Hall of Fame team:

Totes the Feraligatr
Iggy the Pidgeot
Leeech the Exeggutor
Zappy the Magneton
Stan the Dragonair
Veleria the Graveler

In hindsight, not a super exceptional team. The lack of Fire or Fighting type moves put me at a disadvantage that was only amplified by the fact that the Pokémon I chose had limited move pools to begin with. Stronger moves like Thunder and Psychic were either impossible options for their learnsets, accessible only through tedious overleveling, or locked behind other mechanics (Game Corner eww). I didn't feel like doing any of that, so my team's effectiveness suffered as a result.

And yet for the most part, this didn't really bother me. Sure, it was annoying at times, having to basically brute force my way through the game with underleveled mons, but all that did was lead me to appreciate them more and facilitate my own storytelling through my gameplay. On paper an Exeggutor isn't the greatest option, but I wasn't using any Exeggutor, I was using Leeech, the three-headed plant lady who's competing personalities could never decide if they wanted to attack, defend, or, well, leech off the opponent. Leeech is my creation and I can have what fun I decide with them, even if she dies a dozen times in the Elite Four (don't worry about it).

One of the great tenets of this series, a sentiment Gen II in particular highlights, is that any Pokémon can be special, as long as they are special to you, and that really got me going through this, my first Crystal playthrough. Before the Pokémon Bank servers are shut down, I'll be sure to transfer my mons from the 3DS to new horizons, including MVP Zappy, who's shockingly consistent (sigh) Thundershock paralyses carried the team to victory. Just gotta go catch that magic rain dog first...

P.T. (acronym for "playable teaser") is a 2014 psychological horror game developed by Kojima Productions under the pseudonym "7780s Studio" and published by Konami. It was directed and designed by Hideo Kojima in collaboration with filmmaker Guillermo del Toro, and was released for free on the PlayStation 4. P.T. served as an interactive teaser for the game Silent Hills, an installment in the Silent Hill series. After the cancellation of Silent Hills, Konami removed P.T. from the PlayStation Store and made it impossible to reinstall. The decision prompted criticism and fan remakes. P.T. has been cited as among the greatest horror games of all time, with praise towards its direction and presentation while its puzzles drew mixed responses.

Gameplay

Unlike in the Silent Hill games, the player character has no means of defense against the hostile ghost Lisa (pictured). Her design has drawn comparisons to the yūrei and ubume in Japanese folklore.
Unlike the third-person perspective in Silent Hill games, P.T. uses a first-person perspective, which centers on an unknown protagonist, controlled by the player, who awakens in a haunted suburban house and experiences supernatural occurrences. Available areas to explore in the home consist of an L-shaped corridor with two rooms adjacent to it: a bathroom, and a staircase which leads to the room in which the player starts a loop, or a continuous reincarnation of the corridor. The only actions the player can use are walking and zooming. To progress, the player must investigate frightening events and solve cryptic puzzles. Each time a loop is successfully completed, changes appear in the corridor. Additionally, the player encounters a hostile ghost named Lisa. If she catches the protagonist, there may be a random chance of triggering a jump scare when turning the camera horizontally, in this case the current loop starts