Pyrax
The Ghost of Tsushima
I started off this morning by arriving at Mt. Lanakila, and who would appear but Gladion! I underestimated his Silvally, leading to two of my party members fainting before I even started to climb.
After Poni Canyon and its multitude of trainers, Mt.Lanakila was a breath of fresh air and very straightforward. Kinda reminded me of GSCHGSS' victory road, especially the rival battle at the end. Hau wasn't a pushover either - I swear, that Raichu should be his ace considering how strong it is. Anyway, after that battle, he gave me 3 Max Revives and left. I took that opportunity to grind my team up from lv.49/50 to lv.55. League Time!
Hala was straightforward, possibly the easiest for me. Decidueye and Ribombe practically double-teamed him.
Likewise for Olivia; only Carbink gave me a hard time because of its defences. I primarily used Flygon and Lanturn, only switching in to Decidueye for the aforementioned Carbink.
Kahili's Skarmory managed to set up Spikes, while Mandibuzz survived Ribombee's Twinkle Tackle and almost KO'd it in return. Other than those, fairly straightforward battle. Fairy could use some type boosting items other than Pixie Plate. Preferably introduced this gen if not last gen, but that's off-topic.
Acerola's Dhelmise gave me the most trouble - its base Attack is 131, no wonder it hits like a truck. Decidueye outsped her Pallosand and KO'd it with Sinister Arrow Raid before getting an opportunity to use Neverending Nightmare. Pretty fun battle, though the same can be said for the entire Elite Four.
"Champion" and ending below.
Thoughts on the Elite Four and plot as a whole below.
Party:
Decidueye (Kotori) lv.59
Ribombee (Pixie) lv.59
Lanturn (Aoi) lv.58
Bewear (Hugs) lv.58
Flygon (Terra) lv.58
Salazzle (Pele) lv.57
After Poni Canyon and its multitude of trainers, Mt.Lanakila was a breath of fresh air and very straightforward. Kinda reminded me of GSCHGSS' victory road, especially the rival battle at the end. Hau wasn't a pushover either - I swear, that Raichu should be his ace considering how strong it is. Anyway, after that battle, he gave me 3 Max Revives and left. I took that opportunity to grind my team up from lv.49/50 to lv.55. League Time!
Hala was straightforward, possibly the easiest for me. Decidueye and Ribombe practically double-teamed him.
Likewise for Olivia; only Carbink gave me a hard time because of its defences. I primarily used Flygon and Lanturn, only switching in to Decidueye for the aforementioned Carbink.
Kahili's Skarmory managed to set up Spikes, while Mandibuzz survived Ribombee's Twinkle Tackle and almost KO'd it in return. Other than those, fairly straightforward battle. Fairy could use some type boosting items other than Pixie Plate. Preferably introduced this gen if not last gen, but that's off-topic.
Acerola's Dhelmise gave me the most trouble - its base Attack is 131, no wonder it hits like a truck. Decidueye outsped her Pallosand and KO'd it with Sinister Arrow Raid before getting an opportunity to use Neverending Nightmare. Pretty fun battle, though the same can be said for the entire Elite Four.
"Champion" and ending below.
Lycanroc went down in two hits from Lanturn, albeit not without setting up Stealth Rock. Snorlax went down quickly thanks to Bewear's x2 Work Up + Expert Belt. Braviary managed to set up Tailwind and KO Salazzle before going down from Flygon's Rock Slide. Without the aforementioned Salazzle, I tried to use Ribombee against his A-Nintales - that was disastrous, as Psychic failed to KO it, in turn KO'ing Ribombee. In hindsight I should've revived Salazzle.
Next up was Incineroar, who was actually the hardest for me; it actually managed to KO Flygon before I revived it, and Flygon was almost KO'd again before it went down from an Earthquake. Magnezone was the victim of Hikari's Z-Move for this battle; after being healed by Kukui three times, Decidueye got its health down low. I was worried he'd heal again, so I opted for Sinister Arrow Raid again, ending the battle.
After that, Kukui and the Elite Four congratulated Hikari on being Alola's first Champion! Iki Town held a party (Mina's absence irked me, I mean surely Hapu could've invited her or something), which was a pretty fun and amusing cutscene. Lillie and Hikari sneaked off to visit Tapu Koko's shrine, where the deity itself challenged me. I caught it, which I'm sure is pretty sacrilegious, I mean it's the guardian deity, it's sacred, it has a shrine, and I just caught it. I'm convinced the Tapus you encounter are avatars of the real Tapus, hence why seemingly everyone has no qualms with their capture. Lillie headed off for Kanto the next day. The final scene and end credits as a whole were incredibly poignant in my opinion.
Next up was Incineroar, who was actually the hardest for me; it actually managed to KO Flygon before I revived it, and Flygon was almost KO'd again before it went down from an Earthquake. Magnezone was the victim of Hikari's Z-Move for this battle; after being healed by Kukui three times, Decidueye got its health down low. I was worried he'd heal again, so I opted for Sinister Arrow Raid again, ending the battle.
After that, Kukui and the Elite Four congratulated Hikari on being Alola's first Champion! Iki Town held a party (Mina's absence irked me, I mean surely Hapu could've invited her or something), which was a pretty fun and amusing cutscene. Lillie and Hikari sneaked off to visit Tapu Koko's shrine, where the deity itself challenged me. I caught it, which I'm sure is pretty sacrilegious, I mean it's the guardian deity, it's sacred, it has a shrine, and I just caught it. I'm convinced the Tapus you encounter are avatars of the real Tapus, hence why seemingly everyone has no qualms with their capture. Lillie headed off for Kanto the next day. The final scene and end credits as a whole were incredibly poignant in my opinion.
Thoughts on the Elite Four and plot as a whole below.
Kukui was a much, much better Champion than Diantha will ever be; I actually struggled at some points, unlike Diantha whom I practically swept with my Delphox's Calm Mind + Psychic/Shadow Ball. Though for a Professor specialising in moves, I was expecting much more diverse movesets - maybe Leech Life on Incineroar for recovery and Psyshock on Ninetales for coverage, for example.
The Elite Four as a whole are much more memorable than XY's in my opinion, because they're more far developed and fleshed out (even Kahili, who was really only alluded to by an NPC) - compare that to XY, where only Malva was the only one who stood out thanks to her ties with Team Flare. Their usage of a party of 5 again was really great - I'd really prefer if future games and generations kept to 5 instead of using 4 again. It was understandable for BW since you had to fight N and Ghetsis afterwards, but in XY that was just pathetic. Difficulty-wise, I think it's a step in the right direction.
The game has its flaws, but the plot was on par with, if not better than BW. Characters are much more developed and fleshed out; for example, I didn't think I would like Hau because I was one of the people who wanted an antagonistic rival, but now he's one of my favourite Pokémon characters, and possibly my favourite rival alongside Silver and Barry. Same goes for Gladion, who actually fills that antagonistic rival niche if you think about it. And of course there's Lillie; by far one of the most developed and fleshed out character in the franchise, on par with Silver, N, Cheren, and Bianca in my opinion.
Both antagonistic teams are very refreshing in my opinion. On one hand you have the hilarious Team Skull where even the grunts are given development, and other the other hand you have the Aether Foundation who seems genuinely good, but ran by someone completely obsessed by the Ultra Beasts. Then you have the revelation of Skull helping out Aether while Nihilego brainwashed its employees which I admit was a great twist by Pokémon standards. Apart from Faba and possibly Lusamine, I cared about pretty much every important character from both organisations; Team Flare and its admins and other important members who weren't Lysandre or Malva felt incredibly dull by comparison.
By SM's endgame, I cared about every character, whereas by XY's endgame I really only cared about my player character. I hated XY's rivals and most of its characters, simply put.
It's alright as a JRPG, but in terms of mainline Pokémon games it's excellent. Plotwise, SM was a step forward from XY, which itself was a step back from Gen V. I'm looking forward to seeing how Gamefreak can top SM's storyline in future games and generations. Could do without all the Kanto references though. At least sprinkle in some Johto seeing as it's literally connected to Kanto.
I've mentioned this earlier, but the OST is absolutely amazing. My favourites in particular are Aether Paradise's themes, both of Lusamine's themes, Konikoni city, Malie city, and Po Town.
The Elite Four as a whole are much more memorable than XY's in my opinion, because they're more far developed and fleshed out (even Kahili, who was really only alluded to by an NPC) - compare that to XY, where only Malva was the only one who stood out thanks to her ties with Team Flare. Their usage of a party of 5 again was really great - I'd really prefer if future games and generations kept to 5 instead of using 4 again. It was understandable for BW since you had to fight N and Ghetsis afterwards, but in XY that was just pathetic. Difficulty-wise, I think it's a step in the right direction.
The game has its flaws, but the plot was on par with, if not better than BW. Characters are much more developed and fleshed out; for example, I didn't think I would like Hau because I was one of the people who wanted an antagonistic rival, but now he's one of my favourite Pokémon characters, and possibly my favourite rival alongside Silver and Barry. Same goes for Gladion, who actually fills that antagonistic rival niche if you think about it. And of course there's Lillie; by far one of the most developed and fleshed out character in the franchise, on par with Silver, N, Cheren, and Bianca in my opinion.
Both antagonistic teams are very refreshing in my opinion. On one hand you have the hilarious Team Skull where even the grunts are given development, and other the other hand you have the Aether Foundation who seems genuinely good, but ran by someone completely obsessed by the Ultra Beasts. Then you have the revelation of Skull helping out Aether while Nihilego brainwashed its employees which I admit was a great twist by Pokémon standards. Apart from Faba and possibly Lusamine, I cared about pretty much every important character from both organisations; Team Flare and its admins and other important members who weren't Lysandre or Malva felt incredibly dull by comparison.
By SM's endgame, I cared about every character, whereas by XY's endgame I really only cared about my player character. I hated XY's rivals and most of its characters, simply put.
It's alright as a JRPG, but in terms of mainline Pokémon games it's excellent. Plotwise, SM was a step forward from XY, which itself was a step back from Gen V. I'm looking forward to seeing how Gamefreak can top SM's storyline in future games and generations. Could do without all the Kanto references though. At least sprinkle in some Johto seeing as it's literally connected to Kanto.
I've mentioned this earlier, but the OST is absolutely amazing. My favourites in particular are Aether Paradise's themes, both of Lusamine's themes, Konikoni city, Malie city, and Po Town.
Party:
Decidueye (Kotori) lv.59
Ribombee (Pixie) lv.59
Lanturn (Aoi) lv.58
Bewear (Hugs) lv.58
Flygon (Terra) lv.58
Salazzle (Pele) lv.57
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