Part 26: Police Officer Bobby
Update 27: Police Officer BobbyHop's Theme - Pokémon Sword and Shield OST
Folks.
I’mma be real with you.
Just as we leave Hammerlocke we run into Hop for yet another “let me throw a bunch of stuff at the wall and see what sticks” fight. Unlike in the source material, though, they have a lot to say to each other at this juncture and if they met, they’d have another plot heavy conversation. Two of the last three updates were almost pure dialogue. I think it started knocking on the quality after while. There’s nothing that can’t be covered later. I don’t want to write anymore dialogue in this update.
Within the narrative, this fight never took place. But outside of the narrative, I’ll run through it for you. Because you’re worth it.
Well, well, well, looks like someone’s decided to start filling out his party. We kick the fight off with a Ghost/Flying versus a Ghost/Grass Pokémon. I could try and take it out with a Ghost attack, but…
Turns out, all that otherkin wanted was to see a Fire-themed Track Jacket. It cost me about as much PokéYen as enough items to bring back all my Pokémon back to life – clothes are expensive – but, well… As long as Mr. Blobby here isn’t holding an item, it does twice as much base damage (110). For context, the only stronger move my party has access to right now is Bruce’s Pyro Ball (120, 5 PP), and right now most Dynamax moves clock in at about 90 .
… Okay, that was pretty disappointing. On its turn, it also pulls out an attack that falls one hit point short of sending Mr. Blobby into the yellow. Of course, I take him out in the next hit, but that was a bit of a rude shock. Hop’s electric dog goes out in one blow, though.
John Bonham seems to be doing well. I mean, not as well as Bruce. I delayed taking him down because I wanted to see if you break out his signature move, Drum Beating, but he never bothered. Down he went.
Snorlax was another one of Gen 1’s little oddities. The only one in the game sat blocking a thoroughfare where three different roads connected, sound asleep; the only way to wake it up (and catch it) was to go through a convoluted series of events culminating in finding a “Poké Flute” at the top of Pokémon Tower. You know, where you fought the ghost. In order to catch a Snorlax (there’s another name the dictation software already knows!), you had to save an old man by beating up some gangsters, follow his advice and mount an assault on a major corporation to steal their experimental equipment, use that to exorcise a ghost and steal its woodwind instrument, and use THAT to wake the Pokémon up. Sounds about right for Gen 1.
E: but wait! I’m an idiot!
LiefKatano posted:
Sorry if this is overly precise, but this is so close to being correct but it... isn't.
Saving the old guy (Mr. Fuji) comes last in the sequence to get the flute. First is raiding the Rocket Base for the Silph Scope (separate from raiding Silph Co. Tower, but that's to liberate it and Saffron so you can, uh, challenge the gym. yep.). Then you use the Silph Scope to analyze and beat the everliving tar out of the Marowak ghost (in Let's Go it's just exorcising it). Then Mr. Fuji gives you to flute to wake up Snorlax.
Also there's two Snorlax.
It goes down in one hit. His next Pokémon, being Fire-type and not particularly terrifying, goes down in one hit from Tiddles.
Rest in peace, Hop’s team. Again, Hop seems to be varying his team, and this time he has Pokémon that shows some signs of real training. That Trevenant, especially, took a beating like a champ. For players who haven’t taught their Pokémon Low Kick or more generally powerful Fighting moves, I can imagine that Snorlax really fucking their shit up; Snorlax is a massive, hearty tub of HP with some brutal physical attacks, and even though Normal isn’t really strong against anything, it has so few weaknesses a properly-used Snorlax can just overwhelm anything that isn’t equally tanky or equipped to get past its defenses. We’ve got some promising signs of progress, folks.
Route 6 - Pokémon Sword and Shield OST
This game reuses a lot of route themes.
Anyway, Route 7. It’s kind of a mini-route that looks like the rest of the Routes averaged together. Not much that’s terribly remarkable here –
shit shit shit shit shit shit
Some Pokémon have regional variants, local versions of previously-established Pokémon varieties that have different Types, movesets, and appearances. Why call them regional variants if they’re essentially entirely new Pokémon? Marketing, I think. I dunno, maybe the thread knows better. In Gen 1, Meowth evolved into Persian, a much more elegant cat and the signature Pokémon of Giovanni (both the head of Team Rocket and the eighth Gym Leader). Being the more horrific version, Galarian Meowth evolves into this, which I guess looks better, but it still has that cancerous growth hanging off its chin. In theory, I could have a Persian right now to show off, as you can trade a Galarian one for a Kantonian (Gen 1 took place in Kanto) one, but you get one by trading a Galarian Meowth to some kid in I think Motostoke and if I caught one I’d never get the smell out of my Box.
But I have another variant Pokémon in my party. A wonderful variant Pokémon.
Remember that time I had to take a break in the middle of the paragraph back at Turffield to catch something? That was an Eevee, possibly the Pokémon franchise’s second most marketable face after Pikachu (there’s a reason one of the Gen 1 remakes carried its name). Among players, though, it’s most noteworthy for having more possible evolutions than any other Pokémon. Eevees in Gen 1 didn’t evolve naturally; instead, they had three evolved forms you could access by using special items on them, each of which had a strong elemental theme. At first, Eeveelutions only came in Fire, Water, and Electric flavors. In Gen 2, they added day- and night-themed versions (Gen 2 was very proud of its day-night cycle), then other generations added other versions and by now there’s the better part of a dozen different things you can turn your Eevee into. Me, I chose the Ice-type version, partly in honor of the upcoming Gym, partly because it absolutely obliterates anything that gets in its way. It’s pretty nuts. I’ll go into some of the weirder parts of Ice-Types and their history when we get to Circhester and stare down its trainers.
Would you believe I didn’t actually notice Route 8 was an archaeological dig until this playthrough? I’m not sure WHAT I thought it was, but I didn’t notice all these ruins. I’m perceptive
! It’s also a complicated mess of ladders and walls and tall grass that exists specifically to turn me around. It just does not end!
It does give me a chance to show off Sporkle here, though. Normally, Ponyta evolves at level 40, but I gave it an item that puts that on hold because this form is way cuter and we are far from playing optimally here.
What was that? Well, whatever it was, it was further down the path, so I probably don’t have to worry about –
My first time through, I was not expecting to see this creature. I didn’t get a good glimpse of it for a while, I just thought it was some weird centipede thing. But no, Falinks is a miniature phalanx. I thought it was just about the best thing ever, caught one, named it Hunk Bunch, and kept it in my party for a while – only to learn it was a gimmick Pokémon outclassed by the rest of my party. There’s a reason I specifically cited it in the OP as a disappointment
.
On the other hand, I ran into this thing on my way to the exit. I actually thought it was a piece of masonry (since the camera blocked my view of its crab part), so it took me completely by surprise when it obliterated Sporkle (not that that’s hard, he’s as tough as tissue paper) and badly injured Bruce (a much greater achievement). It’s the first Bug-type I've ever wanted to use since Gen 1. This thing’s probably gonna show up in my party at some point.
You see these two office workers? They gave me a harder time than Opal. A large part of it comes from me misjudging Types – unfamiliar with either of these creatures, I looked at the left and thought “Fighting” and the right and went “Rock”, both of which didn’t fit the bill – but they also made smarter tactical decisions, hitting my weaknesses more efficiently than most trainers have so far. They downed Dietrich, nearly took out Mr. Blobby and Bruce, and did a little damage to Tiddles, too.
Fortunately, I’m currently out in the open, which means I can cook – and cooking (when done right) basically works the same as a Pokémon Center. Full heal, right down to PP.
The second chunk of the Route is as ice-themed as the Gym at the end, ranging from environment…
… To the Pokémon. Plus, we get a dialectal joke!
Unfortunately, it naturally hails around here, which deals bit of damage to non-Ice-Types every turn, but while that would be an issue with a longer route, the only reason you can’t see Circhester from the entrance is because it wraps around a bit.
Circhester - Pokémon Sword and Shield OST
You know what? Let’s call it here. There’s plenty to see in Circhester, so I’ll probably end up devoting a couple updates to it in its entirety. Before you go, I need a name for my Glaceon.