Let's Play Pokemon Uranium! First time through! [Text format]

Hello and welcome to this Let’s Play of my first ever playthrough of Pokémon Uranium.

This is the intro screen, where we are greeted by some, uh, creepy-looking Reuniclus-a-like.


Most likely it’s a boss battle?

In any case, let’s get started!

Let's Play Pokémon Uranium! Part 1: A Fresh Start

The traditional Professor intro appears. Unlike the stock Professor in a lab coat, this guy, named Bamb’o (Bamboo?), is dressed in a brightly colored jacket, shorts, and flip-flops. Clearly we are in some sort of tropical region. We go through the usual tutorial screens explaining the basic premise of the game (run around the world, solve mysteries, and encounter dangerous wild creatures) and the controls, then enter in our main character’s name and gender.



We head to a flashback where Jenesis’s mother, Lucille, is the manager of a nuclear power plant having a “slight mechanical malfunction.” This can’t be good at all…


Called it.



Most of the workers scramble out of the room immediately, but this dolt stares off into space then starts leisurely trotting off toward the door. Which he never gets through, because the screen explodes into a radioactive neon green as soon as he reaches it. I’m not gonna say you had it coming, dude… but really, you should have invested in some Running Shoes.


Dad, a Pokémon Ranger, mysteriously disappears searching for Mom, leaving us parentless.

Right away I have to give props to this game both for our main character being known to have a mother and a father, and for starting us off in the house of our elderly great-aunt instead. It’s our first day on the job, and right away we get a snazzy pair of Running Shoes as a gift (she didn’t want us to end up like our mom, apparently). Unfortunately, that means my ring finger is going to be perpetually sore from holding down Z all the time. Perhaps an auto-run toggle in the next update? In any case, it’s time to explore my hometown of Moki!


This game has a sense of humor.


A Rare Candy this early in the game?


A true rival if I ever saw one. (Also: running inside people’s houses FTW.)


Green, blue, and red… could these be our starters?

The Professor’s lab assistant asks us if we’re ready for our test. Test?? Just because I’m working for a Professor doesn’t mean I signed up for classes! Theo runs in right behind us, and the Professor forgets his name, confirming once and for all that he is our rival.


I’m not sure I’m convinced.

Turns out the “test” we’re taking is actually a personality quiz! This will determine which starter Pokémon is “most suited” to me, which I can’t say I mind, since all of the starter choices looked pretty cool. Without further ado, on to the questions!

Q1: Which of these Pokémon would probably win a battle? Magmar/Magcargo/Blissey
*checks Smogon* Blissey is in UU tier and everything else in NU, so: Blissey!
Q2: Which of these kinds of Pokémon would you rather raise? Aggressive/Gentle/Well mannered
I like manners, so I’ll go with well mannered.
Q3: What kind of battle strategy are you going to aim for in the future? Defensive/One hit KO/All around
It’s best to have a good mix of offensive and defensive mons. All around.
Q4: What do you think is the best thing about being a Pokémon Trainer? To make new friends/Fame and money/To be the Pokémon Master
To be the Pokémon Master, obviously!
Q5: Which of these TMs do you think is better? Protect/Hyper Beam/Dream Eater
I don’t like any of these myself, but I suppose Protect has uses in VGC? Protect it is!

Professor Bamb’o goes over his answer key, and…


Congratulations, it’s a kitty behind door number one!

Our rival, shockingly enough, receives the starter with a type weakness to ours, and proceeds to be the biggest crybaby I’ve ever seen in a Pokémon game.


He runs off to cry to Daddy, literally.

Since we’re the protagonist and therefore not a douche who gets off on laughing at a ten-year-old’s distress, Professor Bamb’o tells us to go check on our “friend.” Theo’s dad immediately blows up on us as we enter the house (gee, wonder why Theo cries to his dad about everything?) but proves surprisingly reasonable after we mutely explain the situation to him. He gives us the Poképod, which is like an Apple gewgaw for all our needs.

There’s grass technically inside the town area, which is a new one. We get two steps in before we’re ambushed by a Chyinmunk, which is a rat/squirrel thing that we’ll probably be sick of seeing by the end of the route. Unfortunately, Orchynx crits it when I try to go for a third attack before capture. Very jealous, that kitty. Professor Bamb’o comes running over to give us a Pokédex, saving us the trouble of fetching him a package in the next town over.

That seems like as good a place to end the episode as any, so I’ll just leave you with this gorgeous looking UI:


This menu screen is a thing of beauty.

Team recap:

(Yes, I plan to name all my Pokémon after Magic: The Gathering cards; for the sake of the uninitiated, though, I’ll be using their species names throughout this playthrough.)

Let’s Play Pokémon Uranium! Part 2: Northward Passage

We head into Route 1 – Lakeside Path to begin our adventure, and almost immediately pick up a Potion. Soon afterward, we run into a trainer, and I regret not going back to Great-Aunt’s to heal up, as she has one Level 5 and one Level 4 Pokémon to our solitary Level 5! Luckily the Potion keeps Orchynx alive, and afterward I remember to pick up the customary PC-stored one at Great-Aunt’s house.

Before I forget, I ought to note that all of the starters are dual-typed in this game. Orchynx, for example, is a Grass/Steel type. While this gives me a great edge against all the Normal-type attacks in the early game and helps me not keel over to the requisite early game flyer, it makes me really vulnerable to Fire, and only slightly less vulnerable to Fighting. This means I’ll be looking to pick up some Water- and Psychic-types later in my journey.

The next trainer we fight (Bug Catcher Flood) has two Smore, an ant Pokémon that seems to have Weedle’s moveset. Orchynx laughs at Smore’s feeble attempts to poison it and easily sweeps. We afterward beat up Youngster Richey, who says “crackers” when he loses, and wants to exchange PokéPod numbers! Yay, networking!

The next section of route has a house where a fisherman offers to give us his Old Rod if I can beat the first gym leader, a Rock Smashable rock, and a place I can see a Surf-accessible item. I suppose we’re coming back soon. But first, it’s time to explore the next town, Kevlar!


Definitely a sense of humor (and also a glitch that skips past the first part of the sign).


Guess we’re on a quest to find a bike wheel.

In addition to the usual Mart, there’s a Berry shop in this town, where we get free samples.


The Berries are renamed to actual fruits from Brazil.


A completely empty house? That’s not suspicious at all…

The appearance of a Hiker in the north indicates that our next route is going through a cave. His Mankey gives me quite the scare when I crit and trigger its Anger Point ability right before it Low Kicks my kitty, but luckily all the powerleveling I’ve done with my starter ensures it lives at slightly under half. Orchynx cleans up the fight in short order and, after getting this guy’s PokéPod number, I run back to get healing.

I also take note of a cave to the west, blocked off by a smashable rock.

We enter Passage Cave. I can’t see more than a few steps in front of my face. I run into a bunch of wild Pokémon and start chucking Poké Balls at them, for Dex completion if nothing else.


Barewl is Adamant natured, but I don’t want another Steel-type.


You have wings and sound like a Zubat. How are you not part Flying-type?


Tonemy has a 31 Speed IV, but is Quiet natured. I’m just not getting any luck with these guys…


…Whatever you say.

I catch a Grozard (snakelike Ground-type with Arena Trap), which has a Relaxed nature and a good Defense stat. Finally!

The next part of the cave looms ahead. I find a glitch that lets me walk through the wall immediately to the right of the entrance. Sadly, I can’t walk into the blackness any further.


What do I get for finding the secret passage?

This part of the cave forks into two plateaus; the Hiker to the right is nice and gives us a Revive. The Hiker to the left, well…


Charming.

After climbing the ladder at the end of the cave, we arrive in Nowtoch Town, where it’s time to earn our first badge…but that’ll have to wait until the next episode.

Team recap:

Jenesis wrote:Hello and welcome to this Let’s Play of my first ever playthrough of Pokémon Uranium.

This is the intro screen, where we are greeted by some, uh, creepy-looking Reuniclus-a-like.


Most likely it’s a boss battle?

In any case, let’s get started!

Let's Play Pokémon Uranium! Part 1: A Fresh Start

The traditional Professor intro appears. Unlike the stock Professor in a lab coat, this guy, named Bamb’o (Bamboo?), is dressed in a brightly colored jacket, shorts, and flip-flops. Clearly we are in some sort of tropical region. We go through the usual tutorial screens explaining the basic premise of the game (run around the world, solve mysteries, and encounter dangerous wild creatures) and the controls, then enter in our main character’s name and gender.



We head to a flashback where Jenesis’s mother, Lucille, is the manager of a nuclear power plant having a “slight mechanical malfunction.” This can’t be good at all…


Called it.



Most of the workers scramble out of the room immediately, but this dolt stares off into space then starts leisurely trotting off toward the door. Which he never gets through, because the screen explodes into a radioactive neon green as soon as he reaches it. I’m not gonna say you had it coming, dude… but really, you should have invested in some Running Shoes.


Dad, a Pokémon Ranger, mysteriously disappears searching for Mom, leaving us parentless.

Right away I have to give props to this game both for our main character being known to have a mother and a father, and for starting us off in the house of our elderly great-aunt instead. It’s our first day on the job, and right away we get a snazzy pair of Running Shoes as a gift (she didn’t want us to end up like our mom, apparently). Unfortunately, that means my ring finger is going to be perpetually sore from holding down Z all the time. Perhaps an auto-run toggle in the next update? In any case, it’s time to explore my hometown of Moki!


This game has a sense of humor.


A Rare Candy this early in the game?


A true rival if I ever saw one. (Also: running inside people’s houses FTW.)


Green, blue, and red… could these be our starters?

The Professor’s lab assistant asks us if we’re ready for our test. Test?? Just because I’m working for a Professor doesn’t mean I signed up for classes! Theo runs in right behind us, and the Professor forgets his name, confirming once and for all that he is our rival.


I’m not sure I’m convinced.

Turns out the “test” we’re taking is actually a personality quiz! This will determine which starter Pokémon is “most suited” to me, which I can’t say I mind, since all of the starter choices looked pretty cool. Without further ado, on to the questions!

Q1: Which of these Pokémon would probably win a battle? Magmar/Magcargo/Blissey
*checks Smogon* Blissey is in UU tier and everything else in NU, so: Blissey!
Q2: Which of these kinds of Pokémon would you rather raise? Aggressive/Gentle/Well mannered
I like manners, so I’ll go with well mannered.
Q3: What kind of battle strategy are you going to aim for in the future? Defensive/One hit KO/All around
It’s best to have a good mix of offensive and defensive mons. All around.
Q4: What do you think is the best thing about being a Pokémon Trainer? To make new friends/Fame and money/To be the Pokémon Master
To be the Pokémon Master, obviously!
Q5: Which of these TMs do you think is better? Protect/Hyper Beam/Dream Eater
I don’t like any of these myself, but I suppose Protect has uses in VGC? Protect it is!

Professor Bamb’o goes over his answer key, and…


Congratulations, it’s a kitty behind door number one!

Our rival, shockingly enough, receives the starter with a type weakness to ours, and proceeds to be the biggest crybaby I’ve ever seen in a Pokémon game.


He runs off to cry to Daddy, literally.

Since we’re the protagonist and therefore not a douche who gets off on laughing at a ten-year-old’s distress, Professor Bamb’o tells us to go check on our “friend.” Theo’s dad immediately blows up on us as we enter the house (gee, wonder why Theo cries to his dad about everything?) but proves surprisingly reasonable after we mutely explain the situation to him. He gives us the Poképod, which is like an Apple gewgaw for all our needs.

There’s grass technically inside the town area, which is a new one. We get two steps in before we’re ambushed by a Chyinmunk, which is a rat/squirrel thing that we’ll probably be sick of seeing by the end of the route. Unfortunately, Orchynx crits it when I try to go for a third attack before capture. Very jealous, that kitty. Professor Bamb’o comes running over to give us a Pokédex, saving us the trouble of fetching him a package in the next town over.

That seems like as good a place to end the episode as any, so I’ll just leave you with this gorgeous looking UI:


This menu screen is a thing of beauty.

Team recap:

(Yes, I plan to name all my Pokémon after Magic: The Gathering cards; for the sake of the uninitiated, though, I’ll be using their species names throughout this playthrough.)

finally a lets play in text form Thank you! this is amazing to read as a new player such as myself

Let’s Play Pokémon Uranium! Part 3: This Gym is So Boring

Last time, we arrived at Nowtoch City (not Town!). It’s the first major city of our journey through the Tandor Region, and it definitely shows. Platforms with small stairwell entrances dot the city, as well as some more puzzling aesthetic choices.


Such as these doors that open onto solid walls.


And invisible blockades.


A mysterious high-rise building…

We run to the Pokémon Center ASAP to heal up. On our travels around the city, we learn a few things:

The Tandor Network, a global trading and battling station, is on the second floor. I don’t think I’ll be using it in this playthrough, though. On the ground floor, a woman with the powers of precognition warns us to heal up after we beat the Gym, since a rival battle is forthcoming.


The subway station is packed with people trying to get in.

The Gym is closed. Fortunately, it doesn’t require a fancy complicated quest to get in. Just running around the city collecting items and popping into people’s houses to say hi eventually leads us to Maria, who’s so scatterbrained she doesn’t even have her speech bubble in the right place.

The Mart does not give out a free Premier Ball with a purchase of 10 Poké Balls. Cheapskates.

The Name Rater lives in the house in the center of town. I’ll have to keep that in mind in case we get any traded or gift Pokémon later.

Seeing as our team is in no shape to tackle the Gym, we head back into Passage Cave for more training. Leveling up Grozard turns out to be a long, tedious, and irritating process, as the little guy can’t hold his own against a Tonemy two levels lower. Finally, I get a Ground-type move, and notice a little something suspicious about his stats:



Really, this could only happen if the game was bugged or – *checks wiki* – yeah, it’s the Diglett of this game. With a completely unhelpful nature. Sorry, dude, but I think you’re getting benched ASAP.

Running  back through Passage Cave, we find no additional Pokémon of note, but do stumble upon an Escape Rope, a watery area to be surfed on later, and an Owten in the grass leading up to the cave (technically Route 2 – Owten Nook). Welcome to the team, Owten!

For some reason Poké Balls seem really weak in this game. On multiple occasions I’ve been unable to catch a wild Pokémon in the red on my first try. It really doesn’t help that the menu defaults to “Fight” instead of “Bag” after a failed Pokémon catch.

Rebattling our way through Passage Cave is easy as Owten easily beats up on Grozard (though she still struggles against Tonemy and Barewl). After leveling Owten and Orchynx up to levels 10 and 12 respectively, it’s time to battle the Gym!

“The Gym guy” at the entrance advises us that Maria uses Normal-types, which are resisted well by Steel. Suddenly I’m feeling sad that I didn’t pick up a Mankey earlier. The Gym itself is nothing more than a straight corridor containing two green-haired Cooltrainers, two corresponding speedrun-friendly walkarounds, and a legion of power-charging Chyinmunk (which scares me out of using Owten for the majority of the fights).


Maria speaks really oddly. Is this supposed to represent some kind of accent?

The battle begins with an Owten vs Owten duel, which I correctly predict coming down to traded Quick Attacks. Maria ducks first in this game of chicken when she uses a Potion, which heals up her Owten but not far enough to save it from fainting to my next two Quick Attacks. Chyinmunk comes out next and gets quickly taken down by Orchynx. Maria’s last Pokémon is a Dunsparce, which I figure Owten can come in and clean up against until holy crap a Rollout takes Owten to 1HP. I switch in Orchynx immediately, set up Leech Seed for recovery as Dunsparce builds up more and more Rollout stacks, and finally knock the dang thing out with a Metal Claw before it can unleash Rollout #5. Victory is ours!




Either Maria is stodgily unimaginative or she was running late on her deadline for Gym registration papers, too. I could honestly believe either one.

We also get TM27 Return, which even though it’s probably stronger than Scratch I’m not going to bother using until I can talk to some kind of happiness check NPC.

Looking at the map, there’s no place to go but down, so we turn to exit the town the way we came when who do we run into…but Theo!



*deep breaths* Pause for a moment while I rant.

In real life, I am a girl. I get that some people play RPGs so they can explore identities that are different from themselves, including gender, but when I play RPGs, I always play as a girl when the option is available. I figure there are enough games where I’m either forced to play as a boy (see: every Pokémon game before Crystal), or where there’s an ensemble cast but the boy characters get to do all the most plot-relevant stuff, that there’s no reason for me to pick a boy main character in a game that expressly offers an equally plot-important girl main character.

And then I get to deal with crap like this.

I can understand the “manly” reference earlier – I can honestly see “manly” being a compliment, even directed toward a girl, the same way you can say that a girl has “balls” or is “wearing the pants” – but this is just blatant misgendering, and if you don’t have the programming cojones to make the NPCs say different things depending on whether the main character is a boy or a girl, then the least you could do is come up with some gender-neutral language to use instead. It happened in Pokémon Zeta/Omicron (another Pokémon Essentials fangame), which I just finished playing through, and I was sick of it then and I’m sick of it here too.

/end rant. Time to beat up on Theo.

Theo leads off with an Eletux, which I find amusing that, while having the “type disadvantage,” it x4 resists my Steel-type STAB. Of course, that doesn’t stop me from beating up on it with Vine Whips. Theo’s second Pokémon is a Barewl, which I stay in against and hammer down with Metal Claw. Our reward for winning is HM06 Rock Smash, which I teach to my own Barewl, since it’s not like the move is any good on a non-HM slave anyway.

We heal up, and I head back to the Gym on a whim to see if Theo’s tried to challenge it yet. Maria laments that being a Gym Leader can be “soooo boring” sometimes. Maybe it wouldn’t be so boring if you’d spice your Gym up a little, Maria!

There’s an old man who lives in a house next to the Gym who promises to teach our Pokémon some moves when we get stronger. Initially I assumed this was the HM giver, but I suppose we’ll have to come back another time.

A kid in town will trade his Baashaun for my Fortog. I have no idea what a Baashaun is, but given that a Fortog is a Water-type, if I got one I probably wouldn’t want to trade it away.

The passage back through Passage Cave is uneventful, and I discover sadly that the rock blocking the side cave in Kevlar Town is not a Smash Rock, but a Strength Rock. We pick up the Old Rod on our way south and go fishing in Kevlar Town, but find not even a nibble.

Heading back down Route 1, we find a sneaky Antidote hiding behind the fisherman’s house, some more trainers, and a series of one-way ledges. Down we go!


And yet she won’t give me her phone number.

Fishing controls are really finicky in this game, and I lose more than I hook. I fish up a few Fortogs, but they tend to get one-shotted by my higher level Pokémon. Maybe we’ll find higher level ones on the next few routes, or a different Water-type Pokémon entirely. In any case, it’s back to sleepy Moki Town we go. Join us next time, when we find out what Prof. Bamb’o wants!

Team Recap

Let’s Play Pokémon Uranium! Part 4: Patching Right Up

After a weeklong hiatus, during which shenanigans ensued as I helped run a four-day Magic: The Gathering convention in Las Vegas, we’re back! The new patch is a breeze to download and fixes some unspecified bugs, ones that I hopefully won’t ever know about because I won’t run into them. However, the post-patch game also seems to be laggier than I’m used to, especially during fishing.

Last time, we were told to return to Moki Town and go talk to Professor Bamb’o. He doesn’t tell us anything that we don’t already know, but he does give us 5 new Poké Balls, and free stuff is always nice.


Does this mean we’ll actually be able to buy stuff in this town sometime in the future?

We smash up some rocks and continue east to Route 3 – Seabreeze Way, which is a nicely done tropical area: white sand beachfront dotted with palm trees. Our first encounter is a Mareep, which I catch but probably won’t use since its nature and IVs don’t line up nice and besides, we’re here in the Tandor region to discover some new Pokémon, not mess around with old ones!

I discover a mother and her two children playing on the beach. In what I presume is their house, I find a Net Ball. I’m sure they won’t mind me taking it; after all, I’m working a job for the region’s respected Pokémon Professor! They should be happy to offer me assistance!

The rest of the route is a pretty straightforward gauntlet of trainers. Orchynx and Owten both gain some good experience, and twice I’m confused by how similar Burole’s name is to Barewl’s. After a minor diversion in a field full of smashable rocks that ultimately yields nothing, it’s into town we go!


I sense westward travel in our near future.


Is this kid stuck in a time lock or something?

Aside from the Gym, there isn’t anything of note in this town except for a Pokémon school. None of the kids in the main building have anything useful to tell me except that my starter only evolves once, instead of twice. Which is a little disappointing. However, going out the back way, I find a bunch of kids studying, and my reward for beating them all is a sweet $5k in the form of a Nugget! Sadly, Orchynx goes down in the process, felled by a combination of Mareep’s Static and para/flinch hax, but Grozard steps in to take down the lead Jr. Trainer’s Barewl and Owten sweeps the rest.

The Gym is dark, and the Gym Leader uses “cave Pokémon” – Ground, Dark, and Poison-types. Luckily, Orchynx covers two of those three, and I had faith that Owten and Grozard can cover the rest. It doesn’t look like Tonemy or Mareep are going to be of much use, so I box ‘em to save me the hassle of doing it later.


Is this guy’s dialogue exactly recycled from Passage Cave?

Smashing a nearby rock yields a “Bright Gem”, which doesn’t go into our inventory. I have no idea what the purpose of it is, but I suppose it might have something to do with the puzzle(s) in this gym.


There are little pools of water here. I’m gonna hazard a guess that there aren’t actually any fish in them.

Smashing the rest of the rocks in the Gym yields only random encounters with wild Barewl. After beating three subordinate trainers, all of which use variations on the same recycled dialogue, we find a metal contraption. Inserting the Bright Gem, we can pass through to Gym Leader Davern. With only two hours and thirty-nine minutes on the clock so far, are we about to receive our second badge? Find out in the next installment!

Team Recap

Haha, it's great to finally see a text-based Let's Play! I'm enjoying your commentary; keep the updates coming! I promise, there are a lot more exciting things to come!

As for the accidental mis-gendering in Theo's dialogue... have our sincerest apologies. A lot of dialogues do have options based on the gender of the protagonist, but there are a few that slipped us by (and unfortunately there will be more to come). For the record, I'm a girl myself, so I wouldn't deliberately exclude the female protagonist. It's just an honest mistake... like those impassable tiles or the places where you can walk into the void. We try to catch and fix as many of these as we can.

Thanks, Twitch! Get ready for a big update later today.

Wonderful lets play so far! Keep it up!

Let’s Play Pokémon Uranium! Part 5: Two-Headed Giant

There’s only one thing left to do in this town, and that’s to defeat Davern, the cave-themed Gym Leader!

Davern leads with a Barewl, the same critter I’ve been beating on since Passage Cave, and Orchynx easily cleans it up. However, his Modrille catches me off guard with a Magnitude 9, KO’ing Orchynx and forcing me to clean it up with Owten, as well as Davern’s Grozard. When I see a Tofurang is Davern’s final Pokémon, I make the decision to use a Revive on Orchynx, knowing his Poison-type can’t do anything to it. Owten goes down to poison and Tofurang is stuck using Infestation, the only move it knows that can do any damage apparently, and Leech Seed easily outraces its damage to pick up the KO.

Davern asks me to hand him the Bright Gem I picked up last episode…


…turning it into my second badge!



Business concluded in Burole Town, I set off to the east onto Route 4 – Baa Grassland, encountering the usual gauntlet of trainers along the way.


I assume you’re going to say “Take this!” and give me a free item? …You’re not? Cheapskate.

Along the way, I’ve accumulated enough Poké Balls that I figure I ought to start making some catches. The first is a demonic-looking sheep:


Which sadly has utterly rotten IVs.

For comparison, my light-bearing, holy-looking sheep:


Which unfortunately has a hindering nature.

I also catch a fire ant and a water bug, figuring that these are the highest levels at which I’m going to be seeing them in the wild. (Not shown: Me running frantically back to Nowtoch so I can nickname the Baashaun, which I failed to do due to a misclick. Ahh, the advantages of not using video. A bit of insignificant training exp gets accumulated in the process.)

As we head north, we come to a fork in the road. West leads to the forest where the Berry salesperson from Kevlar Town says that she gets her stock, and east leads to Comet Cave. The westward path is blocked by a Strength rock, so it seems like there’s only one option for now.


As I travel, I take note of an area I can only get to by Surfing, that contains at least one item and some NPCs I can see. Also of note is the beach, which yields a Bike Wheel that I can take back to the shop in Kevlar, as well as some TM I don’t remember because it’s bad. (There seem to be an embarrassment of early-game TM drops, at least compared to the official Pokémon games.)

Upon reaching Comet Cave, amid constant warnings that it’s dangerous, we see Theo trying to argue his way inside. The Hiker won’t let him go in until Theo volunteers us as tribute to accompany him, and seeing as it’s the only way forward, we really don’t have a choice, do we?

All the battles in this area are double battles. Theo proves to be surprisingly helpful compared to his past appearances. His Eletux is strong enough to beat on anything in here (unsurprising, seeing as he got two badges, like me) and, in a stroke of extreme convenience, he heals my party after every. single. battle. Meaning that if I was really inclined to (I’m not), I could level grind inside here all day. Are all NPC followers this awesome? Maybe going on a Pokémon journey really did help him mature (reminds me of Wally from RSE).


He can also do some neat tricks, like leap tall cliffs in a single bound.


Are we going down the ladder? Oh yes.


Even the fish are biting in pairs.

Theo and I almost-KO a Fortog, which I (finally) add to my Pokédex.

The ground starts shaking as we get closer to the end, and Theo freaks out and runs away not a moment too soon as a line of boulders crashes down into the spot where he was. With the way back blocked, we head forward once again and get ambushed by a huge Terlard!

I try to catch this thing, but Owten crits it when it’s at around half hp and it falls. At least it wasn’t shiny like the Red Gyarados. Then I’d be more upset, since I didn’t save after entering Comet Cave.

The Hiker from before comes back around and tells us good job, apparently the Terlard was like corporate middle management: unable to make up its mind and making everyone around it grumpy in the process. With the cave safe again, we have no further encounters before the exit.


We emerge into a landscape that appears to be in perpetual autumn: Route 5 – Rochfale Coast.

Our first Pokémon evolves! Owten becomes an Eshouten, which I screencapped but somehow failed to save. We enter town and first things first, heal up at the Pokémon Center.

Next time: Exploring Rochfale Town!

Team Recap

Fortog is nowhere as good as Mimeoplasm, I am protesting that choice in naming. (Though I will admit there are not many alternatives.)

Make sure to go into the lab and do the PST sidequest!