Let's Play Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness

[Skyblade]

People are looking at my Let's Play. That doesn't mean they're reading or enjoying it.

The problem is, on days I play, I can just sit and play for hours. As I said in the RPG Binge thread, that's just how I play. So I can accumulate a lot of pics really quickly. It also makes me more likely to update if I'm doing it on that day, but I don't know at what point it would just be a deluge of info that people would not be able to keep up with.

Still, good to know that there's a 25 picture maximum, I didn't even know that (although I'm kind of sad that I don't seem to be able to upload multiple pictures at a time anymore).

On with the journey! There's still quite a bit more to the Cipher Lab, after all.

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Um, yes, I did. It's a matter of public record. This place has been known as the Cipher Lab for five years, buddy. Where have you been?

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Shadow Pokémon Alert!

This Numel is actually kind of important to point out, and I'll show you why that is once I can access his Pokémon stats page.

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"In case of emergency, the exits to the Cipher Lab are located here, here, and here. Please proceed in an orderly manner to your next exit, and kindly refrain from ruining our research in the process. Thank you, and have a wonderful visit to our evil lab."

I take a trip down another elevator and...

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Hmm, decisions, decisions. I'll go left first.

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You're only like a foot taller than me. Jovi is tiny.

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Oh, now you're just being rude.

It must be in the Cipher Peon handbook that anyone below the age of 21 must be called "brat".

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I decide instead to take that second elevator right beside me. Ooh, another trashcan.

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Yah! Ok, so this chest has a guard. That's...new.

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Ah, much better. Always nice to see people treating me with proper fear respect.

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So I pop open the chest, and then go to visit my new best friend. The Healing Machine. See what I mean? These things are so much more useful than Pokémon Centers, because you can put them anywhere. You don't need to trek back to a two story building in the middle of a town three routes away. You just drop one where there's heavy traffic and *boom*. Free healing. It's awesome.

So I go back to the earlier split, take the south path, then the right path towards another chest (which you can see from the entrance, actually).

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Nope, like I said, I'm heading for the chest. Thanks for offering directions, though.

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Isn't my Espeon so pretty? Not only is this one of my favorite games in the series, it also has the best animations for my favorite Pokémon. It's just so elegant. Such a regal little psychic kitty. Yeah, no real point to this pic, except "lookit the kitty". I really like Espeon.

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Another chest opened. Let's see, I think I'll take the top route now.

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See that little icon in the upper left? The game gives you that and an audio notification whenever a Pokémon is ready to be purified, and if you just press "A", you get a note saying which Pokémon it is. At this point, it isn't super helpful, but it gets to be pretty dang handy a little later.

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So I open another chest.

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And run into another scientist.

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You notice how everyone always explains the rules they just broke to me after we battle? Why don't they ever say "oh, sorry kid, go on ahead, we shouldn't battle here"? They're the ones starting everything!


Please click to view this next image, because the inset does not appear to be displaying correctly at all. Sorry.

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This would be a valid question were it not for the fact that "Cipher Security" is apparently the Hexagon Brothers.


Anyway, with him defeated (and there being absolutely nothing behind him to interact with), I head back to Azalea to purify my Spheal.

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And my Mareep.

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And my Gulpin.

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Is it just me, or does Aurora Beam seem a little powerful for this point in the game? I mean, sure it's only a 60 BP Ice move, but I seem to recall that one being one we usually pick up fairly late game.

Note, you don't actually have to Purify them at any point, they'll stay ready to purify even in the PC, so you could just go back to the Lab start and switch them out for other Shadow Pokémon to Purify instead. I just like Purifying them ASAP.

Well, with them purified, I suppose I should go back and save the Professor now.

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Or not.

[Pumpkin]

Spheal is so cute

[Skyblade]

Spheal is so cute

He's actually way cuter in this game than he seems from the pic, because he has absolutely adorable animations. He constantly bounces his feet, so he's gently rolling from right to left all the time. Also, when he gets hit, he rolls backwards like two feet with recoil, then gets control of himself and rolls back onto the field of battle. He's just so cute. I don't think I've ever evolved him in this game. Partially because I don't use him a ton (even though he's a pretty decent Pokémon), and partially because it would mean giving up that cuteness.

[Pumpkin]

I struggle with not evolving cute Pokemon in every Pokemon game I play.

Those animations do sound really cute Might have to pick up the game just for that :P

[Skyblade]

Anyway, now that I've Purified my current team, I can switch them out for a few others to Purify instead. This will also let me show you the Numel from before.

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Notice the Charcoal he's carrying? There are actually quite a few Shadow Pokémon carrying items. They start out as just simple things like the attack boosters (it's unfortunately going to be a while before I can get Espeon the Twistedspoon), but as we get further in we'll get some rarer pieces of equipment like the Lucky Punch or Stick.

I kind of like this concept. I think it's a neat way to obtain the items, and I like the thought that the enemy team is actually trying to use items effectively (which is very important in Pokémon battles, but no AI enemies ever do). Unfortunately, Shadow Pokémon only know Shadow moves, so they don't really get any use out of the Charcoal and similar items until you start to purify them.

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Ok, just two doors left. I haven't finished exploring the floor, so I'm going to leave the elevator alone. To the left it is!

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I know, right? He should totally help perfect the ultimate killing machine that you guys are mind controlling and hoping to use for World Domination.

Then, when he does perfect it, I can capture it, and then I can use it for World Domination.

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Y'know, I hung around my mom's lab a lot, and I don't think I was hassled nearly this often.

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Great, a Wynaut. Please don't tell me I'm going to have to face Wobuffets in this game. They probably won't do much, because Espeon knows Bite and is still overpowered as all heck, but they are still annoying.

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Aurora Beam also looks awesome in this game. Go Spheal!

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Yep. Kind of makes you want to rethink your pathetic life, huh?

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Why weren't you busy thirty seconds ago, hmm? I heard you, you were just sitting there gossiping with your coworker. You weren't busy at all. You're just another slacker.

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Um, if you know you shouldn't say that, why did you?

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I'm pretty sure I could have figured that out without you focusing on it so much, but at least you can make an accurate self assessment. Cheer up! Assessing things accurately is a very important trait for a scientist, so at least you have that going for you.

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That's... Actually, that's a great plan. You guys are both in a side room, I could easily have bypassed you and went straight on to the boss. Maybe if you pretend you never saw me, you won't get fired for laziness and incompetence.

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You'll have to explain what happened to the Great Ball that was in the room with you guys, though. Heh heh.

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It's actually more of a "stroll". Maybe you could call it a "swagger", but I'm definitely not "scurrying".

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Shadow Pokémon Alert!

Oh, yay. Carvanha was another of those guys who stayed on my team for a long time when I first played this. He's a really nice little glass cannon. No real defenses, but he can hit like a truck, especially once he evolves.

Also, even though I don't usually nickname Pokémon, I think I'm going to nickname this one "Sharknado".

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This seems like a good time to highlight some of the other Shadow Moves. This is Shadow Hold. It prevents both Pokémon on the opposing team from escaping.

Luckily, by the time Carvanha used this, I had already switched Spheal out. Carvanha had already taken out more than half of Spheal's health in one hit (Spheal is a pretty decent HP/Tank Pokémon usually, it's just slow as molasses). Had this nabbed Spheal, Spheal would have fainted.

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Here's my stats after the fight, just so that you guys can see. I pretty much one-shotted all three of the other Pokémon in the battle. This damage was almost all done by Carvanha. That's actually really good for a single Pokémon to do to a team, especially by an AI enemy. It also helps that Carvanha has good typing, being immune to Confusion and resisting Bite, so I might not have been able to one shot it even if I were trying. But, of course, I wanted to capture it, so I had to let it pound on me while I tried to weaken it (which is not easy, especially since it could almost two shot Espeon).

That's what I love about Shadow Pokémon. It makes fights so much more interesting, by putting you up against extreme damage dealers while also making you not want to actually just destroy them immediately. It puts a huge risk/reward twist on the standard Pokémon gameplay, and I love it. It gets even better later on when Trainers start getting more than one Shadow Pokémon on a team.

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Oh, sweet, I got permission to run around the base! Now I won't have to worry about being stopped for battles every five feet! Right?!

[Pumpkin]

There are some neat looking moves

[Formalhaut]

I love the witty comments you do Sky, and also how you tell us some of the game mechanics. Makes it more clear for us to understand certain things

[Newmani]

This brings back a ton of memories. I have this game as well as its predecessor, and I played the heck out of both. It's too bad you can't actually get Celebi anywhere in either. Or go to the Under in XD.

By the way if you're still taking nickname requests can we call the Gulpin Otoro? Cause it reminds me a heck of a lot of Sammy's Otoro in Chorocojo's Firered LP.

[Skyblade]

There are some neat looking moves

That Aurora Beam shot was actually quite hard to take. There's a brief delay when taking screenshots, and the ability doesn't have a very long animation. It took me three tries, but I think I nabbed it at just about the perfect time to show off how awesome it looks.

I love the witty comments you do Sky, and also how you tell us some of the game mechanics. Makes it more clear for us to understand certain things

Oh, they're actually witty. Good. That's what I was going for, but it's hard to know if I was successful sometimes.

I kind of have to explain mechanics. While it is a more traditional Pokémon game than, say, Pokémon Conquest, it still has a lot of minor changes.

This brings back a ton of memories. I have this game as well as its predecessor, and I played the heck out of both. It's too bad you can't actually get Celebi anywhere in either. Or go to the Under in XD.

By the way if you're still taking nickname requests can we call the Gulpin Otoro? Cause it reminds me a heck of a lot of Sammy's Otoro in Chorocojo's Firered LP.

Wynaut.



Anyway, we're almost done with the Cipher Lab, so let's keep going!

I'm down to two paths left to take. I opt for the left side... And stumble into another Cipher Peon.

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Hey, I got permission to be here. I'm not causing mischief, I'm just exploring.

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Wow. That's mean. I take pride in my manners and bearing. I'm always courteous and considerate. I even use proper grammar and spelling online!

Now the game is saying I'm poorly raised, and another girl is crying because of me. This game is just mean.

Maybe she knows that Axel doesn't seem to have a father. In which case it's even more hurtful.

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I brush aside my hurt feelings and go to open the treasure chest in the room behind her.

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Ok, last door, here we go.

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Sweet, the Boss of Cipher is here. It came a little sooner than I expected. I'm not quite prepped for Final Boss fights, but whatever, we'll roll with it.

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Last time being the events of five years ago (see also: Pokémon Colloseum).

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Do I really look suspicious? It's the hair, isn't it?

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Sure you can. It's easy. Just keep sitting right there, and I'll stroll right on past. Watch...

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One day that will actually work.

Shadow Pokémon Alert!

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It's not the word that I would use to describe an individual that enslaves gods, takes down massive organized crime syndicates, or beats up and robs half the people he meets either. But this is the Pokémon universe, and that is apparently what the word means here.

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Oh, right. Prof. Krane. Of course. Is he still here?

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Actually, I do. Even though my character has never met her, I saw her in that cutscene earlier. It's perfectly alright for me to use OOC knowledge, right? We'll just add "ability to see through walls" to my list of awesome traits up there.

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She is cute, I'll give her that.

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He left behind the ID Card. I knew we'd get the Key to that elevator at some point.

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Finally! Someone who knows their job and sticks to it! You, sir, are the most dedicated employee at this lab, and don't let anyone tell you any different!

Even though you're literally just sitting in the break room, probably having a cup of coffee.

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New chest, yay.

Then out the door, to find...

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...That it still can't be opened from the other side. Oh well. At least this makes the path to the locked elevator quicker.

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We'll find out where this evil elevator takes us in our next installment!

Which should be in about five minutes, depending on how long it takes me to actually write the comments.

[Skyblade]

So we're taken to a boring and empty room. But, we don't care about that, so we'll just head up the staircase in it to reach the room with Cipher Peon Naps and our Professor!

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Really, Professor? You're honestly going to try to talk this out?

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You have got to be kidding me. The Professor is actually getting through to this guy?! Well, I can't have people in the Pokémon world thinking that you can solve problems without violence. Time for me to interfere!

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Yep.

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Do you know anyone else who looks even close to being this awesome?

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No, I came here with an Espeon to rescue Professor Krane. There's a huge difference.

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You could always resign. It would probably be healthier for you than having your mind split open by my Psychic kitty.

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That's right, I did! Aw, good times. Hey, do you remember that time I walked through an entire Cipher base defeating everyone in the way, finishing up with the poor shmuck who no longer even had a Shadow Pokémon to protect himself with? No? Give it a minute. It'll come to you.



Apologies for the audio and visual errors. As I said, it's a glitch of the emulation process.

Normally, Naps wouldn't even be that much of a threat. And this was actually the worst battle of the three I fought with him (trying to figure out how much to record, the video files get big), due to that unlucky critical. But in my usual playthroughs, I've already EV trained Espeon (which you can do at Mt. Battle and against the Hexagon Brothers), so I'm not only several levels higher, but I'm also far more optimized.

Stupid Murkrow and its stupid immunity to Psychic. Why did they have to break the Psychic class in Gen II?! Why?!

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You can tell he's a higher rank because he says "Punk" instead of "Brat".

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Stupid Mareep. Had you evolved one fight earlier, you probably would have one-shotted that annoying little birdy.

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I bet Cipher has nothing on Organization XIII.

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Aw, how cute, he thinks his advice is important to us.

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Now we have the Professor treating us with the respect we deserve. Awesome.

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Pfeh. Please. What's the worst that could happen? I've still got chests to loot.

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Well, I'd hope so. For one thing, I heard about others from the coffee break dudes downstairs. But more importantly, if this was their only base, they'd kind of be out of business now, wouldn't they?

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"Complicated" he says. As though he's actually going to do anything besides cower behind me should we run into anyone.

Relax, Professor. I'm sure we can stay down here as long as we want and no one will come bug us.

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Sweet! A third party member! Let's see, we've already got Jovi as a healer, so I guess Krane is going to be our wizard. This is going to be awesome.

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Good to know. But I'm planning on using doggies for my fire types. I already have a Houndour, and I'm going to get a Growlithe. So I don't really need you.

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Last chest.

Before I leave though, I'm going to prove to the Professor that time isn't a concern. So I take him down through the Cipher Lab, showing every point of interest, and every place where I whooped a Cipher nobody.

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I also show him the healing machine, and explain to him how important it is to get these all over the world so we can stop being dependent on Pokémon Centers.

I also take a moment to heal up. I'm confident, I'm not stupid.

[Pumpkin]

Good update

[Skyblade]

Well, it's been a day Professor. We're still fine. You were all worried about the time, but we have plenty of it.

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Damn.

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Who's running to their mommy now?

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Oh, geez, you're right. There are probably forms to fill out when moving prisoners and everything. I'm sorry, I totally goofed on that. My bad.

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Hey, all your employees have been bothering me. I haven't even made eye contact with them, or talked to them. I just walk by, and they challenge me. Not my fault.

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He still thinks that will work.

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Works for me. I'm sure the Lab is doing just fine without him. My mom has to be running the place better than he can.

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My estimation of your plan has dropped considerably.

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WILL BE MINE, BWA HA HA!

I didn't say that out loud did I? No? Good.

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You honestly think that asking nicely will get you out of the criminal base. I don't think you're in a position to talk about unrealistic expectations.

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Lovrina is kind of like how I imagine shion being if she ever became a super villain.

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Yeah, but in case you haven't noticed, he's not big on listening. He's a professor, he likes to hear himself talk, and not much else.

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Didn't we just talk about that? I may be young, but I am paying attention.

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So you'd have an XD-002, etcetera? I have to warn you, at the rate Pokémon are being discovered, three digits are not going to be enough.

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Hey, that's my plan! Get your own!

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But, we do need his help (apparently) to perfect the process, so we'll choose "Yes" here.

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I'm not joking, professor.

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Absolutely!

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Dangit. Now I'm getting flashbacks to Gen I, when we cross Nugget Bridge, are asked to join Team Rocket, and can't say "Yes". I just want to take over the world! Just a little bit.

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Hey, I'll help! Blame this stupid Professor guy who is completely unwilling to listen to anyone.

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Odd, she's not dressed like the stereotypical dominatrix.



See? Totally evil shion.

Sorry about the quality, but that's the best I can do from emulation. If someone wants to shell out $200 bucks to get a video input recorder, I could record live from the game itself, and avoid all those terrible glitches.

...Nobody?

Also, a couple of things to note.



This is the music that plays when you fight here. The Cipher Admin music. Although not nearly as awesome as the Cipher Peon music, it's important to note that this music also plays when you're on the map screen selecting your destination. Maybe Cipher has already taken over the region and we just don't know it?

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Also, Shadow Pokémon Alert!

In case you're too lazy to watch the vid I spent all that time, effort, and money to record.

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I know. It sucks. But cheer up, once I get the Professor back, I'll try to steal his research and get it to you.

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Oh, forget him, I'm probably going to have him executed once I take over anyway.

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Deal!

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Yeah, the Professor doesn't realize that making a Pokémon immune to purification also makes them look about fifty times more awesome. Bring pictures next time, and he'll be way easier to convince.




Also, sorry about this, guys. There is some massive exposition dumps going on, and it's going to continue. This is essentially the end of the game's prologue, so we're going to unlock some new features, and start with the main questing. So there's a lot of exposition to set that up that I have to get through.

[Pumpkin]

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Lovrina is kind of like how I imagine shion being if she ever became a super villain.

I wish I was that skinny. But you know, with more boob

[Skyblade]

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Dude. You're a nameless scientist. She doesn't even care about you as much as she does Naps, and we've seen how she treats him.

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That's right, so you'd better do what I say and help perfect the awesome looking doom Pokémon.

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Actually, I've always been awesome, you should be impressed by Espeon. Besides, normally by the time I rescue you, my team is way, way more powerful. This is nothing.

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This comes as a surprise to no one.

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All this thinking time you've had, and your best idea is "we must come up with a way to stop them?"

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But they're almost done with their project, how are they supposed to finish it if they get an incompetent leader back?

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Ah, optical media. Such an important part of gaming, and now you're becoming more and more obsolete as physical memory storage becomes more compact and cheaper.

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Dude. Get your own games.

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On second thought, I bet it's carrying a virus. I certainly wouldn't trust any label they put on it. You can have it, Prof.

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It "looks important"? It's a CD! I've seen thousands of them!

Although, to be fair, it was sparkling on the ground, and that does usually mean important. But I didn't think anyone but myself could see that.

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Finally made it back to Headquarters.

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Uh huh. Saying "thanks" is easier than actually rewarding me, huh?

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Awesome, you spied on the enemy? What'd you learn?

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...

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So this is what a university education gets you these days, huh?

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Hey, something that some of the people here might not have actually known! Kudos!

Pity I was able to pick up the same thing in about thirty seconds of listening to Lovrina. But still, great job.

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They "must"? Can you not think of any other use for perfect killing machines?

"All I wanted was to create the perfect genetic soldier! Not for evil. But for good!"

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Why are you dragging this out when everyone knows that the answer is "send the young child with the unlicensed proton accelerator strapped to his arm after the bad guys"?

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Well, at least it stalled him enough that the team was able to finish before he bungled everything again.

Seriously, is it a coincidence that as soon as my mom's in charge, stuff gets done? I think not.

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C'mon, mom, I'm talking you up here. Be more eloquent.

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"I got captured just in time to not contribute to the project's finishing touches!"

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See? I told you she was better at this than you are.

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Last topic of conversation? Unimportant. We have SCIENCE to look at!

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*Sigh*

What did I just say about the eloquence? Oh well. Shiny new toys to look at. Let's go.



These should start coming out faster now that I've figured out how to work Manage Attachments (which is so much easier than the "Upload Images" button. Thanks, Loony BoB!).

[Skyblade]

Alrighty, time for one of the main mechanics of the game to get some explanation.

I'm actually going to be avoiding a lot of the text dumps here, because the explanations try, but without any knowledge of what the system looks like or how it works, the explanations are kind of useless. Plus they're kind of boring, and harder to make fun of. So I'll be doing a better job of explaining by using pictures of the system as I use it.


The new system is in another room, so off we go!

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Sweet, I have a fanclub now.

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You got it.

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Um, guys, this room has been like this the whole game. What changed?

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Professionalism, Aidan!

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It's a room, Professor. I've seen them before.

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So I do have a father. Good to know.

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You couldn't even save yourself.

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So you gathered a ton of scientists, built a laboratory and designed some equipment of very questionable legality, all because of my father?

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And my mother actually got it all working. I have the most awesome family ever.

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Where is my father, anyway?

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Today the Purify Chamber, tomorrow the WORLD!

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Way to kill the mood, Professor.

Epic science adventure! Oh, wait, we need tutorials.

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Fine. I guess even criminal masterminds need tutorials every now and then.

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So Pokémon could Purify themselves if we just released them to the wild where they could be around "normal" Pokémon?

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That doesn't really explain what a "set" is, though.

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How?!

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Wow, someone's pumped about their job. Who's this lady, and why is she dressed like a nurse?

Oh, wait. No name. I guess that makes her unimportant.

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Ah, some useful instruction. Thank you!

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So the system only works if I use it. Critical information I likely wouldn't have discovered.

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What if I don't want to? You can't tell me what to do!



I'll actually have to finish explaining this after work, and then get back to the adventure itself. Finally. This took way longer than I expected, and I have cut out a lot of tutorial dialogue already.