Right, with our business in port dealt with, our next port of call (pun not intended) is the mainland.
Most of the outdoor areas here on Poni Island- and indeed, the background theme to most of this update, is this rather emotion-tugging piece, managing to combine both the triumphant rallying cry of an ending stretch with the same realisation that yeah, things are changing now. It gets some solid points as a musical piece.
Narratively, we're not putting Lillie somewhere safe and going on ahead. She's following us directly.
Mechanically speaking, while Pokemon has had follower NPCs, I don't think it knows how to correctly program the precise mechanical interactions necessary to actually have Lillie follow us around- especially if we were to decide to backtrack to another island- and is more or less going to take a business-as-usual approach of having Lillie wait in a static location until the next plot flag. It's just going to make the plot flags happen more often to move Lillie around more.
From a mechanical perspective, Max Repels are an interesting approach to the wildlife on Poni Island, especially if you know what's going on with Nebby. I think the "only keeps away lower levelled Pokemon" thing is probably just mechanics?
Anyone else seeming the romantic vibes going on here? Not just me?
There are still plenty of Trainers around, but they're going to be nice and rugged.
Not sure how many are supposed to be Poni natives and how many are in this place for the thrill.
Lillie will remain here until we enter the next area.
That is a sign.
Hm. Best take out that Ace Trainer before I go wild Pokemon hunting.
By the way, she's not kidding.
Lindsey is an ordinary Trainer, and she has a Z-Ring.
Garbodor (Sun): Beware the poisonous liquid it shoots from its right arm. If even a little of it gets on you, you'll experience the effects of the unidentified toxin.
Garbodor, pure Poison type and the evolved/exploded form of Trubbish. Level 44- three levels higher than Lusamine. 31/31/31/15/15/15 IVs, 252 EVs in Atk/Def, Serious Nature, with the moves Toxic, Gunk Shot, Protect and Body Slam.
What, did you think Poni Island would be easy? This place is a quantifiable difficulty spike, and you'll have to stay on your toes. Sorry, Cranky, but the time has come to make a few benches.
Yeah... Murphy's been doing just fine. We can only hope the same is true for EV-trained opponents six levels higher.
So far, that's just something any old Garbodor could do.
...Well, it does have Def EVs. Not 100% sure how well Zapple would've gone there.
Well, that's concerning. At least there was a Def drop!
Hah. Hah...
Thank goodness Gunk Shot is 80% accurate, because that was 120 power and probably would have worried Murphy.
I, meanwhile, am not taking my chances with High Horsepower and am clicking something that can aim.
No more 10% chance of an omniboost, but Sturm could really use the extra base power. It really spends too much time in Meteor Form.
Toxapex (Moon): Those attacked by Toxapex's poison will suffer intense pain for three days and three nights. Post-recovery, there will be some aftereffects.
Toxapex, Water/Poison type and Mareanie's evolved form, carries a poor 50 HP base... and massive 152/142 defences. This Toxapex has supplemented that with 15/31/31/15/31/15 IVs, 252 EVs in Def and Sp. Def, a Serious Nature, the moves Poison Jab, Liquidation and Pin Missile, and oh yeah, she's got a Poisonium Z. About the only thing she's got going for her is that she's forgotten she's supposed to be annoying and isn't carrying Toxic/Protect. Not that that makes my job any easier.
OK, good to know, it's probably Merciless. I think I had forgotten Limber was an option.
We're having a sale! Everything fluffy must GO! Liquidation is an 85 BP Physical Water move with a 20% chance of inflicting -1 Def. So, basically, imagine Physical Scald. Who likes Water types so much...?
...Well... we can't say Zapple didn't try his damnedest.
We're going to have to be more on our toes than that. Maybe skipping Nuzzle was the way to go, Toxapex was pretty slow as it was...
I was tempted. It didn't take, but it was worth a try?
At least that worked!
Good to know I impressed.
As for USUM, she got nerfed hard. 15/30/30/15/15/15 on Garbodor, 15/15/30/15/30/15 on Toxapex, and her EVs got 0ed. She still has the set movesets and Poisonium Z, though.
Only one of the kids actually wound up facing Acid Downpour. Normally, she preferred to use Liquidation for whatever reason.
When you see who her target is...
Acid Downpour proved to be a fairly middling attack. Just a giant poison cloud.
To make matters worse, since she waited until after Guardia got an Acid Armour off, it didn't even do that much damage.
I think the way this works mechanically is that you get bolder the more you understand your Pokemon, and what it is likely to succeed at. The more I use Murphy to soak up damaging physical hits, the bolder I am at putting it in situations where I expect damaging physical hits. These kinds of positive feedback loops are great when they're giving you confidence in successful strategies.
OK, that's actually adorable. Anyway, time to hunt.
Granbull (Ultra Moon): Although it's popular with young people, Granbull is timid and sensitive, so it's totally incompetent as a watchdog.
Granbull is a pure Fairy type, and of the Pokemon introduced prior to the Fairy typing, was probably the most inexplicable of the Fairy converts. It definitely enjoyed the change mechanically, however, serving a vital role as some physical muscle in a type that predisposed itself to a lot of magical attackers. Granbull's moveset is pretty terrible, but it gets Play Rough at 43, so it can work as a powerful, if slow, attacker, particularly since its history as a Normal type gives it a wide breadth of coverage options to work with in its TM list. Noah's going to give him a try.
Granbull's Abilities are Intimidate (lowers Atk by one stage on send out) and Quick Feet (if inflicted with a non-volatile status condition, grants a 50% Speed boost). Quick Feet is a tempting alternative to Guts, but since Burn doesn't work so well with it, it's probably best to stick to Intimidate. Its HA is Rattled, which gives it +1 Spd when hit by a Bug, Ghost or Dark move. Since it resists two of those types, is neutral to the third, and wants some extra Speed, it's a remarkably tempting option, but it's unlikely to work out as well as it does in your head.
...How did this happen? OK, let's try that again...
East Sea Gastrodon (Ultra Sun): When it's attacked, it gushes a purple liquid that's not poisonous but makes Gastrodon's meat bitter and inedible.
Gastrodon is a Water/Ground type from the Sinnoh region with a fairly interesting gimmick, although one that has made it difficult to fit in regions other than the one it started in. They went with the somewhat interesting choice to make the Gastrodons native to Alola "East Sea" despite Hawai'i being on the west side of the world- relative to Hokkaido, it's east enough, I suppose. As a Pokemon, it's slow and its generalist, leaning heavily on that Water/Ground typing to do much, and it is far too late for it to accomplish its objectives. I like it a lot, but it lost access to Mud Bomb because of its level-up kit, and its ability to do its implied job of "bulky Water/Ground Special attacker" is hindered as a result. Shame. Ray had ideas.
Gastrodon's Abilities are Sticky Hold (it is impossible to make Gastrodon lose access to its hold item) and Storm Drain (+1 Sp. Atk if hit by a Water move, is immune to them, and draws them in in Doubles). Storm Drain is unquestionably Gastrodon's better option- it's neutral to Water normally- and you should take it. Its HA is Sand Force, increasing the power of its Rock/Ground/Steel moves in a Sandstorm. It deeply wishes it had Mud Bomb.
Exeggcute (Ultra Sun): Six of them form a single Pokémon. Should one of the six be lost, the next morning there will once more be six.
Found here in Poni Wilds only in SM, Exeggcute is the third Kantonian mon to evolve into an Alolan form without itself being Alolan. Like Pikachu and Cubone, Exeggcute changes type from Grass/Psychic when doing so, and unlike Pikachu, it has nothing to lose by doing so immediately. Sure, it wishes it had Leech Seed, but you can catch it low enough level to still have Sleep Powder, and even if you don't, it learns enough offensive moves of so many types you can get away with ditching annoying Grass moves and focus on offense. Don't expect anything fast, though. That's its main weakness. I managed to squeeze it onto Ray's team, despite the fact Ray will have to wait to obtain one.
Exeggcute's only normal Ability is Chlorophyll (doubles Speed in Sun). Works well, especially if you're setting Sun, but it changes into the useless Frisk on evolution to its Alolan form. The same is not true of its HA, Harvest, though. Harvest will give it a 50% chance to replace a Berry it has used up in the current battle, and a 100% chance of doing so in Sun. At this stage of the game, I think there are some interesting Berries I can try and double the effects of. We'll see how the dice fall.
Weirdly, USUM has an encounter slot for Inkay here. Like, not Malamar, Inkay. Whatever you say, Inkay.
Island Scan, on Fridays, allows one to find Samurott with Brine in SM and Greninja with Bestow in USUM.
A significant difference here is that this west shore is what becomes Poni Beach, for the Mantine Surfing thing, in USUM. Here in SM, it's not even a separate map. I'll get to it in time, though- right now there's a prowling Ace Trainer to deal with.
...Are you planning to provide context?
Kekoa got moved somewhere else in Poni Wilds in USUM and got an extra Pokemon, but otherwise, this is a bit more of a standard fight.
...Actually, it turns out that, despite his suggestion otherwise, Kekoa has not filled his moveset in SM. 15/15/31/15/15/15 IVs, no EVs, Serious Nature. Yeah, Lindsey was a freak of nature, but she's also not the norm. No idea what was up with that.
Kekoa still has the level advantage, though- that part of the spike stuck around.
Huh. No Sturdy.
Weirdo.
Sharpedo (Ultra Sun): People believe that carrying one of its discarded fangs will prevent mishaps at sea, so the fangs are made into accessories
Sharpedo joins the suite of Pokemon we can find here on Poni, and Kekoa will be happy to show it off early in both games. Here, he went with the IV spread 15/31/15/15/15/15.
It's actually pretty frail, so I showed off a little bit and Dazzling Gleamed it. At this level, it has Poison Fang, so that was mildly risky. Not enough so, it would seem...
When defeated, he calls out the name of his team. Sounds like the anime, all right.
This is something I've touched on discussing a few Pokemon, but this matters more in competitive. Some of the series' scariest Pokemon from a competitive standpoint earn their reputation by having the capacity to learn so many moves that it is impossible to reliably counter them- a great counter to their most common moveset is quickly defeated by their second-most common moveset. Zygarde is famous for this.
Because learning moves is a much more involved process in the games, and also because the opposition you fight is more predictable, it's just fine to stick to the same set of moves here. Even in competitive, Thousand Arrows is just fine to mindlessly click.
In USUM, there is a male Ace Trainer standing here, but he's a much different NPC with a different gimmick. He found a new TM at the TM store and wants to try it out!
You're even given the option of whether to fight him, or to be absolutely terrified of whatever it is that gives him that chutzpah.
If you say no, he has this dramatic response.
If you say yes, he challenges you immediately. Man knows what he wants.
Tropius (Ultra Sun): The bunches of fruit growing around the necks of Tropius in Alola are especially sweet compared to those in other regions.
Elwood has gone with a particularly bold strategy- both of his Pokemon have no investment other than their 15/15/15/30/15/0 EV spread, and know only the move that he's so excited about. Not sure how he's showing that off without Speed, especially with Tropius. A Grass/Flying type that's even less sure about how to distribute its stats than Gastrodon, this cool-looking dinosaur used to be used largely as a HM carrier- it manages to learn most of them, including Fly. Now?
Click Ice, move on.
He also had a Lilligant, who might be more likely to get off his move with an actually respectable Speed stat to lean on, but Shiva proved resistant.
Sorry. You did get to use it on Ray, though!
His move was Solar Beam. The only reason he got it off on Ray was because Agnes wasn't quite able to oneshot the way Shiva did, and because Deep Blue has Ice Punch, it could finish the job.
Not with that speed. This is why most people who want to play with weather use Abilities rather than moves.
At the far north-west edge of the map is this Dancer in SM. She's still here in USUM, she just changes her position and team significantly.
Cara, since she's not an Ace Trainer, isn't pulling any of the weird shenanigans Lindsey, Kekoa and Elwood are. Just a 15 flat mon here.
Poni Oricorio (Sun): This Oricorio has sipped purple nectar. Its elegant, attractive dance will send the minds and hearts of its enemies to another world.
She demonstrates the use of Poni Island's Oricorio variant in SM, the elegant Sensu dancer with weirdly macabre Pokedex entries. She should have a Ghost move, but otherwise she should be handled as any Oricorio might.
Or, you know, that.
Oh, we'll have use for that in due course...
I'm going to assume that and the Z-Poses are related. Not that we get to see something more traditional.
In USUM, the Trainers encountered here are instead a Dancer and a Black Belt double battle. As it so happens, the Dancer is, in fact, the same Cara.
Dancing and karate, a winning combination! Keeps you on balance and your opponent off it.
Like most Doubles opponents in SM, Capoeria Couple is unique to Cara and Douglas here. "Capoeria" refers to a style of martial arts that incorporates dance, most famous to Pokemon players owing to the fact that it is the signature style of the Pokemon Hitmontop.
Mienfoo (Ultra Moon): They seclude themselves in the mountains and devote themselves to training. The form of their kicks and chops differs from pack to pack.
Sadly, Hitmontop is not found in Alola at all, so Mienfoo will have to do. Pure Fighting and not all that great, this is a Pokemon fairly troubled by its high evolution level. Even though they're all the way at 45, they still haven't reached their evolution levels. Their bulk line is 45/50/50 and their speed is 65.
With that said, Cara and Douglass have done investment- and in fact, they have separate investment. Cara (the female Mienfoo) has 30/15/30/15/30/30 IVs, 252 EVs in Speed, and a Serious Nature, while Douglas has 30/31/30/15/30/15 IVs, 252 EVs in Atk, and an Adamant Nature. Both pack Swords Dance, High Jump Kick, U-Turn and Helping Hand. Not that U-Turn is going to help them much.
As a numbers comparison, Douglas's Mienfoo has an Atk advantage of 135 to 86, while Cara's has a Speed advantage of 103 to 70. This late, those investments really swing your stats.
Bye bye!
Don't you just love seeing the crash damage report?
I swear the accuracy's only 90%, but somehow both Ray and Ailey saw a High Jump Kick miss. I think there's a reason I'm anxious about using it.
"All shook up" is a new one on me. I think I'm just used to the short form?
Oh hey, you guys have seen Hitmontop. I think he's cool, but it's so hard to use him, especially if you have to satisfy its evolutionary condition. The best game to use it in is Colosseum, where that's not an issue.
Problem number 1 with this sign, we haven't unlocked Hyper Training yet, and won't for some time.
Problem number 2 with this sign, the only sources of Bottle Caps in Festival Plaza are getting a high prize in the Treasure Hunt lottery or getting lucky from a Haunted House. There is another method of getting Bottle Caps out of Festival Plaza, but it's not really a shop.
Neat. Anyway, as for the Berry Tree, there's a lot of good stuff for grabs around here.
There are 18 Berries with the effect "if hit with a super-effective X-type attack, take half damage". All of them are available here in Poni Wilds, but to make the mechanics easier, each of the three trees can only have six of them. This tree has the Berries for Normal (Chilan is the only one of these Berries that doesn't require being SE to work), Fire, Fighting, Ground, Rock and Dark moves. They're all nice and I'd like to have them all, but Rock, Ground and Dark all strike me as awesome ones to have. With Fighting being not terrible itself.
The Salac Berry found in the big piles grants +1 Spd when you are reduced to 1/4 HP. This is probably the coolest Berry to use at this HP value, particularly if that +1 Spd gets you suddenly outspeeding. I may have to use a few of these.
Zygarde Cell on the beach here, along with some less interesting litter. I'll go swimming once I'm done on land.
This Dancer is the route boss of Poni Wilds, although what she can do to be scarier than Lindsey is an open question.
Since the beach is no longer part of the map in USUM, she's been moved here. Her team happens to be the same between games, although she's more valuable here.
The second tree is north of Lindsey, and carries the Berries for Water, Electric, Ice. Psychic, Steel, and Fairy. These ones are not as great as the cliff ones- and it says a lot I'm rating Steel highly here. Fairy and Ice are a little behind, and while Water and Electric is tempting, we're a little past the point where they're the threats they once were.
Note that Ray already had a Wacan Berry from stealing one from Totem Araquanid. I think it's the only really reliable way to get one before now.
The Petaya Berry raises your Sp. Atk by 1 stage when dropped to 1/4 HP. We also saw this one from Totem Salazzle, but poor Ethel couldn't steal it without eating it. Oh well, we've got the option to use it now.
This is nice, I guess.
This is where Kekoa got moved. There's no Trainer here in SM. Now, he has three Pokemon, and they actually know moves now.
15/30/30/15/15/15, Play Rough, Fire Fang, Thunder Fang, Ice Fang. Fairly standard Granbull, I usually prefer stronger moves of different types.
15/30/15/15/15/30, Liquidation, Night Slash, Aqua Jet. I'm surprised there's a blank moveslot, but does Sharpedo really need anything else? Probably.
30/15/15/30/15/15, Discharge, Power Gem, Dragon Pulse. No Signal Beam or Thunder Wave? What kind of move department store are you?
His dialogue is mostly the same, but his post-defeat dialogue was correctly edited for his new team.
Maybe this isn't directly intuitive, but really? Fourth island?
This tree gives the Berries for Grass, Flying, Bug, Poison, Ghost and Dragon moves. Dragon sounds like a tempting one, but no, it's pretty terrible. Bug, Ghost and Flying are the tempting ones, but I think the cliff tree won.
+1 Atk at 1/4 HP. I mostly tend to think of it as "that Berry that spawns on Mirage Island", but in battle, its viability is mostly the same as the Petaya Berry. More, perhaps, since most priority moves are physical and that seems like a good thing to throw out at that low HP, but otherwise, it all comes down to whether I expect it to work. And knowing me, I probably don't.
There's a Chef in this grass at the end. Well, I can only wonder what the half damage Berries taste like.
...I don't think that's how you spell "Phil", sir.
Fil carries a Parasect and a Ribombee, both at flat 15s in SM.
Some nice easy oneshots with that Air Slash and Rock Slide. Nice and squishy.
FINALLY! Revelation Dance is a 90 BP Special Normal move that changes type to match the lead type of the user. It is Oricorio's signature move, and it is the only move she learns that is Electric, Psychic, Fire, and Ghost type. Unfortunately, it turns into Breakneck Blitz no matter what, but at least someone is carrying Special Electric STAB now. Zapple.
Apt, considering what I did to you.
In USUM, he switches the Parasect for an Exeggcute, upgrades his HP IV to 30, and carries Leftovers. Much better off, but just as easily dispatched.
Oh, neat, you're a Seafolk! That's nice to see.
Zygarde Cells, one in the Day, one at Night. We're working on it. Although I'm fairly sure there have been some misses.
Now then, the route boss. Focus Sash, that'll... that'll be fun.
Julia carries four Pokemon, but fortunately, they're all pretty similar. Less fortunately, they're so similar that she gets to fight in a confusing way. As she claims, each one is holding a Focus Sash, a one-use hold item that guarantees they won't be KOed in a single hit.
Fortunately, I'm playing as Bethany.
Her team is composed of all four Oricorio forms, with 15/15/15/31/15/15 IVs in SM (30/20/20/30/20/30 in USUM), no EVs or Nature, and the moves Air Slash, Revelation Dance and Teeter Dance. They get really annoying when they spam that Teeter Dance.
Slowbro or Mudsdale with Own Tempo might be nice. Nimue... not so much.
Anyway, Haruka is here to show why Bethany (and Ray) can handle this team just fine.
...With that said, I'm also thinking of benching Haruka. Sorry, but this team is a little full on Rock and Electric options. Mostly. I was considering Zapple.
Stealth Rock! This will chip the other three Oricorio as they come in, breaking their Focus Sashes and setting up a sweep. Sandstorm or Hail could also work, but they wear off.
Revelation Dance is, sadly, not an inspired animation, nor does it change based on Oricorio's type. At the very least, though, Haruka resists it.
Sadly, this one didn't have to take a hit from Stealth Rock, and we'll have to break its Focus Sash on the way down.
...Sure. Not sure what you're going to do with that.
The problem with Julia's team is that, when the game declares her to be sending out "Oricorio", there is absolutely no determination which one she's using. I mostly base it on which one has a move that's likely to work on me.
Ha ha!
...Sighs.
Teeter Dance is probably worse than the Focus Sash.
Well then. Just casually bringing Sturm to exactly 1 HP.
At least I got the chance to click the move this time. Still, though, Sturm might need to duck out.
Strange choice in move to drop. Frankly, K9 has a lot of moves to choose from, and I think I can let him work with Accelerock for the time being. This will probably change if K9 is necessary for an actual opponent weak to Rock.
Really wish you broke that before firing Power Gem, but whatever.
As for the last two, well, Keokeo and Zapple actually outsped and avoided the Teeter Dance Trouble.
Sturm, definitely. I have no idea where this confidence Sturm's been pulling out has come from. Wars World shivers in fear.
You should've seen how Ailey and Noah went. Ailey at least managed decently thanks to Switch allowing her to clear all those Confuses.
A nice Focus Sash for ourselves! One use item, so we have to make it count, but considering what Ray and Ailey have to deal with in their future, one can almost argue that it can be well spent. Not sure if I'll wind up committing to it, though.
While coming back to Surf, I found a Wimpod on the beach. This is one of the places here on Poni you can find Wimpod, and they're all still Wimpod. I hate chasing these ones down, because it's much harder to trap them. The Route 8 one is still the way to go.
If you can catch one, Big Nuggets are on their drop table, though.
Right, let's go looking for goodies and new Pokemon!
That is one of them. This Dusk Stone was moved with the overhaul to Poni Beach, and it's the freebie Sun gets. Moon just gets a second one- there'll be a Shiny Stone later this update, too.
That's just gravy.
Wailmer (Sun): It loves to startle people. It fills itself up with seawater and plays by bouncing around like a ball.
Wailmer can be found by fishing and by visible encounter here, and they were also back in Seafolk Village, too. They absolutely fail to impress any way but visually, being stuck with the Wigglytuff model of 170 HP and 45 Defences, mediocre-to-decent offenses and worse Speed, and no real plan for how to do coverage. No, it's best if you stick to looking at Wailord. They do love showing it off as the biggest Pokemon, although I'm not sure it qualifies as such under any metric.
Wailmer's Abilities are Water Veil (blocks Burns) and Oblivious (blocks Infatuation). Water Veil is pretty rare and potentially useful, but up against Oblivious, it's easy to be that. Its HA is Pressure, which has an argument against Water Veil, but really, it's a race to the bottom of the barrel.
I got this one by fishing. Lowest possible level roll.
Yeah, best to get one from the visible encounters. Wailmer evolves at level 40, so this is nice and convenient for Pokedex purposes.
Wailord (Sun): Wailord pursue their prey in pods. With their large mouths, they can swallow entire schools of Wishiwashi whole.
You can also find their evolution Wailord in a 10% spawn in the visible encounters. Convenient, but not by that much.
They can also drop these. This is the only possible drop on the table.
Relicanth (Ultra Moon): The reason it hasn't changed at all in a hundred million years is that it's apparently already a perfect life-form.
Found as a 1% -> 10% fishing encounter, we have the coelacanth Pokemon Relicanth, based on a fish long thought to have gone extinct in the Cretaceous Period until it was found in a fishing trawl, still alive, and still at its old tricks. Relicanth is another Rock/Water type, like many Fossils, and has a high Physical bulk backed up by mediocre Atk and terrible Sp. Def/Spd. It may be a perfect life-form from an evolutionary standpoint, but in battle, it has been outclassed. Next generation, by a Pokemon that isn't from the Cretaceous Period. (I think.)
Relicanth's Abilities are Swift Swim (doubles Speed in rain) and Rock Head (negates recoil damage). Rock Head is tempting because Relicanth has Head Smash, but also Swift Swim might let it actually outspeed things. Depends on what you think is the better strategy. Its HA is Sturdy, giving it a full complement of actually potentially useful ways to get off a turn with its statline. Just a pity it has, you know, its statline.
Dive and an Ancient Power boost. Apparently it took offense to that.
Lapras (Ultra Moon): They've been so cherished that there's now an overabundance. The fish Pokémon population has declined in waters with too many Lapras.
Yeah, I wish. Lapras is found at a 5% encounter while Surfing, and the whole "it's had a resurgence" thing is actually new to SM- Pokedex entries as late as ORAS were including the fact it was an endangered species. Unlike Relicanth, Lapras is actually good in battle. It has the Water/Ice type, making it an effective choice in both typings, and has an absolutely divine bulk-line. Its Speed is middling and it has mixed mediocre offenses, but with its statline, it's good enough to be a thorn in your side, or it could use those turns on being annoying rather than dangerous. In some games, it actually had a good enough Physical moves to make its mark as a Physical attacker if need be, but its moves are biased for Special. It even comes with Ice Beam- was almost tempted to use this one, too.
Lapras's Abilities are Water Absorb (heals it for 1/4 HP when hit by a Water move) and Shell Armour (blocks crits). Both make it pretty decent as a tank, but both depend on relatively unlikely circumstances to work out in your favour. Its HA is Hydration (cures status ailments in rain), which fits right in. You can't go wrong, but I'd go with Shell Armour myself. Water Absorb wouldn't be too bad, though.
In what might be a carry-over from XY's freebie Lapras, Lapras has 100% chance of holding Mystic Water. Also, we can see here that it knows the move Perish Song- when it uses that, all Pokemon on the field will automatically faint in three turns unless they are switched out. An interesting move to have in your pocket (especially in a game with Totems instead of Trainer Battle bosses), but it makes it a nightmare to catch. It has a 45 rate, thank goodness Net and Dive Balls are on the table.
Now then, time for the USUM Poni Beach. Like Ula'ula Beach, the encounters we could find here have been taken out. All the unique stuff has been moved to a newly explorable area in USUM, mostly.
Huh. More Grimsley lore. He just... decided he could Mantine Surf when he got to Alola.
And it worked. I wish I could do that sort of thing.
Lot of hidden Pearls and the occasional litter item, as you often find.
This computer cannot be read. Also, you may have noticed: No BP vendors. Poni Island's new tutors have been put in the postgame, for reasons that probably made sense to the developers but do not make sense to me. So many awesome moves that could help the viability of some mons in the final stretch, just consigned to only have competitive value...
Right. Time for us to complete our final Mantine Surf run. The Poni Island run is the longest one, and it does kinda wear on you, especially with all the obstacles they throw at you.
So many Wailords, so many Sharpedos... Ailey got absolutely wiped out on this course.
And somehow, she still got the record. Grimsley, Samson, you suck.
For comparison's sake, this is what Ray pulled with significantly fewer wipeouts. I love being able to see while Mantine Surfing.
Mantine saved my bacon, and I don't mean because I was good at surfing. Seriously, I did more swimming than surfing.
You really aren't selling yourselves as being good at your own hobby.
Of course, we get the most expensive of the selling items. Making sure we can afford anything we need.
Much more of a difference when it comes to Beach Points, though. Few runs of this and we can start thinking about some expensive purchases. Not that we can get those until postgame... again...
There's one more (well, two more) prizes for getting all the Mantine Surf top scores, and that requires us to make a visit to Heahea.
Anyway, heading right on over.
This guy was the guy who set all those records, way back. Must've been some new developments or something since he was on the waves.
Well, it's a tad late to add a Pikachu to the team, although there are some convincing arguments to make about this one. Namely, Surf is a 90 BP Special Water move that hits everybody in a Double Battle, serving a useful purpose as a strong STAB covering the Ground types Pikachu fears. We're also not that far off getting it Thunderbolt in USUM. Ignoring availability, it's not like it's a terrible option.
If nothing else, it's also holding a rare item.
He also teaches us the ultimate Mantine Surf technique, Over-the-Gyarados. I don't think you have to do those in a circle, but this is a nice-high scoring trick to having in your pocket to get your score higher for even more BP. You can get as high as 50 BP in a single Surf, although I'm certainly not that good. Maybe if I understood some of the mechanics more (there's apparently some stale move negation going on in there).
Nothing left in Mantine Surf but getting more BP and trying to raise the record. I gave it a bit of a go once, but I never really got the real high scores.
Pikachu with Fly do exist, but are considerably rarer than the Surf ones. I think the only official distributions are HGSS's Pokewalker and the early adopter bonus for SV. Still, neat it's acknowledged.
Huh. It starts with Nuzzle. That Gold Bottle Cap is also a nice freebie for when we start doing some Hyper Training, and judging by what the ones Ray and Ailey rolled, I think this one also has three perfect IVs.
(Fun fact, Ailey's Pikachu rolled four.)
Anyway, speaking of Pokemon we can get from NPCs, we now have a Granbull with which to give to this lady.
I would just like to point out that, in SM, there are two Trainers that will give you a member of the Bounsweet evolutionary line in IGTs. That's not exactly a normal development, especially not without the second one being special.
Yep, This is a Sp. Def focused Steenee, and once again, they give us a Z-Crystal in lieu of an item. I wonder if Z-Crystals were at one point supposed to be limited in quantity, but even if they were, it's not like spares have any use.
Careful nature, perfect IV in Sp. Def. They do know 72/98 special bulk doesn't carry a build, right? At least it still knows Stomp. Had it forgot that (which it can do at 45), this would've been even less useful.
West Sea Shellos (Moon): Purple mucus sticks to the hands of anyone who touches it. Take care, as the substance is troublesome to wash off.
USUM, meanwhile, gets something found only with this NPC: An alternate form of Gastrodon's evolutionary line. I always had a personal preference for East Sea, but it's nice to have an in-game way to get West Sea.
In Sinnoh, the border was placed in Mt. Coronet- Shellos found around the Valley Windworks are West Sea, while Shellos found around Pastoria City are East Sea. Games following DPPt, where they had Shellos available for the player to catch, still haven't fully decided how to use the two. SM settled on "Hawai'i's east of Japan, ish, so they can have the East Sea form."
For comparison's sake, B2W2 made which Shellos you get depend on the player's gender, XY only gives you West Sea, ORAS makes Shellos version-exclusive, SwSh only gives you East Sea again, while SV gives you both with a new dividing line in the middle of Paldea.
Solle gets a Quiet Nature, a perfect Defence IV, and starts with some Waterium Z. No Mud Bomb still, so not exactly winning prizes for making Shellos more useful even if it has the right Ability.
East Sea Shellos (Sun): Shellos lives in the sea and feasts on plankton. The lovelier the ocean where Shellos resides, the more vibrant its color becomes.
West Sea Gastrodon (Ultra Sun): Long ago, it had a shell on its back. There's now a vestigial plate on its back that's hard but thin.
And yes, these are distinct forms of Shellos, and not a pink baby evolving into a blue bigger form. Pokemon is no stranger to such drastic changes.
Right, there's time enough to explore the next maps around here. The Ancient Poni Path is surprisingly tiny, and is home to a house.
So yeah, I think we've found where Hapu makes her residence.
I love how Lillie kinda softly implies she's on first-name terms with the Mudsdale here. Like, we know she's familiar with Hapu, but I mean she's friendly with the Mudsdale as well as Hapu.
She'd probably have befriended my team as well if the game had the capacity to identify which Pokemon I'm carrying are my team.
That makes two of us.
They may get hurt, but if they can get something out of it in the end, it's never a mistake to try. It's only a mistake to keep going if they're too hurt to get anything out of it.
Hapu comes out to hear what Mudsdale's been looking at, and takes the fact we're here in stride.
...Come to think of it, is Hapu aware we're on the Island Challenge? I mean, we do have the amulet, but Hapu's role in the story has been to help out a Drifloon, aid Lillie in maybe visiting the Ruins of Abundance, and give us the Mudsdale Gallop. The fact we're going to be visiting Poni's kahuna in the future seems only mildly relevant here.
Lillie's, of course, happy to see Hapu in turn.
Well then. Hapu's really enjoying the new look.
I like how proud Lillie tends to look when I catch a still frame of her in the peak of her nodding. Kinda wish that was an actual pose she could take every now and then.
"Lily-livered" just literally means cowardly. She nailed the pun, although I can't help but wonder what that one was in JP. Did they have their own pun that happened to work with リーリエ? This feels too perfect to have happened by coincidence.
...
Hapu's JP dialogue in this scene is "おお ! がんばる リーリエ. いわば がんばリーリエ じゃのう!". I think the thing she says in JP is closer to a "Good luck, Lillie", although the way she says it, I think she is still making a pun.
Lillie has a nice preen, and we get another burst of Lively Lillie. That sort of thing happens a lot.
Anyway, we were here to ask a question.
...Ah.
This is what Mina was alluding to when pointing out the lack of a Kahuna might be a problem, although the game does happen to have an answer to the question "what did Island Challengers do in the absence of Poni's kahuna?". Admittedly, said answer raises a lot of questions on its own, but more of the good kind of questions. If nothing else, the fact Poni's been without a Kahuna does offer a reason why Kukui might be so interested in his League Challenge idea to replace the Island Challenge.
On top of the issue posed by my Island Challenge, this lack of a kahuna is also an obstacle on Lillie's adventure, and her problem can't be solved by the current stopgap.
Hapu considers the circumstances, and decides she might have a solution to our plight. These circumstances include an allusion to the fact that she had battled an Ultra Beast in the intervening time, thanks to Lusamine's machinations.
In USUM, since that didn't happen, Hapu limits her comment to just commenting that there exists a solution. SM kinda works better in this regard, since it offers explicit evidence that Hapu's solution happens to be something that couldn't have happened sooner. In USUM, Hapu's offer to assist us mostly seems to be "well, we're here asking."
Hapu tells us to stick with her, but immediately bolts off. We're mainly just going to follow her and catch up once we're done looking around for goodies.
It's a lot easier to move forward when nothing's in your way, isn't it?
...As I was saying...
This time, the person interrupting us doesn't really want to stop us, she just picked a hilarious time to bring up a topic of conversation.
Generic NPC design, nameless NPC defined exclusively by her relationship to a named character.
...You know what, close enough.
Apparently Hapu hasn't been making many friends on her own. Considering she grew up as one of the only residents on Poni Island and her first response to Team Skull was to use Mudsdale, I'm inclined to understand why.
...I'm not going to say you're wrong, but I am going to ask if Lillie belongs in this comparison or not. "Lucky" is not exactly the word I'd use.
It's more than about time. Hapu's grandmother, like granddaughter before her, is going to give us a new Poke Ride. This one will be the last one.
Say hello to Machamp Shove. The Fling lady in Hau'oli Cemetery showed the strange manner in which we are carried off, but mechanically, this is our replacement for the Strength HM. With Machamp, we are able to push around giant stone blocks that bar our progress.
Since most such blocks will be permanently dropped, Machamp Shove technically expires, although there is at least one location that never permanently solves the Shove puzzle.
We'll happen to need it to follow Hapu where she has gone, but outside that, I don't think it's necessary for anything further. It's mainly goodies.
Strangely, USUM changes her parting remark. Ties into Necrozma, I suppose, although this was definitely a choice.
Well, I mean... that was the idea.
She does give us a bit of direction- to get there, we must go through Poni Breaker Coast, a black sand beach like Route 14. There is such a beach on Kauai- Waimea- although that's on the west side of the island. Kauai has a pretty bland shape, and I'm still not sure whether Kauai and Poni have the same north to make direct comparisons. The lack of major landmarks on Poni is not helping.
Thanks for the directions, ma'am.
Wonder if we'll be any closer to why Nebby was making it a point to visit the Ruins from this side of his transformation.
This time, Lillie's waiting for us at the end of the area. We'll catch up to her, but we've got plenty to do first.
Apart from Koko's, all the Ruins carry positive names. Rotom's starting to notice, though, that saying "Ruins of Hope" doesn't exactly imply that the Ruins are a very Hopeful place.
...Noted.
Anyway, there's plenty of stuff to grab around here, including this place having like five Totem Stickers for USUM. There's not exactly a ton of walls around here to stick them on.
The Machamp sure has an interesting vocalisation for its cry.
Nothing to get from clicking on the well, but there is a Cell here. Lot of Zygarde parts here.
Hapu's house is a bit of an interesting shape- there's a courtyard out back, and the house wraps around it here.
...Heh. Bit of an odd one, but sure.
A bookshelf with nothing to read in SM, but there are two books in USUM.
Looks like Hapu's into cooking. Or possibly eating. This isn't a core part of her character or anything, but it is here.
And another one of these.
...Throw one more point onto the pile of "evidence that Slowpoke Tails are no longer considered restricted meats". I'm not sure there would be more than one "eat it" option if it was meant to be read that way.
That's... that's a read. Moving on.
This door leads to Hapu's bedroom, although I did initially think it led outside. No, there's a separate door for that.
Fifth and final Zygarde Core in here. Core Enforcer is a 100 BP Special Dragon move exclusive to Zygarde, and if it its target has already taken an action that turn, it "suppresses the target's Ability"- in other words, it renders the target as if it had no Ability. It, of course, doesn't work on a ton of new form-changing Abilities like Schooling or Shields Down, and in general its usefulness is hampered by the fact that it's a Special Dragon move and Zygarde likes to stay in Physical. Still, though, maybe the Ability you're negating is particularly intimidating.
Ironically, this is worthless on the actual Intimidate.
You can sleep on Hapu's bed, of course, but the first time you try, you get an event rather than a wry comment.
...Uh... hi, Meowth?
Well then. I bet that wasn't what Ailey was expecting from the local Meowth. I mean, her Meowth doesn't do this.
...I have to wonder if Hapu needs this wake-up call, or if Meowth's just territorial.
OK, clearly you had one. Use it next time.
...Odd interpretation of naptime for a Ground-type bed. Especially after we got scratched in this.
...Mudsdale and Miltank are inside, watching a TV that isn't even on. That was a thing that happened.
(The Miltank will heal you if you talk to it.)
This Sudowoodo does, I believe, a mistranslation. Sudowoodo's Japanese name ウソッキー more or less translates to "liar tree", so if it had said "Uso", it probably meant "Sudo", but was taken to mean "Liar".
Or it's auditioning for the role of one of those "one tells the truth, the other only lies" guards.
There's an event here in USUM, albeit one that requires having triggered something a while ago.
Remember this photo of a Mudsdale way back? Turns out it belongs in Hapu's house.
I think Hapu and her gran had different Mudsdales.
Clydesdale horses have a life expectancy in the 20-25-30 range. I'm moderately surprised this Mudsdale is still alive.
Looking at the photo gives Gran a flashback to when she was a Lass. While it's a cute detail that the Lass and the old lady do have similar designs, this only further emphasises the whole "so how old is this Mudsdale" thing. This is clearly before Gran settled down and had Hapu's parent.
Mudsdale are a random encounter in a postgame part of Poni Island, and I suspect they're only there so Hapu's ace is from the island on which she lives. They're not in Poni Wilds, but presumably that's part of Gran's journey.
...The idea of starting an Island Trial from Poni is amusing me.
I do like this shot after they've calmed down.
...Although I have just noticed the Capoeria Couple still on the cliffside up there. Dang, I wished I had a shot of this moment if those two haven't yet been battled.
...Odd of her to mention the kahuna was "young". I do wonder if it happened to be the last Kahuna to take the job so far- if he's young now, there isn't much time for a new one in between his retirement and now for Poni to be in the state it's in.
To add on to the whole bit about "this is just a cutscene shot on the real Poni Wilds", the time of day it is is based on the real-time clock and not preset. I would've rigged the first shot to be day and the second to be night.
Don't forget her grandfather and the kid in between!
...And now I'm more confused. So your Mudsdale is the same one Hapu's using? It doesn't help that there's a Mudsdale Hapu is riding to the Ruins of Hope right now, and at this point, I'm not sure if the presence of a Mudsdale inside the house is supposed to be evidence of two Mudsdales or just another sloppy mistake.
For our effort, we get a Heart Scale. Something we can get in bulk from the restaurants and can't use for a while still. Still, it's free, and it's worth finding for the Hapu family lore. More or less.
Otherwise, Hapu's gran is happy to repeat the same thing she said to help guide us earlier.
Well, this is disorienting. I imagine it's because a standard camera angle would get a face full of Hapu's house.
There's a second Machamp out here. I'm gonna take that as proof there's two Mudsdales involved, for the sake of my sanity.
Hidden Revival Herb back here.
You could've seen this Zygarde Cell during the cutscene where we talked to Hapu's gran. Finally got there.
Vast Poni Canyon is the other location of note, but we can't get in there.
Strange they don't put up a Trial Barricade. To be fair, I suppose it's not really a Trial thing when the Island Trial situation on Poni is so weird.
But it does look like the location we want to be going.
...Hey wait, I thought there wasn't a kahuna. Whose permission am I supposed to be seeking, then?
You can slip behind this statue, but there's nothing here in SM.
The goodie is in front of it at night in SM, while it got changed to a hidden goodie in USUM.
On the left-hand side of Vast Poni Canyon is a little side entrance to get this item, which happens to be the matching Shiny Stone to the freebie Dusk Stone in Wilds. Now both games are guaranteed to be able to use both the Shiny Stone and the Dusk Stone if necessary.
There's some tall grass down here, but the encounter tables are identical to Poni Wild's in both games. So it's just a quick visit for this Adrenaline Orb.
Island Scan is distinct between these maps, though, now giving Emboar with Superpower to SM and Delphox with Wish to USUM on Saturdays.
The only regular Trainer here is this Collector, who has chosen an interesting place to sit. Strangely, it is not necessary to fight him to gain access to this rear area.
Collector Raymond's job is ostensibly to allow us to see some version exclusives. And he serves that purpose in SM.
The problem is that he's running Turtonator and Drampa, which USUM has already seen. To be fair, that was kind of a hard fight to get into there, but still. Beth and Ray have had plenty of access to Turtonator.
Raymond attributes our "rarity" to our not being from Alola. And for some reason, I can't help but read that as being perhaps not the greatest way to phrase it? On top of the usual issues on the subject of referencing someone being foreign, he almost makes it sound like us not being Alolan by birth is an obscure fact when it has in fact been fairly plot relevant before now. Although with that said, that does make something that comes up later a little weird...
For now, he was guarding this.
He's also guarding the entrance to this area, Poni Grove.
This is where the postgame starts, and we can not, in fact, touch that grass and get encounters. The gatekeeper also tells us to go become Champion, despite the fact that plot-wise, the League is still in development. I suppose he could mean Island Challenge Champion, although most people phrase that as "go beat the Island Challenge".
This isn't new to Pokemon, incidentally. A lot of roadblocks that explicitly tell you "this won't open until the credits roll" use the phrase "become Champion", it's just that Alola is the first game to really contemplate the fact that most people can't just "become" Champion. I'd like to know if he's just doing this roadblock for us or if other people are inconvenienced by it too.
Moving along to Poni Breaker Coast, this place gets... interesting, comparing SM and USUM.
It's also got a nice geyser effect going on here. This is purely cosmetic.
There is a Zygarde Cell around here. Surprisingly, USUM didn't replace this one.
You can also find Wimpods here, too. I imagine you've gotta chase them down with Tauros, I've got no idea what you're catching them on through trickery.
Down here, we have a Sightseer, and she delivers a line that offers terrifying implications if the popular interpretation of it is proven correct, given that she can be found here in SM.
In SM, she has a full team of four. In USUM, she cut down to two.
Sandshrew (Moon): It usually makes its home in deserts and arid zones, where rain does not fall. It digs holes to catch Bug-type Pokémon
Geodude (Sun): Its round body makes it easy to pick up, but it is hard and heavy. It's dangerous to play with them as if they were snowballs.
Graveler (Ultra Sun): It climbs up cliffs as it heads toward the peak of a mountain. As soon as it reaches the summit, it rolls back down the way it came.
Her team is composed of the Kantonian forms of Sandshrew, Vulpix, Geodude and Graveler. Ground, Fire, and Rock/Ground respectively, this team can be swept by a relatively solid Water type.
As a few highlights, the Vulpix happens to know Imprison, a pretty cool move that prevents the opponent from using any moves the user knows. It's rarely useful, it's more just kinda confusingly phrased. Particularly since the effect happens so rarely it often impossible to spot working.
It used to fail if it didn't work, which meant it was very rare you got to see this cool "seal" animation it does.
It's also worth noting that the Geodude and Graveler have the Sturdy Ability, so Sturm's ability to set Stealth Rocks came in handy. Gen V Sturdy would be a pain in the rear if it happened to exist in a game where you fought Geodudes by the truckload.
In USUM, she trims down to Sandshrew and Persian. The Persian is new to USUM, but Sightseer Mitch had it back in SM's Malie Garden.
The weird thing about this NPC talking about "power spots" is that this is the exact term used to describe locations that allow one to harness the Dynamax phenomenon in SwSh. It's alarmingly possible that Jamie is, in fact, referencing the actual Dynamax phenomenon- alarming, because come on, guys, let SM breathe. There's a reason Pokemon games with a new set of Pokemon aren't supposed to come out three years after the last one. This game is already straining under the rush, with USUM required to do an editing pass and this game taking on the burden of having the expanded Zygarde lore Pokemon Z was supposed to have, read the room.
This is, specifically, something ascribed to Tapu Fini. I imagine the other Tapus have their own strengths, although Koko and Bulu hardly seem to be the type to do this sort of thing.
USUM adds a Swimmer here out of wholecloth, and he has a weird Pokemon.
Dragalge (Ultra Moon): This vicious Pokémon sprays a poisonous liquid on opponents that come near. For whatever reason, it gets along really well with Dhelmise.
For some reason, he uses a Dragalge and only a Dragalge. As we will soon see, Dragalge is version-exclusive and evolved. There are postgame opponents who add Dragalge and its match into the Dex, but their pre-evolutions appear on no Trainer. You'd think he'd have one (or possibly both) of them.
Dragalge, incidentally, is a Poison/Dragon type, and is not to be attacked with Electric moves. I have a certain fondness for aquatic Pokemon that are not Water type, although that may just be my distaste for Waters being so common compared to their counters.
Causes the target of the move to move immediately after them in the turn order. Only good in Doubles, although considering Usagi's Atk score, it might actually be better than having her attack with her action...
I'd be more worried about that. Unless you're only in it for the tranquility.
...Hey are there even fish in there?
Zygarde Cell in SM, a nice shiny valuable item in USUM.
And there's a vitamin here.
Weirdly, you can't climb this. It looks like you can, though...
If you head to the far west of the route, you can climb up a back route to get back on Ancient Poni Path for a goodie. There is no tall grass at all on Poni Breaker Coast.
Neither of these TMs are new to us. The other game found them way back around the time we met Lana in Brooklet Hill! Neither Bethany nor Noah proved to be highly enticed by the promise of Frost Breath, though- Keokeo has something better and Lanz is a Physical attacker. On the other hand, Ridley and Guardia have been begging for Scald.
Anyway, there is only one way to find Pokemon other than Wimpod here in SM, and that is by fishing. 1 -> 10% for the fish we're looking for.
Although this was pretty nice. Good thing it's so easy to refresh the bubbles.
A Sharpedo for ourselves! Sharpedo are Water/Dark types that hit hard, hit fast, and are made of glass. Seriously, that bulk line would make some first stages blush. It has two major weaknesses- Physical Water moves are hard to come by, and its definition of "fast" is 95 base Speed. This isn't bad, but it's particularly low compared to other Pokemon defined by their Speed. They're found at levels 10-43, and if you want Aqua Jet (their only Physical Water move), you need one at level 28 or lower. Which means it's hard to get it on par with the rest of your team.
Sharpedo's only standard Ability is Rough Skin, dealing 1/16 damage when hit by a contact move. If you're very lucky, this might get two chances to trigger, but usually it'll be one. Unless it's a resisted priority move or something. Its HA is Speed Boost, a special Ability that gives it +1 Spd at the end of every turn. This patches up that problematic Speed I mentioned, although it does depend on you staying on the field long enough to get a few stages.
Carvanha (Moon): If they scent the faintest trace of blood, they rush to attack en masse. When alone, they're rather cowardly.
USUM makes this the place to get both Relicanth and Carvanha (Sharpedo's pre-evolved form). Carvanha is 10 > 20%, while Relicanth remains at 1 > 10%.
Incidentally, I didn't get any rolls, but Carvanha is the non-Basculin Pokemon able to be caught holding Deep Sea Teeth to evolve Clamperl Huntail. Yes, this is when that is finally on the table.
In USUM only, this water is traversable by Lapras Paddle/Sharpedo Jet- although there's plenty of rocks to smash for Jet. All of the Poni Wilds water encounters have been displaced here, including that 5% Lapras that I didn't manage to get with Ailey, as well as the addition of some new finds.
First of all, I got a lot of Star Piece and Stardust drops from the rocks themselves.
These field encounters are still here, although there's a new 20% encounter to be found within them.
...Oh hey, I think that's not the usual 70% message? Maybe it was, it's been a while since we got the Ula'ula 70% on my end.
Anyway, the item at the bottom of the water I was about to pick up was a Max Revive.
Found you! Ultra Moon players can acquire a Dragalge for themselves here! It was a tempting option for Ailey, especially since Poison has been a bit of a gap in her kit, but circumstances will deprive her of Dragalge. Dragalge has a weird statline, with high Sp. Def, decent Sp. Atk, and strangely low HP for its intended build. Add some poor Spd into the mix, and it's clear the main reason it's here is to be put on the teams of Dragon experts to make Fairy types hesitate- as evidenced by the fact it first appeared in XY.
Dragalge's Abilities are Poison Point (30% chance of Poisoning the target if hit by a contact move) and Poison Touch (30% chance of Poisoning the target if hitting with a contact move). Poison Point is the one that fits its MO- and as I noticed a way back, despite Poison Point seeming to be a relatively common Ability, Dragalge is the only Pokemon in the Alola Pokedex to possess it. Its HA is Adaptability, giving it x2 damage on its STAB attacks instead of x1.5. Nice to shore up its offenses, and it wasn't like it was relying on Poison Point anyway.
Dragalge is annoying in that it has Double Team in its starting kit at these levels, and this one liked to dodge Spore and the moves I was using to weaken it.
Good thing the Dive Ball bonus still works on it.
Clawitzer (Ultra Sun): After using the feelers on its oversized claw to detect the location of prey, Clawitzer launches a cannonball of water at its target.
In Ultra Sun, one can instead find this crayfish with a gigantic cannon, Clawitzer. Pure Water type, Clawitzer has a distinctive Ability to supplement its titanic Sp. Atk and middling stats. However, as one might expect, all of the moves that complement said Ability are learned by the Move Reminder- except one, which it would learn if it had to evolve. Clawtizer isn't helpless- it learns some fairly impressive Special TMs like Shadow Ball, Flash Cannon and Sludge Bomb- but it really would rather have had the moves it was designed for.
Said signature Ability is the only possible one it can have- Mega Launcher. This increases the power of "aura and pulse" moves by 50%. I'll save you the trouble and tell you those moves are Water Pulse, Dragon Pulse, Dark Pulse, Aura Sphere and Heal Pulse. Water Pulse is a tad iffy- 90 BP isn't that competitive with Scald or Surf- but the other three moves are buffed to 120 BP (slightly more, for Dragon Pulse). It really wishes it could get those moves. To add insult to injury, aside from Aura Sphere being its evolution move, Dark Pulse is a TM... that's postgame locked. Clawitzer couldn't be more actively mocked if it tried.
Well then, let's get started with the Ruins of Hope. As much as the music begs to differ.
Zygarde Cell before we go in.
Lillie got there before we did. I blame fishing for sharks.
Come to think of it, this is the first time we're going in to a Ruins, aren't we? Then again, I'm not sure what stopped Lillie from going to the Ruins of Life.
Bold assumption, considering Nebby hasn't done anything in these ruins.
OK, that is a potential lead to follow...
But that's assuming Tapu Fini both shows up, and that the change in state is an impurity.
I'm not saying I'm not supporting you, but also, I haven't seen much to feel all that encouraged that this is going to work out.
Even Mudsdale felt embarrassed by that, for some reason. I didn't think I was being that discouraging.
What
you say if you tell her everything's going to work out this time. Yeah,
uh... no offense, Lils, but you're going to have to give it a little
bit more of your all.
I
think it says a lot that Lillie's been responsible for Nebby for three
months and she still doesn't feel as if she can say she's already done
this with a straight face.
Mudsdale will be waiting outside.
Like the Ruins of Life and Ruins of Abundance, the Ruins of Hope are filled with an array of giant blocks.
Unlike those two, we're going to need to figure out a way past them in order to accomplish our objective here.
Lillie, in an absolutely adorable way, has decided her method of accomplishing this is to push the blocks herself.
Sadly, the camera cuts to an angle specifically designed so they don't
need to bother rigging an animation for it, but the thought was there.
While yes, it is far beyond the capacity of a human being to move these around, let alone a little girl, that's a bit of an exaggeration. "Heavier than words can express" implies that moving them at all is not an option.
We can move these ones just fine, we just need something with a bit more elbow grease. And a few more elbows.
I
recorded the Machamp Shove segments after this because I remembered
Lillie formally tutorialising it here and felt it made sense. It's not
exactly that complicated, but it is, in fact, a change from how
Strength was performed in older games. In older games, once you
activated "you are now using Strength", you could push boulders merely
by walking into them. In this game, you must hold down the B Button to
explicitly tell the game you would like to push the rock you are
standing in front of. I know I've had more than a few times in older
games where I've tried walking around a room and accidentally pushed a
rock further than I meant to, so this is strictly an improvement, but the only puzzle I can think of where it's even possible
to push a boulder "too far" is the one in Lush Jungle. And even then,
Machamp pushes boulders so slowly that you have about ten seconds to
stop holding the button before it accepts the offending input.
Translation: If you've pushed a boulder somewhere unhelpful, you can leave the room to reload it and place it back in the position it started in. A boulder that has been pushed into a hole is permanently set where it is, but most puzzles are designed such that this is desirable.
The
real question when it comes to Strength puzzles is who sets them up. A
lot of them feel more artificial than being natural obstacles in your
way. These ones, of course, are clearly designed by the Tapu themselves.
Yes. A boulder.
Right, time for the puzzle.
The
Ruins of Life puzzle is a nice easy one, with only one failcon. We must
push the left stone up as far as it will go, so we can push the middle
stone into the right lane, and then we can fill the hole. To fail this
puzzle, the only possible method is to push the middle stone left.
...
How did Hapu get in here with the puzzle still in the way? Presumably, the puzzle is supposed to reset for every time someone comes in, but it won't do that for us.
From the sounds of things, I think they were ruins from the start, although stories do like to depict religions like this one as being mostly extinct and practiced only by a few holdouts.
Presumably because writers are only familiar with non-Christian religions as such hollow imitations of their former selves. Whose fault do you suppose that is?
"Sometimes" appear. I know the gods are typically temperamental, but this is ridiculous.
Now, why is this? Aside from it being a bit of narrative convention to not have prayer solve problems when you could give characters actual agency, it's mainly so the deity in question can teach a lesson. This explanation holds less water here, though, owing to the fact that the guardian deities aren't really omnipotent enough to know the results of their actions ahead of time. Here, it seems to be more of a "the gods only help people per their own whims."
You can really smell the fact that this was not a system the writers had a ton of investment in.
Clearly, whatever's going wrong with Nebby is a problem with a more difficult solution. We were preparing for that. Or at least I was.
I
can be far too easily amused by these weird bits of short-sightedness.
Perhaps what they needed to do was only make the surprise visible when
the characters notice it.
This
scene gets nice, major cutscene. While I'm not convinced it was
necessary, doing so does allow them to do a bit of helpful
world-building by visuals alone.
Hapu,
in this scene, is laying claim to a Sparkling Stone of her own. The
first thing players are likely to think of when they see this is our own
acquisition of such a stone. We know this is what Z-Rings are made of,
and the person who made our own Sparkling Stone into a Z-Ring was Hala-
Melemele's Kahuna.
This lets the game get away with not explicitly spelling out what Hapu is doing, and we also get to walk away pretty much exactly understanding what's been going on behind the scenes to get us to this point. And as a nice bonus, showing the fact Kahunas are chosen by the guardian deities and not humans helps sell the parts of the narrative that depend on that fact- such as why Nanu is still kahuna despite not wanting to be, and also in some part the desire to step away from the Island Challenge requiring them.
I'd
still say it's probably easier to just skip the deities and choose the
kahunas based on merit, but who knows how the deities would take that.
Incidentally, there is a similar scene to this in the anime, and they actually gave Hapu a ceremonial robe
for the event. The design is both cute and has a good cultural design
basis within Alola, enough so that I wish they could've put this in the
game, too.
Sorry, were we supposed to do that?
Do
they have criteria, or do they just choose whoever they like best? I'm
just saying, Nanu strikes me as either Tapu Bulu seeing some strong
hidden depths, or Tapu Bulu having some fun doing shenanigans.
Kanto. Still in the Pacific Ocean, but we're talking the biggest ocean in the world. Besides, the culture was a shift.
Yeah, I get that a lot. Can't say I'm any closer to having an answer on that front. That was almost definitely Tapu Koko having a laugh.
With
Hapu's grandmother having a flashback to when she fought the "young
kahuna" in USUM, I'm left with the implication that she later came to
become romantically entangled with them. Which does raise its own
questions, but given that the Island Challenge is a pretty universal
experience for children in Alola, I can't help but imagine that most
kahunas get saddled with this issue. Especially if they're chosen
anywhere near the age that Trial Captains are.
Hm, this was "years"? Kinda feel like there ought to have been a replacement sooner than this, but admittedly, it's not like Poni has a permanent population to draw from.
Also, this is a similar thing to FE's Sanaki, but where were your parents to fill this void? Neither of them had Fini's favour?
The substance of said adventures being left to our imaginations. Considering the fact that all three of her appearances are her providing assistance to somebody, I have no doubt in her credentials, but I'm still side-eyeing her decision to try and run over people with her Mudsdale.
Ultimately, however, we do wind up getting what we came for- the kahuna of Poni.
With that said, what we are seeking from Hapu specifically is information. Most duties of the kahunas, Hapu can now do because she has the correct authority. Knowledge, meanwhile, depends on Hapu's experience- and no amount of prayer will give her more of that.
Prerequisite "this conversation will be about Lunala in Moon, but be otherwise unchanged".
This
line, of course, changes based on why exactly Lusamine went into the
beast's world. In both games, Lillie needs to follow her, so this
motivation has not changed.
Just remember that you don't owe her anything. So long as this is about you, K?
In USUM, she just talks about the Necrozma waiting there.
Well, reliably. Nebby could also do it, but asking it to do it again strikes me as an unpleasant experience on multiple counts.
In SM, Hapu gets to use the fact that she did battle with a UB to her advantage when discussing this topic.
It even lets her tie in narratively- she feels invested in this because it turns out she and Tapu Fini didn't do so hot.
It
sure would be nice to be able to talk to Hala, Olivia, and Nanu and see
if they had any better luck, though. I tried Hala- he's still saying
the same thing.
In USUM, because she hasn't met the Ultra Beasts, she instead recalls some wisdom from her grandfather to give her the same familiarity. This one feels awful as a direct comparison.
Carefiul, Lillie. There are some provisos on that sentence.
Namely: Hapu is only slightly better informed than we are. We're running on hope that this is enough.
We've got to play two flutes. That's at least something tangible to work with.
Lillie connects these flutes we need to the one Lusamine had.
Oh, so this should be in the Lake of the Moone/Sunne we bumped into on the way to Po Town? Didn't see an altar for it, but it makes sense it ought to be there. And explains the general lack of purpose it seems to have now- someone beat us to it.
A place we have not been yet, but hopefully, the same is true of Lusamine. Or anyone else.
Exeggutor Island is a former Trial site- it no longer is, but once was- and so it is presumably a favourite place of the Tapu, and that is as good a justification as any. Does make you wonder what plot trinkets one might've found in the other Trial sites.
Also makes me wonder if the Lake of the Moone/Sunne was a Trial site before the Thrifty Megamart (Abandoned Site) was rendered fit for purpose.
It's probably just my imagination, but Exeggutor Island is roughly the size, shape and position of Ni'ihau, the Forbidden Isle. This place is populated, but as the name suggests, by a limited number of people- less than 100 as of the 2020 census.
Ni'ihau is the second-smallest of the eight major islands, the smallest being Kaho'olawe. Kaho'olawe is unpopulated, but considering why, I'd hope it wasn't the inspiration for Exeggutor. At the very least, Kaho'olawe is over by Maui/Akala, not Kauai/Poni.
Hapu will tell us to prepare to speak to whoever greeted us when we got to Poni. Considering that, in both games, it is the job of the Seafolk Chief to take us to Exeggutor Island, this feels like a pointless change.
And that's those two heading off to Seafolk. We'll get our next cutscene as soon as we get back there.
They'll wait up for us. Besides, I have some curiosity.
Darn. Oh well. What Tapu Fini gets up to is her business.
Proof of concept, the block that went in the hole remains down, while the one that we just moved aside remains up. If we ever want to revisit Tapu Fini's shrine, we can do so without needing Machamp.
The Ruins of Abundance are a little different.
In order to get to the end, there are no holes down which you push blocks. This means that to get in or out, you have to do a Machamp puzzle every time. I believe this makes this the only permanent use for Machamp Shove in SM.
Probably for the best.
The Ruins of Life are a bit more complicated-looking, but I'm not actually 100% certain it's possible to fail.
At what point in this puzzle could I have pushed a block in such a way to prevent my forward progress?
(It's not obvious, but this top stone will fall into a hole. Like the Ruins of Hope, it is possible to get to Tapu Lele's shrine without Machamp Shove on revisits.
No one can say I didn't try.
Well, except Tapu Koko. I can't go to his ruins until they rebuild that bridge.
Anyway, I think now is a good time to go back and get these Machamp Shove items.
This path was blocked off by a Tauros Charge rock in USUM, but now it is finally time for Bethany to get up here!
The prizes are the same.
And it's worth mentioning that Bethany does not get shown the Flying Z-Pose by that golfer lady. Still, though, it might be a little late for Flying's time to shine, but who knows? Maybe Dottie can find use for this yet...
There is a Machamp Shove rock on Melemele Island in USUM, over in Sandy Cave instead.
Hell. Yeah. Thunderbolt is a 90 BP Special Electric move with a 10% chance of paralysis available to many Electric, Psychic, and basically any half-decent Pokemon known for Special attacks. It is the signature move of Ash's Pikachu for a reason, and a lot of Pokemon are desperate for it. Annoyingly, none are more desperate than Zapple and Arsena, but they didn't get that luck. Ah well, I'm sure Genevieve and Volty will find something to do with it.
The next Machamp Shove rock on the list is in Lush Jungle, on the far east side.
This will give us access to a small cave.
It has a Zygarde Cell, a Machamp Shove "puzzle", and some litter items.
(To solve the puzzle, you push the Machamp rock one unit east, and then one unit up. Push it too far east, and you have to reset the room. Not too complicated, but they're saving those for elsewhere.)
In USUM only, one can find, at a 1% encounter rate, Larvesta. A Bug/Fire type that evolves into a very powerful and popular Special sweeper, Larvesta has one major weakness- it evolves at level 59. Ain't nobody got time for that! Larvesta, on its own merits, has pretty bad stats in everything but its Physical attacks, for which is merely mediocre. Its starting moveset makes it depend on Flame Charge and Bug Bite for STAB, which it never truly supplements until evolution, and TMs give it Leech Life and Acrobatics to work with. No, it's not worth it, although if you're feeling much braver than I, I'm told you can get its evolution by S.O.S. call. I wasn't that lucky, but that's because I tried on Ray's file and his Parasect has Effect Spore- and it Poisoned. I wouldn't expect great odds anyway.
Larvesta's standard Ability is Flame Body, giving opponents who make contact a 30% chance of Burn. Larvesta is typically famous for being the best Pokemon for Egg-hatching with this Ability, since it knows Fly, but that purpose has been made redundant by Charizard Glide. Its HA is Swarm, giving it a 50% boost to Bug moves while at 1/3 HP or lower. Neither Ability is great for it, but neither are they terrible.
Strangely, the Awakening got buffed to a Hyper Potion. Anyway, the lady on Poni Island with a faulty memory wants to see a Salazzle, and you can find some high levelled Salandit if you want to catch one now and evolve it for her. Fortunately, both Ray and Ailey have one handy already.
The real prize here is the Energy Ball TM, a 90 BP Special Grass move with a 10% chance of lowering Sp. Def. Its availability isn't quite as amazing as Thunderbolt's, but try using it- you'd be surprised at what can get it. Primarina took me through a loop. Its viability as a move does depend quite heavily on what Pokemon happened to get it- Vikavolt has more use for it than Jynx, for example- but it's a move I wish I got to use more of. Especially in DPPt. It was strangely satifying there.
The final Machamp Shove rock of note is over in Diglett's Tunnel, found by going to the south-west part of the cave and then going 'round. If you can manage to remember back that far (I couldn't), that's Worker Jeff.
This is a back route to Konikoni City, with a few standard prizes.
And also this woman waving to somebody in Heahea. This guy had something to say to us directly way back when, but we could find him then.
I'd... think you'd have noticed that by now. It does tell you the major factors influencing Eevee's evolutions (Evolutionary Stones, time-based friendship evolutions, and location-based), but does not tell you about Friendship and Affection, nor does it give much in the way of indicating what you're looking for. Although that may be asking a bit too much of this sign.
Nice enough goodie here. But there's still a TM to look at.
There you are. We've seen plenty of this move on Theodore, but now we can spread Will-O-Wisp around to the rest of our team. It's a little late to use it on Lurantis, Togedemaru and Mimikyu, but there's still some good threats to point this at, and its fey theming allows it to be used by plenty of Ghost types and other, similar Pokemon as well as just Fire types. Eunie in particular might find some value here.
This fence never opens, annoyingly. What's it doing plonked here...
Next time: We collect the Sun Flute.
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