Jesus, no it doesn’t. These media outlets want nothing more than to put the word “Pokémon” in their headlines to drive clicks. It’s as little like Pokémon as the game has always been

My old school favorite, not counting Pokémon, is Monster Rancher. I always liked how raising the monsters worked in those games and battling was its own thing that you did to show off the fruits of your training.

A modern game that I loved was Monster Sanctuary. The battle mechanics are very satisfying. The battles are 3v3 and move quickly. The mechanics make for multiple viable strategies. Every monster has 2-4 skill trees and 3 forms, meaning there is a very high level of customization too. On top of that, it’s a metroidvania, so you have a map to explore and areas you can’t access until you find a monster with the map action to get you through

Remind them every, single, turn.

“Really? Your dagger? Not your cantrip?”

“Oh yeah, I always forget about those”

If they prefer to use it for thematic or aesthetic reasons, they’ll tell you and the mystery will be solved. Maybe there’s a class that does what they want and you can push them towards it. Or maybe they really are just that forgetful and they just need to be reminded every turn. Consider giving them a character sheet that more obviously shows what they can do. Action cards, spell cards, stuff like that might help too. But ultimately, just don’t let them make a dagger attack. Just stop them and present the better option EVERY TIME. You’ll learn one way or another what they want because they’ll go with it or resist it

And I’m not necessarily saying to find a new group (although it seems like you’ll have no choice since you’re moving). I’m just saying, I cant imagine how you could keep playing with this person and no one at the table is making suggestions on how to play their turns. My players strategize about each others’ turns constantly. It’s a bit meta-gamey, but they’re newer and don’t know all the mechanics well so I never stop them. In fact, I try to help them find the course of action that will make them feel the coolest or the most useful without outright telling them what to do

I can see where you are coming from but OP assures us that this player knows about games and specifically makes caster characters. This isn’t one sorcerer with a quirk in their backstory about never using their magic, this is multiple characters in a row. I play with new players all the time. Maybe an occasional person will take others’ suggestions as law, but if they do the same thing too many times in a row or force themselves to use the move you recommended when it still doesn’t make sense, you just keep guiding them.

“Don’t forget you have other cantrips too. Using fire bolt was a suggestion. In this fight, you could try using your shocking grasp to get away. Or you could use your magic missile for some guaranteed damage on that heavily-armored hobgoblin. It uses one of your slots, but now seems as good a time as any. They’re no good to you when you’re dead.”

The DM and even the other players should be chiming in with suggestions on other players’ turns. It can get annoying when you know how to play and others are telling you what to do, but if you had a fighter player who just stood in combat and took a disengage action every turn, wouldn’t you eventually speak up and suggest they try a dodge or an attack instead?

I actually kinda love WYSIWYG because it’s pronounced “wizzy-wig” in some circles and that always makes me chuckle

It’s not all your fault and you don’t deserve to suffer. Just don’t forget that there are two sides to everything. This chance meeting between the two of you just didn’t work out, despite you both having the best intentions. It’s just bad luck. So keep moving forward and maybe the luck will come back to you later

It’s easy to get hung up on this stuff. I’m guilty of spending way too much time thinking about this kind of thing. There are so many potential nameless towns and villages that you can just make up your own without worrying too much. You can always make up your own kingdom or region without ever specifying or even mentioning what sphere, planet, plane, continent, or whatever you are on. With deities, they almost never matter unless a player is planning to lean heavily into it, and even then, you usually can skim some basic details about one or two gods and make stuff up from there.

If you read deeply into the history of the realms and their lore you will learn that it’s mostly independent nonsense. The pantheons and cosmology that the official setting uses has changed so many times that you can really just do whatever you want. There are literally worlds that are identical in every way except for a few things. They exist in the same place and time but are invisible to each other and just served as an excuse for the writers to say “it’s just like this other setting… but different.” The world your campaign takes place in can just be another one of those. A world based on the official Forgotten Realms, only in this world, the king is dead of the magic is delicious, or there’s no such thing as dragons, or gods don’t exist, or whatever.

Don’t let the existing lore stop you from telling the story you want to tell, because it never stopped any licensed content creator from doing whatever the fuck they wanted

I played Wonder to 100% in about 20 hours and thought it was really fun. Best 2D Mario in a long time, in my opinion.

Mario RPG is a remake. You can boot up your SNES or just emulate the old one if you really want to play it again. You could even just emulate the new one, as other commenters have suggested, but given the choice between buying a new game and buying a remake, I take the new game every time

I have so many that I’ve come across over the years but never had a chance to try. Many of them have been mentioned by others so I’ll just throw in a fresh one: Mouseguard.

The setting just feels so cozy but also heroic. Something akin to a video game like Tunic. The rules are actually quite dense though, so I’ve never gotten buy-in from any players. But it’s one of those golden egg games that I’d really love to play some day

Notice that Q14 still allows for commercial tournaments but only if they acquire a license first. This is something Nintendo has been pushing since at least last year. That’s the debacle that killed Smash World Tour and the hill that Panda Global died on.

Not saying I agree with it. In fact, it’s so stupid, but there is still a path forward for now if Nintendo continues to give out those licenses. The real question is, what absurd rules will TOs need to adhere to in order to get a license?

This is a brand new game and not just a new season or expansion? Seems like an interesting route to go for the development team. I’m personally against buying games in early access so I probably won’t be playing this for a long time. Just as well though, since I just got into DRG within the last few months.

I’m curious how this game will be different from DRG, if at all. Like mechanically and graphically will it be essentially the same game? I’m just not sure I understand why it’s a standalone game other than the obvious reason (more lucrative)

Cleaning the litter box sucks but it’s something you have to do as the caretaker. It’s ok to vent but I would caution you, as others have, that “if this is the worst part of their lives, fine” is all well and good until the cat is sick due to box avoidance. I’ve struggled with this too and I’ve had to take my cat to the vet because of a UTI she got from not going simply because there was one tiny pee spot in her giant litter box that takes up half my bathroom. Do the right thing and make sure it gets done either by sucking it up or finding someone who will.

If you want some advice, I have a few suggestions. You could pay a friend or relative to do it if they have regular, convenient access. You can also try to wear something like latex gloves while dealing with it and I always wear a face mask because the dust that kicks up gets in my sinuses every time. Some people have even had success teaching their cat to use the toilet

I know the box is the most annoying part about taking care of a cat but it is what it is. Hope you find something that works and I hope your cat stays healthy