Post by Catilena1890 on Feb 25, 2013 22:09:18 GMT -6
In a nutshell, Affinities are the Human equivalent of Pokemon Types. Everyone has an Affinity, and some even have two, and just like with pokemon, having dual Affinities doesn't hinder having an Affinity at all.
Affinities were introduced in response to a trend of characters being created on VS. Type Specialists to be exact. While it is fun to limit yourself to a certain pool of pokemon, and thus creating a challenge, there's a bit of a problem with that. If you want to, say, become a Dragon Master, you are going to have to wait an awful long time to catch a wild Dragon Type, since most of the really good ones are near Hurricana. If you are a trainer, that puts you at a ginormous disadvantage.
But not with Affinities it doesn't! If you want to be a Dragon Master, then we'll give your character an Affinity for Dragon-Typed pokemon, and they'll have a much better chance of encountering wild dragon types even if there aren't any native to the route you are in, which means you could potentially catch one as soon as you hit route 801!
In the world of Lola: An Underdog Story, the fanfic in which this mechanic originates, Affinities make it easier to communicate and bond with pokemon whose types match your Affinity. On VS, the Affinities will do two things: Attract certain types of pokemon to you and help you build your character. If your character has an affinity for one type, then your character will attract pokemon of that type to the area you are at, and your character can grow into that Affinity's personality *but not exactly exclusive of course, I don't expect everyone with a Ghost Affinity to be stark-raving mad. Where's the fun in that?*. The drawback is that you repel pokemon whose types are against yours. In other words, if you have a Dark Type Affinity, good luck finding an Abra or a Mienfoo.
Now here's the political part. After I brought this up to Basile and discussed it with her, Bay and Spirit, we had a long debate on how to hand out Affinities. We considered assigning EVERYONE an Affinity at random, but with so many characters, that would be a daunting task, especially since we don't know who is in play and who isn't. We considered letting everyone choose their own Affinity, but then I'd have to put a cap in place to keep everyone from being a goddamn Dragon. So here's what we're going to do instead: for people who want to specialize in a certain pokemon type, they will get that type as their Affinity. Everyone else gets one at random. But don't worry, you don't HAVE to have an Affinity if you don't want one. You may request an Affinity for your character directly in the Character Form, or if you have an existing character who needs an Affinity, you can make a post in the request thread.
As for Dual Affinities, well those are a bit complicated. In Lola, they are uncommon for two reasons: most people ignore the Affinities altogether and the ones who DO recognize their first Affinity don't particularly care about finding out if they have a second. On VS, we'll assign everyone who wants it a SINGLE Affinity, and if you want to later, we'll consider giving you a second one. The exception is when a character ends up with a Ghost Affinity. Because of how tricky it can be to write, if someone gets a Ghost Affinity they will get a secondary type to balance it out. Only writers who are capable of it will get a Pure Ghost Affinity.
Affinities were introduced in response to a trend of characters being created on VS. Type Specialists to be exact. While it is fun to limit yourself to a certain pool of pokemon, and thus creating a challenge, there's a bit of a problem with that. If you want to, say, become a Dragon Master, you are going to have to wait an awful long time to catch a wild Dragon Type, since most of the really good ones are near Hurricana. If you are a trainer, that puts you at a ginormous disadvantage.
But not with Affinities it doesn't! If you want to be a Dragon Master, then we'll give your character an Affinity for Dragon-Typed pokemon, and they'll have a much better chance of encountering wild dragon types even if there aren't any native to the route you are in, which means you could potentially catch one as soon as you hit route 801!
In the world of Lola: An Underdog Story, the fanfic in which this mechanic originates, Affinities make it easier to communicate and bond with pokemon whose types match your Affinity. On VS, the Affinities will do two things: Attract certain types of pokemon to you and help you build your character. If your character has an affinity for one type, then your character will attract pokemon of that type to the area you are at, and your character can grow into that Affinity's personality *but not exactly exclusive of course, I don't expect everyone with a Ghost Affinity to be stark-raving mad. Where's the fun in that?*. The drawback is that you repel pokemon whose types are against yours. In other words, if you have a Dark Type Affinity, good luck finding an Abra or a Mienfoo.
Now here's the political part. After I brought this up to Basile and discussed it with her, Bay and Spirit, we had a long debate on how to hand out Affinities. We considered assigning EVERYONE an Affinity at random, but with so many characters, that would be a daunting task, especially since we don't know who is in play and who isn't. We considered letting everyone choose their own Affinity, but then I'd have to put a cap in place to keep everyone from being a goddamn Dragon. So here's what we're going to do instead: for people who want to specialize in a certain pokemon type, they will get that type as their Affinity. Everyone else gets one at random. But don't worry, you don't HAVE to have an Affinity if you don't want one. You may request an Affinity for your character directly in the Character Form, or if you have an existing character who needs an Affinity, you can make a post in the request thread.
As for Dual Affinities, well those are a bit complicated. In Lola, they are uncommon for two reasons: most people ignore the Affinities altogether and the ones who DO recognize their first Affinity don't particularly care about finding out if they have a second. On VS, we'll assign everyone who wants it a SINGLE Affinity, and if you want to later, we'll consider giving you a second one. The exception is when a character ends up with a Ghost Affinity. Because of how tricky it can be to write, if someone gets a Ghost Affinity they will get a secondary type to balance it out. Only writers who are capable of it will get a Pure Ghost Affinity.