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Tech/Games

JOYSTiCK Reviews Ep. 20B: ‘Pokémon Legends: Z-A’ – Putting the “FUN” in Hypothermia

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By: Daniel Kendle

2 logs remain.

Oh…hello again. It’s me, *cough* M-Mr. Whatshisname. Surprised I made it through last night? No need to fret: even th-this French, uh, tundra has no match against this old d-dog.

But that’s enough about me. This is a review about ‘Pokémon Legends: Z-A,’ remember? Not surprised if you didn’t: my tapes from the first part of this article were mixed with other tapes, ones centered around my plights with hypothermic bone cancer. Don’t worry, I fixed that whole mess. Today’s review will be much more “focused.” *cough*

With that aside, we’ve got 2 more sections to dive into. So without further ado, let’s dive in!

PART 3: GRAPHICS

As I can attest to as a resident of this icy, radiative hellscape, France is very pretty! The countryside is, at least; the jury’s still out on Paris itself. You see, the first line in this paragraph was a device called irony.

Jokes aside, Paris is – or at least used to be – a very pretty town. And since ‘Z-A’ decides to base its entire story in Lumiose City (a direct translation of Paris), that obviously gave the game’s developers, Gamefreak, a tricky situation. 3-D ‘Pokemon’ games on the Switch have never been lookers per say, but with this smaller, more restrictive environment, this could be the opportunity for polish that this team has been waiting for. So: did it deliver?

Uh…yeah. Kind of.

I played this game on the Switch 2, which supports 60 FPS and improved texture resolutions. Of course, this means that the game was also built for the Switch 1, which definitely hindered possible graphical fidelity here. Foliage, while populous in both versions, is still used sparingly in grassy areas, like parks. The same goes for models with high polygon counts, like humans: the Switch 1 can’t handle too many on screen at once, meaning the Switch 2 experience is hindered subsequently.

Thankfully, the game doesn’t look terrible overall. In fact, bare your teeth, but I think it looks pretty good! Sorry to all IGN reviewers out there, but the frostbite in my brain must’ve given me something you lack: a controversially-positive opinion! While nothing exceptional visuals-wise, this game is easily the best-looking mainline ‘Pokémon’ game on either console mentioned. You can definitely sense a strong level of polish here, likely a result of skipping a major game release in 2024.

The Pokémon themselves look nice, as do the humans. Gamefreak ditched the realistic textures of ‘Scarlet’ and ‘Violet’ and gave entities a more basic palette, which I wholeheartedly prefer. The choice comes across very intentionally, though, and complements the Pokémon’s natural rim-lighting.

Textures are also much more polished. Again: the Switch 1 version is likely worse in this regard, but going purely off of the sequel console’s specs, I’d call it a massive improvement over past titles.

Buildings are a misfire for me, though. They’re basically just big textured boxes, with little physical depth. Balconies are squashed and flat, being just a part of the mapped image of the building face itself. The same is true for most columns and parapets, and it brings their beauty down a bunch.

While ‘Pokémon Legends: Z-A’ doesn’t turn the wheel on its head graphically, it does well in pushing the wheel forward. For the flack recent games have received for their visuals, it’s good to see a modern title be given some more polish and time in the oven – and its due flowers.

PART 4: MUSIC

1 log remains.

The fire, it’s…i-it’s…

…l-let’s talk about the music, yeah! *cough* This is another source of praise for me, like with most ‘Pokémon’ games. If there’s anything, anything consistent about this series at all, it’d be this area. So how’s about we rapid-fire through my thoughts on some in particular, like with the Mega Evolution section. That way, I can say more about the soundtrack other than, “it’s good.”

  • To start a bit negative, the game only has 1 day and 1 night theme. Both of them are great, but after so many hours in the game, they gradually become repetitive to hear. The night them especially; the jazzy instrumentals, while nice at first, become grading over time.
  • The trainer battle theme during the Z-A Royale is really cool in an almost psychedelic way. Even though you hear this pretty often too, it never succumbed to the repetition of the day and night tracks.
  • Canari’s battle theme is peppy and upbeat, which is fun. Fits a Twitch streamer well, I suppose.
  • Corbeau’s battle music is easily my favorite in the game. It’s sinister and dire, yet the modern synthesizers give it a slick energy that I really love. A highlight of the soundtrack overall.
  • I’m not the biggest fan of electro swing, but even I quite like Jacinthe’s battle music. The overwhelming instrumentals at the beginning were befitting for her cheery, albeit psychopathic tendencies in the story.
  • Finally, the battle music for Team Flare Nouveau is among the best of the remixes here. It carries the manic energy of the original forward strongly, and is also among the soundtrack’s highs.

To conclude, the soundtrack for ‘Pokémon Legends: Z-A’ is another slam dunk for the team overall. It’s funky, weird, and alluring in all the right ways. I can’t deny the mastery at work here with this albu-!

0 logs remain.

…w-what? But…I wasn’t ready! I still needed to conclude my article and give the game an 8/10! I needed to say that the game was far-and-away the best mainline ‘Pokémon’ game on the Switch!

Death befits the ignorant, not the ready.

No…no! I-I can’t give up now. My body, my mind…we still have so much life left to live! My saga can’t end here!

This is not your will.

…

This is not your choice.

…

This is not your life.

Tech/Games

JOYSTiCK Reviews Ep. 13.5 ‘Pokemon TCG Pocket’s’ Meta – It’s Bazooka Time!

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By: Daniel Kendle

(Many terms and gameplay mechanics discussed in this article are explained further in episode 13 of JOYSTiCK. It’s advised to read that review prior to this one).

. . .

*Note: This article was written prior to the most recent expansion release. This may impact deck viability

It’s been around 5 months since ‘Pokemon TCG Pocket’ launched on mobile devices, and has been a great success for the franchise. Reportedly having generated around $500 million dollars by February of this year, the game’s critical and financial progress is guaranteed to continue for the years to come.

We’ve seen 4 booster pack expansions since the app’s launch in late October, with a 5th coming March 27: Genetic Apex, Mythical Island, Spacetime Smackdown, Triumphant Light, and soon to join the fray, Shining Revelry. With these have also come many events for both online and offline battling, obtaining rare promo cards, and more. The game’s developers seem to be attentive to the community too: after releasing a trading feature in January, it’s controversy surrounding the in-game currency required to use it has been announced to be retired later in the game’s life, either this year or 2026.

With these highlights out of the way, a large issue with the game has arisen with its continued expansion releases: the online meta surrounding deck-building and playing has become rife with overpowered cards and strategies. This is what we’ll be focusing on today, and why this is an issue. We’ll also be examining several powerful decks as examples for the argument, and finally see ways to potentially combat this issue in the future.

In short, a game’s meta is basically its current competitive state: what aspects of PVP are good or bad, and what strategies are best when playing. This is a vague description, but an all-encompassing one.

Player-versus-player gameplay in ‘Pocket’ comes down to using decks, each required to have 20 cards total. Only up to 2 of the same card can be used in a deck, leaving the player to have to employ at least 10 unique cards. Cards from different expansions can be used in tandem with each other.

The strongest type of cards in the game are “ex” cards: variations of normal Pokemon with higher health and damage, along with more unique effects wrapped into each attack. To balance this, knocking an ex out rewards 2 prize points, with 3 being needed to win a match.

Overall, with some niche exceptions, the game’s meta is mostly ex cards, which presents some issues. The main one, however, is that the over reliance on decks to use ex cards makes deck-building a more linear, provincial task.

Again, there are some commonly-used decks that forgo ex’s, but the prevalence of these cards online lead to most players combating them with their own ex’s, thus catalyzing the problem. The abundance of them online and the relatively-small pool of them combine to create a lack of variety of top-level decks to imitate. This doesn’t necessarily make matches stale, but rather streamlines creativity in making decks into choosing between several powerful options, each with a fluid “correct” list of required cards.

Ex’s as a whole also de-emphasize normal non-ex cards. Unless you have a killer strategy up your sleeve, more often than not non-ex decks struggle against their cousins. This disarray in power makes many cards in new expansions unable to break out into competitive play, unless they can support ex cards.

These problems have soured the metagame. There is still fun to be had, don’t get me wrong, but it’s not ideal to have players be pigeonholed into a selection of certain cards. Experimentation should be rampant in this game, but honestly, it’s often hard to find decks online with more uncommon cards – at least, by my standards.

Here’s a list of some of the best decks in the game, each with an explanation as to why:

  • Arceus ex – Arceus’s unique Fabled Luster ability gives it immunity to status effects. Its Ultimate Force attack is also great, giving it 20+ damage for each Pokemon on your bench (with a maximum of 3 allowed, this peaks at 130 damage). Its biggest plus, though, is other Pokémon’s Link abilities giving them unique benefits when Arceus is on the field. There’s too many to go over here, but overall, it’s nuts how much utility these cards get when paired with the ex card.
  • Gyrados ex/Greninja – For 4 energy, Gyrados’s Rampaging Whirlpool attack does 140 damage, discarding a random energy point from any Pokemon in play. Coupled with Greninja’s Water Shuriken ability letting it do 20 damage to any of your opponent’s Pokemon in addition to your active Pokémon’s attack, this allows colossal 160 damage per turn – becoming 180 damage if the opponent’s Pokemon has a water type weakness.
  • Mewtwo ex/Gardevoir – While not as prevalent as it was a few months ago, this deck is still a threat. Mewtwo’s Psydrive does 150 damage, but requires 4 energy to use, similar to Gyrados. With Gardevoir, each turn you can add an extra energy to Mewtwo using its Psy Shadow ability alongside your normal energy. This means you can attach 2 energy per turn, helpful with Psydrive discarding 2 energy from Mewtwo after being used.
  • Darkrai ex/Magnezone – This one’s pretty complicated, so listen closely. Magnezone evolves from Magneton, which evolves from Magnemite. In Genetic Apex, its Magneton card has the Volt Charge ability, which lets it attach an additional lightning energy to itself every turn, once again along with your regular per-turn energy (you don’t need to have a deck that uses lightning energy to use this card, too). Then, when evolved into the Magnezone card from Spacetime Smackdown, its Thunder Blast attack does 110 damage per turn, with the only caveat being having to discard a lightning energy after use. If you’ve hoarded a lot of energies on Magneton in turns past, then this attack becomes a menace for any deck. Couple this with Darkrai ex’s Nightmare Aura ability, which does 20 damage to the opponent’s active Pokemon whenever a darkness energy is attached to it from the discard pile. This deck is lethal, despite its complexity.

The examples listed above are fine examples of the strength of ex cards, and their numerous advantages. A lot of ‘Pocket’’s meta relies on energy acceleration: if your opponent gets an extra card when they knock you out, speed becomes the name of the game.

Once again, the current meta is far from bad, but restrictive in player expression through deck building. So, here are some of my ideas for how to improve competitive play, in my opinion:

  1. Give players stronger non-ex cards. I think that Arceus’s Link mechanic is really cool, and would like to see more stuff like it in the future. However, making the trait apply to both the ex and non-ex versions of Arceus makes the latter immediately inferior to the former, and therefore inconsequential. Why not make more regular cards that affect each other in beneficial ways? Having these in addition to ex cards could be great for diversity, and less focus on decks that mostly focus on a single attacker.
  2. Introduce more “stand-alone” cards. This point probably deviates from my first suggestion, but bear with me for a second. While cards that link with each other would be nice, another possibility is having more cards that affect all cards as a whole, instead of a select few. Giving Trainer, Item, and other supporter cards universal benefits for cards would go a long way in making some Pokemon more viable and widespread.

These were just 2 ideas, but I hope you can see the potential here. ‘Pocket’ is fun, but I think that its competitive corner is in need of improvement. I’m optimistic, honestly; these developers seem to love their game, and I think they can continue iterating on bettering PVP. Until then, though, I’ll still be looking forward to what they do next.

Tech/Games

JOYSTiCK Reviews Ep. 13 ‘Pokemon TCG Pocket’ – Poke(r)mon

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By: Daniel Kendle

Hey everyone, welcome to JOYSTiCK Reviews, the only gaming serial to specify that the “i” in our logo IS meant to be in undercase. Now, normally I like to write my articles in a calm, relaxed location, like a farm, or a lakeside resort. But today, in celebration of my subject matter, I’m currently writing these words whilst sitting in my newest point of interest: a casino!

Call me Mr. Pachinko Machine (and soon to be homeless), ‘cause I and others are hitting big here. I mean, you’ve got the man over at the baccarat station, a group of old ladies playing poker, a guy on the floor who’s probably more booze than human at this point…all the makings of a playground of wonder, magic, and cholesterol-induced heart attacks.

However, you may have connected the dots so far, and are currently expecting me to say that today’s subject endorses these barbaric practices. Well, I can’t say my verdict yet, as today we’re going to find out the answer to this controversial question: “Is ‘Pokemon TCG Pocket’ a form of gambling?”

Well, let’s find out! Readers, make sure to lock your wallet with an iron chain and throw away the key, because today we’re examining the game ‘Pokemon TCG Pocket.’

Prior to its release, the app was compared to the relatively-recent fad of NFT’s (non-fungible tokens). These were digital pieces of art that could be bought, and basically became exclusive to that person. They could fluctuate in price, and had the lovely distinction from other forms of art of being real dumb.

The fad died down after a year or 2, thankfully – prices plummeted, and most people stepped away from the practice after realizing this. The fact is that paying for digital pictures of monkeys in hats when you could just take a screenshot of one for free is a bad idea. But in its wake comes this app, which has caused many to wonder whether or not the Pokemon franchise has finally tossed its hat into the NFT ring.

If you’re still confused as to what the game’s contents are, they’re trading cards. The Pokemon Trading Card Game’s been kicking since the 1990’s, equal to the video games in terms of popularity. They’re a global phenomenon, so much so that even your’s truly has collected them.

This year I began collecting the physical cards again; I don’t play the card game itself (though I might try to after playing today’s subject), but I just really like the art on the cards. It’s a hobby that I carefully regulate: I prefer buying randomized booster packs, so it’s important to not dish out ludicrous amounts of dough for a chance at some pricey cards. I’ve seen people get addicted to buying packs, and I don’t want to go down that path.

That leads us to ‘Pocket’ once again. Some already accuse the physical card game of promoting child-friendly gambling, so when you take the medium to a digital front, it’s not a very good look. But today I’m on the defensive, here to explain that things aren’t always black and white.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pokémon

Never mind.

Let’s take a look at ‘Pocket.’ The game – or software, as I’ll use alongside synonyms interchangeably – is a 2024 title released to mobile devices this October. It centers around opening packs of Pokemon cards, collecting them, and using them to build decks. These decks can be used in a simplified version of the physical card game, only now able to be played against both online players and computers.

Along with these fundamentals, you can also finish missions by completing specific parts of the prior activities listed, gaining rewards from doing so. Finally, you can use the Wonder Pick feature to see what other people around the world have pulled from packs. Using one of the game’s “currency” systems, you can spend a few points to be able to randomly select a copy of 1 of the person’s 5 pulled cards. This means that both of you get a card; you don’t steal cards from other people.

To start, I think that the act of opening booster packs is…fine? Every 12 hours you get a free pack, meaning that you get 2 per day. When you select the expansion you want to pull cards from (for now there’s only 1), you select 1 of 3 types of packs, each with different cards.

Finally, you get a circle of packs, in which you choose 1 to open, receiving 5 cards. This system works fine, I suppose. I think that having 3 different types of booster packs in each set is weird, though – in the physical card expansion, each has multiple different packs with different art on the front, similar to the digital ones here. The difference is that each booster, despite the different cover art, has a random assortment of the same pool of cards, which is much larger than the 3 mini-pools in ‘Pocket. ’ It’s a strange choice, and I can’t say I’m a fan; it just makes collecting cards take much longer, since you’re more likely to get repeats. There is overlap with more common cards between the 3 types of packs in the expansion, but the rarer cards are exclusives.

I’ve heard conflicting reports on whether or not the packs generate the cards inside before you open it or after. I’d prefer if they were generated upon opening the booster, but since the game’s so new, I’ll need more time to look into this. If they generate before opening packs, then I guess having the circle of packs you get to choose from makes more sense, but I like that less.

Still, I wouldn’t say any of this equates to gambling necessarily – you can’t directly pay for packs, and the cards you get aren’t exclusive to you; theoretically, there’s an infinite amount of cards a person can pull. They’re not the same as normal memorabilia, where eventually an artificial item of any kind stops being produced. Until the inevitable wheel of time ends, or – more unlikely – ‘Pocket’ and Pokemon as a whole stops being profitable, digital cards will be procured forever.

Going back to the first point for a second, you can’t spend money on the packs. The closest you can do is buy a membership that allows you a 3rd pack every 24 hours. I don’t have it, but I still hold my tongue on calling it immoral. Really, breaking down the software’s transactional components reveals its relative innocence. If people are to accuse ‘Pocket’ of enforcing betting, then they might as well do the same for the physical card game, which, seeing as it’s been around since the late 90’s, is likely a dead argument. The only difference between the digital and physical card games is in the mediums.

In short, the game endorsing gambling is, in my opinion, not true, and never really has been for the card game. In order to be defined as such, the packs would’ve needed to not reward players with anything; basically just taking their money in exchange for a chance at a prize. Instead, we get cards, and on top of that can use them to play a game. And rounding it all off, you can’t buy packs with money and get them for free, with an added option to buy the ability for more free packs.

Collecting the cards is fun, though – it’s part of the reason I have issues with getting them in the first place. A fair amount of card art was recycled from older, physical sets for the digital game’s first expansion, but both the old and new art for cards looks wonderful. In particular, I quite like the Lapras Illustration Rare card, since it’s my favorite generation 1 Pokemon.

This veers into complaining about the booster opening again, but I do think that 5 cards for each pack is much too small. Completing each expansion and trying to pull cards in order to create a deck is hard when the chance for duplicates is high. For some reason, I’m drawn to there being 7 in each pack: the extra 2 would go a long way in helping obtain deck material-monsters. But overall, collecting is a part of the game that I enjoy a ton. It’s fun seeing my count go up, scrolling down my grid, and hyping myself up to try and pull a rare card. Those rare cards often have effects in battle that make them stronger than other comparable cards, so they’re not just pretty, but very useful in ‘Pocket’s’ PVP (player vs. player) meta!

Speaking of which, I said earlier that I don’t know how to play the physical card game, but surprisingly-enough, I think my favorite part of the game is battling others! The simplified mechanics work well for a mobile experience, and it’s clear that the developers intended matches to be quick and exciting, something that you could play in between classes, for example.

I’m not going to go over the rules due to the time, but in short, it’s a lot of fun. If you get the mobile game, you unlock the ability to battle others when your account reaches level 3, so by opening a few packs and completing the built-in tutorial for the match system, you’ll be able to quickly get into battling. I’ve never played them, but I can imagine ‘Pocket’s’ battling system being reminiscent of a slimmed-down version of ‘Hearthstone, ’ or the now-deceased ‘Artifact.’

But again, since it takes so long to obtain a substantial amount of cards to build a solid deck with, it can take a while to get into online matches. Sure, you get some starter decks, but you don’t actually get the cards from them, just a limited amount of times you can rent them.

Despite that hiccup, battles are enjoyable, along with the rest of the game. ‘Pokémon TCG Pocket’ is a software that, even with flaws, is a fun way for someone to collect and play the card game without necessarily having to spend money. With its simpler battle system that creates quicker matches, the game is a great way for people, whether they’re veterans or newbies to the franchise, to connect with and have fun with friends and family. ‘Pokémon TCG Pocket’ is out now for Android and iOS devices, and is free to play – unlike these here casino games. In the time you’ve been reading, I’ve been kicked out. Turns out that puppeteering and hacking a digital poker game into always folding each turn warrants defenestration. It’s not my fault I couldn’t see the big red sign at the building’s entrance reading ‘DO NOT CHEAT:’ I’m colorblind!

But you know, maybe all of this talk about gambling and “rigging the system” is futile. As I sit here, wet and glass-covered while a troupe of rats gnaw on my left big toe, I think that maybe getting into hysterics about the humanity of casinos is pointless. Maybe instead of arguing for or against this fallacy of the human experience, we can enjoy life for what it is, ignore it, and live on stronger without the temptations of greed. And maybe we can enjoy battling with and collecting cards in ‘Pocket’ without delving into frantic eulogies about NFT’s and the safety of the children. I give ‘Pokemon TCG Pocket’ a 7/10, and look forward to continuing enjoying it – now without the burden of guilt, and instead the hedonism of connection with others.

I’ve been Mr. Whatshisname, thank you for reading today’s JOYSTiCK review, and since my bank account’s digits have receded into the negatives, for dinner tonight I’ve got a pair of rats who’ve got a skillet and oven with their names on it. Take care, and I’ll see you next time.