POKÉMON CENTER

[manic kindle]

it made Sword/Shield a ton of fun

[obtuse ravine]

you're telling me this doesn't go tyrunt -> tyrantrum -> tyranitar

sail fossil it is

it shines with all the colors of the rainbow 😌

[arctic dagger]

Both of those are my favorite fossil Pokemon tbh

[obtuse ravine]

they're both cool

i

did not realize there was clothing customization in X

and how little there is for male trainers

and it's not even an option to change gender in a save editor, i'd have to restart

[south laurel]

Lotta good stuff for the ladies tho

[obtuse ravine]

yeah

that makes it even rougher

dilemma

ughh

[umbral hound]

Why does Palkia have Bulk Up and so many physical moves?

And also like a zillion physical moves.

[languid lichen]

didn't skip arm day

[umbral hound]

Counterpoint:

[languid lichen]

that's old palkia

why do you think it has arms now?

didn't skip arm day

[arctic dagger]

Is that how you get new arms?

WAIT THIS EXPLAINS MACHAMP TOO

[languid lichen]

you grind

[umbral hound]

I'm honestly looking at it, and there exists a really cheesy bad strategy where you put something with Dragon Cheer next to it and start auto-critting with Spacial Rend except for the 5% of the time when it misses and I want to try that, but I feel like it has an atrocious matchup against what everyone else is doing.

[languid lichen]

the grind never stops

[umbral hound]

(i.e. Calyrex-Shadow)

And it doesn't really have relevant special coverage against ghost, or fairy. Or even Psychic for Calyrex. Closest it's got is Heavy Slam, which isn't awful, but is (of course) a physical move.

If they're running Zamazenta-Crowned, you can at least use Earth Power. (Or Aura Sphere, technically.)

But it's kind of competing with Walking Wake, and while it does have higher stats, Walking Wake has other advantages.

(not least of which is the fact that Palkia is restricted and Walking Wake isn't.)

[unreal seal]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzdgl-qR_Oc

[pliant violet]

oh yeah that game

[soft isle]

Might have to try it

[red rampart]

Why is there a trainer with a level 23 sudowoodo in a place you literally can't get to unless you defeat all of the titans
(Also I beat all of the titans)

Also why is the only stuff up here a comet shard, fire blast, and a level 50 flareon

[pliant violet]

Comedy I imagine

[manic kindle]

hes just a guy

[wispy yarrow]

he's roleplaying, obviously

[south laurel]

The flareon's from space

[olive kayak]

floof from space!

[fickle thicket]

not any of your business, get back on track

[red rampart]

…?

Anyway, defeated Eri

Who decided the final team star boss should be this cool

Just randomly a pro wrestler who spends all of her time in costume

Also I like how the team star storyline is basically just “wait these people haven’t actually done anything wrong at all have they”

[snow cobalt]

Incredible

[arctic dagger]

Hey this came off kinda weird, as a note, probably wasn't your intention to come off as aggressive but it definitely did to me.

[fickle thicket]

oh

no, it wasn't

mb

[manic kindle]

Eri is so cool

[obtuse ravine]

ended up restarting my save, i'll transfer my pokemon back

but i gotta think ahead to that fashion endgame

:3

[snow cobalt]

bigbrain

[umbral hound]

I feel like this is very cool, but also the only thing the villainous team could have been in Scarlet/Violet, since the nonlinear nature means that you can't say that any given player at any given location will or won't have done any specific interaction with them and so you can't have them blocking off a specific tunnel or construction project or whatever. And they can't interfere with any gym or any titan for the same reason. So, by necessity, they do nothing.

The alternative would be to either have the interference come from other locations, or to be much more complicated and make it so that all three routes influence map traversal instead of only one. (Except that gyms arguably also influence traversal, due to changing how you can interact with wild pokemon.)

[snow cobalt]

they could have been time travelers

[umbral hound]

It really does feel like they're moving towards increasingly non-evil evil teams, and so "group which refers to themself in the same way as major criminal organizations do but do not, for the most part, do anything worse than skipping school" is the logical culminaton. Although I do find it somewhat funny that (team star spoilers, which you probably already know at least part of, but still) ||the one who does the most criminal stuff is also the one you end up as the closest friend to.||

[snow cobalt]

for a nonlinear game

[umbral hound]

You could, or you could say "okay we dealt with the bosses but there's other lingering groups"... or you could make it so that most if not all of the paths they block off in some way are not essential to progress, and are just either a more efficient or useful way of traversal or interfere with/block off something non-essential like a single shop with good held items for sale.

You know what'd be interesting? If they threaded the needle between "this is a major criminal organization" and "these is ultimately an expression of (frequently entirely justified) teenage rebellion" and made it so that the lower level grunts and even some of the lower-level bosses are teenagers who have correctly observed that they're facing systemic issues, but the higher-level organization members are manipulating these people into going after the wrong targets. You know, like in real life.

[languid lichen]

so like team plasma

a more serious take on it, at least

[umbral hound]

Sort of, yeah.

Team Plasma was an attempt at a serious take, but the execution wasn't perfect. Also in Team Plasma, a lot of the lower-level grunts were basically thugs who were eager to be thugs.

It might maybe be too similar, but the two ideas aren't the same... it'd be more like a blend of Team Plasma and Team Skull in my mind.

[languid lichen]

yeah that tracks

[umbral hound]

The tricky part is actually trying to come up with a good motive for the big bad. The thing they did with Koraidon/Miraidon in S/V is really neat, where since you start the game interacting with it, when you finally get it (I don't think it's a spoiler to say that you can get the version legendary of a pokemon game) it doesn't feel like this new pokemon that you throw onto your team in the place of someone you've trained for a long time. But for this... let's say that the version legendary is said to appear when the region is in great turmoil and strife to help repair and control things.

And, for whatever reason, there's whole groups of people who want to go on pokemon journeys but, for one reason or another, really can't. This would justify having more of them in higher-leveled areas, actually, since those would be further from the location where people get starters (although that's not strictly true for everyone in-universe, let's say that there is some kind of "standard start point" in this region) and so can't participate. And they are rightfully mad at this.

And then the team boss decides to take all these people who are mad about the fact they can't start their own journey, and instead of them actually fixing the systemic issues, they try to just get these people to Cause Problems On Purpose in the hopes of provoking the legendary into appearing so they can control and use it.

[red rampart]

...wait that's just team skull except for the teenage leader part isnt it

[umbral hound]

Sort of, but Team Skull was mostly just annoyed bozos, and they weren't being directed as much. Here, they'd be actively manipulated into doing stuff which causes serious problems, like... I don't know, sabotaging a cable car, or somehow stopping some shop from ever getting new stock, or something. It is surprisingly difficult to find examples (or at least descriptions of them) which are not either legitimate examples of protest tactics or common accusations leveled at protestors.

[languid lichen]

hm, alternatively

[umbral hound]

If you want a version which isn't centered on a legendary pokemon, you could say that the main villain is planning to, once the team is being seriously evil enough, swoop in and shut them all down and get accolades accordingly, and/or use the "threat" they provoke as a justification for an increase in personal power.

[languid lichen]

there's like, a Big City and a rural network in the region, and the traditional (rural) Routes are going unmaintained or being shut down or getting overrun with hostile/displaced pokemon

in favor of a subway or above-ground metro system, or some other form of high-speed transit (could just be a highway for maximum real-world relevance)

which is impacting both the smaller satellite towns and the new generation's Trainer Journeys™️, as well as wild habitats

so the "evil" team is like, local farmers and environmentally-conscious teens, with a smattering of shitters from the Big City that are just here to break things and sow discord at the behest of one of the movement's leaders

who's trying to spread misinformation and foster tensions, and the plot is you beating their ass and getting the attention of the champion who's stuck doing things in The Big City

maybe the gym leaders are a purely rural thing, local mayors or some shit, and one of them's just...Giovanni

and it's just The Legitimate Protest versus The Mafia/Cops Infiltrating Them

[umbral hound]

Maybe! I like the idea that most people on both sides of the conflict are basically good people.

[languid lichen]

right, the key here in my mind is that it's not that the city goobers are a problem, it's that they're being lied to

and aren't aware of the actual problems with the (genuinely useful) public infrastructure

[umbral hound]

That's really genuinely good!

[languid lichen]

and maybe the giovanni is trying to summon like, an Eris figure

a regional legend-god of chaos and change, that shows up as like

a Super Absol

either to witness times of discord or extreme change, or to incite them

and whaddaya know, "extreme change" could be The Government's Under New Leadership (Giovanni) if it's controlled enough

[umbral hound]

This is sort of a spinoff/alternative variation on those ideas, but I could also see an idea where some member of the league (probably not the Champion — for some reason, I don't love the idea of an outright villainous Champion — but as Chairman Rose showed, it's tricky to create some NPC who's closely tied to the League without them giving off vaguely evil vibes; you could probably get away with a gym leader, but we sort of want to minimize linearity even if we can't outright prevent it) sees how the league's sort of losing power, or even might hypothetically lose power, and engineers this to be able to increase the League's power instead of trying to change the League into something that's actually better?

I can feel myself heading down a bad path, though, which is the path where the version legendaries represent two allegedly opposed concepts and yet the villains use the exact same actions and plans in service of invoking/controlling each of those. This is, to put it humorously, the exact model of automatic narrative footgun which plagued Pokemon Black & White.

[languid lichen]

this is why i just wouldn't use the pair of box legends in the same role

you have one for one segment of the plot

and the other for another

and which one the player gets to catch is just like, a lategame thing

or maybe you just do one legend since this is the pipe dream

[umbral hound]

Maybe. You could do it like in Platinum or Emerald or something where it's actually a legendary trio and they mostly care about the third member of that trio, but Pokemon has moved away from that model (and, honestly, there's strong arguments against the whole "we sell you a game, then later sell you something which is mostly the same game but with added content but you have to pay for the whole thing again" model).

I also... while there are issues with the narrative structure of Scarlet/Violet which are enforced by the demands of the gameplay and the nonlinear format, I really like what happens after you complete all three paths, and how that's executed (and I am intentionally being very vague here).

[languid lichen]

doing an emerald would make sense

[umbral hound]

There's a reason why a bug-type legendary has structural issues and doesn't exist yet. It could also be almost more like Sword/Shield where both box legendaries exist and are by far secondary in the plot to the "third member" of the triangle, but that doesn't feel as good, for hard-to-articulate reasons?

But if you wanted a regulator, and didn't mind making a pokemon with an extremely strong type combo: you could make the version legendaries represent change in various ways as a Dragon/Fire and Dragon/Poison type (though it's sort of hard to figure out how to make that workable), and then make make the "regulator" Fairy/Ground (which is immune to one STAB and neutral to the other for each legendary, and has super-effective STAB against each, and also has at least neutral coverage against every type).

[languid lichen]

i mean, i don't like anything that swsh did with its plotline

so i wouldn't repeat it either

[umbral hound]

has society progressed beyond the need for third members of a box legendary trio?

[red rampart]

I mean

[languid lichen]

genesect's a mythical

not a legend

[umbral hound]

I will defend myself by saying that Genesect is technically mythical which is Different

[languid lichen]

i still don't know what the internal difference is, now that mythicals aren't event-only

[umbral hound]

Mythicals were originally event-exclusive, and/or whatever's going on with Manaphy and Phione. So i.e. Meloetta is grandfathered into Mythical status.

[languid lichen]

i mean yes, that was never in question

(also i have no clue what you mean by grandfathered in, it was always considered mythical)

but the thing is

[red rampart]

I mean we don't have one in SV

[languid lichen]

they're not event-exclusive anymore

eternatus is the #3

[red rampart]

Unless you count cyclizar

[languid lichen]

oh wait

SV

not SS

yeah, there's no third there

[umbral hound]

By "grandfathered in", I mean that it maintains its mythical categorization despite no longer strictly meeting the criteria.

[languid lichen]

ah

many mythicals are catchable now

[umbral hound]

Side note: this is why there isn't a fairy/ground type:

[languid lichen]

although i think mostly because of BDSP

[umbral hound]

Fairly good defensive typing, extremely good offensive typing.

[red rampart]

BDPS and legends arceus it looks like yeah

[umbral hound]

BoltBeam (Ice/Electric) famously hits everything at least neutral, but is super-effective against only 5 types. Although you could argue about which set of typings is more relevant, Fairy/Ground has the interesting note that it hits every type combination except Steel/Flying, Poison/Flying, and Fire/Flying for at least neutral.

Ice/Water with Freeze Dry is what Steel Bundle uses, to similar effect.

[languid lichen]

also i think keldeo is a natural catch in swsh?

[umbral hound]

Maybe?

[red rampart]

Appparently it is yeah

[umbral hound]

Honestly, many of these pokemon should no longer be on the Restricted List, since their power level is lower than many permitted pokemon like Urshifu.

[red rampart]

Pecharunt being a mythical is a little odd given it's gonna be available until the switch servers go offline, but I guess it is technically an event

[languid lichen]

oh right, mage is another mythical available naturally

although it takes a qr code

[umbral hound]

Normal/Ground is another offensive combo with no single type resisting both, and according to this, is only resisted by 29 pokemon — of whom 19 are Ghost-type. (Although this is counting various Pumpkaboo/Gourgeist sizes separately.)

[languid lichen]

more than that, because of levitate

the only natural type combos that resist are steel/flying, rock/flying, bug/ghost, grass/ghost, and ghost/flying

but ghosts, steels, and rocks with levitate also dodge

[umbral hound]

Meanwhile, 13 pokemon resist Fairy/Ground, and every single one of those is Flying-type so with the right partner you're punching right through. I suppose in either case Rock- or Steel-Types with Levitate also handle it well.

[umbral hound]

If this type combo were to, say, belong to a pokemon with Scrappy or a similar ability this list is cut down significantly. And the only Bug/Ghost is Shedinja, who's a special case.

[languid lichen]

sure, but we're looking at a theoretical type chart, not that + the ultimate optimization to make it as strong as possible

[languid lichen]

also bronzong and oventom

small but relevant list

and weezing but weezing is not relevant

[umbral hound]

True. I'm just bringing that up because ||there actually exists a Normal/Ground type pokemon with an ability which lets their Normal moves hit Ghost-Type pokemon||.

[languid lichen]

yh, luna is that hyper-optimized fuckstrocity

[umbral hound]

Yeah. ...can I confess something Cursed and funny about it which might also infect you?

[languid lichen]

muh?

[umbral hound]

||Sometimes, in the privacy of my own head, I refer to the move Blood Moon as the Freddy Fazbeam.||

[languid lichen]

too long

[umbral hound]

counterpoint: funney

[obtuse ravine]

pokemon

😌

i should probably bench my extra starters and i can raise them later, I'll just get back to where i was on my other run

keep an eye out for clothing stores this time

dresses are cool but i wanna dress down a bit

[red rampart]

...huh. Apparently beating all of the team star bosses means that I can't go into the academy without fighting Clavell first
That's annoying

I guess I'll do the elite four champion assessment instead then

Do you like pokemon?
I feel like if I answer no to this I'm gonna immediately fail

But I kinda want to anyway

Also huh didn't know Rika wore glasses, neat

Whiscash is certainly one of the leads of all time

…ah, she has yawn on camerupt so I can’t just set up with calm mind

Clodsire 🥺

Oh god the sarcastic clapping 😆

Poppy time I guess

Why did she send out a light screen setter as her second to last mon

And here comes Larry

I’m sure he’s not happy about this at all

Oh god the preamble is just him complaining about Geeta 🤣

Tropius is a good lead, doesn’t immediately die to electric types unlike (presumably) everything else

Metal coat tera steel gigaton hammer continues to one shot literally everything

…oh his staraptor has close combat. Well there goes tinkaton

Larry is physically incapable of yelling

Hassel has very good taste in pokemon

Anyway, Geeta time

…I wonder if I could just sweep her entire team with shell smash stored power polteageist 🤔

…oh her lead has opportunist. Oh no.

I’ve somehow never heard her champion theme before, it’s sick

Bronzong is the mvp, as usual 😌

As it turns out having a fighting move that goes off of defense and a steel move that goes off of weight can solve a lot of problems

best rivals forever
gdi Nemona

What do you mean her lycanroc has stealth rock!?

Oh god triple iron defense bronzong just one shot everything but her meowscarada

Which wiped half my team in its own

[snow cobalt]

oh no

[red rampart]

Crits bypass stat boosts and it has flower trick/shadow claw so it’s not too surprising

[pliant violet]

they were by lusamine

[red rampart]

Why did it take until the very last history class in the game to explain anything about terastallization 😩

[red rampart]

Why did the language teacher give me a meowth and call it a "rare pokemon"

...oh it's galarian meowth 👀

[red rampart]

I'm tempted to get the treasures of ruin without looking up a guide for where the stakes are

[manic kindle]

I did 3 of them like that

i had to cave for one because the stake was in a pretty goofy spot

[umbral hound]

||If you do all the history lessons and talk to Raihan a lot, I think she marks the stakes on your map.||

Also, I am of the opinion that someone should do something involving Dragon Cheer (which I keep wanting to find good uses for) and Palkia (probably Palkia-Origin). Then Spacial Rend will always crit.

[red rampart]

Just the shrine locations

[round perch]

https://rileyomalley.artstation.com/projects/e0NPWb

[red rampart]

Oh so that's what happened to Nebby after sun and moon

[snow cobalt]

yooooooo

[red rampart]

Oh shit I just ran into a shiny klawf

Guess I have to use em now 😌

[pliant violet]

is it blue

[red rampart]

Yeh

[pliant violet]

good

[red rampart]

It’s a very pretty shiny 😌

[pliant violet]

oh that works yes

[red rampart]

Forgive me for not just screenshotting it, I can’t be bothered to figure out how to upload switch images

[pliant violet]

rose i'll always forgive you

[red rampart]

That's good to know
brb stealing all of Reggie's valuables

[pliant violet]

you will end up in debt

[manic kindle]

Blueberry...

[red rampart]

She is now named Blueberry

Oh also, finally got all of the stakes for wo chien
I had to look up a guide for the last one… which ended up being the one right above its cave that I just didn’t notice

I even searched that area and I couldn’t find it 😭

[red rampart]

Anyway time to catch snail friend 😌

Loving the treasures of ruin music

Okay Wo-Chien finally stayed in the nest ball

Anyway, Penny battle time

...I may have forgotten to take false swipe off of my ceruledge

Or give it back its choice scarf

Why are all of them using baby doll eyes

Shine bright like the starry sky and become who you really want to be!
Damn, this girl really do be trans

[red rampart]

Time for The Way Home I guess

Which I'm sure will go entirely fine and happily for everyone involved

[red rampart]

Penny has known Arven and Nemona for five minutes and she’s already sick of them, amazing

[snow cobalt]

Incredible

[red rampart]

…huh. Two in one day.

I guess I’ll replace my pawmot and try her out? Not sure what to do with a raichu though

[umbral hound]

The Way Home is amazing and highlights the simultaneous best and worst parts of the writing in S/V:

1. The game has not only great characters, but well-written character interactions; and,
2. You aren't part of those interactions.

[red rampart]

Mmm.

Ah dang I missed my chance to get an iron valiant before Turo

[red rampart]

…wait no I can just fly out of area zero and go back to where I could get Iron Valiant despite Turo literally waiting for me

Sick

...oh it's post game exclusive

“Hey won’t bringing in future pokemon destroy the ecosyst-“
“”

Lovely arena for the final boss

[red rampart]

Welp that was the best end/climax to a pokemon game ever... not that there's much competition though

[obtuse ravine]

pretty sure gehrman has been waiting for me at the foot of the great tree for a few weeks now

just twiddling his thumbs

[obtuse ravine]

[pliant violet]

hardest final boss by far at least

[red rampart]

Definitely yeah

I'd definitely have lost a few times if I hadn't decided to used a wo-chien focused entirely on healing itself halfway through the fight

[pliant violet]

and that was the easier one

past paradox are pretty much all stronger

[red rampart]

[pliant violet]

At least that’s my understanding

[manic kindle]

Amazing music in that climax fight too

[red rampart]

Huh, apparently you can get an item in the dlc that completely resets EVs
That would have been good to know before I used a ton of friendship raising berries and have to manually lower friendship to not get the bonuses 😅

[fickle thicket]

They straight up took super training back out huh

[red rampart]

…are we sure this guy didn’t accidentally sign up with a singles team?
https://vxtwitter.com/CbuttyVGC/status/1789289929727414524

[red rampart]

Vitamins are easy enough to come by tbh

[azure crane]

Why Detect instead of Protect on the Urshifu?

[languid lichen]

imprison or some equivalent

that I can't think of

to dodge a protect bar

[red rampart]

Aren’t they basically identical?

Oh protect has half the PP

[azure crane]

Yeah, Detect has smaller distribution and I don't know how many viable Pokémon have both Detect and Imprison.

[umbral hound]

I thought detect had lower PP?

yeah, protect's better

[red rampart]

Oh I thought I wrote protect there, whoops

[umbral hound]

no problem

...out of curiousity: has anyone been looking into Iron Valiant in Reg G, with Miraidon setting up electric terrain and so providing an indirect buff to future pokemon?

[red rampart]

This guy has apparently

[umbral hound]

...I'm surprised that Iron Valiant has Tera Stellar and Serperior doesn't.

[red rampart]

🤷‍♀️

[umbral hound]

this person is just cooking I guess. I wish my brain was that big.

[mellow robin]

that grimmsnarl set is crazy honestly

trick room?

loving it

wait you can prankster scary face into serperior

[umbral hound]

you're right

I'm thinking about dumb stuff... someone mentioned running Iron Ball on a trick room team to improve trick room performance on pokemon that would otherwise be faster than ideal, but... consider: iron ball in a trick room team for that reason, but they also have Fling in their back pocket.

Also it really feels like Iron Ball should increase the pokemon's weight buuuut it doesn't 🙃

Someone was talking about a Galarian Zapdos running Iron Ball vs. Power Anklet for trick room and wondering why anklet's used more often... Iron Ball removes the ground immunity, but lets the target stay protected by psychic terrain.

[umbral hound]

Why does Spiritomb have 50 base HP? I was gonna say "this has some of the same benefits as Sableye and could make a good trick room setter and user", but despite 108 in both defenses... 50 HP kinda hurts. I need to do calcs for it, but that still is Not Great.

It is immune to fake out and prankster taunt, two popular methods of preventing a move from going off, but it is not immune to being obliterated, and doesn't have priority to protect it (although it never would for Trick Room).

[red rampart]

In its release gen it had no weaknesses so maybe it was meant as a balance thing

[umbral hound]

Yeah, for sure, but it's still just... unfortunate, you know?

[red rampart]

Yeah 😔

[umbral hound]

I think that with a sash it can usually get up trick room fairly well, even if hit with priority, since the opponent would have to double. And its attacking stats are bad, but not atrocious. Also, if it is knocked down to sash and then has trick room up... well, it gets killed by priority, but if it didn't you could use Pain Split. It also gets Helping Hand, Imprison (not priority), non-priority Taunt which is sometimes useful for stuff like psychic terrain or taunting a Dark-type... it doesn't have Knock Off but it does have Thief, which is usable if its sash is broken? ...gimme a sec; I think I have a heinous build to contemplate.

Honestly, I'm not sure exactly what to do? I'm pretty sure it involves Trick Room and Destiny Bond, but I don't know what the other moves are. Do I leverage its decent attacking stats with stuff like Poltergeist, Dark Pulse, Shadow Ball, Shadow Sneak, or Sucker Punch? Go for more utility-based attacks like Snarl, Thief, or Burning Jealousy? Go Foul Play, which doesn't need attacking stats at all? It has a lot of good moves, but not as many great moves.

Honestly, running either Destiny Bond or Pain Split seems good, but running both seems unnecessary.

Do you run tera normal just for calyrex???

Surely not. You'd at least want tera dark.

Thief is only good if it's reliably breaking sash every time. That only happens depending on specific defensive stats. It iappears what I have is not, in fact, a set, but an idea.

there are many good trick room setters and Spiritomb might be one of them.

[red rampart]

Feature match with this team:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hcg5UB-6Ouc&t=19608s

[olive kayak]

WHEW. Well, Renegade Platinum's gyms are no joke. Had an awful box going into Roark and it took a 3 hour cook to get something deathless.

[red rampart]

Speaking of weird teams:

[umbral hound]

wasn't that weird... until I saw the Trick Lagging Tail and the Milotic set.

[umbral hound]

Regrettably, Trick Lagging Tail is probably just a better version of Prankster Quash 😔

[olive kayak]

you get a lot less control over your hold item but generally yes

prankster quash can be better in very fast metas

[red rampart]

Oh yeah this game has dlc, I should go do that

Why does this woman have snake eyes

She's named Briar and she looks like she has thorns in her hair, that's fun

Yanma

Briar sure does seem to fidget a ton while talking huh

[pliant violet]

Good dlc

[red rampart]

Man I sure hope nobody battles me the moment I walk into town for being an outsider or anything

I'm gonna have some real good fun with you
Carmine please work on your phrasing

[obtuse ravine]

😨

[red rampart]

I appreciate that this dlc scales its levels depending on if you've beaten the main game or not, but it does lead to stuff like Carmine leading with a level 60 poochyena

The nurse at the pokemon center is just staring at her phone at all times, amazing

...wait it's 1 am I should be sleeping

[manic kindle]

Carmine is so funny

[olive kayak]

no sleep only cook the cheryl fight

[umbral hound]

I should also be sleeping! Also, I see that the pokemon game continues to dance around whether Pokemon are eaten on the seemingly-unambiguous Klawf Stick item:

It's a nutritious processed food made with a concentrate derived from shed Klawf shells.
And then there's the whole thing about shedding pincers...

Here's my question for you, though, about a seemingly-innocuous ingredient: What laid these eggs?

(and the answer is that animals presumably do exist, given the presence of ham.)

Also Veluza was definitely supposed to be Kofu's ace at some point, given as he's a sushi chef and it's the "here's why pokemon sushi is ok" pokemon.

One last thought before I eep: the description of wasabi in S/V is

This very spicy condiment seems close to horseradish at first, but you'll find that it has a superb flavor all its own.
which is extra amusing considering that, per Wikipedia,
Outside Japan, the Japanese condiment wasabi, although traditionally prepared from the true wasabi plant (Wasabia japonica), is now usually made with horseradish due to the scarcity of the wasabi plant.
So presumably this is, in fact, true wasabi?

these are my late-night insights: the wasabi is wasabi.

[trail bridge]

I mean, as probably everyone knows[citation needed], Slowbro tails are edible and eaten often

like either as a chewable in Alola or in curry in Galar

that and the pokedex for Sirfetch'd (or was it farfetch'd?) that they were hunted for both the pokemon and the leek as food

[citation needed]

no wait, bulbapedia says something about how farfetch'd was hunted to near extinction for their meat, so people tried to breed more of them, hence their rarity

according to the anime, but idk

Huh, basculin were eaten in the past

[umbral hound]

Every time a pokemon part is eaten, it's something that falls off or is shed or something.

Hm. Never mind.

[trail bridge]

seems like eating pokemon are a thing of the past 🤔

[umbral hound]

Only most of the time, I suppose. I am amused by Clauncher's dex entries:

Ultra Sun Its claws occasionally fall off, and it keeps a low profile until they grow back. The meat of its claws is so delicious!
Sword Clauncher's claws can fall off during battle, but they'll regenerate. The meat inside the claws is popular as a delicacy in Galar.
Violet Clauncher's claws will regrow if they fall off. The meat inside the claws is edible, but it has a distinct flavor that doesn't appeal to all tastes.

[trail bridge]

🤔 seems like people in Paldea prefer Klawf claws over Clauncher claws

[umbral hound]

Seemingly, except the way the red-striped meat is described in Shield makes it sound like it's still eaten.

[trail bridge]

hmm

[umbral hound]

evidently. It really feels like whoever wrote the Violet dex is trying to be somewhat diplomatic, like, "it... doesn't appeal to all tastes".

[trail bridge]

yeap. Some people might not like crustacean pokemon meat

[umbral hound]

one last thing before I go to sleep: the chili sauce has a picture of Scovillain on it.

[trail bridge]

sidenote, there's always the frame of Brock and Ash from the anime imagining a magikarp sashimi board

but apparently that wouldn't taste well, as magikarp are more cartillage than meat

[umbral hound]

Yes, but the anime canon and game canon are separate.

[trail bridge]

indeed, tho it does paint an interesting picture

[trail bridge]

the dex entries for scovillain also state something of a spicy chemical that makes them go into a frenzy

so someone must've gotten the chemicals into their mouth once, probably from a scovillain blasting them in the face

and that's probably how people found out that these Pokemon can be useful for hotsauce making

maybe they "milk" their fangs, similar to how people "milk" snakes for their venom?

that or the hot sauce is just showing a Scovillain on it because its that hot, and has no connections to the pokemon in it's production at all

anyway have a good nights rest bananatron

[umbral hound]

Good night! but the chili sauce description says that the flavor is thanks to Scovillain so it's probably the sauce milking thing (a sentence which I have typed). I'm just amused the logo is there.

[trail bridge]

ohhh

that makes sense 🤔

[azure crane]

The only sandwich ingredient that's explicitly from a Pokémon is Klawf Sticks, and they're not its meat, but processed from its shed shells.

[red rampart]

Could also just be for branding

[trail bridge]

though, there are various meals that use pokemon products in paldea

like Klawf al Ajillo, which is also made from klawf claws

and Pickled Toedscool and Cucumber, which is made with fallen parts of a toedscool

[red rampart]

Continuing on, Kieran is adorable
Also god Miraidon will just leave it's pokeball the moment someone says "sandwich" huh

Miraidon is the goodest boy 😌

[olive kayak]

Mars down, still clean. That was such a ride.

[red rampart]

https://vxtwitter.com/WolfeyGlick/status/1789705940469494192

[pliant violet]

wait what

[red rampart]

Apparently zamazenta only got access to body press in gen 9 for some baffling reason

So that's probably why

Huh, apparently zacian crowned also lost 20 base attack stat in gen 9 too

[pliant violet]

good typing on zam

[languid lichen]

they both got stat nerfs yeah

[red rampart]

I’m sorry what’s that second option

[manic kindle]

Player (pointing at kieran) new free brother

[red rampart]

Carmine: "How about instead of a mask, I give you a battle"
Keiran, in the background: exaggerated sigh

This kid is just done with his sister's antics huh

Unrelated, but why have there been three characters with snake pupils so far in this dl- did she just say she's gonna win the battle because my character will be distracted by how pretty she is

[tired steeple]

@shell nest

showing a friend to the forum post!

[shell nest]

omg

[pliant violet]

Pocket monsters good

[shell nest]

lil guys

[pliant violet]

So true

Also big guys

[shell nest]

ye

[red rampart]

...okay the hamster has a focus sash, I think this is the first time I've seen an npc have a held item in this game

[pliant violet]

You’re on first dlc right?

[red rampart]

Yeh

[shell nest]

ooooooooo

[pliant violet]

Second dlc has more

[red rampart]

Though the game seems to be letting me go to the second dlc if I want to, which is a bit odd

[shell nest]

that is odd

i should finish the dlc

[red rampart]

And the first time I've seen someone use an entry hazard, neat

[red rampart]

In that case I should probably stop talking about it 🤐

[shell nest]

oh no its ok

i finished the first part

and i dont care if im spoiled anyways

[red rampart]

Oh okay 👍

[pliant violet]

Rose the second dlc has Hydrapple

[red rampart]

👀

[pliant violet]

Idk if you’ll like it but I think it’s sick

[shell nest]

what a long boi

[red rampart]

https://tenor.com/view/hydrapple-pokemon-gif-12763333580664552202

He do be a long boi 👀

Or several long bois more accurately

[obtuse ravine]

https://tenor.com/view/cyndaquil-pokemon-vibing-chill-quilava-gif-5953081853136515874

[shell nest]

fhsdfh;iodvio

what a lad

[soft isle]

One of the best mons :3

[azure crane]

That was my first starter.

[red rampart]

Ogerpon spotted

[shell nest]

not me restarting another pokemon game when i still have 4 others i need to finish

[trail bridge]

the smaller snakes in a hydrapple are called Syrpents

lookie

[red rampart]

I sure am glad Kieran isn't being told about meeting ogerpon, nothing could possibly go wrong because of this or directly impact the story of the next dlc or anything

Anyway I'm sure the dlc is important but what's more important is that additional fashion has been unlocked

[pliant violet]

Show us the drip

[red rampart]

I will once I go through all 500 clothing stores in this game 🙃

[red rampart]

For some reason I don’t have many screenshots of my character, but here’s pre and post dlc
I have no idea what to do with their eye color tbh

[pliant violet]

Good hair

[obtuse ravine]

ooh i like both outfits

and that is nice hair yems 😌

[olive kayak]

WHEW. The renegade platinum nuzlocke is still alive. Box still awful. Cheryl down and I have a riskless Gardenia strat.

Still absolutely no clue for Aaron lol

other than "lol stealth rocks"

actually probably also "lol shell armor cloyster"

yeah huh okay I might have a good answer for the drapion and this fight might be okay. Or we just finally sac the psyduck. 😛

[umbral hound]

I can't wait until you get to the end of DLC 2 for the very simple and straightforward reason that there is a very funny thing I want to share about a certain thing regarding Kieran.

All I'd like to say is that Keiran is not from Galar, but the player character is heavily implied to be.

[pliant violet]

have you prepped for fantina?

[olive kayak]

not yet

I am honestly feeling pretty confident for fantina with my box

We'll see when I start cooking if I'm right

I'm a masochist so I'm doing no evs, no offensive setup moves, no blissey, and mini boss level caps

It sure as hell won't be no deaths. 😛

[pliant violet]

do you know the umbreon grotle cheese?

[olive kayak]

I don't, I'm guessing there's a PP stall somewhere?

[pliant violet]

ye

[fickle thicket]

Apparently the main head and the tail are actually two separate snakes

[obtuse ravine]

does paralyze make you go second

[languid lichen]

halves your speed

[azure crane]

So if you're fast enough normally, or can boost your speed, you can still go first.

[iron lake]

wait what the fuck when did this exist how did we never hear of this

[wispy yarrow]

"Hello! Hello! Hello! Hello!"

[manic kindle]

Hydrapple is a fun lil guy

[fickle thicket]

SV DLC; SV DLC marketing

[manic kindle]

Pokemon didnt wanna leak the cool evo so people could experience it firsthand, barring the internet experience

[obtuse ravine]

i see, ty both

[iron lake]

We're just surprised we never heard of it through the internet either.

[arctic dagger]

Internet has been super down on pokemon lately

It's legit my favorite gen at this point in a lot of ways so I clearly disagree with them but

Ther'es so much cool stuff that just gets ignored in favor of the being salty

[fickle thicket]

could've sworn they revealed it before the mask dropped

[iron lake]

We have friends and family that actively like mons is all y'know

[manic kindle]

I just dont engage with Pokemon-internet outside of like, this channel and my friends

its just not worth it

[arctic dagger]

https://www.youtube.com/@jimothycool

I watch this guy

That's mostly it

His voice is just insanely soothing to me

[obtuse ravine]

oh wha you can get a typhlosion from tera battles

[manic kindle]

yeah!

tera battles can have all sorts of lil guys

[obtuse ravine]

i see

hmm

maybe someday™️

[manic kindle]

if you ever need a 'mon, im always willing to see if i have one to trade off or give an egg

[obtuse ravine]

i've seen the game maybe $12 off at gamestop, still a decent chunk of moners 😩 and i am still waiting for ELDEN RING RAHH

[obtuse ravine]

o i don't have it lol

[manic kindle]

oh! well the offer stands!

[obtuse ravine]

appreciated 😌 i'll keep that in mind

[manic kindle]

im also slowly replaying elden ring to prepare

[obtuse ravine]

surely they put it on sale when the dlc comes out

[manic kindle]

they better

i want more friends to play with

[honest cairn]

yes i thought that his probopass video today was very cool

[obtuse ravine]

😩

yeah i convinced a friend to play it with me this summer

we should've gotten it on sale in february

but we went "hey it'll go on sale by may"

..

i can play it through steam share for now but we wanna start together 😌

i forgot honedge was a thing, gonna use it ⚔️

[arctic dagger]

I feel like pokemon games never go on sale

[honest cairn]

nintendo games in general honestly

[arctic dagger]

Yeah

[obtuse ravine]

yeah

[olive kayak]

yeah that's a nintendo thing

[south laurel]

If you cave once you’ll always be expected to cave twice

[obtuse ravine]

😩

oh yeah legends arceus has cyndaquil

[arctic dagger]

Yeah it has the ghosty typhlosion

[south laurel]

Ghostphlosion

[obtuse ravine]

i have learned falinks' name today

[arctic dagger]

Is it Jeff

[fickle thicket]

gotta be

[manic kindle]

Reggie

[red rampart]

Reggie

[obtuse ravine]

this is correct

[olive kayak]

lol

well someone on reddit helpfully told me where to get a wide lens so all the fiction in the gardenia fight just vanished, yay

[olive kayak]

actually I can probably re-route this whole fight with taunt now and have an entire extra mon in the back

[umbral hound]

For VGC (because that's what I've been watching for... some unknown reason), here's some neat ideas I've been tossing around:

• Spiritomb with Focus Sash, Trick Room, and either Destiny Bond or Pain Split. It underspeeds everything, gets Sucker Punch, and has... not good attacking stats per se, but usable attack stats. It also has Snarl, Helping Hand, Helping Hand, Disable, Ally Switch, Will-o-Wisp, Thief for if its sash is used up (this feels... Bad), and an attacking movepool which is... if not great, at least workable.
• Sableye with Focus Sash for a Prankster move that's nearly impossible to stop in one hit since it's immune to Fake Out/Prankster Taunt. It can then Quash, Will-o-Wisp, set sun or rain in a way that abilities won't overwrite (thus winning weather wars) and which is harder to predict/play around if teamsheets are closed.
• Prankster Thundurus(-Incarnate) who can use Prankster Electric Terrain to overwrite Psychic Terrain although keeping a Miraidon in the back is probably better and these are really just Reg F techs and nearly unnecessary. In particular, if you put Rain Dance Taunt Sableye and Electric Terrain Thundurus next to each other into an expected Trick Room open, Thundurus can overwrite Indeedee's Psychic Terrain allowing Sableye to Taunt Indeedee, or you can Rain Dance + Wildbolt Storm/Weather Ball, which is probably just a way to justify a really weird and unnecessary potential open when you could just be setting these with abilities still. It'd be more useful if you were overwriting other people's desired terrains with Misty Terrain or something.

What does Miraidon run, again? I know it has Tera Electric Electro Drift/Volt Switch, and I think Dragon Pulse?

[red rampart]

I think it's discharge and draco meteor

With choice specs also

[manic kindle]

Electro Drift is fairly popular in specs sets, Discharge in teams that can really make use of it, is my experience

[umbral hound]

The lists I've found (which are not very developed or workshopped yet) seem to have electro drift and discharge.

[manic kindle]

that makes sense, not like he has a ton of other moves to really need

if youre running miraidon youre probably clicking tera electric and hitting the same button over and over

[umbral hound]

...why does the game say Marrowak is unobtainable in S/V? It's totally there, right?

[olive kayak]

I don't believe it is?

[umbral hound]

[red rampart]

Why is there a mark you can only obtain by going somewhere you aren't supposed to

[manic kindle]

Marowak is not in S/V

[red rampart]

wak

[umbral hound]

https://pokepast.es/96abe269552a0d5a I have cooked. I think I have overcooked.

[umbral hound]

Probably should use Ursaluna-BM instead of Ting-Lu

[red rampart]

Oh no something went wrong, who could have guessed

Also damn that sure do be a level 71 polywrath

I should probably grind a bit

Also I'm sure his obsession with beating the player/being strong isn't worrying at all

...I guess those three just came back to life then

And they didn't even need commit mass murder to do it!

[obtuse ravine]

😨

[red rampart]

I mean they commit a murder but that was a while ago so it's probably unrelated

[obtuse ravine]

😨

[red rampart]

wat

[obtuse ravine]

level 67 ekans

[red rampart]

The dlc's level scaling is a bit weird yeah

[lunar hinge]

Ah a wall Gholdengo, gotta be careful to avoid those. That Ekans was not.

[fickle thicket]

game working as intended

[red rampart]

Also damn that quality is low, guess that's what happens when you play in handheld mode 99% of the time

[fickle thicket]

hud is blurry, probably a handheld recording yeah

keep in mind that the switch screen is a lot smaller than a PC monitor

[umbral hound]

somehow I got pulled into trying pokerogue and... one of the featured pokemon is Cyndaquil and so I'm trying to use it and facing the unfortunate truth that Cyndaquil sucks.

[red rampart]

I mean it’s definitely a handheld recording cause that’s how I was using it

[fickle thicket]

...i completely missed the fact that the recording is yours

oops mb

[red rampart]

😌

This dlc is great

WHAT

100/10, best game

[obtuse ravine]

😨

what is going on 😭

[red rampart]

Oh my god she dances around you if you stand still for long enough 🥹

[red rampart]

Don't even worry about it 🙂

(Long story short, a long while ago three pokemon killed ogerpon's trainer, stole her masks, were killed by her, then somehow came back to life and stole her masks again)

https://tenor.com/view/pokemon-pokemon-teal-mask-teal-mask-dlc-pokemon-dlc-ogerpon-gif-18190853017296523044

Ogerpon being the most adorable thing ever this

[obtuse ravine]

[umbral hound]

got an early pokerogue shiny, somehow, and it's actually lowkey carrying (Vaporean with the weird Let's Go Eevee Absorb-style move)

[obtuse ravine]

😌

[eager vine]

ogerpon,,,,,,

she's so adorable. ten out of ten pokemon right there

[umbral hound]

noooo KO'd a Sableye because I wasn't being careful enough...

My attempt to catch a different Sableye resulted in nobody gettting any XP because it was KOd by poison at a point where every pokemon that had battled it was KOd

[red rampart]

Well time to fight Kieran over ownership custody trainership of ogerpon

What do you mean focus sash shiftry

What do you mean leftovers

[snow cobalt]

wha

[red rampart]

Who decided this kid's team should actually be good

[umbral hound]

yeah, they get serious in the DLC.

[red rampart]

At least the yanmega doesn't have speedboost

[pliant violet]

the trainer club gheeta fight is legit too

[obtuse ravine]

https://tenor.com/view/aegislash-pokemon-pokémon-anime-gif-13606524

[red rampart]

Anyway, time to catch ogerpon

...god I really hope she has a good catch rate, I only have one friend ball

[pliant violet]

more like ogerpown

[cerulean dune]

Spite is a powerful motivator.

[red rampart]

Okay she just terastallized herself, that's nice

Memories of adventuring with you grant ogerpon strength
D'aww

I'm gonna hazard a guess that that's a guaranteed capture

[red rampart]

I swear every other line of dialogue Carmine has makes me want to bring out this

Also Kieran is definitely the model of mental stability

Anyway, first dlc done (other than the ursaluna thing)

[snow cobalt]

just met this character in Pokemon Horizons and she's adorable???

[pliant violet]

pokerogue is tough

meowth kinda cracked

[wispy yarrow]

pokerogue?

[pliant violet]

google it

[wispy yarrow]

I don't wanna, spoonfeed me information reggie

[pliant violet]

it's a browser based pokemon roguelike

that's all combat

[obtuse ravine]

whaa

[pliant violet]

ye it's dope

[pliant violet]

technician fakeout ftw

[olive kayak]

it do be like that

early game meowth is a MONSTER

[umbral hound]

Can confirm. Plus Pay Day really adds up. The trick is to avoid getting too greedy with it.

[pliant violet]

I think my best run is less than 30

So I’m clearly getting greedy with it

[umbral hound]

I was lucky enough to hatch a Galarian Meowth and that isn't the same but is similar in power but with a better typing and Bullet Punch. (No STAB Fake Out or Technician Fury Swipes, but there's other good stuff.)

I mean, when I say I'm speaking from experience, I mean that I've played a few runs and lost most of them for that exact reason (some I lost for a different reason).

I'm trying to remember if Meowth got Hone Claws from a TM or an egg move or level-up or what but that carries over across wild pokemon battles which is nice if you're not seriously milking pay day. Regular meowth will do more damage with fakeout due to STAB, though.

[pliant violet]

I’ve not got any vouchers yet to hatch anything

It’s a well thought out rogue like though

[umbral hound]

My real source of absurd luck was getting a very early Shiny Vaporeon which was just... Ok Then.

[pliant violet]

I kinda prefer it to emerald rogue

[umbral hound]

also Bouncy Bubble on it! That thing carried (or at least it tried its best)

but getting various achievements will get you vouchers, beating gym leaders when they pop up will get you vouchers... not pulling in a ton but they add up.

[pliant violet]

Ye I’ve only had the one show up

Cilan when my strongest Pokémon was a water type

[umbral hound]

The other thing I will say might be obvious, but Cyndaquil is worse than you might think. (I know that's hard to believe, since your expectations are already low, but trust me.)

I only used it because it was one of the random pokerus starters and that was a mistake.

Popplio is good though. If you just want something generally strong, Popplio shows up and puts in work. So does Rowlet, really.

[pliant violet]

I’ve been using Rowlet

Also I think whismur is solid

Echoed voice does work

[umbral hound]

I got a whismur at one point but haven't tried it yet. ...I can't decide how I feel about the metaprogression aspect. Unlocking new starters is neat, but permanently making them stronger is... well, something.

Games with metaprogression like that should give you the option to turn it off or revert it.

[pliant violet]

Also it’s a pain

[umbral hound]

True. But it's a pain in a very Pokemon way, at least.

I'm also pissed that on my single run that went for any length, I accidentally knocked out sableye twice, and haven't gotten far enough to encounter one since then. It's not even that I'd probably use one, but I need to catch one.

[pliant violet]

But yeah for a free browser based roguelike it could be much worse

I keep trying to force a zubat start so I can get an early crobat

[honest cairn]

oh wait i should check that out its browser based??

[pliant violet]

Ye

Pokerogue

Not emerald rogue

That’s another Pokémon rogue like

That one is much harder imo

[umbral hound]

yeah I was surprised to learn it was browser-based too.

[pliant violet]

Me too

[pliant violet]

Oh in the end of battle rewards?

Ball out

You’re out of the cave now

[near flower]

TOTODILE MENTION!!!!!!!

[fickle thicket]

awful irredeemable bitch my beloved <3

[pliant violet]

new best

battle fifty

the dna splicers are great

[obtuse ravine]

say it ain't so bananatron

I'm basically back to where i was before i restarted my save yippee

[red rampart]

Blueberry academy time!

They made an underwater school...?

The first thing I see after getting out of the cutscene is someone talking about BBQ, amazing

Lacey is adorable

Oh shit gen five battle music 🥹

...she has an excadrill?

Yesssssss fashion

[red rampart]

...wait the dlc with people talking about BBQ is also the one where cowboy hats were introduced
Game Freak America isn't just Texas 😭

[obtuse ravine]

😭 😭

[arctic dagger]

How sure are you about that

[red rampart]

Yes!

Very!

[manic kindle]

she's my fave of the dlc characters

[red rampart]

I'm not sure how to make the cowboy hat work with any outfit but I'm gonna wear it anyway because it's a cowboy hat

[red rampart]

Why is there a random chuuni in one of the classrooms

[snow cobalt]

good

[red rampart]

...wait I can get meloetta in this dlc can't I

[manic kindle]

she has a fun riddle to solve!

[red rampart]

I already looked it up, it's certainly something

[umbral hound]

in pokerogue, I'm trying to decide which meowth to start with. Galarian probably.

...just got full paralyzed 4 turns in a row.

[manic kindle]

https://www.reddit.com/r/pokerogue/comments/1c4wde6/a_quick_beginners_guide/

this has been helpful for me

[umbral hound]

ended up catching up a regular meowth and for various reasons (including a random silk scarf) seem to have pivoted to using it more than galarian meowth. I also have normalize silk scarf skitty as an option but not one I'm currently using

[umbral hound]

Does Pickup only work on a pokemon that actually battles?

in pokerogue I mean

...lost Meowth early to misclicks.

[red rampart]

Doing the ursaluna thing and it's very fun being called "partner" constantly while wearing a cowboy hat

[manic kindle]

Pardner

[red rampart]

Yeah, she's not pronouncing it correctly 😔

Perrin why did you leave the flash on

Now I'm gonna get murdered by a bear

...oh right she never asked for my character's name

Anyway I guess I have a bloodmoon ursaluna now or whatever but more importantly isn’t he adorable

Himb big now

[snow cobalt]

lorge

[obtuse ravine]

selfie mode is pretty cool

[red rampart]

Now to level it up to ~level 70 🙃

[red rampart]

Meloetta please get into the pokeball 😩

She got in the luxury ball 😌

Complaining solves all problems

[obtuse ravine]

[umbral hound]

Help... I have a choice between a Rarer Candy (rare candy for the whole party) or an egg voucher. This is the eternal curse of metaprogression. I think it has to be the voucher, honestly.

never mind! The whole fight had to restart due to an oops. Here's hoping I get the same rewards 🙃

I did 😌

[pliant violet]

my fave reward has to be lures

actually it's gotta be exp all's early

or exp balance

[umbral hound]

I just seem to lose to... every gym leader whenever they show up...

Basically, what I think I need is to pivot off of Meowth much sooner probably.

[pliant violet]

yeah the gym leaders are tough

[umbral hound]

How does friendship work out in this? Or time of day stuff, for that matter?

[pliant violet]

i just lost to cheren

no clue about friendship

i've only beaten cilan as a leader

[umbral hound]

I also think that even trying meowth early is... a trap. I will overinvest until doing so is not useful. Galarian Meowth might fall off less, but also might not.

[pliant violet]

i've doing single mon starts today

i don't hate them

[umbral hound]

I am trying the zigzagoon for pickup thing, though.

[pliant violet]

oh?

[obtuse ravine]

pokerogue is fun

some of the wild battle music sometimes reminds me of snes/gba fire emblem music

[languid lichen]

how do you change the volume

in pokerogue

[umbral hound]

esc -> options

[languid lichen]

ah, there we go

[umbral hound]

wait no I kind of want to try out Snom which I just hatched... which evolves with friendship at night... but then again friendship seems to build fairly slowly? Or does it only build if you actively send them out?

[languid lichen]

god i wish you could see the controls

i don't know what the B button is

agony

because i always have it set to tab or shift in games i play

so my sense of "normal" is gone

fuckin backspace maybe??

[pliant violet]

x or c

C

[languid lichen]

apparently it was backspace or x

[obtuse ravine]

A is Z, B is X

keyboard C seems to be stat changes

[umbral hound]

x for me

[obtuse ravine]

o

interesting

[umbral hound]

space seems to work as a for me?

[obtuse ravine]

yeah same

Z and X are what I use for emulators so i guess that's a nice coincidence

[pliant violet]

as does enter

[obtuse ravine]

or maybe those are "normal" controls for keeb

[languid lichen]

hm, is there a way to see what moves do?

because apparently fucking tackle is a speed boost

[pliant violet]

go into summary on the pokemon screen

and hit right a couple times

[umbral hound]

...hit trainers, hit a trainer pair, aaaand it's kakuna metapod. Okay.

[pliant violet]

trainers appear at fixed points

encounter five will always be trainers and 8 will always be rival

egg moves make shit so much easier

[umbral hound]

My eevee has: Evolved. Into Umbreon. So that confirms that:

• Getting to max friendship, with a bit of usage, isn't that bad.
• Maybe I should have tried to angle for getting Sylveon instead?

Also they all seem to get the let's go eevee move.

[pliant violet]

umbreon pretty cracked

hmm i have an eevee

[umbral hound]

Boss double battle. I didn't know that could happen.

So now I have to choose between trying to catch a new Meowth to make that better, or trying to catch a Farfetch'd since I don't have one yet.

Farfetch'd almost swept my team while I failed to catch it...

[pliant violet]

oh yeah that's fun

[pliant violet]

good news is boss so you fully heal after

[umbral hound]

Yeah.

[pliant violet]

wow eevee evolves quick quick

[umbral hound]

I'm... deciding if I already want to get rid of Pay Day for Metal Claw. Give Meowth a bit more damage and some attack buffs at the cost of a decent amount of funds (i.e. post-battle healing). In the past, I'd get rid of Hone Claws instead, but I think I will try to win, and that means letting myself buff up and have a better chance of winning. We shall see if this is a mistake. (this is for galarian meowth to be clear)

...just saw a foongus side target stun spore???

[pliant violet]

he was playing amogus

he's the imposter

[languid lichen]

cool, crasher wake got got

[umbral hound]

Just Got Erika too

[arctic dagger]

I don't think meowth is generally a good idea.

You want bulky/heal setup sweepers or pure offense generally IMO

In zones you can just setup on the first enemy mon that doesn't have good offenses vs you

And then the entire zone is free

[pliant violet]

until you fave a trainer

since that forcibly resets stats

[arctic dagger]

Yeah

But I find a lot of people just take a ton of chip damage in routes

From random mons

And optimizing not doing that is important

Also it's good to remember pokeballs are priority moves

[pliant violet]

meowth lets you clear early routes free the same way

[pliant violet]

yeah they're also one hit kills functionally

[arctic dagger]

Yeh.

I see people be like "IDK how I beat this boss, I guess I'll just die" when they coulda just tossed a pokeball sometimes

[pliant violet]

also early game the types that resist normal get a bump from a lot of pokemon having nothing but normal moves

[pliant violet]

this also does require you having some sort of self buff setup move

[arctic dagger]

Yehhh

But that's not hard if you plan for it

[languid lichen]

have yall gotten an infinite save glitch yet?

[pliant violet]

depends what pokemon you have available but yeah

no what's that topple

[languid lichen]

exactly what it sounds like, i tabbed out while it was autosaving and now it's locked

[obtuse ravine]

rolled by rollout lmao

[languid lichen]

sad, no longer have an ability charm

wait what the fuck

drain punch cures para?

or can mons just shake off para in this

[umbral hound]

YES YES YES sableye hatched from the egg. Doesn't have Prankster but... at last, I have My Boy.

[olive kayak]

Gardenia down. No deaths.

Need to figure out if Jupiter's as free as it looks

[languid lichen]

are there shops ever, or is it just the post-encounter static shop?

[olive kayak]

also lmao that Gardenia fight. 3 hours of prep (I'm still learning the gen 4 ai) and I have to steer on the first move because I get the 3.25% chance of teeter dance over stun spore on move 1 lmao

[obtuse ravine]

oh i did change my outfit a bit in X 😌 still needs some work when i get to more cities

[languid lichen]

lol, poor cress just getting 6-0'd by a meowscarada

i assume it's just because it's my first run and the rival's there, but christ this game hands out too many exp. juicers

[olive kayak]

lol

[languid lichen]

i'm getting a level and a half per random idiot kill

at the 48-50 range

[manic kindle]

you need it

you need it so bad

those levels are so necessary

[languid lichen]

fair enough

i assume the difficulty increases at the 70s or level cap?

[manic kindle]

i mean maybe youre just on a really good run but it took me a few days to get past 50 haha

[languid lichen]

oh

[manic kindle]

i needed to get good eggs and good spawns to get it going

[languid lichen]

wack

i just picked fennekin and sprigatito and have been hitting things in the face until they die

eventually got a machamp that's been smacking things

maybe it's cause i haven't seen anything super threatening like dragons yet

[pliant violet]

i just hatched a shiny eevee

and got no retreat as an egg move on it

[red rampart]

Falinks eevee

[pliant violet]

destiny at work

[languid lichen]

are hidden abilities permanently unlocked if you catch a goober with em?

i guess i'll find out once i lose

[pliant violet]

does anyone know how to get a trade evo?

[languid lichen]

unfortunately i just caught a machamp

[arctic dagger]

Link Cable as item after combat iirc

It only shows up as a drop if someone can use it

Like all the evo stones

[pliant violet]

ok cool assumed was something like that

i have a ludicolo and a magnezone in my party cause of stones

[languid lichen]

can you get choice items as rare drops?

[pliant violet]

pain split does not work on bosses

that almost cost me this run

oh i've got so much fun shit to try next run

[red rampart]

Aww

[pliant violet]

moxie scrafty
Swords dance on both zubat and venipede
no retreat eevee

[languid lichen]

so seriously, what's with all the random stat stage increases?

[pliant violet]

items usually

look in the top right

[languid lichen]

ahh

oh man, i might actually lose to brock

too many sturdymons

• a glimmora

oh nevermind, the golem didn't have sturdy

meowscarada the goat yet again

[pliant violet]

fun trick

if you set spikes

they stay a long

long time

[languid lichen]

they last forever, yeah

i got fuckled a bit by a wild uhhh

something's? toxic spikes

fortunately the team has a poison

but was still surprising

[red rampart]

Ooh throwing styles 👀
And also Kieren being horrible a dick to a kid with issues at home or something I dunno I wasn’t paying attention

[pliant violet]

record run is struggling on into the seventies

[languid lichen]

oh nice, rival#3 at 95

i feel bad for her lmao

i also have both a dmax band and a mega bracelet and have yet to see either

[pliant violet]

i had rival 3 way earlier than that

[languid lichen]

oh fun

[pliant violet]

seen both benefited from neither

[red rampart]

A catching charm..? Why do the dlcs have so many charms

[languid lichen]

i appreciate that the chikorita and wattrel have both stuck around

[manic kindle]

because the player is charm-ing haha ha

[languid lichen]

and the toilet bong

[obtuse ravine]

😮‍💨

[languid lichen]

oh wait maybe this is rival 4

[obtuse ravine]

the what now

[languid lichen]

duraludon

unexpected

[obtuse ravine]

is that a nailah pfp

[languid lichen]

yeah

[obtuse ravine]

i see..

[red rampart]

Carmine not make me want to bring out the homophobic dog challenge: impossible

[languid lichen]

i'm so sorry rival girl :(

i would invite you to play doubles with me but there's no prompt

she just wants her friend back :(

[pliant violet]

just got a jangmo-o from an egg

[languid lichen]

but my bloodlust is insatiable

huh, nothing special at 100

at least the boss mon was finally overleveled

[pliant violet]

oh no it's whitney

[languid lichen]

kill her jerry

[pliant violet]

swept

i weep

[languid lichen]

rip

huh, i thought those two boss health bars were one-shot protection

but this sandslash just lost both

odd

oh huh, level cap isn't 100

wacky

decent first run so far

i swear this has to be easy mode or something

like genuinely serious

i don't believe this is just a godrun

[pliant violet]

sometimes you just run into stuff your team is well equipped for

[languid lichen]

guess so

topically, where the fuCK is tate

[pliant violet]

he went

rogue

shiny chimchar

also eevee is absolutely a cracked starter once you unlock adaptability

even better if you get no retreat

all the eeveelutions get the busted lets go move of their type

[languid lichen]

jesus

[pliant violet]

currently running a no retreat pixilate sylveon with a massively powerful move that can miss but all clears all status in the party

[languid lichen]

ah yes the recover stalling accelgor in rain with hydration

motherfucker has three leppa berries for it too

gonna take a while

[pliant violet]

just got draining kiss

it's over

the sun will never set

no retreat is kinda rough to set up with cause you can only have the benefits of all stats up once

moxie seems better for generally sweeping through

[languid lichen]

man, i'm probably coming up on rival 5

depressed blorbo will make me sad :(

[pliant violet]

got mega bracelet

have gyrados

[languid lichen]

wow, this motherfucker hit three dynamic punches in a row

had to catch the damn breloom to see if it had no guard

nope, it's just a beast

[pliant violet]

yeah rival 3 isn't at ninety it's at fifty five

[languid lichen]

guess 90 was r4 then, yeah

and so i assume the 135 i'm coming up on will be r5

[pliant violet]

new sweeper unlocked

Dragon dance Gyarados

[languid lichen]

it's the boy

rip, killed it too hard

when do you start seeing legendaries?

or is that just an ultra-rare thing

also, wow, first time i've seen a double ball upgrade

[pliant violet]

my eevee has the boss passive simple now

[languid lichen]

and i still don't know what the fuck these are/do, when i catch a mon

[pliant violet]

with no retreat

[pliant violet]

you spend them to unlock stuff for the mon

[languid lichen]

how do you add boss passives?

[pliant violet]

spend the candy

you do it on the mon select screen

[languid lichen]

ahh

still haven't lost the first run yet lmao

[pliant violet]

she's gone infinite

[languid lichen]

ah, 145

is rival 5

yo her meganium has two health bars now

||AND SHE HAS A FUCKING SHINY RAYQUAZA????||

||WITH THREE BOSS HEALTH BARS||

I DID NOT EXPECT THAT ONE

lol 200k exp for it

DAMN

finished by the pult

[pliant violet]

we love to see it

not you losing

but dragapult

[languid lichen]

ah what

she doesn't have any victory dialogue

that's lame

[pliant violet]

have you been using your vouchers to get eggs topple?

in the esc menu

[languid lichen]

wait, you can do that mid-run?

[pliant violet]

yep

[languid lichen]

oh

no

[pliant violet]

it's good to do mid run

[languid lichen]

is that how you upgrade the regional starters/unlock their HAs?

[pliant violet]

cause they just take battles to hatch

[languid lichen]

ahhh

[pliant violet]

yeah or just catch them

[languid lichen]

how do IVs & HAs work? is it like

permanent growth/the best one you've caught?

or The Last One you've caught?

[pliant violet]

when you select pokemon on the start screen you can choose what ability

from any you've caught/hatched

idk about ivs

[languid lichen]

ah, i see

what does the purple border bonus do?

[pliant violet]

great q

[languid lichen]

ah, pokerus

i suppose i should have guessed

christ, i forgot that shiny burmy is literally indistinguishable

[pliant violet]

revaroom has the star mobile moves as egg moves

[languid lichen]

plusle has one of the broken LGPE moves as an egg

the water one

[pliant violet]

those are probably spread through the pika clones that makes sense

[languid lichen]

man, they really did my boy shinx fuckin dirty

[umbral hound]

Missed too much of this talk BUT: shinies are actually meaningful if it hasn't already been said (give good luck increases) and many starters are just Good for early game carrying; I personally found that Popplio can put in work, though there's other options.

[languid lichen]

didn't give it guts, second passive is volt absorb instead of anything that helps it

[umbral hound]

Eeveelutions each get one of the let's go eevee moves and they are all strong.

[pliant violet]

i did not mention the luck thing good call

huh close combat probably not very good in this huh

[umbral hound]

dark and psychic set up reflect and light screen respectively, ice resets all stat changes, fairy heals your side of statuses, electric auto-paralyzes, fire auto-burns, and grass applies leech seed. Those are all very good.

[pliant violet]

eevee gets baton pass

my simple no retreat eevee just baton passed to my gyarados

[pliant violet]

and water drains

[umbral hound]

I thought I had said that but you're right, I didn't.

[languid lichen]

there are a couple more, if they aren't missing

[umbral hound]

those are all the eevee ones. The other types are pikachu's signature moves and I don't know much about those.

[languid lichen]

think it's just a pair of Return++s

[umbral hound]

honestly, clearing statuses is kind of annoying and/or expensive sometimes so I think I will attempt to go for Sylveon... also ensures that I don't accidentally develop too much of a fighting weakness because Persian falls off but Perrserker doesn't fall off near as much, especially if you're willing to replace Pay Day and luck into egg move Bullet Punch.

I also need to get some of the starting character costs down... which means grinding.

[pliant violet]

the sylveon one is hella inaccurate

[umbral hound]

early master ball... time to go the entire run without using that

Really? 🇫

[pliant violet]

eighty five accuracy

one thirty five power

[umbral hound]

guess it needed to be balanced somehow... still gonna go Sylveon probably just for the other side benefits. (Or Espeon, and I just B button at night?)

[languid lichen]

oh right, shit, you can reroll drops

I should've been doing that

no wonder y'all want money

[umbral hound]

I haven't been doing that either, just playing bad and needing to buy lots of potions. I... also don't know if the exp balance is good for me or not. I think it's as good as your team is? Otherwise it sort of reduces the levels of your highest-level pokemon.

I think I should get it, though.

...do I teach Meowth Stealth Rocks? I'm already extremely squeezed on move slots, but an entry hazard would be so good in this... but I want Meowth to be my sweeper...

I think that I don't, but I'm really sad about it, but I kind of need Meowth to sweep, and if I'm doing setup it's Hone Claws.

I think I do teach it Play Rough so I can do something to fighting-types when they don't just outspeed me, though.

...I was going to go for Sylveon, but Leafeon has presented itself to me.