Allwil13

Oh, I think the calm before the storm was exactly what they were going for. The purpose of the episode is to set things up for the season's endgame; as a result there's not as much action.

Figures. Well, I'll probably just wait until the games come out to check out the new pokemon and whatnot. Hopefully Gamefreak will be able to sway me into buying the games.

Lol, I know all about salty fandoms. I've left a few for that exact reason. There are definitely things in these games to be excited about, so I agree that the thread shouldn't devolve into a gripe session. I also agree that the animations being bad is a matter of opinion. I personally don't think they're necessarily bad, I just think that they're basically the same(albeit maybe slighlty better) as the 3DS graphics and animations. And normally this wouldn't bug me, but these are the first main pokemon games on the Nintendo Switch. The switch is significantly more powerful than the 3Ds, so I find it disappointing that they didn't try to do more with the graphics and animations. I'm looking forward to seeing all the new pokemon, though. And I'm excited to see the evolutions for the starters. I think this is the first time they've managed to keep the starter evolutions under wraps (unless they were leaked or something and I just missed it). And I'm also hoping there'll be more region forms, because we've only seen a handful right now.

Wow, I did not know about any of this stuff. Now I'm even less inclined to buy the games in the future. You seriously can't catch pokemon above a certain level till you have enough badges? Geez, thanks a lot, GF. In terms of the National Dex issue, I wouldn't have minded if they'd cut it because of a huge graphics overhaul, or if they planned to bring back multiple regions or something big like that. Unfortunately the graphics look basically the same as the 3DS entries (though maybe a liiiiiittle better, but certainly not enough to justify cutting the national dex). The animations also aren't that much better than previous entries (though I don't think they're terrible). So I'm not one of those people who would have been mad about the National Dex nerf even if the game had way more content than the previous entries and the graphics were absolutely gorgeous. If they'd shown us that cutting the National Dex was worth it, then I wouldn't have minded. And they might still show us that it was worth it; the games aren't out yet. Until people start playing them, we won't know for sure. But as it stands right now, I just don't think the National Dex nerf was worth it. In terms of the cut moves, it doesn't bother me that much, although I am going to miss using Return; I gave that to my Mega Altaria and it was amazing. As long as we get some good moves to replace them, I can live with that. Losing the GTS is similarly not a huge deal for me; I only ever really used wonder trade in X and Y. Again, I don't want to not buy these games. I love pokemon and was really excited for these entries until I started seeing stuff like the Dynamax and Gigantamax. Not a fan of those; they don't seem very creative to me. The camping also didn't really interest me that much. It's a cute idea, but I wasn't overy excited about it. Then they announced they were cutting the National Dex and I optimistically thought, "well, maybe they want to overhaul the graphics or make the game substantially bigger than its predecessors". But the announcements kept coming and I was... underwhelmed. Which is a shame because I love the idea of the Wild Area! OMG I want to explore that so badly! I also love the new region forms; Ponyta especially because I've always wanted to be able to use a Rapidash but I always found that Rapidash sucked (no offense intended to any Rapidash lovers out there). I may buy the games in the future, but as it stands I will not be paying full price for them. They just don't hold much interest for me outside of a few things. @ocean's rage, I'm genuinely sorry if I dug up a frustrating argument for you. I wasn't trying to step on any toes, I just wanted to give my two cents on this whole matter. I apologize if it seemed like I was saying that no one should enjoy these games. Of course I hope you enjoy them.

Oh, absolutely. Honestly, this is the first Pokemon generation that I'm choosing not to purchase. I'm very frustrated that they cut the national dex and all their excuses aren't acceptable to me. Which really sucks because there are a few things that I think sound genuinely interesting. I'm glad that they brought back Regional Forms, and seeing Farfetch'd get an evolution mde me happy. But the situation with the national dex really stung for me. I'm hoping there'll be a huge surprise when the game comes out or something to explain the National Dex nerf (like multiple regions, for example) that will change my mind because I love pokemon and I don't want to skip these games, but I get the feeling it'll just be another normal pokemon game.

Again, the episode is good. All the episodes are good. I just find that this one is the slowest and the least memorable. I think it's because there's a lot of talking and not as much action. There are some good scenes, though, like Steve telling his friends off (finally) and yeah, El flipping the van was probably one of the most awesome scenes of the season. At the same time though, I just find that this episode has the most scenes where the characters just stand around talking.

Awesome! I believe we were on episode 7, "The Bathtub". Like the ones before it, this was a great episode, but honestly I think it might be the weakest of the season. Not that it's bad by any means, I just don't think its as strong as the others.

WHoopsie! Looks like we dropped the ball here, guys. Shall we move on to the next episode?

I agree completely! My BF and I went to see it for our anniversary (very romantic, I know lol) and we both loved it. It completely exceeded my expectations; I knew it was going to be good but not that good! The entire story was gripping from beginning to end, and it actually surprised me a few times, which is not easy to do. It's one of the best films I've seen that depicts mental illness in an effective and sympathetic way. Another thing I loved about it was that it wasn't overly gory. I am very squeamish, and I was nervous going into the film that I would have to watch it through my fingers. But to my great surprise and relief, there was only one scene that I couldn't watch (the second-to-last murder; had to bury my face in my bf's shoulder for that one). This is a role that I would love to see Joaquin Phoenix return to because he was absolutely excellent. Holy crap, it's like he was made for this role! I can't wait to watch the film again!

Hands down my favourite part of this episode was the subplot following Jonathan and Nancy. Seeing Jonathan finally stand up for himself and his brother made me so happy, though I think he took it a little bit far. Steve was pretty messed up once the officers pulled Jonathan off. Speaking of Steve, I did not like that he did something so horrible without getting the actual facts. Regardless though, I loved Jonathan and Nancy's story arc here. It was also nice to finally get a look at the monster.

Whew! Kinda dropped the ball on the discussion here. Is everyone good to start discussing episode 6?

HA! I'm surprised I never thought of that. Looking at it now it's clear that Stop and Gravity did kind of break the game. I always loved Gravity and I do miss it in the later games, but now I totally get why they didn't bring it back. I never really used Stop unless I was fighting the Pink Agaricus or the Sniper Wilds, but I think its fair to say that Stop was pretty OP.

Does anyone have anything to add before we move on to episode 6? How does tuesday sound for the deadline?

I, too an stuck on Nightmare Chirithy. It seems pretty unfair that this is such a big story event and yet they made it so impossible and frustrating to beat. In regards to gaining more levels, I found doing the raid events over and over was fantastic for gaining levels. I recently reached level 400. Just make sure you have some medals with Lux boosting abilities and you make sure to fight them during the bonus times and you'll gain plenty of lux in no time flat.

That last few minutes with nancy and Jonathan really dragged me in. What a freaky place to end the episode! I also agree with Wakeless that it's cool that they actually showed the monster. I find an annoying thing with monster movies and shows is that they keep the monster in shadow for way too long, so it's nice that Stranger Things broke that trend. Also, I need to mention my feelings about Winona Ryder in this series. To be honest, I have never really cared for Winona Ryder. I've always found her acting to be pretty bad, with the exception of the films Girl Interrupted and Edward Scissorhands. But oh my god, in this series she is AMAZING! I keep forgetting that Joyce Byers is played by Winona Ryder; that's how amazing her performance is. The scene that takes the cake for me is in definitely in this episode when she confronts Lonnie about his plan to sue the company that owns the quarry, She was absolutely awesome in this scene; her anger was just so believable and genuine. I actually watched the scene twice because I loved her performance here so much. Speaking of Lonnie, the guy is officially a piece of human garbage in my mind. Imagine caring so little for your kid that you only come down for his funeral to try and get some legal compensation to pay off your debts. Joyce's line "You're not here because of Will, you never cared about him" really hit me hard. I certainly hope it's not true what she said, but I suspect it's somewhat accurate.