Toggle Background Color
Part 2: Triple Tactics
New city, new items to grab and buy, definitely want a Heal Ball for something coming up.
Striaton City
Striaton City: Three Stand Together As One!
From striation, a series of paralell grooves in cloud formations, and tri, numerical prefix of three.
Sanyou City: Sanyou refers to three aligned stars.
From 三曜文 san'yōmon, a pattern of three packed circles that represent the three stars of Orion's Belt.
My advice is that when you use a better Pokeball, it's easier to catch Pokemon!
"Here's one for you."
Plus, its name is excellent! The Dusk Ball. Dusk!
Always good to get some ball variety, Dusk Balls are still amazing.
Gah, Giovanni again?!
He is not here. He could be in the Trainers' School. If you want to challenge him, please go find him. The Trainers' School is not far from this Gym.
We'll go the Trainers' School in just a sec, there's a few things to do first, very important of course.
This also includes goofing off to a side area!
Dreamyard
Not like Hamlet needs more experience, but I don't really have a choice.
So I hope you've liked the Pokemon we've encountered so far, you're going to become very familiar with them.
I want to win against Gym Leaders, but I want to win against you, too!
Yo is this a reference to Gen 2 Joey? Well yes actually, they have the same Japanese name, Gorō, and this won't be the last game we'll find a Youngster named Joey.
Not gonna do much with that Burn! When Pokemon get low on health, or have a status ailment, their animation slows down slightly, which is pretty cute. If Frozen, the animation stops completely, while putting a Pokemon to Sleep gives them a different sprite with their eyes closed, or some variation, depending on the Pokemon.
I have a goal! My Pokemon are there for me! That's why I can keep trying!
Tepig! Really? Then Pansage could be a big help! Your Tepig does not do well against Water-type Pokemon! Say, do you want this Pansage of mine? OK. Here you go! It can use Grass-type moves, so that makes it great against Water types!
Thanks to mateo360 for the nickname, it'll make a little more sense when he changes his voice in a few episodes.
If you have many types of Pokemon, something will work out, no matter what kind of Pokemon you have to face.
"This Pokémon dwells deep in the forest. Eating a leaf from its head whisks weariness away as if by magic."
Alright, here we go, I'm gonna talk about the monkeys now, so strap in motherfuckers!!!
Hmm, this nature isn't great and he has 3/28/13/19/17/28 in IVs, so I guess Speed will balance itself out.
Let's talk about the same Pokemon three times! The elemental monkeys are very similar and not particularly interesting, but those Pokemon work perfectly fine, you can take all 3 to the postgame with little issue, but you won't be excited about it. You cart them around a little while, get their strong move at level 22, and then evolve them so they don't fall behind. Since they're stone evolutions, they'll need TM help after, which works better for some than others, but you could do worse, I guess?
So Pansage is notable in that it's the mostly physical one, but that's due to movepool than anything, all 3 have the exact same stats throughout and can be mixed attackers with little issue. Its move before evolution is Seed Bomb, which is nice dependable damage and helps because Energy Ball is postgame. It learns few special moves otherwise, so you're kinda stuck with whatever physical coverage you can scramble together, but in a region with few physical Grass types, it's somewhat different, even if, again, it's really nothing impressive.
This monkey has a slight reputation we'll talk about later, but as far as a special Fire type goes, it really isn't anything special, though it won't get competition in that department for a fair while. It's very good competition though, but anyway, its move of note is Flame Burst, which is weaker than the others, great start, but does some effect damage in Doubles/Triples that acts as residual damage, so isn't affected by abilities or weaknesses. Its main issue, like most Fire types, is lack of coverage, which isn't helped by being a stone evolution, so it'll be using Flame Burst for a long while and will have to use some physical TMs to stay relevant, since its special options are very limited.
The final and best monkey, not that that really means much. Being a Water type is always a positive, especially since its important move is Scald, which is a ridiculously good move that can even supplant Surf if you were so inclined. It still has a few issues, such as the Water type's main draw, Ice moves, are limited to Blizzard until postgame. Yikes! Also it has competition with plenty of other Water types throughout the game and really doesn't do much to stand out, especially since it gets the same limited pool as the other monkeys. Also it means you chose Snivy for a starter, which is in itself a slight issue, but anyway, Scald is enough to pull this mon up, even if that's all it really has.
Before we talk to the nerd by the blackboard, let's be a nerd.
Ah, damn, if only the name of the item gave a hint!
Hrm... Paralyz Heal was gonna be my answer...
Since we can get all the various status heals, we don't need this just yet, but might as well.
Only a couple things to note with status effects: Poison no longer deals damage outside of battle, thank god, Flash Fire will now work when a Pokemon is frozen, and the biggest change is Sleep: it lasts 1-3 turns, but the sleep counter is reset when you switch out, which is pretty lame, they reverted that back next gen.
Hey, Touya. Have you come looking for the Gym Leader? He was here talking about Pokemon types until just a few moments ago... maybe you walked right past him? By the way, Touya, will you have a battle with me? I want to test how important items are in battles. Well, let's see how effective my items are... or maybe I should test how well I can battle without items...? Anyway, this is an indoor match, so let's battle without getting too rough!
Rival Battle
The giant VS will devour us all! Anyway since we now have a Grass type this won't be a problem.
There sure are a lot of different moves.
Cursed image.
Losing to you means that I still have a lot to learn.
So learning to use items well is definitely important, then. Oh, here. Touya, I'll give you these Berries.
If you give a Pokemon this kind of Berry to hold, it will eat it to heal up when its HP goes down in battle. But if you give Pokemon man-made items like Potions to hold, they can't use them. Well, good luck, then.
Right. You want to challenge the Gym. In that case... what was the first Pokemon you chose? Tepig... I see. It's weak against Water-type Pokemon. I think you need to prepare to face that type. I'll be waiting for you inside.
Pokemon Gym
We appreciate your challenging the Gym. Take this to commemorate the occasion.
One basic element of Pokemon battles is the relationship between types. If you choose Pokemon with effective types and effective moves, victory is just a step away! In this Gym, you proceed by stepping on the switch with the type that is effective against the Pokemon type shown on the curtain.
Nice and easy, fight fire with fire! Oh, uh, guess not then.
I ain't tipping, that's next gen.
Everything feels a lot more fragile due to how attacks are getting thrown out more often and Lillipup getting 50BP STAB doesn't help.
I think it is all right to move ahead with Pokemon you've trained well, even without thinking of type matchups.
Let's boil some water! Oh, uh, guess not then.
"I'm your second course."
Ooh, Bide on the first turn. That's a problem.
Sorry, Hamlet, Tristan needs the exp.
Purrloin with Sand Attack and Growl makes for miserable fights, at least we won't have to fight many more! Haha...
The speciality of Straiton Gym--the full course "Trainer de luxe!" To complete your repast--a Gym Leader.
Only WHO can prevent forest fires?
"Pleased to make your acquaintance."
And my name is Cilan. I like Grass-type Pokemon. Um, you see... as for why the three of us, um, are all here is, well, er...
Oh, enough! Listen up! The three of us will decide whom you'll battle! It'll be based on the type of the first Pokemon you chose!
That is indeed the case. And the partner you first chose was Fire type, it seems.
It shall be I and my esteemed Water types that you must face in battle!
Aww, man! I was all fired up, too!
...uh hm. I always seem to lose the timing of... of the dance. Like that. True enough, I did want to... want to have a Pokemon battle with you.
What incredible luck for you--you get to battle the best among the three of us.
Gym Leader Battle
Cress/Corn: Triple Trouble!/Trial triangle.
From watercress, and, well, Corn, which requires a lot of water due to shallow roots.
Alright, here in this Normal Gym, we're finally facing our first Water type, just need to get this damn dog outta the way. Work Up is the main move the AI spams, which raises Atk and SpAtk by 1 stage, terrifying this early.
Bit of healing back and forth and we come out on top, even with the strong Tackles coming our way. I guess I'll give Hamlet Defense Curl over Odor Sleuth, but I know I'll use neither anyway.
Victory is Right Before Your Eyes!
Now it's monkey battle time. There's dynamic music within battle too, as this will play on the Gym Leader's last Pokemon, no matter what it is. Unfortunately, I actually prefer the regular leader theme to this, but it's still a cool addition.
If you get the free monkey, then this fight isn't a challenge, the AI will specifically only use the not very effective attack if you use the monkey in this fight, meaning you will always be able to beat it with little issue. You don't have to take this option, but since Tristan will be a permanent team member, sorry not sorry, let's get lots of juicy exp for him.
Why, you're quite remarkable. It's the Pokemon League's rule, so--please take this Badge.
Back in my day we got the badge in the battle and that's the way we liked it!
If you have one Badge, Pokemon, including traded Pokemon up to Lv. 20, will obey you without question. We also want you to have this.
TM83 contains Work Up. If you use Work Up, the Pokemon's Attack and Sp. Atk go up! By the way, TMs can be used as many times as you want. In the Unova region, we are still novice Gym Leaders. Which means the other Gym Leaders are much stronger than we are. We'll need to work hard and improve.
I can't believe TMs can be used over and over! If you wanted, you could use one to teach all your Pokemon the same move!
If there were 17 siblings in the Striaton City Gym... there could be a specialist for each type of Pokemon.
"this Gym Badge."
A little bit of a complicated set up for the first badge, but I guess we won't be able to fight the other two siblings. Unless...? Ah, but that would require me playing the same game twice, you'd have to be crazy to do that! Haha, unless...?
I doubt any of you weren't expecting this, of course there will be a small window into how Black version differs, there's a fair bit to show here and there!
Problem with starting this later is it looks a little dark outside...
Again, I really don't fancy using Snivy in these games, if only there was another situation picking it would be an interesting idea. Such fantasy... let's beat up a pig!
Oh no, turns out I made the wrong choice, if only the opponent would have mercy and only go for status moves when I'm low health! Sounds like rampant casualization to me!
Snivy didn't get the opportunity to go easy on me. Here's a pink video chat.
Gah, Modest?! That's gonna make Megahorn and Waterfall a bit annoying to use. Won't complain though!
Is there a little too much pink?
Maybe, but hey, I can get my second team member much earlier!
We're gonna battle, come what may.
How exceedingly lucky for you that you do not have to face me.
So, um, if you're OK with me, I'll, um, put everything I've got into being, er, you know, your opponent.
Gym Leader Battle
Cilan/Dent: Triple Trouble!/Trial triangle.
From cilantro which, uh, what is that... it's what Americans call coriander? Why the fuck does it have a different na- oh whatever... and dent corn, named so due to its dented kernels.
This feels all very familiar, but we're not gonna get much variation this early.
This time we won't use the monkey, mainly because no one likes the Pansear line, and also because we'll reduce its Defense before it knocks us out, letting my second mon secure the kill.
That was SUPPOSED to be the plan, but just to really make sure you can get past this fight, if you leave your starter in against the monkey it'll just spam Work Up. If you don't beat it before it gets to +6 it'll sweep your whole team, which is RUDE and also something I found out from a friend, haha...
Since Pansage is at +2 now, I don't think I would've won without that crit since it 2HKOs me. Who knew these monkeys were so good!
...what a surprise. You... are very strong. Seems like not even Chili or Cress could beat you...
We'll see the adventures of Touko in Black, y'all, later on, but I guess we should use the red-headed stepchild to beat the red-headed stepchild.
You've got 5 minutes.
I think we got low enough in Defense since this was a 6HKO that Oshawott was never gonna attack lest it accidentally knocked me out!
There's no way we'll win this unless... yeah, it just never attacks like before. Making me really feel like I made the right choice huh game.
Modest again??? Man if only it got any special moves to use that with.
I'll give it a monkey, what more does it need?! Though having just Snivy is pretty risky, since battles take longer due to lowered offenses, especially with my lowered Attack, it also means your take more damage despite higher Defenses. And when you get crit for 20 damage and faint, you black out for the first time in like, years. Not that I would know.
Yeeeeooow! Time to play with FIRE!! I'm the strongest of us brothers!
Chili/Pod: Triple Threat!/Trial triangle.
From, well, chilly, brr! Nah, it's from chilli peppers, from the nightshade family, originally from Mexico. And from pod corn, which forms leaves around each kernel.
Well Snivy can do some damage with Growth, which is basically Work Up now.
But if you're really not interested in using the monkey on your team and don't want to struggle with this fight, no biggie, you only have to use it once, no training required.
It really is that easy, especially if you give it an Oran Berry to hold, though this fight is a bad example since Incinerate, uh, stops that. Now you never have to use the monkey again.
I am... burned... out...
Whoa ho! You're on fire! Well, it's the Pokemon League's rule. Take this Gym Badge!
Well wasn't that fun, three fights, three strategies, boy do I know how to make content! Anyway, let's pretend most of this didn't happen.
Striaton City
Professor Juniper asked me to give you something. Please, follow me!
Oh, the stairs are right here!
In fact, the subject I'm researching is Trainers! Professor Juniper is my friend from college. She asked me to help you guys. So! I'll give you something to help you. This is a Hidden Machine for you!
With this Hidden Machine, you can teach your Pokemon a move called Cut. It can cut down a small tree. And you can use the Hidden Machine as many times as you want, like a TM. Isn't that great? But it's difficult to make a Pokemon forget a hidden move once it learns it.
There is a place called the Dreamyard on the outskirts of Striaton City. I'd like some of the Dream Mist that a Pokemon there called Munna gives off. With that, I'll be able to use Game Sync to collect save filed of various Trainers!
Did Juniper ask you to complete the Pokedex? It is a challenge to update the Pokedex regularly, isn't it? Oops! I got distracted! Please bring me some of the Dream Mist that Munna gives off in the Dreamyard!
Do you use the PC at Pokemon Centers? I am Amanita. I maintain the Box system. Do you know about the Battle Box? Please do use the Battle Box. You can register Pokemon in the PC over there, too!
Mmm, early Repels. Whatever Game Sync is, I'm sure we'll need to pay respects to it.
Now that we're getting a variety of items, registering multiple pockets is a great way to quickly heal mons out in the field, or lay down another Repel. This list will be growing soon enough.
Next time, we're gonna get some mist... no matter the cost.