Let's Play Pokemon Violet, Part 14: Salarymen & Sushi Dragons

So yeah. I've been going around the North-Western part of Paldea, and... it's actually rather surprising how much of these areas are just... terrain with Pokemon and trainers, without any story-related questline being tied to it. This is actually what makes a world feel a bit more alive to me, actually -- one criticism I had about the three 3D-era games, and especially Sword/Shield, is that so much of the overworld is so... economical. The design teams aren't spending time into anything that isn't going to be relevant in the story, so each route in that game (other than the Wild Area and the DLC) feels like it's just a funnel to lead from one city to the next, or that it'll be obviously involved in a cutscene.

Not so here, where there are caves and marshes that take up significant chunks of Paldea, and these end up feeling like they are part of the terrain and just the world in general. And I was just wandering there, intent on going to the False Dragon Titan at the center of Casseroya Lake, because I've completed four of the five Titans and I'd figured I would complete that whole storyline in one go before I explore all the snow-encrusted lands of Paldea. The Titans seem to be the bet questline to complete early on anyway, since it unlocks Miraidon's traveling capabilities, and I kinda need it to get to Eri (which I tried to get to before the mountains blocked my way).

I have travelled to the lake, but in an attempt to unlock a closer Pokemon Center to fly to, I ended up walking all the way to Medali City, which is a very... bland town with warehouses and stuff. The one citizen that has anything interesting to talk about tells me that Medali is like a hub city for supplies and whatnot, and it's kind of clear that the two important things in this location is a huge Japanese-style restaurant with a whole upper floor that I can't get into, and a location that seems to be a depressed stage of sorts, with Oinkolonge murals and a metal grille. 

With nothing really to do in this place, I just decide to get the gym battle done and over with, but the one here has a puzzle that I like! I have to look for clues after defeating the three other trainers in the city. The trainers are easy enough, with them being other students that just happen to wield Normal-type Pokemon (which is the gym's typing!) and I'm just so happy to be in a gym challenge with actual battles again!

Each gym trainer gives me a clue, though, and one of them has me check out the metal grille and find out that it has 'Fire Blast' engraved into it. Another one tells me to listen to a blue bird, which is a NPC with a Squawkabilly... that actually has dialogue that continues on and on which I wouldn't probably care to listen to since it's not an NPC that can be interacted with. 'Medium' is the clue here. 

And then another one tells me to check out the ice cream stores for a strange item in the menu. I would think it's the abomination that is the teriyaki sauce ice cream, but no, apparently there are grilled rice balls in exactly one of the many, many identical ice cream stores.

So I go to the Treasure Eatery, the huge restaurant, and I have to say those three choices... and then I have to answer what seasoning the locals prefer. The picture of the grilled rice balls did have lemon slices on top of it, so I answered that... though apparently, I'm supposed to talk to one of the background NPC's in the gym who would tell me that specifically. 

Also, the entire upper elevated floor that I can't access slides open to reveal a battlefield. What happened to all the customers and patrons there?

And I have to fight... Larry! The Exceptional Everyman. You okay there, buddy? You look very tired. Apparently Larry is employed by the restaurant as well and he's holding a briefcase and he's under constant threat of performing well otherwise the manager will dock his pay. No! Why did it have to get so real? Damn it, Pokemon Association! Pay your gym leaders well! Look at this poor man and the bags under his eyes!

Larry's team is woefully under-leveled compared to mine, and I definitely am supposed to go here before I went to battle Tulip. He has a Komala and a Dudunsparce, and I don't even get to see what they could do before my Garganacl just Hammer Arms them both in one shot. As he's about to unleash his final Pokemon, the population of the whole damn town shows up to cheer him on. Huh! I guess Larry has a lot of fans! You'd think this would happen to one of the more celebrity gym leaders like Iono or Tulip, but I guess they already had the crowd there in the first place. 

Larry's Tera Pokemon is actually a Pokemon that fits with his specialty, and it's... Staraptor! Who's Normal/Flying! Very cool, very cool. Man, the Normal-type giant diamond rock looks stupid on top of Staraptor's mohawk. I also beat the Staraptor with minimal fuss. 

Larry is a good sport for losing, and then gets me to have a lunch with him as a reward, which leads to the photograph where we eat a whole ton of jelly filled donuts. I mean, onigiri. Larry gives me the TM for Facade, and actually has a rather neat line where he hopes I can make it through life without having to put up a facade. I like Larry. He left an interesting impression on me, mostly because he's just so tired. 

Anyway, with that done and over with, I head off to Casseroya Lake itself. 

I got a bit confused as to what I'm supposed to do, because I talked to the Tatsugiri on the island there and they all just led to regular fights. Then I realized that they were saying things like 'susheee' and the like! The Tatsugiri I want is the one on the edge of the island, who yells 'Taitaaaaan! Ai! Taitaaaaan!' Yep, all these Pokemon are starting to learn human speech. Meowth from the anime probably opened classes or some shit. But then the Tatsugiri gets eaten by a big-ass Dodonzo, which was a bit of a jumpscare! It's a big boy! A big fish boy!

Of course, my Brambleghast just takes the big Dodonzo down in two turns. Bullet Seed is pretty damn good, and I'm not sure if multi-hit moves just do a bit more damage in these Titan battles or what? The Dodonzo dives back into the lake and swims away, 

I chase the Dodonzo into the lake and it's a bit hectic, especially with a lot of other Dodonzo surfacing from the water... and not to mention the Golducks, Slowpokes, Avaluggs and other kinds of water pokemon in my way! And I'm not even supposed to find the big Dodonzo, but the Tatsugiri again, who's just sitting on the beach. I talk to the Tatsugiri, who summons the Dodonzo, which smashes the rock with its big-ass tail! The Tatsugiri jumps in to eat the Herba Mystica...

At which point Arven shows up. Is that a dragon? A fish? Even Arven is confused! And then the Dodonzo eats the Tatsugiri again! Arven gets shocked, commenting that we see the food chain in action. I have seen the dex entries and I know that these two are buddies, so I guess Dodonzo is just hiding the Tatsugiri in his mouth? Is there something about like, symbiotic fishes or something? I don't really know enough, and especially not something with a catfish... but it's an interesting dynamic!

Arven brings his Greedent this time around, and the Dodonzo fight happens again. And... I really don't have anything too interesting to say about the fight, since with 2v1, the Dodonzo falls easily. Arven has something to say... but then the Tatsugiri hops out, makes angry taitaaaaan nosies, before it powers up with Herba Mystica and we get a third Titan fight! ...except Titan Tatsugiri is really only difficult because of its Dragon-typing, but then Brambleghast just Phantom Forces his way through the fight. 

Arven calls them a 'combo meal', and, again, I know Tatsugiri commands Dodonzos and they're like, the boss of the brutes. I finally decide to look up my own Tatsugiri to discover that it has the ability 'Commander', which has it hide inside an ally Dodonzo's mouth if available, and then issues commands from there. That's cool! So that's what is going on!

The final Herba Mystica, the spicy one, is finally in our grasp. I guess this has to be the final one? Or at least it has to be the one you get after getting the surfing HM. Anyway, I get Rock Climb! Or, well, Miraidon can climb vertical surfaces after the requisite 'give your bike robot a Subway sandwich' sequence. 

And then Arven gives his own sandwich to his Mabosstiff... and starts talking about how they can play with his favourite ball as much as Mabosstiff wants. He mumbling about how he just wants Mabosstiff to get better, and the sad music swells up... and there's a black screen...

...and there's a black screen for like almost 30 seconds.

I was a bit confused if this was for effect or my game crashed, but then turns out it's just that my game took a while to load the cutscene. Oh, Scarlet/Violet and your performance issues! 

We get a cutscene as Arven starts to look away. "You did your best, bud..." and he looks away and the sad music swells up, and the cutscene lingers long enough at Arven and the Pokeball that falls in front of Mabosstiff that it actually almost starts to make me think that they are going to kill off Mabosstiff... but then his eyes flicker open, the real beady eyes show up, he picks up the ball, he wags his tail and goes 'ruff woof.' 

Arven gets so overcome with emotion as he yells for his bud and hugs the shit out of his big doggy, and my character watches silently with an arm on Miraidon. Awwwww. You know what? This is a good scene. A very good scene. I almost teared up, actually, as obvious as the conclusion was going to be... but there was a chance that they were going to have Mabosstiff die, right? 

And then Professor Turo calls us, congratulating us for unlocking all of Miraidon's powers other than battle tactics, and then... Turo recognizes Arven, talks about how he's been trying to reach him, and identifies him as the only one who can break into his lab, and commands Arven to take me back to the lighthouse in Poco Path. It's at this point that Arven reveals that apparently Turo is his dad! Which... is apparently a plot twist everyone knew from pre-release materials, but I certainly didn't know!

Arven says that Turo is an absent parent, and literally never spoke to him in years, and is now treating him like a damn servant. Is that why he's so attached to his one and only friend, his dog? 

...shit, what is it with all the absent parents in the Pokemon world? Lusamine, Guzma's dad, Giovanni... 

...and actually, this guy is why I thought Mabosstiff might die. I could see Pokemon pulling a 'oh no, the sickness is too advanced for the Herba Mystica to cure', but then Mabosstiff gets reborn as a Greavard or a Houndstone or something along those lines. But I guess we ain't going that dark yet. 

My Greavard evolved into a Houndstone thanks to the experience points from the lake, though. It's a skeleton boy! A good boy with a gravestone on its head. It learns a move, Last Respects, which gets even more powerful the more Pokemon that fainted earlier. It's like that one move that Magearna has where she collects soul power! I am absolutely enamoured with Houndstone, and since I'll be playing Pokemon Scarlet after this, I am definitely going to have this in my party .

Speaking of Pokemon that I want in my party, I finally meet a Toedscool after the damn thing keeps tormenting me with its sprite appearing in the minimap but I could never seem to ever find it! Toedscool is the convergent evolution of Tentacool, except that it's a sentient fungus that grows under trees. And instead of two jellyfish tentacles, Toedscool has two, uh... cartoon noodle legs, and it has the most adorable running animation ever! It's also a Grass/Ground Pokemon, the second one ever since Torterra!

My Toedscool evolves into a Toedscruel, of course, and it replaces Tentacruel's sharp beak with a cartoon squid siphon! Very interesting looking, and the pokedex identifies this as a 'wood ear' Pokemon, meaning that this line is based on the wood-ear fungus! Very interesting. There's a definite 'alien squid/octopus monster' vibe to this, but I also get that this is some sort of a mushroom creature, with the brown parts being the visible wood-dear part of the mushroom, while the tentacles are the thin hyphae? It also explains why Toedscools hide underneath large trees.

Anyway, it's a pretty fun sequence of events. Next up, I'll be exploring the mountains -- which I have done a bit off-screen in-between the different bosses. But next up with the power of climbing, I'll go all the way to the peak of the snowy mountains, and the two cities there!

Random Notes:

• I always bring two Pokemon that I give experience to so my main party doesn't grow too powerful, and I can get them to evolve off-screen. It's mostly been older Pokemon, but I also did evolve a Girafarig into a Farigiraf, and the evolution seems to happen after learning Twin Beam at level 30-ish. Apparently there's nothing sinister about the tail head 'eating' the giraffe head, it's actually a protective measure? Okay.
  
• Wait, Flittle evolves into Espathra? Wait, huh? What? The tiny little floating fairy dress thing evolves into a Cleopatra ostritch? I would 100% not have realized that at all until I looked it up online. What the heck? 
• Current (and most likely permanent) party: Skeledirge, Lokix, Clodsire, Garganacl, Brambleghast, Rabsca
• Prospective Scarlet party: Grass starter, Greavard evolution, Scovillain, Glimmet evolution, Toedscruel, and one more I'm still undecided on. 
• Holy fuck it's hard to spell Mabosstiff properly. I kept going Mabbostiff, Mabbosstiff, Mabbosciff, Mabbosschiff, and so many variants thereof.