Journey’s end 

Gym time.

Andante Gym doesn’t really have a puzzle, which is a little disappointing after Dronia Gym. More of a trial and error process of trying out different elevators and battling trainers. Nice environment though. It does occur to me as I’m going that I’m very poorly equipped to deal with water types. 2 of my team are strong against them, but 3 are critically weak, which is going to make switching about difficult.

Trunko and Lady just kind of wreck face all the way through, so it’s not an issue. I’m well stocked on healing items now, so I don’t need to leave to heal. Pretty soon I’ve reached the lowest level of the facility, on the sea bed.

I was very wrong to feel as confident as I did. 

He opens with Nurshary, and I with Trunko. This thing is incredibly annoying. Wish, Light Screen and Reflect. I use Growth a couple of times, get an X Special Def and a Dire Hit set up on Trunko so she can try and sweep. After a few turns, Cameron switches out Nurshary for Barracute, which I’ve never seen before. I’ve just finished setting up with Trunko, she’s ready to Razor Leaf everything to death... but the Barracute keeps making her flinch with Bite. Bite, flinch, Bite, flinch, super potion, Bite, Bite, flinch, over and over until it crits, and just like that, Trunko is gone.

This is when it hits me just how much trouble I’m in. I had two pokemon that were safe bets against this guy, and I’ve already lost one of them without landing a single hit on his team.

No time for dread. It’s all on Lady Glock now. 

I bring her in, use my one X Attack to make that Bullet Seed better, and demolish Barracute.

Glocto comes in. Reflect wears off. This matchup isn’t ideal. It’s level 30, and I’m guessing it’s a fire/water type, so we’re hitting each other for neutral damage. This match is an absolute slog. Miserable. It’s so bulky. My attacks are doing barely anything, and it’s threatening to knock me out in 3 hits, or 2 with a crit. I just have to keep on spamming super potions. But finally, finally, it goes down.

Scubug is also neutral to Bullet Seed, and I’m almost out of super potions. I’m really starting to sweat. It sets up Rain Dance, which doesn’t worry me at the time. It’s not even a critical hit that ends Lady Glock’s life. Just a rain-boosted Depth Charge. Turns out, Scubug is a monster in special attack.

Phage does her level best. Night Shade is the best counter I have to this thing, with its low health stat. But despite her own fantastic defensive stats, Phage is just too low a level to survive this thing. It should never have been her fight. Rest in peace, my favourite fat little shit.

I’m going to wipe. I know it. I’m going to lose before I can even finish the demo. I play it out anyway. A’Tuin comes in...

...and she survives the hit. Despite being weak to water, she does what Lady Glock and Phage couldn’t. And she strikes back and crushes Scubug under a Rock Slide.

Before now I’d never stopped to appreciate just how insanely high A’Tuin’s special defense is now that she’s evolved. Just Nurshary left. Maybe there’s hope after all?

Nurshary starts setting up screens again, and I use the opportunity to heal up. And then I start to set up. You see, A’Tuin knows both Amnesia and Curse. It takes some time, and the last of my potions and super potions, and a lot of cheri berries to get rid of the paralysis from Depth Charges, but A’Tuin is able to get to +6 in attack, defence and special defense. No amount of screens and wishing can protect Nurshary now.

Cameron is defeated. I claim my badge and make my exit. Professor Northington and Sequoia make an appearance for one last bit of exposition, hinting at a former partnership between Professors Mangrove and Northington, and the lengths Northington will go to to gain recognition again. And with that, I reach the end of the demo.

Closing thoughts:

This is the best Pokemon fan game/hack I have ever played. I liked Uranium a lot, but this knocks it out of the park to me, both in terms of Pokemon design, and game design. I cannot wait for the full release!

The only real criticism I have of the design so far is making the second gym steel type while continuing to use the Gen 5 type chart. Steel has so many resistances and there simply aren’t enough counters available in this game given the coverage moves and secondary types found in that gym. Either the type chart needs to be updated so that ghost and dark moves can be effective in that gym, or the player should be given a TM(s) for coverage moves, like Bulldoze or Brick Break.

Any other criticisms I have (missing move animations, some low-res spritework) I expect to be resolved in the full release.

Looks like beach weather

Losing Warbird sucked. But we’re in the final stretch now. And at least this time, when I lost a team member I have other pokemon ready to stand in for them. A’Tuin was bumped from the team to fit in Raid, but she’s my first choice to finish my lineup.

Now that Aurum is gone, I can finally head down Route 10.

Cute, but fragile, and I don’t need another fire type considering I’m heading towards a water gym.

After checking the wiki, I discover that A’Tuin doesn’t evolve by level up like I misremembered, but by moon stone, which means I have the means to evolve her whenever I want! I check her level up movelist, and decide to evolve her at 25 once she learns Rock Slide. As I focus on levelling her up, I also spare a little time for Cerrejon, who only needs one more level to learn Dig, at which point he’ll evolve as well!

A half hour or so later, I have a bad-ass Trenchula and Galaxagos on my side. Route 10 is smooth sailing, though Raid takes more of a beating from trainer pokemon than I’d like. But after that, I arrive at Andante Bay. Time for a beach episode!

...

Or maybe not. Beach is boring, let’s go loot NPC houses instead!

I find Professor “I’m not sketchy at all” Northington’s house, but it’s all locked up. I check out the lighthouse though, and am very glad I did. The lighthouse keeper charges me with some dangerous electrical DIY in the form of a neat little sliding puzzle, and after I save him an expensive callout charge from an electrician rewards me with a Good Rod!

Now, there’s a couple of places I could go back to to fish, but I know this is the last town in the game, so I settle for catching one thing here. 

A water/steel type? Heck to the yes, my dudes. Now, I love Raid. He’s adorable. But he hasn’t been pulling his weight since... well, ever, unfortunately. All the freebies he’s found me with Pickup have made up for that, but for the demo’s last challenge, it’s time for him to step aside. On top of that, I know that Crawglock can learn Bullet Seed, and I need another weapon against Andante’s gym.

Lady Glock is already level 24, and I’m eager to move on, so I use both of my rare candies on her.

Now I’ve got this sweet Crawglock of my own, and I’m ready to rumble. I load her up with Bullet Seed and head to the gym-

Only to be intercepted by my rival, Simon, who wants a rematch!

This battle is mostly straightforward, with my team being well equipped with type advantages to beat his. Phage takes a solid hit after I forget Llamarsh can learn Bite, but Trunko Pop comes in with the assist.

The real surprise comes with Florabri though. I bring in Pickle for a quick win, only for Florabri to nearly finish him with a single hit! No resistance to grass and a special defense down nature has turned this fire-vs-grass matchup on its head. Like so many of my problems, this one is solved by Phage, brought back up to nearly full health by Regenerator and more than tanky enough to whether some hits and scream the bird into submission.

Team Aurum returns... and a beloved friend is lost

With the Forge Badge in my pocket, it’s time we stop fighting and take in a little culture. Yep. That’s why I’m taking all my pokemon to the museum. For culture. Not because I’m expecting some kind of museum heist sub plot, just like in Emerald or Pokemon Black. The devs definitely didn’t telegraph anything like that.

And wouldn’t you know it, I go in and almost immediately the museum is robbed blind by Team Aurum, who were last seen hightailing it towards the Scrapyard. The gang toughs are still fighting the Aurum grunts, but they’ve moved over a bit, opening a path south. I charge into the Scrapyard and am stopped by a gang of grunts... and the true hero appears.

He announces himself as “PokeMAN” and taunts the grunts until they chase after him, opening a path for me.

No, I have no idea what’s going on either.

Anyway, there’s the standard grunt fights as I make my way through the Scrapyard. Mostly easy, but there’s a level 25 Kobalt that takes Pickle straight to 3hp with a critical Bite, which seriously gives me the fear. But we move on and reach the end of the path, where the Aurum admin is waiting.

(I might be EXTREMELY GAY for this woman)

Amber is without a doubt the scariest fight since that monster, Foster, and his Snome. Just like the grunt, Amber’s Kobalt hits incredibly hard. Pickle and Cerrejon aren’t tough enough to stand up to it, even with their type advantage, and its Trunko Pop who eventually takes it down.

Shelosene is similarly problematic. I try Raid, but despite the type advantage his defense is just too low to take more than one hit. Once again, Phage comes to the rescue and can wall the nasty steel type while whittling it down with Night Shade. Two down, one to go. Out comes Simayan. The evolved form of that little bugger who killed Shetland. Well, this time I know what type you are. I won’t be fooled twice! 

I’m confident Phage can take it down, but it uses Foresight, and suddenly Phage loses that crucial type immunity. But I got a hit in. That’ll do. I switch into Warbird. She’ll take a hit, but KO it on the crackback with a Jet Strike-

And just like that, Warbird is gone. It only took one Revenge from the Simayan. It wasn’t even a crit. It just hits that hard.

I switch Phage back in, immunity restored, hit it with Night Shade, switch into Cerrejon who’s just barely able to take the Revenge thanks to its typing, then finally back to Phage to finish it off. Team Aurum is foiled, several members are arrested, the museum curator is delighted and gives me an Itemfinder. Job done.

Dronia City, here I come

Route 7 isn’t too hazardous, though Raid’s low defenses make me a little worried. On the plus side, he has the Pickup ability! My finances have been pretty stretched all game, so those extra items are real handy.

I potter along, Raid leading the way to get as much experience as possible, and arrive in Dronia City. I spend some time looking around. Not much to do considering the size of the place. But I do get given the TM for Echoed Voice, one of my favourite moves! More to the point, this means that Phage now has a STAB move that actually uses her excellent special attack stat.

SHE SCREM

I also get given a pokemon egg, and part of Route 9 is accessible. I make a successful catch there, and mash my keyboard for a while until the egg is hatched. Introducing:

I’m not convinced that either is right for my team right now, so they go stay in the box. The rest of Route 9 is blocked off my Team Aurum grunts facing off against a gang of young toughs (gee, I wonder whose butts I’ll be kicking after the gym?). I’m pretty sure we’re underlevelled for the gym, so I spend some time grinding everyone to at least level 23 (starting with Raid, whose Pickup starts getting Super Potions once he’s past level 20). Eventually, I’m ready for Dronia’s steel type gym!

I’m a few levels higher than the gym trainers, but this game uses the gen 4 type chart, which means Steel has got way more resistances than is fair for this early in the game. I’m also running into stuff I’ve never seen before, so I’m having to guess what types and moves might be coming my way (I see water, fire and electric moves on top of all the steel stuff). Cerrejon and Pickle are up to the task, though I have to leave and heal up a couple of times. I’m a little embarrassed by how long the gym puzzle (redirecting flows of molten metal to clear a path through the gym) took me, but eventually I get to the leader, Stella.

(I might be a little gay for this woman).

Anvelid isn’t really a problem, but Clawglock is a nightmare. A fully evolved Steel/Water type? I get Pickle out of there ASAP, and consider my options. Cerrejon would be OHKOd as well. Warbird can’t touch it, nor can Raid. It’s up to Trunko Pop or Phage. I decide to lead with Trunko. It’s harsh, but if something goes wrong, I’d rather lose Trunko than Phage. I love that fat little shit too much. RNG is on my side this time, and Crawglock repeatedly misses with Mirror Shot (I don’t even want to think how much damage a Focus Energy/Sniper Mirror Shot would have done).

That just leaves her ace. Magnitogre. Him big. I try Rock Smashes, but they don’t do that much, and it’s hitting back for way more. I decide to try something else, and fight a tank with a tank of my own. Phage’s time to shine!

It’s a brutal slog. And it takes forever. Neither of us are hitting the other for much damage at all. I can’t try and spam Echoed Voice because I need to keep interrupting to heal. But Pawter found me a lot of potions, and eventually, Phage’s Night Shades take the living mountain down. 

So many new friends!

The fetch quest begins! I go all the way through Route 9 this time, and reach the Abandoned Observatory, where I catch the cutest mothercucking space turtle you’ll ever see, and immediately resolve to add her to the team when I get back to town. I run into a surprising situation in Starry Cave: I’ve already caught all the pokemon found there. There’s rocks to smash, but I’ve never hit a wild encounter through Rock Smash, so I assume that it hasn’t been implemented in the demo.

I pick up a big old chunk of radioactive crystal that will in no way cause me trouble down the line, find a Moon Stone hidden in a rock, and head out. On my way I break a couple more rocks, only to find a new friend after all!

Rocano also looks cool, but I literally have a Fire/Rock type already, and I’d sooner die than replace Pickle.

Back to town, and Aileen gets benched in favour of A’Tuin. In the meantime, I’ve found out about an event I missed earlier, so I go back through the Rustling Forest (god, please let me get Cut soon, I really want the shortcut so I can skip all that grass) to Dreamdery Ranch.

Now that I’ve revisited the ranch at night, I find that the cute floofy sheep pokemon are actually psychic vampires who feed off the sleeping rancher. Yikes. I beat one of them into submission and catch it! 

I know some people would argue that I shouldn’t have caught Baku since I’d already attempted my catch for the area, but my take on fixed encounters in nuzlockes is that so long as their base stat total is less than 600 and it’s a unique encounter, it’s all good.

Once again, back to the Legato Crossroads, to actually hand that fetch quest item back to the sketchy professor. Job done, and now I can head east. Route 7 has a new patch of grass. You know what that means!

LOOKIT DA PUPPY

So, Pawter is a water type. And I don’t have a water type. And even though I’ve only just began training up A’Tuin... I don’t need a second rock type on the team, not when other party members can learn Rock Tomb for coverage. Almost as soon as she makes the team, A’Tuin gets benched in favour of Raid (named for Raidramon, cause it’s a dog that I’m pretty sure from it’s colour scheme evolves into an electric type).

Sorry A’Tuin.

We take a detour on the long road to absolution...

Still carrying Shetland’s body, I make my way to Legato Crossroads and the pokemon centre as fast as I can. There’s a scripted scene where a rude NPC, presumably the man who stole my rival’s starter, walks into a saloon by the PMC. But we have other things to do before I subject my team to the inevitable pokemon battle following him is going to bring.

I’d used a repel to get through Route 4, to minimize the number of fights I got into before I could heal the team up, but once again, I need fresh blood if I’m going to make it through the game. Time to go hunting for new friends:

Aileen is named after a friend of mine who, like Tuliep, also keeps getting involved in heteronormative nonsense. Aileen’s a good kid, but she’s letting Team Bisexual down in a big way. Both Aileen and Trunko are grass types, but it only takes a few battles to show how fragile Aileen is in comparison. I need the extra bodies on the team for now, but as soon as I have the option I’m subbing her out for someone with better coverage.

Part way through this gameplay session I’m looking at the Urobos pokedex, browsing through some of the pokemon I could find on nearby routes, and while looking at Koblin again I discover I missed a whole route a while back! Way back before the first gym I missed an opportunity to go north and explore the Coal Mine off Tremol Town. Since I need to level up Aileen and Trunko, I decide to backtrack all the way there, grinding Trunko as I go.

I make my way back and quickly find a new team member!

This means yet more grinding to catch the level 4 Cerrejo up to the rest of the team, but it has good coverage, so I reckon it’s worthwhile. I run back to Legato Crossroads, switch training with Cerrejo and Trunko Pop as I go. 

It takes some time, but everyone bar Aileen hits at least level 18, and I feel ready for whatever the mysterious man in the saloon has to offer.

It turns out his name is Ricardo, he really is an asshole, and he was the pokemon thief. His Quibble isn’t all that scary, and Trunko Pop is a solid counter to the otherwise threatening Iguadium. But after a couple of easy KOs, he sends out Somberado. I haven’t looked this thing up, and I have no idea what it’s capable of, but it’s complex design smacks of a fully evolved pokemon.

It looks like a ghost, so Phage is probably my best bet. It leads with a Focus Energy, which immediately gives me the fear. I don’t want another Mycelium on my hands. Night Shade gets it for decent damage, but then it cracks back with a Faint Attack. Phage isn’t safe to have in there after all. I decide to try switching to Warbird, who’s currently my highest level pokemon. Fortunately, a brute force approach allows me to finish it with a Wing Attack/Jet Strike combo, and my team emerges relatively unscathed.

Phew.

More fanart of a certain flame goat 'u'

Kidling drawing

Thanks to yellowfur for designing this great Fakemon line up, the Kidling line is my favorite next to the Aquade line design wise for the starters, I would like to train both at some point, so I hope they figure out a way you can get all the starters within the same game Was just told, yeah, there's gonna be a way >:D YES