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The Official Travelog + Let's Play Thread

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After chasing after Nebby to the Aether Paradise, only to see Lusamine and Guzma disappear through the Ultra Wormhole, the team has been tasked to summon the Pokemon that can travel between dimensions to go and save them.

As we make our way towards the Altar of the Sunne, it is with regret that I have made the decision to retire Henry. Unfortunately, with only the Fairy trial left, my experiment to use Henry to turn the Totems' boosts against them was ultimately a failure, as nearly all of them carry some form of Bug-type move for coverage (or STAB in the case of Araquanid). and those that don't can utilize another move to block Topsy-Turvy on turn 1 (such as Marowak's Detect). While Henry was certainly a good Pokemon on our travels, and his Contrary ability and his unique Psychic/Dark typing proved very useful along the way, he is unable to provide the extra defensive utility that the team needs. Pacman, Badass Dino, and Electric Eye all rely solely on Rousey as a reliable answer to Ground-types. and while Jackson can dispatch Ground-type Pokemon once he's on the field, getting him in can prove tricky sometimes. Additionally, Electric Eye and Pacman would also appreciate some further support in keeping Electric-types at bay. And now, on a happier note:

Welcome Mike the Exeggutor!

With a handy Grass/Dragon typing and great defensive stats, he becomes a great defensive answer to most of the team's problems. Oh, and Draco Meteor will be pretty cool once he can learn that.

As we bring Mike up to par with the rest of the team, here's what we have

Rousey (Hawlucha, female) level 54
Electric Eye (Magnezone) level 54 -- congratulations on evolution!
Pacman (Marowak, male) level 52
Jackson (Primarina, male) level 51
Badass Dino (Pupitar, female) level 50 -- sooo close to Tyranitar now
Mike (Exeggutor, male) level 44 -- welcome to the team!
 
Totem Lurantis is still a nightmare. Took me down the first battle. Got by on the second try thanks to my newly acquired Leafeon and Hazel spamming Baby Doll Eyes to partially negate Solar Blade.

Still trying to figure out the remaining 4 slots to my US team.
 
Just about to go through the dragon trial in US. However, I don't feel like it tonight. The only mon on my team to challenge the totem is my A-Sandshrew, but I don't know if he'll get it done.
 
After making it through the Vast Poni Canyon and completing the Original Trial, we finally defeated Necrozma at the top of the tower in Ultra Megopolis. Man, that was tough. The cruel irony of the whole thing is that Henry would have made the fight so, so much easier, as he almost certainly would have managed to get off a Topsy-Turvy on it...

I guess it's a testament to the team's defensive backbone, though, that I was able to Toxic poison it and proceed to stall it to death by continually switching.
 
Beat the Elite Four just now! Credits are rolling as I type this, thankfully they skipped over a lot of the speeches from last time and just cut to more or less an overlay with the festivities. Anyway, to recap...

I liked doing the fetch quest for Mina, some really funny interactions with some of the Captains, especially Kiawe and the Hiker, and there's a touching scene with Guzma and Hau as well. Totem Ribombee fell to just one Splintered Stormshards from Lyucanroc and one Iron Head from Sandslash, but I could definitely see it being difficult if you're not prepared (it has a +2 to all stats Totem boost, so watch out!).

Hooray for an actual Victory Road in Mt. Lanakila! Decided not to catch Necrozma when I encountered it in the middle of the dungeon as it's not a story requirement & I already have one from SM. On another note, I'm kinda surprised there wasn't a Hiker in this new Mt. Lanakila cave complaining about his head hurting and feeling dizzy, as at Mauna Kea in real-life Hawaii (the mountain on which Mt. Lanakila is based of off) altitude sickness is such a common issue for tourists and locals alike that you'd at least expect it to be mentioned.

Molyane was the toughest Elite Four member for me, but the other three weren't too bad. Hau was as easy as ever.

And looking at my game select screen, I beat the game in exactly 20 hours of played time! Wow, what a coincidence huh?

My Final Hall of Fame team:
Decidueye L62
Dusk Lycanroc L61
Umbreon L61
Oranguru L59
Alolan Sandslash L62
Kommo-o L60

Well it's been an exciting weekend of playing. I'll do the Rainbow Rocket postgame story when I have time, maybe over Thanksgiving. But for now, so long, time for bed - for tomorrow I go back to work...
 
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I've been enjoying these games more than SuMo. The little changes really make the difference.
-Evolved my Grubbin into Charjabug and Ekans into Arbok. Loving them both even though Arbok's level up moves suck. Also my Eevee decided to evolve into Espeon. Nice but I still need a water type.
-Went through Lana's trial. The water spider whose name I can't remember was a piece of cake. I can't believe people are having trouble with this. Charjbug didn't even break a sweat.
-Caught a Feebas and backtracked to Melemele to find the prism scale needed to evolve her into Milotic.
-Did some of the side quests which I'm absolutely loving, I hope we get more of these in future games. I especially LOVED the seven mysteries of the school at night. Loved it.
-One of the positives of these games is how easy it is to level up even without trainer rematches. I had a rotating team of like 10 pokemon in Moon and now I remember why. I'm rotating the 6th member depending on what I'm facing.
-Left Charjabug and Cottonee in the box for Kiawe's trial. I'm absolutely livid they didn't expand on the volcano. The trial was quite easy too.
-Faced totem Marowak and Salazzle. I was caught off guard by their amazing strategy, such a good synergy (Salazzle poisons you and then uses Venoshock while Marowak uses Hex). Too bad for them I switched into my Arbok, which sponged all their special attacks and killed them quite easily with Crunch. Hehe
-Went down route 8 and into the jungle to do Mallow's trial. I also beat Lurantis, Comfey and Kecleon, all three with just my SoftKitty.
-I'm going now to see that Dream radar professor whose name I can't remember. I liked her better when she wasn't Kukui's wife but whatever
TLDR: I'm having a good time. If I had known GF was going back to third versions I would have skipped SuMo though
 
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We cleared Mina's trial. Gonna be honest, that trial kinda felt like cheating, making me battle the other captains, but whatever. Also, "hardest totem Pokemon" my Froslass. That Ribombee couldn't even touch the Electric Eye at +5 special attack.

Hapu's Grand Trial was not bad at all. Mikey finally got a chance to put in some work. His set may need a little tailoring, but I can do that once I get to the top of Mount Lanakila, which is where we're headed next.

Anyhow, Mount Lanakila will have to wait because I need sleep and have to work tomorrow.

Here's the team that cleared the final trial:

Electric Eye (Magnezone) level 62
Pacman (Marowak, female) level 61
Rousey (Hawlucha, female) level 61
Jackson (Primarina, male) level 58
Badass Dino (Tyranitar, female) level 58
Mikey (Exeggutor, male) level 54
 
After finally meeting my Adamant Rowlet, I was able to get my Ultra Moon journey on the road!

I soon met Hau after getting Rowlet. He chose Popplio as his starter, who happens to be female (!), and we had a quick battle. Though a first for both of us, I decidedly won. Soon after, Kukui, Hau and I went to Iki Town. En route to Iki Town though, I ran into a female Buneary! I haven't seen one of these cuties since my days in the Eterna Forest. They look so adorable fully animated, but alas-I had no Poke Balls to catch one. After talking with the resident town people, I decided to explore Mahalo Trail until the Kahuna came back. Cue meeting Lillie, Nebby and being saved by the deity Tapu Koko (interestingly, the Spearow didn't use Peck during our fight on the bridge...maybe because I started with Rowlet??).

That scene still gets me every time. Afterwards, Lillie and I walked back and met Kahuna Hala. After the interactions, as well as giving Hala the Sparkling Stone Lillie and Nebby found, I went back home. My mom absolutely adores Rowlet and he seems to get along with Meowth.

The next day, Kukui stopped by to invite me back to Iki Town for a festival. En route there, he gave me Poke Balls and Potions after showing me how to catch Pokemon. I knew exactly what I wanted my first capture to be-a Buneary! Rowlet and I spent the next several minutes searching for one and were rewarded when we found her! Luckily it was another girl! After trading blows, I was able to successfully capture her. Her ability is Run Away (which means it'll be Cute Charm as a Lopunny!) and she has a Jolly Nature! As far as first captures go, I'm super satisfied. I also don't know what my team will be exactly just yet, but I'll keep Buneary with me for now. I battled several trainers with Rowlet & Buneary, met the "Ultra Recon Squad" and defeated Hau at the Iki Town Festival (the music is a lot better than Sun & Moon's version).

Another day has passed and I've acquired the rare Rotom-dex (who is more interactive than the original), utilized my first Pokemon Center and now I'm meeting Lillie at the Pokemon Trainer School. I'm going to go ahead and add the event Rockruff to my team before heading out.

So far, I'm really enjoying this game! And actually seeing old Pokemon in these areas is pretty neat-I smiled finding an Inkay near Kukui's house.
 
I made my way to finish up Akalas trials, and found myself doing a lot of training for Kiawe. I forgot about my distaste for how close together those trials were, but whatever. Before taking on Alolan Marowak, both Khalessi and Chimeme evolved.

Mallow's trial was easy, because of the overtraining. So glad Im not using Oranguru, after the nightmare that was looking for Passimian (2 hours). Ronon also evolved, and I have to say, I ship him and Khalessi. Because of their placement in the party, Ronon always uses Khalessi as his disguise. I like their whole wolf/fox and rabbit thing.

I made my way to the Dimensional Research lab, enjoyed seeing Lillie again, and made my way through Digletts tunnel. After stopping in Konikoni for a new outfit, tomorrow (or the next day. lots of homework to catch up on) Ill face Olivia.

Kyler (Dartrix, Lv 29)
Khalessi (Lopunny, Lv 29)
Ronon (Zoroark, Lv 30)
Arystar (Noibat, Lv 28)
Jacinta (Flaaffy, Lv 28)
Chimeme (Araquanid, Lv 27)
 
Finally got through Kiawe's Trial which for me, so far, has been the most disappointing one. I understand keeping the first Trial the same, but the only real difference here in the third Trial was the Totem boss, which was disappointing after already just fighting an Alolan Marowak.
I continued hunting for a Magmar and finally came across a Magby. Great! It called for help as anticipated and a Happiny appeared! I couldn't believe my luck! Then, while fighting a Cubone, I came across Kangaskhan too! Been really lucky today!
I don't really see the point of the added tunnel area, but was pleasantly surprised by the wild Kecleon there. I also saw a Wimpod running about but haven't been able to make it reappear.
I double backed to collect the two Totem Stickers that require the fishing rod and also used Bank to get Rowlet and Popplio over for my Pokedex.
Heading to Lush Jungle now to complete Mallow's Trial and evolve Eevee. Once I have done that, I intend to return to Melemele and explore the Surfing areas and the Seaward Cave.

Current Team Status:
Torracat, male, Level 31.
Lopunny, female, Level 31.
Lycanroc, female, Level 29.
Eevee, female, Level 28.

Pokedex Completion Status:
Melemele, seen 78, caught 68.
Akala, seen 59, caught 41.
Total completion 28%.
 
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I've finished the first great trial and went to Akala, here are my impressions:

++The game reminded me of why I enjoyed the beginning of Sun and Moon. The Pokemon distribution is on par with XY, and casual trainers are challenging.
-The game feels at times like a "Spot the difference" activity with SM, and there are a lot of missed opportunities for actual differences.
+/- The hand-holding was diminished, but Lillie is still a grind.
+Photo Club. I would have preferred if backgrounds instead of stickers would be available at the start, but it's fun to use.
+/-Mantine Surf. I like things like, seeing the island coming closer while you play, the obstacles and the tricks, but the controls aren't as intuitive as I hoped, it will take me a while to master them.
+/-Ultra Recon Squad. I like that they appeared in the beggining, but some of their appareances could've gone to the Aether Foundation.

As for my journey, well...My team is caught in Akala and Ulaula so I've been strucked with early game mons. Some of them are useful (Wingull, Zorua) but others leave something to be desired (Yungoos, Grubbin, Buneary). Raticate was a walk on the park, thanks to Litten's Double kick, and Hala was ok. My hardest challenge has been Ilima, which blacked me out. Also, I caught a shiny Furfrou! It's my third shiny in Gen VII, after two Poliwags I caught in SM waiting for a Politoed to appear...
 
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Managed to squeeze in a little more play time before having to make dinner.
I Banked over some more Pokemon for the Pokedex (namely Rufflet, Braviary, Slowking, Politoed and the Flabébé forms plus their evolutions). Really trying to only use Bank for version exclusives, item-required trade to evolve Pokemon and really tough ones to obtain (like all the Flabébé forms), which I know is cheating a bit but they really haven't made it easy to get some Pokemon in this generation at all!
I bolted to Lush Jungle, avoiding what Trainers I could because I was so desperate to get Leafeon. I have cleared Mallow's Trial, which I think has been made a bit boring with the changes to the structure of the trial. I got through it and finally evolved Eevee.
Taking a break for now to make some vegan mac and "cheese" for my fiance, but will definitely get back to Alola tonight!
 
Cleared the second Grand Trial this morning. Passimian (Saki) and Leafeon (Moss) did most of the heavy lifting. Those 2 may have earned permanent spots on my team now. Will give more thought to the last 2 slots when I get to the next island.
 
Just destroyed Olivia with my Dusk Lycanroc in a solo sweep! Now at Hano Grand Resort to meet with Faba. Team has grown, but I'm super indecisive about which Pokemon to use. I'm only committed to using Torracat and Lycanroc, the rest are up in the air. I currently have:

-Torracat (M, Lv. 30)
-Lycanroc (M, Lv. 30)
-Arbok (F, Lv. 29)
-Butterfree (F, Lv. 30)
-Magneton (Lv. 30)
-Marshtomp (M, Lv. 29)
-Mantine (F, Lv. 27)
-Tsareena (F, Lv. 29)
-Trevenant (F, Lv. 28)
-Kirlia (M, Lv. 22)
 
Totem araquanid can go die in a fire, it's so much more annoying than totem wishiwashi ever was.
 
-I went to the lab and met Burnet. I finally remembered her name. Oh look Lillie and Hau are also there. I hate them.
-Went through the diglett tunel and oh hi Looker! So glad to see him here. I love him. "no one's trying to build a new world or free pokemon from trainers"? huh you're gonna regret those words love.
-Evolved Cottonee into Whimsicott for the upcoming battle.
-A ditto transformed into an officer! I caught it because I need a slav... help for breeding! Took care of the others too.
-I finally faced Olivia. My darling Hawlucha, Whimsicott and Milotic took care of her team. I was surprised that she got fossils though. Nice touch.
-Revived some fossils but I saw they were lv 15 and had no desire to level a pokemon to my team's current level.
-I visited Aether Paradise. I hate Faba. Wicke's alright. Damn that Nihilego... this time I was prepared for you.
-Arrived at Malie City. Everything's the same so far. I'll take the bus to do Sophocle's trial.
-Electric trial done. It was so much more entertaining than SuMo. I'm enjoying it this time around.
 
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Managed to beat Totem Marowak but damn that one was one hell of a challenge. Only made it cause I used a revive, which I would rather avoid but didn't want to go through that hell again ^^; Cursed Body blocking my SE move, Detect+Torment blocking out the other useful move and then Marowak and Salazzle both murdering each of my mons with a combination of Venoshocks and Flame Charges, it was insane. But I managed it and now I can finally just Fly everywhere, wooh!

Therefore was finally able to access Pelago too, in which I was reminded you actually need Pokémon in your box to upgrade isles -_- Luckily, bank's just been updated so moved all mons I caught in Moon over there and immediately developed Aphun so I can hunt for a Dusk Stone for Murkrow.

Picked up a Cubone of my own along the way, named Aiko, which I just managed to evolve right before the Lush Jungle trial :D

Current team:
  • Aiko (Alolan Marowak) Lvl.28
  • Kuro (Murkrow) Lvl.27
  • Nuru (Mime Jr.) Lvl.24
  • Maeve (Furfrou) Lvl.26
  • Kimi (Masquerain) Lvl.23
 
OMG I JUST CAUGHT A SHINY LILLIPUP IN PANIOLA RANCH!!!! WOOHOO!!!!!!!!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

I haven't came across a random Shiny since Emerald a way back when haha!

So I spent most of the evening exploring more areas using Surf (I really want Machamp Shove so I can explore that Sandy Cave on Melemele Island).
Basically mostly filling out my Pokedex again, although really struggled to find much of anything beyond Trumbeak and Alolan Rattata on Route 8. I did catch some nice Water types though and my Pokedex is looking pretty good.

I fought all the Trainers I could, levelling up my team, as well as Wimpod and my female Salandit for the 'dex. Oh and my Torracat evolved!! I took the opportunity to take commemorative photos of Leafeon and Incineroar when they evolved and I actually had a lot of fun, made me slightly nostalgic for the PR Videos from X and Y.
Slept through Burnet's explanation of Ultra Wormholes, snapping awake when Lillie commented that Burnet was like the hood mother she never had or something... Did she always say that? I then made my through Diglett's Tunnel and have arrived in Konikoni City, where I plan to stop for the night. It was great to see a Looker appearance and the hint at Rainbow Rocket.

Current Team Status:
Incineroar, male, Level 34.
Lopunny, female, Level 34.
Lycanroc, female, Level 32.
Leafeon, female, Level 32.

Pokedex Completion Status:
Melemele, seen 91, caught 81.
Akala, seen 87, caught 61.
Total completion 28%.
 
New update from the dork in New York. *chuckles*

First off, I spent a bit of time raising Veevee's affection, which paid off right away, as she evolved into Sylveon shortly afterward. Then I got the "mystery" egg from the nursery. Spend a bit of time on Route 5 hunting down a Fomantis, and accidentally KOing them every single time due to either badly timed crits or just overall frail to fall to something as weak as Lick or Quick Attack. Finally managed to nab a Hasty female one that I named Solaris, though I had to use the Encounter Rotom Power to find her, as well as find one that could withstand at least ONE hit (which is rather ironic, given that her nature lowers Defense). This did mean, however, as I was nursing an egg, I had to retire Zoey from the team (though she still proved her worth, so I might take her back out after the next two trials). Anyway, battled Gladion just afterward, and I'm so glad they kept his original themes, as they fit him perfectly. Didn't expect to see Zorua on his team, which totally deceived me with Illusion. I saw a Zubat so I flattened it with my newly evolved Sveta's Rock Tomb... only to find out it was a Zorua. Sheesh, even the "effective" tags on my moves fell for it, but I guess that's how Illusion is supposed to work. Still, Sveta flattened Zorua AND the Zubat that followed, proving her newfound power after evolving (though I plan to ditch Thrash the first chance I get). Then Meowzma went claw-to-claw with Null. Null packs a heck of a punch. It survived 1 Fire Pledge and 2 Double Kicks, despite being nearly 10 levels lower than Meowzma, while dishin' out the hurt in return. But in the end I won. After a little bit of a spat between Gladion and a Grunt, it was time to move onto my next trial.

The next trial was definitely different, but provided good training for Solaris. Finally faced the "new" totem. Frankly, while both were tough nuts to crack, Araquind was a bit easier to flatten than Wishiwashi, though I admit Aurora Beam surprised me. Nightwave and Sveta cleaned house, so it wasn't too bad, though I prefer Wishiwashi, as it felt more true to form as a totem than Araquanid, but I guess that, because we're all getting totem version Mons ourselves, Totem Wishiwashi wouldn't look much different than regular Wishiwashi, so I understand the change. Anyway, after doing a bit of fishing, I was told to head off to the Royal Avenue for Battle Royal matches. But first I battled the URS and the most adorable UB ever. Thanks to the use of X Sp Def and Super Potion, Meowzma had some trouble, but I still won. From there, I meet Hapu and those numbskull Grunts, and along the way, and my "mystery" egg hatched... into a female Eevee. All that hunting for nothing!!! Well, now I've got two, so while I keep Veevee for a while, I've decided to raise up the second Eevee into an Umbreon. So I slapped on a Soothe Bell, battled everyone that I could (including backtracking to places I couldn't go before) to quickly Level her up, with a few leftover Rare Candies for good measures. Finally got my Umbreon, but I'm putting her in the box for now (this would be later known as "Mistake #1). Partook in my first Battle Royal. I still don't like it, but whatever. Next is the 2nd Trial of the island.

Spent a bit of time catching and training my Mons, trying to get Solaris's level to be a closer match to the rest of the team. Once I got up to the top of the volcano, it's time to burn up the dance floor. This time they weren't as outrageously silly as SM, not so blatantly obvious this time around. And I will say this... Totem Marowak is a beast. I'm both happy and upset about that. I'm happy because it now means I can't KO the Totem within the first round, like I did with Ratticate, and Salazzle in SM, making them seem redundant in the process. But upset by the fact that Marowak actually had the bulk to survive my attacks, a good ability, AND some pretty strategic moves. Brick Break in particular caught me off guard, netting Sveta her first loss, but she at least defeated the SOS ally and managed to take a sizable chunk out of Marowak's HP in the process, allowing Meowzma to finish the job. Remember when I said that boxing Umbreon was "Mistake #1"? Well, having her around could've acted as a backup plan, as a Dark-type would have the advantage over a Ghost-type. But that Brick Break would've been a problem, so it would be bit of a 50/50 scenario. But at least Luna the Umbreon could've helped at least somewhat in this battle. But in any case, I won the trial before I had to stop, as my 3DS battery was dying (red light, to be exact). Will pick up again next time

As a last note, there was a bit of cruel irony that happened today. Sveta evolve, but I had to tamper with the 3DS clock to do so. But the kicker is... I was actually awake at 5:05 AM this morning. Once in a while, my dreams get so livid that they jolt me out of my sleep, usually in the early morning hours. Which means I could've evolved Sveta right there and then without messing with my game clock. But I was barely functional and a bit dazed from my dream that it just never clicked. I saw the clock and said, "5:05 AM? Why does that time seem so important to me? Was I supposed to do something at this time???" Sadly, I just rolled over and tried to get a few more Z's in before my "correct" wake-up time (7 AM, to be exact). When that time rolled in and the alarm clock went off, the realization hit me like a ton of bricks. "AGH!!! DAMMIT!!! NOW I remember what I was supposed to do!!!" *sigh* My life is full of such irony. I could've avoided altering my daily events if I had just remembered my little "task" this morning when I needed to. I never seem to catch a break when I need it. Well, that enough out of. Onto the more important stuff.

My team:
Meowzma (Torracat, Male, 33)
Sveta (Dusk Lycanroc, Female, 30)
Solaris (Fomantis, Female, 27)
Nightwave (Noibat, Male, 28)
Veevee (Sylveon, Female, 26)
 
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