Let's Play Legends Arceus, Part 8: Coastlands Cavorting

So between part 7 and part 8, I did a lot of running around, completing Pokedex tasks and evolving a bunch of my Pokemon. I do like that the nature of the Pokedex tasks does make it easy for me to pick the game up for like a five-minute playtime and then put it down immediately after and feel like I've accomplished something? I also did a lot of nose-searching with good old Ursaluna in order to look for  a couple of specific evolution items. I wasn't able to find the Black Peat needed to evolve my Alpha Ursaring just yet -- and I also needed to do it in the view of the full moon. It's... these Pokemon evolution methods are getting more and more obscure! How was I really supposed to know? Especially since this game, more than the previous main series games, is kind of pretty stacked in terms of items. 

I did find a bunch of Old Verses, though, and it seems like it tells me more of not just the Dialga/Palkia lore, but also about specifically the ten nobles and the ancient hero that fought against... something? It sounds like something out of a fantasy anime or RPG. It's different, but I like it a lot... especially how the ten nobles or their descendants actually play a role in the main story of Legends Arceus. 

At least evolving Scyther into Kleavor was actually hinted at by that tiny cowboy hat kid Lian, who talks about how Scyther evolves with a specific stone. It's the Black Augurite, which drops from Gravelers... so yeah, Manterror the Scyther has finally evolved into the mighty Bug/Rock Kleavor. He learns Stone Axe, which basically has him swing both of his axes in a single direction. Still not the biggest fan of Kleavor's face especially from the front, but from the profile... I'm really starting to appreciate Kleavor's design a bit more. Especially now that I realized that he's got those tiny (now-redundant?) wings from his time as Scyther. I certainly can appreciate that it shares its body design with Scyther a lot more with the 3D model for sure. 

I also bought a full set of red suit-and-tie. Doesn't feel right running around in medieval-era times with a full dapper gentleman's suit, and I'll probably go back to the ronin hat later on, but it's neat to have options. 

Anyway, running around the Cobalt Coastlands have made me really cognizant of something... man, the Pokemon in the Coastlands, especially the left side, are really very hostile. I was kind of thrown off by the Spheals and Glameows being so skittish... but the Skorupi and that big scary Alpha Drapion are really everywhere. I'm not quite sure of the logic of scorpions scuttling around a beachside? Don't they like more humid, damp locales? There are also Machop and Machoke on the beaches, flexing and doing their thing. I guess wrestling belts and bodybuilding pants existed all the way back in medieval-era Japan?

Going to where the main story tells me to, I get accosted by so many Alpha Pokemon. There is a big-ass Octillery, and then a big-ass Purugly, and like three different species of fully-evolved moth Pokemon trying to murder me on my way to the tip of the coast. Running through this gauntlet is pretty damn fun, honestly, in a way that I really haven't felt for a long time in Pokemon. 

There's also a Vulpix, a bunch more Stantlers, and some poor schmuck who got his stuff stolen by Aipoms. As someone who's dealt with a lot of monkeys IRL, yeah, never keep your eye off things when you see a monkey near you. 

Palina is the warden mentioned before by Irida, and she is a nice young woman with... with... what is that on her neck? A big-ass scuba goggles that covers her face? Is that what that is? I'm not sure which character she is supposed to be in reference to. I can't think of any. Regardless, though, she's got two Hisuian Growlithes, in differing sizes, and she greets me warmly.

Palina tells me that the previous lord of the Coastlands, presumably a Hisuian Arcanine, died after being swallowed by the waves, in an attempt to rescue its young pup. It's a rather typical trope, of course, when Palina asks me which of the two pups is the young child of the Lord Pokemon -- obviously, it's the smaller, weaker-looking one. Palina, however, kind of refuses to let the skittish young child have the responsibilities of lordship (whatever it entails to a rock dog-tiger) before it is ready. Which... it is nice, I suppose. She tells me that I need the aid of a Basculegion to apss through the ocean and get to Firespit Island. 

And... this huge two-pincer coast really doesn't correspond to any part of modern-day Sinnoh (and I don't think it's the post-game area either), but the only smaller island I can see in the modern-day map is the Pokemon League island, which I suppose could be Firespit Island. Palina also mentions about how a lightning bolt has zapped Firespit Island, so clearly something is rampaging there. 

There's also a pretty neat little line of religious questioning about whether Almighty Sinnoh is angry -- the Diamond and Pearl clans have made up and exist in peace, sure, but is Almighty Sinnoh is angry that half of the humans in Hisui are worshipping the 'wrong' image of it? I really didn't expect Pokemon to have, of all things, a discussion about different interpretations of the same god, but here we are. 

Volo also shows at around this point to give some explicit exposition about the 10 noble pokemon and the ancient hero, who apparently went against Almighty Sinnoh and fought him -- which was what clued me in to what the Old Verses are talking about. 

In order to tame Basculegion, I need to meet up with Iscan, a guy from the Diamond Clan who lives in a small hut. He is an extremely nervous man, which is kinda hilarious considering that... well, he's not like, Alex Louis Armstrong ripped, but he's pretty big. He says that I need to make Basculegion's favourite snack in order to tame it, but I need to catch a Dusclops. In order to Dark Pulse the snack. Becuase that's what you do to feed a giant sea-bass empowered with the souls of its dead comrades, I guess.

Except Iscan is so fucking terrified of Dusclops (or "dust bops") that he refuses to even say Dusclops' name, and says that I have 'nerves of titanium' in that I didn't flinch at the mention of Dusclops. Again, I find it so cool that all of these older species of Pokemon are given little roles in the story. I felt that a lot of the main-series games find it hard to give more than a handful of Pokemon except for the legendaries any sort of spotlight, but I really do feel that games like Ranger and Legends Arceus really do a great job at making these creatures feel like they're part of the world. 

Anyway, off I go to Deadwood Haunt, and I spent way longer than I cared to trying to stubbornly wait out the clock until it is 'night' and the Dusclops-es and the Duskulls spawn. There are a lot of far more aggressive Drifloons and Drifblims, though, and... well, let's just say that my own Drifblim is murdering a lot of other ghost-types. 

After a less-comedic-than-I-would've-liked moment where Dusclops Dark Pulses a pile of... of... of whatever the hell that is, Palina and her Growlithes show up. There's some Romeo and Juliet stuff between Iscan and Palina, who apparently are in a relationship but can't be seen together. Iscan summons the great Basculegion with his flute, and he eats the Dark Pulsed feed without too much of a drama. Basculegion also gives me the water plate. 

Palina explains that Iscan and Basculegion had saved her life and the Growlithe's during the incident where the Hisuian Arcanine died, I think, and now Palina's kind of having to deal with her own refusal to get the Growlithe into the lord position before it is ready... as well as her forbidden, cross-clan love with Iscan. 

...and then the Miss Fortune Sisters attack! The oldest sister unleashes a Gengar that kidnaps the bigger Growlithe and I guess using Shadow Sneak allowed it to move undetected before we could react? They want to turn Growlithe 'big and strong' and they retreat to Firespit Island. Again, there's some cutscene-incompetence on our part, but it was pretty cool and the cutscene angles they used for Gengar was also pretty cool. Iscan panics because he's never had to battle before, and tells us that he will catch up. I think it'll also lead to some character development for Palina and the smaller Growlithe?

Anyway, we get to ride around with Basculegion through the oceans, and Basculegion can jump! I like this guy. Obviously, though, I don't go puppy-saving immediately and roam around the ocean. Remoraids and Hisuian Qwilfishes are extremely aggressive, while Mantines and Mantykes are a bit more chill. A lot of new exploration to be done for sure! 

I mostly just go around the first area -- the Obsidian Fieldlands -- and go around lobbing Pokeballs at Magikarps as I swim around with Basculegion and just appreciate the other parts of the area that was previously locked behind the giant rivers. Lots of Magikarps -- including a hilarious Alpha Magikarp that apparently still can only do just Splash. That's hilarious. I did also find a random guy in one of the islands that wants me to show him a Scyther, which required a back-and-forth to the 'box'. There's also an island with an Alpha Infernape hanging out with a bunch of Aipoms... so since I met Alpha Torterra in the Mirelands, I'm assuming an Alpha Empoleon is somewhere in the Coastlands. 

I'm also a bit more well-equipped for the space-time rifts in the Fieldlands, although the inventory space will always be a bit of a limiting factor for me. This time around, the ones that appear from the rifts include Ursarings, Lickitungs, Eevees, Haunters, Gengars and regular Johto Sneasels. The Eevees are most certainly welcome since I'm going to need like a half-dozen of them to complete the dex, and I'm going to assume that just like the Porygons, the Johtonian Sneasels come from the future as well.

Also, while battling in the water, Legends Arceus finally solves a minor immersion problem I had with the 3DS games and Sword/Shield where any Pokemon just... floats above the ocean. Apparently in the past, I just bring conveniently-sized floating wooden mini-boats for my Pokemon to stand on, which is just genius. I love it. In the process, my Goomy also finally evolves into Hisuian Sliggoo, which looks adorable. Look at those tiny itty-bitty hands holding on to the edges of the opening to its shell! 

Current Party: Hootle (Dedicueye); Manterror (Kleavor); Cremation (Shiny Rapidash); Loonatic (Drifblim); Bartholomew (Alpha Ursaring); Uzumaki (Hisuian Sliggoo)