Cosplay: Harusaki no Matsuri - COSMO's 9th Anniversary

Me: Heads up, it's gonna be a busy three days, all of which will be evident in conversation. And it begins with... this one!

Ash: Wow, this should be great!

Pikachu: Pi pika! ["Hey yeah!"]

Goh: An event! A festival, it seems?

Me: That's the gist of it. The title means "early spring festival", so you're on the money. It's also the anniversary celebration of a group of friends I know very well.

Goh: So it's obviously special for you.

Me: And Ash, of course. Today is also very special in another way - or make that two ways - but we'll get to that as the day unfolds.

Goh: So, what did you see there?

Ash: I saw the usual stuff - communities, goodies, and food. But it looked a bit tight.

Goh: Many people? Many booths?

Ash: I think it was both!

Me: Wherever I send you, it's always a squeeze, it seems.

Ash: Oh yeah, I saw lots of characters too... but lots of them were from a really far land.

Me: Sorry about that. It seems like this festival was in a way a validation for them. 

Ash: Your friends even performed a stage play as those characters! I saw a little bit, but just enough.

Me: Yeah, see, there you go.

Goh: They must be incredibly popular, just like how Pokémon is popular... not in this place, but elsewhere.

Me: Goh is absolutely right. Down in my neck of the woods, characters from that faraway land are very popular - but only for a time. Who knows how long it will be before the next set of popular characters.

Goh: I'd love to see Pokémon more popular!

Me: All of us do. That's why I consider it our mission. Now, also as usual, there are competitions. How are or were they?

Ash: There were three: singing, character performance, and character parade. The singers were good, but some were really good, and those were the winners too.

Me: That's always to be expected.

Ash: For the character competitions, I didn't get a chance to see them, but I got to see the list of everyone in them. That was because you had me do something else with a lot of Pokémon for a few hours.

Me: I have to say that we'll handle this later, but it's a good thing this can still happen.

Ash: And then I got to see who won. They were all really good.

Pikachu: Pika pika. ["Very good."]

Goh: Wait a minute! So... you weren't in the competitions?

Me: No, he wasn't. Instead, he was asked to be a "guest performer", to open the festival nonetheless, so he couldn't possibly be in them. I probably should have said this right away, huh.

Goh: Woow! It's just like that Christmas Day event. What song did you sing?

Ash: I sang two songs: "Saikou Everyday" and "Mezase Pokémon Master". The first one was why you sent me with my Sinnoh outfit.

Me: Indeed I did! How did that go?

Ash: I did just great! But the sound person...

Goh: Did that not go too well?

Ash: The first song was a little quiet in the beginning, even after I checked it way before and it was fine. And I think the fast parts were a bit fast for me today. But I kept singing!

Me: That is very good. That is what is expected not just as a guest performer but when you get back to competitions.

Goh: I have to agree with what our friend said. This is the first time for the first song for you both, right?

Me: Right you are. I've always wanted to include this in a performance by Ash, and that finally happened.

Ash: I'm touched. Thank you!! Let's see if we can do the first song again for a future competition.

Goh: By the way, where is this?

Me: You won't believe it - it's at the same place where one year Ash was a judge and another year he first performed with a band.

Ash: Yeah! So you could say I got to do something really special again in this place.

Goh: That's impressive! Anything else I and others should know about?

Ash: The entertainment was good even if it was the usual - bands, dance groups, and so on. I just saw some parts.

Goh: I bet you'd like it if you had been able to collaborate with one of the bands like other times.

Ash: Yeah! I hope that can happen.

Pikachu: Pika, pi pika! ["Yeah, let's hope!"]

Me: Overall, though, what did you think?

Ash: I think your friends really pulled off a good event! I heard they sold out the tickets.

Goh: That's something you rarely hear. That has to be very, very nice.

Ash: And I'd love to sing again!

Me: Why not. You're continuing to prove your worth - and mine. I think it will happen.

Ash: Today was a great day! It was tiring, but it was really good.

Pikachu: Pika chu! ["You bet!"]

Goh: It seems like it was not only a good but bright day with this event - and that Pokémon thing you made Ash do.

Me: I think this day of the "early spring festival" really does scream "early spring" in more ways than one.

One year ago: Pokémon Go Community Day, 5/21/2022

Two years ago: Anime with Mixed Language Content?

Three years ago: More Virulent Impacts

Four years ago: Respect for Rica Matsumoto

Five years ago: Throwing Poké Balls

Six years ago: Cosplay: East and West

Tournament: Arcaviary Tournament - Arcana Cup

The Arcaviary series of tournaments return... at least for me personally. There was actually one for Polkadot last month, but I didn't partake in it due to other concerns. With Arcana being this month's themed cup - a derivative from the current Cycle of Factions - I just had to participate in it, moreover with the impending closure of Silph Arena. Both of these are certainly very strong reasons to take part in this tournament (and other tournaments featuring this month's theme), and this happens to be a convenient one in my case.

Like the previous two tournaments, this one was a day-per-day affair for its rounds, with seven rounds in all. It started last week Saturday and just finished up tonight, enabling me to cover it as today's post. Even so, this one had comparatively fewer participants: 83 checked in at the start, but two had to drop for certain reasons, leaving only 81 participants. Whether this was an effect of the theme being part of Factions or some other happenings that I'm not privy to, I cannot say for sure, but at least the chance to participate before Silph Arena's closing (and a retained giveaway from last month) may have played efforts to retain participants.

As for my personal results, this was still not my best one yet. I ended up only winning three matches out of seven, finishing in the lower middle, third from the bottom of those with three match wins. I got swept in the first three rounds and only managed to steal a win in the fourth, before winning the rest. Even then, the fifth round win was because my opponent had to forfeit the match, though the rest were decided squarely with 2-1 wins. If anything, this is proof that Factions is one thing, and the individual competition is another; what happens in one is not necessarily reflective of the other. In my case, it was in stark contrast to my Factions record, which stands at two match wins out of two played.

Since this tournament is tangentially relevant to Factions, mine nonetheless, I have to cover how my specific teammates did. Besides me, there were four others who participated: riman12 (four wins, seventh in the group), YukixCyz (four wins, fourth in the group), Almujha (two wins, fifth in the group), and Kucingimutt (five wins, tenth in the group). My manager, TendouXForce, also participated - knowing that Silph Arena will be no more soon - and had four wins, ninth in the group. It's a bit of a wonder how we came together as a Faction with the range of skill levels we have, mine included.

I have mentioned that the Factions Battlefield doubling as a themed cup has a little bit of "mystery" to it; given the results of this tournament, we (specifically my Faction teammates and I) may or may not have been able to comprehend completely the nature of that "mystery", but at least some efforts have been made. For me personally, through the results of this tournament, there is still some ways to go before I can show thorough mastery of PvP, but even that may still have to be shrouded in "mystery", much like the theme.

One year ago: BJ Podcast: The Varied Nature of Japanese Fans

Two years ago: Reminiscing Pokémon Karaokemon... and More

Three years ago: More "Countermeasures" for Pokémon Go

Four years ago: Performance Critique: Bunkasai 2019 J-Song

Five years ago: Shiny Obsessions... Again?

Six years ago: Oddest Things with Pokémon

Need Some Help, Niantic?

If last year I posed that Game Freak as the epicenter developer of Pokémon may be in need of some help, now it seems I have to pose the same for Niantic as the developer of the mobile installment of Pokémon Go. This is especially after the debacle caused by the not-so-well-received changes to remote raids, and furthermore, this is compounded by a few other problems that have come to light. As such, the rhetorical question has to be posed once again for a different subject - Niantic, in this case.

Since those changes were implemented, Niantic experienced a major dip in profits, which is expected whether or not players (Trainers) had protested. Perhaps as a response, discount offerings on raid passes were implemented as item boxes, particularly on Raid Hour Wednesdays when more people are likely to raid. It may be that in order to restore at least some revenue, this discount may have to be implemented on a more regular basis, permanently if necessary. Yet it seems that this may require money to talk to show what's happening, likely if Niantic sees that the situation I mentioned continues to happen.

Then there are the other problems. Lately, there have been reports that the AR scanning feature is causing a great deal of problems, from those who rarely use it to those who use it frequently. It appears that some scans, even with honest efforts to make them as properly as possible, are regarded as improper, and based on this, Niantic has been handing out suspensions. While it may be appropriate to flag down some improper scans, if even proper scans are improper, then this feature may be considered to have too much of a "fudge factor" and it continues to affirm a stance I took a couple of years ago. It's just not worth the risk, with current and past problems and possibly more in the future.

"Risky" also describes the next problem. Niantic has recently come out with an original virtual AR pet game (Peridot), and it has a dark side to it: deleting the server data for that game also deletes the associated Niantic account and along with it progress for other games, including Pokémon Go. Scary stories of people losing progress as high as level 50 have been reported, and that's not good. The situation has been stated to be an "accident", but even so, it's a pretty big "oopsie". While I'm not interested in the game, there are others who are; yet if they lose interest in it and decide to "purge" its traces, then this is a huge problem just waiting to happen - or in fact, it already has... so it is, fait accompli.

With all of the above, the rhetorical question is practically demanded for the situation. Niantic seems to be bombarded with one problem after another for Pokémon Go, some of which may be considered the results of their own doing. There is no "industry pressure" involved as with Game Freak, but there is "technical pressure" to rectify the errors. As with the previous discussion, supposing that the rhetorical question isn't as such and Niantic does need help, it may have to be for quality control and some more openness, which are things that are present at times and absent in other times.

For a game that has become such an integral part of the franchise, Niantic nowadays seems to be more interested in driving Pokémon Go to the ground by the parts that make up its whole, if the above problems are of any indication. It is then no wonder that some have begun to leave the game for other (Pokémon) games, at least less problematic ones. While the question I posed above is rhetorical as I did for Game Freak, it has perhaps become a reality that Niantic may need to affirm and act on rather than deny and ignore.

One year ago: Bits and Pieces of Pokémon Merchandise

Two years ago: The Hum of (Pokémon) Life

Three years ago: Better for the World

Four years ago: Pokémon Go Community Day, 5/19/2019

Five years ago: Pokémon Go Community Day, 5/19/2018

Six years ago: On the Mystery of Dungeons

Every Day Is a Grind

The topic that I'd like to discuss for this one may not be specifically related to Pokémon and is rather general, but it has links to Pokémon regardless and deserves to be discussed. Any gamer ought to be familiar with "grinding", the (repetitive) process of developing something of great use for games, usually involving the generation of resources. It's a typical process for games, and even Pokémon games are included. What's more, it's something that can and does happen each day - needless to say, also with Pokémon games.

When it comes to Pokémon, the most common objects of daily grind are the species themselves (in games with individual instances like the main series and Pokémon Go) and/or accumulated resources like Stardust (Go) or Golden Acorns or cookies (Café Remix). The grind most likely has to be performed each day, or else it may become impossible to catch up if preparations, particularly if they happen to occur within or by way of specialized periods. Either way, each day provides an opportunity for these to be built up.

Of course, the grind each day also depends on what game(s) a Trainer may be involved in, which may be few or many. It is likely that Trainers will be divested in certain Pokémon games, making them primary targets for grinding efforts, while others are more secondary in nature. Whatever the game(s), involvement in them might also involve scheduling to allow certain durations of certain games on certain days, which could likely lead to certain complications. Yet that may be how it is when grinding occurs each day. 

For example, with my dealings in Pokémon Go, which could be considered my primary Pokémon game these days, a good few hours spent on the game for daily tasks and building up Stardust are in order, while the puzzle Pokémon games necessitate a moderate amount of hours spent just to keep up with progress on the events there and to make sure that the Pokémon keep up for those events and others that may be on the horizon. As for other Pokémon games... they'll receive the grind when it is necessary to grind.

Something that becomes clear is that efforts to make progress ("grind") are clearly needed in any game, even each and every day. With the scope of Pokémon games today, that becomes more true than ever. There are always things that need to be put in the grinding process, which will require time to be spent on them within the day. Nevertheless, for gamers, that should be oddly familiar with all the games that they play, including those whose devotion lies in the great big world of Pokémon and all its games.

One year ago: New Factions Battlefields and More

Two years ago: One-Day Pokémon Adventure

Three years ago: Trivia Questions and Answers

Four years ago: Trainer Image Cards

Five years ago: Marathons...?

Six years ago: Pins and Pins

The Sunshine Cup of GBL

The eventual closure of the Silph Arena means that Go Battle League or GBL will likely become the most prominent furnisher of PvP formats for a good amount of time, at least until something else that most of the community can rally behind comes up. For now, GBL has done just that - furnished another format - as the season in Pokémon Go carries on. And it seemingly brings at least a little (more) light into what seems to be a gloomy time.

As in the title, the format is called the Sunshine Cup. The Pokémon that are allowed to be used in this format have to be of the types of Normal, Fire, Grass, and Ground. This is equivalent to the types that are boosted in Sunny weather plus the Normal type... or to make an analogy to Silph Arena, it's the Ember theme with Normal in place of Electric. There is also one small restriction: Charizard is banned, obviously as its "firepower" has been proven too great.

Unfortunately, it seems that Fire types in general are not having a strong showing in its rankings either, with only two species breaking the top 20 and the rest being below that. Instead, nearly half of that top 20 is occupied by Normal-type Pokémon, many of which have the Flying type. That automatically casts out most Grass types as well and necessitates the entry of Ground types (some with Rock types) to hold back the Flying cavalcade.

Furthermore, the above situation is also reflected in the teams. Nearly all of the top teams have at least one Flying-type Pokémon, with the greatest offender being Noctowl (#2 in the rankings); the rule of thumb seems to be "pick Noctowl, then pick two counters". Thus, some have taken to call this format the "Noctowl Cup" in stark contrast to its bright intent. All of the teams follow a design both to include and to counter Noctowl.

Looking at the above, it seems that the format attempted to "shine" but it instead became a "flop" in the same way that Fighting Cup did, except this time with a restriction that should have been present, that of eliminating Flying types. This would obviously include and still allow the Charizard ban to be fulfilled as above, while allowing the other types (especially Grass) to have time in the spotlight against other species.

While the Sunshine Cup does coincide with a less-than-bright happening, as the start of the demise of a popular community PvP furnisher, it does attempt to introduce its own brightness, even if that brightness seems dulled by the situation and its own quirks. Yet it may be the hope that both can shine again brightly at another time, perhaps even in some modified form, as they are and were meant to be.

One year ago: The New Structure of Factions

Two years ago: Quickies: Bike for Pokémon

Three years ago: Everything Is Electric

Four years ago: A Wonderful PikaWorld

Five years ago: Beyond Gyms and Trials

Six years ago: A Pokémon Pencil Bag

More Available Regular Formats for General PvP?

Outside of the Go Battle League, Pokémon Go allows for the three common leagues (Great, Ultra, and Master) to be chosen in general for battling against other Trainers or even team leaders. These ought to work well for most cases, yet at the same time, it might be good to have some other formats to help enforce certain restrictions, especially to assist the creation of other derivative formats. As such, it might be good to discuss the additions and their possibilities.

Some basic criteria seems to have to apply for the additions. Because the formats to be added may be considered an extension of the general leagues, they arguably have to be simple in restrictions as well, further if more restrictions are to be added. This means that complex restrictive formats like Kanto Cup or Color Cup would be just that - too restrictively specific for this purpose. Some closer-to-general formats would be better in this regard.

Another criteria is that the additional formats ought to not make selection of formats seem overwhelming. In other words, they shouldn't make Trainers feel that there are too many formats to choose from nor should they become confused. From this, it can be reasoned that there also shouldn't be too many formats added on either, and things should be kept as simple as possible. This is even more so, given that the common leagues are already a good start.

Based on the above, the best possible addition that satisfies the criteria is a Premier format (no Legendary, no Mythical) that is a derivative of one of the common leagues. The best candidates to receive the treatment are Ultra League and Master League, the ones where the Pokémon to be restricted above are often present, and accordingly for their most common implementations in Go Battle League; they're also rather sensible and still open.

Though it does seem like a simple thing to consider, a few things do make the addition of general PvP format selections not so simple, as may be the idea itself and how that reflects the current state of PvP in general for Pokémon Go. Even so, the formats to be added may make it simpler to apply restrictions, at least some general ones that most Trainers can understand and that may make it simpler to be expanded into derivative formats, in turn still including some simplicity.

One year ago: How Far Should Pokémon Be Translated?

Two years ago: Command and Conquer, PvP Style

Three years ago: A Multicultural Cast

Four years ago: Carry On Carryin' On

Five years ago: The Living Dex

Six years ago: Pastrana and Pikachu

Tournament: SWEEP JR vs. Foul Noctowls Elite (SA Factions)

As stated, Silph Arena and The Silph Road are on the verge of closure, but its competitions have to proceed and then wrap up, including Factions. Even with this, my Faction, SWEEP JR, still has to get things going. For this eighth Bout, it was back to being paired up with yet another Indian team from the Elite family, Foul Noctowls Elite [sic]. It too has a funk of its own, not to mention because it adopts the mascot of a "dark" (maybe "Shadow") Noctowl for its representation, and it too is a debutant of this Cycle, likewise with mine.

Like the other Elite teams my Faction has faced, its members come from all over the place on the globe. The only Indian on the team and the Captain of the Faction, chiragcr, happened to not be playing for this Bout, although the Captain had been playing in five other Bouts of this Cycle and previously as part of another Faction. We also had a rather lively communication during coordination, so that was a good thing. Another good thing is that I stepped up to play again for this Bout due to someone else needing time off, in contrast to the above.

The run of matches for this Bout began on Friday my team time. Leading off things in the afternoon was Wina1403 vs. Larry612108 (Catacomb Field, opponent from Taiwan), who had a 1-2 loss that could have become a 2-1 win if it had worked out in our favor. This was followed at night by Almujha vs. 9now (Arcana Field, opponent from the United States), who delivered a 2-1 win to equalize things. One match, that of riman12 vs. MasterNirob (Open Great League, opponent from Bangladesh) was supposed to take place on Friday afternoon before that first match, but got shifted to Saturday instead; it also led to a 2-1 win and a minor lead for us at that point.

My match, PokeMasterBP348 vs. NAVEEN2878 (Arcana Field, opponent from France) came in the evening on Saturday. A few earlier practice sessions with my teammates showed that I may have very good results for this match, but it ended up just being a 2-1 win, good enough to bolster my team's lead. I also did something different for this match: I recorded all the battles just in case issues came up and for analysis purposes later on. The last battle, which was the losing one, received some color commentary from a teammate, and I have reason to believe that my teammate is right. Alas, I did end up losing my perfect record, but that was something to happen eventually (in fact, now).

For the rest of the matches, they turned out over the course of the rest of Saturday and Sunday. RaymondHrtwn vs. Milkodromeda (Justicar Field for Ultra League, opponent from Turkey) battled on Saturday night and led to a 1-2 loss. As night turned into morning, YukiXCyz vs. Kublsuby (Catacomb Field, opponent from Canada) gave a 2-1 win, and that night, Orioo16 vs. AtmokShiny (Open Master League, opponent also from Canada) delivered a 2-1 win and decided things. The end result was a 12-9 minor victory for our Faction, the fourth one overall and the second not to be decided by a one-point margin. It wasn't as impressive as the win from last month, but a win is still a win.

While I wouldn't go as far to say that my participation in this one led to rather good results, it does seem coincidental that this Bout and that previous one turned out great, even with my participation in them. What may be more coincidental is that this Bout only had 2-1 or 1-2 results for all the matches, which rarely happens - but that's not something to complain about. Yet we may still be wondering how we just couldn't convert all those previous times we lost - close as though they may be - into wins. 

One more Bout is left before this Cycle of Factions ends... and unfortunately so does Factions, for many, due to Silph Arena's impending closure. That means one last chance for my team to prove our skills with our current composition and the current format. Whoever our next opponent may be, they may be up to do the same, so the members of my team still need to be on our toes for this last Bout. The results may just prove themselves once we duke it out with the Pokémon we possess and the skills we have.

One year ago: Steering and Nearing with Tsunekazu Ishihara

Two years ago: Pokémon Go Community Day, 5/15/2021

Three years ago: Coming Full Circle

Four years ago: Everything Old Is New Again

Five years ago: 15 Minutes of Fame

Six years ago: Fallen Comrades