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Sep. 27th, 2015 07:10 amStill brainstorming both Pia's fic and a rewrite of Kazumi Magica with Chelle. At a rate of around one reply each day, I have considered writing another chapter to Parasitic Trio just to keep my plate full for now. That, in turn, led me to ponder what I actually wanted out of the ficseries in the first place and why Pokemon ever became so special to me to begin with.
After writing some stuff in my notebook, I explained to Jake that, even without those old lists or the planned ficseries, Pokemon was more or less a comfort zone for me. In the beginning, Pokemon Red, Silver, and Crystal were just three of many different video games in general I had access to, but as time went on, there just kept coming more games for me to keep up with, I knew what to expect of their mechanics (unlike other RPG series, which tend to change things around between games), and they were just addictive like that. An endless supply of the same kind of gameplay in different settings. The fact that I once bought Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure in search of a non-Pokemon RPG to customize my characters in, only to end up disappointed after barely playing it and reading a review and come back to Pokemon Diamond, should obviously say something.
Regarding the ficseries, what I used to look forward to in particular, were the Pal Park and the Battle Frontiers. The former is where the mains had the potential to win prizes, the highest ones being stuff canonically obtainable only through download opportunities and/or the prizes that were given away in real life during Atari's ill-fated SwordQuest campaign. The latter was what I enjoyed the most out of Emerald and SoulSilver as their respective grand finales. And now, I don't think about even those anymore (although I'd still apply them if I actually do see the ficseries itself through).
One of my issues with the games, though, might be a case of "you know you wanna play them, so just play the damn games". The first question to that is, do I really want to play such dishonest games as I found those out to be? Furthermore, I actually found myself better off after abandoning them, monetarily and by being able to focus on more important things like Starbound and spritesheets. Not to mention that Jake asked me not to participate in Bulbagarden Forum anymore, citing its owner as a child molester, just as I asked him to use PayPal as little as possible due to its affiliation w/ Autism Speaks.
Right now, my biggest inclination has to do with nostalgia and the experiences I would enjoy if only I'd let myself continue with them. But, maybe even that's skewed based on a few times in particular, so let's take a look at what I actually think back to right now:
Pearl: Playing the postgame sidequests during the summer of 2008. That was also the time that I was seriously working towards the completion of Chronicles of 7th Grade, and watched A Little Snow Fairy Sugar (on DVD) and Ultimate Girls (on YouTube).
SoulSilver: Played all the way through from March to September 2010. This is what I got for my birthday that year, deciding which PokeWalker route to send a Pokemon to periodically sure spiced things up, meeting up with Melissa at Starbucks that one time to trade Pokemon felt great, and of course, there was the Battle Frontier that awaited me at the end, briefly as I had actually spent there. (Too bad I wouldn't re-experience that in HeartGold or Platinum.) And then followed my download of Armored Troopers J-Pheonix PF Lips Team and my internship at the Foley campaign headquarters, before a multi-month dry period.
Diamond: Mainly during our week-long stay at Lake Owasco in May 2011, where my playthrough continued with my visit to Canalave City.
Black/White: Not the games themselves, but when I took to reading their player's guide during our stay in Boston for Marie's college graduation (2012), what I read regarding both the mons and the actual adventure had fascinated me to no end. That, unfortunately, is more than I can say about those for the sequels or X/Y (the latter which I stopped reading partway through; let that sink in) just more than a year ago.
After writing some stuff in my notebook, I explained to Jake that, even without those old lists or the planned ficseries, Pokemon was more or less a comfort zone for me. In the beginning, Pokemon Red, Silver, and Crystal were just three of many different video games in general I had access to, but as time went on, there just kept coming more games for me to keep up with, I knew what to expect of their mechanics (unlike other RPG series, which tend to change things around between games), and they were just addictive like that. An endless supply of the same kind of gameplay in different settings. The fact that I once bought Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure in search of a non-Pokemon RPG to customize my characters in, only to end up disappointed after barely playing it and reading a review and come back to Pokemon Diamond, should obviously say something.
Regarding the ficseries, what I used to look forward to in particular, were the Pal Park and the Battle Frontiers. The former is where the mains had the potential to win prizes, the highest ones being stuff canonically obtainable only through download opportunities and/or the prizes that were given away in real life during Atari's ill-fated SwordQuest campaign. The latter was what I enjoyed the most out of Emerald and SoulSilver as their respective grand finales. And now, I don't think about even those anymore (although I'd still apply them if I actually do see the ficseries itself through).
One of my issues with the games, though, might be a case of "you know you wanna play them, so just play the damn games". The first question to that is, do I really want to play such dishonest games as I found those out to be? Furthermore, I actually found myself better off after abandoning them, monetarily and by being able to focus on more important things like Starbound and spritesheets. Not to mention that Jake asked me not to participate in Bulbagarden Forum anymore, citing its owner as a child molester, just as I asked him to use PayPal as little as possible due to its affiliation w/ Autism Speaks.
Right now, my biggest inclination has to do with nostalgia and the experiences I would enjoy if only I'd let myself continue with them. But, maybe even that's skewed based on a few times in particular, so let's take a look at what I actually think back to right now:
Pearl: Playing the postgame sidequests during the summer of 2008. That was also the time that I was seriously working towards the completion of Chronicles of 7th Grade, and watched A Little Snow Fairy Sugar (on DVD) and Ultimate Girls (on YouTube).
SoulSilver: Played all the way through from March to September 2010. This is what I got for my birthday that year, deciding which PokeWalker route to send a Pokemon to periodically sure spiced things up, meeting up with Melissa at Starbucks that one time to trade Pokemon felt great, and of course, there was the Battle Frontier that awaited me at the end, briefly as I had actually spent there. (Too bad I wouldn't re-experience that in HeartGold or Platinum.) And then followed my download of Armored Troopers J-Pheonix PF Lips Team and my internship at the Foley campaign headquarters, before a multi-month dry period.
Diamond: Mainly during our week-long stay at Lake Owasco in May 2011, where my playthrough continued with my visit to Canalave City.
Black/White: Not the games themselves, but when I took to reading their player's guide during our stay in Boston for Marie's college graduation (2012), what I read regarding both the mons and the actual adventure had fascinated me to no end. That, unfortunately, is more than I can say about those for the sequels or X/Y (the latter which I stopped reading partway through; let that sink in) just more than a year ago.