20/02/2017

Pokemon Moon: The Oricorio solo run


A.k.a. The Run That Shouldn't Have Been. See, I initially wanted my first Moon solo run to be a Popplio one, and that's actually what it was at first. Unfortunately, I was unlucky enough to be given a Popplio with a Sassy Nature. A bloody Sassy Nature, on a 'Mon that already has a pitifully low base Speed by default. What do you think happened? Heck, you guessed it: despite being overlevelled, my Popplio always acted second in battle. This quickly got on my nerves, to the point where I seriously considered erasing my save file and restarting my playthrough with a Popplio more fitted to solo run endeavours. But as I was pondering that possibility, I happened to encounter a wild Oricorio in Melemele Meadow; and hot on the heels of that fateful encounter came the idea of recycling my Popplio solo run into an Oricorio solo run. I had already come that far and Oricorio was one of my potential candidates for future solo runs anyway; so why not use the opportunity and spare myself the waste of a couple of hours of play? And that's how I found myself running solo with the dancing bird while I put my Popplio into early retirement on Poke Pelago. Sheesh, guess Lusamine was totally right about Trainers being cold-hearted pricks that get rid of their 'Mons when said 'Mons don't perform well enough in battle.

"Don't perform well enough in battle" is definitely not a sentence that applies to Oricorio in any of her forms. Gosh, that bird packs some serious punch and is just a perfect 'Mon to tackle a solo run. She levels up fast and boasts perfectly balanced stats, with no crippling weakness and two major strengths, i.e. Speed and Special Attack stats that go through the roof. The form change feature is just the perfect tool to tackle Trials without having to resort to a massive amount of battle items, and it's quite a nice diversion to boot: staring at the same 'Mon for hours in a solo run can be a a trifle monotonous, but Oricorio's four forms bring in a nice bit of visual variety. I switched at will between the three forms that were available during the main game (shame on you, Game Freak, for stingily sticking the most awesome form of the bunch behind the postgame wall), finally settling on the Baile style for most on my run. And boy, was it a blast to cruise Alola with such a powerful and stylish 'Mon.

That being said, I wouldn't deem Oricorio a perfect 'Mon by any means. In fact, Oricorio is pretty much a missed opportunity: she is quite a fine 'Mon as she is, but she could have been an outstanding 'Mon with a bit more effort on Game Freak's part. What drags the dancing bird down and prevents her from reaching the pinnacle of Pokemon greatness is her crippingly, ridiculously, infuriatingly limited Move pool. I though Rowlet was bad in that department; but oh boy, had I seen nothing yet. I had yet to meet Oricorio, i.e. The 'Mon That Can Solely Learn Two Move Types by Levelling Up. Yup, you've read that right: apart from Agility, which is a Psychic Status Move, Oricorio can solely learn Normal and Flying Moves by levelling up. Could it get any worse than that? Is there actually a 'Mon out there that has a worse move pool when it comes to Move Types  apart from your usual Magikarp or Cosmog, which are bound to evolve into kick-ass forms? Oricorio does not evolve and must endure being on a virtual Move Type diet for all eternity. And don't think that the colourful bird has it better on the TM front: she has to endure serious restriction there as well, with only a couple of Status Moves and a paltry two offensive Moves not belonging to Normal and Flying Type at her disposal. This is pure Move Type starvation, that's what it is.

It may seem like I'm nitpicking there, especially given that Oricorio's severe Move Type limitations didn't hinder my progression in the slightest. But mind you, there is more at stake here than a mere cosmetic issue (i.e. me growing blasé after 17 hours on a Normal and Flying Move diet): this Move Type restriction makes Oricorio's Double Type Variation gimmick virtually pointless. Like probably every Sun and Moon player, I assumed at first glance that Oricorio would be able to learn Moves belonging to her secondary Typing, and was seriously disappointed when I realized this was not the case; but it turns out that as a solo runner, I actually had more use for Oricorio's Double Typing than my fellow party runners. Although the dancing bird has obviously been designed to assume the role of the resident powerful Flying 'Mon in a party setting, her inability to learn Moves that tap into her secondary Types means that the sole advantage of said secondary Types is the array of Resistances tied to them. That leads us to a situation where in a classic party setting, Oricorio will be the best choice only when facing an opponent that is weak against Flying and belongs to one of the Types she's resistant to in any of her forms. How often is that likely to happen? Clearly not enough to justify the existence of the Double Type Variation gimmick as it is. Like I said above, this gimmick can only be of any use in a solo run, where all Trials have to be tackled with Oricorio alone; and even in such a case, it's far from being a game-changer. I switched my Oricorio's Type two or three times over the course of my run to make Trials easier; but knowing that I could have obtained the same results with a couple of Battle Items, being restricted to two Move Types during my whole run was too steep a price to pay for a couple of Resistances. In the end, Oricorio's form change gimmick is just that: a form change gimmick, bound to please the eye but with no real use in battle whatsoever.

I cannot fathom why Game Freak decided not to implement Moves belonging to Oricorio's secondary Typings, and I see only two possible reasons for that glaring omission. The first is that it may have proved too hard or even impossible to program; but in that case, Game Freak should have created four separate versions of Oricorio, each with its own Pokedex entry, and ditched the Nectar trigger altogether. The second is that it would have made Oricorio completely overpowered; but in that case, Game Freak should have given the bird access to more Move Types in order to make her more versatile and useful on the battlefield. In the end, nothing justifies the chosen implementation of Oricorio's Double Type variation; this is just bad Pokemon design and a massive missed opportunity.

That being said, I still enjoyed my Oricorio solo run and definitely recommend that 'Mon for a solo run, providing that you can stomach the lack of Move Type variety. Before I wrap up this post, here's one last anecdote for the road. When I play pairs of Pokemon games, I usually play as both the resident male and female Trainer, one for each version; and the choice of which Trainer to play in which version usually boils down to chance or to my mood of the moment. But in the case of Sun and Moon, I was intent on playing as the male Trainer in Moon. Why, you may ask? Well, because of Evangelion. More precisely because of the famous Evangelion art book called Der Mond, which I never owned but heard off, like basically anybody who was an anime fan around 2000. I remember thinking that it was just so damn cool that the word "moon" was a masculine word in German, while being a feminine word in most latin-derived languages; this detail kickstarted my interest in linguistics and has been stuck in my memory ever since, prompting me to pick a male Trainer for my playthrough of Moon nearly twenty years later. And on that colourful note, I'm wrapping up that post, dear fellow gamers. Thanks for reading, and be my guest anytime!

11 comments:

  1. Wait, what? Oricorio cannot learn moves of its secondary typing, WTF? What the hell is the secondary typing even for then? I don't care about the programming limits, if they couldn't make it work then they shouldn't have designed a pokemon around that concept. Otherwise make it have separate forms, it's not like we mind them, just look at how many forms Eevee has. Oricorio had a sure spot in my eventual Sun and Moon playthrough because of its design, but now I'm questioning that. (since I might not get the switch, I guess I have to put up with the load times on O3DS, ugh)

    This is especially baffling when you consider Lycanroc had two separate forms that were truly separate, but GF didn't give them different secondary typings, only midly differing stats, which made both its gimmick and its separation completely useless. So why the hell did GF not make Oricorio's forms separate when it had a better reason to have them than Lycanroc?

    The Sun and Moon roster loses its shine day by day. Horrible speeds, a lot of meh designs and baffling misused gimmicks on top of that. This might be my least favourite generation, thankfully there's a few bug types I still have my eye on despite their speed. But gen 5 also has a lot of good bug types and a lot of other excellent mons as well, so I'd rather finally play Black and White 2.

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    1. My point exactly. Oricorio's gimmick is completely wasted, just because Game Freak didn't push the concept far enough. On the other hand, Oricorio is really fast and learns extremely powerful moves, so it can still be interesting for a party run; and as I said, that bird is great solo run material.

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  2. Hey Isleif, guess what I just read: who do you think should showcase switch units at upcoming events. Reggie? Another Nintendo staff? Someone who is at least respected in the gaming community?

    According to Nintendo, it's John Cena. Yep, John Cena. He's totally a respected figure among gamers and not just a popular meme with kids, nope, nope, doesn't look desperate at all Nintendo.

    Geesh, and I thought they couldn't look more pathetic after the switch presentation. It's probably gonna net the switch a few more sales, sure, but have some dignity Nintendo.

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    1. Er, what? Seriously? Gosh, Nintendo's logic makes less sense by the day. Every time I think they cannot sink deeper, they manage to top themselves. It's like watching a car crash in slow-mo.

      Talking about watching a car crash, I've been viewing and reading a good number of videos and articles produced at the time of the WiiU release, and the similarities with what we're seeing and hearing now are seriously uncanny. You can find the same puzzlement and slight bewilderment at the apparent ludicrousness of Ninty's actions ("they just CANNOT be that dumb, there must be a hidden strategy behind this madness!"-Oh yes they can be that dumb, and they precisely proved it with the WiiU debacle), the same desperate attempts at self-reassurance ("Games will come later! VC will rock this time!" -Oh, you think so? We saw how this turned out with the WiiU, right?), the same zealous damage control and whitewashing of blatant shortcomings (now the Switch launch is a soft launch, even though Ninty themselves never alluded to such a strategy) and the same slightly insane certainty that things will somehow magically work themselves out in the future ("Big game X will propel the Switch into the stratosphere by bringing in a flood of buyers and devs!" -Oh, you mean like when the exclusive release of Bayonetta 2 was supposed to single-handedly save the WiiU and bring in third-party devs? More like it killed the Bayonetta franchise entirely). It's both riveting and disturbing to watch, and it gives me this eerie feeling of seeing history repeat itself, only with a different piece of kit.

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    2. I've been watching videos excusing the switch too, and even without knowing all the parallels between it and the Wii U, the blatant excuses just make me pity Nintendo fanboys more and more. My favourite excuse is comparing it to how the 3DS almost failed but turned itself around. While that can happen, wake up and smell the coffee hons, the chances of it are more pathetic than your excuses. Especially since Nintendo always had a loyal handheld market, but they've been struggling with consoles since the N64. Most of their handheld fans seem to not be taken with the switch, so they've screwed that pooch.

      There's no game nowadays that has the power to single-handedly save a console. Heck, the Wii U had Fatal Frame and an Atlus game, and that still wasn't enough for me. With today's market, that just can't happen, there's too much choice for the consumer and Bayonetta proved it. So what if it was a Wii U exclusive? You could always get other platinum games on the PS4 and Xboxone. Even a niche game like Story of Seasons has a competitor now.

      Ohh and it's funny that you mention the VC as an excuse, because guess what? Apparently, the Switch is launching without any VC support at all! It will come later but man, this launch keeps getting messier and messier, and it does not speak for the future of VC on Switch at all.

      There's also this little article that already shows that the console has numerous problems and it's not ready for launch. My favourite one is about how the battery is so weak that the switch died on a reviewer, while it was hooked up to an external battery! Another one says that the battery drained in less than two hours. Yeah, everyone who made excuses for the shit battery can go eat crow, this is awful. Another outlet said that the kickstand of the console snapped off twice after two days of use.

      Yep, this console will work great as a handheld hybrid, Zelda will be sure to make up for all those faults, for sure! Personally I'd rather go back to having a gameboy, eyestrain and weaker games be damned, at least it was sturdy and had a nice battery. WTH Nintendo?

      Also, the console only has 32GB of memory, and there's already games that fill that thing in one go. And unlike the vita, I doubt Nintendo lets you back up your games on the PC, so either buy 2 billion micro SD cards or get screwed and download 32GB games over and over again. Sony did a nasty with the Vita's memory cards, but how is this better? I haven't seen nearly enough people complain about that. Mostly because they think micro SD cards are cheap, but here's the kicker, when it comes to gaming, the write speed of the card is important, otherwise the game will stutter and lag. So forget about buying one of those 15$ 64GB cards, depending on just how much write speed the games will need to function without lag and given that you can fill a 64GB with about 5 games if you're lucky, you may need cards that cost 80$. And considering that we don't know if the backup to PC option is available so you will need multiple cards...well, I guess the Vita isn't the only console who screws over consumers now, isn't it?

      I suppose if they somehow can make the games work on lower quality cards, it won't be so bad, but given how much the battery sucks, I doubt it. Really Nintendo, 32 GB, with 7Gb reserved for the system? Did you not learn anything with the Wii U? A console with games this huge needs 120GB MINUMUM, especially with so many games being digital only now. For shame.

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    3. Great; so it seems that after having lost their ability to produce stellar games, Ninty is also losing their ability to produce reliable and solid hardware. The Joy-Con syncing issue is as big a deal-breaker as it gets, just like the Red Ring of Death in its time.

      This looks more and more like Nintendo is using early Switch adopters as beta testers, and that's just the lowest of the low as far as commercial practices go. This console is. just. not. ready. Period! And gosh, it has not even launched yet and it already feels like a complete and utter failure. On the other hand, the Switch soap opera is fairly entertaining... I can't wait to see what ludicrous developments the next episode has in store for us, really.

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    4. Yep, it truly is sad to see how far Nintendo has gone. I remember that with their handhelds especially they used to brag about how much testing they did to make sure they were durable; because in their eyes a kid would drop them constantly, so the console needed to be able to withstand that.

      I can see that philosophy with my own pristine 15 year old GBA and my very abused 9 year old DS Lite that looks new. Heck, I'm sure that if I had kept my original gameboy or my gameboy colour they would still work to this day. Remember that story of the gameboy that survived a bomb and could still play tetris? Now that is quality.

      Now we have the switch that starts to show flaws after two days of use. Nintendo doesn't even seem have pride in what they do anymore.

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    5. And that's probably only the beginning, mind you. As I said before, I can envision serious connectivity issues between the Joy-Cons and the tablet on the long run, whether or not you remove them on a regular basis. I can also envision them snapping out of place if you drop the console or apply too much pressure on it, and maybe being impossible to slide back into the tablet if small pieces are broken in the process.

      The latest indignity is the kickstand seemingly snapping off fairly easily, and Nintendo trying to pass this as intentional design. This is the most stupid and complacent thing I've ever heard, and it's so outrageous that I though it was a joke of sorts when reading about it. How about designing some genuinely solid hardware like back in the days, Ninty? Really, I would laugh about this if the Switch was not so shockingly overpriced.

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  3. Question from someone who isn't very well-versed in the specifics of Pokemon creatures: how do you decide which one to run with? Do you just find one that you really like, or do you first do research on which ones are the most powerful?

    I'll probably end up doing a solo run this year at some point on my Sun copy as you've inspired me to do so, but picking a Pokemon (and worrying about things like Natures) is something that makes me nervous, because I don't want to get stuck with a bad choice.

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    1. Isleif seems to go with the ones he likes, and though I do Nuzlocke runs, I advise you to do the same.

      Sure, it will be easier if you choose a powerful mon from the go, but part of the fun is making a weaker mon work. Research all the possible moves they can have and working out the most varied move poll you can have to deal with a lot of situations. Thanks to TMs being unlimited now, this allows you a lot more freedom than in the previous games. You can have an all out offensive move poll for most of the game, but switch it up with more strategic moves like buffs/debuffs, status effects, etc, for one particular boss you can't get through.

      And if your chosen mon has a weak move poll, hey, there's always grinding and items. There's very few Pokemon I would consider to be truly nonviable (such as Unown and Delibird), like a certain NPC in the games said "there's no weak pokemon, only weak trainers". Play around! And if it turns out your chosen mon is too annoying for you, you could always do what Isleif did and replace the current mon with another one you think you will work out better. There's no penalty in "giving up", just you do you and have fun.

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    2. I'm totally the type of fickle Pokemon player that goes by looks first and foremost. You basically have to spend a whole run staring at a single 'Mon, so it's wise to choose a 'Mon that pleases your retinas; not to mention that your bond with said single 'Mon will be stronger if you like how it looks.

      I have yet to encounter a 'Mon so bad that it would make a solo run impossible. Even purely defensive 'Mons with crappy offensive move pools such as Rowlet and male Meowstic did the job quite decently; so I guess it all boils down to the level of challenge you want to tackle.

      To be fair, I only started taking Nature into account very recently, i.e. with my male Meowstic solo run of Y. Before that, I was not even aware that Nature had an influence on stats (talk about being a complete Pokemon noob) and yet I managed to perform solo runs unhindered; so I'd recommend not worrying too much about it. In my opinion, the overlevelling that goes along with a solo run is more than enough to take care of stat weaknesses, and Nature must be considered only when dealing with a 'Mon with some really crippling weaknesses (such as Popplio's low speed, which just couldn't tolerate further lowering in my opinion).

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