Right, I'm up, I've voted, enjoyed the sunshine and otherwise done what I wanted and needed to for the day, so I can finally sit down and give a couple of clarifications to what I'm seeing.
That one's on me, since I was worried there wasn't enough of a voterbase yet to put up a moratorium even though I probably should have, but there seems to be some confusion surrounding the whole Traits thing, so let me get a couple of things out of the way :
- Most of the Traits I offer here you will be able to earn through training, even if they don't win. Starting with them just saves you time, and helps set up a more solid base for what you want your pokemon to be. Some of them are mutually exclusive, of course, and you'll never be able to keep a training regimen that can accommodate keeping every single one up to par, but if you have your eyes on five or six that's not mutually exclusive. Not to mention, some sets of Traits can consolidate together into a single Trait that clears up some of your training schedule. You saw it with Battery, but there is for example a possible combination of three traits you can pick in this vote which would result in a consolidated Dodge Tank trait, and it's not the only possible consolidation.
- On average, physical Traits (stuff like Strong or Agile) necessitate more time and training to acquire, but require less dedicated thinking on your part to work out how to improve. Stuff like the Battle Affinity or Type Affinity Traits can be acquired sooner, but will need you to get a little creative to make sure your pokemon earns it.
- Out of all the Traits listed that can be trained, Quick-witted will probably be the hardest, though it's by all means possible, and maybe I just lack imagination.
- Beautiful is a genetical Trait. There is a slightly lesser variant, Good-looking, which you can earn through taking proper care of your pokemon, grooming them perfectly and overall do all the things you would to make a person better-looking, but at the end of the day it's a lesser version.
And then there's
Blood of Dragons... Yeah, that's on me. Honestly I didn't want to toss it in there, because I haven't gone really over the peculiarities of the Dragon-type, but I'd already made a point of it in the Dex page and so considering the Trait existed and I'd already established the connection I put it in even though I probably shouldn't have. Too late to take it back, but there's a reason I put a warning alongside it, so I'll give some further details to make sure people know what they're getting into and won't be disappointed by what they're getting if it wins.
First of all, you might have noticed that it's not
Type Affinity (Dragon). There's a reason for that, which is that there's no conceivable way that a pokemon incapable of learning the slightest Dragon move could know how to manipulate Dragon-type energy.
Ampharos can learn Dragon Pulse, and that's the sum total of that line's potential with the type.
Blood of Dragons does give a slight boost helping out with that, but that's not where it's primary effects lie.
Dragons are different from other types, because they're as much a mindset as they are an actual type - hence why Gyarados or Charizard are considered part of the group, for example. I'm sure you've all been exposed to fantasy representations of dragons, so said mindset is not going to be a surprise : arrogant, ambitious, prideful and greedy, quick to anger... You know the drill. And they get away with it, because, well... they're very strong. It's that simple. For all that dunking on the Dragon Clan is a national pastime in Kanto/Johto, they originally were created out of a very real need to corral and stop out-of-control Dragon-types from ravaging entire cities just because they'd had a bad day.
Blood of Dragons is a Trait which gives your pokemon a nudge in that direction. They have a little of that strength, that power compared to their fellows... But they also get that temper. Think of Ash's Charizard - your pokemon will constantly try and challenge you, test you, will consider itself above certain things or sometimes take its own advice if it thinks it knows better... It won't be as bad as Ash's Charizard, because it's a little bit, but essentially it's a tradeoff between natural ability versus how well and how much you can train it, with in Mareep's case an added bonus to learning Dragon Pulse later on when it's an Ampharos.
Seeing as I saw someone mention the two in conjunction, I'll also add that
this Trait is absolutely not necessary to Mega Evolve, if you ever get there. Having it would probably make things easier on you, but only a little more than the standard
Type Affinity (Dragon) would, and neither of those is even a requirement for Mega Evolution in the first place.
Hmm could have a theme of only using 3 stage evolution pokemon, or maybe only pokemon with the potential of mega evolution
Speaking of, while I'm on the subject of Mega Evolution I'm going to hijack this to make an announcement : Mega stones and Keystones are not only hella rare, but they're prohibitively expensive when they end up on the market in the first place. Most
Gym Leaders don't have Megas, even some
Elite Four members don't. It's by no means impossible to get one - but you'll either need to strike it very, very rich and still outbid all the people richer than you for one of the very few that go one sale or (more likely) make a very positive impression on someone looking to pass along an Ampharosite/whatever other stone to a worthy Trainer.
Mega Stones and Keystones are the symbol and crystallisation of a deep and very powerful bond of trust and friendship between trainer and pokemon. Most of the people who have one and actually made use of it will want to make sure it goes to someone who will appreciate that.
You in-quest can count on one hand the number of Trainers in Kanto and Johto you know have access to multiple Mega Evolutions, and it begins and ends with Red, Lance and Jasmine (and even she only had her second one on temporary loan because she was the only one who had an Ampharos strong enough to manage the process. It's gone to Unova and Elesa now, who's been training her Ampharos up to use it since then).
Speaking of, there are more requirements for Mega Evolution than "being a compatible species". Two, at a minimum : being so much stronger than average members of your species that it wouldn't actually be surprising if you evolved again, and having a bond of deep trust, comradeship and familiarity with your Trainer, because they're taking the extra energy from the Trainer in question and if the two aren't absolutely in tune the whole thing just won't gel. Think back about that Mega Ampharos tidbit : in the entire regions, only
one met these two criteria well enough to manage. And sure, part of that is definitely because Ampharos isn't a particularly popular pokemon for professional Trainers, but that's still a pretty big indicator.
All this to say... You can get a Mega Evolution in this quest, absolutely, if some way down the line. Two, maybe, if you're very lucky. But building your entire team around Megas... I mean, you certainly can build a team around pokemon
capable of mega-evolving, but you'll never be able to actually mega-evolve all of them.
Also, both that and and the three-stage evolution thing are very... I guess
loose would be the term for it ? Broad doesn't feel right. Anyhow, once again, Melati will go over themes, why they matter and
how they matter before you'll have to choose, so once again while I'm happy if you guys start thinking about it for now it might be worth waiting before definitely settling down on something in your mind.
... Sorry about this mess, I probably should have thought this whole vote out a little better. I'll update the Lore repository with the Mega Evolution stuff, and in the meantime I'll threadmark this temporarily to make sure people see it. I'll have a think about how much longer I'll leave this vote open later tonight, when people have had the time to see this.
