OKAY so. last night i got Really fucking fatigued (dealing with some health issues) and i couldn't multitask liveposting and playing the game so i just played the DLC quietly in bed for a while. this morning i THINK i'm coming up to the climax of the teal mask story so i may as well post an update on my thoughts before i do that
first of all the team is complete and i've been taking a lot of photos of them bc of all the new camera features :] including pics at the festival with carmine/kieran in the photo because i won't be able to do those again i assume (ribombee and kimmo-o were later additions so they get crystal pool pics instead. also yes i pressed the screencap button instead of the A button on the picture with Jet the yanmega oops </3)
i've really been enjoying kitakami as a location - since it's allowed to be smaller than a Whole Entire Region it feels like a more thought out area. like they were able to fill in more with the smaller scope and i appreciate that. the geography is fun to traverse and there's some cool landmarks. i have been goofing off catching pokemon instead of advancing the plot a Lot lmao. and of course the culture is very cool!!
i really appreciate how the story is handled as well - you're accepted into the culture and tradition of kitakami by a family who was born and raised there (this is in direct contrast to briar just sort of showing up at the crystal pool and carmine being awkward about it since it's a sacred location... i still can't tell if briar is like. The Evil One(tm) or just kind of annoying and shitty LOL)
all that being said the plotline with kieran being left out of the stuff with ogerpon has been pretty hard to watch. i feel Guilty progressing with carmine, even though there's nuance we really should not have lied to him in the first place and i'm glad that after kieran gets upset during The Confrontation it at least gave me the option to tell carmine No he isn't just being a dumb teenager or something adfsksdf i really hope that by the end of the plot carmine and i are able to resolve things with him in a way that feels meaningful
anyways yeah that's my thoughts btw look at this fucked up visual glitch with sandslash i got last night. i swore for a second with my foggy tired brain that they made a new sandslash evolution that had like. fucking armor on it or some shit. i still don't know what happened here. SV moment
(Apologies for Cleo barely being in frame there, I had to take screencaps crazy-fast)
This fourth bug run was interesting in a number of ways. For starters, I lacked a lot of moves I was used to getting extra help from on these types of runs. I didn’t have any Sleep Powers or paralyzing moves, I didn’t have any confusion-causing moves; no accuracy-dropping moves save for a quick, dirty affair with Double Team; I didn’t have Swords Dance or other buffing moves, and I had very few stats-dropping moves (Scary Face and Screech, the exceptions, were often essential).What’s more, many of the movepools of my pokemon were incredibly shallow when it came to coverage moves.
In addition to all of that, half of my team was Bug/Flying. This is not so surprising; Bug/Flying is an incredibly common combination. Still, it certainly adds to the difficulty. As a result of all of this, I sometimes had to be very creative with the limited options I had available to me.
However, this run was also surprising to me. In particular, bugs I had underestimated in the past really managed to impress me again and again.
Mothim: Air Slash/Psychic/Bug Buzz/Hidden Power Ground - Razor Claw
Mothim, which I had always assumed had terribly pitiful performance when compared to his fellow butterflies and moths of other gens, actually performed pretty damn admirably. Sparkler often somehow survived hits I assumed would slaughter him, and he actually packed quite a punch with his attacks. In addition, his movepool, while not the biggest in the world, actually was really generous when compared to the rest of my team for most of the run. Being an early-game bug, he tended to earn the high-basepower moves sooner then the others, and so he often was a huge help; the fact he was blessed with Hidden Power ground also was an enormous boon in this run. For a very, very long time, he was my only defender against the ground and rock type pokemon with his HP ground, a very bizarre situation but one that worked out for us. His Psychic also helped out against the extremely, extremely common Zubat line endlessly. He more then pulled his weight on the team; he was essential for me.
Wormadam: Iron Head/Psychic/Protect/Stealth Rock - Shell Bell
Mothim’s counterpart, Wormadam, was another bug type that never interested me much before. And while Fiberglass’ attack was never hitting particularly hard, as a defensive poke, she was my rock. She formed an essential part of my defense core in a team that consisted mostly of attackers and pokemon with low defenses, and allowed me to grit and stall things out when stall was what I needed. While I may not be able to reccomend using Wormadam in all settings, in this particular setting, she filled her role on the team admirably.
Cleopatra had an interesting journey in this game. When she joined the team, at the time she was the strongest teammember. For a while, her power in both attack and in defensive bulk made her the ace of my team. She felt a lot like the mother bee watching over the rest of the team, somebody to run to when I was in deep shit so she could take care of things. Gradually, over time, her status as the ace faded. Eventually, the other pokemon she had watched over began to even outpace her; Mothim often was fast enough and hit hard enough– and had the coverage– to take care of foes that would otherwise fell Cleo, and the same could be said of the others. Cleo was slow, was the thing; terribly slow, and at times, that worked heavily against her. She still retained a vital role on the team, though, even in the late game, and despite her extremely shallow coverage moves. She held my Toxic and she had excellent recovery and very good bulk. Toxic stall was simply a vital tactic on my team that often had limited options available to them. Many foes I didn’t have super-effective moves for just wouldn’t go down any other way.
Yanmega: Air Slash/Ancient Power/Giga Drain/Hyper Beam - Wise Glasses
ROFLCOPTER sat in an often very frustrating position on my team. There is something deeply cruel about the movepool that Gamefreak gave Yanmega when they first introduced it. It does not get proper special attacks until extremely late into its life. The poor bug had to limp by with some truly shitty attacks for most of his time, never reaching his true potential until very late on. Once properly used, though, ROFL’s speed and special attack are practically unparalleled for bugs. His speed was my saving grace when squaring off against the tougher teams that had pokes in very high tiers. He is, of course, a glass cannon, but without that glass cannon, I would not have been able to punch through a number of the scarier obstacles.
Drapion: Poison Jab/Rock Slide/Earthquake/Scary Face - Soft Sand
Black Fang started out as an almost purely support pokemon. With Scary Face and Toxic Spikes and a very late-level evolution, he was the last unevolved poke on my team for a while, and just wasn’t hitting hard enough to score kills on his own at first. Despite that fact, he often played an important team role anyway. I had played without a speed-dropping move for most of the game. His Scary Face was insanely helpful. Getting off toxic damage was just a wonderful added bonus. Of course, once Fang picked up some proper attacking moves and I got access to some TMs, his utility increased dramatically. He could learn vital coverage moves nobody else could, filling in some very major gaps in my ability to hit things. Dig and then, eventually, Earthquake were essential. Rock Slide was also very important to hit Flying types, though I did already have a few special rock moves with my other pokes. And when Fang finally evolved, of course it helped that he lost his bug typing and offered a slightly wider range of defensive possibilities on my mono-team. I won’t lie about that. He did a lot of work late-game, and carried a lot of weight. Would we have managed without him, and with somebody else on the team? No way of knowing for certain, but I like to think yes. I don’t think his usefulness meant we were utterly dependent upon him late-game; we would have found a way. Still, it was fun having him around– even if I never really could get used to his strange design.
Kricketune: X-Scissor/Natural Gift/Brick Break/Screech - Black Belt
Then there is Maestro.
I am so damn proud of my Kricketune. I remember when I first played Diamond/Pearl and ran across Kricketot and was so happy, but once I tried him out I was disappointed. Ever since then, I learned what a huge reputation the line had for being weak. As my starter, I didn’t hold out very high hopes of him accomplishing too much.
And yet, somehow, he accomplished so much. There came a point around mid-game when I assumed his usefulness had reached the point of diminished returns, and he would rapidly become the deadweight on the team used as death fodder and nothing more. It saddened me, but I thought it inevitable. But it was not. He kept going and kept surprising me. Screech became a crucial asset. When I taught him Brick Break, it opened so many doors for him. He often ended up felling foes I never would have dreamed he could. Far from deadweight, he was an important teammember who took care of us.
He even defeated Cynthia’s ace. While the rematch had Cleo win with tox-stall, if she had full restored, I still would have used Kricketune to deliver the finishing blow again. Because the strange fact of the matter was– Kricketune had the highest base Attack of my entire team. His speed was middling and his defenses were pretty squishy, but he actually could pack a punch. And when the chips were down, he was there for me.
If there’s anything this run has taught me, it’s not to underestimate the dele-dele-whoop.
This is a repost on a new blog. The original post was on Dec 14, 2018.
One day I’m gonna write a book. Can you imagine? A novel about everything that you and I have gone through? [Mariana laughs] It would be called “Ana and Mariana.” We’re going to be free soon, and we’ll be able to reinvent ourselves. So I’m sure you’re gonna write that book, and it’s gonna be awesome. We’ll see what happens. We have to let things flow, right? I think your novel is gonna be one of those that are pretty dark. Maybe one of those that are so romantic that you can’t put them down?
Wake up babe (pun intented), new fave sleeping position between two characters who clearly have feelings for each other but aren’t quite there yet just dropped
Sorry. I got carried away with the gay stereotypes. I too have a lot to learn. And I went a bit too far sending Elena to kidnap you. I’m sorry. Ana, you and I are a team and complement each other perfectly. And you’ve taught me a lot about the business world, but I know other things as well that I can teach you.
Bonus: Ana’s reaction to Mariana saying she could teach her other things...
[...] And I’m not big on giving gifts. Oh, that’s not true, Ana! You’ve given me so much. Experience, knowledge, one or two headaches... But seriously, I’ve learned so much from you. And I from you. What more can you hope for in an adventure companion. In this life filled with sacrifices and great challenges, we have to walk alongside those who give us strength and make us grow. And you and I together are invincible.