Part 10: Sights of Hearthome City

Part 10: Sights of Hearthome City

Hearthome City Night



Oh, what's up? Why that astonished look? Oh, right, sorry! There I go running my mouth again! My name's Bebe! You know the PC Pokemon Boxes? I'm the system administrator!



Ah fuck that's right I'll need to get all the Eeveelutions for the Pokedex again!

Here you go! That EEVEE, I got it from a good friend in Johto who has a whole lot of them. Who knows how many EEVEE he's raised over the years. Sorry, that doesn't mean anything to you. Please, be good to it!



My buddy Bill developed the basic Pokemon Box storage system. I tinkered with it here and there to make it easier to use.



Next door to the Pokemon Center is Bebe, who gives you an Eevee, though this happens in DP's postgame. It's an Eevee, it's not that great in this form, so choose which one you like and aim for that. All of them can be obtained around now aside from Glaceon, which is just before Gym 7 and thus completely bullshit. We'll go over them all, and get round to evolving all these damn things, when we come across them.



Alright, time to establish where we'll spend an entire update later on. It's a hell of a lot earlier than Hoenn's contests, so good to get it out of the way early. But not that early, it won't be next update, mainly because of how far ahead I've recorded. Ah, it's bliss.

Contest Hall



RSE mom left the house to make sure you didn't forget the Running Shoes, but this is the first time a mom has left their town. I didn't even think it was possible. Oh yeah, she even has a goddamn name, that's just crazy.

Wait! No! Really?! Johanna is your mom? So you might be a Contest star?!

Oh, I don't know about that. I've never spoken to Hikari about Contests. I'm surprised you two know each other, though.

Oh, yes, that's right! I need to thank you for earlier. Please take this Accessory.



It will lend a nice touch of sophistication and glamour. I'm a Contest Judge, so come join us for a different kind of fun. If you're unsure of yourself, we also offer practice sessions. OK, Johanna, I'll see you!



I got bored, so I came out to Hearthome for a little vacation. I'm just as surprised to see you here, my dear! But are you serious about entering Contests? Not dressed that way! When your Pokemon is all dressed up, you can't be dressed your usual way. Put this on for a little glamour.



Go enjoy the Contests, honey! Contests will give you a different look at the many charms of Pokemon. It should be an eye-opening experience for you. Bye now!



Incidentally, Fantina, the Gym Leader of Hearthome, is also a Contestant. She is, how do you say, trés fantastique! Fantina being myself, of course! Mmm, let me see... you also seem to be trés strong. Enfin, so it shall be. I wait for you at the Gym!



Que?




Oh, and a word of advice. Go take a run at the Contests! The best way to get ready is to get some practise first. You can take practise sessions at the counter on the right.



This is all looking very familiar. From the central counter, we can participate in contests, from the five different categories and the four different ranks to earn ribbons and a few other things. The right counter is for practise contests, which is just a contest with no rewards, ew, and the left is for local multiplayer contests, which I'm sure we've all played in some way.



There are a few stark differences compared to Hoenn contests, there's now 3 rounds, with the Visual round consisting of both showing off your Pokemon's condition and sheen, as well as a dressup round, for all the Accessories you've been collecting. However, the points have been drastically reduced, meaning this round will no longer carry you in rougher rounds, but getting the max score matters for the final totals, as the other players are given a score proportional to how well 1st place did.

Next up is the Dance round, yes a rhythm minigame, that really doesn't matter overall and just wastes time, but again, you need to get the best score to make things easier. Finally, there's the good old appeal round, which is mostly similar, though now you can select which judge to appeal to and gain more points if you're the only one to do so. This is frustrating with the AI, you can imagine. The order is also reversed, the worst you do, the earlier you appeal, and you are unable to repeat a move period. Doing the Contests got a bit boring last time, but it was a fun enough distraction. It's more of the same here, but the added chaff is not appreciated when I have to do twenty of these damn things in a row.



If we're gonna dive into contests, then oh boy is it Poffin making time. It's somewhat similar to making Pokeblocks, though you can only make them with other people via local multiplayer, of course. It's not too different working together, but the faster a Poffin is made, the better it is, and all players will get the same number of Poffins as there are players. What berry is used determines the base level of the Poffin, with a faster time resulting in a higher level Poffin. All berries have a different base level, as well as a Feel stat, which determines the smoothness of the Poffin, which increases the Pokemon's Sheen stat. I'll go into specific detail later on, but also keep in mind the specific flavour values of each berry too, at least those ones you can see on the tag.



We'll need to stir the batter to make it into something good, so we're on the bottom screen for a minigame!



And this is when I realised it wasn't going to work out, the batter just barely moved whenever I "stirred" it with the mouse. Emulating a stylus kinda sucks, so I'll be burning all my Poffins.



There's 3 stages to Poffin making, when the flames are red the batter is easy to stir, but also easy to spill, and that decreases the level of the finished Poffin. Don't spin too slowly, or you'll burn it, which also decreases the level. When the flames are orange, the batter is sturdier, but you can still spill it. You also need to follow the arrows and keep your speed up.



The final stage, with blue flames, has a hardened batter, so you can stir it as fast as you want. It'll finish when it's properly cooked.



It'll automatically stop after 1 minute, so finishing before that time results in a higher level Poffin. But, uh, since I burned mine a fair amount, I got a Foul one. There's a lot of different varieties that I'll go over soon enough, but they're usually the colour of the main berry flavour. Those that have two flavours due to the berry have the second attribute on top as sprinkles. I'm not too bothered about not being able to make Poffins, I was going to hack in the necessary condition and sheen anyway.



Now, before we head into the Gym, how about another side mode? This one is a lot more consice, but still very important.

Amity Square




Walking Pokemon??? Best game EVAR, 7.8/10! Ah, just kidding, I've never been that bothered if a game does or does not have walking Pokemon, but this is a nice little area to hang with your cute Pokemon*

*Note, cute Pokemon are only Pikachu, Clefairy, Psyduck, Pachirisu, Drifloonn, Buneary or Happiny. Expands to Jigglypuff, Torchic, Shroomish and Skitty after beating the game. Expands further to the Turtwig, Chimchar and Piplup lines in Platinum.



There's a couple things in here and you can talk to your Pokemon as they do weird things.



Ah, a warp. Oh goody. Anyway, unlike DP, the park is now split between both entrances, so we'll head to the right side.



...I don't wanna know. Every 200 steps your Pokemon will pick up a berry or accessory. The accessory pool depends on the Pokemon, with some exclusives to specific groups. All of these accessories can only be found here and while 5 of the berries, Spelon, Pamtre, Watmel, Durin and Belue, can only be found in Amity Square, there's another way to get them. The other 5 berries found can also be given by the Berry Master.



Look, either I render the game so that there's black spots everywhere, or I render it so the sign is chopped off and there's a few lines in the ground.



Let's do the rock warp again. Always nice getting this early, Pop will get it because everyone else is busy. To show how much worse DP is, it was found in the same area, but also HIDDEN, but thankfully the Luck Incense is found later with the same effect, so whatever.



Some of these warps don't lead anywhere, but you can cycle between the locations using the left or right warps, while the top warp will send you to the first one.



I don't mind the cleaning at all. I find all sorts of items doing so. It's quite fun, even exciting. Oh, I know. Do you know the item Big Scale? I found some. Would you like them?



This guy is pretty important since once a day you can get 1 accessory or 5 of a certain berry. These accessories are the rarer ones a Pokemon can find and all the berries are the same. It's important to note that you can only hold 10 of each accessory, so it slowly removes things from the list until you can only get berries in this area no matter what. Sounds fucking crazy though.



2spooky4me



The man will be in a different place each day, but only on this side of the park. If you don't want the item offered, he may change it and his location if you re-enter the park.



Cool, it's Gym time motherfuckah!

Pokemon Gym



I'll tell you! First, it's pitch-black! Oh, no worries, though! I have a flashlight right here for you. Also, there are the usual Gym Trainers. They have flashlights, too. If you cast a light on one, or they catch you in the light, the battle's on! OK, now this is really important! It's about the tiles on the floor. First, find the one blue tile in the room, and memorize the mark on it. Next, head for the red door with the same mark on it. Advance through the correct red doors to reach the Gym Leader. If you choose a wrong red door, you get sent back here, though. That's how this place is. Go get 'em, Champ-to-be!




Oh yeah, I should probably mention that Hearthome Gym is actually the FIFTH one in DP, as Fantina just refuses to fight you until you're stronger. Honestly, I have no idea why they made it that way, it's dumb as heck and delays your updated shop inventory for a while for no real good reason.



Also the gym puzzle was completely changed, like Eterna's, to be substantially less shitty. It involved spooky stuff like, uh, lifts and maths? Those are perfectly acceptable phobias, but it was probably one of the worst gyms in the series, which says a lot when Gen 1 and 2 hog most of the spots.



Skulletor is so illegal I love it.



Ah, fucking finally! Are we ready to use it on our team? Hahaha, oh my no. Togetic is alright with some special moves, but we don't get those kind of TMs until later and its movepool otherwise is similarly shocking. This is a little earlier than I was planning to evolve it, but it still works out quite nicely.



When don't I? This first room is super easy, we can see everything in one go.




We're back in Gen 2, baby! Oh god, not the level curve!



He'll be caught up in no time.



This is literally the worst spot to tell me this.



Hmm, this room is the same. Must have one hell of a flashlight.



Whatever happens in life, it's better to try and enjoy it the best one can. Being in the dark here, I came to realize that.

Shut up, nerd.




At least Ghost types are usually fragile so they're easy to wreck.



If you don't have friends... that play these games, like me, then Haunter is what you're stuck with. It's fragile, but it works out alright, but it's laden with various physical moves before it can finally use Shadow Ball, Sludge Bomb and Dark Pulse when it either learns it, or through TMs. Curse and Night Shade might have to do until then, but it's a bit of a pain.



Oh yeah, now I remember, I need to change the renderer!



Muuuuuuch better. Since we didn't see much, we can continue like normal. Gotta remember to change back when we're done though.



Least we only have to stumble around to find one trainer.



Hey now, using good moves is cheating.



Okay that makes up for it. They just can't resist.



Yeah, great, let's get the heck outta here.



Okay, now we just need to find the heart shaped door and-



Ah. Well that makes things easier.



Since I came to this country, always I try to learn new things. They hold Contests in this city? I say to myself, enfin, I will excel. That is why I dress this way. C'est une performance! Also, I study Pokemon very much. I have come to be Gym Leader. And, uh, so it shall be that you challenge me. But I shall win. That is what a Gym Leader does, non?

Gym Leader Battle




Fantina/Melissa: The Alluring, Soulful Dancer!
From phantom, or fantasia, and malice, or the clearly non-Japanese name Melissa.






Due to when you face Fantina in various games, her team is vastly different, though Mismagius remains the ace. Not too much to say about Duskull, since it's a bit too weak and doesn't deal much damage to really be a threat, though getting burned can be annoying. Due to its late evolution level and mediocre attacking stats, it's not too fun to use for most of the game to fully evolve it, but it can be gotten much later in a much more convenient fashion.





Ah, time for another evolved mon to kick our ass. Mismagius is obtained pretty late in DP and isn't obtainable in Plat, but we have the stone, so trade it over and evolve it. Well, the best time to evolve is after Psybeam at level 23, since in DP, you'll get the Shadow Ball TM before the Dusk Stone, so it doesn't really matter. Now with your new mon, it'll do you just nicely, though it'll need some TMs to work out. Still, even Psybeam stings with those stats and you can get Magical Leaf from the relearner, since Energy Ball is postgame. You're physically frail, but you have all the right stats in all the right places, so go ham with this Pearl exclusive.



This mon is a certified problem, so Togetic is definitely useful here. And just here, since he can't do anything back.



Don't have too many answers for this mon, but hey, I'm liking how tricky these Gym battles have been. And I'm always happy my team can get through them, since I'm picking whatever I fancy and hoping it works!



However, I was trying to bait out a healing item on Duskull, but Skulletor is just too strong!



It 2HKOed everyone with Shadow Ball, so I'm glad it didn't do that.



Just because this Haunter only has physical moves doesn't mean it's not still dangerous, especially since Mismagius tore through most of the team.



Darn. Sucker Punch is a cheeky move, an 80BP physical Dark move with 5PP, 100% accuracy and +1 priority. It only works if the target is about to use a damaging move, regardless if it can execute it or not, such as status effects, abilities, or type immunities.



Pop should be able to survive a hit and clinch it, finally giving him time in the spotlight! As an aside, Fantina uses broken English and French phrases in most versions, but in the Japanese and French translations, she uses broken Japanese or French and English phrases. So she's either from Kalos or Galar, who knows for sure?



Well crap. Our team is just too fragile to stand up to endless strong Ghost attacks, but at least we've got Togetic! Shadow Claw is a 70BP physical Ghost move with 15PP and 100% accuracy with an increased crit ratio.



Yeah sure, we'll go with this.

Pokemon Gym



So very, very strong! You, your Pokemon, so strong! Your power is admirable! I shall honor it with this Gym Badge!



Also, you can make use of this Technical Machine. That is what I think.



A very startling move it is. Its hits turn critical often! Three Gym Badges... but you must not forget this. There are many other Trainers. Strong Trainers, too. There are many more in Sinnoh. Have patience! You must become stronger, one at a time.



There seems to be no end to how tough you are getting! At least that's how I see it! ...you do realize I say that to everyone, right?



Oh yeah, this is how the first room is meant to look, but you can still solve the puzzle at a glance, so it's whatever.



And that's badge 3, but the case is identical to DP, so it looks like we've just hacked our way in.



At least the shops have finally changed so we can easily get Great Balls, Revives and Super Repels! Yes, you'll be waiting even longer in DP to finally buy these items and it sucks! But with that, we're basically done with Hearthome City, though we shall return again!



Hey, you're a Trainer now. You're expected to be ready for a battle. No whining! No waiting! Let's get the show started!

Rival Battle



Been a little bit since we faced Barry, but he probably won't be too bad.



In DP, you still faced Barry, but it was just before you left Hearthome with no warning, compared to him waiting here, so the games are getting less mean about that. However, his team is much weaker for no real reason, so even with the extra badge here, they bumped up his levels to be a more interesting fight. It won't be the last time they do this.



Depending on the starter, Barry will be rounding out his team with various Pokemon. I usually try to avoid using the same Pokemon as the rivals, but oh well, I stand by my choices.



Hey, get back here!



Well two can play at that game. If Barry doesn't pick Chimchar, then he'll go for Ponyta. Because he has to, as his team doesn't change in Platinum to accommodate the new Pokedex options.



Who's faster and will pull off their priority move?



Damn straight.

Route 209 Day / Night



Say, hey, Hikari. Remember what I told you before? Make sure all of your attacks hit! Avoid every enemy attack! I thought it was a wicked strategy, but it doesn't work worth beans. I guess I have to grind it out and toughen up the team a bit at a time. Anyway! I'm off to Solaceon Town! See ya, Hikari! You'll be shocked by my growth the next time we meet!



Mmm, that route music is sublime. Since there's a trainer right here, might as well fight him, but that doesn't mean we'll be clearing this route this update. Plenty of other things to do after all.



It's obvious you raise your Pokemon with a lot of love.

Lot of Breeders around here, for specific reasons. We'll be able to catch Pichu later, in the same area we can first catch Pikachu, in fact, but keeping it as a baby is worth it to learn Nasty Plot. The other moves of Charm and Sweet Kiss aren't worth it, nor is tutoring Uproar, but that single move is almost worth the happiness garbage.



Well it's not super, but sure.

Hmm! We're of identical minds! Hmm! Take this Good Rod!



When you're fishing for Pokemon, the first hurdle is getting a bite. When you start to reel that Pokemon in, you've got to battle it. So, fishing gives you twice the fun!



Hopefully we get some more interesting mons than just Magikarp.



Always a strange choice, but it can work, I guess. You'll be relying on Water Pulse and Horn Attack for a while, but learning Waterfall through level up is cool, I guess. If you haven't decided on a Water type, there's worse options, probably.



Oh wow, I wasn't expecting the 5% encounter to be first. We'll finish this update with catching a few Pokemon and Chansey is only notable for its rarity. Its offenses and defenses are somewhat pathetic, but its SpAtk becomes pretty passable when it evolves. It'll need some special TMs and will be useless for a while because happiness evolutions are everywhere and also awful. It'll be cooking in the back, like an egg, get it, until it evolves.



Pop really hates balloon shaped Pokemon.



Neat.



Nice not having to evolve some stuff, it's still a good choice.



Somewhat rare during the night, there's an area later where they're more common.



That's all the regular Pokemon on that route, so let's backtrack a little bit for some more fishing encounters.



Ah, geez, so slimy, Barboach starts off well with Mud Bomb and Water Pulse and evolves early enough to offset its low stats. It won't be as impressive as Shellos due to worse abilities, but it's a perfectly fine substitute.



Having a map constantly displayed is convenient, no? You can also mark things, so it's that much more useful.



Don't forget about this new app now that we've got 3 badges! The Marking Map isn't very useful for its specific function, since you could forget what the markings mean after all, but it is very important later on. Boy am I not looking forward to it, like always.





Hey there cutie, think I'd forget about you? If there was ever a generic Water type, then this is it. It's somewhat unique in learning butterfly moves, like Gust and Silver Wind. As those Pokemon are terrible, this makes it also pretty mediocre, but hey, if you want a Water type and have a burning desire to use one, go ahead. It can also get Icy Wind and Ominous Wind from tutor, to make it somewhat more interesting. Otherwise, it's really nothing impressive and thankfully evolves before it gets left behind too much.



And that's a wrap. Next time, we'll head off to new towns and maybe find another Gym? Hmm, seems unlikely.