#also i went by vibes for bea and gordie since i have shield | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

spkmth · 3 years

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more thoughts from my playthrough of shield. i have now beaten opal, melony, piers, and raihan.

• OPAL. she was great. she’s my first experience with a strong fairy-type trainer ( my last pokémon game was hgss so it’s been a hot second ) and i was super nervous but i handled her well thanks to my corviknight and my toxtricity. her gym challenge was really unique and refreshing.

• MELONY. loved the unique take on the usual ‘arena trap’ ‘fall through the floor’ concept. her lapras was a bitch, but toxtricity took care of it before it had the chance to really fuck me over. her design is a+, though i wish i could have fought gordie. ( wanted to fight allister more than bea so i got shield. )

• PIERS. where the fuck do i begin. he was everything i wanted! his allure ... his confidence ... his fucking battle theme ... everything was perfect. my own obstagoon + brick break took his down easily, along with my mudsdale for skuntank. i really struggled against his malamar, and immediately went to find myself a contrary inkay afterwards because a contrary malamar + superpower is op as fuck. sneaky sneaky dark-type gym leader man. but yeah i adored every second of my fight against him. i’m very relieved that so many of my headcanons, which were solely based on research, still stand up to the canon material now that i’ve experienced it!

• RAIHAN. what a lovable dork. i genuinely felt under pressure when he was watching me battle his gym subordinates. his battle was the one i dreaded the most, but i was prepared ; as i suspected, my mudsdale wiped the floor with him, and really his gigalith was the largest threat as i’m still struggling to get a strong water-type and my poor roserade wasn’t quite up to the task of challenging it. having played through raihan’s arc in the game, i can now very safely say that i’m disappointed in the depth the game could have given him, as the champ’s ‘greatest rival’ ... i’m really glad i can give him some of the characterization the game left out. smh leon needs to give this man more credit.

• BIKING ON WATER. thought i would hate this because i am a surf / fly purist, but holy hell is this convenient and seamless and awesome. i’ve taken so many mantines to the face in the lake of outrage, my current fave grinding spot.

• THE SOUNDTRACK. i want to take a minute to recognize how immersive the music in this game is! everything matches the environment flawlessly : the mysteriousness of glimwood tangle, the ethereal beauty of ballonlea, the regality of hammerlocke, the intimidating punk rock vibe of spikemuth ... it’s all spot on. and the music changing the closer you get to piers ... oh boy that’s a nice touch. marnie’s theme is still my absolute favorite theme ; i never thought anything would beat out the theme of the legendary titans ( regirock, regice, registeel ) but marnie’s is right up there with it.

• hop and leon are still fucking irritating. but you know who i like a lot more than i thought i would? SONIA. man i thought i’d dislike the shit out of her but omg she’s precious. i do wish she’d stop asking a couple of dumb ten year olds important research questions because those cutscenes are irritating, but that’s not her fault. in that same vein, magnolia is awesome. she’s the grandma i wish i had.

CURRENT TEAM:

• i’ve had excalibur and coalossal ever since i started the game. knew i’d need them to go up against leon, so we’re grinding hardcore right now to get where we need to be.

• got lucky with flea being the daycare toxel i received! he’s my best friend and i love his goofy run in camp. he’s currently my highest level mon at 67 and is a permanent member of my party.

• working hard to get grendel up to level 70 before i challenge leon. i know i’ll need a tough fairy-type.

• sid was the fourth pokémon i caught. he’s gotten me out of a lot of tough spots and is also my best friend. he found me a ton of good shit as a zigzagoon / linoone. he’s also one move away from knowing all the moves that my piers muse’s sid knows!

• rose is my first ever shiny pokémon in a core game! she was a complete surprise and the battle to catch her lasted half an hour. roserade is one of my all-time favorite shinies and i consider myself really lucky to have gotten a shiny i actually like as my first! i’m hoping to take her against leon’s inteleon ( i started with scorbunny ) but i might leave that to flea and put a strong ice-type on my team to challenge leon’s dragons.

HOW DOES ANY OF THIS AFFECT MY RPING?

for piers, it only makes me love him more. what a mad lad. i’m in critical condition with piers brain now. i will never understand why some people play him as this beleaguered put-upon depressed whiner. he’s just so badass! as for raihan ... my relationship with my own raihan muse hasn’t changed, but i’m sad for canon rai. they really put him in a box, didn’t they? i’m glad i get to give him some deeper characterization since the games clearly didn’t, and i’m looking forward to fleshing him out more than i already have. man cannot subsist solely on pokégram and the desire to beat leon’s ass.

#▌ 𝅘𝅥𝅮 ( 𝘉𝘜𝘓𝘓𝘚𝘏𝘐𝘛 𝘉𝘈𝘓𝘓𝘈𝘋. ) —— OOC.#guess im livebloggin shield now

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