Part 31: Catching some Fish
Music: Olive Jungle
...I'm serious, I just can't stand Bug-group Pokemon. ...I'll be OK now. Let's go find those missing parts.Seriously? Why can't you just run off ahead or something? Why must you run back to the entrance?
This is why every game studio needs an average game player on tap. Just so they can show an idea to them and be told, in no uncertain terms, how stupid the idea is.
Alright, let's try this again. This guy's hint is very important.
Remember those Corphish in Underground Waterworks? Remember how annoying it is that it's faster than Circe and there's no room to navigate around it?
Well, this mission also has that aspect with Ariados. Except we have a little more room to wiggle around but a contact means we have to start over from the beginning. It sucks.
This is one section nobody would think less of you if you savestate-scummed it. Because seriously, fuck instant fail stealth sections.
Oh, I was about to. Then I got really lucky and ended up doing it on the second try.
If an Ariados feels our presence, we should back off. If it sees us and aggros us, try to run back off if you're not past it already.
The only way to get past these Ariados is to go behind their back. That means we'll have to hope that there's some space to pass through behind them and that they don't turn around when we're right behind them.
So it's literally down to luck if you succeed?Yep!
The other bug Pokemon aren't a huge problem, but they do mean that we can't just coast through this part.
Let's just say that by the time I finished this part for the first time, Ariados is my least favorite Pokemon.
I said earlier that Gligar is the worst Pokemon in the series, but in this game specifically Ariados is worse.
I just can't fathom what would go through someone's head to design this sort of horseshit.
Ariados can't climb these vines because spiders aren't known for being able to climb walls, apparently. I'll accept whatever makes this mission less tedious.
This section is very short distance-wise (the exit is just up the vines on the left), but it can take an extremely long time to go through it. I might make this look easy, but trust me when I say that it's definitely not.
Getting through all 4 Ariados in one go is very tricky and tedious and I wish this section doesn't exist. The only reason this isn't the worst mission is because this isn't officially a mission
All in favor of calling this a mission? Unanimous? Fair. It's now a mission, and by extension, the worst mission in the game.
The path to the right contains a non-Bug Pokemon. The only one in this side of the jungle, in fact!
Bayleef can shoot leaf boomerangs, just like Bellsprout. It can do this however many times it wants in a row, though, so we have to wait until it moves again to know that it's safe.
Required Loops: 11
Possible EXP: 36/40/44/50
That's a very pathetic EXP yield considering how many loops are needed. Let's just get this section over and done with...
There it is! There's the missing set of parts!
I kicked a Magikarp...How do you accidentally kick a magikarp? Isn't it well known that they become Gyarados?
I don't blame the Magikarp for getting angry with me. This is my responsibility. Will you let me handle this?Sure! Let's see how you handle non-Bug Pokemon.
Countdown to this going badly...
Also this mechanic is in the running for most unlikeable character in the game.
Music: Trouble
*The screen shakes*
But this is way out of my league. Can you handle this for me?...Never mind then. I can't even be happy that we finally get to catch the fishes
Sign Don't throw things into the pond! Protect nature and your reputation! <Summerland Tourism Bureau>
*When talked to* I'll keep out of your way. You have to make this capture!The mechanic leaves us after Gyarados' appearance. This means that we can actually go back and capture the bug Pokemon from earlier. So I did.
Video: Gyarados + 4 Magikarp
With assists on hand, let's catch some fishes.
Music: Wild Boss Pokemon Encounter
Since we're facing off against Water Pokemon, Plusle seems like an amazing choice.
That is well and all except for the fact that Plusle can actually miss. It would've been wiser to use it with a full gauge
Are you serious? It can miss?
...Yeah, that can happen if you're unlucky. Using Electric assist with more charges have Plusle shoots at more directions in addition to stunning the Pokemon for a longer time.
Time for plan B then. Which stands for plan Bayleef
To their credit, they did put the Bayleef right in your path once you were past the Ariados. That's actually good game design!
Plan B works well enough. I love Gyarados' capture sprite
Gyarados shoots out Hydro Pump, by the way. And take a guess as to what those Magikarp did. Or just watch the video.
On another note, see the ball next to Gyarados?
That's the Bug assist. I'm just trying it out here because Ariados spotted me when I tried to get some assist.
Spoiler: It sucks. Gyarados is barely held for 2 seconds, not even enough for 3 loops
Poor Bug type. Pokemon Ranger's not a Gen 5 game, so it can't possibly be good!
THIS is the actually useful assist. Another trick the game doesn't tell you: creating tiny loops in a corner will create tornadoes that will hit the Pokemon eventually.
I never noticed it before this LP, but Flying assist is also amazingly good. It's actually on par with Fighting and Ghost
That's pretty high praise!
Music: Capture Complete
Required Loops: 3
Possible EXP: 5
Magikarp requires more than 1 loop?!
Don't Magikarp have a 255 catch rate? That's kinda impressive that they aren't single loop fodder. Guess they had to make the late-game boss fight difficult somehow!
Required Loops: 11
Possible EXP: 430/450/470/490/510/530
Thank goodness Gyarados has half of its body submerged in water. It would suck if we had to loop all the way across its very long body...
How long until we have to do precisely that?
Music: Olive Jungle
I've been hearing about you, but you're better than I thought! That loop-loop-loop-yank thing... That was pretty impressive! Oh yeah! The parts, the parts...*The mechanic grabs the parts*
Music: Mission Clear!
This is it! This is the set of missing parts! The Aquamole will be ready for a dip soon! Hang on, Ranger!*To the fishes* I feel sorry for what happened with the Magikarp and Gyarados. I got careless and caused that trouble. Sorry, everyone!*To Circe* You calmed down the Pokemon by capturing them. Thanks a lot! I'm going to head back now and get right back to fixing the Aquamole. Look forward to its completion!
*Fade to black, because of course we don't get to keep the fishes*
RIP in piss mechanic. You were nothing but trouble the entire time we knew you!
Since this update is so short, let's talk about Poke Assists! Obviously, not all assist are created equal. Against enemies without weakness/resistance to it, some are just plain better to use.
That insect assist in particular looked to be pretty bad.
And some of these assists work very similarly to one another, just with different matchup.
First up, we have the
It's probably pretty bad that I forgot or never realized it recharged HP. I thought it was just for paralysis
That's exclusive to Plusle and Minun. All the other Electric Pokemon have this instead.
Next, we have the instant assists. They have no timer, and thus no second chances. They are very powerful if used correctly, as we've seen before.
As far as I know, Electric starts out weaker than Psychic but grows better with more gauges, surpassing it with high charges. There's a maximum of 5 bars, each unlocked at odd ranks.
The last one will be coming up soon then, if I'm not mistaken
Yep. It's right after our next official mission.
The line assists...
Yeah, these are assists that require the Pokemon to touch the line (or at least extremely close to it).
Poison seems to cover the widest area based on the little demonstration picture?
Not really, but it is the only one that can hit Flying Pokemon.
So it's the most useful against the most types.
I can see why you'd think that, but it's still Poison type. The awful matchup negates its advantage.
Better off to use electric against Flying types. As long as it doesn't miss, at least.
Yeah, these generally aren't that useful. You may get lucky and have the Pokemon run into your line without breaking it, but don't count on it.
These only seem situationally useful. But I guess that also describes most assists.
These flicking assists pretty much useless. Flicking is hard to do with a mouse, not to mention that it lasts for a very short time. And, of course, flicking requires letting go of the stylus, which means we can only stun them at the start of each loop.
Yeah, that doesn't sound very useful even on hardware.
At least Water and Rock are strong against plenty of types. Bug can't even do that...
Like I said, Bug can't be good because it's not post-Gen V
Next up we have the looping assist, giving us plenty of chances to reapply the status. They're generally the best since we can reapply them. Fire assist's status effect have some cooldowns. Ghost has no such cooldown, though.
Ghost, we've already covered, is among the strongest in the game.
Ice, meanwhile, is the one we just unlocked. Ice Pokemon are contained in pretty much just one area, with a few stragglers around it. That makes it the assist with least availability. As if to rub salt in the wounds, they made Flying Pokemon immune to Ice assist for some reason. Ice types gets shafted on everything...
Yeah, it sucks. At least I showed that Ice could be powerful with Cirno! Though it took until a fangame...
It is the only assist to be strong against Dragon types, though (since Dragon assist doesn't exist). Except there's only 2 Dragon types left to catch in the game. And both of them will be flying, so...
Welp.
Finally, we have the remainders, each with their own unique effects. Fighting and Dark also have unique matchup, with Fighting losing its weaknesses and Dark losing both its weaknesses and advantages.
Fighting is just a wee bit broken, but in a good way.
We've also seen how good Flying is. So that leaves just Dark assist.
You've mentioned that a longer line can be useful.
It can be, but it's not worth sacrificing 25% of our current health.
So... not useful.
Except if the Pokemon itself is huge like Gyarados would be if half of it isn't submerged. Then it's pretty much necessary.
Still waiting for that to be a postgame challenge.
That's all of the assists!
Seemed like more non-useful than useful ones. But the good ones were really good.
Typing really matters, after all. As we've seen before, even weak assist can break the game with a good matchup.