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Part 3: Meet the Team
Dreamyard
Whatever it is, we're about 6 years too late.
Hey! Did you hear a sound coming from the other side of that wall? Come on! Let's go see!
Who's that Pokemon?
Team Encounter
...Mu!
Huh? Who are you?! What are you doing?
Are you talking about us? We're Team Plasma. We battle day and night to liberate Pokemon from foolish humans!
What are we doing? The Pokemon Munna and Musharna emit a mysterious vapor called Dream Mist, which shows people's dreams. We're going to use that to make people want to release their Pokemon... we'll show them dreams to manipulate their hearts.
You're kicking a Pokemon to make it give off Dream Mist? That's mean! Why? You're Trainers too, right?
That's right. We're Pokemon Trainers too, but we're fighting for a different reason. Unlike you two, we're fighting for the freedom of Pokemon!
And setting Pokemon free means that we win Pokemon battles and take Pokemon by force! So, on that note, we are going to rescue your Pokemon from you!
Whaaat! Don't hurt Touya!
Plasma Battle
Hey you can't take my Pokemon, I like at least one of them!
Let's use a slightly less accurate Tackle, hell yeah HMs!
Were you not taking them seriously because they're kids? Well, whatever, I'm next!
Well with Pokemon like these I don't think we have to be too worried about this villainous team.
...I can't believe we lost! But we have to obtain the Dream Mist!
Come on! Make with the Dream Mist!
Knock it off!
"from foolish people!"
This is getting out of hand, now there are two of them.
T-this isn't... Ghetsis when he is trying to gather followers... or Ghetsis when he is trying to control people by tricking them with speeches!
Yeah... this is Ghetsis when a plan has failed and he is about to issue punishment... at any rate, let's hurry and say we're sorry so he forgives us!
...what was that just now? That person called Ghetsis appeared all over the place, and it wasn't real, right?! ...could it have been a dream? And that Pokemon...
...is that Musharna?!
Musha?
Munii!
Did something happen?
Oh, Fennel. Well, you see, Munna was here... but Team Plasma and Munna... and Musharna came... and it showed us something like a dream? And then, Team Plasma...
I think I followed that... see, Musharna evolves from Munna. So, seeing Munna in trouble, it used its power--making dreams into reality--to save Munna. Which means... wait a second!
With this, I can complete my research! You two come to my house later, OK?
Phew. How random was that? Touya, why don't you go to Fennel's house? Me? Well, I'm going to go look for the Pokemon we saw just now.
Let's pick the place clean, seems there's a cone blocking my way into the rest of the Dreamyard, wonder if there's a HM for that...?
Now we can hunt in the grass for something new!
This little piggy is showing off that abilities display themselves quite profoundly now, so you should never forget it! Munna is an interesting Pokemon held back by its evolution method. It hits alright but will hardly ever outspeed, and have to manage with Psybeam for a very long time, since it won't learn any new moves when it evolves. The best time is around level 25 I guess, for Synchronoise, though that's a terrible move since it'll always be resisted. Keeping Munna around until level 37 for Psychic isn't worth it, but Psychic TM is postgame, so evolving leaves you stuck at Psybeam. Not great.
"Munna always float in the air. People whose dreams are eaten by them forget what the dreams had been about."
Psywave might make some rude damage early on, but it'll soon be replaced by Psybeam, which hits just as hard.
Now that we haven't forgotten anything, let's head back to Fennel.
Striaton City
Thanks to you, I got some Dream Mist, and now I can collect save files of various Trainers! Thank you very much! As a token of my appreciation, I will give you this C-Gear to use! The C-Gear is a device related to communications, such as Infrared Connection or Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection.
Hmm, okay, but just this once!
If you touch the "?" icon at the bottom-right of the screen, you can read about the C-Gear.
I'd like to explain a little more about the system to collect Trainers' save files. Now Game Sync can retrieve memories of sleeping Pokemon using Dream Mist! That's right! We can collect save files of Trainers from all over the world! What's more, we learned that if you use Game Sync to make a Pokemon sleep, it will have dreams. Then, when you wake up that Pokemon, its dream becomes the reality in a space called Entralink in the middle of the the Unova region. Isn't Game Sync interesting? If you like, please send your save file.
This is from me. Please take it. Don't be shy.
After you register, you can link with those friends over Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection to do all kinds of fun things! You can trade Pokemon, challenge your friends to a battle, and so on. You can either input your friend's code directly by using your Pal Pad... or you can use the IR Connection feature of the C-Gear.
Alright, fine, the damn C-Gear, it's practically useless these days unless you want to physically connect with friends nearby, since all Gen 5 online features closed May 2014, which need I still remind you, was EIGHTEEN MONTHS after B2W2's release. Ridiculous. Anyway, there's 3 main tabs to the C-Gear, Online lets you sync your save file with the Dream World, stuff I'll go into much more detail in later, so you can skip it if you wish, ain't I nice?
IR is when you want to connect with someone nearby without the hassle of trading friend codes and the like, it's pretty quick and easy.
The Wireless mode is something we will use later, mainly to show off a dead, inaccessible side mode, you know, most of the stuff I've been showing off in these LPs! We can't use the Entralink just yet, but soon...
Using the screw in the corner you can tap on the different cells to change what colour they are, or nothing at all, you cycle through things one at a time, so it's a bit of a pain to get things juuuuuuust right.
The pie chart in the corner are Surveys... we'll talk about these later... just know it's related to the:
Tag Log! The cylinder along the bottom is the Streetpass before Streetpass.
Again, we'll go into most of this stuff later, because for 99% of the LP, the C-Gear will be off and completely useless, mostly because I'm on an emulator, but also because most of its features, when not tied to dead servers, RIP, are for local play only, something hardly any westerner with Pokemon does. Did you have a friend who played Gen 4/5 Pokemon during high school? No, of course not, I didn't and I assume everyone had the same experience as me!!!
Meanwhile, the girl gets the pink C-Gear with hearts, yaaaaaay!
Last couple of things before we head out, since the C-Gear is useless, you will have to say no, turn it off, whenever you start the game back up, it's super annoying. And we get 2 NEW! menu options that only have the NEW! go away when you connect to the internet through them. Battle Competition is part of the Pokemon Global Link, which is where the Dream World was accessed, therefore something we'll go over later, shocker I know. Game Sync settings let's you set up a Game Sync to your Global Link account and then shows your Game Sync ID thereafter.
Very important hidden item to grab, Balm Mushrooms don't do anything, like other sellable items, but are so rare they sell for a BOATLOAD, definitely wanna grab any you can.
Route 3 Spring
Don't get too excited, we can only put 1 Pokemon in right now.
Double battle, double trouble. Still the same, just much faster!
Maybe I could have won if I had used a Potion or something at some point? It's hard to win in a Double Battle if one Pokemon faints.
Hrmmmmm, it's barely been 5 minutes, why are you challenging me to my SIXTH rival battle???
Oh right, you've grown 6 levels in around 300 images. Seems legit.
He won't lead with his starter starting from the next fight, thank god, but Purrloin still channels its spirit via Assist. Like man, when was the last time you saw Water Sport used effectively?
It still has Growl and Sand Attack too! Absolute hell.
We have the same number of Gym Badges. We should be equals in strength... I see. So that's how you battle.
Here Comes Trouble!
What was that about? Bianca? Why are you running?
That way, but... why are you running now?
Oh, seriously! They run so fast!
Miss... oh... my Pokemon?
It'll be OK. It'll be OK. Don't cry.
Bianca, really, why were you running?
You have to hear this! Those people stole this girl's Pokemon!
You should have spoken up sooner! Touya, we're going to get that Pokemon back. Bianca! Please stay by the girl's side.
Team Plasma took that Pokemon. Get it back!
Oh, why do they take people's Pokemon?
Me and Cheren are on the case! Police, never heard of them!
Touya, your Pokemon's HP is fine, and you're ready to go, right? Then let's go.
Team Encounter
These bothersome bunch don't really listen to reason.
That child cannot use a Pokemon to its full potential. Doesn't that make the Pokemon sad? It's the same for all your Pokemon, so hand them over to us now! Better yet... we'll just take them!
Plasma Battle
Cheers for taking the Bide, Munna, man I need to stop that happening.
Wha...? How could we lose when we have right on our side?!
Not bad, Touya. OK, go return the Pokemon to that girl.
Not only do you fail to understand, but you actually got in our way, to boot.
There's two of you and two of us. We'll show you our combined power and teach you that we are right!
So, there were more of them... still, why are Pokemon robbers acting so self-righteous? Touya! We've been friends our whole lives. We've got each other's back when it counts. Let's show them how it's done!
Cheren is exactly as useful as his starter is, which hey, Oshawott 2HKOs with Water Gun, nice!
Of course he doesn't go for it on the next turn.
Still, just gotta focus one down while Cheren acts randomly and you'll be just fine.
In order to liberate Pokemon from foolish people, we will take their Pokemon!
Whatever... what a waste of time. Come on, what reason could possibly justify stealing Pokemon from people?
Pokemon Trainers like you are making Pokemon suffer...
What do you mean, Trainers are making Pokemon suffer? I don't get that at all!
But be aware of how this Pokemon suffers from being used by people. Someday, open your eyes to your own complicity.
Pokemon believe in their Trainers and respond to that. I don't understand what about that makes Pokemon suffer! OK, Touya, I'll return the Pokemon.
Wellspring Cave
Mmm, some deep stuff to think about maaaaaaaan. But while we mull over whether we're an abusive owner or not, let's take another animal from its home and pit it against others for money!
Alright, first encounter, very nice! You'd look great in a Heal Ba- FUCK! Guess I should've brought more than one...
"Its habitat is dark forests and caves. It emits ultrasonic waves from its nose to learn about its surroundings."
Cute and woolly, how I like them! Woobat evolves via friendship, so getting one early is very nice, especially since it adds a Confusion kick our team currently lacks. Unlike Munna it'll learn more moves as it evolves, but you will be relying on Heart Stamp and Air Cutter for a while. Hey, most Pokemon we've found so far are miserable to use midgame for some stupid fucking reason, what can ya do. At least it'll learn Psychic before postgame, but it'll still be pretty late and while it can hit just fine from both sides, it's speedy to the detriment of its other stats. No matter, it'll do you just fine, especially if you give it lots of love.
While we don't have all the right characters, Corazón is a very good suggestion, by Angel, one of the patrons of the good Etrian Odyssey Discord, don't worry, they get the one cause they're cool peeps, there's plenty of nicknaming and voting to come! This let me record a bit more, always good to have a buffer.
...Jolly, that's uh, that's not great. With 2/30/8/6/2/10 IVs we have our third mixed attackers, it might actually be a better physical mon, which is pretty shitty!!!
Oh hey it's Unovan Geodude. Roggenrola is basically what you expect from a a Geodude clone, low Spd, has lots of Def and lots of Atk. It has some interesting quirks, Sturdy means it'll now no longer be one shot, as it's basically a Focus Sash, while Rock Blast means it can tackle other Sturdy users if you're lucky. It has less weaknesses than Geodude too, making it a little easier to field, but won't get any good moves until Rock Slide, a little bit after it evolves, so you'll be relying on Headbutt for damage. Of course it needs to be traded to reach its full potential, but you've got local friends, right? Anyway, a fine option, but lacks coverage and good moves early.
"Its ear is hexagonal in shape. Compressed underground, its body is as hard as steel."
Can you believe we only covered the 3 monkeys last update? Talk about early game variety...
We've got 1 more Pokemon to encounter, but it's only in a dust cloud that spawns after enough steps. Little tricky to do without Repels, but even if you don't get the encounter, you can get some very nice items and gems.
A Pokemon encounter is a 40% chance. A type gem, which boosts a move of that type by 50% once, is around a 50% chance, so around 3% each, while stones have a 10% chance, so a 0.8% chance each, yikes! This means that there's an infinite amount of evolution stones, they're just rare as hell, best not rely on them.
There we go, didn't take too long. Drilbur evolves into one of the best Pokemon in the game, hell maybe even the series, but as it is, it's... passable. Its high Atk definitely carries, but since it'll be a while until it evolves, you'll be using non-STAB Metal Claw and... DIG for damage until Slash at 26. Since dust clouds let it reach level 31 in later caves, it's probably to good idea to wait, it'll definitely be worth it! Otherwise it learns Rock Slide before evolving and will be great when it gets to that point. That point is quite a while away yet, alas.
"It can dig through the ground at a speed of 30 mph. It could give a car running aboveground a good race."
That's it for this cave, so with our new team member, let's explore some of Route 3 we skipped over.
Route 3 Spring
Uh, alright, if there's new encounters in this grass, guess we'll encounter them after this trainer.
Ah crap all the early game mons get Bite, this is the worst!
Pigeons? Yup we're definitely in New York. Or, Long Island to be precise. Anyway, Pidove is a pretty alright physical attacker, neat. The only physical move it learns until Facade at FIFTY FIVE is Quick Attack, oh no! Seriously are Game Freak just fucking idiots or something, why the hell is the best attack this mon gets for a long time Air Cutter? It boggles the mind. Well, nothing Return can't fix, but then why not use Lillipup? Its best options even with TMs are Pluck or Aerial Ace, it doesn't even learn Brave Bird or Acrobatics through TM. This would've been a perfectly alright Pokemon as is, but its movepool is dire, so maybe don't use this, even if Return will carry it.
Please, let your precious Pokemon have this.
"they naturally understand each other!"
Some trainers will give items after battle, which is cool I guess.
Anyway, here's the birb, I think we made the right choice.
"Each follows its Trainer's orders as best it can, but they sometimes fail to understand complicated commands."
Hmm, weren't we in the middle of a sideplot?
I'm lucky to have friends like you two!
Thank you, mister! Please take these as a thank-you present.
Ooh! Those are Heal Balls! They completely heal the captured Pokemon on the spot! How sweet of you! I'm going to see this girl on her way, so see you later, Touya. Bye-bye!
With that all settled, let's visit this preschool, I want some damn lunch money!
Free heal that's only slightly easier to go back to than Striaton's center.
I left this place so Corazon could easily train, but since the first one I found was at the highest level, it uh, won't need much!
At least Corazon can smack opposing Psychics around.
Speak while making eye contact, and express your feelings to each other... it's the same for people and Pokemon.
Young kids are fine to have Pokemon under adult supervision.
Argh! You went all out against a kid! ...actually, that's a good thing. Thanks!
So we've seen one monkey, so you should expect...
The other 2 nearby. Either with the same trainer, or with 2 other trainers. It's as exciting as it sounds.
As much as I would love to fight a green monkey immediately, I need to play in the sandpit.
NANI?!
Hey wait a minute, this can't learn Hyper Beam until it evolves. Why I oughta...!
Hyper Beam? Oh, my Pokemon can't really use it yet. I don't know much about Pokemon, so I just want to use really cool moves.
Well that's enough playing around, even though we're old enough to stand on the slide, next time, we finally leave this damn area and head to the second Gym!