Yo-kai Watch review: is it the next Pokemon?

Credit to linked pixiv user

Art by このかりん on pixiv

I’m off for four days this Thanksgiving weekend and didn’t have much planned, so why not finally have a new blog post after so long? XD As I explained in my anniversary post from last month, I haven’t been watching much new anime, but I’ll still be writing about something related today – the recent US release of the Japanese hit game series, Youkai Watch (localized as “Yo-kai Watch”). The game has been a big hit in Japan since its release in 2013 (followed by an anime series and sequel game) and was just released in the US earlier this month. I heard that it has a similar premise as Pokemon and is being hailed as the “next Pokemon” with how popular it became in Japan. Being the Pokemon fan that I am, I was really curious and decided to give the game a try once it was released in English. As of now, I’ve played about 30 hours of it (finished the main storyline and some side quests). So do I feel the series deserves the popularity it’s been getting, and will it really be the next Pokemon?…

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Yumeka’s top 10 (non-Pokemon) video games

Even though it’s not my main hobby, I do enjoy playing video games now and then. As some of you are aware of, I’m much more of a video game connoisseur than what you’d call a “gamer” – there’s a handful of games and game series I enjoy, but I only pick up a new one once in a while and I certainly don’t play all of the very popular games. Pokemon has been my main game of choice for years, and I play it so much more than other video games that I consider it its own separate hobby. But there have been many other games that have made an impression on me over the years, and surprisingly I never really thought about which ones have been my all time favorites. So now it’s time to do that!…

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A beginner’s guide to competitive Pokemon battling

Credit to linked pixiv user

Like many Pokemon players, I started playing the games as a kid in the late 90s, before the competitive metagame existed. I first started taking note of things like EV training and IVs in the Diamond and Pearl era, but when I looked up information about the competitive side of Pokemon, I got scared away by all the mathematical equations and fan-made jargon I’d find on sites like Bulbapedia, Smogon, and Serebii. It wasn’t until Black 2 and White 2 came out in 2012 that I really wanted to give competitive Pokemon battling a try…and it turned out to be easier than I thought! As of now I’ve put in almost 600 hours of gameplay on my copy of Pokemon X, and 150 hours on my Omega Ruby, breeding competitive pokemon and trying them out on the Battle Spot and local tournaments. It does take a lot of time and experience to get good at it, but you don’t have to do any complicated math or spend hours and hours of tedious grinding in order to put together a decently competitive pokemon team, especially in the current 6th generation of Pokemon games that have made breeding and training the right pokemon much easier. So I wanted to put together this very beginner-friendly guide for any Pokemon players that are interested in trying their hand at the competitive side of the games…

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Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire review

Credit to linked pixiv user

It’s been a blog tradition of mine to review all of the main series Pokemon games, starting with Diamond and Pearl in 2006. And now I’ve played enough of my copy of Omega Ruby to review these new games as well =)…

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Happy Halloween – horror anime, games, and overcoming my fears

Kaneki

I’ve always had an ambivalent relationship with the macabre – even as a kid, scary stories and creepy urban legends fascinated me, but come bedtime, they would haunt my mind and make sleep impossible. Not much changed when I grew up, as I still am both insatiably curious about, and have an aversion to, any kind of nightmare-fuel. But over the past few months, I’ve been working on getting over my fears, and it’s been successful =D So this Halloween, I wanted to delve into the horror anime, scary games, creepy stories, and other things I’ve come across on my journey to conquer my fears!…

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Pokemon X and Y review

Credit to linked pixiv user

Now that I’ve completed the main storyline on my copy of Pokemon X, as well as explored a number of the post-game quests and new features, it’s time for me to continue my now 7-year tradition of reviewing the main series Pokemon games here on the blog…

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Anime, manga, and video games – can you balance all three?

Credit to linked pixiv user

If you consider yourself an anime fan, chances are you also partake in related hobbies like reading manga or playing video games. Even though I do like the other two, anime is the hobby I spend the majority of my time, money, and energy on, but I’m always impressed by people who manage to more or less equally balance themselves between all three of these big hobbies…

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Pokemon X and Y thoughts and speculations

Credit to linked pixiv user

Last night after work I reserved my copy of Pokemon X at my local GameStop (got a free poster with it too, which you can see after the jump). It made me realize that Pokemon X and Y are just about 2 months away from their October 12th release date. That may sound like a long time, but much has already been revealed about these games that has the fandom both hyped and apprehensive. Three years ago when Pokemon Black and White were coming out, I wrote a couple of pre-release speculation posts about them. So I figured now is a good time to do the same for what’s been revealed about Pokemon X and Y thus far…

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Pokemon Black 2 and White 2 review

Credit to linked pixiv user

I realized that I’ve reviewed all the main series Pokemon games here on the blog since Diamond and Pearl in 2006. So why break that tradition now? Let’s review the latest Pokemon games, Black 2 and White 2…

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Visual realism in video games versus anime

In a recent post on deluscar, Kai brings up the fact that video games have become a lot more “realistic” than they used to be, especially in visual terms thanks to advanced technology. But he also argues that even though they’ve taken on this new level of depth, they still can’t display the same level of realism as anime and perhaps other animation can…

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