Wanted to wait until E3 was completely finish (at least for Pokemon) to formalize some of my thoughts / opinions regarding all the news we got from Tuesday. I won't go over any pasts news unless the latest information is somehow relates. Going to follow the news exactly from the Serebii post, so click the link to see a "simplified version" regarding new Pokemon, abilities, battle mode (sorta), and other stuff.
The 2nd Pokemon showcased in both the demo and the trailer is the Yellow/Brown haired mongoose called "Yungoos". As in every generation, Yungoos is likely the early "Normal-type" Pokemon we can find in every game. The new abilities for Yungoos are Strong Jaw (raises the power of "biting moves") and Stakeout, a new ability. This new abiltiy is quite interesting as it deals double the damage assuming the target switches out of the battlefield. Though the NPCs in this game aren't typically switch heavy in play-through, in competitive Stakeout is a good ability assuming Yungoos's final evolution can get the right stats and moveset to hit most switch ins hard. What I find really funny about Yungoos is that in it's Pokedex descriptions, these Pokemon were meant to "solve" an explosive Population of a "certain Pokemon" (maybe new "rat" Pokemon or older one?), though soon Yungoos became common.
The 3rd and last newly announced Pokemon is the Bug-type Drubbin. This new Pokemon wasn't actually shown in the demo, rather via a trailer from TCPi, probably showing the latest Alola Pokemon available in Route 1. Drubbin is quite interesting as its "feeds" off of electricity and is found nearby any electrical sources like power plants, so relatively high this Pokemon will evolve with a part Electric-typing. Not much to say about Drubbin, except the fact it looks relatively weird compared to other Bug-type Pokemon. It will be interesting to see another Bug/Electric Pokemon just like Joltik/Galvantula.
We do get a little bit of lore behind the creation of Magearna as it was made by a "scientist" 500 years ago, and is able to sense / perceive the emotions of Pokemon with its Soul-Heart ability. It is interesting to have this type of story involved with Magearna given its intentions to save injured Pokemon and feel their pain. How Magearna will fit into the story, or the post-game event remains to be seen, though I have a feeling it will likely be related to AZ in some fashion. AZ did create the ultimate weapon which habored the lives of many Pokemon (how much is disclosed), though whatever technology was available, maybe AZ (or the unspecified scientist), created Magearna using the same material.
Finally we get information on how to obtain Magearna, which is by using a QR scanner to scan the Magearan QR code and receive it in-game. The fact we can "officially" scan event Pokemon using this method is interesting in of itself, though convenient to get the latest Mythical Pokemon.
Again I'd like to point out how Game Freak pretty much based this idea off the several Youtubers (DuncanKneeDeep, King Nappy, Shofu, ShadyPenguinn) who've all popularized FFAs in the general Pokemon medium. Of course this isn't anything "new", but the fact remains Game Freak / Pokemon are definitely looking at our ideas and input/outputs regarding any improvements Take the new features like battle screen now showing the amount of boosts/drops (Stat Modifications) a Pokemon has receive, or if a certain Pokemon move is "super-effective" or not. Heck, we even got confirmation of player customization, which is something almost everyone wanted back. These are small features they could have ignored, however the fact Game Freak is making their games accessible and concurrent with the players means they are listening to our suggestions on how to improve the game we play.
Well that about wraps up all the most important bits of information we've gotten from E3. Regarding anything about connectivity with Pokemon Sun/Moon and Pokemon Go, they are currently "working" on the matter, but we do have at form of confirmation of something being in placed. Pokemon Go will launch around July 2016, so be sure to get the game on your mobile devices. Now regarding Pokemon Sun and Moon news, I'll leave a link to two videos: one from the Official Pokemon Channel about most of the topics I've covered, and the second regarding the E3 Nintendo livestream showcasing first-time beta gameplay.
June 14th 2016 Trailer (New Pokemon, Soul-Heart, and Battle Royal): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ojd6FzTaEM
Pokemon Sun and Moon E3 Demonstration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UC-uLg_5RIA
Until next time, this is most of the major news to cover, so that's all folks! Discuss anything regarding anything covered, some stuff I've missed, or potential fan theories regarding what could make it in the final game. See you all soon.
3 New Pokemon!
(From the Official Pokemon Site)
We'll start off with the new Pokemon revealed via the E3 Demonstration and the latest trailers: Pikipek, Yungoos, and Grubbin. The left-most Pokemon is the Normal/Flying-type bird Pikipek, and we already seen the "3D Model" of the Pokemon beforehand the Sun & Moon announcment trailer. Pikipek itself is classified as the "Woodpecker" Pokemon and has the following standard ablities: Keen Eye and Skill Link. While Keen Eye isn't really a great ability (just like most "starting" abilties), Skill Link is actually quite interesting to have on a Normal/Flying-type Pokemon. Chances are given it has Skill Link, Pikipek will likely know some multi-strike moves such as Fury Attack, Tail Slap, and potentially Bullet Seed based on its Pokedex description. Having a Flying Pokemon who can already hit Rock-type Pokemon early on for Super Effective damage really great for the early game. One last note I'd like to mention regarding Pikipek, during the E3 Livestream Demo for Sun and Moon, we get to see Pikipek's Pokedex description with two empty "Pokeballs" to the center and right. Both Junichi Masuda and Shigeru Ohmori basically semi-confirmed that Pikipek will have two additional evolutions after stating the Emtpy Pokeballs refer to an evolution chain (we haven't seen this done since Fire Red & Leaf Green. (From the Official Pokemon Site)
The 2nd Pokemon showcased in both the demo and the trailer is the Yellow/Brown haired mongoose called "Yungoos". As in every generation, Yungoos is likely the early "Normal-type" Pokemon we can find in every game. The new abilities for Yungoos are Strong Jaw (raises the power of "biting moves") and Stakeout, a new ability. This new abiltiy is quite interesting as it deals double the damage assuming the target switches out of the battlefield. Though the NPCs in this game aren't typically switch heavy in play-through, in competitive Stakeout is a good ability assuming Yungoos's final evolution can get the right stats and moveset to hit most switch ins hard. What I find really funny about Yungoos is that in it's Pokedex descriptions, these Pokemon were meant to "solve" an explosive Population of a "certain Pokemon" (maybe new "rat" Pokemon or older one?), though soon Yungoos became common.
The 3rd and last newly announced Pokemon is the Bug-type Drubbin. This new Pokemon wasn't actually shown in the demo, rather via a trailer from TCPi, probably showing the latest Alola Pokemon available in Route 1. Drubbin is quite interesting as its "feeds" off of electricity and is found nearby any electrical sources like power plants, so relatively high this Pokemon will evolve with a part Electric-typing. Not much to say about Drubbin, except the fact it looks relatively weird compared to other Bug-type Pokemon. It will be interesting to see another Bug/Electric Pokemon just like Joltik/Galvantula.
Magearna and Soul-Heart
We finally got confirmation regarding Magearna's ability, and to be frank its it quite powerful. The new ability we are discussing is Soul-Heart, essentially a "special and slightly improved" variant of Moxie, when every time a Pokemon faints, the user gets an attack raise. For Magearna, every time a Pokemon those faint in battle, even its own ally, it will gain a boost to the Special Attack stat. Why I said it was improved was because Soul-Heart can activate even if the Pokemon or the ally have fallen without Magearna having to "damage" the Pokemon, though the standard effects apply like from Moxie. In the latest trailer, Magearna's new move Fleur Cannon was demonstrated on a Pangoro and felt "super effective" damage. Unless it is Flying-type (very unlikely), Magearna's exclusive move will be Fairy-type, however we don't know any additional effects, or even if its a high base power attack given Pangoro is quad weak to Fairy-types. We do get a little bit of lore behind the creation of Magearna as it was made by a "scientist" 500 years ago, and is able to sense / perceive the emotions of Pokemon with its Soul-Heart ability. It is interesting to have this type of story involved with Magearna given its intentions to save injured Pokemon and feel their pain. How Magearna will fit into the story, or the post-game event remains to be seen, though I have a feeling it will likely be related to AZ in some fashion. AZ did create the ultimate weapon which habored the lives of many Pokemon (how much is disclosed), though whatever technology was available, maybe AZ (or the unspecified scientist), created Magearna using the same material.
Finally we get information on how to obtain Magearna, which is by using a QR scanner to scan the Magearan QR code and receive it in-game. The fact we can "officially" scan event Pokemon using this method is interesting in of itself, though convenient to get the latest Mythical Pokemon.
New Battle Format: Free For Alls / Battle Royals + Battle Mechanics
This was honestly the most interesting newest feature for Pokemon Sun and Moon to be announced: "official" Free-for-Alls. What's incredibly interesting about this new battle mode is that Game Freak definitely paid attention to all the Poketubers who popularized this format in 4-way multi-battles where the winner is the last person standing. The standard rules of a "Free-for-All" still apply with some modified changes from the popularized one. Likewise, players are given points for the amount of Pokemon they faint, how much Pokemon they have, or likely goes by health percentage. The major difference is if someone loses all their Pokemon first, the battle is over and the scores will be tallied based on the criteria mentioned before. Again I'd like to point out how Game Freak pretty much based this idea off the several Youtubers (DuncanKneeDeep, King Nappy, Shofu, ShadyPenguinn) who've all popularized FFAs in the general Pokemon medium. Of course this isn't anything "new", but the fact remains Game Freak / Pokemon are definitely looking at our ideas and input/outputs regarding any improvements Take the new features like battle screen now showing the amount of boosts/drops (Stat Modifications) a Pokemon has receive, or if a certain Pokemon move is "super-effective" or not. Heck, we even got confirmation of player customization, which is something almost everyone wanted back. These are small features they could have ignored, however the fact Game Freak is making their games accessible and concurrent with the players means they are listening to our suggestions on how to improve the game we play.
Well that about wraps up all the most important bits of information we've gotten from E3. Regarding anything about connectivity with Pokemon Sun/Moon and Pokemon Go, they are currently "working" on the matter, but we do have at form of confirmation of something being in placed. Pokemon Go will launch around July 2016, so be sure to get the game on your mobile devices. Now regarding Pokemon Sun and Moon news, I'll leave a link to two videos: one from the Official Pokemon Channel about most of the topics I've covered, and the second regarding the E3 Nintendo livestream showcasing first-time beta gameplay.
June 14th 2016 Trailer (New Pokemon, Soul-Heart, and Battle Royal): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ojd6FzTaEM
Pokemon Sun and Moon E3 Demonstration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UC-uLg_5RIA
Until next time, this is most of the major news to cover, so that's all folks! Discuss anything regarding anything covered, some stuff I've missed, or potential fan theories regarding what could make it in the final game. See you all soon.