Part 30: I Have Deduced The Culprit

Update 31: I Have Deduced The Culprit

Circhester - Pokémon Sword and Shield OST

Before we split, there’s a place I want to explore, as it has secrets I wasn’t aware of until long after I started this LP.



Both of these buildings are part of the Hotel Ionia, an establishment that makes the inn back in Motostoke look like a bed-and-breakfast. In the finest RPG tradition, you can go into most of these rooms and bother the inhabitants…



… Not that you’d always want to. Building on the left has digital versions of the dev team hanging out in a couple of rooms, and in fact you can fight the local equivalent of the guy who designed Mew there after you beat the game. On the right, though…





Follow Me - Pokémon Sword and Shield OST

???: After all the trouble of deducing things, don’t go messing it up now! *cough* I suppose I should introduce myself. The name’s Howses. Yes, THAT Howses-the great detective. I’ve been hired by the hotel. At present I have cornered the culprit of a most heinous crime. And that crime is…







Howses: …But because of the noise, my marvelous deductive reasoning seems somewhat muddled at present… That’s it! You, interfering child! You will be my assistant! Listen to the stories of each suspect, and find the culprit!



Dancer : It was a huge pile of Berries in the lobby, right? There’s no way I could’ve eaten that many. I’ve been saying that this whole time.

Old Man: That detective sure seems like trouble, doesn’t he? I will admit that I saw the mountain of Berries, but my doctor told me to stop eating those things. I’ve got it in writing right here.



Boy: Huh? Berries? I didn’t eat them. Hey, you haven’t seen my Pokémon around here, have you?





Boy: Ah! My Pokémon! Where were you?



Howses: After listening to everyone’s accounts, I have deduced the culprit.







Howses: Because you’re a dancer! You move and shake your body so much that you need all that food for extra energy! That’s evidence as clear and sharp as the leak of a Farfetch’d!



Dancer: What? What does that even mean? You’re no detective – you’re a fraud!

Howses: Wh-who are you calling a fraud?! You can’t be referring to me, the great detective!

Dancer I can’t deal with this disrespect! I leave it to you! You find the culprit!

Howses: *gasp*

Great job, boss. At this point the game frees us up to do a little detective work of our own. Let’s question the suspects!

Dancer: You think I’m the criminal, too?!
>yes
Dancer: You’re a fraud, too! A fraud assistant to a fraud detective!
>no
Dancer: Good, you get it.

Old Man : What? You think I’m the culprit?
>yes
Old Man : Sorry, but you’re totally wrong. I’ll do you a favor and keep that a secret. Let’s pretend that didn’t just happen, OK?
>no
Old Man : I can’t eat berries, after all.

Boy : Wha?! You think I’m the culprit?
>yes
Boy : You’re wrong! Think things over more carefully!
>no
Boy : Oh!

We can even ask the great detective for advice.





Upon initial investigation, the Dancer does appear the most likely suspect; her confrontational attitude implies a desire to cover up her crime, and she provided no compelling evidence beyond a claimed lack of appetite. However, a bad attitude does not determine guilt; she may be intimidated by the detective, indignant over her treatment, or experiencing any number of other scenarios, and likewise, we have no evidence connecting her to the crime. As such, we cannot reasonably assume her guilt. Similarly, the boy offers no compelling proof either way beyond his presence in the lobby. However! The old man is the only one who offers any evidence to contradict the prosecution’s claims, but the evidence he offers is itself highly suspicious. Dietary restrictions on Berry consumption are not in and of themselves indicative of anything beyond a need to avoid Berries for health reasons. They are not proof of guilt. What IS suspicious is carrying around written proof of your doctor’s orders when those orders are neither unusual nor likely to be challenged. Those restrictions may well be genuine, but the presence of unnecessarily expensive proof indicates premeditation. Additionally, doctor’s orders to avoid Berries imply their presence in a patient’s diet; after all, why advise them not to eat something they already don’t need? Just because eating a certain kind of food is a bad idea doesn’t mean people won’t do it. But neither of those factors are enough to convict. The clincher? During questioning, the old man attempted to intimidate his interrogator and implied consequences from outside factors is they did not drop their line of questioning. Attempting to intimidate an officer of the law during an investigation is in and of itself obstruction of justice, and the desperation necessary to commit a crime while under investigation for another heavily implies guilt. Therefore, though we currently lack the evidence to convict, of the three suspects, the old man is the most likely culprit!

Just kidding, it was the squirrel.



Skwovet: Muuunch?

Boy : Ah, it’s true! It’s got Berry bits around its mouth!

Old Man : Yes, it definitely ate the Berries. Definitely…

Dancer : Oh, you’re right. I see it now that I look more closely.

Skwovet: Muuuncha.





Howses : Here! Recompense for solving this mystery! Take it!

He gives us the Wide Lens.



Howses : I must be off now. Take care, everyone!

He books it right out of the room. The Dancer follows him.

Dancer : Hey, you! Wait a minute!

… Immediately followed by the old man.

Old Man : Hahaha! I guess I’m supposed to chase after him too.



By the way, the Wide Lens? Your reward for all this? It slightly improves accuracy when held by Pokémon. In a game where the average move hits 99.7% of the time.

Route 6 - Pokémon Sword and Shield OST



I think I mentioned earlier that every Pokémon game needs routes or areas dedicated to specific biomes: you need a grassy route for normal Pokémon, a desert route for desert Pokémon, a cave route for cave Pokémon, an ice route for icy Pokémon. Route 9’s Galar’s water route for water Pokémon. Granted, it does have a pretty strong ice theme too, but there’re at least one and a half other ice routes in this game so I guess they had to split them up by theme. I know Britain is supposed to be cold, but I didn’t know it was supposed to be THAT cold.



Grunt A:… Go on to Route 9!

Grunt B: It’s Team Yell’s duty to cheer on these lovely Drednaw! And we also get to stop people from headin’ out over the water!

The Drednaw snargles.

???: Yes, I understand… All I’m saying is that I can make it so that Rotom Bikes can go on water… Why, we meet again, my young Gym Challenger friend! Remember me? I gave you that bike! So, do you think you could do me another favor and teach these ruffians a lesson or two?

Grunt A: It’s our duty to protect Drednaw! And that means yer gonna need to give up on the Gym Challenge! It looks like you need convincin’, so how about a Pokémon battle?!

They give us an option to decline here. In fact, they almost always give us the option to decline a plot battle, as opposed to earlier generations, where people would ambush you without warning. I kind of like it, even though it cuts down on the challenge in an already easy game, because it helps you do some planning before facing down a potentially difficult fight.



Not that that’s particularly likely.

Grunt A: Gah! She’s gonna ride the Drednaw!

Grunt B: Oi! I’ve got an idea! We can get on Drednaw first and ride it away!

Grunt A: All right! Get a move on, Drednaw! See ya later, Gym Challenger!

The Pokémon snargles again and wanders offscreen, followed by the Grunts.

??? : Seems you’ve come to my aid yet again. How’s the cycling life been treating you? Are you having fun? Wouldn’t it be great if you could ride your Rotom Bike on the water, too? That’s why I’m going to add these special parts, allowing it to travel along the water’s surface… Just for you!



From now on, whenever you ride your bike onto water, its wheels inflate and let you cruise around or just sit on your butt in the middle of the water for the local Pokémon to come gawk at you. While Pokémon move around it like tall grass, it doesn’t have any hidden encounters: what you see is what you get. But you don’t just get Water-types; a few water-themed but not Water-type Pokémon..



…Such as, say, this punching octopus that proved nearly impossible to catch, also only appear in the water. So if you want that Pokémon – and why wouldn’t you – that’s where you go to find it. It also lets you access parts of the map, not only the water itself…



…But new areas, like this set of standing stones in a distant corner of the Wild Area. This is one of the only areas in the game where you can find evolution stones just lying around, one of each type. The only reason I was able to evolve a Glaceon earlier was because there’s a person you can talk to elsewhere in the Wild Area that will dig you up random items in exchange for Watts; otherwise I’d have had to wait until now.



You can also use it to access a few hidden areas in places you’ve already visited, such as this lake just past Magnolia’s Laboratory. But if you play RPGs you probably could have guessed that. Not nearly as exciting as Detective Howses. Or a puchtopus. Speaking of which, I’m going to need a name for that Grapploct.