Let's Play Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness

[Pumpkin]

Pokemon HQ is a nice building

[Skyblade]

GXXE01-32.png

Well, most of my family is awesome.

Actually, Jovi is awesome too, just in a more juvenile way than my parents.

GXXE01-33.png

You still never told me why he isn't here to see his dream realized. Is he leading Cipher? Is his real dream taking over the world (like mine is)?

GXXE01-34.png

Um, I'd rather let the technicians who know what they're doing start it. I don't even see an "on" switch.

GXXE01-35.png

Really? Here I was so sure that Professor Krane's "Let's Talk Them Out Of Being Evil" speech was what was going to thwart them.

Plus, I'm pretty sure this thing is useless without the Snag Machine.

GXXE01-36.png

I know. It's a device designed to purify my mindless killing machines and slow my plans for world domination.

GXXE01-37.png

I don't work here though. I'm just the boss lady's son.

Oh, whatever. Let's see, walk to the plate in the middle of the floor.

GXXE01-39.png

Ooh, shiny.

GXXE01-40.png

Ok, so you guys made the X-Men's Danger Room? Neat, but what does this have to do with purifying Pokémon?

GXXE01-41.png

Alrighty, tutorial time. This is a Set. It's a system designed to purify a Shadow Pokémon.

GXXE01-42.png

This is Shadow Carvanha. The Shadow Pokémon goes in the middle. Where it can stew in loneliness and despair.

GXXE01-43.png

We have to place at least one non-Shadow (the game uses the term "Normal", but since that's also a type, I think it's a bad idea. We'll call it "Regular") Pokémon for the Set to do anything.

Carvanha is a Water type, and Water is strong against Fire. So, while any Regular Pokémon will do, there will be a boosted effect if we put a Fire type in the slot, like Houndour.

GXXE01-44.png

Adding more Pokémon makes the Set more effective. Again, watch the type matchups. Fire is strong against Bug, so Ledyba makes a good second choice (plus, Bug is strong against Dark, looping back to Houndour, making this a fairly decent two-Pokémon set).

GXXE01-45.png

However, a third Pokémon makes it better still. Since Bug is strong against Dark, Poochyena here makes a good third.

GXXE01-46.png

Finally, the fourth Pokémon fills the set. This is where things get tricky. While chaining is basic enough, to maximize potential, you need to loop them all into each other.

Dark is strong against Psychic. But a regular Psychic type would not be ideal, because it wouldn't be super effective against Houndour.

By placing Baltoy, we can use its Ground type to be strong against Houndour's Fire type, completing the Set and maximizing the "Tempo" on the right.

Tempo is essentially the most important thing to Purifying Pokémon. The higher the Tempo, the faster it's Purified. Any time you hover a Pokémon over a slot on the circle, you can see how it affects Tempo. If it boosts it, it is always a good move. Maximizing Tempo the way I have here is called a "Perfect Circle" (and is something that will be important much, much later).

Flow is nowhere near as important as Tempo, but it still helps Purify Pokémon faster. This is actually the max we can get it right now (due to having limited Pokémon and limited types), but we can boost this quite a bit higher later as we unlock more options, and I'll show you that as we get there.

GXXE01-47.png

Once you've set up the Set, you can view a holographic overview of what it looks like. But, since it provides no information other that what Pokémon are in it, this is kind of useless.

I wonder how this system got okayed. Did someone in the Lab just mess around with the VR training program, discover the neato holographic visual effects, and decide that they had to go into the Purification Chamber?

Kaiba may have gotten flak for creating a holographic system just to make card games look more interesting, but at least there was a reason for it. This system is just pointless.

GXXE01-48.png

Um, you guys said it was right here.

GXXE01-49.png

I don't think Nine is that many. Not given that we're slowly creeping close to 1000 varieties of Pokémon. Besides, I don't have near the Pokémon to use all the slots, and none of you wonderful scientists are offering your own.

There's a perfectly good Blissey right there!

Oh, that reminds me: Normal types, despite having no types weak to them, count as Super-Effective against other Normal types for the purpose of increasing Tempo. So a set of all Normal type Pokémon will maximize Tempo for a Normal or Fighting Shadow Pokémon.

GXXE01-50.png

Thank goodness. As you learn if you play Pokémon Colloseum, you had to travel back to the Agate Village stone any time you wanted to Purify a Pokémon. That meant a lot of pointless backtracking.

While you still have to actually come back to the Pokémon Center to do the Purification, switching out the Sets makes it so much easier to keep Purifications coming fast, especially given the number of Shadow Pokémon we wind up getting.

GXXE01-51.png

Let's see, you tried asking nicely, and that didn't work.

We could set up a Game Corner and get them to gamble them all away?

Ooh, or how about we just march into their base and arrest them all?

Maybe we could...

GXXE01-52.png

I'd have never thought of that. This is why you are our brilliant leader.

[Skyblade]

So, having discovered most of the secrets of the Purify Chamber, it's time to find out what I'm supposed to do next.

GXXE01-1.png

We've been back like ten minutes, and she just got finished with making the Purify Chamber work.

GXXE01-2.png

His name is "Datan"? Wow, he was doomed to a scientist's life, huh?

GXXE01-3.png

Ok, I'll fight the bad guys and capture all the Shadow Pokémon, but I'm not going to do a fetch quest upstairs just because you're too lazy.

GXXE01-5.pngGXXE01-7.png

Yay, go Jovi! I told you she was awesome!

GXXE01-8.png

Stop trying to insert yourself into my family. You're not good enough.

GXXE01-9.png

Have some patience, dangit! No wonder nothing gets done around here when you're constantly bugging everyone for status reports.

GXXE01-11.png

...

Jovi is more than capable of telling someone to come here. Just wait.

GXXE01-12.png
GXXE01-13.png
GXXE01-14.png

Ha ha. No.

Heck, handing kids control of something like a level 50 Salamence is not nearly the best way to train them to fight in Pokémon battles.

GXXE01-16.png

You imply that they once were.

GXXE01-19.png

Am I ever going to meet this father of mine?

GXXE01-20.png
GXXE01-21.png

So the only reason Jovi couldn't get the Data ROM was because Datan ran off. It's his fault, not hers.

GXXE01-22.png

Great. Downstairs it is.

GXXE01-25.png

This guy is worried that all the Pokémon on the cruise ship may have been turned into Shadow Pokémon. We call this "foreshadowing".

GXXE01-26.png
GXXE01-28.png
GXXE01-29.png

While this news article does raise some questions about the quality of ONBS's reporting, I have to love the reference to the fact that random NPCs only replay a single line of dialogue.

GXXE01-31.png

This game is on the GameCube. There are no achievements. Unfortunately.

GXXE01-32.png

Baby? It's a Kirlia. Ralts is the baby form.

GXXE01-33.png

It might be easier if you actually leave the room.

GXXE01-35.png

Great. More running around.

GXXE01-36.png

Dangit, Datan. You've wasted this entire post. Where the heck are you?!



I've realized that this has sort of become more of a riff track than a standard Let's Play. I'm thinking I should probably start doing more summary and less comments on each and every line of dialogue. Otherwise this game will take forever, and you all will probably lose interest. I mean, I have 50 folders filled with pictures (10 to 25 apiece, based on post length at the time) that I've been using, and I still have almost 100 pictures either cut or waiting to be used.

[Pumpkin]

It's hard to know which screens to cut off sometimes, I know :/

You don't want to have too many text blocks because they're uninteresting but you also don't want to post everything everyone says either

[Skyblade]

GXXE01-39.png

Gosh, if only we had this laboratory headquarters filled with the greatest minds of the region to call on or something.

GXXE01-50.png

This makes sense. If you want to get data off a hard drive, give it to a group of news reporters.

GXXE01-49.png

Yeah, but they mostly did that through reporter things, like spreading knowledge and coordinating common people against Cipher.

GXXE01-52.jpg

So they're sending me on errands again. Apparently my scooter is the fastest vehicle at the HQ.

Actually, I think it's the only vehicle at the HQ. No wonder they send me everywhere. There's no garage, or even a parking lot. Most of them live there, I think. Even though the only rooms with beds I can remember are mine and Jovi's. Weird.

GXXE01-53.png

YOU SHOULD BE SORRY!

GXXE01-59.png

Don't make me smack you.

GXXE01-65.jpg

Well, this is Pyrite Town. It seems kind of run down, to be honest.

Still, it's one of the few Towns in the Pokémon world to have a Hotel (visible as the orange dome in the back left). Also the only place I've seen a Fortune Teller's shop.

GXXE01-72.jpg
GXXE01-74.png

And a reporter running away from her cameraman is how this town greets us. No idea why, it just kind of happens.

GXXE01-78.jpg

This is kind of a trend in Pyrite Town. Over half the people wandering the streets want to battle with you. Plus the big white dome in the back is a Colloseum.

GXXE01-66.png

You can put any Pokémon into the Purification Chamber to Purify it, even if it has opened its heart by staying in your party, but you still need other Pokémon for the actual Purification ritual.

[Formalhaut]

So, how far are you into the game, now Skyblade?

[Pumpkin]

GXXE01-72.jpg

[Skyblade]

GXXE01-2.png

Holy moly. There's actually a police force here. I am in shock.

GXXE01-3.png

Yet they don't do anything except warn me about street thugs who are going to try to beat me up and take my money. Le sigh.

Why do we not have a sighing smiley?

GXXE01-4.jpg

So I'm investigating the people person locked up, and he seems to recognize the Snag Machine. That makes me a little nervous. The only ones I know who would recognize the Snag Machine are the researchers, who already know about it, and the bad guys. I guess that's why he's locked up.

GXXE01-5.png

Item boxes have to be punished for crimes too! This one was locked up for disturbing the peace.

GXXE01-6.jpg

Dude, they were literally just walking down the street. No wonder there's no police in this world, if they're all going to harass everyone who walks down the street. I mean, that's pretty much the same as acting like a regular trainer.

GXXE01-7.jpg

Oh, they're "former" criminals. Yeah, I don't really blame you in that case. There isn't a lot of success with the rehabilitation projects in this world.

GXXE01-8.jpg

While I approve of your disbelief, I'm not sure how much you can do to them without evidence. Also, to collect the evidence, you should actually chase after them when they leave. Follow and observe, man.

GXXE01-11.jpg

You're letting Cipher goons roam around the town?!

GXXE01-12.jpg

Or maybe they just ditched the costumes and lied to you.

GXXE01-9.jpg

Well, I knew that no wild Pokémon lived here, but I didn't really know why.

GXXE01-14.jpg

Seriously? What "ravaged" this land?

Is this the region mentioned in Pokémon X and Y that lost the war with Kalos and was obliterated by the ultimate weapon?!

Note: We never get any explanation for what happened to Orre to eliminate its wild Pokémon, but playing this again after playing X and Y, that REALLY makes sense to me. We know from X and Y that the weapon was powerful enough to not only eradicate life, but also draw out life forces to render areas inhospitable. Orre just got way more awesome.

GXXE01-15.png
GXXE01-16.jpg

First an item locked in jail, now we have several staying at a hotel. What the heck.

GXXE01-17.jpg

This guy explains the structure of the Colloseum fights. Which I might do some of later, but since I haven't been EV training my team, and I am working with the very limited roster we get, I probably won't beat all of them.

Especially since the game's ultimate post-game challenge arena is here, and it pretty much expects a trained team transferred from the GBA games.

GXXE01-10.png

I guess that makes him a very responsible mayor, then.

GXXE01-13.png

Is this one of those "street thugs" I was warned about? He's just a cheerful old man getting off work and wanting to relax.

GXXE01-20.jpg

Oh. These would be the street thugs then.

Crap.

GXXE01-21.jpg

Wait, so is this actually an officially sanctioned location for Pokémon battles or what? I'm so confused now. The police warned me about it, but it really seems like a nice, inviting place. Everyone sits around and waits politely for a challenger to talk to them. It kind of reminds me of the Pokémon Link Systems, or even my old school cafeteria when everyone was playing Pokémon and looking for trades/battles constantly.

GXXE01-22.jpg

Ok, these are seriously some of the nicest trainers in the entire series. They're friendly, they enjoy a challenge, they aren't sore losers, they're willing to rematch, and they don't assault you for walking in front of them.

Maybe this is because of the police force? It keeps the usual psychotic behaviors of trainers in line?

GXXE01-18.png

I can't believe I forgot to nickname this guy. I'll do it as soon as I find the name changer. Because I am definitely going to be using him.