Pokemon Ultra Moon LP #2: Trials and New Additions

Pika pi, mofos

So last we left off, I finished Ilima's trial. And, well, I kind of ran around in the Tauros all over Melemele Island to get some of the Totem stickers and did a bunch of side-quests and captured a bunch of Pokemon, and also downloaded the event Rockruff and Hat Pikachu. I've decided to use Pikachu as a party member simply because it's been some time since I've gotten a Pikachu in my party. I don't think the event Pikachu can even evolve, but that's okay -- I don't like Alolan Raichu all that much.

Oh, and I fought against the Ultra Recon Squad, which had... a Furfrou. Which was hella randomly disappointing, I think.

So instead of riding a boat, this time around I ride around on a Mantine Surf minigame! Which is a... decent distraction, even if it did take a fair amount of time for them to give us the tutorial. It's ultimately not a thing I'll repeat, unless there's a reward tied to it, but I dunno. I felt like this is the type of minigame that really feel at home in the Hawaii-inspired Alola as opposed to the rather shoehorned Battle Royale or the constant reminders for me to 'TAKE A PHOTOSHOOT'. Still, it's something.

Unexpectedly adorbs

Much of Akala Island honestly progresses mostly similarly to Sun/Moon, so I won't repeat myself all that much. I did discover the Pikachu Valley, a neat little area that... doesn't actually allow you to capture any Pikachus. Good thing I have my Hat-a-chu. I get the Pikachunium Z or however the fuck you spell it, and my Pikachu can now unleash the 10,000,000,000,000 Volt Thunderbolt or whatever it is. Also, having a little bugger that can unleash Thunderbolt and Thunder at level 20 where everyone else are just learning Spark or Charge Beam? Pretty fucking broken.


Samson Oak gave me a 'totem Raticate' or some shit for finding a bunch of stickers... which I didn't really feel had much difference beyond being a bit bigger, I think? Certainly my totem Raticate doesn't have any differing abilities than normal.

Akala Island's still pretty slow-paced, and I really wished Alola had more of those longer routes filled with Pokemon or trainers that earlier generations had -- or later islands, in Generation VII's case. I don't think there's any significant differences throughout most of Akala's storyline. We've got the hotel bullshit, the railroading bullshit, the encounter with Gladion, the little ranch town, the water trial at Brooklet Hill with Lana... I think her dialogue may be slightly altered, but I can't be bothered to compare.

The big surprise is, of course, when some of the splashes turned out to be Dewpiders instead of Wishiwashis (I'm so using an Araquanid this playthrough) and the massive totem Pokemon turns out to be a gigantic Totem Araquanid, which is awesome as hell. That cutscene is still pretty fucking dope, even if Araquanid's cry isn't quite as awesome as Totem Wishiwashi's cry.

Of course my Pikachu two-shotted the thing with a Z-move. Poor Araquanid.

She's 'adhesive'. Somehow.

And then as I clear out the Sudowoodo blocking the road, the Ultra Recon Squad shows up again, and this time Soliera fights me... with Poipole! Which is a Pokemon unfamiliar to me. I saw it in the trailer as a pure-poison Ultra Beast... but this, this is the kind of change that I really expected to happen in a remake, and I really wished it had come sooner. And Poipole beat up my weakened Pikachu and got a Beast Boost up -- see how much more entertaining battles are when you don't get a free heal up every time? Thank you! Of course, I'm carrying an Inkay as one of my party members and a quick Topsy-Turvy kind of neutered Poipole's Beast Boost, but it's the thought that counts. The Ultra Recon Squad continue to be creepy and cryptic, and walk away. Definitely loved this little side-encounter, though.

And then... there's the silliness with the Battle Royale, there's a bunch of side-quests and exploration and sticker-collecting, and I hatched an Eevee out of an egg. At which point I ended up going up to Kiawe's trial without a single water or ground type in my party... which is well and good, because they've replaced the Totem Salazzle with a Totem Marowak, who is Fire/Ghost. It's still a pretty tough fight because of the ally Salazzle casting Torment all the time, and Alolan Marowak's Cursed Body ability disabling my shit, and it actually went down to knocking out four members of my party before my Zorua can take it out. Good stuff.

Mallow's trial still ends with a Totem Lurantis (that I one-shot with my Dartrix's flying Z-move) but the way it happens is different. Now I have to take the things I gather from one of several patches, and if I take the wrong one, the Pokemon will attack me prior to the cooking process. Also, apparently there are trees that look like Sudowoodo, which made me laugh.

So yeah. Despite my initial complaints with the Alola games (and I'm still pissed at the sheer amount of bullshit side-tracking with random enforced side-games and whatnot) I still enjoyed myself through all this. Current party: Dartrix, Pikachu, Inkay, Grimer, Zorua and a sixth rotating party member (previously a Growlithe, then the egg, now a Stufful) that probably will be replaced with a Araquanid in the future. Either way, I definitely need less dark-types and maybe ground or water because I have a huge problem dealing with fire types. I dunno. Overall, I try not to really think about it too much and just go with the flow.