or in order later. I don't know. Um, the first one that comes to my head is Legend Zelda Mojo's Mask. Um, after that I have a real soft spot, obviously for Super Smash Bros. Um, But I should probably be specific. I, I'll, I'll say ultimate. I have, I have most of my time in Ultimate, and, and I think it's a great game. Um, you know, I love the original and Melees great. Uh, but I've spent most of my time in Ultimate, um, I would be a, I'd be a fake fan if I tried to say anything else, um, after that Okay. The next title that popped in my head was actually We Sports Resort. Uh, but I don't think that's gonna make this list. That would cause a riot probably. But that was a fun game

though. I would be shocked if you put a your top five though. I'm absolutely shocked.

I mean, do you remember that showdown sword mode? Mm-hmm. where you're walking down the street and you're just, ah. Anyway,

Absolutely

shocked. There's, there's a no. Okay. I'm, I'm gonna replace it. Yeah. Uh, there's a game for Nintendo 64 called Ogre Battle 64. What

a throwback.

It's a, it's a strategy game. Uh, and it was one of the first like r PPG games that, like your decisions actually changed, like the course of the game. Um, and it was long too, and I like played that over a summer and it was Oh, so ogre Battle 64. That's the fantastic. Um, I would also put two more, two more, two more, two more. My nos, my real nostalgia pick would probably be Yoshi's Island. Okay. I think that's probably the best side scroller game I've ever played in my life. Um, Last one. I'm gonna say, just to throw a little variety in here, cuz I mean, like, if I'm being really true to myself, a Nintendo game would probably take every single spa on this list. But I would have to think pretty hard and long about all that

I was, I was just about to mention, I was like, this is very Nintendo heavy. Listen, I,

I, I am what I am uh, um, I'm gonna, I'm gonna say I'm trash at this game. Mm-hmm. but I loved my solo campaign and my adventure through, uh, halo three.

Oh, this is solid one.

Mm-hmm. Yeah. Halo three. And I mean, even that's a toss up between Halo three and Halo O D S T. but I honestly probably played Halo three more just because I waited to get O D S T like a long time. And then when I finally got it, I, like, I didn't spend as much time on it. Um, probably

Halo three. Okay. Not bad. Not bad. Did throw like playing as humans throw you off in O D S T versus like playing as of Spartan in the other Halo games?

Mm. I mean, like initially, but after like level two or whatever, like you get used to it mm-hmm. and you're just like, all right, this is the game. Yeah. Uh, and the story's just so good. Um, I love that type of story. Um, like Star, it's, it's like, you know, I'm, it like Star Wars Rogue One, halo OD S T. Mm. Like, there's some other, like, old War movie I'm thinking of that. I can't think of the name right now, but that, that, uh, oh, all quiet on the Western front. Mm-hmm. just like gorgeous. And there's a book too. Uh, honestly, the movie's like just as good as a book. Anyway, Anyway. I love, sorry, tangents. Um, that would be my top five right now. Uh, otherwise I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll keep you here all night,

man. I love it. I love it. It's a solid list. Yeah. I, I think Ogre Battle of 64 is the only one I haven't personally played. If you're patient,

it's a great game. The, the first couple levels in stuff is a little tedious playing it the second time through. I mean, maybe it's just fine still going by your first experience. Um, but my second time through I was like, dang, I forgot how long this was. Cuz it's like part of the game mechanics is. imagine like a top down adventure game on a tabletop. Mm-hmm. And you're a little piece that's like slowly walking across the board. And as the game progresses and you choose where you wanna level things up, one of the things is you kind of start to move faster. So it's like, it makes the later game feel so great because the first like five levels, you're like, this is taking forever But then by the end you're like, I'm a God Like it's, I like it, it's very effective at what it's trying to do. Um, but the beginning is a little tedious, I will say. But, you know, I'm a distance runner. I all, I have been for a long time. I, I love that type

of thing. Oh man, I can probably get into it. sounds very similar to what I experience all the time in civilization games. So that sounds right at my alley as well. See,

and I've never played a civilization game, but I've watched my brother do it on PC a couple times. Mm-hmm. and I was like, okay, d like, like those sorts of things. Like, uh, what is it? Age of Empires. Mm-hmm. is that kind of a similar thing too, right. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Like I would, he would wa he would play that all the time. And I remember looking at that and, and I feel about it the same way I kind of feel about d and d where I'm like, I look at it and I'm like, that's pretty cool. Mm-hmm. that would probably suck me in. I shouldn't touch that. Like, I, I, I understand like, like it's an addict knowing my behavior and I'm just like, I shouldn't, uh, unwrap that box.

Yeah. Stay away from that. I definitely recommend staying away because like, it, it sucked me in and has not letting me go. I think I'm like three years of playing this exact same game and I'm like, sure. I, I should probably get tired of it sooner or later, but it hasn't happened yet. dude, just like

smash, you know, like it's really just the same thing. Yeah. Over it. It's like I just, I'm not tired of it, man. you got every

time's just a little different. Yeah. Uh, it's, it's just enough difference to keep you like engaged and I, I feel like that's all that matters. Yeah. So, so Joe, I gotta ask you one last question before we get to the topic of the show. Okay. you've played Super Smash Brothers quite a bit, so I know you're familiar with the character of Kirby. Now. I love Kirby. Now, if Kirby absorbed you, what powers would it get?

That's, that's a creative question. Mm-hmm. uh, My my, my gut, my like, first thing that popped into my head was like, it would actually be the first Kirby transformation to just like, have a detriment Like, it would, it would like, like Kirby would suck me up and he would get glasses. Mm-hmm. and then the screen would become blurry. Like, like that would be, that would be, that would be, in all honesty, probably what Kirby would get. Uh, that Yeah. No, I'm just gonna stick with that. That's what, that's what Kir, that's what Kirby would get for an ability, would be a handicapped to everybody sitting on the couch.

How may, but, but your athletic though, so he'd probably get enhanced strength. You just couldn't see shit. Right. But,

uh, uh, maybe. Sure. like, maybe he could, maybe he could like, have an extra jump cuz he could jump a little higher. Mm-hmm. or something. Mm-hmm. I don't know. Or, or, or maybe, or maybe his punches become like, Or, or, or no. Cause I'm not necessarily strong. I could take punches. So maybe he like, he gets like 3% less knock back on all of the attacks against him, but the scream becomes blurry. That would be more accurate. Okay. That would be more accurate. He would, he would, he would survive longer, but everything would be different.

he could probably, he could probably run a bit faster though.

Maybe run, maybe his ground speed. Mm-hmm. goes up just a tiny bit, like maybe now he's like equal to Fox or something maybe. Yeah. I don't know. That's a great question, Boy, that's phenomenal.

All right. All right. So Joe, let's get to the topic of the show. I hit you up, I captured a pigeon in the street basically. I attached on that pigeon's leg and just a carrier note. And I sent it into the void and I said, pigeon, I need you to go send a note to Joe. And on that note it said, Joe, I need you to play Pokemon Scarlet or Violet so we can have a deep discussion on it. Yes. and you sent back that same pigeon. I don't know how you recaptured this critter, but you sent back this same like pigeon and you said, I'm down.

Yeah, pretty much So, I mean, it is pretty much, pretty much what happened. It was like, Hey, I must step ahead of you. I already got Scarlet. Let's go. I think it was actually the day I purchased it. Might have a no cuz I, well shoot, I don't know. I don't remember quite, I got it. Day one at Target. I don't, I It was soon. It was, it was quick. It was, it was, it was a beautiful time.

Okay, so you got it day one and you went with Scarlet. I happened to go with Violet, so we kind of have a little bit of com like comparison there to make out of it. But I want to ask you like, what's your history with Pokemon overall, like the Pokemon Games?

Um, like where, what was my first exposure and things like that?

Yeah, like how long have you been playing the Pokemon games?

Sure. So like, okay, so I'm, I'm not as old as this is gonna make me sound. I I have older siblings and they obviously, I was allowed to play some of their games, some of their games, um, as I was growing up. And, and one of them was, we had a green game boy color and, and a see through Purple Game Boy Advance. And we, I was, I played Pokemon Yellow. and Pokemon Crystal and Pokemon Silver. Um, and I just played all of those just like on repeat. But I nev, I don't think I ever actually beat a single one, but I just, I just like entered the world and played, uh, for years. I just did

that. So, so you never like got the motivation to actually like, see the journey all the way through. You just kept like battling these like Pokemon over and over again.

I'm sure I like tried, uh, I, I'm sure I tried, but I, I was very much, and I still kind of am like I, I have my team and I get attached to my team. Mm. as it develops. You know, somebody might le have to leave the roster or something. If it's like going up against a fire gym and I have like a, like too many grass types or something like that. Like I might have to make a tough choice But if I'm deep in the game, no, like I get attached like it's an issue. Mm-hmm. like, like, uh, and, and, uh, but as I get further and further into the game and like my people are like, you know, 60 or, or like maybe a little bit above or something like that, and then I have to go and I have to train up somebody else to come up onto my team that I already don't like as much as the people on my team. Like, nah. So I would just like beat my head against a wall if I ran into a gym trainer or a gym leader, uh, and that I like wasn't beating mm-hmm. and I would just, I would just run it. I would run it back, run it back, run it back until I like bulldozed my way through eventually. Um, and I think also part of it was like I was playing these games. Kind of like, as I was learning to read So, uh, so like, I didn't know, like I, there was a lot of times I remember like, I would get lost in the games mm-hmm. and I'd be like, I'd be like, I'd have to like get my brother. My brother would be annoyed and he'd be like, I don't want to show you. Like, just go forward. And I'd be like, where is that Uh, so I like, I, I didn't know, like the, I, I think I like, kind of knew the Elite Four existed and stuff, but I like didn't mm-hmm. Um, and I would just, so I would just play it and then every now and then I'd like have to start over because somebody like messed with the cartridge and we had to like do that um, you know, um, but, uh, yeah, that was, that. And the, the same way with Zelda, um, Zelda Animal Crossing and Pokemon, like, taught me to read. Like, that's frankly. Mm-hmm. like, frankly, animal Crossing a little bit later. But Animal Crossing was one of those games that was like, so text heavy. Mm-hmm. and they speak gibberish, uh, you know, just like Zelda, I mean, like Zelda, if you can't read it, you can't play the game. Uh, and so that was like, yeah, I like, yeah, that was, that, that's my story with Pokemon is where I got started. Um, and then I think my, like my cousin let me borrow his, uh, Sapphire and then he let me borrow his Emerald once or twice. Mm-hmm. And I remember liking the music and stuff and I thought the updated graphics was cool. Um, and I grew a soft spot for like Mud Kip and, and you know, all that. Um, but then I took a big break. I didn't play another game until Pokemon White, cuz I thought Zham looked sick. Mm-hmm. um, Andy was on the Ds and I was like, okay, I have one of these. Um, and then I never got a three Ds, so I had another whole big skip. Um, and then the next game I played was, uh, scar, or no, the next game I played was sword. And Sword. Disappointed me, it was way too easy. It, like, I, I, I like, did not enjoy my play through of Sword. And I can say that now because I now have Scarlet mm-hmm. Okay. And that's just all I'm gonna say now. That's, that's, that's all I'm gonna say there. But like, you know, sword was cool and it was awesome seeing like, the update of visuals, cuz you know, I had a 64 and I played Pokemon Stadium and Pokemon Stadium two. Mm-hmm and, and all my life I was like, why is there not

a 3D Pokemon game? Pokemon

game with this? Like, you clearly have the capability of doing this. You have a whole game. Based around just battling, you're more than halfway there, just like

you know, just, just go the rest of the way. Huh? Like,

you know, it, it blew my mind. And, and, and then there was like Pokemon Coliseum and Pokemon Gala darkness, and I remember hearing about them, but I also remember hearing, like even when they came out that they were like kind of whack. Mm-hmm. And, and I was like, well, I'm just not gonna touch that. Uh, and finally it took, you know, 20 some years Uh, but we're here and we're now.

So Joe, like your history with Pokemon is like surprisingly, almost mirrors mine like almost to the T because I played Pokemon like red, blue and yellow back in the day, like Absolutely. Oh cool. Yeah, mowed through those. I played Pokemon like crystal silver and gold back in the day as well. Oh shoot. Yeah. Played all those, I played Emerald, uh, you know, I played Emerald. I think that was that version. And then I skipped all the DS versions. Like I did not have, I did not have a Ds or a three Ds and I was just like, I'm not gonna buy this, this one handheld for this one device. Sealed coincidentally was my first time back into Pokemon as well. And like yourself, I was extremely disappointed because I was just like, y'all learned nothing in the last 20 years. Like, I took a break from you for about 10 years and dude, if anything it was worse. It, it did feel that way. It, it did. You know what it felt like is like, like the story. Mm. It was bad. It was insane, dude.

It was bad. It was insane. I was streaming with Jacob once and we were losing our minds about just like hop at the end. Mm-hmm. And the number of times this man said, darkest day in one sentence was just amazing. It was almost so like, it's, it's like I have a very, very, very, very, very fond memory of it, because it is so incredibly terrible now. But like, it's insane. And it's like the, like the, the, the bad guy's whole thing is like, we gotta, we gotta restore power to the world. And then there's this scene at the top of this tower where somebody else walks up and is like, but that's not for thousands of years. We don't need to worry about it now. Like, like we could maybe figure something out later. Mm-hmm. like, it's gonna be okay. My guy. And he ju and then the big bad guy turns around and is just like, basically, I don't care. like, we're doing exactly this now. And it's like, dude, Just give me Giovanni and make it like a mob boss. We're fine. Like, we don't need to, or, or like, or like what they did with Scarlet and Violet. It doesn't have to be world shattering. No, like, It.

Yeah. And we're going to, we're gonna dive into Scarlin Violet later, but like, yes, sword and Shield it almost felt like it was almost the equivalent of going back to a ex-girlfriend after like so many years and you find out that she's the exact same person. You, she was like, when y'all broke up and it, it like, it was the exact same thing. And I looked at Pokemon and I was just like, okay, this might be what Pokemon is for the rest of my life. And then lo and behold, Scarlet Violet came out and while I got a lot of faults, and we'll go into those later, like it sure. It finally felt like we were actually getting a step forward for Pokemon. And I was like, yeah, yeah. This is the game we've been looking forward to since like you said, like the 3D Pokemon games of our childhood. Like yeah, Pokemon Coliseum and Pokemon Snap. It was like they figured out sure how to just take that and just put it in a switch game and just let us run wild. And I was just like, okay, this is what we were looking for.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I'm right there with you. That was a, a crazy analogy with like the ex-girlfriend thing, but that's you know, like surprisingly accurate for someone in shield. I think that was, that was amazing. I

loved listening to that yo. For sure, for sure. Because it is, it is almost like going back to it. Yeah. It has some

shiny new pictures. Mm-hmm. and you thought, huh, and you kinda like, forgot all the rough things. Oh yeah, for sure. For sure. And then, and then you boot it up and you, you, you say hey, and then you're like, oh, I remember now. Should've done this. Yeah.

I was like, I remember why we broke up now. Yeah. Oh

shoot. That's why. Right. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah,

yeah, yeah. you get it. So let's dive into Pokemon Scarlet and Violet though, specifically. So first off, we're gonna talk like just general impressions and then, then we'll give a spoiler zone warning But my first question for you though is what'd you think about the game overall?

Just like my general takeaway, like Yeah. Surface of it before you don't like it. Do I do whatever? I'm basically, I would say it's great. Mm-hmm. Okay. Okay. Uh, like, I wouldn't say like, oh my God, I'm gonna like rip my headphones off and jump through the screen because I love it so much. But like, it's. Yeah, I'll say that. I'll say that for sure. Uh, in, in a holistic sense, you know, if we are going into some of the details and things mm-hmm. it's a game where, like if we were looking at stacks, like if this game was an R P G character and it had like, you know, some games are balanced mm-hmm. some games will hit everything. This game is like, kind of like a glass cannon, like it's really high on some stats and like really low on other stats. Mm-hmm. And so, you know, you just gotta, it's, I think this game people, whether or not they enjoy it, will be dictated on what value they personally put on certain aspects of a game. I like that. Um, I like that. Yeah. That would be my, that would be my What about you though? I mean,

I am, I'm right there with you. Like, I, I think this is good. I don't think it's great, but I think this is like good, uh, like I am in that seven outta 10 kind of zone right now to where Sure. Yeah. Yeah. Like I think I would

numerically mm-hmm. I'm probably like seven B five.

Okay. I like that. Maybe,

but like eight, if I said eight out loud, I would like start questioning myself a little bit. Yeah.

You'd almost feel like you're giving it too much credit at that point.

Yeah. Yeah. I'm like, I might be tempted to call it an eight. Mm-hmm. But then I have like a weird hesitation

I, I understand. I understand. And we're gonna dive into some of those faults, like in a little bit. But like, I think this game is so flawed. It is so bad in so, so many ways. it is like, it is janky, like a waffle house. Like it is straight up, like it is straight up, like diabolical in some ways how bad this game is. And then other ways like. And on the other side of the fence, like I don't give a shit because this is like the most fun I've ever, I've put, have had in Pokemon probably in the last 20 years. And that's literally

exact same sentiment, dude. I'm like, yeah. I was like, it's glitchy as I'll get out. Mm-hmm. but something about it, I'm like, you know what? It's charming because the game, the game is good enough to where the faults somehow become charming. Oh yeah, for sure. Like if it was, if it had its faults that it had and the gameplay was bad, it would be like in the garbage. Oh yeah. Yeah. But it somehow captured some charm.

Yeah. Yeah. Let's just be real about it. People know, uh, people know about like some of the issues that people had with the game coming in with it. Like, this game runs badly, it runs badly. It like the frames per second is absolutely terrible. And it has, it has this problems with glitches. And I'm right there with you if this game. if this game performed just perfectly or at least like decently, this would be the best Pokemon game of all time. And I don't even think it would be close. Like sure. I I don't, I don't think this, I don't even think it'd be close at that point. There, there would be

a debate. Yeah. I think it could be in like the running, if there was a tournament bracket or something. Mm-hmm. and I could be, I could be swayed. Yeah. I, you

know, here's the thing though. It's like I'm right there with you, but the, the freedom, the, the exploration. Yes. The fact that like the, the fact that this is a step forward towards the dream that you and I have been envisioning for this franchise for like 20 years and Yes. And even though it doesn't run well, like they, they nailed all the other aspects of it. And I'm like, yeah, that, that's the reason why I think I'd probably put it closer to, if not the top, in the top two probably. Yeah. But. Um, but I'm looking at Pokemon like, uh, violet specifically for me, and I'm thinking to myself, like, I haven't had this much fun just playing a game of Pokemon in forever, probably since I was like eight years old and I'm 31 right now.

Same. Same. No. Yeah. Uh, I, yeah, I didn't even have this much fun with white, uh, or black or whichever one I played. I don't know. Mm-hmm. Um, and, uh, yeah, I, I, I have not had this much fun with the Pokemon game in a long time. And like yeah. The glitches and things, they're, they're all visual and maybe it's just like, you know, us growing up with 64 games and all those crazy glitches mm-hmm. but it's like you. I could get past it. I move the camera and it goes away, or, or like I go to the next scene and it goes away. If anything, it just makes me chuckle because they look silly in the moment, and it's, it's great. Like you've seen, everybody's seen the clips now at this point. Mm-hmm. of like a poke ball opening up and it's like inside a human almost and coming out in a funny way. And it's like, this is just funny. Or you see an MPC walking by and like their Pokemon is inside them and it looks like they have Pokemon feet in the human body. like, it is, it's, it's, it's weird glitches that are just like, when you see them, it's not like, oh, I hate this. It's like, what the heck is happening? Yeah. It's like, it's like it makes you laugh. And, and, and that is a very fortunate thing, I think as far as the things that do bring it down, as far as enjoyment for me is like, If or when, the couple times where the game just legitimately like chugged Mm. Yeah. Through something. Mm-hmm. And like, like there's some like frame drop, its for sure. But like, there was like maybe three times during my play through where like, it was, I thought the game was like gonna crash almost. Like I, I was like, I was like, oh shoot. I was like, is this, is it gonna happen today? Uh, but, but it never did it, it caught up. It was good. Um, but, uh, but yeah, dude, it's, it's just that visual.

Violet crashed on me three times. Like Three times did. Yeah. It crashed on me. And this is still non spools people, but like it crashed on me right after a gym battle it, and I had to redo that gym battle all over again. It crashed on me. Okay. Right after a Titan fight, and I had to redo that titan fight all over again. And then it crashed on me as soon as I selected my like starter. And I battled the rival for the first time and like it crashed on me and I had to redo that, like the whole setup all over again. So those were like three times it crashed on me. And I just like, well, like I'll just, I'll, I'll go back to the, either the beginning or go back to where the last point it saved.

Okay. Now, so have you heard people talk about, like, I've heard some whispers and whatnot, that people think that the scarlet version of the game is more buggy than, or No, the violet version is more buggy than scarlet. Have you heard anybody talk about that? Yeah, I, I've

heard some people say that, you know, Scarlet ran a little better than Violet. I don't necessarily know if that's like from firsthand experience, if that's true, but I will say like, like comparing bugs, like if you and I just talked about some of the bugs that we've had, I didn't have that bug that you talked about. Were like the Pokemon, like the ball was looped. Like it came from inside the person. I didn't have that book. I had the Oh really? You

never had like some funky

visual stuff? I, I had some funky visual stuff, but like, mine was like, the, the legendary Pokemon that I was riding just completely disappeared at times. So it looked like I was just straddling air. That happened

once. I think that happened to me once. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes. And it's just like, it's like, well, and it just makes you giggle It is, it's humorous. I'm looking for things that make

a giggle. It is humorous. So, you know, like, Let's go into s spoilers, you know, because right now we just gave our, our kind of surface level. But let's dive deeper into Pokemon here. Let me ask you, like, did you, first of all, did you complete the Pokedex? No. Are you

going to maybe, uh, I've never, I, I did put more of an effort to this game to like catch as I was going regardless of if I really wanted the Pokemon or not. Same here. Um, and I don't know if that's evident or if I don't, I don't know if that's something to be said about the, the lure of like the 3D open world aspect. I think maybe a little bit, cuz I was like, oh, I see something I've never seen before. Let me run over there and like try and nav it. Mm-hmm. maybe. Um, but after I finished the game, I looked at my pokedex and I was like, oh, I have a long way to go. Yeah. So, I don't know. I, I thought, you know, if you would've asked me halfway through my play through, I would've said, yeah, that's what I'm

doing. Mm-hmm. But now I'm like, probably not. probably not. You

know, I, some people are that people, uh, I don't feel a deep desire to do that. Mm-hmm. I beat the game. I did the, after I did the whole thing. Mm-hmm. uh, yeah, I'm probably not. Did you, are you? Where

are

you? Oh, hell no. I am, uh, no, no. God, no. Hold on. We're just the same on this. We are the absolutely the same. I'm not, no. Like I, I, I'm like, you like about the third or fourth gym leader, I was thinking to myself like, I can do this. Like I can probably right with this Pol adex and then like about that eighth gym leader and like two or three, I think I had like one Titan remaining and I was just like, I'm not gonna do this. I don't even feel entitled to do this. Like there's some Pokemon that I just generally don't care if I ever see again in my life. And dude, yeah, there's some of them that were like that. And then if I saw a Pokemon from like the generation one era, it was instantly captured. I'm like, I had to have it. Oh well. Yeah,

yeah. But like it's all, it's all preference and stuff. And also

they're just better. So Yeah, for sure. For sure. Gen one is obviously better than all the other gins, but like yeah. So, so if I saw like a Pikachu or even a magic harp, I was just like, you can come on you you can, you can sit next to me Exactly. Exactly. Like I saw a grath and lost my shit. Like, I was like, Hey,

I would literally save.

Oh, like I saw one of him and lost my shit and I was like, yes, I remember you, the little guy. You're, you're coming on my team. Like right now, I don't care what fire Pokemon I had, I was just like, you, you're getting push to the shine. Yeah.

Yeah. You're getting your chance to shine, buddy.

Exactly, exactly. Because like Grath never got a chance to shine in the OG Pokemon games with me because like I always had a Charmander or something to that nature. Sure, sure. I, you know, there, there was no need for two of y'all, so like, you were, you were almost like the bootleg version of Charmander. So in this game though, like there's no charm mander, so you got your chance to shine. Yeah,

yeah. Although I've saw somewhere, I saw somebody have a Char char. Yeah, like they did a, I think there's like a way to get him in the game, but it's,

they did a raid. Um, they added like a, was a raid to where like you, you had to do it is a time raid and they put him in the game and you can capture him and then you can get like a charmander or a tra million through like basically breeding, so to speak, but Oh, okay. Yeah. But, but they're not naturally game.

It was like a special event, like sort of thing. Oh, okay.

Well, yeah, I'm not, I'm not going back and doing that, so I don't That's that's fine. That's fine. So, you know, we talked about No charmer. let's talk about like the starters in the game. Which did you choose? I chose, I'm Team Fo Coco. Fo Coco What?

Fu Coco. You cannot hear a name like Fu Coco. Mm-hmm. And not just like Smile That's just, that's just such a happy name. It was a baller name. Little. A little, little pepper crocodile, like that's, that's great. I had high hopes what you would turn into

I, you know, I, I was thinking Foy Coco and I, then I was also thinking of the, the cat, like the grass cat and Sgo Tito. Yeah, sgo Tito. And then unfortunately, I don't know what happened. I don't know if it was just a lack of, of forgetting who I am in life or if I was just having a, you know, just having just a blank moment to where I just felt like trying something different. I tried quacky, the, the, the duck.

Yeah. Por por,

the bootleg Donald Duck. I tried him.

Yo, really though.

And for better or for worse, like, I, I like quacky, like the, the starter. I did not like his evolutions. Like he got uglier and uglier as he kind of like grew up.

I fully agree with that. I think all of the first evolution, like the baby versions mm-hmm. of all the starters are some of the best starters in, in a long time. Oh yeah, for sure. I think, um, but then they all kind of got worse as they evolved. Mm-hmm. And they all just got like, outside of, outside of the fire wine, they just, Pokemon is running a weird habit of just making everybody humanoid. Yeah, for sure. And it's like, it's like the charm of it is keeping 'em like special cool animals, like things I think

I, I'm right there with you cuz Char are blasto and Venus orb we're still, still like basically animals. They were, they were like beasts. They were just giant versions and more badass versions of those beasts. Yeah. Yeah. Like, like, um, quacky grew up to be a salsa dancer. Like that's basically what he was just legitimately

mm-hmm. just, yeah. Yeah. And, and like, you know, that's neat. But it's like, is that a Pokemon

No. And it almost felt more Digi mon esque, cuz Digi Mon always Oh yeah. Always had felt like humanoid ish kind of mean to me. They've

had so many Digi mon esque designs, this one and the previous generation with Sword and Shield too. Mm-hmm. Um, they're just becoming more and more Digon esque. I mean, dude, the one, the, what is it? Char Cadet. Mm-hmm. If that is not a Digon, I don't know what is. Yeah. It's got a cute little form, and then it evolves up to basically look exactly the same, but it's bigger, a little bit more humid and it's got more armor. Mm-hmm. like, like that just is Digi. I got You, you even, you even have to get a special item. Mm-hmm. to, to evol. You have to armor. There's a thing in Digimon, it's armor. Digi al. Mm-hmm. You literally armored Didi ball this guy into his final form for, for the, uh, for at least the defense heavy version of him. There's, I know there's an intact version too. I, and like, it's cool. I did it and I enjoyed it. I had fun. But, but yeah, man, it's, it's, it's Digon and I love Digon.

Mm-hmm. I'm right there with you. But yeah, this felt different. Like Pokemon's supposed to be Pokemon Digon, ISS supposed to be digon. And even like the legendary, the legendary Pokemon that you play with and ride, onto this game felt Digi monish to me dude,

Yeah, you, you've, you've seen, you've seen the DMA movie, right? Mm-hmm. there's a. Were, they're riding on the dog Deman at the second half of the movie across the plains. And they, I think they got the song going on. They're like, Hey, didge, deman,

champions of the digital world.

Hey DeJuan, they're, yeah. And they're riding on his back trying to go meet up with everybody else cause he got separated like somehow and they're meeting up at a house or something. And, uh, like that, as far as I'm concerned, directly inspired what this game is. like, you know, I didn't, I I didn't have that thought until right now, but now that's solid in my brain. Mm-hmm.

I, I'm right there with you. I'm right there with you. So did you, like Foy Coco, throughout the whole thing? I

did. And I, my, my gut reaction to the second evolution was, what the hell. Uh, but then it grew on me. Cause I was like, okay, he kind of has like a lutalo vibe. And Luta, colos got a soft spot in my heart. Um, and, uh, and I was like, okay, maybe like the third evolution is gonna like 180 and like, go like crazy. Mm-hmm. uh, and they, they did, but not enough. But it wa yeah. Like, or, or it wasn't in the way that I wanted. Like, it, it didn't scratch, like, like it's like you ask somebody to scratch your back mm-hmm. and, and, and you're like, oh, you know, a little higher, a little higher. And they, they go higher. But now their scratching pattern is different. So it's not the same. Like, you know what I mean? Mm-hmm. like, so, so it's like, it's like, you did what I wanted but you didn't do it. Right. Yeah. And, and you, I just feel a little unsatisfied. I'm thankful and I'm happy about it, but, uh, I'm, I'm just a little, I little was left to be desired. I think it was neat co conceptually. Mm-hmm. having like the ghost flame thing on his nose and like a separate little being with him, but then as soon as he stood up and sang into a microphone to like send a flame mm-hmm. I was like, that was something I never wanted to see one. And, and it's a sick attack and it's very useful, but I was just like, ah, it had to grow on me. It had to grow on me a lot. Um, to the point where I, I actually had to take, take him on my team cuz I just didn't, I didn't like him very much, but even though at the very end I like very much needed a fire type and I just couldn't bring myself to put him back.

Joe, are you saying that you took your starter off your main sixth? Like he wasn't like the elite four with you? He was,

he was n he was not there for my Elite four.

Oh, wow. Because like, I, I, it felt almost sacrilegious for me to take my, my starter off my team at that point.

Oh, believe me, dude, I, I, like, I stayed up in my bed at night thinking about this, like, it was a hard decision. Like, like I told you, like with my experience with Pokemon and all the way through, like when I was a kid, I, I was the kid who would beat my head against the wall because I had my team, and my team was my team and, and, and I, I don't care. I'll just get stronger and I'll get through it. But he just, I wasn't as attached to him. Well, I'll tell you what it was, is I, I really wanted hair across on my team. Oh, yeah. Mm-hmm. and, and the allure, the allure of my tried true boy was, uh, was too strong. Um, and, and I used this game to try to allow myself to break out of my old molds a little bit.

Okay. Okay. Let me ask you then, like, let's, let's dive into that. Do you remember who was on your team for your elite? For a run? Uh, for,

for for Scarlet? Yeah. Um, yes. I mean, shoot, I could boot it up right now. Let's just see, uh,

let me tell you, mom, while you're, bo yours up in, in checking it out. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I had, Kua Quavo, which is like the final version of, of Kackley. Like, I had him, he was my water fighting type. I had Dragonite the Dragon flying, um, Pokemon because he was the OG and he was like, and the original game Lance always used to like come at me with Dragonite. I kind of wanted to pay homage to that. Then I had Guo as like another, I don't know why I went to water types, but I, Guo was a OG and I just had to have him. And then, stupid of me to do this, but another dragon I had on my team was, um, guard chop. He was the purple dragon his ground and dragon type. And then I had Rrk nine, and then I had little Ra and RA was holding it down for my, my electric type. And those were like my six

dude. I remember. Um, Near the end of the game, I saw, I found a, a Rache that was, uh, it, it had a tour internationalized type of like ground or something like that. And I, I was tempted to blame on my team Cause I was like, I was like, that's crazy. Um, okay. All right. Anyway, my team, I, oh, I might have switched up a little bit between the Elite four and like the after.

Yeah. Cause like the after game presents like the Final Boss in this game is absolutely crazy. It's the most anime thing I've ever seen in Pokemon. Yeah. Like the games not, not, I had

to think about that Cuz Sword and Shield was also pretty, pretty anime like mm-hmm. I was like, yeah, this is an anime. I mean, sword and Shield was press A to go to the next part of this cut scene. Mm-hmm. like, it was like a, like, uh, it is, I hated it. Um, anyway, Um, but yeah, no, it was pretty anime. Yeah. Cause it was

crazy though. Two. Yeah, for sure. You're fighting, like you're fighting a basic, a Android who, who wanted to go to the future, who's like, was the embodiment of another guy who like, uh, hi. Like a professor who decided to hell with this. I want a creator advice to bring Pokemon from the future over here. Right. And then he died in an accident and the Android decided to just continue living as him, basically. Oh, that's

crazy. That's different than Scarlet. Oh, is it? I mean, the, the base of it. Mm-hmm. same thing is similar, but in Scarlet, um, it's, it's the, the female professor. Right. And. She is the mother of your like friend who you fight the titans with The guy trying to help out his dog.

Yeah. It's, it's the exact same thing. Just male female version then. Oh, okay. All right.

Okay, then nevermind, nevermind, nevermind. Um, but, uh, but yeah. Uh, and then, and then the Android gets to, gets to go off and live the adventure, I guess.

Yeah. And then you have to fight the Android in the end, like the super Android basically. And the Android's Pokemon, like, yeah. I, I, I did hear from like other people that the Pokemon that you fight are different in Scarlet versus Violet.

I have heard that as well. Mm-hmm. Um, but like I know that there's, cuz obviously there's certain game specific Pokemon that you can only get in some of them and things like that.

Was that final balls

fight hard for you? I did it twice. Okay.

That's that's fair. That's fair. I think, I think I did it three times and yeah, it took me three times to figure out like a couple of the Pokemon's weaknesses because Yeah. Yeah. We were fairly matched, I think like, I think all of his Pokemon were like 67, like level 67, and mine were around level 67 as well. So like, it was just a weakness thing. He kept, he had a Pokemon, a Dragon Android that would basically hit me with earthquake all the time. And I was just like, I would just get murdered by earthquake because most of my poke, yeah, most of my Pokemon were like flying or uh, or like electric fire. All of them were weak almost, except for one. Sure.

So, so my team, at least that I ended with mm-hmm. Was I named them ice climbers. Uh, essentially This was also the first game where I actually like, gave nicknames to Oh, really? To, to, to, to some of my people, some of my Pokemon, I shouldn't call them people. I, this is how I get attached Um, they're Pokemon, they're not people. Mm-hmm. Um, but I named them ice climbers and I caught them very, very early. This is the, um, their first form is called, tandem mouse, the, the two little white mice. Um, and, and then when they evolve, they become mouse hold. And there's two more mice that come often. Sometimes, I guess sometimes there's only one more mice that shows up, or one more mouse. Uh, and then there's three, but mine has four. So the ice climber's name no longer makes sense, but that's okay.

I never saw this Pokemon by the way, like ever saw this Pokemon in my, my whole play through of the game. Basically. This is like a mouse version of Dige, so to speak, where it has digt has like two heads, or like one head and three heads. I

understand. Uhhuh kind of. Yeah. No, like it's legitimately like two separate bodies. Oh, just holding hands, basically. yeah. Just holding hands and then, and then randomly, like all, every Pokemon has a little cut scene when they evolve and stuff. Mm-hmm. right. And one of my first major glitches was, I was so excited to see what this guy evolved into, and all of a sudden I just looked in my menu and he was different. And there were two more. And I was like, what? What I, he evolved and I like didn't, I didn't get to see the cut scene. Oh. I felt, dude, I felt so cheated. But then like weeks went by and Jacob told me, he was like, no, no, no, no. That's just like the way that Pokemon works. Like it's just when it has enough like love or whatever it like more of the mice just like show up and become a part of their family basically. What? That's so

crazy.

Like, essentially, like that's more or less like what it is. Uh, and I was like, that's nuts. And he is like, but yours has four. And I was like, yeah. And he's like, oh, I haven't seen any that didn't, they were all just three. And I was like, Ooh, I'm special. Uh, but anyway, you gave him too

much love.

I gave him too. Listen, I, I call him people, man. Mm-hmm. um, we're attached. Um, but that little dude stayed on my team pretty much the entire game. He, he was great. As soon as he learned, um, play Rough and Super Fang, it was game over. Like he was, uh, like unstoppable, forced, especially to like start every, that battle with it was

mm-hmm. So good. Um, so lemme ask you, is this like the ratta of, of Violet, basically vi like Violet and Scarlet, you know, the normal rat

type basically. I know what you're saying. Um, no. Because there was like a rat dude

I think. Is there a rat, a ratta equivalent in

actually, I mean you might be right cuz he learns like super fang and

like hyper fang and that, that's what made me think of it because like, yeah, that's the only other Pokemon I remember with like basically, but like that move set so, so much better. like had to be cuz rat is like,

you know, like so much better. Like eradicate can have some crazy moves. And I do remember having eradicate on my team at one point, uh, grow, like playing up, uh, when growing up in one of my playthroughs. Um, but, but I, yeah, no mouse hold so much better cuz that, that just because of that one play rough dude, that fairy type move. Mm-hmm. goated G Absolutely amazing. A any, any dragon type coming up?

what, what's the rest of your team like?

Rest of my team following up after that, this guy, um, I think came onto my team after the Elite four, but I didn't, oh yeah. Through the Elite four. I had the New Rock, dude, the salt. Uh, guy, uh mm-hmm. Gargan, Garganto, you know what I'm talking about? Mm-hmm. the, the, the giant dude and he's like a salt Pokemon and all of his names have N A C L because that's the chemical symbol for salt.

Yeah. I didn't, I didn't realize that. That's, that's

funny. Um, it's, it's great. I, I was, I was streaming and somebody in my chat pointed that out and I immediately, cuz I was talking so much shit on this Pokemon mm-hmm. I was like, look at this Super Mario mushroom level up looking thing. Uh, and then they're like, dude, it's n a c l, like salt. And I was like, completely opinion changed. I was like, this guy is on my, and he was on my team through like the entire time through the Elite four, but I switched him out for, uh, I, I put in the work in the end game to train from level one, basically all the way up or like level eight or whatever. I caught him at. I got a Tyran guitar on my team.

Oh, that's badass. And my guy,

my guy put in war guy. I tell you what, I love that guy. That

guy is so good that that's the ground Pokemon towards the end of the game. That was just using earthquake basically. And destroying my team at the end. Boss, by the

way. Yeah. G guess what give a moose set is I got hyper beam, I got iron defense, I got stone edge and earthquake. Yeah, you're set. Oh, he, he was, he was goated. Uh, after him, uh, I replaced my Myke Durge. Mm-hmm. The, the final evolution Foy Coco, with a Toco. I remember having a Toco on my team at one point when I was like playing through Sapphire or, or Emerald or whichever one my cousin let me borrow. My final team, I think I have like three, I used to have a Bliss. Mm-hmm. dude that incredibly high. Hp and then she knew, uh, iron Defense two or no, she, I had her nose sing. So I'd put the person to sleep and then I would do defense curl and I would just create, oh, no monster. Oh no dude. It was such a hard decision to take her off my team, but I replaced her with a Gar chomp. Oh, that's

a Good move. Good

move. And a gar chomp I wasn't expecting, but I don't know why I didn't try going up to the top of the edge of the crater until like, near the end of the game, but I just like didn't try. But then once I did, I was like, oh, there's Gar Chop up here. Mm-hmm. I was like, oh, well lemme catch one of these. Um, and and he put in some work too. He knows Dig. And then I, I gave him Dragon Claw Crunch and he knows slash but the Dragon Claw and dig, dude, uh, he, you

are Shin Me, you're, you're Guard help and by guard Trump have the exact same move set, like to the T

Let's go. We're just kindred spirits, man. We're two sides of one coin. Oh, for sure. Um, I should have grown up in Texas, I guess. I don't know. Oh yeah, for sure. Uh, um, and then after him, I, I got a dragonite on my team. Let's go let's go. And, and Dragonite put in work. Mm-hmm. you know, just the flying ability alone was so goaded and, uh, I, he knew, he knows, uh, I caught, I caught him as a dragon drag tv, dragon Air. Oh, dragon Air. Mm-hmm. I caught him as a dragon Air and he knew, uh, Thunderbolt.

Oh, that's already Goated.

Yeah. Uh, cuz I, I don't know, but I'm pretty sure that's like not in the move.

I think he learns, he learns it, I think at 55. And by that time, by that time, he turns into Dragon Night though, right?

Mm-hmm. So, so, so he, he knew Thunderbolt. So, so I had the Dragonite with Dragon Dance, Thunderbolt Aqua Tail, and, uh, and Dragon Claw and oh, he obliterated, he obliterated my guys stats. Man, if you were looking at this chart right now, oof, ooh, it's, it's coated. Um, and then rounding out the bottom of my team, this was a spot that kind of had a little bit of a rotating door. I couldn't decide who I was really going with, but I kept coming back to my boy hair across mm-hmm. and, and he's just kicking butt with he knows Throat chop, which is like surprisingly handy because a lot of Pokemon in this game have like vocal type moves mm-hmm. And so you, you start out, out the gate with that and then like, A lot of times it's just whatever move they chose is doesn't happen. Mm-hmm. because it, it, it, it cuts that off. Uh, and then he knows Sword Dance and Mega Horn, uh, and that, that, that super strong bug type move came in handy in the end too. Um, but, uh, that was, that, that is my final team. That's dope.

So let me ask you what did you think about the three branching stories? Because this game had the, the Titans that you fight, the gyms, the gym slash the Elite four and the team Star bases.

I liked it out the gate, honestly. Mm-hmm. Um, I was skeptical, uh, before I tried one of each at least. Um, cuz I was like, oh, what is this gonna be? Uh, and uh, and it was, it was great. I had fun with all of 'em. Um, it took me one or two GOs throughs of the team star bases where my dudes are walking around and just like, yeah. Throwing them out. Mm-hmm. Um, but I learned to like that it was fun just in a different way. Um, It was fun to just like sit back and watch my Pokemon just demolish Mm-hmm. um, But you know, it kind of gave me like a superiority complex, like like it was just like, yes. Mm-hmm. burn. Uh,

but like you were raid a village, so to speak, basically.

Yeah. No, it kind of felt like that. Like, uh, we were entering their gates and just like defeating the hoards. no one survived. Uh, you know, very much felt like Anakin. Mm-hmm. um, with the young wings. I was thinking more so the sand people, but Yeah. But uh, you know, going into the can

that is so dark. Why did my buy go to the youngling? Your went to, yours went to the sand people. At least

the same. I mean, it's really not much different. There were young sand people there too. Yeah, that's true. Uh, anyway. Um, know I liked it.

I liked it. I, I like aspects of it. I really like the team star other than the, some of the backs stories kind of felt a little long winded there. But I liked like you said, rating basely each one of the bases and that the bases were different types. Yeah. I really enjoyed that aspect. What I did not like though, and probably one of my most hated parts of this game, other than the game's overall performance, is the gyms. And the reason why I hated those gyms is because each gym made you do the most bullshittery thing I've ever seen in a Pokemon game. And that's basically make you do like mini game to prove that you are worthy of like, fighting that count. Right. and none of those mini games felt fun to me. one of 'em, I think this was like maybe the bug lady who was like, Hey, I want you to go out in the middle of town and basically like roll a ball into like the square zone. And I'm like, why am I doing this? Like, what? can't I just fight like three of your flunkies and get on with my life? Yeah. Right?

Mm-hmm. Oh yeah, no, I see what you're saying. I, I enjoyed it because I at least was ex I was expecting it. Um, like I, I played Pokemon White mm-hmm. and, and that was, I think gen three is when they like started introducing a little bit more of. The mini games challenging, like, uh, or like, they kind of made the gyms kind of mazes, kind of mm-hmm. at like elementary. Um, and then I, you know, took a break, came back Pokemon Wyatt. I was like, what is this? And like the maze going up to the gym leader and stuff was up to a whole new level and it was a whole thing. Um, and I, I would take these sort of mini games of things over that, like any day, honestly. Um, and, and it was, I, I enjoyed the creativity of some of them. Um, and I also liked the bug one though because I remember stumbling upon like the basically soccer court mm-hmm. with the giant bean or the olive. Um, and I remember being like, cuz I saw that before I went to the gym. Oh really? And I was like stumbled upon it and I was like, dude, this is so cool. they just like implanted random things for us to discover so that then if I bring a buddy in tomorrow, can play against each other. We can like, just like play soccer, like, and there's no like a score counter or anything, but like mm-hmm. we know Mm-hmm. and like, and I, I just remember having like this, the, like that was my first experience with it. So then when the gym came through, it was like, this is what you're doing. I was like, oh, well, yeah, I guess that soccer field makes more sense now. But, um, yeah, that one was a little whack, but that was also probably the worst one out of all of them.

I don't know, man. There was one where you had to get like the recipe ingredients for like, um, where like you had to figure out what was the, basically the perfect, um, the perfect order. Oh, where

you're running around the town. Yeah. And you're trying to like pick up on who's talking and what. Yeah.

Yeah. That one was pretty rough.

That one took me a little while.

Then

there was a, the one where you had to like, like roll down hill, basically use your Pokemon and kind of like roll down hill and so to speak. Oh, the snow. Yeah, the snow, yeah. Yeah. You had to snow snowboard down the hill. And which would've been fun if this game performance wasn't like janky to begin with. So like yeah, that was one of the points where my game was legitimately stuttering and like I was, oh shoot. I thought it was just gonna break on me because like I was rolling down the heel and the game already runs at 15 FPSs basically. So like it does, it's not that

bad sometimes. Sometimes it

is it runs like old serpent IHOP, so to speak, where it's just very slow. Very slow and very methodical. And that's one of the games where I, like I saw the frame race just drop and it just took a, it started like chugging and your nose dive. Yeah. And I was rolling down the hill and. and I was just like, it was hard to react really fast because like by the time the game caught up to some of the, my movement inputs, I was already on the, like, the other, like it would overcompensate and I was on the other side of like, where I was intending to go. So it was rough. Nice. It was rough. I, I still managed to get that one done and like, I think the first try, but I didn't, I didn't enjoy any of the mini games, so to speak. I was just sure I was like, I was ready to just get on with a boss battle. Like, yeah, let me get there or at least let me fight some flunkies and then get there.

You know, it probably would've been less fun for me if I was just doing it alone. I, at least through a lot of the beginning of the game, I was streaming it mm-hmm. and so that anytime something unique happens on stream, it's just like, oh, let's play into this. So that probably warped my sense of some of those things. Maybe a little bit. Um, that's fun. Yeah. I did this all by myself. That's asterisk. Yeah. Yeah. That is an asterisk I should put on that note then too. Yeah.

So, final couple questions about Pokemon. do you have any gripes with the game overall or anything you'd like to see improved in, like in Gent? Yeah.

The beginning, it took way too long to get started. Oh,

amen. To that.

It was like literally five or six hours before I actually like, felt like I was playing the game. Mm-hmm. uh, the tutorial and just the story start was

way too long. Oh, for sure.

for sure. And, and it just didn't have to be like, you could have done it so much quicker. Now, I,

I think, uh, like Pokemon is taking a step forward with this like generation, but I think one of the criticisms they could take from this game, from a lot of people's input would be like, there needs to be an option where you could just skip the tutorial. Especially like there should be. A lot of games ask you right off the jump where they say like, Hey, have you played a Pokemon game before? Or like, Hey, have you played one of our previous games before? Yes. If yes, skip tutorial. And then this should be one of those games to where like, okay. Uh, besides maybe whatever the theme is gonna be, whether it be like terror, uh, what is it like, um, crystallizing or Terror? Terror. Crystalling. Tarras. Tarra colonizing. Yeah. What, what whatever the was Tarra. Yeah. Like, and Sword of Shield. I think it was like, you know, turning the Pokemon gigantic was the theme in that one. Yeah. Yeah. The,

the gigantic max. Yeah, there, uh, there's two versions. I, it's, don't, don't ask me, man. I didn't like

it. I didn't either. So whatever the version is, like skip, like the tutorials should skip all the way until you have to do your first battle with that theme, and then it can introduce that theme to you. And then the rest of it, it'll be like, Hey, like you've played a Pokemon game before. Skip the rest of that tutorial. Let's here's the open world. Have fun. Because like, like you said, six hours is egregious to be just locked into, into a tutorial. Oh, it was insane.

Yeah. It's bad. I did, I did a whole streaming session. Mm-hmm. and j uh, like finish the tutorial and I was like, I guys we're gonna stop today. I didn't realize this was like, I this sucks. I'm sorry. I have a whole video on my YouTube channel now. That's like a five or six hour session that's like Yeah. It's all tutorial. Yes. And, and it blew my mind. Yeah, it blew my mind.

It is absolutely terrible. It is absolutely terrible. So any other gripes or criticisms about this one?

Um, the existence of Flamingo.

Just the Pokemon in general. Yeah. What in Flamingo do you Dude,

that's a flamingo. It's a flamingo with its neck and a knot. Mm-hmm. like, that's just an animal. Like, and I know there's criticisms through all Pokemon generations of this, but like, I saw that on screen and I read its name and for the first night of my living on this earth knowing that it existed, I thought its name was just Flamingo. Oh, I did too. Like, I didn't, I didn't realize that it had a missing letter. Mm-hmm. Right. And I just, I was like, that's. Actually insane. They just put a flamingo in the game. Uh, yeah. Yeah. I, it should not be a thing and should not be as strong as it is. Tab boot That's, that's, that's, it's just, if you wanna make me more upset about a shitty design, make it a strong Pokemon Like that's, that's, that's just infuriating. Uh, yeah. That would be another big gripe there. Um, you know,

what's one that got mean now that you mentioned like, specific Pokemon? The Pokemon that are very small, like the ones that are like very tiny. I hate those because like, I think they're items sometimes.

Yeah. Dude, I saw, especially early game, but even near the end of the game, I was still running into this tiny little dude mm-hmm. and I was like, why? There's a, uh, it's like called, it's called Flit. It looks like a mushroom. Yeah, it's like a floating mushroom. Like I think it's a fairy type. I don't know. Uh, I never caught it because it pissed me off so much. But I was like, dude, literally, cuz I remember I was starting the game and I was just going through and I was like, you know, I'm trying to decide and I'm streaming and I'm talking and I'm like, I'm trying to decide if I'm gonna be upset about no more random encounters. And then I would randomly run into this little dude just cuz I didn't see him mm-hmm. And I was like, you know what? Don't

miss it at all. I'm not

missing it at all because I mean like, I'm getting it. Uh, and I think there I was immediately reminded of like one of my favorite Game Boy or Game Boy. One of my favorite Nintendo DS games, uh, was a game called, um, dragon Quest Monsters. Okay. Okay. And it's basically, uh, it's basically scarlet and violet, but it's with dragon quests, like bad guys. Um, so there's like the slime and there's like, you know, all those other monsters and things mm-hmm. uh, that are just roaming around on this open world. And if you see one in the distance that you've never seen before and you thought was crazy cool, like big and strong, you'd like run and sprint and try and get in contact with this monster. Until like, in that game, at least the monsters were kind of on a timer. So if you didn't get to 'em in time, they kind of disappeared. Oh no. Uh, so it, so it was like, so it was like, you, you, like, you saw them in the open world, you were like, oh God. Mm-hmm. Um, and there was a little bit of that in this game, or there was a lot of, bit of that in this game. Uh, and that really sold me cuz that I, I have so much fun with that game. And if anybody knows Dragon Quest monsters, That was, that was a sick game.

Yeah. I, yeah. Between those little baby, like small Pokemon to where like, I can run into them. Think or think they were like one of the sparkled items in the world. Uh, like I hated that. Absolutely hated that. Sure. But another criticism I have of this game is like the fact. I feel like if there are areas you don't want me to go into, just wall those off. Like I, I know some people hate that invisible wall thing they do in video games where like, oh yeah, it makes you, it makes you think you can go somewhere, but you run into like a visible wall where you clearly aren't meant to go there. I'd rather have that invisible wall than like, like almost like run into areas to where like the game would basically say, oh no, you, you've, you've gone too far. Or like, oh, you're not supposed to be in this area yet, so we're going to basically like send you to a loading screen and then kick you back to where you were beforehand. Because like this game has some bad load screens sometimes to where like they take like 30 to 30 seconds to 45 seconds and I'm like, just wall that area off for right now, because I'm like, are you

talking about like accidentally entering one of the team's star camps?

Not from the front. Exactly. Like the, one of the teams not from the front or maybe like area zero or like, or maybe right. Yeah.

And it would take like three whole minutes of you gliding down before it would shoot you back. Exactly. Like, how far am I going to fall into this fog before it shoots me back? Like, you know, like the famous one is like Nintendo 64 wave racer with the mm-hmm. with the, with the jet skis and stuff. Like, you go out of bounds on the race and it like, like cannon fires you back like immediately. Mm-hmm. um, they could have done something like that I think. Oh. Especially with era, area zero. Like it would've been cool if like you're gliding down and like you hear a roar and like the shockwave of the roar or something is what sends you back in a way. Or like, yeah. I don't know. Um,

but yeah, like high winds or something to where like Yeah. Where it

pushes you back up, do some wind waker. Mm-hmm. do some legend Zelda, wind waker stuff and just be like, I can't enter it. There's a wind blowing me back that. Mm-hmm. That's a good idea. Easy money. I didn't even money. Think about that. Yeah.

Other than I think, like we were saying earlier, this is a damn fine game. if it ran better and if it didn't have these technological flaws with this, like this would be a contender for Game of the year for a lot of people. Like if it Oh yeah. If it didn't have those kind of like, hiccups. But as it stands right now, it's still the most fun I've had with Pokemon in almost 20 years.

Yes. Yeah. Which is crazy to say in spite of all that. Mm-hmm. It's just fun. Like, and, and, and I will say it's not nearly like, it's difficult or at least like the way I, it's challenging. Chose mm-hmm. the way I, the way I chose to go. Uh, you know, there's kind of a dedicated path that you kind of realize as you go. Like some gyms are easier than others. but it doesn't tell you which one is gonna be which. No. So so you just, so the, when I was going through, I was like, dude, I'm dying. Like a lot, like my whole team was getting wiped out and I was like, dude, all right. Like, this hasn't happened in a long time. It definitely never happened in Sword and Shield. Oh no. I mowed the, the Sword and Shield. It was like, yeah. Uh, so it was just enough, like even as an adult I could be like, this is challenging enough. Like it's still very, like I wasn't sweating. Mm-hmm. like, don't get me wrong, but it was challenging enough to make it engaging. Yeah. Uh, and, and, and like you said, I think that this is a beautiful stepping stone and I think whatever the second iteration of this new Pokemon format, whatever they do provided they don't drop the ball on some crazy story or something like that, like, the next version of Pokemon is gonna be

great. Joe, do you have any last thoughts about Pokemon before we move on to our last segment of the show?

I think, I think I'm satisfied.

All right. All right. Just like snore likes after a big meal, Joe is satisfied. So wish,

I wish I was

Snor likes in this game. I do too. I I missed him. That was great. so Joe, we've now reached our segment of the show called Are You a Pro Nerd? Basically, it's. It is our trivia portion of the show where we ask the guest five different questions based on the Wheel of Destiny. The wheel will land on different topics, and each topic is a different question. You get five questions and if you get all five you've earned the title of Pro nerd. So far. one person has earned the title of Pro Nerd. We've had a lot of ties with three questions.

So, so you've only had one person go five for five? Yeah.

I've only had one person go five for five. Oh, everyone else has the, the next runner up is like a tie between a lot of people at three questions and then it just trickles down from there. Sure. So lots of people are

average out here.

Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I think it's, it's because they're so diverse, like the categories. Well,

all right. I'm trying not to get psyched out. Yeah. Hit me with it when you're ready. All right. Alright. Right. So, Joe,

It is time. I think you got this though. I have a feeling you're going to like channel and go super sand and absolutely mow down these questions. So, ready? All right. So the first question, the wheel has landed on Star Wars. Okay. Okay. Okay. You seem pretty confident. I like that. I like that there's, there's

possibilities.

All right. So in the realm of Star Wars, who was Ana and Skywalker's? Pad one?

Oh, um, sh a Soca. You got the first one. Okay. Alright. Okay. All right. All right. I'm not gonna lie, I like had it on my to at the beginning and then I paused and I lost it, and I was like, oh, no.

You gotta, you gotta go out. Go with your gut like immediately.

Okay? Yep, you're right. Okay. All right. Number two, hit me, hit

me, hit me. Hit me. All right. So the wheel has officially landed on Lord of the Rings. Okay. Okay. So you're confident. I like that.

Listen, I got a silver meridian on my bookshelf

right in front of me. Oh my goodness. very confident. I like that. Oh yeah. I like that

I have not finished it, but I have it It's such a hard read, dude. Anyway, alright,

so what is the name of the mountain where the master ring was made? Where it was made? Yes. What is the name of the mountain where the master ring was

made? Well, it was, it needed to be destroyed where it was made. Right. So it was, it was Mount Doom.

Is that your final answer? Yes. You got it correct.

You got it. Ok. Okay. Oh, geez. Okay. Yeah. All right. You made me, you made me nervous later, I was like, I thought that was the whole thing. I was, I was like,

yeah. You're killing it so far. Two for two. This is a really good sign. I like it. I like it. All right. Okay.

Okay. Okay.

Some in the realm of anime. Yes. Okay. This one, you should be pretty familiar with

this. We'll see, there's, there's so much Dude,

There really is. There really is. Hopefully this is an anime you're familiar with in the realm of anime. Who was Spike Siegel's Neme.

No,

no. Repeating the question in the realm of anime, who was Spike Singles? Nemesis.

I've never finished that show. I've seen the first episode. What, like three different times. I've never finished that show. I'll

be rude with you. Like, this to me is probably the greatest enemy of all time. I

know. And everybody says that, dude. And, and I've seen like, clips of combat and stuff and I, I, it's, it's phenomenal. And I love semi shampoo and I know it's the same studio and everything. Mm-hmm. like I, I, I just. and, and the first episode is phenomenal. Mm-hmm. like, like, I, I can't give you a good reason for why I have not continued,

uh, this question alone just makes me wanna go back and watch the show like it is. Yeah.

Is that good? I know that it's like a whole thing, it's like a big lead up to who it is and like all this I, I, I, I don't know though.

Okay. Okay. Unfortunately, he is tapping out. Oh, he was on a roll too, man. I, you know, that. I feel like

that. I can't believe that's the one anime dude, that's insane. Jacob's listening to this and losing his mind cuz he is in the same boat. Mm-hmm. Jacob's in the same boat. Dude, we're both gonna go watch this show like right now.

Oh man. The answer is, by the way, vicious is his name. The character's name is Vicious. I had no

idea. I would've never in a million years I think he has gray hair. Mm-hmm. Okay. Yeah. That's like the only I, but I know.

Go back and watch. Go watch Cowboy Bbo. Do yourself a favor and watch Cowboy Bbo after you watch Blue Lock. Cuz Blue Rock Lock is an anime you need to watch right now too.

Ethan. Ethan. Put that on our tournament for best animes of 2022.

It's damn good. It is.

We had a whole talk about it anyway. All right.

In the realm of the M C U, the Marvel Cinematic universe, I'm just so defeated that, that one question just hit

your heart, huh? Keep keep going, keep going. All right. So

what is the Vulture's real name in the movie? Spider-Man. Homecoming. Oh,

smile. No know.

Um, how familiar are you with the M C U?

Mm-hmm. Homecoming. So that's one of the new ones with, with Tom Holland? Yes, it is. Dude, can I just, I'll only say this because I know I'm terrible with tangents, but like, I'm kind of an, I, I, I, I enjoy and I'm simultaneously annoyed that they all have home in the title. Mm-hmm. Cause it makes me, it's very difficult for me to remember which one is which, Cause they're like, they're not different enough. I mean, anyway,

I don't know. So the answer, by the way, the question, what is Vulture's real name in Spider-Man? Homecoming. It is Adrian Tombs.

I would've never gotten that I lo I, he is my favorite Spider-Man, though, Tom Holland's phenomenal. I just, oh, same here. Saw, I just saw No Way Home for the first time, just like a couple weeks ago. Where

were you? Where, what have you been?

I was finishing my degree I was, I was, I was busy Anyway, yeah, I, yeah, it took me a long time to watch it. It is a phenomenal movie. Mm-hmm. Anyway. Yeah. Uh, yeah. I have to try to be average now.

Yep. You're shooting, you're shooting for the top. And you know, with three questions. Yeah. Uhhuh, So we reached our fifth question. Um, you know, in the fifth spot, I usually let the guest decide, you know, whether or not they want option A or option B, the red pill or the blue pill, so to speak. Which option would you like to go with?

Let's go B because

it's best. Okay. All right, so option B is the realm of Nintendo. Sick. Okay. All right. Good. So, I like the confidence. All right. So in the realm of Nintendo, How much is a red Ruy worth in the legend of Zelda Wind Waker 20. Damn. You got that real quick That is the correct answer. Hell yeah,

baby. That is the hell yeah. Correct answer. Lizard Zelda's my favorite. Zelda Zelda is my favorite. I'm

done on that. It's crazy how fast you

got that. Oh dude. You want to hit me with more Nintendo shit? Oh my, this is my jam. I got you, man. Uh,

alright, I'm gonna refresh, I'm gonna refresh the, the Nintendo thing and we, and see what, like random, oh, do I get

a bonus question because I went so quick?

Yeah, I, I'm just so curious like, Like how quickly you get the, another Nintendo question. If I hit like refreshed. Okay. Well, well now I have, like,

now I gotta meet the standard out. No, no,

it's all good. Expectations are high. It's all good. So like, okay, so the question that popped up is, how many shrines are there in the Legend of Zelda? Breath of the wild.

Ooh, ooh. Um, before or after D l C

I think they're, I think they're just referring to before. D L C. Okay. Shoot,

I don't know. It's either, it's either like 58 or like 82 I want to say. Um, mm. I'm trying to like, visualize the map in my head and like, think about just like approximately how many dots there were um, There's like, there was more than you would think.

Oh yeah, for sure.

Especially

by the end of it. It's like, how did I not instantly see all of these when I was first playing through? Like,

by the way, like the answer is 120.

See? Damn. Like

there's 120 shrines. It's in Brooklyn. Wow. That's crazy. 20. I never f I never got all the shrines and breath of the wild.

I I, dude, I just saw a little TikTok clip. Mm-hmm. Or like a Instagram real clip the other day of a, of a, a clip of somebody doing some breath of wild stuff. And I saw them get their way into like a secret shrine that I was like, I did not know that existed. Mm-hmm. And this game came out years ago now already. And I was like, dang. All right. God, just a normy out here with three out of five.

No, you did pretty good. You know, just outta curiosity, would you like to take the road not taken and see what option A would've gotten you?

You know what? For posterity's sake,

let's do it. Okay. All right. All right. So in the realm of Star Trek, ooh, this will be a toughie. Oh yeah, for sure. For sure. I, you know, like I'm not super well versed, star Trek, option

B was best, let me tell ya. Oh yeah.

Okay. Hit me. All right. So in the realm of Star Trek, what species motto is victory is life. What

species motto is victory is life. Uh, it's not clinging on. No it's not. K Cling on. I can tell you that, uh, it's not human. I can tell you that. Um, I have a feeling. it's probably going to be whatever that big, bad villain dude is. Um, and I know that there's a couple, but there's one I'm thinking of right now. He has a whole movie. It's like revenge of, uh, I can't even think of the dude's name. It's Revenge of, of

starts with the K. Oh, you're talking about Racon? Rath of

Khan. Thank you. Uh, whatever species. Khan is I don't know what Khan is, but, so I'm not gonna get that right, but I'm gonna guess whatever thing he is.

Um, Khan and Star Trek right? Was, I think he was just a human. Oh, dang.

All right. Well

nevermind. I think he was just a human, but regardless, um, let me make sure, um, I guess they call it aig. AIG was like his technical thing, but I think he was just like person, right. But anyways, the species is Jim Hadar.

See, never in a million years

I wouldn't have got that right either. I wouldn't have got that right. You never got that. I'm very surface of a Star Trek.

Dude. My boss though, I share an office with mm-hmm. they like showed up Halloween fully decked out in Captain Kirk's stuff. Oh, that's dope. With, with props and

everything. That's dope. I enjoy it when people get into their fandoms. It was nuts. I was like, that's, this is intense dedication.

They were like, I live for this I was like, all right,

dedication. I like it. So I got two last things for you, Joe, on the show. Um, the first one should be the easiest though. Okay. So Joe, where can the good people find?

Oh, um, the good people can find me in my lovely self. If you think I'm lovely, uh, over at, uh, the YouTube channel, uh, devil Fruit Joe, um, over there I do my streaming and stuff and I might post, uh, short clips from the podcast. It's speaking another, the podcast, the Devil Fruit Podcast. You can find it delf fruit podcast.com, as well as any major listening site. Um, and, uh, just search the Devil Fruit Podcast.

All right, Joe, the last thing I gotta ask you before you go though is I'm, do, I do this new segment that I implemented, um, semi recently, it's where all my guests, I give them a opportunity to basically bestow goodwill upon the world. And what I mean by that is, do you have some general life advice that you think people need to hear?

Um, I don't know if it qualifies. as advice, so much as just like an instruction Mm-hmm. Um, but, uh, I, I recently worked my way into a position in work where I have a business email and I have like a little signature at the bottom, uh, kind of a thing. And I have a little line that I wrote there that just says, uh, stay happy, stay healthy. Uh, I like that. And I think, uh, I think, you know, if you pursue those two things, everything else will probably fall into

place. I like that. I like that. It's, you know, it's simple, it's sweet and, you know, I like that. Good words to live by. Yeah. Yeah. Good words to live by. So, Joe, it's been great having you on the show. We're gonna have to do another deep dive into all things Nintendo, So ladies and gentlemen, Joe, we will be back. Joe, though, It's been a pleasure having you on the show, man.

Dude, it's been such a pleasure talking to you again. I

love this. Oh, for sure, for sure. You're, uh, you more than welcome to come back anytime and anytime you want to talk about some good video games, just hit your boy up. So, Joe, it's been fun. We're gonna have to talk to you really soon. In the meanwhile, peace, peace

out.