Scarlet Adventures #12

Today, I went Shiny hunting. The Growlithes I was hunting displayed some odd tendencies to just... walk into the water. If you know anything about Pokemon, you should know this would definitely be fatal for a Fire type... let alone a Pokemon with no gills. 😆

Stayed underwater even in battle. Whut.

I follow this one for a bit as it just strolled down the creek... underwater.

My Koraidon is swimming above this one.

My Raging Bolt glitched through the hill here. 😆

Another Raging Bolt glitch. 😆

Got my shiny. 😊

Aaaand Evolution. 👍

Pokemon Scarlet: Mochi Mayhem Review

Definitely not gonna lie: I hated this epilogue. Pretty much everything about it.

I think my hatred of Kieran from the DLC should be pretty obvious, given my last two reviews. However, I'm not sure if the fact that I'm also not fond of Arven, Nemona, or Penny was ever addressed. But... yeah. Not a fan of any of those three. Suffered through them as part of the main storyline and was kind of glad not to have to deal with them again... until this epilogue.

Arven especially came across as, like, weirdly protective in a way that just put me off. Like, I dunno if it's just because I'm a cis-female playing a female character or what, but the way Arven behaved toward Kieran or even the mention of Kieran was not great. He was acting almost as if our characters were dating or something... which is definitely more friend-zone in his case, if anything. Where the heck did that come from and why did no one catch that?

The whole mochi thing... eeehhhh... I kinda want to know why everyone just chalked Carmine's weirdness up to a curse at worst and just Carmine being weird at best. She's a kooky character, to be sure, but the dancing and the "Mochi" repetition was concerning in ways no one was taking seriously. I mean, it is a Pokemon game and maybe I'm taking this too seriously, but... I dunno. It just rubbed me completely the wrong way.

I will concede that the scene where Arven and Penny are force-fed mochi and Kieran gets hit in the face with it was amusing. Wasn't great, but was amusing.

I really just wanted to get back to catching the Legendaries as I played through this thing. I really don't feel like it was necessary. Pecharunt isn't even interesting. I have zero motivation to use it.

On A Side Note

This glitch happened while I was searching for Groudon

A most exciting battle. This was my view.

Scarlet Adventures #11

A Pokemon Appreciation Post.

That is all.

I swear there was water here a second ago...

Who's that Pokemon?!

Just washing Dialga, God of Time

I love how Dialga's like: Why walk when I can float?

Somehow merged with a Beartic upon exiting a battle.

Registered Piplup, my favorite little dude.

Just look at 'em! How can you not love them?!

A random Shiny Hisuian Qwilfish

Scarlet Adventures #10

Some fun pics my last 24 hours of Pokemon gaming

Loving this new uniform

Full Body pic

Amused by Vullaby actually being in a nest

Just a Dragon Tera Type Seadra

Awkward Elevator Ride

Down into the chasm of Area Zero

Crystal Tree in Area Zero

Drippy Crystal

The Stellar Terrastalization looks like a shiny sombrero

Pokemon Scarlet: The Indigo Disk Storyline Review

Yay! Part Two of the Pokemon Violet/Scarlet DLC is here! The Indigo Disk/Hidden Treasure of Area Zero was basically a continuation of The Teal Mask with Carmine and Kieran returning.

I was a little more fond of this one than the last one, but it was still pretty basic. You run around a defeat an Elite Four group and then Kieran, followed by a more over-arching story line involving Area Zero. I only really had issues with the Fairy "Gym Leader" but that's more because my team is not geared toward fighting Fairy types than actually being difficult.

I was honestly unimpressed with Kieran's "character growth." He was just as whiny as he was before, only now with a vendetta against us as the main character. This isn't really his fault, I don't think. I chalk it up to the writing. It's hard to write a character who really, really wants to defeat the player and actually let them succeed. Instead you end up with a character who can't find his own power and is constantly sulking as a result. And really, Kieran sulks right up until the end, which was not great.

Carmine calmed down significantly, so that was nice.

I don't really have a lot to say about this storyline. There wasn't a lot going on and you're basically left to your own devices to run around the Terarium Dome. That, at least, was a little bit more fun. Got to catch "new" Pokemon and even participate in the ongoing Mass Outbreak event. Oh! The Blueberry Academy had ongoing quests, as well, that made running around randomly a little more rewarding. The quests circulate and give you something to do outside of just running around.

The Indigo Disk and Hidden Treasure of Area Zero storyline took me about 24 hours to complete. Hard to tell, really, as I did eat and sleep in there. I had fun, though, and am looking forward to continuing to explore the Terarium Dome. Lord knows I did not complete my Pokedex, so that's what I'll be working on next.

Scarlet Adventures #8

So, with The Teal Mask DLC complete, it is now time to settle in to the grind of leveling up and evolving my various Pokemon while waiting for The Indigo Disk to come out. This task is made a little less onerous by the existence of Pokemon Outbreaks, which I've covered before. That's pretty much all I'm doing in Pokemon Scarlet at the moment so... here's some pics from that.

Shiny Toedscruel has a cool color scheme.

Excited to have a "Family of Four" Maushold... although apparently this is the more common version? IDK, I already have a "Family of Three" version so... yeah.

Chien-Pao has to be careful when it sleeps cuz the other swords stuck in its face.

Mighteyna Outbreak with a side of Lotad (who are not "outbreaking").

Persian has always been one of my favorite Pokemon. Their outbreaks look like lion prides.

More Persian Outbreak

Excuse my childishness at being amused by this angle of Walking Wake I was treated to during a battle.

In Other News

This month is going to be much lighter on posts than last month. I have one batch of reviews incoming this weekend and then it'll pretty much be whenever I finish books and amass enough interesting Pokemon Scarlet stuff.

Scarlet Adventures #7

The first part of the Pokemon Scarlet/Violet DLC: The Teal Mask is out and I have been having some fun running around Kitakami Island. Take a look!

Just loving this scenery

Floaty Geodude and his Floaty Fist Hat

Excuse me, why at BOTH of HootHoots legs visible? My eyes are offended.

I just love the way they labeled the restrooms with different Pikachu tails and the head for the unisex.

Loving this hairstyle

I kind of want this Magikarp fountain

Thought Slugma looked silly with that big ol' Rock hat

Pokemon Scarlet: The Teal Mask Storyline Review

The first part of the Pokemon Scarlet/Violet DLC: The Teal Mask was released this week and here are my hot takes on the relatively short story-line.

I really dislike Kieran as a character. I’ve never liked his kind of character, all weak and snivel-ly. Aaand then he went and did that “listening around corners and not calling you on your not-exactly-a-lie thing for no actual reason…” Spare your nonsense, sir. You can call anyone on their shit at any time instead of being passive about it. Kieran is setting up to either be a villain or and annoying rival in the next part of the DLC. I'm not a fan. I feel like having a character who's whole identity seems to be wrapped up in whether or not he can defeat the player and then having extreme negative reactions when he's inevitably beaten is just messed up. I should not be made to feel bad because I'm playing the game and am ostensibly the main character who will always kick your ass. Not what I'm here for.

This is straight after Kieran overhears the conversation you had with his grandpa and then mentally accuses you of lying when you don't tell him what the talk was about.

 

Carmine, I also can’t stand. Though she’s definitely got tsundere vibes, she’s also just a bitch on top of it. Literally the line: “I was being kind. It’s not like I hit him or anything,” came out of her mouth in regards to how she treated her brother. Seriously??? Abusive much? Ugh.

Also, I’m really not sure exactly why the grandfather things Kieran is too young to know the truth about the ogre. Seems like just a reason for annoying drama, which it was.

I really cannot stand the characters from this story-line and I’m glad to have finished with it. Time to fill out my Pokedex with very easily evolved Pokemon… because everything’s over level 60. That was a weird choice. I probably didn’t need the Pokemon to be normal levels, but I still feel like 60+ was a weird choice.

I am not a fan of the Legendaries for this DLC. It honestly feels like Ogrepon was the only one who had any real design and thought put into that design. Okidogi is essentially Doggo Hulk and not in a cute way. Munkidori and Fezandipiti just look odd, in my opinion. Do not like.

Munkidori, Okidogi, and Fezandipiti

 

I am incredibly happy to be able to change out of the school uniform. I may not be a gigantic fan of the Jinbei, especially as you're made to run around in a Green one the entire storyline and green is not my favorite color... but I'm reasonably happy with the Dark Blue one you can get right after from Kieran and Carmine's grandmother. I really just want a clothing option that's casual. Just jeans and a t-shirt. That's all I really want.

 But yeah, The Teal Mask was alright. I really just felt like I was running between locations over and over while collecting the thousands of items that're littered around the place, but it was reasonably fun. Now to go off and actually catch me the unappealing Legendaries...

Scarlet Adventures #6

I spent most of my day off playing some more Pokemon Scarlet, pretty much just working through the Outbreaks and leveling up and evolving a bunch of random Pokemon. For those who don't know what Outbreaks are, they're basically when a bunch of Pokemon from a particular species appear altogether and, well, that's basically it. Outbreaks first appeared in Pokemon Legends: Arceus and they continued to be used in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. I must say, I much prefer the Legends: Arceus form, for reasons that will become apparent through the captions of the following pictures.

I appear to have exhausted my Deerling...

How come no one told me Pikachu and Raichu could swim?!

As you can see in my little map, I have arrived at the place where with Basculin Outbreak was occurring. No Basculin here.

Second spot, still no Basculin.

Third spot, still no Basculin.

The biggest "lake" here... Still. No. Basculin. WTF.

This is much later, as you can see from the lighting. NOW there are Basculin.

I spent several hours running around this area to reset the spawns. HOURS. This was easily the most frustrating Outbreak since my first Flamigo one where they spawned one at a time. Seriously, HOURS went by and I STILL didn't finish the Outbreak. Didn't even get a notification telling me the numbers were going down. I was pissed off.

Drowned myself twice on top of this waterfall, too.

At least in Pokemon Legends: Arceus, the Outbreaks would happen in a contained bit of space with IMMEDIATE respawns, so you could just sit there and either catch or fight to your hearts content. Most of the Outbreaks in Pokemon Scarlet are like this, but I've had enough that refuse to respawn unless you've left or are running around an area. This Basculin one was THE WORST.