So I took a break from exploring the overworld to explore a bit of the school itself, and like the ten or twelve maps available to me, instead of just the classes. In addition to the areas we've been in and a bunch of classrooms that the class scenes take place in, there's also a school shop that sells nothing of importance, but they did really put some effort into modelling the shelves filled with Pokemart goodies, notebooks, and the like. That's actually a praise I would deliver towards Sword/Shield as well, where the overworld maps actually do look pretty great.
I get to talk with Dendra in this big courtyard with absolutely no other NPC worth talking to (no obligatory battle? Come on, you're making me really miss Unova!) and she basically gets me to run around with her. She also serves me a ratty-ass sandwich. I'm nice enough to not say it to her face, but she knows that her cooking is bad regardless. Okay, uh, then why are you feeding it to students, then? The game tells me that I've became 'slightly closer to Dendra', which... okay, I'm pretty sure Pokemon won't have any sort of dating simulation thing going on like Persona 5, but that's definitely where my mind went to.
The infirmary gives me a brand new NPC that I've never met before in any of the other classes, the nurse Miriam. Who's pretty interesting looking! Mostly it's her bubblegum hair, I think. She talks about how there's a lot of gossip about the kid that fell off the cliff on day one of the academy, and Miriam is... really bored because she doesn't have class to teach, and wants me to keep dropping on by. She wanted to become a teacher, but she kept failing her classes to become a health teacher instead of a nurse. My character encourages her and she seems to be a bit excited to do something more. I guess these characters will keep having dialogue as we talk to them more and more.
Miriam later shows up in the entrance hall with the library and all, and she talks about how she's been using her break time to study for the health teacher certification exam, since she got inspired by my own efforts in the treasure hunt. Good show, nurse lady!
I think I maxed out what I can say to Miriam, so I try to go around and talk to the other teachers too. Salvatore is just happy that I'm seeing him as a friend enough to talk to him in the teacher's office. Tyme just answers my question about type advantages and whatnot... and then a random kid asks Tyme if she's a gym leader, which she used to be!
Raifort asks about old things vs. new things, which seems to be a general Scarlet/Violet theme affirmation... but then she goes aside and mutters about how 'this one may indeed be of good use to me someday'. Are you secretly evil, history teacher who keeps talking about the lore of the region? Now I'm a bit more interested with what Raifort has to say, so I try and track down her conversations... but she doesn't have anything more to say to me, despite Salvatore and Tyme appearing in other parts of the school.
Bah. Okay, I guess I'll max out my relationship with any one of the teachers first to make the narrative flow smoothly, and I guess Salvatore's going to be the one I talk to first, cause he's the funniest. I find him in the schoolyard, where he is in a bit of a pinch cause there's a fainted Pawmi. After getting Salvatore to calm down and give it a Potion, he decides to adopt the Pawmi.
Tyme, meanwhile, is in a bit of an interesting situation where she feels like she's being watched by someone... and it's definitely not a ghost, because she asked her sister, whoever that is, whether she's haunted. Apparently we think that it's another student that might be wanting to ask her questions.
Dendra is in the Home Economics classroom, learning to cook sandwiches under Saguaro. Kinda... expected? Her meat lover's sandwich leaves much to be desired, however, and it's soggy and shit. The game implies that it's because of her very protein-intensive choice of ingredients, which I have to call bullshit. I know vegetables are important, but I make full-meat pizzas and sandwiches all the time and they turn out great. But I absolutely agree with Saguaro's assessment if Dendra simply didn't use butter at all for the meat. And apparently Dendra's attempts at food preparation before made Saguaro think that she's about to destroy his classroom.
Clavell is in his office, and he asks me about the Treasure Hunt... before asking me what the slang word 'cheugy' means. Excuse me? Okay, Clavell, I need to google it...
Cheugy (/ˈtʃuːɡi/ CHOOG-ee) is an American neologism coined in 2013 (allegedly by zoomers) as a pejorative description of lifestyle trends associated with the early 2010s and millennials. This aesthetic has been described as "the opposite of trendy" or "trying too hard".
Oh! Oh, that's exactly what Clavell is doing as Clive! Trying too hard to fit in with the kids! I get the joke, even if I have no fucking idea what 'cheugy' is. Okay!
Clavell's second scene has him as which of the faculty members have made the most impression on me, and... it's a bit of a toss-up between Salvatore and Tyme, honestly, both of whom are pretty nice. Dendra, too, even if she's a bit too high-energy for me. Hassel is all right. Raifort's creepy. Jacq is forgettable. But there's really nothing but generic dialogue from Clavell after that.
I decide to leave Hassel, Saguaro and Jacq for later. Anyway, these teachers have at least one scene after their original meeting (Miriam's the only one to have two scenes), but not Raifort. Curious...
Anyway, I also look at the options for classes and all my classes are now stuck at 'midterms'. I pick Dendra's Battle Studies... and it's an actual mid-terms test! I mean, the question is simple as 'what damage a Pokemon resists if it has high Sp. Def' but it's such a surprisingly refreshing change and actually feels like a school! One of the questions is 'which of the following has no effect on damage', which, of course, the answer is... the move's name.
Well, that makes things a bit easier, I suppose, since I know all the midterms are just five questions. I do everything in order. Jacq's biology mid-terms has a question that would trap people who play multiple Pokemon games, since the answer of something that won't make a Pokemon easier to catch is giving them berries... something crucial in Pokemon Go!
So I basically do every midterm and pass them. I did terribly in history, because I am terrible with memorizing years and duration of years. It's the events that matter, not the years, damn it! It doesn't matter if the school was founded 805, 806 or 807 years ago, but that it's founded! And the art class's final question. "What makes something beautiful? A) shape and colour B) eye of the beholder C) I don't know D) there is no correct answer". I really do feel any one of them can be the answer.
Anyway, this is a bit of a less eventful episode in my let's play series, but I am surprisingly enjoying all this running around in the Uva Academy. I am playing this game at my own pace, and at this moment I definitely am enjoying some of the downtime. Next up we'll face off against the False Dragon Titan!
Random Notes:
- I have been grinding and doing a bunch of evolutions for older Pokemon while this is going on. Swalot, Gogoat, Vivillon, Jumpluff, Fletchinder... nothing too exciting to talk about, though.
- Clodsire learned EARTHQUAKE. This is very eventful. This is a big deal.
- Lokix learned First Impression, and I'm not sure if I've mentioned that Brambleghast also learned Giga Drain.
- At night, a bunch of students in the cafeteria are having some a grand old spoopy tea party with a bunch of Sinistea and a Polteageist! That's adorable!
- "Gengar smiles even while it's sleeping. Isn't that just the most adorable thing ever?" Yeah, random nameless student NPC. It actually is pretty damn cute.
- Raifort has a Marshadow hairpin. That's nice.
- Rather disappointed -- though unsurprised -- that for all the hullabaloo Nemona makes about my dorm room that I can't do jack shit to customize the accessories there.
- Jacq sneaks in a little question about feedback on the Pokedex at the end of his test.
- Salvatore sneaks in a question of what his name is in the test -- the trick, of course, is if it's spelled Salvatore or Salvador.
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