Pokemon Black part 4: Where the villain reveals his plot

Explored the sand ruins and caught some more cool looking pokemon, got a fossil, went back to Nacrene Museum and turned the fossil into a Tirtouga. Now this looks like a good water type, it's going on my team.

Back to Nimbasa... wow there's a lot of stuff to check out here! Let's see... a Musical Theater, Battle Institute, Battle Subway, abaseball stadium... a basketball court... ok... yo you may be good at pokemon but I'll smoke you losers in the b-ball court. also there's Route 5 and Route 16 with a lot of trainers to level up if you need to... The battle institute isn't available yet either. Some "woman of mystery" comes out of the battle subway and heads to the battle institute. Whoa man she must be hardcore.

I tried out the battle subway, it's actually pretty interesting seeing all the weird new pokemon designs in this game. These designs beat the hell out of Gen 4...

Also someone gave me HM04 Strength... gave it to Drilbur, who also has Rock Smash... I think it's fitting that this pokemon has all the rock related moves. Hell yeah

Wind Waker Part 3: Legend of the Environmentalists

Now we come to an island that is... well it's a giant tree. This shouldn't seem odd to anybody who's played OoT, as that game had a tree that was big enough to fit a dungeon inside it.

The outside of Forest Haven is very reminiscent of Zora's River, and it almost seems to be more of a water themed island. Perhaps Forest Haven is a source of pure water, untainted by the salt from the ocean. The water flows out from the inside of the tree, and the way it's set up makes it seem like a kind of barrier.

Once you go inside the tree, there doesn't seem to be a whole lot there at first. It feels like it's full of life, yet at the same time it feels empty... The life force in the Forest Haven is the spirit of the Deku Tree, and its children the Koroks, who all share the same spirit. If you think back to OoT, the Kokiri were forest spirits born from the Deku Tree, and they never grew up, but they could also never leave the forest or else they would die.

After a bit more exploring, you find that you can talk to the big tree in the middle. This is the Great Deku Tree, and he's got a bit of an acne problem...

Pokemon Black part 3: Rivals getting better

There's a bunch of items and stuff to get from people at Castelia City it seems. Since I'm not using a walkthrough I'm probably not gonna get them all. Sheesh, there sure is a lot of stuff to do though. There's a few office buildings filled with trainers who want to battle you, and some random empty office buildings for no reason... and a bunch of docks which I guess will serve some purpose later on.

Alright enough of that, time for the gym, but wait the gym leader went off somewhere. Of course, another Team Plasma distraction, I should have guessed. This time they tried to steal Bianca's pokemon. As if she didn't seem weak enough already. I kinda feel bad for her :(

After that you get to fight Burgh, the bug pokemon gym leader. It's not really a fight more like squashing bugs. This is incredibly easy if you've been training a Pidove through the Pinwheel Forest. Mine has evolved into a Tranquill making this gym a complete joke. The gym has these oddly durable walls of honey that you need to walk through.

Dragon Roost Cavern: A volcanic adventure

...I'm still as blown away by these graphics now as I was 8 years ago. This game just looks that good... and now in hi-res! I think the nostalgic value of this game is even greater than MM and OoT. Something about the huge world, and small but familiar islands. I also kinda forgot a lot about this game since then. Throwing bait out to get a fish to draw you a map... whatever the spoils bag is for... then there's the pictobox... I'm looking forward to exploring and finding the secrets all through this game again.

Rupees seem to be very important in this game, too. Much more so than the N64 games. They are about as important as they were in the classic games such as LA and LoZ. It really makes you want to go out of your way to find rupee upgrades and chests, unlike in Twilight Princess where it was like "aw man not ANOTHER rupee chest".

Dragon Roost Island is home to the god of wind, Zephos.  As soon as you get to this island you can go to the wind shrine where Zephos teaches you the Wind's Requiem. Kinda makes me wonder if this place is somehow related to Link's Awakening and the Ballad of the Wind Fish... nah probably not.

Pokemon Black Part 2: Plot Speculations

There's that guy who doesn't let you pass until you get the first gym badge. There must be like street gangs of these people, their in every pokemon game. Oh you haven't beaten the weakling gym leader yet I can't let you pass this turf is reserved for non-weaklings... or something like that.

So far I've found out that Team Plasma wants to use dream powder to go into people's minds and brainwash them through their dreams... and that they have leaders called the "Seven Sages", and there's some sort of legend passed down about how pokemon were created or something... I GOT IT this must be another alternate Zelda timeline! I bet there's gonna be a Ganon pokemon at the end and I'll get the triforce! nah... but really though Pokemon has really improved a lot on its story since the last installment.

Nacrene city... not much to talk about here. A lot of these areas seem like their supposed to have a purpose but I can't really tell what it is until later on. There's the daycare, which I'm probably only gonna use for breeding. lol I'm going around talking to everybody and these kids at the daycare are engaged in some really philosophical debate, they're like "am I chasing after you, or are you chasing after me? by changing your perspective you can change reality..."

Drilbur looks awesome he's going on my team. Also started using a Pidove, Lillipup evolved into Herdier and became even more badass. The Panpour I'm really just dragging along I have no interest in training it. Still holding out for a good water type.

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker - Why this Game is a Timeless Classic

With this year being the 25th anniversary of the Zelda series, and the anticipation of Skyward Sword coming out later this year, I've really been in the mode for Zelda games lately. It's amazing how enjoyable these games still are even after playing them dozens of times. Part of the reason I started this blog in the first place is I want to try and express how incredible these games actually are.

I'm currently playing through Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. First of all, this intro scene gives me the chills every damn time...

It puts the story of Ocarina of Time into the perspective of a legend passed down through the ages. It tells of a lost and forgotten kingdom. A kingdom that was saved by a time-travelling hero. This kingdom became so reliant on their faith in the goddesses and the Hero of Time, that when evil once again returned they could do nothing but pray for someone to come and save them... But the hero of time never returned, the kingdom was forever ruled by darkness.

So it begins... in Wind Waker, your surrounded by vast ocean where only little bits and pieces of Hyrules legends are remembered. There's Outset Island, a small island with a tradition of garbing young boys in a green tunic when they turned 10, to try and get them to know courage like the hero of legend... This is where a new hero named Link starts his adventure.

Starting Pokemon Black

Started Pokemon Black for the first time.

I'm playing as the girl trainer. Why?

she's hot. I'd rather look at that at the start of every battle honestly.

Now for starters... Snivy is my choice. I usually choose the water starter, but seriously Oshawott just looks dumb. I find grass types are very useful in the early game anyway for their abilities... and they can take out a lot of tougher defensive pokemon by leech seed spamming.

Then there's the characters. Bianca the noob trainer, who you can tell right away probably isn't gonna make it to the Elite Four. Then there's Cheren the serious business pokenerd, I guess he's basically like May's brother on the anime...

Professor Juniper is totally... there. She's lifeless and uninteresting at this point.

Every once in a while I keep stopping in a new area to listen to the catchy music... I do this in every pokemon game lol.

Thoughts on Majora's Mask

The story of Majora's Mask, while it may seem silly on the outside, is really one of the deepest and most touching video game experiences.

Even the intro to this game is really creepy, sad, and ominous and has this deep sense of mystery to it.

In the land of Hyrule, there echoes a legend.
A legend held dearly by the Royal Family that tells of a boy...
A boy who, after battling evil and saving Hyrule, crept away from the land that had made him a legend...
Done with the battles he once waged across time, he embarked on a journey.
A secret and personal journey...
A journey in search of a beloved and invaluable friend...
A friend with whom he parted ways when he finally fulfilled his heroic destiny and took his place among legends...

Such a short and sweet prologue, but that little bit of narration sets the mood of the whole game. It is a story of sadness and regret, dealing with lost friendships, and learning to overcome your losses instead of letting them consume you.

After returning to his own time at the end of OoT, Link felt like something was missing from his life. He set out on a search to find his special friend, the one who had been with him since the beginning. The friend he is looking for is none other than Navi. Having grown up in the Kokiri Forest without a fairy, feeling like an outcast most of his life, Navi must have been very dear to him. It wouldn't be a stretch to say that Link wouldn't have gained the courage to make it as far as he did without Navi helping him along. Her sudden departure must left Link feeling as empty and lost as he did back when he was a fairyless Kokiri boy.

Just as Link is dealing with the loss of his close friend, the Skull Kid is also dealing with the loss of his 4 close friends. The skull kid's situation is very much like Link's both of them are dealing with the loss of a friend, and both of them are haunted by the evil in Majora's Mask.

The creepiness of this mask is unlike any other Zelda boss. It's not a dark, powerful evil like Ganondorf, but more a psychological evil.