It's Raining Cats and Dogs!

[these_balls]

Hey, Routers! Hopefully you haven't gotten too complacent with this month's relatively benign weather, because come September 1, you may just walk outside to find it's raining cats and dogs!

...Possibly literally.

What does that mean? Well, September 1 and 2 will be kicking off a month-long event we've lovingly dubbed:


Where all you merry residents of the Johto/Kanto area will be subjected to a Pokemon swarm every day of the month of September.

We'll be releasing more details on the swarms come the first of the month, so that people will have the time to make plans, prepare, and move their characters (if necessary) to take advantage of the swarms in question, but for the time being we're here to give you a sneak peek of what you can expect on days one and two of the Month of Swarms:


✭ On September 1, all across Johto/Kanto, there will be ESPURRS hailing down from the sky! ✭
(And now you know why the poor things look so perpetually traumatized.)

✭ Come September 2, their canine friends will be following up the act: watch your head, lest you get beaned by a falling FURFROU! ✭

Both the ESPURRS and the FURFROUS will be catchable and swarming at LEVEL 5, regardless of where you are in the region! However, if you're going to catch one, you'd best be quick and make good use of that twenty-four hour period — swarm pokemon will only be available from 12:00 AM EST to 11:59 PM EST on the day of the swarm!

...For now.

With regards to what Pokemon will be swarming on the other twenty-eight days of the month of September, you'll find that out next week when, attached to our usual monthly weather calendar, we will be posting and updating a weekly swarm calendar with dates, the species of Pokemon that will be swarming over the course of that week, and the location where you can find the Pokemon in question — not all Pokemon will be available everywhere across the regions!

However, we will be doing our best to give you plenty of notice as to where they will be swarming and when, so your characters have time to journey to the areas where your desired swarm Pokemon can be found!

(And as far as which Pokemon we've selected for this September of swarms, well, some of you savvy Pokemon masters may have already guessed that the collective group starts with "G" and rhymes with "Ten Kicks".)

But that's not the only surprise we have in store! Additionally, to better accommodate your swarm-catching endeavors:

AS OF SEPTEMBER FIRST, YOUR BOX LIMITS WILL BE RAISED ANOTHER 36 SLOTS, BRINGING PLAYERS TO A TOTAL OF 108 BOX SLOTS!


THUS, TO SUM UP:

• At 12:00 AM on MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 1:

-- Level 5 Espurr will begin to rain from the sky everywhere in Johto/Kanto!
-- We will be unveiling a swarm calendar for the month, so you'll know which Pokemon will be swarming on what day and where!
-- The PC Box Limit will be raised to 108 slots total.

• The Espurr swarm will conclude at 11:59 PM on MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 1.

• At 12:00 AM on TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2:

-- Level 5 Furfrou will rain from the sky everywhere in Johto/Kanto!

• The Furfrou swarm will conclude at 11:59 PM on TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2.

• At 12:00 AM on WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3:

...so stay tuned!

~

MORE QUESTIONS? ASK US HERE:

✭ MOD QUESTIONS THREAD ✭

Comments

✭ MOD QUESTIONS THREAD ✭

[these_balls]

[islandshore]

Will any of these Kalos 'mons have hidden abilities? I doubt it, but I figured I'd ask since Gen VI does make 'em a thing that can occur in hordes and stuff.

Also, just for silliness' sake... how fast are they falling and will there be TV forecasts? Because the idea of the news crew reacting to falling kitties is beautiful to imagine.

[these_balls]

1) I don't believe we've discussed the possibility of hidden abilities, so for the time being you can assume that they don't; in the event that, upon discussion, that changes, rest assured we'll make it well known so people can take advantage of it if they like. But for now, just assume they come with the regular abilities only, as per general Route gameplay.

2) Whether or not we do an Official News Broadcast™ about it, you're definitely more than welcome to handwave seeing a TV forecast and play with that idea however you like!

[islandshore]

Thought so! Just wanted to make sure, since Gen VI introduces some funky mechanic changes.

And on that note, are these swarm 'mons gonna be unbreedable with Johto/Kanto-born Pokémon like the Goomies were? And, heck, are Goomies still only breedable with each other?

[these_balls]

For the time being, we'd appreciate it if people held off on their breeding efforts, yes. ICly speaking, as with the Goomies, they're not going to be particularly inclined to settle down and breed after the experience they've just been through, and on an OOC level, that avoids the question of whether to use the Gen V or Gen VI movesets and possible typing changes and so on entirely, because those mechanics haven't switched over yet as well.

[ladywithnovoice]

Can we blame Team Flare for this?

How fast will the Nurse Joys organize when/if Honedge start falling out of the sky?

Do Swirlix float instead of fall?

And for an actual serious question now... How will Fairy types work? (Assuming any fall.) Have you lovely folks figured out what to do with current gen Pokemon that have been canonly retconned into Fairy type or have had Fairy moves added to their moveset?

[these_balls]

1) Who?

2) No comment.

3) No comment.

And for an actual serious answer now...yes, that's one of the topics we've had under discussion for a while now, and we're still getting the transfer of mechanics smoothed out in that respect. For the time being, it's safe to assume that existing Pokemon have not have their typings or movesets retconned; stick with the Gen V movesets until there's more official word from us on how the mechanics are going to switch over.

As for the new swarms of Gen VI Pokemon, player characters will be in similar situations to where they were when we had the Goomy swarm earlier this year — your Dex, if you chose to exercise the option to have it updated, was still only updated with the entry on Goomies, not on the full range of Kalos Pokemon. So they're at a bit of a disadvantage in terms of IC information this coming month!

Regardless, the short answer to your question is: we're going to do our best to keep the game well-informed about when and how the mechanics switch-over ultimately takes place; if we haven't spoken on it yet, it's safe to assume we're still operating on the usual Gen V mechanics until further notice.

[paladinlost]

Firstly, ♥.

Secondly, does this mean that Pokémon can now learn Gen 6 movesets, either retroactively or if they're caught from now on?

Thirdly, does the Department Store sell reinforced umbrellas?

[these_balls]

Firstly: ♥

Secondly: please see above; I think you had the same question as Red-mun!

Thirdly: If they don't now, you better believe they're gonna figure it out real fast!

Re: ✭ MOD QUESTIONS THREAD ✭

[tearsofademon]

Eeeee~ ♥

Question, is there a limit on the number of mons from a given swarm that one character can catch? Like for instance (not that I have any plans for Ryner's menagerie, no, why would I ever), is it permissible for a character to catch multiple Espurrs, or would you rather it be one per person?

[these_balls]

Nope, we're not imposing any special limit outside of the standard "you can't exceed the box limit, obviously" one. If you want to catch a thousand Espurrs, more power to you. :|b

[ladywithnovoice]

Something I just realized-

1. I assume that these new Pokemon will be a lot like how Goomies Bloobers first were in that the Pokedex won't have any info on them yet? Or will the Pokedexes be updated?

2. Whether or not the Pokedexes update, if we happen to get a Honedge swarm (legendary pokemon help us all)... It's inevitable that someone is going to try and use one as a sword or just be unlucky enough to have that sash grab onto them. Does life energy just mean that the poor sap in question will start to get tired/sick/etc?

[these_balls]

1. As mentioned above, players' current Pokedexes will not be updated on the Swarm Pokemon at this point! Please feel free to enjoy the mystery and intrigue for the time being.

2. If that happens, we'll make sure to address the possible effects it might have!

[ajustcaws]

More of a setting question than a Pokemon mechanics question, but will information on Kalos the location become a little more prevalent at any point during the month?

...I mean, I'm not talking anything big, just pictures of some of the big landmarks that people might recognize as "are you kidding me that's just fucking france"

[these_balls]

It's possible! Given that there were NPCs from Kalos at Prom earlier this year, and the Pokemon Centers currently have the Dex information on Goomies available for trainers to add to their Dex, it's not unreasonable to assume that these subsequent swarms of Mysterious Pokemon might get people talking about Kalos again.

Was there something in particular you were hoping to facilitate or accomplish, or?

[ajustcaws]

...mostly just a post that consists of "THOSE ARE JUST POKEMON VERSIONS OF FAMOUS FRENCH LOCATIONS, ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME POKEMON WORLD" and maybe showing off pictures.

[these_balls]

Makes sense! It may not be this coming month specifically, but if and when the game next has contact with Kalos we can see if there's a way to throw in some token references to iconic French locations for people to boggle over.

[quickattackjack]

Can Skiddo (Sep 3 swarm) hop over ledges?

[these_balls]

That's fine, yes!

[armoredsoul]

I know it's not needed information yet, but when the switch to Gen VI movesets happens, will all learned abilities switch over, or do they simply begin learning moves as if on the Gen VI table? And would any Egg moves that are no longer valid be un-learned?

[these_balls]

That will be addressed once the change-over occurs, don't worry!

[neededlassie]

So the pokedexes have no info on the new swarms but, for the sake of cataloging, is it possible to find out what a pokemon's species is by, you know, the sound it makes? Or is there a NPC list of "official" names like Bloober?

[these_balls]

Thus far there's no "official" list of fake names the way there were for the Bloobers (that'd be a ton of fake names to come up with, and let's be real eventually they'd just devolve into things like "PANDA WITH ATTITUDE" and "BIRD WRESTLER"), but players can definitely put forth ones of their own to try to get them to stick!

Our game policy on the sounds that Pokemon actually make is variable and flexible so players can decide for themselves whether their Arcanine is just barking or actually saying its name, so in light of that, it's fine to get some of the name sounds out of them, but please do so sparingly! We loved all the fun that came out of the Bloober misunderstandings, after all.

(..."Pandattitude" would be a great fake name, actually...)

Re: ✭ MOD QUESTIONS THREAD ✭

[berkthorn]

If someone's pokemon is in the area of of a swarm, but not the trainer, could they pick up a swarm pokemon present on the way? Or would you rather we stick to wonder trading?

[these_balls]

We'd prefer that wonder trading be utilized over handwaving a pickup, but in the interest of making sure people can get the Pokemon they want, it's okay to have a Pokemon pick one up so long as doing so is the rare exception, not the norm!