Welcome to Route 2. This isn't the only area we'll explore today, but every other area we visit can only be accessed from Route 2 on foot, so close enough.
Route 2 introduces SM's incarnation of a recurring element across the series. These were first introduced in BW, called "phenomenons", and in all cases, their function is to be visible random encounters. If you touch one, you will automatically trigger an encounter, even if you have a Repel up. Visible encounters usually have a different random encounter table than normal tall grass, even if they're inside the grass like this.
Between SM and SV, this mechanic sorta evolved into what became global visible encounters, where you can see what you are about to fight. SwSh is clearly an intermediate stage, but it's a progression.
This is a new feature to SM, though: After defeating or catching a visible encounter, it may drop an item. There are two main types of such items: Items based on the location (usually Berries), and items based on the Pokemon (some better ones can come as a result). The odds are a little more esoteric, though.
That's a Trainer. It wouldn't do to go into the grass hunting for wilds and come out and be ambushed by her, better go in first.
...Yeah, Beauties aren't exactly a hard Trainer Class...?
Beauties are the general term for "twenty-something girl", and their general role is to have cute Pokemon and give higher-than-average prizes. Alola has the worst payout for Beauties of all games- x32 when the next lowest is x56. They are female-only, and there is no clear male equivalent to the class.
Gastly (Ultra Sun): It's said that gas emanating from a graveyard was possessed by the grievances of the deceased and thus became a Pokémon.
What is it with Beauties and Ghost types around here? USUM's Krystal has a Cutiefly instead, much more standard. Gastly is a Ghost-type Pokemon, the first we'll see in Alola. Ghost types are immune to both Normal and Fighting moves, so a Ghost type early in the game means you need to start thinking about dropping Scratch, Tackle and Pound and start using your STAB moves. As the game progresses, they're all right, but do start to feel the fact that their immunities can't carry them anymore.
Now seems a good time to use Snaggletooth. As a Normal type, he is also immune to Ghost moves, and should be able to exploit Gastly's weaknesses with Dark-type moves like Pursuit or Bite-
...Uh, that's weird. He should be high enough level for it... oh, I see what happened. Yeah, I'll get Pursuit back later, but for now, I need to get out of this fight. Snaggletooth, as it currently stands, is absolutely useless, (well, until 95 turns pass and it can Struggle) so we'll need something that can actually... exist.
Sam'll do. Not only is it immune to Gastly's attacks too, but it has Peck.
Oh, thank goodness I switched out when I did. You know those 95 turns until Struggle were a joke, right? Mean Look makes it so that I'm unable to switch out. And it lasts until Gastly either switches out or is KOed. Since the former is impossible, and Gastly has no moves that can deal damage to Snaggletooth, we would have been playing until PP ran out.
Fortunately, Krystal's Gastly only has 65 PP worth of moves. Whether she runs out first or we do depends on which ones she selects, so while it'd probably come down to luck exactly who runs out first, I think we had the advantage? But I maintain that if either side is using Struggle, nobody wins.
Anyway, back in the version of reality where the fight is fun.
This is the move that would've potentially sped up the fight with Snaggletooth. Spite has 10 PP, which means, under ideal circumstances, Gastly would reduce its total PP by 40 and win. However, it also knows Hypnosis, a move that can inflict Sleep- which would prevent Snaggletooth from using PP until it woke up. Victory came down to the AI not putting me to sleep for long and incorrectly timing its Spites. For 65 turns.
At least this time, all it means is I have 29 Pecks left over instead of 33. Whatever will I do without those 4 extras...
Well, better make the most of the ones I have.
Ooh, you can see the fact that Snaggletooth got more EXP for being a lower levelled Pokemon.
The pout. These animations of resentment looks so hilarious paired with dialogue that is anything but.
...Honestly, it's more I haven't got the hang of getting him to tell me useful information.
Anyway, let's make a start on what we can find in the grass, starting with this visible encounter. Only one will spawn until you reload the map, so if you don't get the one you want, it can become a problem...
Makuhita (Ultra Sun): Their daily routine consists of training together first thing in the morning, eating and napping in the afternoon, and then more training afterward.
Never mind. It's 70% for Yungoos/Rattata and 30% for Makuhita in here, but somehow I seem to get Makuhita on the first go every time. Makuhita is a very charming pure Fighting type. It goes all in on HP and Atk- taking a lot of damage, and counting on having a boatload of HP to survive the fight. It doesn't go well for it often enough for it to be good, but it's definitely serviceable. Especially when victory without taking damage is already a bit of a crapshoot.
Its Abilities are Thick Fat (reduces the damage taken from Fire and Ice type moves) and Guts (50% boost to Attack if it's inflicted with a non-volatile status condition). Guts is one of those awesome Abilities that you want to find the right situation to use it in, but it's always slightly more annoying than you think it is. Do note, though, that a Pokemon with Guts suffers no Atk penalties for being Burned- although it will take the passive damage.
Those are starting to be annoying, now. There is one more interesting comment to make about Makuhita, one that I was lucky enough to show:
Makuhita has a 5% chance of holding a Black Belt, the 20% power boost to Fighting type attacks. In both Alola games, but SM especially, this is the only way to find a Black Belt. You can increase the chances of finding one with an Ability's field effect we're going to see soon, but don't count on having one.
Ailey got this, incidentally.
This one also dropped an item. A little chime will play when it does, thankfully. You can get Oran and Sitrus Berries from drops in both SM and USUM, and Chesto Berries from Drowzee and Poison Barbs from Ekans in USUM. Fortunately, there's a free Poison Barb later for everyone- which is good, because Bethany wants it.
Drowzee (Moon): It finds really fun dreams tasty. When it makes friends with people, it may show them the most delicious dreams it's ever eaten.
Well, I think that firmly establishes the tone of this conversation. Drowzee is a pure Psychic type Pokemon from RBY, so already, we start from the position of "this thing is competing with Abra". It specialises in Special Defence, with shaky offensive stats and nothing to really fashion itself a tank with. Its Abilities are terrible. And when it evolves, it turns into one of the creepiest Pokemon in series history, and this time not because of the way it looks. No, Drowzee is not a Pokemon it is easy to get along with, and most people look for their non-Abra Psychic types among the dual-types.
Its Abilities are Insomnia (blocks Sleep) and Forewarn. Forewarn will, upon being sent out, tell you the name of the move with the highest base power in the opponent's movepool. If multiple exist, it will only tell you one of them, randomly selected. Do I even need to tell you why we aren't impressed with that?
One thing we can see at this point is Disable: This will take the last move your target used and prevent them from using it again for four turns. It sounds a lot better than it is- yeah, Drowzee can survive a hit, Disable it, and then... what? You switch out to someone who... was only scared of the move you got hit by? It sounds like there's a perfect use case, but it just doesn't happen.
And just as I was preparing the capture, it put me to sleep. Oh well, I'm about to start shuffling my catching team anyway.
Because Metapod has reached its final stage, at level 10!
Butterfree (Ultra Sun): Its wings are covered in toxic scales. If it finds bird Pokémon going after Caterpie, Butterfree sprinkles its scales on them to drive them off.
Butterfree, Caterpie's final stage. You're looking at a BST total of less than Oatchi's second stage, a movepool that's more for scattering statuses around than relying on its power, and a Bug/Flying type that impresses nobody with its offensive coverage, defensive capacity, or even reliable STAB. Butterfree plays the early-evolving crutch character to a tee.
What makes Butterfree good in Alola, though, is its Ability. As a Butterfree, it gets the Ability Compoundeyes, which in battle, increases your accuracy by 1.3x. What you really want it for is, if Butterfree is the leading slot in your party, wild encounters have a higher chance of holding held items. That 5% Black Belt? It's 20% now. Butterfree floats so the rest of your team can soar.
When you somehow obtain the final Pokemon in an evolutionary line (whether that be the actual final stage or an earlier one if you somehow skipped it), the background will turn red and a somewhat triumphant chime plays.
Rotom also comments on a filled page. He only has the one comment, though. It's like we're playing bingo over here!
Smeargle can be found as a 20% on the south side of Route 2 in SM, and 10% in all other grasses, including this grass in USUM. On Ilima, we saw a fast Pokemon with enough of a cannon arm to keep us on our toes. However, this can't be carried on for... really, any amount of time. No, Smeargle is the king of utility- as a wild encounter, the only move it will ever naturally learn is Sketch. Sketch has 1 PP, and when used, it will take the last move the opponent used and learn it. Permanently. It overwrites Sketch, but Smeargle learns Sketch 10 times (once every tenth level), so you can have a full set of any four moves you want. Well, except Chatter, Mirror Move, Sleep Talk, Sketch and Struggle. Unfortunately for Smeargle, this is a bit of a poor sell in the main story (have fun engineering situations to learn the right move), but it fills a vital role in both creating competitively viable Pokemon and being competitive- if all you need is just the right move...
Smeargle's Abilities are Own Tempo (prevents confusion) and Technician (50% boost to moves with less than 60 power.) They're OK at best. Smeargle just doesn't have the stats to capitalise on them.
Sketch is actually a bit of a pain in the ass to deal with when catching a Smeargle. It still has its "actually somewhat viably decent" Speed, so if it outspeeds you and tries to Sketch a move you haven't used yet, well, now it's using Struggle and will knock itself out in four turns or less. Did I forget to mention it has a catch rate of 45?
In addition to not actually being a bad choice to learn on Smeargle (it's STAB, it has near-perfect priority, and it doesn't care about stats), Fake Out guarantees it has a move to learn the next chance it has to attempt to Sketch.
And to add insult to injury, it also means it's completely useless until it runs out of PP on Fake Out.
Unfortunately, it only has 10 PP, so you haven't exactly made it too much better. Better than nothing, though. Magnemite's Thunder Wave (inflicts paralysis) is also good, especially if you keep an Electric type out- that's 20 PP and has much the same effect.
Ultra Ball on it and making sure it stays in the ball.
USUM adds Ekans to both the main grass at 20%, and a 50% in the visible encounters. It's a very thoroughly mediocre Poison type, carried almost entirely by its Ability. It's stats can be servicable if you want to use it, but its natural movepool lets it down and its TM pool, while filled with good choices, are filled with the sorts of choices other physical attackers also share. You're making a team that can fit in Ekans, not a team that wants Ekans to fill a hole.
Ekans's Abilities are Intimidate (lowers enemy Atk on being sent out) and Shed Skin (occasionally cures statuses for free). It's being carried by Intimidate, make sure you get that one.
Dunsparce (Ultra Moon): When it sees a person, it digs a hole with its tail to make its escape. If you happen to find one, consider yourself lucky.
USUM also added, at an annoyingly low rate of 15% to appear only in visible encounters, Dunsparce. A pure Normal type, this weird little thing is based on a type of snake known as tsuchinoko, a Japanese cryptid, and its theming makes heavy use of that fact. It's almost always very rare in whatever games it appears in, being a 1% encounter rate in only some of the cave it first appeared in GSC. The final joke is on the hunter, however- its stats aren't particularly impressive, it doesn't evolve, and it's too slow to make good use of the stuff it does have. Dunsparce is memorable in how forgettable it is.
Dunsparce's Abilities are Run Away (how else does it escape those photographs?) and Serene Grace. Serene Grace is a fantastic Ability that doubles the chance of landing a bonus effect from certain moves. It wants to be using flinch moves, but it can't, so it'll have to satisfy itself with other bonus effects.
Island Scan gives you a Chikorita with Leech Seed in SM and a Bulbasaur with Grassy Terrain in USUM. They are available on Friday.
This is another area that's a traditional find in most Pokemon games: Somewhere, there'll be a Pokemon cemetery. In addition to being a place that has Ghost types (weirdly, it's usually the first one, despite how late some of them can be), it has one important role in the eyes of Pokemon's original creator, Satoshi Tajiri. It's the place that makes it explicit that Fainting, ie the state of losing in a Pokemon battle, is a completely separate part of the world from Dying. He didn't want players to associate losing a video game to being killed.
...We don't talk about Nuzlockes in front of him.
Taking a moment to pause and look at the map, because I have only just paid a thought to how small the screen real estate is on the top screen. On the bottom screen, Rotom is showing us the cemetery in the south-east, the motel to the west, the house to our north-east, and the farm in the north that appears to be our next plot trigger. Yet on the top screen, all I can see is a corner of the house and a bit of the pavement outside the motel. If you ever feel lost with only the top screen to go off, this is probably why.
Game Freak is struggling with the same "how do we camera in 3D" everyone else dealt with back in the late 90s.
Anyway, at the bottom of this motel, we get another repeated tip and the sight of someone else riding a Tauros. He even has safety gear for it. Assuming that helps if the bull decides to start bucking.
Another one of these near the truck.
And checking in- in the, uh, non-staying sense.
Working on filling that Dex.
The reason the player can't stay at most hotels is that they're fully booked.
The reason most players wouldn't want to is because a Pokemon Centre does the same job for free.
There's two rooms in a motel, but only the ones with the green doors are enterable. I imagine there's usually only one.
This very unenthusiastic Super Nerd decides to give us a few freebies. You'd think it's to chase us out of the room, wouldn't you?
He gives you two Nest Balls. Nest Balls have a bit of a complicated catch rate formula, but the key level is 30. Below level 30, the Nest Ball has an increased chance of catching wild Pokemon, with the chance increasing with every level below 30 the target is (at level 21, it's a x2, at level 11, it's a x3, and the scale is linear). You'll want to use these early and on hard to catch things- oh, Smeargle!
...All of a sudden the Super Nerd's attitude is explained. Would it be impolite to break out the Game Boy?
The house seems to be an otherwise normal house, swingset in the yard. Just the fact it's plonked in the middle of a route is weird, but you know, real estate.
...Depending on how old your kid was, that's perfectly understandable. A kid who still plays on a swingset should probably have consulted a reasonable adult before-
...
I am going to go away now. And I hope for your sake your kid's still OK.
...How long ago do you think the kid left?
That's... promising...?
...
I can at least assure you that the kid who grew up here is still alive, and we'll meet them later.
Now, is he OK? ...Define OK.
Mostly to keep track of things, I'm taking on this kid, too. Him and Krystal are the only two Trainers on Route 2 before the plot trigger.
His Spearow was no match for Pichu!
Good try, wrong opponent.
Approach the cemetery from the ledge next to the wall, and you can get a Heal Ball. Meh.
Sadly, no cool name like "Mt. Pyre". At least it's not another tower?
Even in the very first instance, there were always Trainers to find in the cemetery. Granted, RBY made them possessed Channelers because back then, the ghosts were meant to be haunting the tower because Team Rocket made them upset? Probably for the best that's not still a thing, but still, fighting random people who may or may not be grieving is hardly an improvement.
Like, this is 100% the dialogue of someone here in memoriam of a beloved lost Pokemon. Granted, probably one she's "moved on" from rather than one that just died, but still... this is why most grayeyards tend to be empty, other than ambience.
Pokemon Breeders are a unisex Trainer Class who specialise in, well, Pokemon husbandry. As Trainers, they traditionally threw a large number of unevolved and Baby Pokemon at you, presumably freshly bred specimens. Alola doesn't really like throwing Trainers with multiple Pokemon at you, so here they're more sorta generalists. They also look exceptionally like Sinnoh's Rancher and Cowgirl class, and were probably better off using it instead. They keep their Pokemon in Friend Balls, a type of Poke Ball that instantly sets a Pokemon's friendship to 150 when it catches a Pokemon. Ironically, it doesn't work on hatched Pokemon.
This particular Breeder is actually rather exceptional in her own merits- she's a reference! Ikue Otani is the voice actor for Pikachu, as well as a lot of other miscellaneous minor characters in the anime, and when you produce a sound as iconic as "Pi-ka-chu!", well, you kinda deserve the occasional acknowledgement. There have been four Ikues across the series thus far, every single one of them with a Pikachu (usually as their only Pokemon, but XY's Ikue was a Breeder with 4 Pokemon total). Somewhat amusingly, this is the first Ikue that survived the translation process- the Ikue in GSC is called "Brooke" in English, and the Ikue in XY is called "Mercy" in English.
Perhaps this time we can get some spotlight on Snaggletooth while it's still pulling equal weight.
So far it's not going well for him.
Pikachu has a new move in its set- Play Nice. By playing cutely with the opponent, Pikachu lowers their guard and decreases their Atk.
You might notice it also has Growl, which does the same thing. Aside from bypassing Soundproof, I don't think the two have many differences? Growl also hits both opponents in Doubles, so... definitely no reason to run both, especially when you could have Charm.
Thunder Shock 3HKOs. That's alarming, when I'm already paralysed.
The fourth move is Tail Whip. The sentimental nature of her mourning aside, that is certainly a moveset.
Fortunately, Snaggletooth didn't need to switch in to secure the win with the winning strategy of "focus on Tackle".
A perfect imitation of the fainting version of Pikachu's cry!
...I'm just imagining the actual Ikue Otani doing this and the other mourners looking at her in confusion.
Cleaning up some litter...
...And a Trainer actually standing by a grave. At least Ikue was just visiting!
...If you're sure, but that's not going to end well for you.
Gentlemen are the standard "old man" Trainer Class, but they're also "rich old man"- a Gentleman is very wealthy in a casual way. The female equivalent class is called "Socialite", which sorta helps highlight what class bracket they're in. Unlike Beauties, who just sorta happened to be high on the curve, Gentlemen are definitely supposed to be the Trainers to fight for high prize money payouts- 200x. They keep their Pokemon in Luxury Balls, a highly comfortable type that improves the rate at which a Pokemon's friendship increases.
His Pokemon of choice is Makuhita- so, you know a Pokemon with a disarmingly cheery happy facade.
Pictured: the problem with Makuhita. Most ways bulky Pokemon have to heal are fractional, so this is going to end in Makuhita healing up to a point where the second Peck scores the KO.
Another thing you can catch Gentlemen doing is using Full Restores. Full Restores are the most expensive and powerful regular healing item, healing the Pokemon to full HP and curing all status conditions. Seeing "[Final Boss] used a Full Restore" is a common nightmare scenario. Seeing a Gentleman use it early-game? Almost kinda hilarious.
(No, a regular Potion would not have saved it, but still. A Super Potion would.)
Not helping the "Pokemon battles aren't dangerous" argument, guys.
Ah, so the family was just Makuhita's family, not his own. Although that's still kinda way too personal for us to be interrupting.
The TM in the back corner here is Confide. This is almost exclusively a TM-only move (only two Pokemon families can learn it naturally, and hilariously, those two families have never been available in the same game as of SV), and it is a sound-based move that reduces the opponent's Sp. Atk by one stage- the Special counterpart to Growl, then. About time they invented one, but it's hard to justify spending a TM slot on exactly the sort of move you forget to make room for your TM moves.
More litter in the back side of the site.
A Poke Finder spot? I'm fairly sure real cemeteries told Pokemon Go players to knock it off... You can get Pikipek and Furfrou (USUM) in the day, Zubat and Gastly at night.
"Going to cemeteries" is usually done to make yourself feel a sense of closure over the fallen one's achievements in life, a time to either set yourself new goals or come to grips with the death. If all it's doing is making you upset, you maybe need to put some more thought into what exactly the reason is and working on that. Wallowing in misery is a dead-end stop.
The sprite for Office Workers is way off the mood. Office Workers are a unisex Trainer Class added in BW based on salarymen- the thankless cogs in the machine that keep the world running smoothly. As alluded to, female Office Workers use the same art as Teacher Emily.
Hi, Diglett! Diglett is very fast, kinda strong, and made of glass. Also, am I the only one wondering if it always had hair...?
Diglett (Sun): Its head sports an altered form of whiskers made of metal. When in communication with its comrades, its whiskers wobble to and fro.
Ah, I see! Alolan Diglett is a Ground/Steel type, apparently developing those sturdier claws for the purpose of drilling through the harder volcanic rock that the Alolan islands are composed of. This one is using Metal Claw on me.
One Bite was enough to finish it easily. Oatchi's Leafage was probably fine, it was neutral too, I'm just more wary about moves that are resisted at all even if I know they're neutral.
Yeah, you may want to find someplace better to hang out.
Ooh, nifty! That Meowth I've been carrying in my back pocket picked up a Hyper Potion- that's a 5% find until level 31. Sadly, Hyper Potions got nerfed to healing only 120 HP (compared to 200 in past games), but it's still very powerful now. Too powerful, probably.
Drifloon (Sun): Stories go that it grabs the hands of small children and drags them away to the afterlife. It dislikes heavy children.
...OK, I laughed. But still, Pokemon. Drifloon is a Ghost/Flying type that, similar to Makuhita, builds itself high on HP. Unlike Makuhita, it doesn't really have a second stat to be using, meaning it does tend to wind up a bit of an afterthought on the team- it's Specially focused, but it's not impressively so.
Drifloon's Abilities are Aftermath (target loses 1/4 of own HP if it defeats Drifloon with a contact move) and Unburden (doubles Speed if it somehow loses its held item). Unburden is excellent on Pokemon that aren't Drifloon, but Drifloon can do things with it. Aftermath is... less good. It's more of an Ability to make the player's life harder in the main story.
Sadly, Magnemite still doesn't have T-Wave, but a lucky Thunder Shock getting a Paralysis is good enough for me. Time to horrify the hell out of a Beauty when we get back to Hau'oli.
Gastly is also available for aspiring Ghost-type users. Gastly is a Ghost/Poison type, although all that latter type has done for it is make it weak to Psychic types until it finally got Fairies to prey on, and its main job has been "be Abra, for Ghost types". Same high Sp. Atk and Spd. Evolves into its final stage by trade too. At least it exchanged "be useless as an Abra" for "learn mostly highly annoying moves rather than powerful Special Attacks" as a Gastly.
Gastly may only have the Levitate Ability. Levitate is one of the more common Abilities overall, and Pokemon that possess it will usually only have it. It renders Gastly completely immune to Ground types, and also makes him immune to "grounded" moves, some of which are beneficial. "Grounded" and "flying" is a confusing element of the series, and sometimes I wonder why they bothered making such a big deal of it- maybe they were really bothered by the idea of a floating ball of gas being hit by an earthquake.
Finally.
Zubat occupies the third slot, and it is a Poison/Flying type with high Speed and strangely usable defences. The type probably does it favours on that front, giving it three double-resistances and an immunity, two of which are to types one has reason to be scared of. Zubat's reputation across series history has been "this is the twentieth time in this cave, stop bothering me, Zubat" which also gives it a bit of a first reaction of "well, if you're so common, you probably aren't great". No, it really is as annoying for your opponents as it is for you.
Zubat's only Ability is Inner Focus. A bit weird to be immune to flinching when you're already probably the fastest thing on the field- Fake Out counter? Either way, this guy's so old I'm surprised they haven't given him a new second Ability.
.png)
Misdreavus (Sun): It will use any means necessary to frighten people and absorb their life energy. It practices constantly to hone its skill in causing fear.
Misdreavus appears at night time in SM, replacing Drifloon's slot. Misdreavus is a pure Ghost type, introduced in the Johto region at the literal final hour, and has since found a home... wherever it feels like, honestly. It's a mild all-arounder that specialises in Sp. Atk, Sp. Def and Spd, and it got an evolution in DPPt... that didn't do more but moderately enhance those stats further. Honestly kinda strange. At any rate, Misdreavus is a perfectly usable Ghost type, and even a rather adorable one, and Noah will probably wind up using it. If he's not too busy with the Shiny Abra he found...
Misdreavus's only Ability is Levitate. Same story as Gastly, except it's not avoiding a Ground weakness with it.
Murkrow (Moon): Seen as a symbol of bad luck, it's generally disliked. Yet it gives presents- objects that sparkle or shine- to Trainers it's close to.
For, uh... some reason, Misdreavus was removed from the night-time slot in Hau'oli and Murkrow was put in its place in USUM. Murkrow appeared in SM's Pokedex, in a really lategame area, and Misdreavus was sent to a post-game area in turn. Somebody was playing favourites. Anyway, Murkrow is a Dark/Flying type that, weirdly, seems to want to be a mixed attacker. As a Murkrow, both its Atk and Sp. Atk are equal, and almost equal to its good Speed. When it evolves, Attack becomes its highest stat, with Sp. Atk being its second highest- it even loses some Speed. Unfortunately, Pokemon is not kind to this build, but this is a concern only in competitive environments- in single player, it's an excuse to keep a diverse movelist.
Murkrow's Abilties are Insomnia (prevents Sleep) and Super Luck (increases its critical hit chance by one stage). With any move, Murkrow's critical hit chance will be 1/8. With Night Slash, the best physical Dark move Murkrow uses? 1/2. This guy can help you break through those tougher bosses.
Island Scan gives both SM and USUM a Litwick- it has Acid in SM, and Endure in USUM. It is available on Saturday.
.png)
Right, let's go show the lady her creepy little balloon friend.
.png)
.png)
Credit where credit is due, she realises Drifloon was not the Pokemon to emulate. Maybe stick to Pichu.
.png)
.png)
Think of it this way: This is money spent on not embarassing yourself.
.png)
Good money, too. And Drifloon wasn't so bad. Neither's Abra, honestly, even if the chance thing kinda stunk.
.png)
I can't help you any more than I have. You'll have to figure that bit out on your own.
In USUM, this beauty instead tries to use Abra's relaxation methods. Similar outcome, more annoying quest.
Time for plot. In USUM, the plot happens slightly sooner (before you get to the motel), but the way the plot plays out, it's better if we save it for after.
In SM, we are approached by a Delibird who seems to be very insistent we come investigate what it's doing. Well, who am I to begrudge?
I'll believe it when I see you eating.
The Berry Fields are a weird element of the game, and one I kinda feel like they could've done more with? I get what they were going for, but it kinda leaves a gap in the game's progression it feels like it shouldn't.
Team Skull, what are you doing now.
You know... I'm not 100% convinced they should be barred from claiming Berries? This is not an evil plan, no matter how they slice it.
("Figy" and "Nanab" are kinds of Berries. Hilariously, Nanab Berries are not available in Alola.)
This is, I believe, in response to the harassing manner in which Team Skull has treated him and possibly his Delibirds.
Otherwise it's completely unwarranted and Grunt A rightly calls him out for it.
...Is it bad I'm siding with Skull here?
Typically, whatever is in front of me.
A bone? Maybe not.
But a skull? I think I can do that.
Maybe if you both attacked me at once I might be forced to use more than one of my Pokemon!
Despite the fact that Delibird pressed us in here to lend a hand, the Berry Field's owner himself seems none too fussed over his attempt to bat Team Skull away with a cheap push broom, telling us our time is better spent continuing on to Verdant Cavern.
The Team Skull Grunt is utterly indignant at the gall to be treated like a nuisance to their face. He calls it like he sees it.
And Team Skull promptly decides that we should not be given the option of leaving. (They mean it, by the way- entering this cutscene starts the fight.)
You are proving your point, but I do not believe we are in agreement that it is a compliment.
Drowzee this time. Probably the one evil team that can be trusted with one.
Unfortunately, though, it's at the wrong end of the worst kind of matchup: Woodstock is immune to Psychic moves and Bite is super-effective on it.
It's like paper-scissors-rock, except rock just smashed those scissors into smithreens.
Don't worry- it did know Pound. It was theoretically possible for it to have dealt damage.
If you guys don't think you're acting hard, I shudder to think of what you think I'm doing.
The two of them decide to get up to some mischief in Verdant Cavern, setting them up for probably coming to see us while we're doing our Trial. As irritated as I might have been... honestly, if they don't straighten up, it won't even be a speedbump.
No joke, I did had to double check to make sure I remembered what I was supposed to be drilling into my skull.
I think this is more out of "being impressed" and "goodness of his heart" than it is "reward for saving him from a jam". And also because we were pressured into having this fight on his behalf, if just not by him. Hey, those guys aren't gonna give us an item.
Did you notice that's SM's first Berry? Since USUM doesn't put an event here, it decided to let us have an Oran early. In both games, this is where we learn about how to get more than a limited number.
Since this is also SM's introduction to Berries, it goes through the tutorial.
And on the new topic, addreses how Berries literally grow themselves in Alola, as compared to the systems seen in older games.
Well, aren't you a bit of a prick about it?
USUM retains this man giving you an Oran Berry, this time completely out of the goodness of his heart, and picks up here. Visiting the Berry Fields is completely optional, though.
To complete this step, all we need to do is somehow obtain a Persim Berry. It should be noted that, in Pokemon Sun, it is impossible to obtain a Persim Berry without interacting with the mechanic he wants to teach us without trading. Moon and USUM have alternative methods, but you have to be trying to not just do what he wants:
Pick a Berry from a berry pile. This pile has only Oran and Persim Berries, so you will probably get a Persim on the first go.
If you're curious, a Moon-exclusive can hold Persims in the wild, while USUM added it to some visible encounter drops. It will be a long time until we can do most of these methods.
Berry piles appear in two sizes, and small piles (like this one) contain three Berries, randomly selected from a pool on a per-pile basis. As previously mentioned, this pile can only give Oran or Persim Berries. Each Berry is independently selected.
This pile is also unique in that it will always be small and it will also lack another mechanic. We'll talk about big piles on the next pile.
The Berry pile doesn't change visually as you pick berries- it's the same through each berry, and then vanishes when you pick the last one.
Clicking on a berry pile will result in you picking all berries in the pile, one at a time, until there are no berries left.
This is legitimately necessary- he's asking if you succeded and confirming you succeeded- but it's still way too much.
He even acknowledges the possibility of you finding it through hold item. Sadly, not technically visible encounters, but still.
I don't believe he takes a Persim Berry, but yes, the free Sitrus is nice.
Funny he mentions Pechas in particular. But yeah, in addition to the main duo of Oran and Sitrus already mentioned, there is a full suite of status-curing Berries: Pecha, Cheri, Rawst, Chesto, Aspear and Persim, for the five non-volatile status conditions and Confuse. The fact Confuse has one despite being volatile is probably why most people treat it as one of the main five. Maybe they should have a Berry that blocks flinch.
In most games thus far, to get regenerating Berries, you had to actually cultivate them. They had an in-depth mechanic to do so and everything, involving watering them on a daily basis and, starting in DPPt, giving them proper fertiliser. With SM, they finally realised nobody actually liked doing it and made Berry growing an automated process: Berry piles regenerate every day, with no attention required from the player (although you do have to reload the area if you harvested the pile one day, save, and then load the file the next day without leaving the area.)
Ah, this is the mechanic I mentioned wasn't included with this starting pile. All future berry piles we pick from will have a chance of containing a wild Pokemon. It always shows up in big piles and only sometimes appears in little ones, and you must either defeat or catch it to be allowed to pick the Berries for yourself.
There is only one possible species you can get from a berry pile, you don't have to worry about rolling rare encounters from it.
USUM expands on the lore by adding an NPC you can talk to to explain the Berry Master's motivations. He came to Alola to expand the knowledge of growing Berries, built this farm... and then realised "oh wait, Alolan Berry growing is much better" and pivoted to preaching the gospel about Alolan Berries. I love it.
They also mention they come from the Camphrier Berry Fields in Kalos. They're the only ones that really have this ploughed sort of look to their Berry Fields.
The farm itself is just for litter. You can't farm anything even if you wanted to. I almost want to say you should have been able to farm so you could obtain more copies of the Berries you get before the real good farming comes later, but the joke is just as good.
Although I would work on your phrasing.
This is the 20% boost for Bug type moves. It doesn't usually have a long life, because of the nature of Bug moves, but it can be good in the right situation.
The Berry Master's house is full of Delibird. I can't explain the Delibird. I think it's a delivery thing?
He has a full team of six of them, and somehow each one has a unique cry.
This one gives you a Revive, for whatever reason.
You can't read the bookshelves in SM, but in USUM, you can find some of his poetry in there. I'm not sold on it, and clearly he isn't either.
Anyway, how does USUM deal with Team Skull?
In USUM, Crabrawler takes an aggressive approach to marketing, and will refuse to let you pass unless you visit the motel. Compared to Delibird, I like this one a lot less.
So to the motel we go.
Is that even legal, blocking a road? I'm sure there's something about it...
Yeah, that sounds like the point where you do something about Crabrawler and don't just laugh it off.
He tells us to go over to the west, but we can run around wherever we please. Well, except past the Crabrawler. All the NPCs in the motel are the same, though, complete with Nest Balls.
This beach was completely non-existent in SM- the fence extended all the way along, and there was no indication that there was an area down here.
There is a Pokemon we can find by going down to the beach we wouldn't catch otherwise, but in general, it's not Pokemon we're going down there for.
Good job. I'm sure the fact the only way to get to the path is through your motel is complete coincidence.
This guy is not only a brand new Trainer on Route 2, but he's an entirely new Trainer Class for USUM.
We have, indeed, never seen a Surfer before. Although ORAS had Ace Trainers on surfboards, I suppose. Surfers are male-only Water-like Trainers who typically appear on land near coasts, while Swimmers themselves appear in the water, and have an identical payout to Swimmers (x24). Since Swimmers have two designs for females in this game, they're basically an alternate design for male Swimmers with a different name.
Delibird (Ultra Sun): It shares its food with people who are stranded. Because Delibird is omnivorous, sometimes it gives those people bug Pokémon.
Starting with a Pokemon that isn't a Water type, the Ice/Flying Delibird. Delibird is a potentially passable Pokemon at this point, but it has a critical problem on this Trainer (and also on us later):
Its only move on Carlton is Present, a Normal-type move that has a random chance of being 40 BP, 80 BP, 120 BP... or will heal the target for 25% HP. It's also 90% accurate, in case you thought the odds were in his favour.
I dunno, man, that feels like a one-way ticket to wiping out.
Surfing on... Mantine?
At any rate, time for us to take a peek around Big Wave Beach. The Beaches provide an essential service to giving USUM the edge it has over SM in terms of player experience, although for right now, we won't be getting to partake.
BP SHOPS! Pokemon, in a stunning display of having a crippling allergy to the idea of actually using Poke Dollars in proper economies, will typically assign most services that the player will want to use to all sorts of other currencies, most often BP.
Battle Points are typically won for completing streaks in the post-game battle facilities, intimidating places that require a sharp distinction in skill to compete in, and ideally, Pokemon that are already kitted out with the things that BP shops can offer. Pokemon's weird relationship with game design requires interrogation at some point, but USUM found a way to bypass it rather elegantly: "Beach Points have the same abbreviation as Battle Points, so we might as well make them the same currency!" As such, we'll actually be able to use these shops before postgame!
...Not that we can get BP now. It'll be a bit until we acquire some BP, so we can't purchase any of these cool items. Besides, there'll be other things worth spending BP on- particularly from the other stall, which I am deliberately not investigating.
(Incidentally, the HP Up -> Carbos are a series of items that will increase your EVs in a specified stat by 10 points. This is often worth one or two points, and considering the price, it's a relatively cheap way of getting EVs up in this game.)
Well, "you", generally, can. We can't, yet, but we eventually will.
"And to be honest, I don't know which way back to the motel. I was hoping this strapping young man might take me there."
If she's getting lucky, he's not hinting it to us.
As we get close to the north end of the beach, a Swimmer will pipe up and start explaining, to some extent, a mechanic we will not be getting access to for a little bit.
We do not need to provide our own Mantine, thankfully. Mantine is a manta ray-like Pokemon that's been around since Gen 2, and quite frankly, surfing on the back of one is just cool.
Mantine Surf is an awesome way to pass the time, and it also allows us to move around Alola. This is also why we're not allowed to use it- we'll have to wait until we're allowed to travel to another island first.
It's justified as us needing to toughen up. I am just asking why they started explaining it if we couldn't do it. Seems a bit of a rude plan.
...Fortunately, we don't need to be that strong.
Good question. I don't think that's how gills work?
Hawai'i's certainly famous for Surfing, albeit on normal surfboads. Mostly.
That also sounds like a reasonable reason to keep kids away.
And we can pick up a Mantine later, too! Well, its pre-evolution, but still.
Annoyingly, there is a "behind" her, but we can't walk past there.
When we go back to the entrance to Big Wave to leave, then Team Skull makes its dramatic appearance. They decided to come to Big Wave Beach instead of the Berry Fields.
Similarly to the Berry Master, the Swimmer's reaction is not "Ahhh, Team Skull, panic and hide!", but "*deadpan* please stop". Compared to the Berry Master, this reaction is even more warranted.
Yes.
They give the moment a bit of a pause, to build up the reason...
And they give the absolutely perfect reason to pay off the pause. She's not worried about Team Skull getting up to mischief, she knows they're going to hurt themselves and is not being party to that.
You've still got your health! But if you don't buck up your ideas, you might not have that for long.
Despite their best efforts. Sometimes, the Darwin Award is well-earned.
And other times, we need to stop them from hurting other people with their general buffoonery.
That is indeed a word that desccribes them.
Hm... But from a pre-schooler? Who can say for sure if he can back that up with deeds? But still, I wonder how strong the people Team Skull is trying to be are.
Yo, So I heard you like Mantines.
For those hoping for a Doubles match in the improved version, I must shudder to disappoint you:
It's the exact same Drowzee.
Actually, it's a level lower than the one in the Berry Fields.
And weak to Foul Play.
I promise you Noah and Ray dusted him off just as handily as the girls did.
And you're too flimsy for a street punk, but you don't hear me complaining.
...Don't answer that.
You'd think I'd have problems with this plan, and I do, because this shows you have problems that you need to work through before you seriously hurt someone (this is not new information).
But you have neither the standards nor the capacity to follow through on your threat. "Pick on someone your own size" likely does refer to "find some preschoolers to pick on." And even then, my money's still on the preschoolers.
They also kept this joke, despite the fact that I think they genuinely did forget to include the threat they're calling back to here. The only thing they said to me after losing was "you're too strong for a kid".
And also they won't be subjected to wiping out in the middle of the ocean, bashing their head against the reefs, getting nibbled on by water Pokemon, and in general figuring out just how much pain they can take. The guilt would be horrible.
And as a "token prize", we get... a Fresh Water. A healing item that heals 30 HP. Super Potions heal 60. Fresh Water is one of the three "vending machine" drinks, and the general clutter of healing items in that range is largely assauged by the fact you spend a lot of time, proportionally, where healing items there are still decent.
Fresh Water being nerfed to 30 compared to what it was before now (50) does not help that. I have no idea what they were thinking.
Now now, let's not get too far ahead of ourselves. Team Skull isn't exactly a tough fight.
Yeah, we get to ride Mantine when we beat Hala. Good to note.
Anyway, now we can climb this rock structure and go behind the tents for some extra goodies.
Yeah, manta ray adopting little fish pets is a standard thing. It's actually the evolution method for their pre-evolution!
Whoops, it's hiding behind my big head. But anyway, there's a Pyukumuku we can play with.
"I don't even know what a Circle Pad is! Why do the tourists keep telling me you flick them to surf?"
The White Herb is a single-use hold item that, if the holder suffers a lowered stat stage, it will instantly be set back to neutral. The problem with using these in the main story is that it took until SV for them to consider "hey, maybe we should consider having them come back after battle so you can use them on the next battle?". These things fall straight into Too Awesome To Use and never come out.
There's five hidden items scattered around the beach- three sellable Pearls, a Fresh Water and a Soda Pop (heals 50 HP). I meant to show them, but I caught the wrong part of the screen while looking up where they hid. That was dumb of me. Especially since they're just on random parts of the beach, too.
...
That is still not as reassuring as you want it to be.
At the far south end of the beach (we are, roughly, directly underneath Surfer Carlton right now) is a cave. This is one of the weirder caves in the series, and I've seen Scorched Slab from Hoenn.
The Sandy Cave only has a small bit of land for us to explore right now. We can come back here with the ability to cross water... only to find not one, but two obstacles that require us to come back even later. There are two good prizes for coming back here, with one in particular being spectacular, but I wonder what the point of it is. Maybe they just really wanted a place to put that spectacular prize.
The only things you can find, even once you gain the ability to cross water later, are level 6-9 Zubat and Psyduck at 70/30 odds. Not even a rare encounter or something.
Psyduck (Ultra Sun): Using psychokinesis gives it a headache, so it normally passes the time spacing out and doing as little as possible.
It is at least a place to get Psyduck a little earlier than normal. Psyduck is a pure Water type that is convinced it is part Psychic (it never gets the type), cursed with a slightly-too-high evolution level to really be worth adding at this point in the game, but actually somewhat passable when given a chance. Only passable, though- it's decent at everything, but not specialist enough for any specific purpose. The only thing I can think of for how to justify getting this thing so early is that it's another option to fight Hala with.
Psyduck's Abilities are Damp (prevents the opponent from Exploding) and Cloud Nine (neutralises the bonus effects of weather). Weather is something we can't really experience until we get Psyduck in SM, but it is a pretty powerful effect. Cloud Nine's only really good if your opponent is capitalising on it, though- often, you want to be benefitting from the weather, and Psyduck can even be good at that.
Before we get to Bethany, we have one more thing to look at: another appearance of our old friends from the festival, ??? and ???!
They have their sights set on Verdant Cavern, too. Can't a girl do her Island Trial in peace?
Considering kids often go in there to do their Island Challenge, do you think it's still in there?
Compared to many regions, the Alolans have their heads screwed on. Many dangerous areas are blocked off to tourists and locals, and access requires either you prove yourself capable of carrying yourself there, or you be accompanied by someone who is. These people are neither, and thus they will need to figure out how to deal with that.
And their solution is "go ask for special permission". To be fair, I think Verdant Cavern is also a protected space for cultural and ecological reasons... actually, I don't think this helps their case.
...Poke Balls cost 200 Poke Dollars. I went from being worried about you to worried you lot are no better informed than Team Skull.
I did not want to ask that question. This also seems to be version-exclusive, and possibly undocumented: Bulbapedia only has Rotom's quote for Ultra Sun:
Th-those folkzzz don't look like anyone else I've ever seen in Alola...
I didn't screenshot it, because I wasn't expecting it to be unique, but it's worth mentioning. Anyway, what did the other pair of weirdos say?
Man: Yes, I see… So this way lies Verdant Cavern… It is one of the places in this land filled with the Blinding One's power… Most certainly worth investigating!
Trainee: Yup! The aura levels are really high!
Man: Calm yourself, Zossie. It will be difficult for us to investigate it, though, since we do not use Pokémon of our own… We will have to think of some other way. Perhaps we could use our technology to find a way to control Pokémon…
Trainee: Maybe I could go in as a trial-goer? Take on the trial and everything? Though I don't have one of those island challenge amulet thingies…
My impressions of the two duos have been reversed. I think this Trainee has the right idea, guys, someone give her a Pokemon and let her do the Island Challenge. I'd consider teaching her a few tricks, if I wasn't worried about what your plans for the Blinding One are and how they might affect me.
Also, we finally have a singular name for one of them! Don't worry, they introduce themselves next appearance.
Now back to Bethany. Somewhat surprisingly, there's a few Trainer shuffles between versions that came up in addition to different Pokemon (the biggest differences on that front being that Gentleman Stanley is no longer in the cemetery while a Preschooler takes his place), and one thing that happened was that this lady actually isn't in USUM. It's a thing.
This Trainer is one of the many tourist-ish classes, without actually being the designated Tourist class.
She's a Backpacker, and Backpackers are a weird mix of Hikers (a class that specialises in mountain-loving Pokemon) and Tourists. Fittingly, since that's about where Backpackers sit as a career option- when you want to experience rough rides, but you also don't want to specialise in that sort of thing. They were introduced in BW as a unisex class and appeared in every generation following... but weirdly, no generation after BW kept them unisex. Kalos and Paldea have male Backpackers, while Alola and Galar have female Backpackers. Weird.
(Also, while Trainer Classes do typically get new designs between games, Alola's Backpackers are pretty much exactly identical to Unova's female Backpackers. It's kinda uncanny, seeing a Trainer Class design being replicated so thoroughly...)
Huh, funny, that Pokemon is from Unova. Maybe she legitimately is Unovan.
Cottonee (Ultra Moon): When attacked, it expels cotton from its body to create a diversion. The cotton it loses grows back in quickly.
Cottonee is a really cool Grass/Fairy type and one it can be fun to play with, but it's a Pokemon that works better later than it does now. For now, it's fodder for anything that hits a weakness.
Especially since its whole thing is boosting itself for later. This is not the stage of the game for that kind of gimmick.
...Although oh man, her pose is cool.
It was probably Sam that took her on. Anyway, let's look at how Route 2 is set up on this side...
It's a bit of a branching path, with this side area that has grass that can mostly be bypassed, or a thick covering of grass on the main path. Yeah, no question, I want to get to that Pokemon Centre so I don't have to run back and forth so much.
And for that, I need to fight this Lass.
It's a Misdreavus!
Unfortunately, Spite didn't work because Misdreavus is faster than Woodstock, and Bite oneshots. Woodstock powerful.
Hm, Disable on Grimer?
We'll see if I can't find the right use case. Not likely, but hey, Woodstock can take a lot of hits.
...Some of these loss quotes can get kinda esoteric.
A Super Potion behind Isabella, and now we've reached the Pokemon Centre. Seems we've got some plot to do before we explore the rest of the surroundings...
It's Hau! Presumably, he beat us here because we spent a lot of time dealing with Team Skull.
Even if you say your team is good, we're lured into the Pokemon Centre because Hau can't say the same. Might as well, though, check in on the Storage System.
OK, yup, sacred site. The weirdos in USUM should probably take Zossie's idea.
(I'm not sure if it's explained why Verdant Cavern is sacred, but I'm not too fussed about that.)
Making sure we have a healthy stockpile of these before we can buy them. Again, both SM and USUM get these, Lillie's extras earlier didn't seem to come from anywhere.
This is a weird mechanic to tutorialise in this breath, because "Revives are not currently for sale" and "some Pokemon Centres sell different wares" are unrelated thoughts. Revives will be sold on the left counter once we have cleared a certain number of Trials. Only the right counter will change its wares based on location. This is, however, the correct time to mention that the right-hand clerk can change wares, because this is the second Pokemon Mart we've seen with a right-hand clerk at all: Good to make sure you know this guy doesn't have the X Items we saw in Hau'oli.
I hope you figured this one out in Hau'oli, though.
We'll wind up finishing the first Trial before him, but which order that you and your rival did their challenges never usually winds up mattering. It's not like two people can do the same challenge at the same time- there's only one guy setting them.
As long as it's excitement, guy. Oh yeah, speaking of you...
Ultra Sun gave him a new feature, and an exceptionally powerful one: Rotom Powers.
We are forced into doing the first one by a very much more-enthusiastic-than-us Hau.
Rotom's eyes will occasionally start shining yelow, and when they do, tapping on them will roll up a spin on the Roto Loto.
The first spin will always award the same power, but after that, it's random. I have no idea what goes into this, and honestly, I'm not particularly one for caring.
Rotom Powers are obtained in bundles of two, and function as Bag Items when obtained. They cannot be sold to Poke Marts or given as hold items, just Used.
A good solid chunk of Rotom Powers are even more powerful X Items. I will never be using any of the Battle Rotom Powers, but there's some tolerable Field ones.
Field:
- Roto Encounter: Increases the chances of finding high-level wild Pokemon for a time.
- Roto Stealth: Prevents encounters for a time.
- Roto Exp. Points: Increases the EXP you gain for a brief time.
- Roto Prize Money: Money you win from battles is tripled for a brief time.
- Roto Friendship: Increases the friendship your party gains for a time.
- Roto Hatch: Eggs in your care hatch faster.
- Roto Bargain: Poke Marts and some specialty stores will charge half price.
Battle:
- Roto Boost: Raises all stats by two stages.
- Roto Catch: Increases the odds of catching a Pokemon.
...Hm. Actually not as obscene as I remember. There is one other Rotom mechanic that is rather unfair, but most of these are more utility than anything. I'm just more bothered by some of the other related mechanics here, perhaps.
Oh, hello, Lass! These are what are called "in-game Trades", or IGTs. An NPC will offer to provide you a specific Pokemon in exchange for something found in the wild, usually near them (although this isn't as likely the later in the game you find them.) These IGTs will usually be a Pokemon you cannot find until later in the game. The early IGTs give you Pokemon that are good against a nearby boss fight- this Machop is very tempting for use on Ilima's upcoming Normal types- but later ones are more for offering some rare options. IGTs are also useful because they have a x1.5 EXP bonus, and if you care about the Lotto, this gives you more IDs for more chances to get a good outcome.
The disadvantages are as follows: A Pokemon that you didn't catch will suffer penalties for Disobedience, which means they'll often refuse to do what you order them to if their level is too high. Fortunately, they never really balance this well (the current level cap is 20, and it will be increased before we fight things that are level 20), but that EXP bonus doesn't look so good now. On a matter more for players being pickier, but IGTs will also have qualities that are fixed, some of which are unfavourable compared to an identical Pokemon you catch yourself. Fortunately, the IVs aren't as terrible as they sometimes were when they started (in fact, in this game, you get one perfect IV and the rest are random), but the Ability, Nature and nickname are fixed. Whether you can live with that will depend on the person, but while I'll do the trade, none of my files will use her Pokemon.
Also I don't have a Spearow yet.
Since SM just got Berries, a reminder that Pokemon cannot use Potions as healing items. If you could use Fresh Water as a hold item, I'd like it more, but that would probably be a horrifying proposition for Little Cup.
A normal thing for cats and dogs alike. Oricorio is a bird.
Probably not too much worse, so long as the talons didn't get in uncomfortable places.
Another job, this time for a tourist.
...Actually, wait, hold on, we're not Alolan, we just immigrated here. I guess we do have the amulet, which makes us look more like a local than a fellow tourist... I guess that's why she asked.
Hearing is easy. Doing is harder, but I was planning on running around for a while, I might be able to fit this in my schedule.
Congratulations. Not actually my business, are you going somewhere with this?
Oh. That's actually a really cute explanation for the setup behind job. While the two of them were not in the same room, he found a cute new species of Pokemon, and now she's like "I wanna see what all the excitement's about, but also how do I do that?".
Both SM and USUM have a Cutiefly Trainer- we haven't fought the one in SM yet. Besides, USUM has a different job anyway.
Not only that, but if she actually looks at it first, she can make a judgement on whether she wants one before she commits to it. It's basically a perfect scenario to make "can you catch a Pokemon and show me it's Dex entry" feel like the correct way to solve their problem.
They're also in the tall grass near this Pokemon Centre on Route 2. Same odds, too, as it happens.
I'll get right on it.
Somewhat hilariously, although it didn't occur to me while playing, but Bethany does plan to use Cutiefly on her team. Fortunately, I remember to prepare her before I start the Trial, but still. This is fitting.
The scenario is identical in USUM, but the hubby found Crabrawler instead.
Stuff on the right-hand side. Super Potions are a bit weird (since they'll be a regular buy soon), but those unique Poke Balls are the important thing. Buyable Nest Balls helps early, but Luxury Balls are the real prizes. A Pokemon caught in a Luxury Ball will get an extra point of friendship from any event that gives friendship. Since this includes "walking 128 steps", this can add up fast. If you want to evolve an early friendship evolution, this is the ball you want to use.
Anyway, now it's time to start catching things.
Spearow (Moon): Farmers whose fields are troubled by bug Pokémon appreciate Spearow for its vigorous appetite and look after it.
Spearow is a Normal/Flying type who first appeared in RBY in the early grass, but was not actually Kanto's answer to Pikipek (that was Pidgey). Spearow is a slightly stronger, faster and frailer Pidgey, being a really good choice in bird Pokemon, but we live in a more modern age. You need to be better than Spearow to cut it these days. Plus, Flying has a bit of a problem with not having good Physical moves in the "90 BP" area.- a bit of a problem when you have "good but not great" Physical Attack.
Spearow's only Ability is Keen Eye. There's a reason I'm running Pikipek's non-Keen Eye slot.
Growlithe (Ultra Moon): It has lived alongside humans since ages ago. Its bones have been found in excavations of ruins from the Stone Age.
Growlithe is the first Fire type for non-Litten users, and will be the only one for a long while. It's hard to say it's a bad spot to be stuck in, but still, Fire types are just like that. Growlithe itself is our first example of a "Stone evolution"- it evolves when a special Stone is used on it, at which point it becomes a very powerful Pokemon indeed, but stops learning new moves by level. Using stone evolutions is a balance of "do I need the new moves from level up or do I need the stats?" Growlithe makes some decent cases for both sides, getting a healthy suite of physical attacks during its early level ups, while being a kickass final form with no stat lower than 80. Growlithe does suffer from trying to be mixed, but really, on a Physically-focused Fire type, it's good to have Flamethrower in your back pocket.
Growlithe gets Intimidate and Flash Fire (powers up Fire moves after being hit by an enemy Fire move.) Flash Fire can be good, because it also makes it immune to Fire moves, but you want Intimidate.
Cutiefly (Moon): Myriads of Cutiefly flutter above the heads of people who have auras resembling those of flowers.
Aww, that is hilarious. Cutiefly is a Bug/Fairy type who stands out among the crowd for being... surprisingly really good? Bug types aren't known for their quality, but come evolution, Cutiefly is rocking solid Special Attack and amazing Speed. Not only that, but it also learns all the moves it cares about quite rapidly- it's got its powerful Bug move as soon as it evolves, and only needs another ten levels to pick up its Fairy move. Cutiefly will make an excellent problem solver, so long as we problem-solve how to stop it from getting smashed back.
Cutiefly's Abilities are Honey Gather (a variation of Pickup that only finds Honey- a single-use item that instantly generates a random encounter on being Used) and Shield Dust (blocks all special effects of damaging moves used against it). Not only is Cutiefly one of the four Pokemon to carry Shield Dust, it's probably both the best one and the one that doesn't want something else. Don't bother with Honey Gather, it sucked back in games where Honey did something better than what it's been reduced to.
I added her to the team at the end of the update, but here's the Cutiefly we're going with. Out of the box with both STAB moves, coverage and a move to inflict a good status. And it spends the next seven levels learning better STAB. And it's not got long to evolve after that. When we praise Butterfree for being good early, Cutiefly makes it work.
Sadly, Nest Balls don't actually give Premier Balls in this game, just the main trio. But still good to have these.
Also picked up a spare Spearow to give to Hila, so we can get ourselves a Machop. And while we're here, we might as well watch a Trade happen, since the same animation plays for IGTs and Trades you do with friends!
First, you see your Pokemon off, as it goes into a Poke Ball and then somehow shoots off into the distance. In the original games, they actually showed your Pokemon being sent along the Link Cord connecting your two Game Boys (and with DPPt, they updated it to show it flying off into the distance over DS Wireless), but they decided to make that bit a little more abstract by BW and just make it "the two Pokemon cross by each other in pillars of light".
I mean, when you're trading over the internet, is it really that different?
Even as far back as RBY, they had this bit where both Pokemon involved were displayed, with the one you started with going "away" from you and the one you're getting coming "towards" you. It's probably the coolest part of the animation, and Alola made it cooler by adding this bit where the two Poke Balls draw a hexagon.
And the animation that played at the start is played "backwards", to show us getting a Pokemon, and also reminding us our trading partner will be feeling just the same way with theirs.
Describing it, I can kinda see why trades are still so heavily pushed, but it's still annoying. No one wants to be the giver.
Just as you would catch any other Pokemon, a Pokemon you first possess by Trade will be added to the Pokedex, complete with all the bells and whistles involved, in SM. This gets somewhat awkward, because the other person can't actually continue trading, or leave the trade, until this is completed. It's even worse with trade evolutions.
It does have the funny effect that, since we've technically never Seen Machop before, it is added to our Dex to an empty space rather than the dull space associated with having Seen but not Caught it.
Machop (Sun): It loves working out. As it gazes at its muscles, which continue to swell day by day, it becomes more and more dedicated to its training.
As a Pokemon, Machop is often mentioned in the same breath as Abra and Gastly, being another three-stage RBY Pokemon that reaches its final stage by trading. As a Pokemon to use, however, it does not live up to the high standards those two set. It has a massive Attack stat, but only passable bulk and moderate-to-low Speed, which is a bit of a problem to have in combination. It is by probably the worst of the four families we'll meet in the Abra/Gastly/Machop set (the fourth is in also Alola, but they kept it until much later), but much like the poor Psychic and Ghost types who got stuck being compared to Abra and Gastly, it's not that much of a problem to be worse than them.
Its Abilities, when caught in the wild, are Guts (50% Attack boost if suffering a status condition) and No Guard. No Guard is its claim to fame, and if it has this Ability, all attacks will connect, even during points in certain Pokemon moves that provide semi-invulnerability. That's both Machop's moves and those its opponents use on it. Machop probably uses more inaccurate moves than its opponents, but also the opponent's probably going first, so...
The trade is different in USUM- she gives you a Hawlucha instead- but I want to save Hawlucha's talk until I catch one proper.
That said, I did do the trade anyway, so here's the mon.
We also picked this one up, too!
Not the usual reaction one hears about bees or flies. But it is, indeed, cute enough for the reaction.
It'd make a great honeymoon present, too!
Only 3K this time. I'm not sure if this is "honeymooners give bad tips" joke or just a thing that happens, but oh well. It was free money.
They're 20%, shouldn't be the worst thing in the world.
Down from double damage, starting in XY. This was probably mainly because of how annoying it was to get critted. You should never be counting on a crit unless you're using crit stages, and that's the way they're balanced now.
Ma'am, you have a Water type.
...OK wasn't expecting that.
There's the Trainer with that Cutiefly. Malia actually moves into Hau'oli Cemetery for USUM, but doesn't change her dialogue at all. At least Stanley did when he moved out.
Sam wasn't able to secure the oneshot. A good omen for the job to come for Razzly.
Fortunately, Stun Spore isn't enough to lose Sam.
She's a Preschooler. She probably genuinely is that clueless.
It's where you keep a Poke Ball in your hand to throw, so you don't have to go "why, buttons?" reaching into your Bag.
This guys off in his own little alcove, and isn't required to be fought if you take the main path. Strangely. He's the male counterpart of the Pokemon Breeder, using the male counterpart of the Cowgirl's DP appearance, "Rancher". This one is especially weird to not see return, considering a place they can be found later.
Ooh, an enemy Butterfree.
It's even on flat 5 IVs, rather than flat 0s. I'm not sure that gets it extra points, but-
Never mind, we're in a damage race. Both of us are spamming Flying moves with one type while being weak to them with the other.
And it was a close race this time. The bulk was about the same, but actually having the stats to swing back really made a dent. At least I had Zapple.
Yeah... that might actually have clenched it for you.
...Is that supposed to be a pun? Berries do not often fall off the plants, to my understanding. Then again, Berries are often a substitute for "fruits"- in fact, many Berries are named after fruits. Looking at you, Nanab.
Just a Revive at the foot of this one.
We cannot leave Route 2 to the north because of this blockade. This is a thing for everyone on the island, too- it tells the tourists "this is the part of the island you're not allowed in unless you have your head screwed on". The Island Challenge triangles indicate the main reason you should be going this way is doing your Island Challenge.
Oh hello, we found our Berry-munching Pokemon!
Crabrawler (Sun): While guarding its weak points with its pincers, it looks for an opening and unleashes punches. When it loses, it foams at the mouth and faints.
Crabrawler, despite looking like a crab, is actually a pure Fighting type. I haven't talked much about SM's trailers, but I want to share one example: This is a trailer for Crabrawler that was made. Crabrawler is an unevolved Pokemon, and it only goes downhill from here: It's all Attack and not good enough bulk and speed all over again, making it worse than Machop overall (Crabrawler itself actually makes a non-zero argument over which is better with Machop itself- ie, not its evolutions). For those that did want to give it a chance, not only are those fists not taught the proper punching moves in SM (they are available in USUM), but it couldn't evolve until you got to the final area- like Magnemite, it's a location-based evolution. USUM was also able to fix this one, but it couldn't fix the fact that Crabrawler just... is not the Pokemon that appeared in the video.
Crabrawler's Abilities are Hyper Cutter (cannot have its physical Attack lowered by the opponent) and Iron Fist (increases the power of moves that involve punching the opponent by 20%). I usually go for Iron Fist, but this guy is not going to be on Bethany's team. Ray'll give it a shake, maybe.
Although it's not a Water type, it does get Water moves. Bubble is, I believe, because real coconut crabs bubble at the mouth a lot.
And now for our Berries. In a large pile (which this one was not), your first Berry will always be a Sitrus Berry, and then the random pool includes Oran, Persim, Chesto and Leppa Berries. Leppa Berries cure 10 PP, and when we get the ability to grow these in bulk, we will be growing a lot of these and never using them anyway.
The reaction to Crabrawler from the Tourist is about the same as it is for Cutiefly. Although it sounds much different from her.
Next time: A perfectly Normal Pokemon.
No comments:
Post a Comment