Let's Play Pokemon Violet, Part 8: Ghost Crocodiles & Titan Hunting

I am here to report that, unlike Generation VI and VIII, I am definitely not disappointed at all with my starter's final evolution. So yeah. Anything that evolves into part-Ghost is already kind of a shoo-in for me already, you all know I appreciate me some spooky boys. But I didn't expect Fuecoco and Crocalor's final form to become a ghost crocodile! Let alone a Día de los Muertos mask inspired ghost crocodile! I actually thought that Skeledirge was going to be Fire/Dark, considering that Fuecoco has been learning Bite and Snarl as he grows. 

But no. He turns into a very cool red and white burning crocodile with some cool face markings, and the best part of it all is that he's got a baby little burdie bird friend on his snout made out of fire. I think out of everything going on from this guy, that little fire bird friend is the best detail. Fire bird buddy even has a role in the animation, where it transforms into a microphone for the move Torch Song, Skeledirge screams into it like a goddamn rock star, and the little bird transforms into a gigantic Phoenix Force to slam onto the enemy. Amazing. 

Also, his name is SKELEDIRGE. Anything with 'Dirge' in its name is automatically a badass.

Does this disqualify, rather definitively, the Fire-type starters being based on the Zodiac, then? I did think Fennekin being the 'dog' was kind of stretching it. I suppose there is some universe where you can swap around Charmander and Fuecoco and try to force them to fit the snake or the dragon, but... whatever! I'm happy with my crocodile ghost monster! 

Also, the category of this thing is the Singer Pokemon. Not just because he sings, because that's something that Crocalor has established, but also that he singes. Like, singe. Burning? Cause he's a fire-type? The English translation team had too much fun with Skeledirge here. 

Anyway, after Iono, I've been spending some time running around the beach area near her city, and I got myself a Finizen! Finizen is a pure Water-type, which, uh... makes a 'water ring' made from seawater and a sticky fluid that it secretes from its blowhole? It's snot ring. What does it even use that tail ring for, Finizen?

I actually really have been enjoying the beach areas. Maybe it's just because I really actually do like a lot of these Alola Pokemon like Mareanie and Sandygast, but the waves and the Magikarps washed ashore and panicking are all pretty neat little details.

I have been exploring the East side of Paldea a bit much, so I try to head West this time, towards the desert-y area on the outskirts of Cortondo. I said the East Area was cowboy-y? Nah, the West area actually has soundtrack that sounds like a Western movie! I'm not sure how accurate this is to Spain, Portugal and Andorra, the regions that Paldea is based on... but I'm going to readily admit that I'm not an expert in the music of those regions. For all I know this could be wholly accurate!

In addition to some old favourites like Mankey and Skiddo, there are some interesting guys here leading up towards the desert. There's this little... thing called a Flittle, which I thought was a Fairy-type at first, had my Lokix use Assurance, and killed immediately. It's actually a Psychic-type, runs around wastelands, and will hunt down and exact revenge upon any berry thieves. 

Also rather odd is a weird kappa-gremling thing... that's actually a pepper? Okay? Apparently its front teeth will fall off and be used by Paldeans to make dishes. Huh. It sure is a Grass-type!

In my attempt to slowly evolve my Paldean Pokemon, I used a Thunderstone on Tadbulb to make a Bellibolt (which I saw in Iono's gym)... and in a glorious Cradily-esque moment, the Pokedex makes sure to tell me that the white things that resemble eyes aren't actually eyes, but electro-discharging organs. Where are the eyes? Why, the two yellow dots on top of the mouth. Man, it looks even funnier! And since I can look at my own Bellibolt, yeah, those eyes do blink! Okay, this froggo gets even funnier. 

And Wiglett evolves into Wugtrio and... oh god, why did it turn red? Come on, they had to do this on purpose, to make this thing even more stupidly phallic. It does resemble a bunch of eels peeking out of a rock formation, and it's still pure-Water. The dex even makes sure to tell us that it's a fish Pokemon. Okay!

The single bit of spoiler that I did get from a friend is the method to evolve my boy Bramblin (which also applies to Pawmi is something rather... interesting, and I'm unconvinced it's not a bug. I have to walk 1000 steps with Bramblin with the Let's Go mechanic. A little annoying, but par the course, and not really all that different from egg hatching. Far more annoying, though? The fact that I can't actually let Bramblin get recalled to his Pokeball at all throughout the journey. And in a game that encourages me to ride Miraidon whenever possible, this means that a Pokemon released to walk around like this will get recalled in 20 steps, let alone a thousand.

So yeah, I'm very thankful that I was spoiled on this evolution method. There's really no way for me to figure that out, let alone the fact that I can't let Bramblin get recalled! The safest way is to go to Levincia City, and make use of the huge town center around the gym arena. At least Bramblin's walking (or tumbling) animation is quite pleasant to see, with the two beady seed-eyes located in the center while the creepy skeleton-hand-like brambles rotate around it.

Bramblin's evolution, Brambleghast, who now has to be in the permanent party due to the trouble I got just to see how it evolves is basically Bramblin, but with its thorns making a face, a nose-bridge and circles around the eyeballs. 

(Also, my Fidough evolves into a Dachsbun. Ha! It sure is a dachshund with some bread rolls in its design. It sure is a Fairy-type, it sure is a cute good doggo!)

I go off to do the Titan storyline, and I went to the, uhh... okay, I'm not very good at describing terrains. Is this a quarry? It looks like a quarry. Well, the quarry above Levincia City. I'm supposed to look for the Lurking Steel Titan, and I thought it'd be a Steelix. Well, I was wrong! It's, uh... at first it looked like a giant Voltorb since it's red-and-white, but then as I approach it it started to burry around. I thought it's going to be a three-headed giant Wugtrio....

But then the giant earthworm pops out of the ground in its full Dune glory... and then its adorable beady little eyes stare at me and blinks. And then it roars and from those blue things on the side of its body pop out little wibbly-wobbly arms like a fucking child's toy. I... I kinda like this thing, not going to lie. It's called Orthworm, the Lurking Steel Titan. 

Okay! I love the concept of this. When I did my fan-region concept a while back, I was talking about how an earthworm monster is obviously going to be Ground-type, but they went with pure-Steel for Orthworm, with the idea that it drills and digs through gigantic mountains the way a regular real-life earthworm digs through regular soil. It basically digs around and creates gigantic earthworm tunnels for me to run through!

At this point, though, my super-badass little Kamen Rider just keeps bullying this thing. Hey, turns out Low Kick, the move that deals more damage depending on the weight, deals a fuckton of damage to a train-sized metal worm. Who knew? Arven shows up for the second fight, and he brings with him a... 'Toedscool'? It's a mushroom Tentacool convergent evolution thing, I believe, and I've seen it on the minimap though not in person. I barely see it here, too, because the camera angle is fixed and it doesn't give me a good look at Arven's Pokemon. 

The subsequent cutscene plays off similarly to the Klawf battle. Arven cooks the Herba Mystica into a sandwich, Miraidon pops out and wants the sandwich, Arven warmed up a little, he keeps dropping enigmatic hints about how he wants 'him' to eat some... and hey, Miraidon unlocks super jump! I thought they'd drag on the mystery until the fourth or fifth Titan, but Miraidon, the greedy robot bastard, goes off to try and nom on the sandwich that Arven has hidden on the table, and Arven flips out. 

He yells at Miraidon... then immediately apologizes, showing us his real partner. A Mabosstiff. An old, sick doggo.

Oh. 

Oh my god. 

The music here is so sad, and I also lost one of my dogs two years ago. And... and it's just heartbreaking to see Arven so passionate, almost to the degree of desperation, with how he's so sure the Herba Mystica will cure the Mabosstiff. Mabosstiff is barely able to lift his head and chews slowly, and Arven is so gentle with the big doggo. Apparently he got injured really badly, and not even the Pokemon Center can cure him. Man!

And...  and just as the sadness builds up and we get to see the dog look all decrepit and sick and everything, suddenly it opens its eyes just as Arven waxes lyrical about how the dog is the only thing he ever cares about and how he'll do whatever it takes. Also, god the music here!

...shit, you know what? Fuck the gym challenge. Fuck Team Star. Fuck whatever mystery that Clavell or Professor Turo have. I'm going to get all the magic herbs to cure this damn old dog. 

...the fact that the rewards of the Titan hunt are basically HM equivalents to allow Miraidon more mobility doesn't hurt either. 

I head off to the next closest Titan, which I was already planning to take down anyway, and it's the Open Skies Titan on the west side of the map -- slightly above the Bug gym town. Arven calls me to warn me about falling rocks, and as I climb up the mountain... rocks are falling like fucking pinballs down the ramp! This is some Ocarina of Time Death Mountain shit, and I actually do like it a fair bit. The gigantic Titan Bombirdier (ha!) is visible on top, and... how the hell did it get so many rocks in such a short amount of time? Also, for a moment, I thought that these were her dung. 

Anyway, I think I was meant to meet Bombirdier much earlier than either Iono or Orthworm, because... well, shit, my Skeledirge just demolishes this thing. I think I one shot the Bombirdier both times. I think Arven uses a Nacli this time around? Anyway, Bombirdier was extremely fast, though it does help that she wasn't as twitchy as Orthworm in running around a quarry. I guess the whole gimmick is the rolling stones. 

This time, it's the bitter Herba Mystica, and Arven immediately brings out Mabosstiff to test it out. He likes it! What a good boy. This time he manages to do an urf, and Miraidon gwaigwahaghahagh's with him. Good boy! Good boy is recovering bit by bit! Good boy! Yes, Arven, that dog is the goodest buddy of the good buds of the goodest buddies. I am highly invested in this storyline. 

The power-up that Miraidon got from this Herba Mystica is swimming, which means Miraidon can doggy-paddle in the waters. 

I'm not sure if I'll be able to immediately go for the next Titans, but I do really think that the Titans are going to be my priority. That first meeting with Arven's Mabosstiff and the music really got me, man. 

Random Notes:

• 
  Oh. Wait. Herba Mystica. Herba Mystica. HMs. I am literally harvesting HM herbs and giving them to allow Miraidon to do Surf and shit. God fucking damn it, Game Freak, that was a good one. 
  
• So Mabosstiff is the evolution of Maschiff, right? That angry hyena-looking rabid dog?
• After I defeat the Titan Orthworm, regular, much smaller Orthworms show up in the quarry where I did the boss fight against it. It was previously empty! Did my Lokix rider kick the giant worm so hard it exploded and the little bits turned into smaller earthworms?
• I caught a Bombirdier of my own below the cliff, and the surf allowed me to catch both colours of Unovan Basculin. Nothing too exciting, other than the fact that the Bombirdier probably wasted nearly 25 pokeballs. 
• Current party: Skeledirge, Naclstack, Lokix, Brambleghast, Clodsire, Spidops