Looks like the first global mission has opened up in the Festival Plaza.

It's our task to catch.. 100,000,000 Pokemon. The number of caught Pokemon is 17,000 as I sign up for it.

We have until December 12th to catch 'em all. Better get started.

 

After completing the Ghost Trial, I am again reminded of how hard I would have gotten my shit packed in had I tried to Nuzlocke this game blind. Actually, I should just be thankful that I had Mudsdale and allowed it to learn Heavy Slam or else I might have gotten stuck in there.

 

Finalized my team, decided to go with Alolan Raichu and Kommo-o. With Krookodile replacing Mudsdale, I'd have SE STAB against every type... something to consider.

Anyways, it took me an hour to get a Pikachu without a garbage nature. And I realized only 50 minutes in you could use a lead with Static to get 50% chance of encountering the garbage Pichu instead of the 5% (lol 5% more like 1%) chance. Dammit.

Also, I learned that you can actually battle some of the Trial Captains again and learn their ball throwing styles. Visit their homes after you've beaten the island Kahuna. Although afaik, it's only Ilima, Lana and Kiawe OR Mallow, depending on your version. Their teams are a few levels above their trial totem.

 

Two questions, if anyone knows -

How would one go about identifying whether a Pokemon has a hidden ability while SoS chaining?

And do you happen to know if it's possible to re-engage Tapu Koko if you accidentally killed without capturing the first time? =/

 

He respawns. Not sure if you have to beat the E4 or just re-zone, but he'll be back.

 

There's a move called Skill Swap: it switches the user's and target's abilities, telling you about them in the process. Or switch in a pokemon with Trace.

Entrainment and Simple Beam will tell you about it too I think, with the added bonus of neutralising the ability.

 

Ugh, just got to Poni and suddenly am ~5 levels behind pretty much everything. I suppose this game means for the player to (ab)use the Exp. Share, which I turned off as soon as I got it.

 

Oof, wasted so much time chaining for Dratini only to find that Dragon Tail resets the chain. So wasteful. Bleh.

Guess I'll just work on Ultra Beasts until I figure out a better way to chain those.

 

I also killed Tapu Koko. Took a long nights sleep afterwards and could engage him by clicking the totem next day.

 

Are you guys playing the game on a 2DS or 3DS? Is the 3d feature used at all?

 

3DS, no 3d features at all. The double battles also drop the framerate pretty hard.

 

Yeah, there's a pretty decent amount of lag even on the New 3DS. I wouldn't want to see how bad it is on the 2DS.

 

Beat the Elite Four. Final Team:

Syren the Primarina. M, L56. Aqua Jet / Sparkling Aria / Ice Beam / Moonblast. Good in all ways; highly recommend. 10/10.

Tye the A. Raichu. M, L55. Volt Switch / Nasty Plot / Spark / Psychic. Fragile, but geez, that Psychic packs a punch. 8/10.

Layla the A. Marowak. F, L54. Stomping Tantrum / Flare Blitz / Brick Break / Rock Tomb. Don’t get me started. I wasted so much time on this thing which doesn’t really learn any ghost or fire attacks. Oh, you suddenly want to learn Flare Blitz during the FINAL FIGHT? Go to hell. 4/10.

Rosy the Bewear. F, L55. Hammer Arm / Double Edge / Dragon Claw / Payback. Wants a hug. What’s wrong with that? 7/10.

Glacia the A. Sandslash. F, L56. Iron Head / Icicle Spear / Iron Defense / Slash. Surprisingly useful and versatile. Has no patience for enemy shenanigans. 8/10.

Watch the A. Exeggutor. M, 50. Leaf Storm / Psyshock / Egg Bomb / Wood Hammer. Needs more dragon moves. 7/10.

Thoughts on the game as a whole:

I’m blown away. I thought they couldn’t top X/Y, but now that I’ve been presented with a real, deep story, I see how much of a fool I was. Unlike the artificial friendships from X/Y, these new characters feel like real friends and have real bonds. All the Captains and Kahunas were memorable, which was helped by their Trials. Unlike battles, the Trials were personalized for each Captain, showing their personality, and I didn’t miss fighting them personally. Even other characters like the Team Skull members were likeable and sympathetic.

The Totem battles had their good and bad points. The bad point is when the games inevitably go back to gym battles, it will be a clear step back from the progress made here. The Totem Pokemon were challenging and didn’t hold back. I was wiped out by the Grass Totem Pokemon three or four times, and other times were close too. The difficultly of this game made it more rewarding when you won. I had EXP Share off for most of the game and found myself severely underlevelled; I had to turn it on for the entire end game just to catch up.

The storyline itself:

Spoiler

I didn’t know you could make such a douchebag villain in Pokemon. I liked how the Aether Foundation wasn’t talked about pre-game, instead using Team Skull as a distraction. Lusamine stood out as a villain because her motivations made me uneasy. Her attitude towards Pokemon and collecting them, was exactly my attitude. When the Ultra Beast jellyfish showed up, my immediate thought was, “I want that jellyfish.” And I shared Lusamine’s disappointment when the jellyfish wandered off.

Making Lillie the focal point of the game was a smart decision. I don’t think you can top Lillie as a companion and her character development was a joy to watch. Write to me from Kanto, Lillie. ;_;

There are two things I take issue with. One, the towns aren’t memorable. I can’t remember more than couple and the map is so crowded, I can’t find anything without the labels. I’d have the liked the ability to Surf from one island to another, which would help with the game’s closed-off feeling. The other problem is the first island has too many cut scenes and I wished I would have been left alone a bit more.

Otherwise, yeah. Good game, much like.

8/10.

Time to catch ALL the Ultra Beasts. Clearly I’ve learned nothing.

 

It's not bad if you bump up the clockspeed and l2 cache I'm finding

 

I'm on a 2DS and apart from it taking about ten seconds for the game to load I've gotten no lag. I'll probably get the Switch just to play Pokemon Stars though.

Finding myself under levelled so I had to switch on exp share. Noticing a distinct lack of exp to be gotten from trainers with many having just one, maybe two pokemon.

Like, I'm halfway through the game and don't think I've met someone with four Pokemon yet.

 

Is the super buff UB really named Buzzwole?

Really?

I can't tell whether or not I find this more awful or more hilarious. It's very conflicting.

 

Buzzswole is an ultrabeast yes. Sun only if I remember correctly.

http://i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/189/074/50f.gif

 

Yeah, I know he's around. I'm just surprised at the name. Actually using "swole" seemed kind of on the wild side for Game Freak, it feels like a bit of a meme term.


Just accidentally killed a shiny Bagon while hunting for a shiny Bagon because I was autopiloting. The despair I felt.

Three more SOS chains later and I find another. Thank you for taking pity on me, universe.

 

But... you coulda had 2 shiny Bagons.

 

Almost Elite Four time. I had a little bit of trouble with Gladion and Hau due to another AI level spike, so I think I'll be doing one last grinding stop before challenging the League. I should probably go around to the ruins sites and see if I can catch the Guardians too.

Anyway, the team as it stands:

Solgaleo, @ Lv56 (Sunsteel Strike, Wild Charge, Crunch, Zen Headbutt)
Giles the Decidueye @ Lv52 (Leaf Blade, Acrobatics, Sucker Punch, Spirit Shackle)
Roach the Mudsdale @ Lv52 (High Horsepower, Rock Slide, Heavy Slam, Earthquake)
Viole the Starmie @ Lv52 (Dazzling Gleam, Scald, Ice Beam, Psychic)
Helia the Salazzle @ Lv52 (Flamethrower, Sludge Wave, Nasty Plot, Life Leech)
Yunchang the Kommo-o @Lv52 (Dragon Claw, Sky Uppercut, Iron Defense, Brutal Swing)