355 | more pokémon shield!

[straightforwardly]

Weekly Pokémon Shield update! Albeit one day delayed. I’ve now gotten through the fourth and fifth gyms.

• I continue to be very endeared by Hop. The way he talks about Gloria being his “true rival” when he’s trying to shake off his feelings about being defeated by Bede…!


• I hate the ghost gym’s pinball mini-game so much. Not only was it not fun, but it was actually somewhat physically painful to play through, since my hands and wrists aren’t the best.


• That being said, I do think Alistair himself has a fun design! I once again chose to Dynamax my starter in this battle, and I was amused by the height difference between Inteleon & Gengar. Inteleon is already ridiculously tall, especially compared to his body mass, and the way that dynamaxing stretches it out further… again, it just amused me.


• Bede does interest me. His “all for the chairman!” attitude, the intensity of that devotion—and then his expression when Rose publicly expresses disappointment in him! (Plus, I love that the “mean” rival has a my little pony Galarian Ponyta. It’s an adorable contrast!)


• Sonia is so, so much more chill about the mural falling apart than I would have been in her place, lol.


• The Glimwood Tangle is absolutely stunning, as is Ballonlea itself. Definitely one of the best areas to ever be designed in a Pokémon game, if not the actual best! The mushrooms… the bioluminescence… it’s such a vibe, and one I’m here for <3


• Also, it’s a good thing I liked the Glimwood Tangle so much, because I ended up spending what felt like hours there… not because I was lost, but because I wanted a female Galarian Ponyta, and. Well. It only has a 10% chance of appearing, and I feel like that encounter rate matched up with my experience… but it’s also supposed to have a 50/50 chance of being male or female, and that was not my experience at all, lol. So so so many Ponyta, before I finally was able to find the one I wanted.


• I also completely forgot that this is the generation where Sinistea was introduced, and had to wail about the fact that I didn’t have space on my main party for it anymore, haha, especially because I’m already deeply emotionally attached to my Corsola, and both Cursola and Polteageist fill exactly the same niche. As in, both in terms of typing AND what they’re good at, stats-wise—both being pure ghost types who specialize in special attack & special defense. They even both have the same (terrible) ability… It’s a shame, but maybe in a future game, I’ll have a team with my cute beloved ghost teapot on it!


• Relatedly: it feels strange to have a team with no grass types on it... not living up to my reputation as a grass-type enthusiast!


• Marnie declaring Gloria her rival was surprisingly cute, and also a little bit shippy. <3


• I’m pretty sure the fairy gym was the first time I dynamaxed someone other than my starter? I went with my Corviknight instead, and took down Opal’s Alcremie fairly quickly. Which is not to say that gym was a total cakewalk—I actually struggled a little with that Togekiss. The main issue is that I had my Corsola (with Evolite) out against it, but I was running out of PP for moves that actually did damage, so I had to switch her out, but Togekiss ended up hitting my other Pokémon harder than expected. Ironically, the experience I got for defeating Togekiss had my Corsola level up enough for her to learn Power Gem, which both hits much harder than Ancient Power & has more PP—if she’d only levelled up earlier, I probably wouldn’t have had any issues.


• Laughing-crying at Bede getting essentially kidnapped into being the next gym leader… I was spoiled on his taking over the fairy gym but I assumed it was going to be a post-game thing, and I did not expect it to play out quite like that, haha.


• Mysterious quaking coming from Rose’s power plant…. I’m sure this is fine :) nothing to worry about here! :)

I can't remember if I've already said this in a different post, but I do really want to emphasize how much I'm enjoying this game... I don't want to jinx anything, but so far, this has the potential to be one of my all-time favorite Pokémon games, which is kind of ironic, considering that I originally skipped this generation because I thought I wouldn't like it!

Comments

[tinkaton]

Sinistea/Polteageist are sooo cute, some of my favorite new designs. I'm sorry your Ponyta hunt was harder than it should have been but I'm glad you got what you wanted!

The farther you get in the game I'm realizing I don't think I actually beat this one sjdfjksdf I may have to go back and replay at some point...

[straightforwardly]

Sinistea & Polteageist are absolutely top tier Pokémon designs! And the names are also A+. I love them so much <3 But I'm an obsessive tea drinker who loves ghosts, so I might be contractually obligated to love them, haha.

I may have to go back and replay at some point... I'd love to hear your thoughts on your playthrough if you do!