 Pokemon Tectonic is an RPGmaker Pokemon fangame made using the Pokemon Essentials package. While there is a story, it's mostly loaded into the back half of the game. Instead, the standout feature of Tectonic is that everything, from basic game mechanics like status conditions and type matchups to nitty-gritty stuff like stats and learnsets, has been maniacally tweaked and tuned in an effort to make literally every Pokemon usable. On top of that, every single Pokemon gets a signature move, a signature ability, or both. This is a game made by and for people who are invested in Pokemon battles, and I'm gonna show you what that means. Full disclosure: I love this game to bits. I've completed three playthroughs before this, and there are still cool mons and strategies I've never touched. Tectonic is one of the rare Pokemon games where I'd say you don't have to battle, you get to battle. It's challenging, but never so brutally difficult that it feels hopeless. I'll try to present the game fairly neutrally, because I think it speaks for itself, but if it ever sounds like I'm fangirling a bit, that's because I am. Tectonic makes roughly one hojillion changes from the baseline Pokemon games, so I may or may not be able to show everything off. At a minimum, all the regional formes will get their day in the sun, as will the various team archetypes enabled by the game. If there's something in particular you want to see, I'm open to suggestions. I'm also open to other forms of feedback, as this is my first LP. Spoiler policy: Anything that's visible in the MasterDex or Battle Guide, or presented on the game's website is fair play. Please don't spoil anything about upcoming story beats or upcoming battles or anything like that, though. There are secrets worth preserving. One last thing: Tectonic's soundtrack is mostly comprised of music from the mainline games and the Mystery Dungeon series, but there are a handful of original tracks that I'll point out when they show up. I can't find them uploaded anywhere publicly, and putting them up on Youtube or something is a hassle, so for now I'll just put them up on my site. On that note, here's the first of them: ♪ Boot Intro  1) ROOM SERVICE 2) BEVERAGES 3) CANDY CRUSH 4) 2SPOOKY 5) HEY, BARTENDER === Intermission 1 ===  6) ORBS 7) 👁️ 8) COWARDICE 9) PRAXIS ยท 9.5) THOG 10) COFFEE 11) WALK THE DINOSAUR === Intermission 2 ===  12) VIP 13) STENCHES 14) REAGANOMICS 15) GET LUCKY 16) FUCKED VIBES 17) FIREFLIES === Intermission 3 ===  18) DOGS 19) 2KOOKY 20) SLOW BURN 21) IDK 22) CATS 23) 99 PROBLEMS 24) PONYBOY 25) MATTIE 26) U JELLY? === Intermission 4 ===  27) HONEY 28) THE WORM 29) CONSUMPTION 30) MISERLOU 31) HOES 32) SHIT 33) WEST END GIRLS 34) TULUMBA 35) PRIME TIME 36) THE CIRCUS === Intermission 5 ===  37) THE ULTIMATE FLEX 38) FISHING MINIGAME 39) OLD 40) UNIFORMS 41) RUMBLE 42) JUSTICE 43) COUNTERCLOCKWISE 44) +'S WONDER GUARD 45) SASHA.EXE 46) WATERFALLS 47) BROKE BOY === Intermission 6 === 48) DRGN 49) NIGHTMARES 50) A BUG'S LIFE 51) HIDING SOMETHING 52) (SIC) 53) WILLY |
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 ♪ Intro The first option we're given upon starting a new game is to start a randomized save file, which will swap out encounters and/or enemy teams for random Pokemon. This sort of thing is a nice change of pace in the mainline Pokemon games, but Tectonic is so deliberately designed that I think randomizing it makes it less fun. Pass. From there, it tells us where to find some of the in-game tutorials available to us, which I'll do later. Then, our next choice:  We get our pick of three different character designs. This is purely cosmetic -- everyone uses gender-neutral language for the player character, and we can pick one of the other designs whenever we want from the in-game menu. I'll default to the androgynous look for now, but I'll show off the other player character designs at the end of this update, and if people want to swap, I'm more than happy to oblige.  After that, we get a phone call.   Val is the 'canon' name of the player character, much like how the player characters in Gen 3 are Brendan and May. To distinguish 'our' Val from every other Tectonic player's Val, I spent some time thinking of a name for them.  I wanted a unisex name appropriate for Tectonic's Balkans-inspired region. There was one I found that I liked more, but it's actually taken by another character in the game, so we will be shadowing Sasha on their journey.  Well, thank you for your family's past, uh... patronage. I'll set about arrangements on the double. Click. ...  yourselves', she said. So now your brother's got it in his head to become a Champion. That'll show her, right? Not if you become Champion first. Your brother Zain is already in the Makya region, with who knows how many badges. Fortunately, the regional Professor owes your family a favor, and you just called it in. You're leaving tonight. Eight badges, one Championship. Get there before Zain. Prove that you're better than him -- Mom's better heir. You're already behind, but that's never stopped you before. It's time. And with the intro out of the way, we arrive at...  ♪ Casaba Villa It's nicer when it's not raining.    : I'd say "welcome to Makya!", but that's not really why you're here.: C'mon. Let's get you set up.  I'd feel bad. : I had Andris pull some strings and... and that name means nothing to you, so forget I said anything.: Point is, surprise! You get two starters: One standard three-stage Grass, Water or Fire, you know the drill, but also a Normal-type.: But first things first... : The MasterDex is a Pokedex, but it comes preloaded with data on every non-legendary species.: Moves, Abilities, stats, evolutions - it's all in there.The MasterDex is as powerful as it sounds. It has all the information you could ever need about almost every Pokemon in the game, and its searching and filtering tools are robust enough to make it extremely usable as a teambuilding tool. We'll see more of it in a second. : It also comes along with a MoveDex and a DexNav. Both useful resources that I'm sure you can figure out on your own.: Now, go pick out your first starter. I ain't got all day.Sasha's a bit hungry, actually. Let's raid the fridge.  : Not that I'd let you have any either way.Hmph. I'm starting to get the impression that Tamarind isn't exactly a cherished family friend. Anyways, let's look at what's on offer.   It's the MasterDex. The little banner denotes that Krabby belongs to the 'Noble' and 'Tyrannical' tribes. Tribes are an optional mechanic we'll learn more about later. I'll spare you the grand tour, but here are some screens that will definitely be making future appearances:  The second screen shows abilities. If they're highlighted in yellow, that means they're unique to this Pokemon's evolutionary line. Frustrate is very powerful -- Tectonic hasn't changed the fact that moving first in a Pokemon battle is an extremely good idea -- but I bet you could pull off some interesting feats with Bottom Feeder.  Level-up moveset. There are a lot of new moves in Tectonic, many of which exist to give every type low-, mid-, and high-power options for both physical and special attacks. We'll see more of them when they come up.  And this is the Krabby line's signature move, again denoted by the yellow highlight, learned at Level 60. You may notice the use of 'steps' rather than 'stages' here. We'll learn more about those later.  Just like in the main series games, the starters are three-stage mons. Krabby, which has no third evolution, gets a pseudo-fakemon as its third stage, by which I mean:  This is Gmax Kingler's sprite. Mega evolution and dynamax aren't present in Tectonic, but they've adapted some of those special formes into new evolutions. Anyways, the Fire starter on offer is Numel, which I forgot to get an establishing shot of.  From there, it evolves into Camerupt, and from there, Dromerupt, whose sprite is provided by Mega Camerupt.  The Numel line gets two abilities -- one of them a signature -- designed to let it sit on the field, soak up hits, and retaliate.  And at Level 60, Water types stop being safe switch-ins to its Fire-type attacks.  Last is Bounsweet.  This one is already a three-stage evolution in the mainline games, evolving into Steenee and then Tsareena, but Tsareena is now a Grass/Dark type. And also an Animated Noble Warrior, for what it's worth.  Leech is the Leech Seed effect, but retooled as a status condition. This ability is a lot like Static or Flame Body from the mainline games, but since "contact" doesn't exist in Tectonic, this kind of ability just affects all physical or all special moves. Swift Stomps is an ability that helps you go first, and is thus probably good.  Unlike the other two starters, Tsareena learns its signature move immediately upon evolution. It's actually exactly the same as it is in the mainline games. Alright, now that we've seen all the options, let's pick... wait, I forgot to get an establishing shot of me choosing Sasha's starter. It's Numel. It has Unfazed, so I named it thog.  Say hi to thog. It's really solid into the second gym, which is important for reasons we'll get to eventually, but mostly I just think it's neat.  This may be a vacation home with some Pokeballs on a table, but according to the script used to generate quotes for follower mons, that counts as a lab. And labs have switches to be touched.  You may want to look these up in your MasterDex, using the search feature.  This update is getting long enough, so I'll summarize. Skwovet is a bulky motherfucker built around stalling out by gnawing on berries, and Zigzagoon is a fast attacker that steals items and uses off-type moves. I went with Patrat, though.  I like everything I see here. Refractive gives you same-type attack bonus AND an additional 1.3x damage bonus on all of your pulses, or Paranoid can turn it into a tank with insane special bulk.  And this is its signature move, which looks really fun to click repeatedly. I'm in.  And this one gets named Rat Salad.  Take this.  This is the doohickey that makes consumable items (berries, gems, etc.) reusable. Tamarind also gives us 15 Pokeballs.  minute to spare on you. : There's a whole mess stirring on the coast up north, but that's - don't worry about that. Worry about getting your badges.: There's a Gym here, but Lambert, the leader, is out. I heard he went west to Bluepoint Beach.: I've got bigger problems on my plate, though, so scram.She stops us before we leave, though.  : Thank you, and we're even. ... Tamarind seemed awfully keen to get Sasha out of there, didn't she? Maybe if we go back in before she expects us, we'll catch her eating the room service she claims not to have gotten.   Probably Samorn, also Lainie... Nope, just work stuff. Oh well.  I'm gonna call it there for now. But before we go, I said I'd show you what our appearance options are.  This is the androgynous look we've given Sasha so far.  Here's the feminine look. This is the one I used for my personal playthroughs.  And lastly, the masculine look. Like I said, if you wanna see one of these in action, just holler. Otherwise, Sasha will remain androgynous. Next time: An introduction to battling! Some other stuff too maybe idk I haven't played that far yet. |