Pokémon Moon Blind Liveblog {25}

Greetings, friends, and welcome to A BLIND LIVEBLOG, POSSIBLY THE LAST ONE IN A WHILE. For tomorrow, school is starting, and after that time and priorities will be in flux for who knows how long.

I do know that last time I fought some Pokémon and ended it there. Today I’m starting off right here:

on the way to some ruins with Hapu. Lots of stuff to fight, items to grab, you know the drill. Let’s start things off with an exciting bullet point list of Ancient Poni Path!

-The first Pokémon I fight is a Sandshrew, but a regular one! Perhaps this sightseer is from Kanto.

-SHE HAS A VULPIX TOO

-TM Frost Breath found. Surprisingly, Branch can learn it. Groud-type solution for later?

-No new Pokémon on this route, still the same Pelippers and Raticates as last time. ugh

-There’s this little tide pool/geyser thing, and I’m not sure what it’s for, but it’s pretty.

This is the first postgame-restricted area in the game, iirc. Hmmmm.

With everything explored, I have just one path to take: east!

This place’s music is creepier than I was expecting.

With a name like ‘fin,’ I’m not surprised.

“That sounds promising” or “You think that’ll work?” I’m choosing the second one just because the item Mystic Water is generally not all that mysterious.

HAAAA SHE’S BLUSHING! WE TICKED HER OFF.

Leah has strengthened her resolve. This choice was successful.

WE’RE IN…..and I’m finally remembering that those ruins we fought Kahuna Olivia in front of also had a strength puzzle. Now that I have Machamp, maybe I’ll go back there….

Lillie….stop trying to move the rocks on your own. You kinda need a Pokémon for this one.

“And we find ourselves getting frustrated, we should probably step outside for a bit of perspective.” Hey, that’s an interesting way of explaining why the rocks move back into place!!

Strength Puzzles let’s GO!

To my deep sorrow, as soon as I get on Machoke, the mysterious ruins music is replaced by the Ride Pager theme. I’m getting out of here just to reset it.

First two moves and I get myself stuck. THAT’S OKAY, I’M JUST EXPERIMENTING.

Puzzle complete! Not so hard.

I’d call them “finicky.” Nebby looks cool like this, though, I have to admit. I wonder what type it is…

IT’S HAPU, AND SHE’S MORE MAGICAL THAN WE THOUGHT!

Hmm. Z-Crystal? Or some other magic talisman?

KAHUNA CONFIRMATION. I am 90% sure we didn’t exactly know she was THE kahuna before this.

Hapu. why are you smug about this.

She remembers that Tapu Koko gave me a crystal, even though I’m not from this island….I forgot about that! Lore coming in from all corners.

Soooo Hapu’s grandfather was a kahuna, but he died, and she was his replacement.

Or, was it not that simple?

that- that is absolutely not how moon is spelled but ok

Terrible person, terrible mother, but Lillie still wants to rescue Lusamine. She has UNFINISHED BUSINESS.

Wait, really?? How’s Hala doing, then??

We need some flutes for this whole legendary thing to work. Lillie’s still got the Sun Flute, but the Moon Flute is on Exeggutor Island….not the name I wouldn’t chosen for any place, but all right!

Time to head back. I will now return to Seafolk Village…….is what I WOULD say if I weren’t doing a sidequest!!!!

I have returned to the Ruins of Life. ALL RIGHT, TAPU WHOEVER YOU ARE, LET’S SEE WHAT YOU HAVE TO OFFER.

The puzzle was a tiny bit longer, but it’s no different than Tapu Fini’s shrine was. I have angered the gods by attempting to be smart and backtrack.

Okay okay guys NOW we’ll go to that island.

Hapu left before we said goodbye! I like her. I like that she and Lillie are friends.

Ohhhh….Lillie told the seafolk chief guy that Hapu was JUST made kahuna, like, as we were watching. I thought she’d just been there a lot. Well, hey, mazel tov!

WHO IS THIS. Agh why can’t I keep up with all these captains and kahunas and unique character sprites. Working theory, it’s Plumeria. Just because she hasn’t really…done anything? You know?

I would 100% ride this boat.

We made it! Forwards!

oh god something’s happening

WE FINALLY MEET ALOLAN EXEGGUTOR! God this thing is ridiculous. Why would you make it so TALL. Mallah’s using Foul Play and it’s not super effective, so is it not even Psychic-type anymore?

We have successfully captured it!

SERIOUSLY IT’S HUGE????

And it’s a Grass/Dragon type, my god. I might actually bring this thing onto my Grass team. I have a regular Exeggutor named Over Easy, and she has a neat Trick Room + Harvest strategy, but it’s a little hard to pull off?? Who knows what THIS can accomplish!

Her name is Nanafua. I welcome thee, large friend.

Exploration only yields more eggs, so we’re gonna go into this cave now.

Uhhh…is it unusual?

“I’d seen it in a movie…this man singing and dancing in the rain.” SIIIIIIIIINGIN IN THE RA-

Oh. Oh wow. That’s a very interesting memory to hang onto.

Power of Protagonist yo

Yes, Lillie? ahhhh i am captivated ;~;

“Fill my Pokedex,” “Get stronger,” or “I don’t know.” Definitely fill the dex. Or if you want specific terms, I’m going to retire and become a Grass-type breeder and raise a whole bunch of Pokémon and enter into high-stakes legendary-filled battles the likes of which you’ve never seen.

Lillie wants to become a Trainer! Yes! Follow your dreams, girl! Can’t wait to see your team!

Just look at these beans. I can’t stop thinking about the massive number of ships this must have inspired.

Suddenly – SHOOTING STARS? ARE YOU KIDDING (that would totally have been a rainbow if we’d been doing this in the morning. which would have just cemented the gay)

And were back into free exploration mode. Ooh, just found a Prism Scale.

They definitely didn’t try to hide it!

And we’re back in Seafolk Village. Awww. That was nice. That was really nice.

Vast Poni Canyon is next, and I’m gonna explore it just a little. We’re just past the 1000-word mark, which is usually when I start wrapping up, but we can at least look around a bit, right?!

OH JEEZ THESE GUYS STILL EXIST.

Now I’m battling. But these guys actually just seem to want to rescue Guzma. Come ON you just have to ASK

OH HECK! PLUMERIA’S WATCHING FROM AFAR. WHAT’D I JUST SAY?

Battle won without too much headache, though I had to do some swapping. Everyone’s level 44 now, though!

KNEW IT.

That’s a pretty fun place to sit, too.

So what’s she referring too?? What did Lillie and Plumeria talk about? What’s their history?? How did Guzma get involved with this?!?

We’re getting ALL the Lusamine character exploration today, yes please.

s-sick burn…?

“And you, Leah. Looks like you were special after all.” You know…in that one line of dialogue, for a second there, I totally forgot that my name is interchangeable with any other name on the planet, that this character is a placeholder for all the other people playing this game. The life that Lillie and even Plumeria have right now gave Leah her own presence. Kudos to you, Pokémon. Makin’ me finally feel like the player character has a personality!

“Take good care of our little princess here.” HELL yes I will, she is the realest princess in the Pokémon world

Nice! Maybe Branch can give it a try.

And there goes Plumeria, and I get a heal from Lillie.

Of course!!!….IN THE NEXT EPISODE!

That episode ended up more emotionally charged than I was expecting, and I loved every second of it. Black and White was/is the game with the MOST character in it, because of N, Cheren, Bianca, and most of the Gym leaders. But there’s also a kind of presence in it, like it’s trying very hard to create good character moments. Lillie and Gladion and Hau trucked along one-dimensionally for a couple islands, but now I really feel like they are Great Characters that we were allowed to bond with and learn about organically. And it didn’t use any introduction like “This is Cheren! He is studious but hardworking and your best friend.” Basically, BW was Pokemon’s experiment with a good character-based adventure, and SM is letting those aspects blend together a little more genuinely. That make any sense?

Regardless. I will see you all next time for an exciting altar altercation!

~*MissMash*~