Let's Play Pokemon Legends Z-A, Part 21: Riche Connasse

Last we left off in the main story, AZ finally gave Lida and Naveen mega rings and mega stones, and they wanted to fight in some battle courtyard. Lida is the first to face off against me, being confident that she can do something with her li'l Staryu. Lida at least has a somewhat more evolved team, having a Clawitzer and a Vanillish, plus a brand-new Emolga... but her ace is still a Staryu and there's only so much that a Staryu can do against a Mega Meganium. 

After Lida loses, she mutters that she might really need to evolve Staryu after all. Naveen tells Lida that she needs a water stone to evolve Staryu, before challenging me himself. Naveen's team hasn't really changed much, he still has Ariados and Sableye. He adds a Krookodile into his team, but I have a Hawlucha. Who's there jumping up in the sky? Iiiiit's Hawlucha!

Naveen then mega evolves Scrafty into Mega Scrafty... and it's all right? Mega Scrafty's discarded skin becomes fully pale-white, and the half that forms the 'hoodie' resembles a hoodie more. I think Mega Scrafty might be a bit taller, too? And he's got an 'arms in the pocket' pose. I kind of get a bit of a 'thematic' joke here where Naveen's a tailor and so his Scarfty has the clothes change, but it's also not the most interesting design alteration. I really hoped that the hoodie and stuff got a bit more elaborate. Regardless, Mega Meganium one-shots the Mega Scrafty with a single Dazzling Gleam. 

After the fight, we go off to Nouveau Cafe, and Naveen is glad to be dining in a location that keeps its croissants and curry separate. The unique-model staff member at Cafe Nouveau gets a bit angry because Lida and Naveen keep making separate orders instead of doing it all at the same time, which honestly is a fair enough thing to be a bit angry about. 

As we discuss Naveen's new Mega Scrafty, an anime maid with long green hair shows up and introduces herself as Lebanne, a representative of the Society of Battle Connoisseurs. Right, the asshole rich kids I beat up with the mafia. Naveen gives some info-dump about the SBC, noting that it's a group for the children of elites and socialites. Lebanne tries to talk up the badassery of this group, saying that they do more than just do mock battles, and invites myself and Taunie on behalf of Lady Jacinthe, their leader. We are to meet at Hotel Richissime, which is a nice little location callback. Lebanne then departs, with a slightly ominous 'who knows what might happen otherwise' if we don't show up. 

Lida and Naveen then get utterly disgusted at Taunie's declaration that she'll just show up at Hotel Richissime dressed with her normal outfit. Lida says it's a 'hard no', because this is a chance for us to rub elbows with the big shots. If nothing else, it would be great for Hotel Z. Naveen also agrees, albeit surprisingly less-vehemently than Lida. I suppose even though he's a fashion designer, his deal is more street-level? 

So we go shopping! Naveen, Taunie and I arrive in front of Boutique Culture, who sells the most expensive clothing in Lumiose City both a decade ago and now. And they have been refusing to do business with my plebeian self! The owner steps out, a Furisode Girl called Asami, who gives a long speech about 'people are free to pick out whatever clothes they wished to wear, but it would be grand if the clothes picked the person'. Okay, true, but you also literally refused entry to me, like, every single time I tried to visit your store. 

Asami then decides that we could be worthy by having a battle with her, with a stipulation that we beat her with a mega evolution. I oblige. She uses a Florges. I use my Mega Scolipede, making use of the brand-new Mega Stone and the Gunk Shot TM that Corbeau gave me. I one-shot the Florges, and Asami... waxes lyrical about how beautiful and stylish my victory was. I mean, Mega Scolipede is a cool design, sure, but Gunk Shot literally has it manifest a ball of icky green glob of refuse and chuck it at your flower fairy. I don't think it's pretty at all. This is the sort of trendy, avant-garde Pokemon battle she wishes to see, though, so who am I to judge the tastes of the bourgeoise?

Taunie is 100% done about this, and even Naveen isn't feeling Asami's attitude, but the two agree that returning to face Lida's wrath is even worse. Asami then decks me out with a fancy suit with floral patterns and a nice little cravat. Oh, and fancy opera leather shoes, too. I mean, it actually is a lot more stylish than what Naveen is wearing, at least! Taunie refuses to change into a fancy outfit of her own, though, noting that the jacket is a memento from her mother and she doesn't do any other styles. I mean... fair enough. 

Asami then name-drops the fact that she has overheard a mysterious up-and-coming mysterious tailor called Naveen. Naveen and Taunie share a knowing look, but they don't reveal his identity to Asami. Probably because Naveen isn't happy to collab with someone who thinks my Scolipede's Gunk Shot is stylish. With some new clothes in tow, we return to meet the SBC. 

Hotel Richissime has gotten a bit of a glow-up since I was last there a decade ago, and Taunie has a brief bit of jealousy as she compares Hotel Z to Richissime. Lebanne the maid is waiting for us in the lobby, and she keeps noting how bad it is if we were a no-show, and she doesn't even want to think what would happen to us. This really does feel a bit more yakuza/mafia-ish in the same vein that the Rust Syndicate comes off as. 

The SBC is set up at an upper floor, a posh and nauseating upper-class-twit location. Almost all the other previous named NPCs are around. Canari and Gwynn walk up to greet me, with Canari being very much willing to get a vengeance in a 'comeback' fight. Tarragon, Ivor, and even the mafia bros Corbeau and Phillippe are around. 

Jacinthe arrives, and she's... very pink. She keeps fluffing her two giant hair, too, but other than the gag of being over-the-top noble (and I don't necessarily think she does it that well) she's kind of... bland. At least at this point in time. She gets very irritating later on. I do think this is the intended reaction, so good job on the game for portraying a rich upper-class twit that isn't insufferable because she's mean and rude, but because she's so utterly oblivious to everyone else's feelings. Jacinthe starts off innocently enough, introducing herself as the host, thanking everyone and introducing the SBC. Jacinthe name-drops one of their recent guests, Leon from Galar, who delivered a lecture and a fight in the invitation. I actually like this, and it does make sense... Leon feels like the type of dude that would jump at the call at any invitation to battle. 

Jacinthe does a bit of a roll call of everyone, setting up the battle tournament. Pretty neat setup, a roll call before we introduce the Le Super-Tournoi de Jacinthe.

Of course, at this point Vinnie calls in and tells us that a bunch of Rogue Mega Evolutions are around and need to be stopped. Taunie and I immediately have to go, of course, and we even apologize to Jacinthe for the inconvenience, and to tell her to just mark us off as losses. I mean, the tournament sounds fun, but we need to protect the city. Jacinthe is confusedly surprised, while Lebanne sighs with a 'I knew this was going to happen' expression. 

As Taunie and I walk to the hotel lobby, Lebanne walks up to us and gets a bit angry and tells us to watch ourselves after that display. She tells us to reconsider our actions, to return to the venue, and nothing can be more important than a bunch of rich people's private party. This is out of concern for our well-being! Taunie even gives a nice reason of 'we need to keep protecting the city so you all can keep enjoying your tournaments'. Lebanne yells out at us, but we ignore the maid and run off. 

Lida and Naveen give some comments about how the 'other half' lives, and we set up our three mega evolutions! We've got a Venusaur, an Altaria and a Froslass. Froslass is our new Mega Evolution, and I suppose it makes sense and is kind of overdue since Glalie got one all the way back in Generation VI. It is also kind of odd that Venusaur got a Rogue Mega Evolution, but not the other two Kanto starters.

And then suddenly, Jacinthe joins in on the conversation, giving in random bullshit comments like 'when opponents become more formidable, one needs to train to match them' or some stuff like that, which eventually goes around to her suggesting that I should join her tournament to power up. We get the anime trope of the other characters replying to her comments as if she was there all along... and it isn't even funny because these kind of jokes are cute when someone says one or two sentences before realizing someone who's not supposed to be around is there. But the game overplays it with too many lines of dialogue. 

It gets a bit more annoying as Lida actually blurts out Rogue Mega Evolution and even starts explaining it 'because someone isn't paying attention'. Jacinthe gets caught up on it, and she wants to escort Taunie and myself back to the SBC tournament. Naveen and Jacinthe bond briefly over her fancy clothes, and Jacinthe insists that we are friends. Taunie insists that we most certainly are NOT. Jacinthe keeps prodding us to rejoin the tournament, but we told Lebanne to disqualify us because, you know, fate of the city.

But Jacinthe, the posh twit, keeps talking about how the tournament she planned was perfect in every way and anything less would be unacceptable, and the two of us are indispensable in making the perfect dream into a perfect reality. An utter twit, aren't you? I would use much stronger language, really, but what an unlikable dipshit she is. Lida even points out that a 'perfect' tournament wouldn't have guests waiting around for the host. Team MZ splits up the missions as usual, and Taunie even points out that we're going to ignore the SBC tournament. Jacinthe walks off, insufferably polite, and says that she doesn't take kindly to those who make light of her tournament. What a clod.

Anyway, mega evolution fighty-fight time. First up is a Venusaur, just frogging it up in a random gazebo. Mega Venusaur evolves, my big flower frog boy, and I face off with my Meganium. Grass starter against grass starter! ...and it backfires terribly, because Mega Venusaur has Poison against both of my Meganium's types. Its Sludge Wave attack is quite wide-reaching! So I swap to Chandelure and start launching Flamethrowers at Mega Venusaur. In a quasi-Frenzy-Plant kind of deal, Mega Venusaur causes giant bramble-thorns, similar to the ones that pop up in the city, to burst out all around us. 

Interestingly, the brambles also serve as a way for Mega Venusaur to gain health, and I can either go around unleashing AoE attacks on the brambles (Heat Wave was good at this) or just keep piling on damage to Mega Venusaur. Mega Venusaur also has an insane Solar Beam attack that follows me around, which visually looks spectacular. 

Venusaur is taken out... and a holographic Jacinthe appears behind me, jumpscaring me and going 'absolutely marvelous', congratulating my strength and giving some bullshit talk, again, about how she wants us for the tournament. Fucking lunatic stalker! She promises/threatens to haunt us as long as we keep avoiding her. 

Next Rogue Mega Evolution is Mega Altaria, atop of a roof and Lida fighting alongside me. Lida has a brief moment where she's asking if the three of them are a help to me, and of course I have to say yes... but if we're really being honest, Lida, you leading with Staryu really isn't the most useful. But she's nice. Mega Altaria is gloriously big and fluffy, and there is a bit of a problem that she keeps flying around, so I have to use Pokemon that have ranged attacks or can fly. 

Ultimately, though, other than those two gimmicks, Mega Altaria only unleashes some relatively rather easy to dodge Twisters. I Mega-Evolve my Scolipede, and take down the fairy dragon. Mega Altaria's cool, though. Always a supporter of that big fluffy design. No complaints about it from me. 

Jacinthe, of course, pops up again and asks me about Rogue Mega Evolution and my rapid rise up the Z-A Royale... mind your own business, lady! She keeps saying that my strength belies my lack of grand ambitions... I mean, grand ambitions are not synonymous to your tournament, you crazy crazy! She just gets even more insistent that we will be part of her perfectly perfect tournament, and even threatens to buy out Hotel Z. What a nitwit!

Anyway, I'll save the Mega Froslass and the rest of this insufferable arc for the next segment. 

 

Random Notes:

• Oh hey, some of the new Z-A originated Mega Evolutions have new TCG cards now! Yay! Not all of them, but it's nice to have Mega Scrafty's card art be the opening for this let's play. 
• Lida does make a bit of a grumbling point about how she doesn't want to lose what made Staryu so adorable, which is honestly a fair point. This could be a Pikachu-doesn't-want-to-evolve-into-Raichu storyline. You know, Lida, you could get another mega-evolving Pokemon! 
  
• The clothing options apply to both genders, so the suit-with-cravat set would also be given to a female player character. 
• I also did finally end up finding an Alpha Gogoat, which allowed me to finish a minor sidequest where an ex-Gogoat-Shuttle owner is trying to pivot away his business to become a Gogoat delivery service. Not sure how a Gogoat that towers all over the other Gogoats is going to be particular in this front, but hey, as long as the Gogoats are well taken care of! Alpha Gogoat is seriously much larger, though, with the regular Gogoat maybe reaching up to slightly above its knee. 
  
• I do gloss over this in some of my previous side-quest writeups, but the Gogoat Shuttle service being given a quiet sendoff is both a nice nod to XY but also kind of sad. 
• One of the random hotel guests: "staying long-term at a hotel makes for a nice minimalist lifesetyle!"
  
• For the game to justify us traveling without Taunie between locations, they just keep having Taunie go "I have a request to help someone!" ...which would be nice to see more of these before, y'know, the arc around Taunie getting into trouble for helping the wrong people. 
• I suppose that explains why the two Charizardites and Blatoisite were available in the Stone Emporium, but not the Venusaurite... but you'd think if they'd pick a Kanto starter to give a Rogue Mega Evolution to, they'd pick the one that has a spare Mega Stone...
• Notably, Taunie does not actually mega-evolve her starters.  Come on, you've got both Feraligatr and Emboar!