In addition to Brooklet Hill, we're going to be re-exploring a lot of water areas, including some Melemele cleanup. So, you know, this is gonna be a lot of blue.
Starting with our first fishing encounter...
Magikarp (Ultra Moon): Thanks to their strong hold on life, dirty water doesn't bother them at all. They live in waters all over the world!
None other than Magikarp! Famed the world over for its incredible seven foot leap, Magikarp impresses with not actually being the record holder for lowest BST before Sunkern (that was Caterpie, actually). It is a Pure Water type that only knows Splash until level 15, where it finally gets Tackle. Magikarp evolves at level 20, an agonising process made worse by Magikarp's presence in the Slow Experience group, but on evolution, gains acclaim among Water types as being one of the better options, statistically, we'll get in this batch- held back by sporadic access to new moves. But really, we'll see so many of them we'll get sick of it.
Magikarp's Ability is Swift Swim, but it changes on evolution. It also has a HA (Rattled), but that also changes on evolution. Not that it would make good use of any Ability on its own. Note that, when it calls for help, it can summon its evolution.
There's something about that dead-eyed stare, open mouth, and static-y cry that makes you feel kinda blegh about seeing a Magikarp.
Worst part is? I had a 70% chance of hooking a Magikarp there.
If you want decent odds of hooking the things that aren't Magikarp, you need to find these bubbling spots. When you fish in a bubbling spot, you have a different encounter table- which can often mean higher levels as well as more chances at the unique finds. Bubbling spots have three big downfalls: They go away if you run over/near them, you can only get one thing out of them before they disappear, and you have to reload the map to get them to respawn.
Old games made rarer spawns more likely by tying them to which rod you choose to cast. By consolidating the Rods into one item, they made fishing way more complicated than it needed to be. So much for streamlining the process. At least this means we can get the new fishing spawns as soon as we arrive in a new route.
And yes, sometimes the fishing rod doesn't even hook. If nothing bites, the bubbling spot remains, but failing to hook does dispel the bubbles. It's literally just a time waste.
Magikarp has a 50% encounter rate in bubbling spots on Brooklet Hill's main area.
Did you want people to go fishing?
Goldeen (Ultra Sun): Although known for their splendid tail fins, Goldeen apparently compete among themselves to see whose horn is thickest and sharpest.
At a 29% chance in normal sites and a a 45% chance in bubbling spots, Goldeen is the second fishing encounter you're likely to get in this game, and in many others. On account of possessing actually useful moves on catch, it is likely to fool you into thinking it's good. Sadly, Magikarp quickly surpasses it in power on evolution, and Goldeen flails behind on account of a shallow movepool, even worse stats and remaining a pure Water type. It might have been able to make something of itself had it had access to the Move Reminder, but even that is expecting plenty more of it. Just goes to show sometimes you need more than a pretty face.
Goldeen's Abilities are Swift Swim (doubles Speed in rain) and Water Veil (makes it immune to Burns). Both supplement its one strength, although both are rather niche in normal play. Its HA is Lightning Rod, which makes it immune to Electric moves and gives it a +1 Sp. Atk stage when hit by one. The Sp. Atk is pretty worthless, but Water types immune to Electric moves are relatively rare, and Goldeen manages a niche by at least filling that function. It's by no means any better at that, but it exists.
In addition to all that, you can also get items out of fishing. Typically Heart Scales, Pearls, and Big Pearls, although USUM added the odd rare item- here, they're Shell Bells.
Feebas (Moon): Although unattractive and unpopular, this Pokémon's marvelous vitality has made it a subject of research.
Finally. This is what I came for: At a miserable 1% base rate, 5% in a bubbling spot, we can find an old friend in the "obscenely rare fishing encounter" tables, Feebas! Feebas takes after Magikarp in many ways, particularly in the fact it comes with only Splash, Tackle and Flail, but much like Magikarp, evolves into a much more powerful Pokemon- more of a special wall than an offensive powerhouse, though, and pure Water in both stages, unlike Magikarp. Its weakness is the evolutionary requirement- after two generations of it being the absolutely obscene "raise its Beauty high enough" (this involved Contest mechanics that had nothing to do with the main RPG loop), it was finally changed to one of the main requirements... being traded while holding an item. As much as I love its evolution and struggle to find excuses to use it... trade evos. Trade evos and a surplus of Water types.
Feebas's Abilities are Swift Swim, Oblivious and HA Adaptability. On evolution, they turn into, respectively, Marvel Scale (a near-unique Ability that doubles its Defence when afflicted with a non-volatile status), Competitive (gives +2 Sp. Atk whenever its stats are lowered) and Cute Charm (applies the infatuated status to an opponent of the opposing gender on contact.) Marvel Scale is probably the best fit for purpose, but I can never say no to Competitive.
Basculin (Ultra Moon Red Striped): When a school of Basculin appears in a lake, everything else disappears, except for Corphish and Crawdaunt. That's how violent Basculin are.
Found in USUM are the twin fighting fish, Basculin. According to developer interviews, Basculin was a late addition to BW, and the two coloured stripes are because it's filling a hole in the Unova Dex. While the colours themselves are functionally inconsequential, they do have a key distinction, other than the Red ones existing only in Ultra Sun and the Blue ones existing only in Ultra Moon. In battle, Basculin has one job: Hit hard and fast. Its stats are only somewhat better than Goldeen's at this job, but they are better, and it has more useful moves and Abilities to supplement that strength when push comes to shove. But it remains a pure Water type, and there are many options.
Basculin's Abilities are Adaptability (changes the STAB bonus to x2) and a recoil-based Ability depending on what stripe they have. The Red stripes have Reckless, which increases the power of moves that inflict recoil by 20%, while the Blue stripes have Rock Head, which renders recoil moves harmless to the user. Their shared HA is Mold Breaker, which makes it so opposing Abilities cannot prevent this Pokemon from landing attacks. I think Adaptability is the Ability of choice, although after a point, you may want Reckless. I'm not sure it's surviving that long with Rock Head, nor do I think it has any specific Ability it's dodging with Mold Breaker (maybe Storm Drain...)
...OK, weird possibly-glitch note we're just going to have to deal with... Blue-Striped Basculin don't call for help.
...I think I found what happened to the terrible luck that Bethany's about to get stuck with. The Deep Sea Tooth and the Deep Sea Scale are special items for the Pokemon Clamperl, that may be found 5% of the time on wild Basculin (Red ones have the Teeth and Blue ones have the Scales) and certain other fishing Pokemon. When these items are held by Clamperl and traded, Clamperl evolves. I was considering using Clamperl's evolution in Ailey's run, as something somewhat unique, but didn't have my whole heart in it.
I don't think I can deny giving Clamperl a chance after seeing that. As a result, continuity-wise, Ailey's gonna run off to Melemele first, while Bethany's going to finish up in Brooklet Hill first. We'll be following Bethany, although if anything happens to look "off" with Ailey, that's why.
Meanwhile, the Totem's Dem, being directly connected to the sea, has entirely different tables for both Lapras Paddle and fishing. Starting with the fishing...
Why, it's Alomomola! Funnily, this is actually the rarer find out here- 1% in normal fishing spots and 20% in bubbles. That almost sublime bulk seen in the Wishiwashi battle is wasted on it, because it just doesn't really get the moves to do anything special. It really wants to be a big HP tank, but the main story just does not want Pokemon filling that role. Add that to being pure-Water...
Alomomola's Abilities are Healer (has a 30% chance of healing other Pokemon's non-volatile statuses in Doubles) and Hydration (cures its own non-volatile statuses in the rain). Hydration is the one that works in Singles, although both are pretty bleh. Its HA is Regenerator, which allows it to heal itself for 33% of its HP when switched out. Excellent on a Pokemon that loses HP fast (or indeed, any tank), but far from the thing that saves it.
After the Trial, you can find Wishiwashi to join your team here at 20% in normal fishing spots and 30% in bubbles. The reason I recommended catching your Wishiwashi during the Trial is because those ones come at levels 17 and 18, while the ones you catch here are 10-15 in SM. They're 10-21 in USUM, but you couldn't catch them in the Trial anyway.
As Pokemon, Wishiwashi are more or less exactly what we'd expect, considering the Trial. Once we get to level 20, Schooling comes into effect, and we have a titan on both offense and defence... were it not for the fact it doesn't get bonuses for HP and Speed. Trapped at the poor HP base of 45 and Speed of 30, what should be overwhelming power and tough bulk is handicapped, and Wishiwashi's performance remains somewhat... wishy-washy. If you can get the field in its favour, it's certainly as vicious as it looked. But it does require effort to reach that high. Pure Water, of course.
Wishiwashi's only possible Ability is Schooling. Not that you'd want to rely on Solo Wishiwashi in any circumstances- which you can often find yourself in should its low HP fall to 25%.
The next two Pokemon are found while riding Lapras Paddle- in Brooklet Hill, they only spawn in the Totem's Den, but they can also be found in other ocean areas more conveniently.
Finneon (Ultra Sun): When night falls, their pink patterns begin to shine. They're popular with divers, so there are resorts that feed them to keep them close.
Finneon is a pure Water type Pokemon that exists. That's about where the positives end, though- a terrible movepool for the main story that it still manages to not actually have, for the players that want to exploit those unique moves for creative tactics, mediocre stats that it has to wait until level 31 to actually get, and overall no possible reason to justify including it in your party, because even playthroughs dedicated to using only Water types have too many better options.
Finneon's Abilities are Swift Swim (doubles Speed in rain) and Storm Drain (renders it immune to Water type moves, grants it +1 Sp. Atk if hit by one, and in Doubles, forces all single-target Water moves used by other Pokemon to target it). Storm Drain is about the only thing worth choosing it for over literally anything else, because only four Pokemon exist that can have Storm Drain... and even then, one of them is still in this game, just really late. Its HA is Water Veil (prevents Burns), and since it doesn't really learn physical moves, it just doesn't want it.
Important note about Storm Drain- I use "in Doubles" as shorthand for "this effect doesn't work in most battles". But such effects do work for opposing wilds in S.O.S., so if you happen to be using Water moves (for... some reason), you will trigger Storm Drain even if you target a Finneon you know is Swift Swim or Water Veil.
Tentacool (Ultra Moon): Its body is 99% water. The remaining 1% contains the organ that makes its poison.
Finally, something that isn't pure Water! Tentacool is a Water/Poison type that is strong on Special Defence and is decently fast, too. Although Tentacool stand as the Zubats of the open waters, they hold a decent reputation for being decent in battle, although you may still see enough of them that you decide against carrying one anyway. Besides, it needs a bit of investment to get itself working, and a lot of its tricks are more mediocre in Alola due to the way it works.
Tentacool's Abilities are Clear Body (renders it immune to hostile attempts to lower its stats) and Liquid Ooze (if hit by a draining attack, the attacker suffers the damage it would otherwise heal). As cool as Liquid Ooze is, particularly as an anti-Leech Seed strat, it's really far too niche, and Clear Body far too good, to justify any other option. Its HA is Rain Dish, which heals it for 1/16th of its HP every turn while it is raining- neat, but not worth choosing over Clear Body.
Poliwag (Moon): It's still not very good at walking. Its Trainers should train this Pokémon to walk every day.
Despite the background, we're moving on to the stuff we can find in the grass with Poliwag. Poliwag is a pure Water type for now, but when it reaches the more accessible of its two final stages, it gains a typing. Poliwag evolves by evolution stone, and honestly, considering the moves it gets, you might as well evolve it as soon as you can. The movepool situation is a little haphazard and missing more than you'd hope it would- it's a physical Water type, but the only physical Water move it gets is postgame-locked- but it does have aspirations worth meeting. It also has a second form it can evolve into that remains pure Water, but this requires trading to get.
Poliwag's Abilities are Damp (makes all Pokemon on the field unable to explode) and Water Absorb (heals itself for 1/4 HP if hit by a Water attack). Water Absorb is the clear winner here. Its HA is Swift Swim, which doubles its Speed in rain- tough competition with Water Absorb, and comes down to which one you see yourself triggering more often. The other final form of Poliwag gets a different HA.
Poliwag, Dewpider/Surksit, and Wingull are the only Pokemon that can be found while on Lapras's back in the main area of Brooklet Hill- since all three may be found in the grass, there is no need to specifically seek out Pokemon in the water.
In the daytime, in grass or on the water, all games can acquire their own Dewpider. We've of course seen Araquanid in battle, so we know what this Pokemon is capable of, but on our side? Things don't look so rosy. It gets all its good physical moves much later than I'd really like for it, its offensive stats themselves are pretty garbage all around (especially its Speed, yikes), and it's stuck with using Special options for Water moves to combo with its Water Bubble Ability. Tempting, but pass.
Its only normal Ability is Water Bubble, which Totem Araquanid has so kindly demonstrated. Its HA is Water Absorb, allowing it to heal when hit by Water moves. Really, just stick with Water Bubble, it's such a good list of effects you really want to stand by it.
Surskit (Ultra Moon): It lives in ponds and marshes that feature lots of plant life. It often fights with Dewpider, whose habitat and diet are similar.
Surskit is the original Bug/Water type, and until Alola, it was the only Pokemon with this type combination. It, however, evolves into a Bug/Flying type on evolution, disappointing a crowd with many Bug/Flying options to pick. However, Surskit has plenty of options with which to please, particularly because of its roots as a Water type- it learns a fair few options it wouldn't expect to otherwise that can surprise your opponents and slip past its competition. Combine this with surprisingly solid Special Attacking stats, and Surskit is one Bug/Flying type you won't want to overlook. Do make sure you have that evolution move bug checked out, though, it's supposed to get Air Cutter when it evolves at level 22, and if you miss that, you're stuck without a Flying STAB until 38.
Surskit's only main Ability is Swift Swim, replaced by Intimidate (-1 Atk to opponents when sent out) when it evolves. Its HA is Rain Dish, which turns into Unnerve (prevents opposing Pokemon from eating Berries when it is present) on evolution. Intimidate makes up for a lot of shortcomings, and it's an Ability it's thankful for, but you kinda get the sense that Surskit kinda wants to focus on that Bug/Water thing. In some ways, Dewpider was Game Freak making the Pokemon the Surskit fans wanted.
So what's Paras like when you're not using it to make Wishiwashi a chump? ...Pretty terrible, in all honesty. It's got, like, moderately decent Atk, but it's got nothing to work with in the rest of its stats, getting stuck with a BST total it shares mainly with second-stage starter evolutions, and its Bug/Grass type is hardly helping it in any way. It does, however, find itself with an incredibly valuable combination of moves that make it the king of catching Pokemon. It is one of the few Pokemon that gets access to the move Spore, that has a 100% chance of hitting and inflicting the Sleep status, and the fact it has claws gives it access to the move False Swipe. He may not win fights, but somehow, he's good because of it.
Its Abilities are Effect Spore (when hit with a contact move, inflicts a status ailment 30% of the time, split 9% Poison, 10% Paralysis, 11% Sleep) and Dry Skin (heals it for 1/4 HP when hit with a Water move and heals it for 1/8 HP in rain, but makes it take 25% more damage from Fire moves and lose 1/8 HP in sun). You could really go either way, based on personal preference. Paras gets memed on because Dry Skin combines with its x4 weakness to Fire to produce the most lethal attacks that can be naturally suffered, but let's be honest. It's Paras. It was losing to those no matter what. Its HA is Damp (renders explosions inert), which is what you really want for catching Pokemon, but is hardly worth chasing for how rare explosions are. When they do exist, though, you sure wish you had Damp...
Morelull, the Grass/Fairy that appears in the night slot opposite Paras, is a new-to-Alola Pokemon obviously designed to sit in the same seat at Paras did. As a result, it shares many of the poor stats that made Paras so terrible. And... somehow it works for Morelull. I think that's entirely on the back of of a special move only it learns, Strength Sap. Strength Sap takes the Atk stat of your opponent, counting any stat stages, heals you for that much HP, and then applies a -1 Atk stage to your opponent. The way the numbers work out, Strength Sap is so good that you'll be healing to full nearly every time as well as making yourself tankier and tankier. Morelull is a Pokemon I wish could've fit on somebody's team, but I'm already using enough Grass types, and Morelull kind of fell through the cracks. Dex this size, it's hard not to happen.
Morelull's Abilities are Illuminate (increases wild encounter chance if it is is in the lead slot by 100%) and Effect Spore (has a 30% chance of inflicting a Poison/Paralysis/Sleep on an opponent on contact). One of these has an effect in battle. Go for that one. HA is Rain Dish, healing it for 1/16 HP in rain. I'd still say go for Effect Spore here...
Paras and Morelull have a 50% chance of holding a Tiny Muhsroom and a 5% chance of holding a Big Mushroom. There was a surprisingly interesting mechanic related to this in FRLG- because FRLG doesn't have Luvdisc, the Move Reminder didn't ask for Heart Scales, instead asking for Mushrooms you could steal from Paras. Starting with DPPt, they made the Reminder entirely based on Heart Scales, and gave you more sources than just stealing from Luvdiscs. I kinda wish they chose different items from game to game- of course, when I don't wish the Reminder just used normal money instead.
50% chance.
...I don't get it either.
Oh, this is also where SM can catch its first Psyduck.
Island Scan on Saturday gives you a Marill with Aqua Jet in SM and a Marshtomp with Counter in USUM.
Thanks to Scald and a good HP in the form of Electric, Kasplashle should be able to land a splash, and especially land a good job as a Water counter so I don't have to rely on Oatchi and Zapple to do the job- when there's a ton of Water users around, you don't want the same two Pokemon doing all the work.
Now then, time to handle all the Fishermen around here. There are four Fishermen (and one Backpacker) on Brooklet Hill. Fisherman have actually typically been middle-aged men up until now, where they decided to go for the old man look. Male-only in most games, but SwSh decided to make them women, for variety I guess.
They mostly just use a miscellaneous set of Water types and are trivially easy to counter, assuming they don't whip out a Tentacool or Wingull for your Grass type, or a Barboach for your Electric type.
This guy was using Water Sport and Amnesia rather than some actually intimidating moves.
Although it really took its time going down.
Goldeen proved a lot more terrifying- which is where it derives most of its reputation, having and actually using Horn Attack when found on Fishermen.
And then they throw out a Flail and hit you hard when you've got them on the ropes. Flail grows in power the lower your HP is (unlike Return, it goes up in discrete values), and Kasplashle couldn't quite justify staying in.
This was a battle that I probably could've afforded to pack Oatchi or Zapple for.
Although Murphy muddled by.
Yeah, I've got the thing down.
...
You know, you're not that close to the fishing points around here. Fishermen always face the water, but in this game (where fishing is done in fixed points rather than on any Water tile), they don't always line up with where they should be.
...Well, I mean, he's not wrong...
Also, I brushed over these during the Trial, but there's two hidden items in the tall grass along the way.
Oh, is that why it's so complicated?
Herbert down here only has a Poliwag. A bit tough, but goes down pretty easily in return.
The ! is the easy part. The hard part is beating the odds.
...It may just be the player always interrupting the Fishermen mid-fish skewing things, but I'd like to imagine most people are polite enough for you to not have your line cast before battling you.
Fisherman Carl down here is the game's requisite "using nothing but Magikarp" guy- most (but not all) games up until now have included one guy who has six Magikarps as a complete joke. Carl is the only one in SM who comes close- he has two in SM, three in USUM.
Carl's are at least high enough level to know Tackle- I believe the only ones that are not are Andrew's in DPPt.
Incidentally, GSC doesn't really have a six Magikarp guy, although it has a few fisherman that have three or four Magikarp (and HGSS added one who eventually got to six Magikarp in rematches), while RSE had a six Magikarp guy who actually evolved his Magikarp. Despite what I've heard, BW's Magikarp guy uses Magikarp.
One decent thing about the Magikarp guy is that Magikarp gives Spd EVs, so fighting six of them is a decent way to get a burst of Speed on whatever you use to sweep him, but I don't really miss the joke. SwSh doesn't have a Fisher with any number of Magikarp, and SV doesn't have Fishers at all.
You're clearly having fun, although I wish you luck either getting Feebas or getting your full set of Magikarp.
There's also one more Fisherman down on a small island next to the entrance.
Just a Tentacool here, though.
It's Specially bulky enough that Kasplashle isn't doing great with HP Electric...
And that isn't encouraging.
Went for Scald, and was lucky enough to land Burn. Residual damage is nice.
Plus it does know the physical move Constrict. With that said, Constrict has a BP of 10, rendering it the weakest attack in the series. It has a 10% chance of lowering Speed- not that you'd ever willingly choose this move.
Thanks to Burn, Kasplashle is pulling ahead, but that Confusion is going to sting...
Made it! It's always nice to scrape out a win with something like Solo Wishiwashi.
When SwSh made the Fisherman class female, they changed the name to Fisher. I'm kinda surprised they didn't go with Angler, then.
Rare Candy behind him.
And the last of the normal Trainers, this random Backpacker.
She's not using a Water type, so it seemed like the perfect opportunity to use something that is weak to Water.
And K9 justifies that hesitancy by missing. Don't worry, pupper, you'll get your chance.
Wishiwashi's going for Aqua Ring, a Status Water move that allows Wishiwashi to heal for 1/16 HP a turn for the rest of the battle. Great in theory, although it's probably better just to get as many hits in with your Schooling form as you can and clean up with the rest of the team.
Glad you're enjoying the region! Hope I see you again, although I know I won't.
There is one more Trainer to talk about, and oh boy if he's not tough. To do battle with him, there must be ambient rain going on, which happens at certain times of the day. I know you can get it in the hour of 5-6 PM, but while I have seen that for Ultra Moon, I didn't get it this time. Ailey is playing in the hour of 6-7 PM real time, so in the morning (this is the same session I got the Comfey event.)
And yes, it is USUM exclusive.
If you talk to this melodramatic guy during rain, and after having defeated Lana, he'll challenge you to a battle. Note: He is not a route boss, and we don't need to fight all the fishermen first this time.
As he claims, this Veteran does come prepared with a Rain-themed team that even packs IVs, EVs and Natures. Veterans are a bit of an interesting Trainer Class in series history- they sorta fill the role of being the older version of the Ace Trainer, and as such, they often fill similar roles. Whether they're supposed to be better or worse is up for debate, but they're certainly rarer. They started popping up in DPPt, and beginning with BW, they became unisex.
They're also about this old in every game- you never really see old men and women in this class.
This Wingull has 15/30/15/30/15/30 IVs, 252 EVs in Sp. Atk and Spd, a Hasty (+Spd/-Def) Nature, the moves Water Pulse, Wing Attack and Rain Dance, and is holding a Damp Rock (to make its rain last 8 turns instead of 5). Take Johnny seriously. I really wish the datamine told me his Ability as well- it's probably Hydration, but watch out for a possible Rain Dish HA, considering the rest of this set.
Gorebyss (Ultra Sun): The color of its body changes with the water temperature. The coloration of Gorebyss in Alola is almost blindingly vivid.
Well, hello, newbie! Gorebyss is one of Clamperl's evolutions, focusing heavily on Sp. Atk and Def at the expense of HP and Spd. Told you Ailey picked up her Clamperl first. Gorebyss is a pure Water type, and being a trade evo means most people don't bother to use her, because waves vaguely. Her spot in Ailey's team is because I have the chance and I'm going to take it, and not a comment on her quality, or lack thereof.
Ridley's Ability is Swift Swim, doubling her Speed in rain. Her HA would be Hydration, curing statuses in rain. Swift Swim is nice to have here, but Ailey's hardly going to use either one.
Considering all the other Trainers in Brooklet Hill are flat level 16, that's a level jump.
...Wow, those EVs/Nature lifting weights. Ridley's Speed is only around 56 accounting for Swift Swim. That Wingull has 59 Speed.
Blasting him with HP Electric seems to do the trick, though.
And refuelling for the second one I've gotta take out...
Mantyke (Ultra Sun): It's highly friendly and easily tamed. Tours that take people swimming with Mantyke are a super-popular beach activity.
This is Mantyke, a new-to-USUM old favourite we'll find later on in this update as a Melemele find. It went with 15/30/15/30/15/30 IVs, 252 EVs in Atk/Spd, a Hasty (+Spd/-Def) Nature, the moves Water Pulse, Wing Attack, Headbutt and Rain Dance, and its own Damp Rock. Interesting strategy, investing 252 EVs into a stat with a base of 20. Mantyke is definitely a Special Attacker, although the lack of Special Flying moves in its movepool is what sunk its chances of being on my team. Johnny seems to have tried the brute force method to deal with that.
Case in point, this did not prove to be the most effective of options. Mantyke's only possible Rain Ability is Swift Swim, and with all that Speed investment, the odds of Ridley outspeeding were pretty low.
Water/Flying too, so HP Electric wins this one too.
Won't beat this guy, though. Barboach is Water/Ground, immune to Electric.
Floette (Ultra Moon): It gives its own power to flowers, pouring its heart into caring for them. Floette never forgives anyone who messes up a flower bed.
Crysantha evolved into Floette during all that Water trainer battling at level 19. Nothing particularly special about it other than the extra stats and the switch from "riding the flower" to "carrying the flower", though. I quite like Floette's aesthetics.
Barboach (Moon): Its slippery body is hard to grasp, so much so that there are festivals where people compete to see how many they can catch barehanded.
Barboach has 15/15/15/30/30/30 IVs, 252 EVs in Sp. Atk and Spd, a Hasty (+Spd/-Def) Nature, the moves Water Pulse, Mud Bomb and Rain Dance, and yet another Damp Rock. He ditched Atk to focus on Sp. Def, and although I usually find the Barboach line prefers physical moves, Barboach's own Atk/Sp. Atk is equal enough to stand behind. Besides, Mud Bomb has 65 BP, so if you can get past the 85% accuracy, it's probably better off than Magnitude or a Bulldoze TM.
Its only rain-based Ability is the HA Hydration.
Giga Drain won this one. Occupational hazard of using Pokemon with x4 weaknesses there, Johnny.
The damage is because Barboach outsped, although with Floette, that's not too surprising. Only 49 Speed, though, Ridley could've beat that.
This one's a neat move. Wish is a Normal status move that does nothing on the turn it is used. At the end of the next turn, however, whatever Pokemon that happens to be out on the user's space is healed for half of Crysantha's maximum HP. Yes, even if that Pokemon is no longer Crysantha. No healing is performed if whatever is out happens to have fainted at the end of that turn. At final stage, Crysantha's final HP base stat is 78, which isn't great, but is solid enough that it will heal a large amount for most Pokemon.
Yes, I do wish Crysantha and Kasplashle were on the same team.
Wow, the dialogue is really tight in there. That might be the longest sentence that appears in one of these.
Veterans have a prize payout of x88, beating out Ace Trainers' x68. They're probably the most valuable regular Trainers that aren't advertising themselves as rich.
Hydration and Rain Dish don't really supplement you as much as you think they do. You need to take hits a bit less strong than that.
Now then, let's see what Johnny has to say about his mood.
...Say again?
"Legends tell they are still fighting in the weather wars to this day."
I'm going to assume not his main team, because I'd hope he'd be a little higher levelled with that reputation.
Although the team clearly was attached still.
...
Yeah, I think we ought to leave you to it.
On the way backtracking, we can find a fishing hole in Paniola, in this corner where the Vulpix was. Just two encounters this time, a Magikarp and a new find.
It's Barboach! 1 > 50% in SM, 10 > 60% in USUM, and a generalist with good HP and not much else to his name. A Water/Ground type gives it a single weakness- a double weakness to Grass- and this works out quite well for some Pokemon. Unfortunately, Barboach is not one of them. A mixture of bad moves and bad Abilities works against here, I believe.
Barboach's Abilities are Oblivious (immune to infatuation and taunt) and Anticipation (causes the Pokemon to shiver if the opponent has a super-effective move, OHKO move or exploding move). Oblivious is the better one of these, but you have a puddle on Abilities. HA is Hydration, which allows it to heal status conditions in rain. It's at least more useful to it, but... it's no Quagsire.
As a Ground type, it's immune to T-Wave, so you're going to have some other way to inflict statuses for catching it. I'm going with Gastly Hypnosis.
Time for us to make our first official ferry trip! Don't get used to it, we can go around it later.
You even come out of the exit. Anyway, there's one more thing we do before we go surfing:
Zygarde Cells! They really show up anywhere.
Our first stop for Surfing will see us going to Seaward Cave. There's nothing in this water to encounter in SM (well, there's Zubat and Psyduck), but USUM adds a new encounter here- along with Delibird.
Seel (Ultra Sun): It has always been supposed that Seel live only in cold seas. Their having shown up in Alola is a mystery.
It's an absolutely adorable little fella, Seel! Seel is a pure-Water type that evolves to gain the Ice type, and as they go, it's... all right? That's good bulk, albeit with a pretty terrible typing kneecapping its effectiveness, but it has some fairly flat numbers on offense. It can play physically, giving it access to both Water and Ice priority moves, but don't expect miracles from it. The worst part about it is that it doesn't even claim the title of "most adorable seal-themed Water/Ice type"- that's Spheal, who can be found by Island Scan before the next Trial.
Seel's Abilities are Thick Fat (gives it a resist to Fire and Ice type moves) and Hydration (cures status ailments in rain). Thick Fat is very good, since it loses that Fire resist for its Ice type, and it beats a weather Ability. HA is Ice Body, which allows it to heal 1/16 HP in the hail weather. Hail is far too specialised for a team that doesn't specialise in Ice types.
There's just an item here in SM (a very good, but too rare to use one in the Max Revive, though), but USUM receives a TM, and a good one at that. Frost Breath is a 60 BP, 90% Special Ice move that will always land a critical hit- unless the opponent blocks it with an Ability or Lucky Chant. This makes it functionally 90 power, and also lets it pierce stat stages. The accuracy is a bit of a downside, though, as is the fact that this move is mostly learned by Ice types and Alolan Water types that really have no business using it. Still, your Ice type will appreciate it while they wait for Ice Beam.
(The fishing hole is Magikarp and Barboach.)
Remember this place? Lot more stuff to do now we can surf!
Shellder (Sun): The hardness of its shell surpasses the hardness of a diamond. In days gone by, people used the shells to make shields.
Starting by going fishing! At 1 > 20% in SM and 5 > 35% in USUM, Shellder is another Water type that evolves into Water/Ice. Shellder has a very interesting trick up its sleeve, and one that turns it into a deceptively powerful Ice type physical attacker. It has the really high Defence score of 180, but its HP/Sp. Def leaves it easy pickings, and its low Speed means it's probably going second. Get it in the right situation, though, and it knows how to make an impact. Or five.
Shellder's Abilities are Shell Armour (blocks critical hits) and Skill Link (causes moves that hit 2-5 times a turn to always hit 5 times). Go for Skill Link- Shellder gets the move Icicle Spear, a 2-5 hit Ice move that more than earns its keep on its own. Sadly, it's the only one you get in the main story this time. HA is Overcoat, rendering it immune to passive damage from sandstorm, hail, and all of the powder/spore moves. They can never seem to fail giving this to Pokemon already immune to one of those things.
50% Pearl, 5% Big Pearl. Another source of cash.
Also a Zygarde Cell in this corner, where the letter is in USUM.
The only encounters on the water in SM are Tentacool, Finneon and Wingull, same as in the deepest part of Brooklet Hill. USUM adds a new one, as well as a matching encounter in fishing spots.
Remoraid (Ultra Moon): Also known as the "sniper of the seas," its water gun can hit prey without fail from over 300 feet away.
First is the fishing encounter, Remoraid. This is a 25 > 15% encounter here in Kala'e (yes, it does get less common to fit in Shellder's encounter boost), and overall, it's another dollop in the pool of pure Waters. It has high stats in both Atk and Sp. Atk, decent bulk, and a miserable Speed stat. About the only thing worth commenting on is that the design is inspired somewhat by the shape of a gun, which its evolution follows up on by looking slightly like a tank- the only connection between the two stages, really. It learns a lot of "beam" type moves as a result, giving it some handy coverage if you give it a chance.
Its Abilities are Hustle (ups Atk at the cost of accuracy) and Sniper (changes crits to do 2.25x the damage instead of 1.5x). Since it learns so many more Special moves, it's better to go Sniper- and most people would, because screw that accuracy drop. Its HA is Moody, which causes it to increase one of its stats by two stages randomly, and decreases a different one by one stage. This includes the possibility of accuracy and evasion on both counts, and is an Ability so powerful, competitive players ban it entirely. I've always wanted to use one, but it's always on Pokemon it's difficult to fit into your team.
And not far away is Mantyke, a Water/Flying type with a very fascinating evolution. You see, Mantyke evolves into Mantine, and for a bit of flavour, the devs decided its evolution method would be to level up while a Remoraid is present in the party. Ostensibly to slip under its fin, the Remoraid that induces the evolution is not "consumed" in the process. Note that, while the Pokedex implies Slowpoke and Shellder have a similar relationship, this evolution process is not applied to them.
As a Pokemon, Mantine is actually one of the more well-regarded special walls in the game, or at least, it used to hold that title in older games. Nowadays, it's harder to overlook the fact that that special bulk is all it really has. The main story demands a certain set of moves that it struggles to learn to keep up, so while it can perform when required of it, it is not a Pokemon that works in the player's favour.
Mantyke's Abilities are Swift Swim (doubles Speed in rain) and Water Absorb (heals 1/4 HP if hit by a Water move). Water Absorb is probably the better one for a tank, although if you know what you're outrunning, Swift Swim can have its perks. Its HA is Water Veil, which renders it immune to Burns. Not altogether something Mantine is that scared of.
Island Scan on Wednesdays gives Horsea- in SM, it knows Dragon Breath, while in USUM, it knows Water Pulse.
Litter items on the big island.
And the beach south of Seaward Cave. Roar will force the opposing Pokemon to run away (wild encounters) or switch out (Trainer battles), but has a -6 priority, making it go after pretty much any other move. It can be good, with entry hazards and/or getting rid of stat stages on problematic Pokemon, but it depends on knowing the right time to click it. Note that Roar does not work in S.O.S. Battles.
In USUM, Kala'e Bay is a little bigger, with a bigger island to explore in the middle along with some smaller sandbars. Ultimately, there's not much added to it, but it does exist and is worth mentioning. And almost questioning why.
I seem to have missed the screenshot, but I'm told the TM for Roar is here too, just on an island. The only real litter item worth commenting on is the Prism Scale, the item needed to evolve a Feebas. The freebie in SM is really late, but you can get it... moderately earlier by getting lucky fishing. If you can trade, this is a very nice find.
Kala'e Bay has nothing we haven't seen before, but there are two encounters worth commenting on. The first is Slowpoke, a 20% encounter. Here and only here, it is capable of calling for help from its evolved forms Slowbro (SM and USUM) and even Slowking (USUM only). Since it is a trade-less way of acquiring a Slowking, it's worth mentioning, but last time I tried, I spent like two hours on it and found only four Slowbros, so I think the odds aren't great.
Bagon (Ruby): Bagon has a dream of one day soaring in the sky. In doomed efforts to fly, this Pokémon hurls itself off cliffs. As a result of its dives, its head has grown tough and as hard as tempered steel.
And this jerk sure isn't encouraging me to put in the effort. If you didn't want to find Bagon in the tall grass on Route 3, they appear at 10% down in this tall grass. Despite this, Bethany spent half an hour looking for just one. Bagon's encounter rate is a cute nod to its classic Pokedex entries- it dreams of becoming the Flying type Salamence, so it jumps off cliffs and succumbs to the whims of cruel gravity. This patch of tall grass is directly underneath the one on Route 3 with Bagon in it, geographically- the Bagon we can find here are the ones that tried and failed to fly like Salamence. If you want a Bagon, this is the place to look, but they can only call for help from Shelgon- you need the ones on top of the cliff if you want baby Salamence.
Photo Spot out in the east of the bay, while you're on the water. It can get you Slowpoke, Corsola, Dugtrio, and in USUM, Smoochum.
On my way to my next stop, I realised I forgot to grab this Cell on the way to Kala'e, and went back for it.
It turns out that, for Bethany, it was a milestone! If you don't particularly care about the prizes you can get out of this for their own sake, 10% is all you really care about.
Just thinking about how late in the game you have to wait to get the benefit of gathering Cells. By the time we unlock this location, we will have received four Totems from Stickers in USUM.
Odds are, by the time I get there, I'll have 50% for the next milestone.
More Cells on Route 1 and in Iki Town. All time-locked, as it happens.
Hey, Hala. Now that all the plot around him is done, he's hanging around his house.
He's mostly going to wax philosophical if you take the time to see him.
He knows what he's talking about, but I'm not sure Bethany is any better informed. Definitely a case of "look for people in the places you want to be found".
Hello, what is that?
It's the other Zygarde Unit! There are five of them total, and they have their own reward separate from just amassing any amount of cells. Note that they do also count to the 10%/50% thresholds.
Sina will also call up to mention our new discovery.
In the lore, Zygarde Cores are necessary to form part of a Zygarde, but it seems we can have a Zygarde without a Core.
Zygarde Cores allow us to learn moves!
...Why don't you come visit me at the Aether building on Akala, then?
Mum continuing to follow quite zealously with our island challenge, there.
I also got this line to trigger, although I really don't know what all of Mum's dialogue is based on- if it is based on anything.
Another Zygarde Core, this time in... our room? Well, sure, if Zygarde wants...
...Are you going to do this every time?
The worst thing you could do for making this quest seem fun is wait until you've explored the entire region first, and yet all the dialogue is done that way.
On the beach outside Kukui's house, we can find a pair of injured Corsola after having defeated Lana's Trial. This is, like, the most remote "post-Trial" thing we can find- most unlockables wait until after having beat a Grand Trial.
You get a choice in how you intend to help the Corsola, but before you actually have to invest resources into lending that aid, their Trainer comes along to take the burden for us.
She thought she was in the clear to leave them to their own devices...
Except the Pokemon that was coming to prey on them was hiding from her search. Shows you can't be too careful.
Mareanie is a crown-of-thorns starfish Pokemon that loves to predate on Corsola. This short little interaction serves as a gameplay clue that we can find a Mareanie to catch if we S.O.S. chain Corsola.
Whether Mareanie's predation efforts are successful at endangering the Corsola population or unsuccessful at actually doing long-term harm differs from person to person, but that's no reason to leave them to their own devices.
The Wide Lens boosts the accuracy of the user by 4505/4096, or roughly 10%. It's a nice buff, but since it's multiplicative, I don't think this can make a slightly-inaccurate attack into a perfect accuracy one. This sort of thing is why evasion buffs are so scary.
And off they head to the Pokemon Centre.
The lady is moved to Hau'oli City Beach in USUM, justifying her sense of safety in abandoning her Corsola a little more, and also offers a different reward. The Luminous Moss is a one-use item that, if the holder is hit by a Water-type attack, will raise its Sp. Def by 1 stage. This will not nullify the Water move, like Storm Drain, and in fact will not function if you already have such an Ability. There's a few of these items lying around, and none of them really got off the ground.
The Wide Lens is found by stealing from 5% Sableye and some lategame random finds in USUM, while the Luminous Moss is a 5% drop from Corsola itself.
We already found this Pearl when we first visited this beach, but as proof of concept, it comes back daily.
And a Zygarde Cell next to the lab. I believe that's all the ones on Melemele we can claim.
Time for the third and final big Water area, Melemele Sea! This area can be accessed by Surfing from either Route 1 Hau'oli Outskirts, or Hau'oli City Beachfront. The two areas are considered distinct, but the only difference between the two is that they have different bubbling spot fishing rates in USUM only. There's a rare Pokemon that can be found by fishing here, and USUM added a second one- so one of them has a much higher rate on the Route 1 side, and the other a higher rate on the Hau'oli City side.
There's also a good smattering of Swimmers here. Six in total- four on the Route 1 side, two on the Hau'oli City side, and a total of two each of the game's three designs.
They use the usual collection of Water types, although USUM did some rearranging in order to add some of the new rares to their collection. Tentacool is one of the ones taken away from them for that- Yasu has a Wishiwashi instead there.
I think Kasplashle wishes she was in USUM there.
Fair's fair. There's some sense that Trainer customisation and rough-housing it with Mother Nature serves as a bit of a crossroads for the series, although whether it's that or customisation being added at the same time the series lost its interest in rough-housing with Mother Nature is a different question.
And here's the freebie Soft Sand. 20% boost to Ground types, and yet usually found surrounded by water.
Which sounds to me like the life from the sea has either the least or most advancements, there.
Wishiwashi and Barboach in SM, Pokemon we've seen before.
Mareanie (Ultra Sun): They eat Corsola branches, so Mareanie are hated by craftsmen who work with Corsola branches that have naturally fallen off.
In USUM, he instead uses Mareanie/Remoraid. Seeing Mareanie here will help you register it in your Pokedex as Seen in order to track down its location, especially if you miss the Corsola event that gives you a textual clue.
And also arouse your curiosity some about what it is.
Don't feel too bad.
There's a bunch of rocks in the water preventing us from going to the sand bed in the south-east in SM. We cannot ride Tauros and Lapras at the same time, so we'll need to find a new Ride to get through here.
USUM removes these rocks, too, allowing us early access here. However, the prizes are much different- there's a TM here in SM, but just a normal item and a Trainer in USUM.
It's a recurring character class, Black Belt! These guys first showed up in Gen 1 and have appeared, virtually unchanged, in every game since. Alola was the first region to shake up the appearance- rather than thirty-year-old men with black hair, they're sixty-year-old men with white hair!
Black Belts are male-only, although the Battle Girl class served as a female counterpart in some games- chiefly RSE, DPPt and XY. SM does not have this class, though.
The battle of the Hawlucha! This Hawlucha is a bit of an asshole, and packs a 31 IV in Atk, 252 EVs in Atk, and the Adamant Nature (+Atk/-Sp. Atk).
Considering we're equal level, his Hawlucha is probably better than Hawkeye.
Mine is faster, so I win. This fight is absolutely terrifying, though- it has the four default moves for a Hawlucha at level 18, but Hawlucha is so good out of the box that it knows Karate Chop, Aerial Ace and Roost. If you do not have something really good, fast, and ready, this fight will be like pulling teeth. Even Hawkeye, a Pokemon just as good as Hawlucha on account of being a Hawlucha, cut things close.
Nope. No, you have not. You are still that terrifying.
15K Poke. You can also get those randomly from fishing, usually in USUM only. We're rich!
The Trainer Tips here tells you about regional variant breeding. I'm a little confused about it, but I think Pokemon bred in this region will always hatch into the Alolan version, regardless of what form the parents are. They will match the forms of the parents if the parent is holding an Everstone, though.
First example of the second variety of Swimmer. Honestly, I appreciate the further distinction in Water Trainers- makes it easier to track which ones you've fought already when they're doing a healthy mix.
Finneon in both games.
She's decided to use Rain Dance, showing this off in a context where it actually does something. Weather moves summon rain for five turns, counting the turn where it is used. As a result, despite the powerful impact weather can have, the moves that summon it, themselves, are pretty mid.
Well, that was irritating. Finneon actually accomplished something!
At least your Finneon managed to accomplish that. But still, it lost to Solo Wishiwashi.
That's an obligatory joke. There's always a Swimmer who acknowledges the hilarity of a woman wearing nothing but a bikini somehow having the ability to carry Poke Balls. How they go about it differs from game to game, although Shelby seems... very excited to have her Corsolas next to her Cloysters.
Knowing the branches break off easy makes me feel better about a lot of things I've seen today.Corsola (Sun): Coral branches grow from its head. They break off quite easily, but they grow back in about three days.
Wow, that Ancient Power lifted weight. Not sure how long Kasplashle can linger here.
Especially with that bulk.
Sam had to tag in.
It's a mutually SE race, but I have confidence in Sam.
Finally, Snaggletooth gets Bite. Losing Pursuit was a bit of a pain, but if I ever needed Dark moves, I always had Woodstock.
Keep your Corsolas to yourself.
Meanwhile, on the Hau'oli City side, there's a low concrete barrier here to keep the area confined.
Right, you two.
Luvdisc (Moon): Loving couples have a soft spot for this Pokémon, so honeymoon hotels often release this Pokémon into their pools.
Luvdisc is a Pokemon based on a kissing fish, and fittingly, this Trainer has two of them. Also important, as these guys are hardly tough enough to put up a decent fight on their own.
Yeah, I'm not sure she's actually trying here.
Hidden Rare Candy on this beach.
And one last Swimmer outside another part of the sea blocked by rocks. This time, they're still there in USUM- we'll need to come back in both games.
Just a Goldeen in SM.
Clamperl (Ultra Sun): Despite its appearance, it's carnivorous. It clamps down on its prey with both sides of its shell and doesn't let go until they stop moving.
And the dex entry for Clamperl in USUM.
I'm sure it is. That's not how I want to hear it explained.
And before I get started on fishing now that I've cleaned out all the interruptions, there's also a Super Repel at the bottom of the ocean to pick up as a litter item. The nerve of some people...
I usually find this one right off the shore of Kukui's lab to be the best fishing spot for bubbles, although there are other ones.
The surfing encounters are the same ones available in Kala'e Bay, including adding Mantyke to USUM, and the fishing includes Magikarp, Wishiwashi, Remoraid in USUM, and two rare Pokemon. USUM's third one meant they had to really shake up this table to make getting them all somewhat reasonable.
Starting with Luvdisc, a pure Water type. 1% > 40% in SM, it became 25% > 15% in USUM because someone on the dev team informed the encounter table guys that Luvdisc should never have been that rare in the first place. It's got decent Speed, bad bulk as its good stats, and terrible offensive power. Trying to get any actual use out of it is an exercise in finding what attacks it knows that least require its stats and hoping its Speed lets it use them. XY made it a junk encounter on routes where Magikarp is not available, and most people fish it up for the 50% Heart Scales.
Luvdisc's only normal Ability is Swift Swim, doubling its Speed in rain. At least this means it's more likely to do something? Its HA is Hydration, which manages to be even less effective for it.
I love Rotom saying I'm getting to know the Akala Pokemon from catching a Pokemon on Melemele.
1% > 20% in SM, 5% > 35% on the Hau'oli City side in USUM. Corsola is a defensively-based Pokemon that got +30 BST as a buff for SM and still isn't great defensively. It turns out that Water/Rock doesn't actually work as well as a defensive type as it sounds- they don't complement each other, they give Corsola a double weakness to exploit, and without magnificent stats, Corsola is easy fodder and unable to do anything in return. Basically the only reason anyone remembers it is the increased prominence it got for SM plot-wise.
Its Abilities are Hustle (increases Atk for lowered accuracy) and Natural Cure (cures status conditions when switched out). Natural Cure works out nice for it, assuming it has the staying power to be switched out. Its HA is Regenerator, which allows it to heal for 33% HP when switched out. This is a much better Ability than Natural Cure, but it's still a bandaid on a bite.
I was not lucky enough to get a freebie S.O.S. spawn first try, so out comes the Adrenaline Orb and hoping for the best.
Either helping or not helping: Corsola knows both Recover and Refresh (to heal 50% HP and non-volatile statuses respectively). This makes it so much more annoying to get calls for help out of them.
I set up Toxic Spikes to get the backup to go down easier.
It doesn't help much.
I'm resorting to infatuation (Finneon comes with Attract). I'm going insane here.
Finally. This is how S.O.S. encounters usually wind up going. Mareanie only shows up to predate on Corsola- a brand new Alola Pokemon with a terrible encounter rate. Unfortunately, Mareanie isn't a Pokemon I find worth the effort. Mareanie is a Water/Poison type- a much more robust defensive typing than Corsola- that has massive defense stats alongside similar offenses and some not-all-that-great HP. Mareanie works out as a pretty popular tank, with its bulk combining with its strategy of spreading Poison around handily to play to the strengths of the defensive archetype. The problem is that this doesn't really play out as fun in single player.
Mareanie's Abilities are its signature Merciless (all attacks used on Poisoned enemies automatically crit if possible) and Limber (immune to paralysis). Merciless is the one to go for, shoring up its poor offenses and giving it something to do once it's done setting up all the things that are going to make the enemy's life miserable. Its HA is Regenerator, an excellent tanking Ability that works even better on it than it does Corsola, but I'd not want to look for this thing multiple times. At least S.O.S. means you have a chance of getting Regenerator randomly.
Mareanie is also going to help get rid of that Corsola so I can catch it!
...It's not a great help.
FINALLY! A job well done.
USUM's new rare encounter, Clamperl, is a pure Water type that takes the 5 > 35% slot on the Route 1 side. (Annoyingly, it's actually 20% at night time). On its own, it's a pretty mediocre tank that more or less relies on the four moves it comes with- Clamp, Whirlpool, Water Gun and Iron Defense. It gets TMs and one move at level 50, but oh man if it doesn't get enough to fix it. If you can find a Deep Sea Tooth or Deep Sea Scale, you can boost its Sp. Atk (Tooth) or Sp. Def (Scale), although you're still stuck with Clamperl here. If you can trade it, you get either Gorebyss or Huntail. Both Pokemon have a similar stat distribution to Clamperl, but have one really good offensive stat (Huntail is good at Atk, Gorebyss is good at Sp. Atk) to work with. It's hardly great if you can get it, but it's at least usable, which is more than we can say of some of the other things in this fishing hole.
Clamperl's only Ability is Shell Armour (blocks crits), and its HA is Rattled (boosts Speed if hit with a Bug, Ghost, or Dark move). Both Huntail and Gorebyss have Swift Swim (doubles Speed in rain) as a the only normal Ability, and their HAs are Water Veil (blocks Burns) and Hydration (cures statuses in rain). Both prefer Swift Swim.
Also, you can find Gorebyss through S.O.S. during the daytime, and Huntail at night. So, even without trading, it's still an option, but S.O.S. isn't the loveliest alternative for something at that gameplay power.
While I haven't been showing all the Totem Stickers, there is a unique type that unlocks now: Some are stuck at the bottom of the water, and must be fished out with the Fishing Rod. How? No idea, it cuts to black during the process. Ailey is an angler I can only strive to be.
Lana's Trial new items!
...Literally just Honey. I'm surprised it's even worth buying.
Tried selling off all my selling fodder to get that pretty hat. Sadly, still about 30K short.
Well, this 3K will help...
He comments that Feebas's presence in the otherwise "pure water" Brooklet Hill is interesting, although just because Feebas can live in pollution doesn't necessarily mean it needs it. Annoyingly, lost a lot of the message, but we can live with it.
We all knew this was the important part of the conversation.
You're welcome. You know, I have 19 brand new Water types from all over the region here, if you need any more help?
The dialogue for finding a Corsola in USUM. Moon and Ultra Moon's dex entries credit the short branches to Mareanie, but Moon makes it come off as an escape strategy and not outright predation. There's a certain villainising to Mareanie's predation that comes up again in the plot, but the Pokedex doesn't really lend as much credence as the game credits it with doing.
This is sort of the amount of work you need to do in most games when you get Surf, but with much less "there's a single item across a puddle of water in a random town". In additon, the Swimmers are also somewhat less infested, so you don't need to spend as much time leaning on Water's few weaknesses. With that said, I still don't really like Water explores: Water types just have too much bulk and too few weaknesses to fight. We joke about the complaint "too much Water", but Water is an annoyingly centralising type to encounter. It doesn't help that a lot of the common dual-types get rid of one of those weaknesses, and only some of them replace it with a better one- Water/Poison is weak to Psychic, but Water/Ground isn't weak to anything but Grass and Water/Flying is only weak to Rock, which Water is SE on. Still, it's over now, and there's only like one more Water route in this game.
As an aside, something interesting happened during this phase of the game, and I think it says a lot that it caught me off-guard.
First time I entered a Pokemon Centre and this happened, I was genuinely worried I triggered a glitch. I've had a few "the save files are corrupted" since, but I've managed to repair them, but this one... not uite so much.
It had slipped my mind that Pokemon actually celebrates the player's birthday! Your birthday is one of the things you can set up in your 3DS's system memory, which is how the game knows it.
As an aside this is purely for the player's benefit. The protagonist is implied to be a certain age plot-wise, and no amount of birthdays celebrated will age her. They don't actually say the protag's age, though, so there won't be any dissonance there. (Also, it's worth noting that because of lead time, my birthday was a few months ago.)
It's a unique graphic, text, and music. No tangible rewards- honestly, thankfully, imagine having to account for that- but the graphic and music was more than I was expecting.
The healing animation doesn't change to anything unique, although the graphic does persist after the fact. The Pokemon Centre animation was added to XY, although the Unova games do have a few miscellaneous bonuses for the player's birthday. It also persists in the Switch games, although since the Switch doesn't track the player's birthday, you had to specifically set it with an in-game NPC (a specific person in SwSh and BDSP, any Nurse in SV). There are also tangible goodies for it in XY and SV, although thankfully, just cosmetics.
(Also, annoyingly, there is actually one more special thing that can happen on your birthday, but I don't have access to it yet. The worst part is, while it happens on other dates in other games, the player's birthday seems to be the only known one in SM. Oh well.)
Next time: Advancing on the next Trial.
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