It's rare enough that it still feels clutch when it does come through for you, but I know what you mean. I'm not sure if it'll be present in PVP.

 

A little behind the rest of you folks, probably. Just started playing a few days ago. I'm about to do the Fire Trial, after almost tearing my hair out looking for that female Salandit. Finally broke down and evolved my male Eevee to Sylveon to make that easier. The time spent looking in vain wasn't a total waste though. Shiny Magby appeared while I was doing it.

Running Dartrix, Slowpoke, Hariyama, Mudbray, Sylveon and Salandit at the moment. Everything in the mid-20's aside from the lizard, which I haven't actually started training yet.

 

Word. I just did that last night, and it took me over an hour. I did the SOS method, using an Adrenaline Orb, but it still took me forever. The first female I found was Adamant (fuck), the second one has the wrong ability (double fuck), but the third one was good enough. I must've gone through 80 males in total, all the while getting killed by Dragon Rages.

Just did the grass trial, was the hardest trial so far. As in one of my pokemon actually fainted. Pretty bullshit setup they have there.

My team right now is Brionne, Salandit, Mudbray and Steenee. I also have a Magnemite I use to catch pokemon and a Bagon I never use. Looking to replace the last two.

 

Ye fucking gods, don't even get me started on this. I've never been trolled so hard in wild capture Natures as I have in this game. It took me like six Mudbray captures to get one that didn't have an attack lowering nature. Same deal with the fem!Salandit. Two in a row with -SpAtk before I got lucky on the third. Thankfully the Sylveon meant that actually FINDING those females was no problem, once I knew about that method of luring them out.

 

I got Wonder Traded a Pheromosa today. I love Wonder Trade sometimes, but only sometimes.

 

I've never got anything but shit from the games first 3 routes. This is the first game I've used wonder trade with, and I naively sent people free Rowlet's while getting back Youngoos and Pikipek's. I don't expect like super rares, but it's frustrating only getting shit that you can catch instantly after game starts...

 

Just got to the last island. So far this is my team:

Shiny Decidueye (lvl 51)
Araquanid (lvl 47)
Metang (lvl 37)
Snorlax (lvl 45)
Typhlosion (lvl 46)
Deino (lvl 45) *I'm thinking about replacing Deino with the new Jangmo-o once I can find one. Deino just evolves way too late.

I'm really enjoying this game so far. The story is better than the last few games.

 

By the way, would anyone who started with a Popplio be willing to trade me one? I've got both the other starters but everyone on GTS is trading Popplio only for legendaries and pokemon that can't be bred like Type:Null

EDIT: Actually got a trade now, after 2 days of waiting

 

Finally came back to finish this off today my team was
Primarina "Prim" (soft resetting for female took about 30 mins)
Alola Ninetails "Elsa" (I PKHEX'ed an egg of her into my moon game day one because fuck waiting for someone with sun to beat the game and trade me one)
Vikavolt (how the hell can anyone call this mon their bro when he doesn't even evolve until after you fight the fourth kahuna? He was lv 52 when he finally evolved)
Lycanroc night form "Moon Moon" (couldn't resist that name but he was mostly a bench warmer until the E4)
Espeon "Cait"
Salazzle ( I had already trained a male salandit 5 levels when I found out it was a fem only evo but the game hands out rare candies like actual candy so that was fine)


I really loved this game the only thing that bugged me was the penchant to give trainers a single pokemon up to the very end of the game. Also my character has no expressions compared to Hau and Lillie, just a blank smile at all times.

 

Actually I've found the wonder trade very useful in ORAS and XY. Considering the nature of it it could be a lot worse than it is and it's largely to do with breeders. When I'm spending time breeding I always put my duds and spares into WT. Flooding it with thirty Dratinis is better than releasing them.

Also, went with Rowlett, sorry.

 

So, do we have a verdict on ally-pokemon rather than HMs?

I fucking, fucking love it. My only downside is an aesthetic one - if I spend all this dosh on in game customizations, I don't want to be railroaded by ugly ass riding gear.

 

I love the ride mons as well.

Honestly i feel the riding gear is some kinda mainlander hazing thing,since I haven't seen any of the other characters wearing it.

 

I'm pretty sure I saw Hau wearing it once?

Lol at the Machamp riding set up though. I was expecting a piggy back or sitting on its shoulders or something.

 

Just landed on the third island. Getting that Psychic TM so early was quite a nice surprise. Honestly, they've made a number of good TM's available early. Getting Brick Break before the first trial was LOL.

 

Okay now I've beaten it twice.

My team the first time:
Primarina
Salazzle
Crabominable
Vikavolt
Mudsdale
Lunala

The second time I did a Nuzlocke. My team at the end was:
Archeops
Magnezone
Palossand
Lurantis
Ribombee
Incineroar

The first playthrough I only caught/used Pokemon new to the gen and Nuzlocke anything went. Funnily enough in both right before the Elite 4 I traded a Pokemon that had been on my team for most of the game for another. In the first run I traded off Toucannon for Lunala because I realized that Toucannon had done nothing since it evolved. In the Nuzlocke I traded off Stoutland for Archeops for much the same reason. That and Stoutland was there to Z-Move Giga Impact and use Rock Tomb.

In finding Brick Break for the first trial that was something I noticed. They really wanted you to have what was strong for the trial before you got to the Totem Pokemon. You get Brick Break in the cave for the first trial which is either Normal or Normal/Dark. You get Rock Tomb in the area of the fire trial. The tm for Shadow Ball is on an island the route before the Ghost trial. You can catch Grass types before the Water Trial. In the the water trial area you catch water types before the fire trial. Fire trial area before Grass trial.

There's also a ton of individual areas in the game where a catch counts as a different area. I just finished my Nuzlocke and I have over a box of extra Pokemon.

 

This comment is not an in depth analysis or an update of my run.


This is just to say that I fucking love this game.

 

I even called myself 'Rival' in this game.

That's awesome! I ran into a natural shiny this game - the first shiny I've ever had before finishing a game.



I've been playing a lot which is a nice comfort since I'm quite sick right now - taking my sweet time on everything. I really want to complete the dex and get that shiny charm for the first time.

Playing blind. My team right now:

Marble the Fomantis (♀ lv29)
Pentagon the Toucannon (♀ lv29)
Araquanid (♂ lv29)
Carjabug (♂ lv30)
Momentum the Rockruff (♀ lv30)
Heel the Torracat (♂ lv30)
Dredger the Mudsdale (♂ lv30)
Slurry the Grimer (♀ lv30)
Copper the Shiny!Herdier (♀ lv30)
Marowak (♀ lv31)

I like to introduce new Pokemon to my team roster when I notice I'm getting a bit over-levelled, so I can stay on pace with the NPCs. It's a nice way to start evolving mons I'm not about to play, too.