Pokemon Variants

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Pokémon variants I found hard to get into for the most part, Nuzlocke's are too frustrating when you have to spend hours grinding new mons up after "deaths", randomizers feel cheap when random Gravelers end up with megahorn and OHKO your Celebi. They definitely aren't for everyone.

I did play a solo pokemon playthrough of FireRed with a Beedrill once, despite its limited movepool (ended up with Twineedle/Return/Brick Break/some defence boosting move) it ended up being a breeze except against Agatha and her Gengar's which resisted my moves. I think that run ended with Beedrill taking 2 KO's but it could easily have been 0 since both faints were avoidable.

The other variant I recall playing was an ingame trade only run, while I didn't research it beforehand, fortunately I chose a White/Black 2 which had very solid trade mons available, the only issue was I had to win 2 gym badges before any were even obtainable! So it was a solo starter run before I could make a trade, after that there's not many mons you could obtain before the end of the main story and 2 of them are grass types (I swear it was 4 mons but bulbapedia suggests its 3). After finishing the postgame content it was the pokemon game that ended with the highest level mon I've used in these games with a level 91 Ambipom.

I guess you kept Harden on your Beedrill, maybe?  That's the main "defense boosting move" I can think of at the moment.

How was the story mode of Black/White 2?  Was it as linear as the first game?  Did the enemy trainers bother to evolve their Pokemon in a timely manner? 

I've started a Butterfree solo run of Moon, and I'll post it on Realms Beyond later.  It's still a Caterpie right now, and I managed to beat the first trainer's Alolan Rattata with it at level 5.  Do NPC trainers decide to quit Pokemon battling if they lose to a solo Caterpie?  Chances are Butterfree won't be as overleveled as Simipour, because the Lucky Egg is only in the postgame this time.  

The luck based elements like critical hits and accuracy make it hard for me to like Nuzlockes or other permadeath variants.  It sounds like a variant that's more fun to watch or read about than to play.

[Dantski]

Pokémon variants I found hard to get into for the most part, Nuzlocke's are too frustrating when you have to spend hours grinding new mons up after "deaths", randomizers feel cheap when random Gravelers end up with megahorn and OHKO your Celebi. They definitely aren't for everyone.

I did play a solo pokemon playthrough of FireRed with a Beedrill once, despite its limited movepool (ended up with Twineedle/Return/Brick Break/some defence boosting move) it ended up being a breeze except against Agatha and her Gengar's which resisted my moves. I think that run ended with Beedrill taking 2 KO's but it could easily have been 0 since both faints were avoidable.

The other variant I recall playing was an ingame trade only run, while I didn't research it beforehand, fortunately I chose a White/Black 2 which had very solid trade mons available, the only issue was I had to win 2 gym badges before any were even obtainable! So it was a solo starter run before I could make a trade, after that there's not many mons you could obtain before the end of the main story and 2 of them are grass types (I swear it was 4 mons but bulbapedia suggests its 3). After finishing the postgame content it was the pokemon game that ended with the highest level mon I've used in these games with a level 91 Ambipom.

I guess you kept Harden on your Beedrill, maybe?  That's the main "defense boosting move" I can think of at the moment.

How was the story mode of Black/White 2?  Was it as linear as the first game?  Did the enemy trainers bother to evolve their Pokemon in a timely manner? 

I've started a Butterfree solo run of Moon, and I'll post it on Realms Beyond later.  It's still a Caterpie right now, and I managed to beat the first trainer's Alolan Rattata with it at level 5.  Do NPC trainers decide to quit Pokemon battling if they lose to a solo Caterpie?  Chances are Butterfree won't be as overleveled as Simipour, because the Lucky Egg is only in the postgame this time.  

The luck based elements like critical hits and accuracy make it hard for me to like Nuzlockes or other permadeath variants.  It sounds like a variant that's more fun to watch or read about than to play.

Yeah probably was Harden, Beedrill main problem was defence so boosting and healing was the best way to get through trainers like Lance, I didn't have as many problems vs special attackers since the best special attacking gym leaders often were psychic types and Twineedle would take them out without a problem.

I enjoyed BW2, it adds a starting island SW of Castelia City for some different routes/areas and you also take an alternative route in the main story. Was it linear? Yes, but as long as there's not too many frustrating routes/caves that's not an issue for me (I really dislike Chargestone cave in both versions without repels). I don't recall about random trainers evolving their mons, its still better than the earlier pokemon games for that though.

Butterfree sounds like an awkward solo run since I typically think of it as a mon that relies on inflicting status conditions, does it learn anything useful vs Rock or Steel types?

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Butterfree can learn Energy Ball through TM later in the game to deal with Rock types.  Steel types may still be a problem.  Maybe Shadow Ball because Ghost hits Steel for neutral damage since generation 6?  The "Compoundeyes" accuracy boosting Ability should make status ailment moves reliable.  It can learn Quiver Dance for +1 Special Attack, +1 Special Defense, and +1 Speed via level too.

I used Repels for most of my Simipour playthrough.  No point in catching most Pokemon if you're a solo character, and the encounter rate in White is high even outside of caves.  Sometimes it only takes one step to get into another random battle in that game.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Time to post the beginning of the Butterfree solo none of you have been waiting for!

Butterfree's base stats:

HP:  60
Attack:  45
Defense:  50
Special Attack:  90
Special Defense:  80
Speed:  70

Having a 395 base stat total hurts, especially for a fully-evolved Pokemon like Butterfree.  Simipour has a 498 base stat total, if you want to compare Butterfree to my previous solo.  The Bug/Flying typing has many weaknesses, including Fire, Flying, Electric, and Ice.  Worst of all is its double weakness to Rock.

Butterfree has an Ability that makes up for its flaws somewhat.  Compoundeyes increases the accuracy of all its moves by 30%, including normally unreliable ones such as Sleep Powder.  As long as Butterfree can go first and its opponent isn't immune to Sleep Powder, it can set up in relative safety.  It also learns the powerful buff Quiver Dance at level 47 to boost its Special Attack, Special Defense, and Speed by one stage per use.  Bug Buzz and Air Slash can take advantage of the same type attack bonus, but do not provide adequate coverage against certain defensive types like Steel that resist them.

I play 6th and 7th generation Pokemon games in Spanish to practice my vocabulary and maybe learn a few idioms too.  The Spanish dialogue is usually fine, but some of the attack names make no sense.  (E.g. Focus Blast, a move with a 30% failure rate, is called "Onda Certera" or "Accurate Wave".)  Now, on to the playthrough itself:  



It took around 20 minutes or so to get my starter. The start to 1st Pokemon time is way too long in this game. Is it better or worse in the Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon remakes? It took a few tries to find a Caterpie in the Route 1 grass. It was level 2 with an "Alocada" (Rash) nature and the "Es extremadamente curioso" characteristic. I accidentally left the screen without giving him a nickname. Maybe "Zhuangzi", after the Chinese philosopher? "Mariposa", because I'm playing in Spanish? Or possibly "Fireburn". He used to use a Butterfree in his 4th generation Wifi battles if I'm thinking of the right person. . .

A level 2 Caterpie wasn't going to survive on its own, so I did the bait-and-switch trick with Popplio to get it up to 3. At level 3, Caterpie could beat the Route 1 wild Pokemon. It's funny watching a Caterpie "Placaje" (Tackle) everything to death! I leveled Caterpie up to 5 this way.

The first trainer was a young boy who was throwing a Poke Ball up and down. He said "Cuando las miradas de dos Entrenadores se cruzan. . .¡Comienza el combate!" ("When the glances of two Trainers cross, the fight begins!") El Joven Luis sent out a level 3 Alolan Rattata. Its Tackles decreased Caterpie's HP to 8, so I was worried that I would have to add a Death Count this early. Fortunately, Rattata wasted its last turn using "Látigo" (Tail Whip. "Whip" is a literal translation) instead of Tackle. Luis said "¡Aaah! !He perdido, pero mi corazón late a mil por hora!" ("I have lost, but my heart beats a thousand times an hour!") Do kids quit Pokemon when they are defeated by a single Caterpie?

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Here's part 2 of the Butterfree solo:


La Chica Úrsula on Route 1 said “Somos uña y carne” before the fight to emphasize her close relationship with her sister. Literally, this means “We’re fingernail and flesh”. It seems to be the Spanish equivalent of “two peas in a pod”. She sent out a level 3 Caterpie, so the fight was mostly a Tackle exchange. A “Disparo Demora” (String Shot, literally “Delay Shot”) reduced my Speed enough to make the enemy Caterpie go first, but that wasn’t enough for her to win. After my Caterpie defeated Úrsula, she said “Para ti hemos sido carne de cañón” (“For you, we have been cannon fodder”). Talking to Úrsula again revealed that she doesn’t have a sister. “Hermanita” is her Caterpie’s nickname because her dad caught it for her when she was born.



Caterpie couldn’t survive the battle with “Tilo” (Hau) without excessive grinding. Pichu outsped it and decreased its Attack to nothing with “Encanto” (Charm). Thundershock paralyzed it too. I had to resort to the bait-and-switch trick with Popplio to defeat both Pichu and Litten. I’ll have to do this at least until Caterpie gets to level 9 and learns Bug Bite. This isn’t like the White playthrough where SeeNoEvil was ready to go right away!



“Kaudan” (Hala) gave me the “Pulsera Z” (Z Bracelet) and introduced the primary new 7th generation mechanic. If a Pokemon holds a Z Crystal, it may power up one of its moves into a “Z Move” once per fight. Scald, for example, would become the much stronger Hydro Vortex. Kukui discussed the “Recorrido Insular” (Island Challenge, “Island Journey”), which is Pokemon Sun and Moon’s replacement for Gyms. Alola is a more traditional region than the rest of the Pokemon world, and doesn’t have a Pokemon League until the end of the story. Trainers therefore go on the Island Challenge and battle the 4 Kahunas and Totem Pokemon instead.



A trainer couldn’t control his Tauros, so it was blocking the way to the nearest city. The linearity of this game is as obvious as it was in White. “Lylia” (Lillie) prevented me from going back to “Pueblo Lilii” (Iki Town) by asking “¿Adónde vas?” (Where are you going?). Beating up wild Pokemon eventually brought Caterpie up to level 10 so it could be a viable solo at last! I delayed the Metapod evolution until level 9, because Caterpie learns “Picadura” (Bug Bite, “Sting/Bite from a bug/snake”) then, and a Bug type move would be super effective against the first Totem Pokemon later on.



After visiting Kukui, the Tauros moved out of the way and I could go to ”Ciudad Haouli” Hau’oli City. Lillie and Kukui frog-marched me to the Trainer School and told me to defeat 4 trainers. Anyone who complains about “hand-holding” in modern games has a point when it comes to Sun and Moon! The NPC hand gestures give them the same “uncanny valley” effect as the residents of Soleanna in Sonic 06, and my character has a creepy blank stare too.



The trainers were easy with an early fully evolved Pokemon like Butterfree. I was concerned about Bonsly because it was a Rock type, but all it did was use “Copión” to copy my Gust. Even though Bonsly’s Gust was super effective, it did very little damage because its Special Attack was abysmal. I equipped the “Garra Rápida” (Quick Claw) I acquired inside the school because I had no better items for Butterfree to hold at the time.  The Quick Claw has a random chance of making you go first even if your Speed is lower than the opponent. Alolan Pokemon in general are so slow that Butterfree would probably outspeed them anyway. The “Avivar” (Hone Claws, “Stoke Up”) TM was useless to Butterfree, as indicated by the “No puede” message.



One thing that confused me a bit was a difference in the Spanish language. After beating the trainers, I was told to go to the “primer piso” (1st floor). Then I remembered that they actually meant the 2nd floor, because “la planta baja” is used for the ground floor in Spanish. A Magnemite’s Thundershock led to the introduction of the Death Count.



Death Count: 1



Making my Butterfree chug Potions was the key to success against Profesora Julia’s Magnemite. I tried confusing it with. . .Confusión, but that didn’t work. A Bug Bite finished it off. I was paranoid about losing when Alolan Meowth appeared, so I gave Butterfree another Potion. One Bug Bite was enough to finish off the Dark type regional variant. “Capitán Liam” (Iliam) challenged me to come to “Cueva Sotobosque” (Verdant Cavern) and face the first trial of the Island Challenge.



Butterfree had to deal with something much worse than enemy Pokemon: unskippable cutscenes! Someone should tell Lillie and Hau to shut up every once in a while. The first Team Skull Grunt (“Recluta” in Spanish) appeared in the south side of the city, and his Zubat died in one hit to Confusion. Ilima was much more difficult. Yungoos wasn’t too much of a problem, but Smeargle outsped Butterfree and eventually did him in with a critical hit Tackle.



Death Count: 2



Good thing you lose less money when you get a Game Over in Moon than in the previous games! I knew it was going to be a hard playthrough when I lost to a Smeargle, a Pokemon renowned for its terrible stats.



A woman in a wide-brimmed hat gave me an X Defend and told me that X items now increase stats by two stages instead of 1 like in the older games. This makes many buffing moves irrelevant for the main story unless you’re doing a “no items in battle” playthrough, and X items will be quite useful for Butterfree if they’re commonly available. The man beside her gave me an X Attack. I might save that for the Totem Pokemon coming up.



Beating up a trainer’s Pikachu in the Hau’oli Cemetery leveled Butterfree up to 13 so he could learn “Somnífero” (Sleep Powder). Sleep Powder normally has an unreliable 75% accuracy, but the Compoundeyes ability increases it to the point where it rarely fails. Since generation 6, “powder” status ailment moves don’t work on Grass types, but both Bug and Flying are strong against Grass anyway, so Butterfree will have the advantage. I’ll be using Sleep Powder for the rest of the game on anything that Butterfree can’t kill in one turn.



Route 2 was easy even without using Sleep Powder most of the time. Team Skull’s Drowzee went down to a single Bug Bite because of its Psychic type. I’ll have to remember that Drowzee and Hypno have the Insomnia ability that grants Sleep immunity when fighting them in the future. The local Pokemon Center sold X items. The defensive versions of these items were noticeably more expensive. In the 7th generation, they have finally figured out supply and demand. A man outside of the Pokemon Center told me that critical hits only hit for 1.5 times normal damage instead of twice as much like in the older games.


A barricade prevented me from going north, so it was off to Verdant Cavern to face the first trial.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

The Verdant Cavern trial involved fighting a few Alolan Rattatas that went down quickly to Bug Bite.  Team Skull showed up to interrupt the trial, but I told them I didn’t remember them from the berry patch just to mess with them.  After his Drowzee died to two Bug Bites, one Grunt said “¡No busques en diccionarios ni en tesauros, este Entrenador es más fuerte que un Tauros!” (“Don’t look in a dictionary or a thesaurus/This Trainer is stronger than a Tauros!”)  Whatever flaws the Spanish translation has, it gets the silly rapper theme of Team Skull right.

 
The Totem Pokemon was a level 12 Raticate that had an automatic Defense buff.  Sleep Powder on the first turn disabled it for much of the fight, but it was still somehow able to summon an Alolan Rattata to fight by its side.  The Rattata used Focus Energy to increase its critical hit rate and Tail Whip to reduce Butterfree’s Defense.  Totem Raticate woke up after a while and used Scary Face to debuff Speed by 2 stages.  A few lucky Quick Claw activations allowed Butterfree to get in the 3rd Bug Bite and kill the Totem Raticate.  One more Bug Bite defeated the Rattata ally. 

This battle was why I delayed Caterpie’s evolution to Metapod to level 9, since the Alolan Rattata family is Dark type and therefore weak to Bug.  No healing or X items were required to win at level 15.  Butterfree faced the screen and flapped its wings triumphantly after the message “¡Has derrotado al Raticate dominante!”  (“You’ve defeated the Totem Raticate!”) appeared.

 
The reward for the battle was the Normal Z Crystal, which was useless for Butterfree.  Most Normal attacks are physical, and Butterfree’s not going to hit anything hard with Return with that base 45 Attack stat.

 
Professor Kukui gave a mandatory tutorial on Z moves, and used “Carrera Arrolladora” (Breakneck Blitz.  The meaning is closer to “Overpowering Run” in Spanish).  After finding Lillie’s Cosmog in the “Jardines de Melemele” (Melemele Meadow), Hau challenged me to another battle.  Since both his Pokemon could hit Butterfree with super effective attacks, I made sure to put them to sleep.  Confusion killed Pikachu, and Gust took out Litten.  Sleep is such a powerful ailment in this series that competitive battlers have a house rule that prohibits you from putting more than one Pokemon on your opponent’s team to sleep at a time.
 
Defeating Entrenador Promesa Hugo’s Growlithe leveled Butterfree to 17 and let me replace the 50 base power Confusion with the superior base 65 “Psicorrayo” (Psybeam).  Psybeam still has a confusion chance, so there was no reason to keep Confusion.
 
Everyone talks like a Spaniard in this translation.  Characters say “tío” (“uncle”) to mean something like “dude” or “guy”, and “vale” to mean “OK”.  Nobody says these things in the Mexican telenovelas I watch, or the Argentine comic strip Mafalda that I often read.  The preterite tense is rare, and in general the present perfect tense is preferred.  Is that a Spain thing, or is it because the game is meant for young children or something?
 

The only place left on Melemele Island was Iki Town, and it was time to fight the first Kahuna.  Hala specialized in Fighting types, one of the few elements that Butterfree had an advantage against.  I didn’t even have to bother putting Mankey and Makuhita to sleep.  I should have used Psybeam on Mankey instead of Gust, but I wasn’t thinking properly at the time.  Mankey got in a Pursuit, but Butterfree wasn’t switching out, so it only had 40 base power.  Makuhita got in a Fake Out (high priority 40 base power Normal attack), which was irritating.  Sleep Powder made Crabrawler useless while Butterfree zapped it with Psybeams.  Crabrawler’s Z move would have been worthless since both Bug and Flying resist Fighting.

 
After enduring the post-battle cutscenes, I received the False Swipe TM, the Fighting Z Crystal, and the ability to ride Tauros outside of battle.  One nice feature in Sun and Moon is the fact that you no longer need to teach Pokemon HM moves to navigate the world, since you can now summon non-combat Pokemon to do the same things.  Tauros is a replacement for the Bicycle and the Rock Smash move.
 
On Akala Island, I renamed Butterfree “Firestorm” after the Smogon user who had a Butterfree in his Wifi battles.  Firestorm unfortunately failed in the first battle with his new name against “Sina”.  Butterfree couldn’t put Delibird to sleep due to its Vital Spirit ability, so its Presents took it down to about half health.  Next came Glaceon, who took out Firestorm with one Icy Wind after it woke up.
 

Death Count:  3

 
I didn’t want to use X items so early in the game if I could avoid it, so this was probably a preventable death.  The next route was easy, and led to the “Rancho Ohana” (Paniola Ranch).  Hau greeted me with a battle, and his Pikachu decided to use Quick Attack instead of Thundershock.  Maybe he knew it couldn’t stand up to Sleep Powder?  Torracat outsped Butterfree and knocked it out in one hit with “Colmillo Ígneo”  (Fire Fang).
 

Death Count:  4

 
Fortunately for me, the game advanced the plot with no loss other than pride.  Never pick Popplio at the beginning if you’re playing a Bug solo, kids!    Another trainer’s Carbink woke up early and hit Butterfree with the Rock type “Antiáereo” (Smack Down), for another addition to the


 
Death Count:  5

 
To avoid increasing the Death Count to the double digits before the 2nd trial, I’ll probably need to take advantage of Affection benefits as well as X items.  Grinding wouldn’t help much thanks to the experience curve from Black and White punishing high level Pokemon.  “Affection” refers to a feature introduced in the 6th generation that lets you feed Pokemon and pet them.  This makes them like you more, and gives many benefits in the single player mode.  A Pokemon with high Affection can sometimes dodge attacks more often, get more critical hits, gain more experience, and endure fatal attacks with 1 HP.  When you’re using a solo Butterfree, you have to fight dirty, and I’ll be taking advantage of Pokemon Refresh.
 

I had to have my revenge on Aristócrata Regina, so I went back to try again.  Carbink was asleep for a few turns before using Smack Down again.  It left Firestorm with 4 HP, so I had some hope. . .until she used a Full Restore!  Rich characters in Pokemon games often use Full Restores long before you can buy them.  After putting Carbink to sleep again, it woke up early and used Sharpen to buff its Attack.  Another Sleep Powder allowed me to use an X Special and hit it with Psybeams until it died.  Fireburn gained a level and replaced Bug Bite with Silver Wind, a Bug type special move with the same base power that has a chance of buffing all stats.    
 
Going near the Pokemon Center on Route 5 led me into a battle with Gladion, the other rival of this game.  His Zubat died to a single Psybeam, but Type:Null was tougher.  Type:Null is the only Pokemon I know of that has a different name in Spanish:  Código Cero, or “Code Zero” in English.  It can change types if it holds certain items, but here, it was in its default Normal type state.  Putting it to sleep helped quite a bit.  The second Silver Wind buffed all of Butterfree’s stats, but I ran out of PP and had to finish the fight with Psybeam.  I had a close call with the Death Count when Type:Null got a critical hit Tackle, but it wasn’t enough to finish off Firestorm. 

 
The next trial was at “Colina Saltagua” (Brooklet Hill, “Jumpwater Hill” literally), and was rather short.  After defeating the small Wishiwashi, a giant one appeared as the 2nd Totem Pokemon.  It had a Defense buff aura, and the weather effect was Rain to boost its Water attacks by 50%.  Wishiwashi is a gimmick Pokemon with the ability Schooling.  If Wishiwashi is at least level 20 and has more than 25% of its current HP, its base stats will be similar to legendary Pokemon, except for pitiful HP and Speed.  If it’s at critical HP, it reverts to a tiny fish with most of its base stats in the 20s.  Think of it as a less crippling version of Archeops’s Defeatist Ability.
 

Since there was no way my level 21 Butterfree was going to survive a Rain boosted Water attack from a Wishiwashi with base 140 Special Attack, I immediately used Sleep Powder.  At the end of the turn, the Totem Pokemon summoned a small Wishiwashi that used Helping Hand to boost the big Wishiwashi’s attack power by 50%.  The Totem Pokemon’s AI was stupid when it woke up and used Soak instead of an attacking move.  Soak changes the target Pokemon’s type to pure Water.  It has some uses in competitive matches, such as getting around poison immunities on Steel and Poison Pokemon, but it did no good here.  Two or so Silver Winds reduced the Totem Wishiwashi to critical HP.  It’s funny to look at a wimpy fish with the Totem aura!  J  Two more Silver Winds finished off both Wishiwashis.           

 
Before that trial, Nereida gave me the ability to summon Lapras to ride on water.  This is a replacement for the Surf HM from earlier games.  However, Surf is one of the few HM moves that’s good in combat, and every special attacking Water type would have loved having that move so early.  To compensate for this, some developer thought putting the Scald TM on Brooklet Hill was a good idea.  If you’ve read my Pokemon White Simipour playthrough, you’d know how effective an early Scald can be.  After completing the trial, Nereida awarded me the Water Z Crystal.  Does anyone else think the Sun and Moon  developers were overly fond of Water types? 
 
Team Skull appeared again, and Hela said something about “como Pedro por su casa”.  Who is Pedro?  Well, it’s a Spanish expression that means “to feel at home”.  Sometimes you learn things by playing Pokemon in your second language!  The Team Skull Grunt sent out a Drowzee that died to one Silver Wind.  The message “¡Toma ya! (“Take that!”) appeared when that happened.  Maybe it was an Affection-triggered critical? 

 
Everyone urged me to try out a Battle Royale at the local stadium, so of course I was forced to do it.  Battle Royale is a new format where 4 people send out 1 Pokemon at a time and have them fight it out.  Whoever has the most points at the end is the winner.  Gladion had Type:Null, Hau had Torracat, and the “masked man” who’s obviously not Kukui had Rockruff. 

 
GameFreak’s graphical ambitions for Sun and Moon were too great for older models of the 3DS, so my system lagged during this fight.  I tried to use Sleep Powder on Rockruff, but it Protected on the first turn and its Vital Spirit ability blocked Sleep on the second.  This is what I get for not looking up every Pokemon on Serebii before fighting them.  On turn 2, everyone ganged up on poor Butterfree.   Torracat used Breakneck Blitz, Type:Null used Tackle, and Rockruff used. . .some Rock move.

 
Death Count:  6  

 
Kiawe was impressed by my failure and suggested going to Wela Volcano Park for the next trial.  After defeating one trainer and his Kadabra, he said “¡Quiero que Kadabra evolucione!  Pero no tengo a ningún amigo con quien intercambiarlo. . .” (“I want Kadabra to evolve!  But I don’t have a friend to trade with. . .”)  Everyone who’s played the older Pokemon games can sympathize with you, my friend.  Trade evolutions shouldn’t exist.  As you might expect, the Wela Volcano Park trial involves Fire type Pokemon.  Yet another reason why Water types are favored in this game. . .

 
The first battle was against the Ghost/Fire Alolan Marowak.  It woke up early from a Sleep Powder and started using Flame Wheel.  Since the first Psybeam took it below half health,  I thought I’d try to knock it out with a second instead of taking a chance of a first turn awakening with Sleep Powder.  It barely missed the KO, and Marowak hit with a second Flame Wheel.  Firestorm endured the hit with 1 HP thanks to its Affection!

 
Survive With 1 HP Count:  1
 

Magmar was easy because it used Clear Smog instead of a Fire attack.  Totem Salazzle, on the other hand, was not.  Salazzle’s 117 base Speed is not only fast for Alola, but places it well above many competitively viable Pokemon from previous generations too.  There was no way Firestorm could outspeed it naturally. 

 
On the first turn, it used Torment to prevent me from using the same move twice in a row.  A Sleep Powder made it snooze for a while, but then its companion Salandit proved to be a pain too.  It hit Firestorm with Poison attacks and Taunted him to disable Sleep Powder.  Then Salazzle woke up and started hitting me with Flame Burst, a 70 base power Fire special attack.  Firestorm endured the second one, but poison damage knocked him out anyway.

 
Survive With 1 HP Count:  2
Death Count:  7



 
The Quick Claw got in some lucky first strikes, but Salazzle still woke up too soon.  Even with an X Special, it would take 2 hits with Psybeam unless I got a critical hit.  Butterfree endured a hit again, but two Fire types pounding on him was too much. 

 
Survive With 1 HP Count:  3
Death Count:  8
 

On the third try, I decided to use both Rare Candies to level Firestorm to 27.  After Salazzle used Torment on the first turn, I put it to sleep.  If I used both a Dire Hit and an X Special, I could knock out the Totem Pokemon in one hit with Psybeam if I got a critical hit.  Firestorm did get a critical hit. . .via Affection, not the Dire Hit. The Quick Claw activated that turn too.  Good job, Butterfree!  He also dodged a couple of moves from the Salandit with Affection bonuses too.  Affection may sound overpowered, but you need every advantage you can get with a solo Butterfree.  You need luck too, because all the stars aligned properly for this attempt.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

If you want to know how a lone Butterfree beats a Rock type specialist, the secret is "luck".  


“Jungla Umbría” (Lush Jungle, “Shady Jungle” literally) had the easiest Totem Pokemon. Lurantis is normally a slow Pokemon, but its Totem aura increased its Speed to the point where it outsped Firestorm. I used an X Special on the first turn to ensure I would get a one hit KO when Butterfree used Silver Wind, even if that might not have been necessary. That’s probably because I had such a hard time with Lurantis the first time I played Moon. Solar Blade combined with Sun weather is a deadly combination to anything that doesn’t double resist Grass like Butterfree.



Lurantis’s ally Trumbeak was more dangerous than its master, so Sleep Powder was necessary to avoid Flying moves. Sleep Powder wouldn’t have affected Lurantis, so I went for Silver Wind. Lurantis died in one hit, so my plan worked! After winning the battle, I got the Grass Z Crystal, which is relevant to Firestorm for once. If Sleep Powder is used as a Z move, Butterfree gets a Speed buff. This is much more reliable than the Quick Claw, and I’ll likely use it for the remainder of the game.



Beating up the trainers in Diglett’s Tunnel, Memorial Hill, and Akala Outskirts leveled up Firestorm to 31, allowing me to replace Silver Wind with the far superior base 90 power Bug Buzz. Unfortunately, several of these trainers had Fairy types that resisted Bug. Bug was already a weak type, GameFreak! Why do you have to make your powerful new type resist it?



The next Kahuna “Mayla” (Olivia) used the worst type possible for Butterfree: Rock. The first attempt involved a lot of bad luck, since Nosepass kept waking up early from Sleep Powder. Butterfree hung on after the first “Avalancha” (Rock Slide), but the second was too much for him.

Survive With 1 HP Count: 4

Death Count: 9



I was much luckier on the second try. Not more skilled. On the turn Olivia used a Full Heal to wake up Nosepass, I used an X Special. A Psybeam and a Bug Buzz killed it after Olivia healed Nosepass with a Super Potion. I had the horrifying realization that Midnight Lycanroc had the Vital Spirit ability after attempting to use Sleep Powder on it, but Firestorm’s high Affection made it dodge a “Lanzarrocas” (Rock Throw). One boosted Bug Buzz took it out, since Lycanroc is unusually fragile for a Rock type. Good thing I used Z Sleep Powder for the Speed boost at the beginning! After that came Boldore, a more conventional defensive Rock type. Sleep Powder and Bug Buzzes kept it from being a problem, but Sturdy was annoying as usual.



Olivia gave me another useless Z Crystal after defeating her, and she told me to go to the Hano Grand Resort. Soon I would go to Ula’ula Island, the third and largest island of Alola.

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Anyone who loves the Death Count will enjoy this post.  

Before going to Ula'ula, a creepy guy in glasses named “Fabio” (Faba) wanted me to visit the artificial island Aether Paradise. “Samina” (Lusamine) told Hau and me about the Aether Foundation’s efforts to preserve endangered Pokemon and “Ultraentes” (Ultra Beasts, “Ultra Entities”). A monster that looked like a Heartless from Kingdom Hearts came out of a portal and challenged my Butterfree. Since that’s actually a fast Rock type called Nihilego, I doubted I could win. Nihilego’s AI chose Psywave instead of a decent attack, so Firestorm could use Z Sleep Powder on the first turn. About 3 Psybeams knocked it out after that. It's weird that I managed to KO the first Nihilego with a solo Butterfree of all things when I failed on my first playthrough.



The Aether Foundation awarded Tilo with a malasada, and me with the TM Psychic. Hau gets all the crummy rewards despite being a superior trainer! Psychic has been one of Butterfree’s staple attacks since the 1st generation of Pokemon, so I was glad to have it. There are enough Poison and Fighting types in Alola that Psychic would come in handy.



Upon reaching Ula’ula Island, Hau immediately challenged me to a battle. He was courteous enough to heal Firestorm before the fight, but his team meant Firestorm would be in the hospital again a few seconds later. I managed to survive one of Raichu’s Electric attacks and use Z Sleep Powder on it. One Bug Buzz took it out, because Raichu’s Alolan variant is also Psychic type. Torracat woke up after one round of sleeping and used “Hecatombe Pírica” (Inferno Overdrive, “Fiery Hecatomb”). There was no way Butterfree could survive a same type attack bonus Fire Z move no matter how much Affection he had.



Death Count: 10



Hau should be the Champion instead of me. It’s funny when your character is a total failure, yet the story still treats you as the superior trainer.



“Lario” (Molayne) challenged me to a battle on the peak of Mount Hokulani. His Steel/Flying Skarmory wasn’t as much of a threat as I thought, since it used its terrible Special Attack against me instead of its passable Attack. Getting a Special Defense debuff on Skarmory with Psychic helped along with an X Special. Metang fell to a Bug Buzz, and Alolan Dugtrio was fragile for a Steel type.



Another random death occurred on Mount Hokulani. “Montanero Iker” had a Boldore and an Alolan Geodude. Firestorm managed to endure twice from a Rock Blast and KO the Boldore. Then Alolan Geodude woke up from Sleep Powder early both times and killed Firestorm with Smack Down. Never do a solo Butterfree run, kids!



Survive With 1 HP Count: 5

Death Count: 11







The observatory on Mount Hokulani had another bad type matchup for Firestorm: the Electric Totem Pokemon. Vikavolt is sturdier than many Bug types, and the level 29 Totem version had an aura that buffed all its stats. I tried X Special Defenses to survive its attacks, but then it used the physical Spark to take me out anyway. Its Charjabug companion’s Thunder Wave paralysis move didn’t help either.



Death Count: 12



On the second try, I realized it would take 3 or 4 Bug Buzzes to KO Vikavolt without buffs. Firestorm shrugged off a Thunder Wave and endured one Spark, but then a minor attack from Charjabug finished him off again.



Survive With 1 HP Count: 6

Death Count: 13



The Bulbapedia website said Vikavolt couldn’t summon more than 2 ally Charjabugs, so I tried taking them out on take 3 of the Totem fight. It died to one Bug Buzz, but Vikavolt woke up early and took out Firestorm with one Spark. That must have been a high damage roll!



Death Count: 14



Take 4 was the successful attempt. Using an X Defense was the best idea here. It allowed Butterfree to survive a Spark with about half health, which I could restore with a Super Potion. Firestorm’s Affection made it dodge a second Spark. Vikavolt didn’t summon a second Charjabug until it was at critical health. Another Bug Buzz finished off the Totem Pokemon, and Firestorm shrugged off a Thunder Wave paralysis from the second Charjabug. After winning, I got the useless Electric and Steel Z Crystals.


One funny bit of trivia is that Sophocles has the much more mundane name “Chris” in Spanish!

[Herman Gigglethorpe]

Firestorm the Butterfree has cleared Ula'ula Island now, while my more competent rivals fail to defeat Team Skull. Not as many deaths this update!

“Guzmán” (Guzma in English, but the Spanish name is better), the leader of Team Skull, appeared at Malie Gardens to challengeFirestorm. A Z Sleep Powder and an X Special boosted Bug Buzz defeated his signature Bug/Water Golisopod. Ariados was weak to Psychic.



After beating a bunch of trainers on the south side of Ula’ula Island, “Zarala” (Acerola) told me to go to the abandoned "Supermercado Ultraganga" (Thrifty Megamart, "Ultrabargain Supermarket") to take the next trial. That involved photographing a Gastly, Haunter, and Gengar and then battling them. They were all Ghost/Poison, so one Psychic was enough to turn them back into ectoplasm. The Totem Pokemon was yet another one created specifically to make Butterfree miserable.



Mimikyu was one of the better Pokemon designs that GameFreak made for Sun and Moon. It looks like a bootleg Pikachu costume, and that’s a disguise for a Ghost Pokemon that kills people if they see its true form. Totem Mimkyu’s aura boosted all its stats, and it had the excellent typing of Ghost/Fairy. Fairies in general are more common in this game than they were in their debut games X and Y, and the fact that they resist Bug is a pain. It started the fight with “Carantoña” (Play Rough, “Sweet Talk”), and Firestorm lost more than half his health to it. Z Sleep Powder made Mimikyu snooze. . .for about 2 seconds, when it used its held berry to wake up again. Mimikyu also cannot be killed in one hit thanks to its Disguise Ability that gives it immunity to the first direct damage attack. After that nasty Chesto Berry surprise, another Play Rough killed Firestorm yet again.



Death Count: 15



For Round 2, I decided to use an X Defend to survive the Play Roughs and Shadow Claws. After that, I used up my Z Sleep Powder to get rid of its berry, and Gust to remove the Disguise once a second Sleep Powder sent Mimikyu to dreamland. Unfortunately, Mimikyu was still faster even after the Z move Speed buff. Maybe I should use the Quick Claw for future Totem battles? Firestorm chugged two X Specials in an attempt to knock Mimikyu out with one Psychic.



Firestorm’s mediocre Special Attack wasn’t enough to do the job even at +4, so Mimikyu went into critical HP and summoned a Gengar. The sleep counter favored me this time, so Mimikyu remained passive long enough for a second Psychic to knock it out. Gengar died to one last Psychic when Firestorm managed to outspeed something in this fight for once.



Team Skull showed up to steal a few Pokemon again, and headed off to their base in Po Town. “Francine” (Plumeria) sent out a Golbat and a Salazzle, but both were defeated by one Psychic. Then Grimsley from Pokemon White appeared for some reason and gave me the ability to summon Sharpedo outside of battle. Sharpedo is an upgrade to Lapras that lets you break rock barriers at sea, so I backtracked to the previous islands to look for items. Nothing was valuable to Butterfree. Beating the trainers on Route 15 leveled Firestorm to 43 so he could finally replace the 40 base power Gust with the 75 base power “Tajo Aéreo” (Air Slash). Air Slash’s 5% failure rate is negated by Compoundeyes, and if Firestorm can go first, Air Slash has a chance to make the enemy Pokemon flinch.



At the Po Town gate, two Team Skull Grunts presented Firestorm with a formidable obstacle: a mandatory Double Battle! There goes my solo run. For a bunch of gangsters, Team Skull strictly follows the rules of Pokemon battles. To humor them, I caught a female Caterpie on Route 1, named her “POKEPELAGO”, and had her Tackle Firestorm on her turns.



The level up messages took much longer than the fight against a Drowzee and a Haunter did. That 5th generation experience formula was obvious here! POKEPELAGO leveled up to 16 or so from that one battle, and then I stuffed it into the PC, where it could unlock the Poke Pelago features for me. Affection requires food, and Poke Pelago is an easy way to get more beans. POKEPELAGO may be a bench warmer, but she’s relaxing on the beach at least. Po Town itself is one of the most memorable locations in this game. It has high gates, which sounds strange for a technologically modern place. Why does Po Town have them? I don’t know, but it didn’t stop Team Skull. It has a shabby Pokemon Center, where you can pay Team Skull 10 Pokedollars to heal your team. Surprisingly, they are honorable and won’t poison your Pokemon like you’d expect.



As for the misadventures of Butterfree, Po Town was simple. It was always raining there because it’s based on a certain place in Hawaii, but does this game really need any more favoritism to Water types? All the Team Skull Grunts had pathetic mid 30s unevolved Pokemon such as Fomantis, Gastly, and Salandit. Guzmán wasn’t much tougher. One Air Slash defeated Golisopod, and one Psychic finished off Ariados. The only move Guzmán could use was Ariados’s base 80 physical priority attack “Golpe Bajo” (Sucker Punch, “Low Blow”). There was a Bug Z Crystal in the treasure chest beside him, because I guess Bug types aren’t favored enough by GameFreak to get a cutscene pose when learn their Z move.



After that, Team Skull somehow managed to kidnap Lillie despite Acerola and Hau being there. Team Skull loses to a single Butterfree, but can beat up a Torracat and an Alolan Raichu? Anyway, Gladion became enraged and battled me with a late 30s Golbat, Sneasel, and Type:Null. Firestorm flinched Type:Null with Air Slash, which makes me think this will be my go-to “tactic” for the rest of the playthrough against anything Butterfree can’t kill with one hit. Sneasel and Golbat were too easy to be worth mentioning.



Then “Denio” (Nanu) appeared and announced he was the Kahuna. I like Nanu’s animations, because it doesn’t look like he cares at all about fighting you. His team was Dark themed, which should have been easy because it’s weak to Bug. Sableye only took two Bug Buzzes, and then Alolan Persian appeared. I thought one Bug Buzz could take out a pure Dark type with low Special Defense, and it did. . .but then Persian went first and used Power Gem! Who would ever suspect that a common pure Dark type would learn a rare special Rock move? Then again, Firestorm is tougher than the average Butterfree, so he endured that hit.



Survive With 1 HP Count: 7



One more Bug Buzz took out the Dark/Ground Krokorok. Fighting the 3rd Kahuna leveled Firestorm to 47, teaching him his final level up move Quiver Dance. Quiver Dance is an overpowered buffing move normally given to Bug types that boosts Special Attack, Special Defense, and Speed by one stage (i.e. 50% of the initial stat). Quiver Dance is so good it was worth sacrificing Psychic’s moveslot to include it!

[Coeurva]

Quiver Dance isn't imbalanced at all imo, considering its distribution is mostly limited to bad Bug-types (Pheromosa aside) apart from Best Moth. Volcarona needs all the love it gets because Stealth Rock will never suffer Talonflame-class enforced deletion as long as Doubles (in which it's irrelevant and so is Volc) remains the official format.

Any plans to tackle the Battle Tree with Butterfree and get a ribbon on it?

Multiplayer Pokémon is one turn-based strategy game that I'd expect could take off at RB if people here played it (and could look past the unfortunate anime window dressing), but I wouldn't exactly make for an apt ambassador.