Espinosa

Currently about as long as Brighton's. Growing it longer again though.

Well, it's fairly simple - sports itself has nothing to do with spirituality, and attending games and competition can not be seen as a spiritual activity unless outside factors are involved. Unless there's a different definition of spirituality that I'm unaware of. And fair enough, I nearly forgot the US remains a strongly religious country even today, or at least positions itself as such. How high is the percentage of constant church goers?

I always find it perplexing when people are blamed for "wanting attention". You're either saying attention is somehow not an urge relevant to you at all, or you're projecting your own intentions upon others, not to mention suddenly have the credibility to define what the motivation of the people around you are, as if you know what they really want better than they do themselves. I'm not too fond of either way to be honest.

Christianity brought forth the concept that time is moving somewhere, that the history has a direction, that what lies ahead is brand new. The pagan view of the world was much different, as people believed they could return to Earth again and again, that the soul would materialise endlessly taking different form each time. Even the deities would change one after another, one usurper replacing the previous one. Ouroboros is a good symbol signifying that. Such a world view was mandatory for where we ended up, and it has stayed, alongside other positive and negative aspects of the Christian vision, in the sort of indifferent or sometimes even militantly irreligious attitude that defined much of new science. Such an argument would explain why modern atheism in the West is so close to Christianity. An atheist will be disgusted by murder or any vile act of similar proportions as much as any Christian (in the pagan world view, such acts are nothing but a necessity, and as unfortunate as it may be for an individual to marry his mother and kill his own father, or for a mother to kill her children, tough luck for the people involved but it had to be done - even the gods were but slaves to rules of necessity beyond their control). So on the one hand, we have the morality that is grown within the same culture, shared between the people within that culture, on the other hand we have the reliance on reason, often to the point of self-negation, obtained from several centuries of theological disputes. And really, read some natural science and theology, and you'll see how both disciplines make the divine, the Earth, space, etc. so empty and devoid of beautiful, poetic terms that should be applied to those subjects instead of thousands of pages of scholastic nonsense. Christianity and secular science are of the same kind, siblings you could say, and the only possible explanation why they're refusing to acknowledge their connection is arrogance.

I think much of today's secular thought is the product of Christian history turned upside down. All those clever arguments concerning the Trinity and the essences of Christ couldn't have possibly lead to anything else but our inhumanly fast (in its progress) science. If you want to blame somebody for today's technology-driven world, you'll have to blame Christianity as well. Or thank it if you happen to appreciate where we are now, whichever way works for you. The Greeks, the Romans on their own with their vision of history and progress... wouldn't have ended up with the same culture we have in any imaginable scenario.

I don't see why the constant reference to religion is even necessary in a discussion like this. Homophobia is a pronounced social issue, and intolerance towards gays (or anybody who stands out in any way, really) is a social phenomenon, and should be treated as such. For example, team sports is an area where coming out of closet is still considered unthinkable, and that's in the 21st century. Is it the "Christian influence" again? Look at the fans, look at the players and what sort of lifestyle they represent. No asceticism to be found there, but a lot of sweaty men running around swearing and going wild over one little ball. Such an environment is as far from spirituality as it gets, and yet it fosters and breeds violence and discrimination. How come?

I'm honestly not surprised. Most "hardcore" gamers disregard immediate effectiveness in favour of eventual strength at maximum potential, so people who like to spend their nights grinding tend to shout much louder than speed runners and efficiency-interested players.

I remember finding his songs funny and cool as a kid, before I knew enough English to actually make any sense out of them.

Nice to see a discussion on this game. I think Rennie could go up, seeing how she levels up really fast and is 10% likely to receive a movement boost each level (which is twice as likely compared to say Lionel). Plus, the bows are great in this game. The archers suffer from the same inability to counter at 1 range as in other FE games (and I notice myself fighting with Plum Lances more than any other weapon on my best units), but at least Holmes gets swords upon promotion. I think he could move up, too.

Bored, snobbish, introverted, obedient...

Lying to adults can be acceptable too. There's little virtue in truth (as in precision of information provided) if it stings.

Weedle The next annoying bug (who also carried over here from Kanto) is dual bug/poison, meaning that if you're patient enough, you can train on those Bellsprouts the Sages in the tower are fond of using so much. You resist Vine Whip 4x, but your own Poison Sting won't really sting that much (nor will it poison). So yeah, you do need to dedicate some special attention to get it to evolve fully. Beedrill, in contrast to Butterfree, is a physical attacker, and eventually it has very good options available to it, like Twineedle and Sludge Bomb (this one will seriously hurt things); however, until lv. 20, it doesn't get any STAB moves, unless you count the Fury Cutter TM (which should probably be taken into account as it's a good offensive option), depending heavily on normal-type attacks like Fury Attack and Swift to take out its foes. While the introduction of Sludge Bomb is a major advantage for Beedrill users, it did also lose some things in the transition from the first generation to the second. One thing is that bug and poison types are now mutually resistant, as opposed to being mutually effective. No longer can you nail those numerous Koffings and Grimers you meet with Twineedle. The second loss is access to Swords Dance via TM, depriving Beedrill of a chance to set up so that it can take care of even the strongest enemy on the foe's team. It learns Agility at lv. 40, so with Swords Dance it would've been a great set-up Pokemon in this generation as well. But oh well. Rating: 5/10

Caterpie First of the four annoying bugs I have to cover (all can be captured when you reach Route 30), and probably not the worst? This isn't saying much though. Caterpie's stats are just disastrous, and it has trouble beating anything on its own, besides maybe those Splashing Magikarps before Union Cave (though if it's still a Caterpie by that point, I wonder why you didn't grind it earlier using other Pokemon to quickly KO for experience). It gets a little tanky at lv. 7, when it evolves into Metapod, but not terribly so, and only becomes somewhat decent at lv. 10, when it evolves into Butterfree. Butterfree was quite good in RBY, when players had trouble with Brock with Charmander or Pikachu (I'd still argue Charmander should face Brock on its own regardless, and Mankey/Nidoran would make better Pokemon to take care of Geodude and Onix, especially the latter with its long lasting effect - Nidoran, I mean). Its Confusion was very rare as an early game means of dealing special damage to a very physically sturdy opposition. Butterfree's Confusion doesn't seem nearly as wanted in the second generation. It's at a type disadvantage on the very first gym battle (which takes place at the peak of Butterfree's potential relatively to the strength of the opposition, as its base grow gradually more and more obsolete afterwards), and does nothing remarkable besides maybe nailing Morty's and Chuck's weaknesses (who hit it very hard with neutral attacks in return). Butterfree's natural learnset is unimpressive - while Confusion at lv. 10 is nice when it is learnt, the next update, Psybeam, has to wait until lv. 34, which is far too late. Its flying-type STAB, Gust, is only learnt at lv. 28, too, so it'll have to rely on Confusion and perhaps also the Swift TM to deal some below decent damage. Its TM learnset is about as shallow as it gets, Solarbeam being the best option before the Elite Four. Needless to say, being frail and not very threatening offensively either, Butterfree fails to compete with other psychic-type move users out there. Add to that the many boring minutes spent switching Caterpie out to something that can actually crush the opposition. In the end, Butterfree doesn't justify the effort needed to evolve it and train it further. Its best use lies in putting things to sleep with Sleep Powder (lv. 15), at a better accuracy than sleepers with Hypnosis or Sing. However, it is a slow sleeper indeed (with the same base speed as Poliwrath), and you won't outspeed that legendary dog, should you be lucky to run into one. Rating: 3/10

Oh that sucks. Hope you get your laptop fixed soon.

Phanpy The last Pokemon on Route 46 in the Crystal version, replacing Jigglypuff who is found here if you're playing Gold/Silver. Its availability is very much in contrast to what it was in the Silver version, as it can now be caught at the very beginning of the game. Surely that's a great thing? One immediate concern is that you're only 5% likely to encounter the baby elephant, and only in the morning at that. Players who start their runthroughs at a different time will just say "screw it" and fill their PokeDex entry with it much later - assuming they even care about it. What makes matters even worse for those who do indeed intend to use Phanpy on their playthrough is that it... runs away, just like that. If the player fails to put it to sleep or otherwise catch it on the first turn, you'll be looking for the elusive thing over and over again until luck is on your side. So, Phanpy is available early but isn't easily available. Still, let's judge it for its combat capabilities regardless. Phanpy is yet another ground-type, like Geodude or Onix (who becomes shortly available through trade), but it's the first pure ground-type you meet, which makes it rather remarkable. You need to do something with it until lv. 25, which is when it evolves into the great Donphan, so let's see how good it is prior to the evolution. Its base stats show... that its HP is very high for a first tier form. Which is not necessarily a good thing when not accompanied by equally high defences. Sure, if it allows you to survive until the next Pokemon Centre, then it's fine, but HP without defence means you'll be using more Potions (and better ones) when your condition is critical. Think of using Chansey as an extreme example - how many Hyper Potions would that hungry thing demand? This is the point I'm trying to get across here - Phanpy lacks Geodude's rock-typing and high physical bases, and the HP doesn't really save it in the long run. It is also extremely reliant on the TM you give it. Mud-Slap, Dig, Rollout, perhaps Earthquake, and some easily available ones like Headbutt - are the moves you should be expecting to teach your elephant at one point or another of its steady growth. Being a pure ground-type, as mentioned before, still retains its immunity to electric attacks, but since those aren't terribly common, you'd wish you had a resistance to all those types that the rock typing fortifies against instead. Of course, water and grass moves sting you not nearly as hard, but why would you use Phanpy against those anyway? That's the question. Donphan might make it look like Phanpy is worth all the babying (since it's stuck with Tackle for a long while, until you teach it Mud-Slap and Headbutt via TM), and while that's a great Pokemon right there, with excellent physical attack and defence, it's not really any better than Sandslash, and catching and training a Sandshrew is quite a bit more convenient than raising a Phanpy from Route 46. In the end, you will find that Donphan can't sweep tough opponents on its own due to its low speed and movepool limitations, leaving it a limited range of roles it can perform during your run. Still, not a poor Pokemon at all in spite of the difficulty of catching it, and training it so that it evolves. Rating: 6/10

Yeah, I think I'll give Totodile a 9.5 for now, since it's a lot more self-sufficient than Geodude is. Going to have to re-write its review later on though, to emphasise the strengths that have been brought up and which a quick attempt at a run only confirmed. I also found a speed run video where the game is beaten in under 3 hours practically as a Totodile solo, and the player needed only one additional hour to beat Red with the same Feraligatr. So maybe that's a 10, but 9.5 will do until we have more top tier Pokemon to compare its capabilities with. I didn't differentiate between Graveler and Golem because the main difference is HP - Golem is quite a bit healthier, and therefore more durable. Their key stats - attack and defence - are only separated by 15 base points, which is not a big deal, and Graveler does a fine job against the appropriate Elite Four Pokemon, as I've learnt myself. Same TM movepool, same natural learnset. In cases like Haunter/Gengar, I will definitely have to differentiate between two drastically different units, but this one isn't nearly as crucial, I believe.

Geodude Another Pokemon available on Route 46 is Geodude, and it's as good as it was in the previous generation, before the type split into physical and special, and all that. Geodude starts rather unimpressive, with a turtlelike speed stat, and lacking a STAB attack until lv. 11. Anyone who has ever used a Geodude in generation 2 (generation 1 has an almost immediate Mega Punch TM) can recall having to switch to their starter simply because the thing couldn't deal any decent damage before levelling up a few times, in spite of its supreme early game tanking ability. Which leads me to the most important point regarding Geodude - its typing and physical defence makes it an excellent tank, because the in-game movesets are very often completely walled by its rock/ground typing (perhaps moreso by the rock part of the hybrid, as there's never a shortage of normal-type attacks coming one's way). Geodude has a bit of trouble learning Rock Throw and preparing for Falkner (because let's face it, Rock Throw makes Geodude a perfect Pokemon to train for the first gym), because as good of a levelling spot the Sprout Tower is, Geodude can't survive their Vine Whips in any imaginable way. Nevertheless, it is a good idea to baby Geodude at this point of the game, because its effectiveness in the first half of the game is top tier. Just look at that gym performance: effective against Falkner, OHKOs Scyther with Rock Throw before it can even squeak, resists Miltank's attacks (however, some Leer support, or perhaps the Rollout TM, might be necessary to deal more damage to it than Milk Drink can heal... otherwise, Stomp's flinching and Rollout's gradually increasing damage shift the odds against Geodude). Magnitude, a bit of gambling tool in Geodude's arsenal, but fairly reliable nevertheless if you don't want to waste that Dig TM on it, makes it excellent for all the ghosts in Morty's gym (who do not have Levitate just yet), as well as those Magnemites. Its typing and rock/ground STABs also make it perfect to face most Rockets who use samey Pokemon throughout the maingame. Later on, Geodude (either Graveler or Golem by that point, depending on whether you can trade or not) doesn't feel nearly as comfortable in the key battles, because things rely on strong special attacks, like Psychic, to deal damage, and its special defence just doesn't cut it. However, it can face those Dragonairs and Dragonites that have only normal and electric/fire type attacks (I wouldn't switch my Graveler into that lv. 50 Dragonite's Outrage however), and takes on Koga singlehandedly. It deals with some Pokemon Karen and Lance use nicely too (like Charizard, and especially Aerodactyl). Geodude's typing can be seen as a shortcoming at the same time, because it has those common 4x weaknesses to water and grass, as well as 4 other weaknesses. Its speed ensures it won't be outspeeding too many things, so the "kill it before it kills you" strategy is hardly applicable here, and the bitter truth is that Geodude is perhaps the least self-sufficient Pokemon (out of the really useful ones anyway) in the game, demanding support from other Pokemon who would cover its weaknesses. Geodude's movepool is very good. Rock Throw and Magnitude provide excellent coverage early game, and Earthquake replaces the latter around the time you reach Elite Four (you might as well learn it naturally and not waste the TM). Selfdestruct also deserves a mention. When you're facing Pokemon that are too difficult to take down with any separate Pokemon you may have trained, just put Golem into a situation where it can boom into their face! Kingdra is one such Pokemon. The presence of Surf in its moveset means you either switch into its Hyper Beam (it's not too hard to bait it to use it, with an untrained Tentacruel or something if you have it), or paralyse it so that you can outspeed it. The way the game's mechanics work, you essentially have a 400 base power move and a respectable phys attack to go with it. It's a great tool for taking out those really troublesome Pokemon out there. Sadly, there isn't a TM or a tutor for Rock Slide in this generation, so for a rock-type STAB you either have to be content with that same Rock Throw, or teach it Rollout if you don't mind the 10% chance of its base power going all the way down each turn. While Geodude doesn't really solo the game, it makes some problematic battles a lot less problematic. It's not without its faults, but it's still pretty damn great at what it does, regardless of whether it evolves into Golem or not. Just don't forget to give it team support to cover its many weaknesses. Geodude is a great partner for Chikorita (taking care of the fire, bug, poison and flying types that threaten it), has okay synergy with Totodile (covering its weakness to electric, but not grass obviously), but isn't really the best team mate for Cyndaquil, as the two cover similar Pokemon types with their STABs, and the two of them are still weak to water-types. Rating: 8.5/10 You can really tell I use Geodude nearly all the time lol.

Great idea! I should think about possible team synergies when rating specific Pokemon. The problem is that the Spearow you get is only lv. 10 in the 2nd generation (it is indeed lv. 20 in gen 4, ready to evolve, as you pointed out). So if one is to make use of Spearow in this generation, catching one at the earliest convenience is the best idea.

I said Bruno, not Chuck. I'm not sure if I'd recommend that you send your Fearow out against Poliwrath... perhaps after it's weakened a bit? I wouldn't want it to eat a Dynamicpunch, or even a Surf. Lv. 40 Fearow is very feasible for the elite four. And really, I don't see how anybody can believe Cyndaquil > Spearow. Spearow loses only a little in availability, and at such a point in the game where it can fixed in a matter of seconds. Spearow doesn't wait for lv. 12 to learn a move that OHKOs all the bugs and Bellsprouts around. At lv. 20, it has 90 base attack, while Quilava has 64 and no physical STAB. I'd rather kill things with Swift, then hope for Headbutt to work. Typhlosion's endgame movepool is richer, but Thunderpunch and Earthquake on it are about as useful as Steel Wing on Fearow - much like Typhlosion won't really be Thunderpunching Slowbro without facing a much bigger threat, Fearow won't be using Steel Wing on Jynx either. Cyndaquil and Spearow are Pokemon who both take care of similar type weaknesses, and really, Spearow does the job better and has no period where it is below average in performance, and if I had to choose one of these two to use in a run, I'd choose Spearow.

Spearow One of the Pokemon exclusive to Route 46 for a while is Spearow, definitely a big improvement to Pidgey and Hoothoot whom you'll be catching if you're too lazy to stray from the path to Cherrygrove. However, Spearow really does make the brief trip worth it. Everything that applies to Pidgey and Hoothoot in terms of learnset and type effectiveness against the various gym leaders and elites applies to Spearow as well. Well, besides the ability to to put things to sleep lol. However, unlike Pidgey, Spearow takes only until lv. 20 to fully evolve (and it is quite a heavy hitter before the evolution too), and it doesn't suffer from offensive impotence like Hoothoot and its evolution. Spearow is the most offensive of the three early birds, starting with Peck and being able to destroy those early game bugs with ease. Evolved at lv. 20, Fearow is very strong at that point of the game, and can serve the team until the very end game effectively, which cannot be applied the same way to its other bird competitors. Drill Peck is learnt only at lv. 40, probably on time for Bruno and his fighters (who all had a noticeable special defence increase since gen 1's special split, making psychic-type counters less effective), so Fearow might want to make use of Fly until then, which has 10 less base power, worse accuracy and requires two turns to use. Until then, Peck for grass-types, bugs and fighters is sufficient, and it can utilise Swift/Return as reliable normal-type STABs for everything else that it might face. Rating: 8/10

Using more than one Pokemon can be seen as efficient as when your main soloist fails to take on a tough Pokemon (perhaps unable to survive two attacks in a row), you can have back up that doesn't get knocked out in one hit (allowing you to use a Revive and then a Hyper Potion, or whatever is relevant). I also think that if you pick Chikorita as your starter, it is more efficient than not to dump her at some point (perhaps very early, like when your Geodude learns Rock Throw). My vision of an efficient run in Pokemon is something not too restrained (i.e. you're not exactly forced to use any particular Pokemon), yet I do penalise lack of availability and immediate effective options for offence in my ratings. I'm not equating an efficient run to, say, a speed run, because the latter demands a lot of attempts to achieve a desirable outcome. In my ratings, I value convenience/safety in addition to efficiency in availability and strength right off the bat, because I do believe it is inefficient to have to reset several times for a strategy to work. Were you using other Pokemon, too? Being underlevelled isn't such a problem when you're facing generic trainers (it's mostly gyms and elites that feature higher-levelled pokes), but when Quilava is decent at burning things with Ember, other Pokemon will be even better at it with good STABs with more than 40 base power. It's not impossible to beat things up with Ember, it's just it's far from the best way to do it. 7 out of 10 is hardly a poor score, mind you.

Better than now I think.

Oh yeah, I should correct by saying that subsequent use of Rage does nothing about the user's attack stat. You need to be attacked on the same turn or the next one (if you're slower) if you want to receive a boost to attack. So if the enemy Pokemon decides to go crazy on debuffs or whatever, instead of doing direct damage, Rage will only be a waste of time. However, get hit by something like Fury Attack or Fury Swipes, and your attack will skyrocket.

Well, sure. If you want Boltbeam on one Pokemon, you can choose Starmie or Lapras. I'd also argue that Jolteon with STAB Thunderbolt facing Lorelei's Lapras has a more advantageous match-up against it than, say, Nidoking with the same Thunderbolt. It's not so bad to have Pokemon who specialise only in one or two types of attacks, but do so well, and whose typing is effective for specific challenging point of the game. You need Surf to get the Blizzard TM, and to get Surf, you should defeat Koga. If you defeated Koga, you probably won against Erika easily, and thus have no business postponing her gym when what follows after her gym has a noticeable jump in levels and difficulty. Beedrill is a good Pokemon in the first generation, because bug is effective against poison. This makes Beedrill perfect for Erika's gym, where its attacks are often 4x effective, not to mention effective for all those Weezings and Muks that you fight a lot during the midgame. If Zapdos's electric STAB is not a benefit, why should we use the Pokeball on him and not Articuno? Or is an ice STAB not a benefit either?