Ailey's turn at the Trial of Hokulani Observatory goes... much differently. So much so I'm mostly giving it the same coverage as Beth got, and the boys'll wait a little bit further.
This leg of the conversation is mostly the same.
The most obvious difference is that this isn't leading in to a battle with Molayne.
Instead, he jokes about introducing us to the Masked Royal. He's really trying to reveal the truth about Kukui to us by any means possible- he just won't shut up about it.
Kukui's follow-up lines immediately following the teasing feels more appropriate, although the first line feels divorced from context (nothing about the preceding conversation is talking about Ailey's strength) and the second line ignores the way Molayne needled him this time (he never said introducing the Royal meant pointing at you...). C-.
...Beg your pardon, Kukui?
Either way, Kukui's job here is still done, and he'll still be heading over to Malie Garden.
Molayne does, however, hand over the Steelium Z immediately. While, strictly speaking, this does increase its availability, practically it's not that much of an improvement. If anything, Sophocles's new Trial is more hostile to Steel moves than it was already. Not helping is that none of the Status Steel moves get much out of going Z.
Molayne does perform the Z-Pose this time, though. That's a second instance of a Z-Pose getting shown off before we use it added to USUM.
The Steel Z-Pose involves slamming your fists together twice, before thrusting them forward. When performing the animation, there's an audio sound effect of clashing steel accompanying this, but I kinda feel like the "slam fists together" bit tends to turn out a bit more painful than advertised. Not sure if they stop just short in practice.
With all that said, however, I would say that, if anything, the power of Corkscrew Crash has gone up in the transition to USUM. More reason why you're probably going to see Ailey using the move herself, rather than Beth.
He no longer uses the phrase "it's fitting it is now passed to you", but keeps the lore nugget about this being one of his old Z-Crystals. Fair's fair.
...What do you mean, "ready for the real Trial"? You didn't challenge us this time! Anyway, the team...
Ground's stock has gone back up for this game, and here I am without a Ground type. Sue will be taking point for the chaff, but I plan to switch for the Totem proper.
And that someone will be Callie. Now that she's evolved, she should be more effective at her job.
Zoroark (Ultra Sun): It doesn't just transform itself- it also has the power to make hundreds of people see its illusions.
Speaking of having evolved, so has Anna! Between that and having its own Foul Play, Anna's stock has shot right up. Callie's going to be the one to diverge, eventually picking up powerful physical attacks and leaving Foul Play to Anna.
Unironically, Electric types are really good to have for the USUM Electric Trial. Make sure you're carrying something good to hit back with- Genevieve is using HP Ground for that purpose- but a lot of the attacks being carried here are resisted by Electric types.
Shade's here for Intimidate, pretty much.
Moss's got some legs in her for this fight- if you can, a Fire type is nice in this version of the fight too. Also, Moss will be what Anna comes out disguised as- it doesn't really support a strategy this time. Pure Dark doesn't have enough resists for Illusion to do much in 90% of casual matches.
On entering the USUM observatory, it's pretty much the same... except for the sight of Molayne looking after a whole lotta Charjabug.
There's a part of me that suspects this was probably a part of SM, too, they just kept them in one of those rooms we never entered. That's changing here.
...Food, or electricity? Or is it both? It's both, isn't it?
Comet Shard's still here.
Also a Totem Sticker, of course. I am still very thorough with these.
Everything else to click on hasn't changed, although they added something with this guy.
...Pardon?
No, seriously, they threw in an astronomy question. You're not supposed to get the answer, none of these options are intuitive, and there is a "Don't know" if you scroll down. I tried looking into astronomical magnitude, and apparently down that way lies madness.
Two astronomy facts for you: The magnitude of stars is calculated logarithmically, and brighter stars are located on the negative end of the scale. This is a product of the first descriptions of magnitude being defined in the ~150 BC era, by the first guy to do astronomy with instruments other than his eyeballs. It stuck around because scientists found out that a) there was a numerical way to define the ancient categories in a logical fashion and b) it turns out that astronomers found a quirk of the magnitude system to apply to a reliable use case. This is the story of how we get astronomy textbooks apologising for the mess they've made.
On providing an answer- any answer- this guy jolts his eyes open and realises he's talking to an Island Challenger and not one of his colleagues.
It's just a free Stardust and an excuse to talk about complicated astronomy.
If you correctly stated that the required magnitude was 2.5, he'll also compliment you for that fact. There's no line if you said something else, though. I don't really think it's accurate to call Ailey a genius for knowing the answer to a stellar magnitude question without having studied it, though- I associate genius with knowing intuitive connections.
I wish I could find an easy way to find examples of stars of magnitude 5 and 2.5.
Huh. They took the paint off the main office door.
Totem Sticker down this end, at least.
Ah. Looks like the Trial's moved rooms!
We still need to check in on Sophocles in this one, though.
Sophocles is still in here doing his cool guy thing.
...That's a pivot and a half. Namely, should it be my problem? I thought that was observatory business.
Just because you can go three days without eating...
...Oh. That's... definitely new. And should probably have been mentioned sooner.
At least he's got a backup this time? But still... this is no more encouraging.
Yeah, yeah, I'll help out.
If we do, I demand that to be the Trial and not what comes after.
Few new clickables in here, including this poem. Yeah, uh, super need to fix that one. Although I think the premise is an issue too here.
I love how someone has actually told Sophocles "no, you cannot use this again". We weren't the victims this time, but this was absolutely a necessary job.
Third one! Next Totem Pokemon is sadly a little later than I remembered (which is a shame, I want to use Ray's on his team), but we can make do.
Strangely, Molayne and the Charjabug is missing from this room. More strangely, the Togedemaru is still here.
Ah, there you are.
...I'm still curious what the Charjabug are eating here.
Good, no problem here. Let's just usher them in and-
...You let them roam around out here for feeding time? Feels a tad irresponsible, considering this is a semi-public area.
OK, fair's fair, but I'd still do the headcount while you're in the lot. You know, just to make sure.
No, no, Rotom, the Charjabug have finished their meal. What use is a helper monkey when we're the ones explaining stuff to him!
Right, now to go looking for Charjabug...
Fortunately, it's a relatively simple process: There's one in every bush big enough to be drawn.
...OK, two out of three, but close enough.
You do need to check the third bush in order to get the last Charjabug to appear.
One of the Charjabug is known to make a habit of this.
We should consider putting some manner of bell on him.
This is the only time this is relevant, and as a result the game never actually addresses any Charjabug over than Sevenjabug by name.
The camera lingers here for an extended period, as Sevenjabug slowly shuffles from off-screen to behind the Exeggutor Express. One of the other runaways turns to watch him. Molayne misses it.
It you talk to him again, the camera does pan over to show Sevenjabug hiding here.
Weirdly, this guy turns to look at Sevenjabug, but does not actually comment on it.
Come along, you little scamp. You are needed elsewhere.
...Eh, he's got line of sight out the door- the three doors he needs to look through are nicely lined up in front of him.
So anyway, let's get properly started on the part of the process that's actually the Trial.
Hopefully you just mean depowering the alarm.
They then show everyone filing into the room: The Charjabug filing in one by one (thankfully a jump cut shows the head end and the tail end of this process while skipping the middle), followed by Sophocles and Molayne, and then Togedemaru runs in afterwards like someone forgot to tell it it would be needed.
The only reason I'm worried is because I saw Bethany's version. Fortunately, Molayne looks like a more sensible supervisor here.
Here's the Trial room, and thankfully, this time we're not going to be navigating the whole thing in a blackout.
This will be the primary function of the Trial that they're setting up here.
True fact: One of Togedemaru's Abilities is Lightning Rod, and it seems this one is using that one. Definitely feels like a good Pokemon to carry around for such a purpose.
...If you were going to go out of your way to mention that, could you have at least picked a better name?
Let's not beat around the bush, man, best to get it over and done with.
This Trial uses a somewhat unique mechanic. Of sorts.
We're going to be playing a puzzle game of sorts. Pushing buttons on the Roller will change where the Charjabug are positioned.
He's still using the same "use sounds to attract the attention of the Totem Pokemon". This weird aspect of the Trial was maintained.
The four buttons rotate the panels nearest them. The centre position will always be moved if you push a button.
Molayne performs a demonstration. Hopefully you got all that, because I can't really convey it more cleanly through screenshots alone.
I don't... think this is a concern? Or even a possibility in the Trial?
...So we do not have a plan for the alternative? Good to know. Different plan, same fail-deadly issues.
I think they already mentioned this, but this is such a lesser issue...
...Not really? That was Lush Jungle, which has felt like a while from my perspective, but Hano and Malie took a bit for me. Not sure it's quite so long holistically.
The first puzzle is, of course, the easiest. It's also how the Charjabug were oriented before Molayne's demonstration.
Yeah, the orientation outright doesn't matter here. The Charjabug don't change the direction they are facing when they are rotated, which means they are and will always be orientated correctly.
Putting them in position allows the Roller to nudge them to this position, which is where they are needed.
Sophocles pushes his own button, and now the Charjabug are generating electricity. Err, somehow. Looks more like completing a circuit.
It has turned on the Pinger, at any rate.
...OK, seriously, Sophocles, were you expecting it to be that easy? You have not spent enough time in software development.
There's legit no animation for a Pokemon appearing here. You are just pushed into an encounter.
Elekid has no IVs or EVs, but has a Timid Nature, boosting its Speed to 66. It also has the moves Quick Attack, Thunder Punch, Low Kick and Leer, meaning its power has been reduced.
Unfortunately, Sue doesn't outspeed.
Fortunately, she oneshots, and that Elekid passes its turn.
I kinda think there's a difference between "we got a Pokemon to appear" and "this is capable of summoning the Totem Pokemon". Eventually, it'll work, hopefully, I guess.
As usual for many gadgeteers, the solution is "add more electricity". The SM Trial solved things through a more reasonable "just wait for better results", but also the whole thing was detailing a single process, so the circumstances were slightly different.
He actually darts off to add the Charjabug between shots.
We can access the Bag and what-have-you during this phase. The puzzle has gotten slightly more complex, but only requires a little bit of thought.
Three button pushes. I think it has to be this way around, mainly because the rotation only happens one way.
And now there are two.
Oddly, we don't actually raise the needle into the yellow with this one.
I'll take your word for it.
Electabuzz (Sun): Half of all sudden blackouts are caused by Electabuzz gathering at electric power plants and gobbling up electricity.
Electabuzz (Ultra Moon): While it's often blamed for power outages, the truth is the cause of outages is more often an error on the part of the electric company.
I had to show both of those, the dissonance is great. Electabuzz is the evolved form of Elekid, focusing on Special Attacks in its statline (although the difference is only 12 points). It also has the Timid Nature with no IVs/EVs, but a much more appropriate set of moves in Electro Ball, Swift, Light Screen and Thunder Wave. This one might actually annoy you before it goes down. And this time, Timid isn't nerfing its Attacking stat.
(Speed is 74.)
Unfortunately for it, it chose the one move that had no value against Sue.
And while it survived the oneshot by a hair, the Speed drop pushed it to be slower than Sue and it met the same fate.
Probably because bigger problem see a bigger feeding frenzy to be more worth it, but otherwise not necessarily a correlation.
You really need to learn a few harsh lessons about software development before you're pushed out of your position as Trial Captain.
...You know, why aren't you correctly orienting the Charjabug, anyway? Presumably, it's part of the Trial, but...
I do love "continue to continue", though. His "I think you got it too" is a comment on the fact we do not receive a tell in which direction the Charjabug are meant to point.
Although the fact the Charjabug have been oriented in that manner does provide an essential clue.
This one requires four button presses. These two can be completed in either order, but must be done first.
If you don't, either one of them will move this guy out of where you put him, and that will be next to impossible to fix- you might as well reset rather than try.
How else would the ultimate form be achieved in these games other than by arranging the pattern of the letter Z?
The camera shots when the electricity shoots through the Charjabug directly is cool. Although I just noticed we're no longer using all four connections, just the ones at either end of the Z.
We bypassed yellow and went straight to red. Your dial could use work...
Sophocles. Sophocles. First rule of operating machinery: If you say "I hope there isn't a problem", the very next thing that happens will be that problem.
The Trial music actually cuts out here, with good reason.
There's a dramatic, three-camera shot of the Pinger detaching from its cables and turning around.
Aimed directly at the Charjabug.
Perhaps we should be standing a little further away?
The camera movement is a little quick here, and I failed to catch the dramatic moment, but fortunately, we do have a backup plan.
Togemaru jumps in for a dramatic rescue.
The game starts playing, not the "Totem Appears" theme, but this more general-use tension theme... a song that has not played yet at all thus far in the story. It was in SM, though, it just comes up later.
This is not an element of Lightning Rod's functionality mechanically- any Pokemon with Lightning Rod can successfully ground any Electric attack.
I'm going to assume the problem is the fact that Togemaru is airborne.
He looks around panickedly, but does not have a plan to shut off the electricty. You should figure one out, Sophocles. You need one. Badly.
Fortunately for Togemaru and the Charjabug, we have a plan.
Totem Togedemaru jumps in between the Pinger and Togemaru, allowing it to drop the ground while it handles the "absorbing electricity" job.
There's this dramatic staredown going on, which is incredibly funny considering the Pinger is not actually sentient in any way.
With Togemaru saved, Togedemaru turns to us and challenges us to a battle. On one hand, it's those two idiots that designed this stupid thing. On the other hand, the whole reason I'm here is to fight you, so this solves that problem.
Togedemaru (Ultra Moon): Its capacity to produce electricity is somewhat limited, so it gets charged up by letting lightning strike it!
This is our first time seeing Togedemaru in battle, and it has cleaned up compared to Vikavolt. As a Pokemon, Togedemaru is Alola's representative of a long-standing Pokemon tradition: Electric type rodents with more than a passing resemblance to Pikachu. We've already seen Dedenne, Kalos's representative, but for Alola, they decided the thing that would be brought to the table would be a Steel typing. We've seen Electric/Steel already on Magnemite, and Togedemaru serves as a surprisingly effective Physical sweeper to Magnemite's Special tank. Not too great, though- it's capped at a pretty low BST because it's meant to be cute, not good at battle.
Totem Togedemaru eschews Vikavolt's omnibuff to focus on its Defence. It's fast enough to handle itself, and Defence makes it that much harder to hit it with a well-placed Bulldoze. Good Fire moves are probably the way to go for a secure oneshot. It has the IV spread 31/15/31/1/31/31, 252 EVs invested in HP and Def (to make those aspiring Bulldozers even more out of luck) and a Bold Nature (+Def/-Atk: A subtle nerf as well as a pain in the butt.)
- Its Electric move is Zing Zap, an 80 BP Physical Electric move exclusive to Togedemaru in this game. It has a 30% chance of flinching you, and with 78 Speed, it's likely to hit first and get those flinches. Still, though, it's slower than Totem Lurantis was, and we're faster, so we have some good chances of securing our outspeeds to avoid flinching.
- Its other STAB move is Iron Head, an 80 BP Physical Steel move with a 30% chance of flinching. Perhaps a little uncreative a dual-STAB, but the only Pokemon that resists this combo that is not in itself Electric type in the Alola region is Dugtrio. (And also Steelix by Island Scan). Either way, you are getting STAB neutral flinchies.
- Its coverage move is Bounce, an 85 BP 85% accurate Physical Flying move with a 30% chance of paralysis. It also has one turn of semi-invlulnerability, and in this fight, that's probably scarier than the damage. As coverage, this will surprise Grass and Fighting types that would otherwise have held something of an advantage, but most of the time, I find it always clicks Bounce the turn I was planning on hitting it. Always a frustrating time.
- Its fourth move is Spiky Shield, a Status Grass move that functions like Protect, except if the move the opponent was planning on using would have been a contact move, they take 1/8th their max HP in damage. Another frustrating move that always seems to go off when I'm aiming at it, the contact doesn't really sting so much unless you're trying to use Fighting moves or Fire Punch- which the Def buff is already punishing. This was formerly exclusive to Kalos's Grass starter, but they started expanding its availability in ORAS (and funnily, it is exclusive to Togedemaru among the Alola Dex).
- Its item is a Sitrus Berry, which will heal it for 25% HP when knocked to 50% HP or less. Not particularly creative, but more than effective, especially if your strategy is focused around Physical moves. Special attackers probably think differently.
- Its Ability, as foreshadowed by the cutscene preceding it, is Lightning Rod, which will redirect Electric attacks to it and nullify them, giving it +1 Sp. Atk. This is probably its worst Ability, and the Sp. Atk is useless to it, but in this fight, it knows exactly what it's planning to do with it and it is already laughing at us.
Callie is taking point, because I would like it very much if that +2 Def was a -2 Def. And also if I had a Reflect, too.
Unfortunately, Flinch on turn 1, it turns out. Had a bit of a hiccup watching that, but Togedemaru is definitely still on +2 Def.
There is nothing more absolutely terrifying than this Skarmory. Flat 15 IVs, 0 EVs, a Sassy Nature (+Sp. Def, -Spd), the Sturdy Ability, and the moves Tailwind, Stealth Rock, Torment and Steel Wing. You know how Skarmory is nightmare fuel in the competitive scene? This is what a good Skarmory can look like. Tailwind acts as a +2 Spd that cannot be dispelled, boosting Togedemaru's already respectable 78 Spd to 156 (for comparison's sake, Anna is the only Pokemon in this party that outsped the 78), as well as buffing Skarmory's own modest 48 score to 96 (which also outspeeds Anna). Stealth Rock isn't as annoying in the main story as its competitive reputation suggests, but in a fight like this, every point of HP counts. And Torment. If you never thought Torment an issue before, just wait until you see it combined with Spiky Shield and Bounce...
Anyway, I came out unsuccessful, but I'm not to be deterred. One more go:
There's something kinda hilarious about Totem Togedemaru using Spiky Shield. But you will quickly learn to hate this animation.
Because they just decided nothing will be happening this turn.
Cue Tailwind. With Sturdy in effect, you're probably not stopping that.
They know how to capitalise on a moment of weakness. Of all the Totem battles in either game, this is the Trial that is very much not the type it is advertised as. You do not treat this as an Electric Trial. You treat this as a Steel Trial.
Such a shame one of Steel's resists is Water.
Oh, now you're just being mean.
Right, time to bring in the big guns.
(Yes, I do mean Anna, not Moss. One of these days Moss'll get its due.)
I can work with that...
Scary Face is a good solution to Tailwind- now Togedemaru is running 78 Speed in Tailwind and 39 normally.
Well, now, that's a problem. Also going to hit my Fire types, too...
Anna goes right in for Skarmory...
And that is... that is not a number you want to see. Not at all.
...Good? We're still down Anna, but...
Time for us to deploy the sheepy. Another thing about Skarmory to make it such an excellent supplement to Togedemaru: Skarmory's weakness to Electric moves does not apply here, since Togedemaru's Lightning Rod will make any Electric move other than Discharge and Electroweb hit Togedemaru, rather than Skarmory. Remember how little team synergy Vikavolt had? The USUM designers had anger to get out.
Well, that's an opening. Stinks, but what are you going to do, really...
I don't care about hitting you, Togedemaru. I'm aiming entirely at that Skarmory.
Unfortunately, I think the spread damage penalty still applies, but that -1 Speed is appreciated. It is now operating at 64 Spd in Tailwind.
Unfortunately, Genevieve is not outspeeding that one.
Well, that's irritating.
That, even more so. On top of everything else, I'm not even 100% sure which moves I can or cannot perform next turn!
On the plus side, it is so satisfying to see Genevieve shrugging off all the moves this Trial can throw. Ampharos does feel like a pretty solid counter, assuming you have a move that can hit Togedemaru back.
Genevieve went for Hidden Power Ground.
So long, rodent. May you show your other partner to Ray, because Ailey has had it up to here with you.
Oh, now you're just adding insult to injury.
I only needed the one more Electroweb anyway.
Who's top Electric type now, hedgehog?
Sophocles is brought to tears to see the Hokulani Pokemon turned out OK. Pleasant news all around there. Although that wasn't my doing...
I'm not sure if it's the Skarmory or the Togedemaru that's more terrifying here. I'm not enthused about either, to be honest.
They really seem interested in answering this question in USUM in particular. I always found the answer to be a bit too much of a question-raiser to be enthused about the topic.
Instability is always one of the worst things you can have in machinery. This one was more catastrophic (and the accident more obviously endangered people), but I think this is still the safer plan. The Ping Totem 2.0 was just... no.
What are Pokemon battles but a form of mathematical problems to solve?
Same Electrium Z. Just the Electrium Z this time, and I don't see it coming in super useful for Ailey, but it's always nice to have.
Oh wow, got some cool shots of Ailey this time.
Molayne has to cajole Sophocles to perform the Z-Pose this time. Probably because he was more intimidated by what happened this time around.
This exchange, where Molayne compliments Sophocles on his own good work, is kept wholesale. Not sure if it's any better here.
The what? That is new...
Oh. Never mind, my excitement has dropped.
The complete and utter confidence he has in the idea that this place will be fun.
At the very least, the Battle Agency has almost nothing to do with the Festival Plaza's flaws. The fact its tutorial is plonked into the main story is actually important- and part of the reason we got thrown into the Festival Plaza tutorial earlier- but it will never not be stupid.
The Pokemon you receive will be randomly selected, and will be drawn from the same pool of Pokemon that can be randomly selected in the post-game facility. This pool can also be drawn from the entire series: The tutorial shows three Alolan Pokemon, but as we saw earlier, the Battle Facility is currently advertising a postgame Alola Dex mon, an Island Scan mon, and one unobtainable in the Alola games (guess which one is which!)
You then have to ask two random people from somewhere in your Festival Plaza guest list to assist you with their Battle Agency Pokemon.nI've never done this bit before now, so I'm not sure if I can get Ray and Candice to lend a hand for a challenge for Ailey. I know for a fact that it's going to be a nightmare to get Ailey and Candice to talk to each other.
(I have managed to get it done. It turns out that I can even get assistance from Bethany and Noah, but it proved temperamental.)
The rewards are a ton of Rare Candies and Gold Bottle Caps. No, seriously, you eventually get five Rare Candies every grade you go up. Caps off at grade 50, though- after that, it's back to one each.
Grade itself is a thing that levels up the further into the facility you go.
He tells you to give it a try, but hilariously, they immediately kick you out before you have any control. I mean, it's better than the alternative, but also really?
This is the same, too. They haven't taken this jaunt out.
Molayne wonders if we're going to get to battle next time. Something's telling me you might have luck on that one...
Not much interesting to click on in this room, admittedly.
Although Sevenjabug is already getting up to mischief.
While they did remix the Akala Trials plenty, the complete retool the Electric Trial got for USUM is amazing, complete with an entirely new environment and puzzle to explore. In addition to actually being an Electric Trial and not a Bug Trial in disguise, Totem Togedemaru also makes for a far better executed fight, actually making use of team synergy rather than totally eschewing it in the name of balance. And yet, at the same time, both do a surprisingly decent job of showing Sophocles's weaknesses, in different ways. His SM Trial has a poorly designed boss that tries too hard not to pose a challenge and its impressive omnibuff is wasted by investing in stats it doesn't need, while his USUM Trial is a Steel-type Trial in all but name, showing he has yet to properly take the baton from Molayne before him. I vastly prefer the USUM approach, but don't count out Vikavolt entirely.
Next time: The boys handle their respective opponents.
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