Do you like how the current EV system is being utilized in the main Pokemon games? While I enjoy the actual presence of EVs, I feel that the way they are presented and handled could be improved. For the uninitiated, what exactly are EVs? Well to put it in a basic way, they influence the growth of your Pokemon's stats. Each stat can gain EVs, and when 4 EVs are gained in one stat, the Pokemon will gain an additional stat point in that area. It's very similar to gaining a piece of heart in a Zelda game (Unless you're playing Twilight Princess 510 EVs can be gained on a single Pokemon, but only 255 EVs can be gained in one stat. EVs are in the real Pokemon games as well, so if you want to know more about how they work, you can read one of many well-written articles on them I recommend reading this one, which was written by a friend of mine: The Layman's Guide to EVs by Aeres116699 My biggest problem with EV training is that once Pokemon gain EVs, they are difficult to get rid of. The only way to erase EVs from a Pokemon is to use the stat reducing berries such as the Pomeg and Grepa berries. If someone puts EVs in an area (accidential or not) and wants to change them, they have to go through a laborous process. I feel that this is not necessary, and could be handled better. Under my new system, the 510 EV limit will not exist in its current form, and will be replaced by a limit of 1530. Where did I get that number from? Because each stat can have a maximum of 255, the maximum number of EVs that could be obtainable is 255 x 6, which equals 1530. But I'm not going to allow Pokemon to have 255 EVs in all of their stats. The limit for the number of EVs that can be applied will still be 510, but instead of Pokemon being unable to gain any more EVs after that limit has been reached, additional EVs will be stored away elsewhere, essentially inert. These EVs can be swapped out with with the EVs currently being applied to a Pokemon at any time in the overworld by accessing a special menu which would be unlocked towards the end of the game. Under this system, if a Pokemon had an EV spread of 252 HP/252 Attack/4 Speed and wanted to put 100 of those Attack EVs in Sp.A instead, they can just take off 100 Attack EVs from the Pokemon, and if they have 100 Sp.A EVs in storage, use those to reach the limit instead. This makes EV training less stressful because EVs can be adjusted freely without the need to farm for berries that take off a small amount of EVs at a time. What would this look like as a menu? Well, I've taken the liberty of drawing an example of what a menu could look like for this feature: In case you were wondering what the "Set EV Priorities" option is supposed to be, it's an add-on to this system I made that makes EV training even easier. All Pokemon initially start off with all stats designated as "Priority", which tells the game to automatically assign the first 510 EVs gained. If you take certain stats off of Priority, then the game will put any EVs gained for this Pokemon in storage immediately. This feature simply saves time if one was trying to EV train a Pokemon in certain stats, because they would automatically be applied instead of having to take off some random EVs gained if you defeat a Pokemon you didn't mean to. To make this bombardment of EV training information easier to comprehend, there will be pre-assigned spreads available on the menu when clicking the "Reconfigure EV spread" option. Many of these spreads will be the standard and reliable spreads that make up competitive battling, and they will have names that match what they do. For example, the "Beserker" spread will give you 252 HP/252 Atk/4 Def, while the "Mage Power" spread will give 4 HP/252 Sp.A/252 Spe. For the player that doesn't like these extreme spreads, there will be a well-rounded spread that sets all EVs to 85 each. If there aren't enough EVs to make this exact spread, the game will pull from other EV pools until the 510 limit is reached, but certain stats will have priority over others in these spreads. So the Beserker spread won't assign Sp.A EVs unless all other pools are depleted. The inclusion of this feature will allow the player to get familiar with how the EV system works, as well as giving them examples of options avaliable. Once they get familiar with how it works, they can feel comfortable making custom spreads. The benefits of this system are that it allows me to show the player the game's complex EV system in a user-friendly way. This allows more people to play the game skillfully and makes competitive battling that much easier to get into. In addition, Pokemon will be more flexible, being able to switch from offensive to defensive sets on the fly, especially when being able to swap movesets in a similar system I made (but that's for later ) Competitive players will no longer have to complain about "messing up EVs" when going for specific spreads. And finally, this allows me to make the game a little more challenging, since this allows advanced enemy trainers to have EV trained Pokemon as well. The inclusion of EVs, IVs, Natures, and other factors makes the game of Pokemon very deep and entertaining to learn and study. I feel that Pokemon needs to put more of their information out into the open, instead of pushing these mechanics into the background. Even if they take some time to learn, it's far superior then making vague hints or just pretending they don't exist. A user-friendly interface and in-game advise can make all but the most stubborn trainers able to master the game's mechanics.

I like the new color and design of the new Sharmurk! It does look like it should be dark type as well now... anyway on the old one I noticed the tail, was it suppose to look similar to a tail of a Girrafarig? In the way that it's tail looks like another head? I dunno, but on the old one that's what I got out of its tail! :)

I've got two more Fakemon art for you guys (that was quick, huh? ) One of them is a repose, while the other is its evolution, which hasn't been seen before. I've already put them up on the front page, and the spoiler boxes that they are in are left open to make them easier to find I'll also put them down below at the end of this post though. Additionally, I've gone ahead and made Pokedex entries for them as well (although I haven't done abilities). I do have to say that I'm not sure whether the second form is actually needed, since the final form is close enough to the first and I already have two other cocoon 'mons. If you guys think that its cool enough to stay, please let me know Anyway, I'll put them in a spoiler box: Also, I've removed Teapoe's original artwork from the front page, so as always, I'll put it in a spoiler box for reference: @Pazaza: No, Froakie's water - it's not like your tree frog starter idea @ Flashzz: Thanks ^_^ I do like the Gen 6 starters, but I really wanna see what the evolutions will be. Although looking back, I think I had Fennekin's back ear at the wrong perspective, but I'm not gonna bother to fix it XD

Despite the fact that for every winner, there must be a loser, isn't it humiliating to lose a Pokemon battle in the real games? One simple loss means having to run back to the nearest Pokemon Center while desperately avoiding wild Pokemon in the area, losing a large chunk of your cash and still having to fight the trainer you just lost to in the future. It's no surprise that many people who lose a battle cut their games off to escape the penalties. While there is no practical way to guarantee people won't quit a game to avoid losing, there are ways to make it more tolerable. A key issue is the fact that you lose your progress. If you were traveling through a route and lost to a random trainer, you'd have to travel back through the route since the game automatically takes you to the Pokemon Center. Additionally, losing to a stationary trainer, like a Gym Leader, is annoying because not only do you lose money (which is silly when you think about it), but you lose any items you spent trying to defeat them. Even if your Pokemon gain a bit of EXP in the struggle, the end result essentially leaves you weaker then before you started. One idea that could help trainers is to create a healing item, that while expensive, would allow you to heal your entire party automatically after having all of your Pokemon faint. Not only does this save you time, but losing becomes more acceptable since you don't have to deal with any annoying obstacles you had to get over. Of course, healing your Pokemon with traditional items is preferred, since it'll be cheaper and is more practical than purposely losing, but it can be used as a backup, especially if a trainer believes that their Pokemon are a bit underleveled. Thus, the backup healing kit can be purchased if the trainer is going to head into a long and dangerous area, since it'll make traveling easier. However, only one healing kit can be carried at a time, to prevent abuse. However, this doesn't help early trainers at all, because they wouldn't be able to afford or get the proper use out of the healing kit. Losing to a random trainer most likely wouldn't be too big of a deal, since they lose a smaller amount of money and the distance from a Pokemon Center is shorter. However, losing to a Gym Leader is annoying, because setting pride aside, the resources you used up make it difficult to try again. In order to combat this problem, there should be a system that limits the amount of healing both the trainer and the Gym Leader can do by replacing their bag with set items, increasing by the amount of badges one has. This allows for the battles to be based on the trainer's skill, and not by how large their bags are. Additionally, this makes losing no big deal, since any Potions and Full Heals used didn't come from your wallet. This also makes sense gameplay wise, as the Gym Leader Challenge should have standardized rules that make challenges fair to both parties. Furthermore, Gym Leaders take no money from trainers upon defeat, to reduce the damage caused by losing to almost nothing. However, winning does net the winner some money, although the exact amount depends on the number of badges and doesn't come directly from the Leader themselves. Thus, trainers can use the cash to buy items that will help them adjust to the higher-leveled Pokemon that will appear. All of these things allows for the player to battle other trainers without having to worry as much about the potential downsides. Since players no longer have to 'white out' when they lose, battling becomes more enjoyable in general, even if the player is low on healing items, Additionally, changing how money is handled within Gyms ensures that every trainer can participate and not have to be crippled by a loss they can't afford. All and all, this system makes the game less frustrating to inexperienced players and makes Gym Leader battles more fair for everyone.

Torblaze looks really cool, what is it exactly?