Thoon wants to be the very best, like no one ever was...

I've been feeling like crap for the last 24 hours now, slept maybe 12 of them. Spent the rest of it madly writing ideas for Psychoka, then spent some time digging up my DS and playing Pokemon Black. I really forgot just how messed up the game can be.

I've always liked Pokemon, It's the only Nintendo game that hasn't messed up fatally yet if you ask me, and that's because I ignore the console released games. One large reason is because it plays with the element known commonly on the internet as grimdark, with vague threats of unpleasent things to characters and pokemon having disturbing facts that aren't elaborated on. I'll always be tempted to run a campaign based on those parts if I could figure out good mechanics for it...


But, sometimes it's almost like Black and White take this to the point of farce. Be warned, Pokemon B/W spoilers inside, if pokemon can be spoiled.


Not only is the main issue for the games a serious discussion on the ethics of capturing monsters and forcing them to fight for your entertainment or for things like moving heavy objects or other deeds pretty much tantamount to slavery, A legendary monster resolved an argument by killing itself and splitting its soul in half, and then its corpse possibly has reanimated as something that is strongly hinted at has a penchant for eating humans.

For rivals and antagonists, instead of Silver's questionably ethical but determined goal of being powerful and destroying Team Rocket, or Cyrus' crazed nihilism, N's constant habit of getting your character alone, being nice and just talking, then threatening and/or attacking you when you're vulnerable bring to mind strategy stolen from an actual rapist. I can't tell if I'm happy or sad that in the end, the grand plot just amounts to "If you don't have pokemon, you won't be able to stop my pokemon.' A very large step down from attempting to remake reality as a emotionless void in gen 4.

Then there's the pokemon themselves. Yamask actually is a dead human being. Yeah, other pokemon have hinted at them being originally human, but only sometimes, or under strange circumstances. Yamask implies it is our afterlife. That's if Chandelure don't burn it away for fuel first. I knew there was a reason Ghost pokemon were my favourite.

It's not exclusive to these though, Victini is at least one of the 'cute' legendaries that's  in every generation, and whereas things like Mew were mystical and happy, your reward for Victini is being told it curses all who own it. Thank you for giving me this chance to damn myself...

My favorite has to be Sigilyph though. It's an old intelligent weapon from a long dead civilization but compared to almost anything else around the area it comes from, it's relatively tame. There's just a small problem. It looks like a lovecraftian nightmare, and sounds even worse.

 

Sadly, Source unknown.

I know it's based on Nazca line drawings, which are actually quite pretty, but the way its animated, its Unown style eye staring, unblinking. Its hollow echoing alarm like cry, it seems like would be a better fit descending down on the Geofront to the tune of Keep Your Heads Above the Mayhem

I think I'll always love grimdark, and love this game, but Black and White at times border on the moments where Warhammer 40k plays it straight level of doing too much of it.