Gameplay Journal An Ultra Journey through Alola... at night!

RadEmpoleon · May 7, 2023

Hey gamers! I bought Ultra Moon right before the 3DS eShop closed and I've been waiting to download it (I needed a new SD card since there wasn't enough space on my current one). Now I'm all set to play it finally! 5 years late

I played Sun back in 2016, but I've never actually played through USUM. I don't remember the SM plot all too well, and I have no idea what's different about the plot for USUM. A long-winded way of saying, I'm going into this almost completely blind. (So please don't spoil) Because it's my first playthrough, I won't be doing any challenges. This is just a regular old playthrough. (I will be nicknaming every Pokémon though.)

I picked Rowlet in Sun, so I decided to shake things up and pick Popplio this time. I would've picked Litten if competitive didn't ruin Incineroar for me

This one ended up being a female, so I named her Selene. It sounds elegant and fitting for a Primarina, and the name reminds me of the moon. (Now that I think about it, isn't the female protag's name in USUM also Selene??)

I was getting super picky for what I wanted on my team. Either I was trying to avoid what I had on my team in Sun (Slowpoke, Magnemite) or I just didn't want it on my team (Yungoos, Wingull, etc.) but this is what I have so far:

I don't think I want to keep the Alolan Grimer, but I probably will be keeping the Buneary and Alolan Meowth.

I stopped playing for now after getting through the Trainer School battles and making it to Hau'oli City. I stopped by the apparel shop and the salon to change my character's look to look more like me.

This is a purple shirt, trust me. It just looks blue in the picture.

Thoughts so far:
- I realize now that the apparel shops in Sun and Ultra Sun sell clothes in pink, red, orange, yellow, and brown, and in Moon and Ultra Moon sell green, blue, navy blue, purple, and gray. That's a fun little touch with the warm colors in the Sun games and the cool colors in the Moon games. Tbh I like the cool colors way better. Purple is my favorite color, after all.
- The times of day in UM are different from what they are in Sun. I was playing in the afternoon and it was nighttime in the game. Normally in Sun at this time, it would be daytime. I don't foresee myself playing this early in the morning, so it seems like it'll always be nighttime in-game when I play.
- I know all the jokes about the Alola games being loaded with cutscenes, but holy crap I didn't realize HOW MANY cutscenes there were. (It's been years since I played through Sun.)
- I think they were called the Ultra Recon Squad? They were there for a few seconds. I have no idea who they are, but I take it they're part of the new plot in USUM. They probably have something to do with Necrozma??
- I'm having a lot of fun so far! I haven't played a new Pokémon game since Sun back in 2016, so it's exciting to start from the beginning in a new game.

You wouldn't believe how hard it was to get the trainer card photo with the eyes closed. I tried to get it mid-blink for at least 5 minutes but I don't think it's possible. Closed eyes it is.

Random fun fact: this is the first time I've had my name set as Rad! I usually had it set as my deadname...

I will try my best to keep updating this thread! No promises though-

Jeydis · May 11, 2023

The team is looking great so far, I like that alolan grimer made it. That line was surprisingly fun to use. Also nice bit of luck with the female starter!

RadEmpoleon · May 20, 2023

Entry #2!

- I started my journey with Popplio.
- I slowly built up a team consisting of Selene (Popplio), Huggy (Buneary), Melonballer (Alolan Meowth), and SludgeBoss (Alolan Grimer).
- I made it through the Trainer School battles.
- I stopped at Hau'oli City after making some character customizations.

- I know I said I didn't want to have the same team as I did in Sun, but I never actually specified what my team was. It was Decidueye, Toucannon, Magnezone, Snorlax, Ribombee, and Slowbro. So we will be avoiding those mons on my team this time around.
- I was slightly miffed about my Popplio because it ended up with a Brave nature, but I didn't want to reset because it was a female. So we'll be rolling with the least ideal nature for her.

This time I started playing at around 6 PM-ish in my time, so it was actually "day time" in game for once. We started off in Hau'oli City, where we had the first encounter with Team Skull. I forgot how goofy they were. Then I made my way over to what I'm assuming was a new area added into USUM, because I didn't remember this in Sun. It's the Mantine surfing area. I've heard of the Mantine surfing, but I have no idea what it is. I'll have to check on that later.

Anyway my main goal today was clearing the first trial.

Verdant Cavern was actually really pretty. I don't remember the last time I was there.

This trial was a breeze because I caught a Makuhita (FightNight) and had just it spam Arm Thrust. Very straightforward, especially since Alolan Rattata and Raticate are 4x weak to it.

FightNight was definitely MVP. I don't think I even used any other team member lol

I remember back in Sun that the totem Pokémon was Gumshoos, but I've read that in the Moon games that it's Alolan Raticate. I guess it was kinda funny to find them in the daytime, since the Alolan rats only appear at night.

The wildest thing happened during today's run. FightNight was in a battle with a Murkrow (?) and there was some ridiculous luck. I had her use Focus Energy, then Arm Thrust. The first hit was a critical hit, the next hit was a crit, then the next one was a crit, then the next one was a crit. It hit 4 times and each one was a crit. I was shocked. I've looked into the likelihood of this happening:
- After a Focus Energy, most attacks have a 50% chance of being a critical hit. So with 4 hits, that makes it a 6.25% chance of all 4 being crits.
- Arm Thrust has a 15% chance of hitting 4 times in a row in gen V and onwards. And with the 6.25% chance, that makes it a 0.9375% chance of Arm Thrust hitting 4 times and all of them being crits (assuming my math is correct, which I'm pretty sure it is).

I think my team is finally starting to come together. Again, I'm trying to avoid the same team. It's nice to use some new mons for a change.

I caught the Noibat on my way out of the Verdant Cavern. I didn't even know you could find them there... must be a new addition in USUM. Sadly I kicked Huggy (Buneary) off the team. It's just been a bit hard to use her I guess. Not sure if I want to keep Mime Jr. or Alolan Grimer but I'll keep them there for now.

That was a good enough stopping point for me. I suppose I could've gone from the start to the end of the first trial all in one sitting, but I didn't want to sit and play for that long.

RadEmpoleon · Jun 26, 2023

Entry #3! (Apologies for the long delay. I took all these photos at the beginning of June and wanted to post this then, but I've just been busy at work.)

- We started in Hau'oli City encountering Team Skull for the first time.
- We cleared the first trial, thanks to the MVP FightNight spamming Arm Thrust.
- FightNight got some crazy RNG luck, landing 4 consecutive critical hits of Arm Thrust (a 0.9375% chance according to my math).

Today I had not one, but TWO team members evolve!

I was expecting Selene to evolve any day now, but Mikey was a surprise. (I think it evolves with high friendship and learning either Copycat or Mimic. I don't remember which, but she knows both just in case.) I'm also surprised I managed to get a decently clear picture of her since she keeps moving around lol

Since we already cleared all the trials on Melemele, that means it's time to fight the Kahuna Hala in the Grand Trial. The battle was fairly easy, considering I had attackers with Flying, Psychic, and Fairy type moves lol. I think Vanrouge beat Machop, Mikey beat Makuhita, and Selene took out Crabrawler. (I don't exactly remember who took out what, but each of them knocked something out.)

I wanted to get a picture of the Grand Trial cleared screen, but it went away before I could get a pic.

After the trial, I got the Ride Pager so I could ride on Tauros. In Sun, I have it set so up on the D pad activates Tauros, so I was confused for a second why it wasn't working in Ultra Moon. Old habits die hard I guess haha.

Anyway, now I could use Tauros to break the rocks blocking off Ten Carat Hill. I did a bit of exploring around and found a Flyinium Z lying around. I wasn't expecting Kahili to come out of nowhere though to explain how to do the Z move dance though.

After that fun little adventure, I headed back to Hau'oli City to the Alola Photo Club. I'd vaguely heard of this before, but I didn't really know what it was. So this is my first time trying this. I had a lot of fun with it. I spent probably an hour getting my picture perfect. I wish you could rotate and resize the stickers though... it was hard to arrange with all the stickers in the same position.

I got a picture with Selene. I took the picture when she jumped up high. I put on as many stickers as they would allow me lol

I spent enough time doing the Alola Photo Club thing, so I just wanted to get to Akala as fast possible. But no, that would make too much sense. I had to surf on Mantine to get there. Again, I've never done Mantine surfing before (and I've never even seen any gameplay of this), so this was completely new. I didn't really know what I was doing, but I kept running into the damn rocks.

Is this a good score? I have no point of reference.

Yay, we finally made it to Akala. I'd been playing for HOURS today, and that was a good enough stopping point.

It looks like this team is sticking. I still feel like maybe I should bring someone else on the team, but I feel too attached to my current team members to pull any of them off.

***

I thought it would be fun to include the second photo in my future entries since it shows my Z crystals. Just don't look at the date... again, I've just been too busy these past few weeks to type all this out.

And just some additional information:
- I tried to take more pictures this time. Though I may have taken too many... there were a few I didn't include.
- I also have a new way to take the pictures, so hopefully they won't be as blurry. I figured out that taking the photos at 2x zoom on my phone helps the camera focus better on the screen. I also cropped all the photos at a 5x3 ratio to keep them consistent.

RadEmpoleon · Jul 4, 2023

Entry #4!

- 2 members of my team evolved: Selene and Mikey
- Defeated Hala in the Grand Trial
- Baby's first time at Alola Photo Club
- Mantine-surfed to Akala Island

Today we met the edgelord himself Gladion. I've been joking about his stupid edgy pose for years, so I was laughing so hard when he did it in the game. And of course, I had to crank up the volume during the battle. His battle theme is one of my favorites in the game.

I also encountered what I'm assuming is another new thing in USUM: the Pikachu Village. There were a lot of Pikachus, as you would expect. There was a Pikachu-looking trailer, but every time I tried to enter it, it would play a little cutscene of a Pikachu exiting. It took me 2 or 3 Pikachus to realize that it was never-ending. Is this just a gimmick, or is there actually something in the trailer?

You wouldn't believe how happy I was to catch a Mareep. It's one of my favorite Pokémon. I've always loved it since I was a kid. I figured it would be helpful for the Water trial, so I temporarily swapped Melonballer for it. I evolved it to Flaaffy before the trial and I think I almost happy cried while I was playing with it in Pokémon Refresh. It's so cute!

Anyway, speaking of the Water trial, I decided that would be my mission for the day.

I keep trying to get the picture of the screen that says "Trial start" but it goes away before I can get it.

Flaaffy was a great help with Thunder Shock (I gave her Magnet to hold to boost the power), and Vanrouge helped a bit too with knocking out Dewpiders with Gust. Then when I got to the totem battle, I was anticipating Totem Wishiwashi, but it was actually Totem Araquanid. I wonder if this is different like SM vs. USUM or like S/US vs. M/UM. Either way, it's Araquanid and not Wishiwashi.

The totem battle wasn't nearly as straightforward as the last one, I can tell you that. I thought I could just cleave through the Araquanid with Flaaffy, but I underestimated the Araquanid. (It was also raining, so that wasn't helpful for me. Even a weak Bubble attack did so much damage) All Flaaffy managed to do was paralyze the Araquanid. She got outsped by the paralyzed Araquanid and got knocked out before she could attack.

My next option was to stall with SludgeLord. As much as I hate stall, I actually had a really good setup: I used Minimize twice and since we were speed tied, I tried to para-flinch with Bite. It's disgusting to admit, but it was actually working for a bit.

Oh, and SludgeBoss also took care of the Dewpider it called with Poison Fang, which toxic-poisoned it.

The Araquanid managed to land a Bubble on SludgeBoss, which lowered its speed. I got worried I wouldn't be able to para-flinch it anymore, so I thought I could switch out and switch back in to reset the speed drop. Then I realized as I switched it out that it would also reset the evasion as well. In retrospect, I shouldn't have switched it out in the first place. Oh well, you live and learn.

I think next I threw out Mikey because I thought I could sack her off and try to switch in SludgeBoss again. Then the Araquanid called for a Masquerain, which I also wasn't expecting. Based on what I've read, in USUM, a Pokémon will only call out for help once if you don't use an Adrenaline Orb. I guess that's not the case with the Totem Pokémon. Mikey and FightNight dealt with the Masquerain. I'm glad I used the TMs I found to teach them Charge Beam and Smack Down (respectively).

After Mikey and FightNight got knocked out, I brought out Vanrouge, thinking I could just spam Gust. Well Gust is not a very strong attack, even with the Sharp Beak I gave him to hold. Maybe I should've given it the Flyinium Z. Lucky for me, he leveled up in the middle of the battle and learned Air Cutter. Thank goodness, because I don't know how many more attacks it could've survived. (It would also come in handy, in the event it calls another Pokémon for help, since Air Cutter hits both Pokémon.) Vanrouge was able to finally knock out the Araquanid with Air Cutter.

I think the MVP this time was Vanrouge. I don't think I would've won the Totem battle if he didn't clean up, considering the circumstances my team was in.

That's enough adrenaline for today... I was concerned that I was gonna lose the Totem battle, and I forgot to save beforehand.

I think I might keep Andi (Flaaffy) on the team. I've been having trouble using Melonballer. We'll see what happens. Other than that, my team remains the same.

***

I unintentionally gave myself a heart attack because of this second picture. I took the picture before saving the game, then I saved. I retook the picture since it came out bad, and then I turned off my DS. I didn't save after I took the second picture. Then as I was looking through the pictures, I saw the old date (June 2, not July 2) and thought I just turned off without saving hours of progress. I started to panic, but I realized I was looking at the first picture with the old date. Silly me. I reopened the game just to double check. (Yes I did save.)

RadEmpoleon · Jul 22, 2023

Entry #5!

- Meeting the edgelord himself (Gladion) for the first time
- Welcome to the Pikachu Village
- A wild, wild totem battle with Totem Araquanid that would've been much shorter if I didn't misplay so many times

The first thing we got to do today was the Battle Royal Dome. I think it's an interesting battle concept, but I just don't care to play it all that much. Of course I would've skipped doing it entirely but it was required to move on. We got battle against Hau, Gladion, and the "Masked Royal". Gee I wonder who that could be. It just kinda jumped me in without letting me pick my team or anything. It was only 3 turns and didn't really count for anything, but I'm pretty sure I would've won. After all, I was the only one who knocked out another Pokémon.

I laughed for a good 2 minutes at this alone. Again, I like to make fun of his poses.

I had another team member evolve today!

Yay for FightNight! Her HP and Attack stats flew up so much- her HP is in the 100s now, and she's only level 20-something.

Anyway, on to Kiawe's trial.

One of these days I will get a pic of the Trial Start screen. Today was not that day.

I think it's pretty believable that this was a pretty easy trial for me. The trial itself is probably the easiest one of them all, and I had a Water starter. The totem battle wasn't as straightforward as you'd expect. I had Vanrouge at the front of my party and they wouldn't let me switch him during the trial at all. That came in handy for me, because it has Frisk as its ability and the totem Marowak was holding a Thick Club. I shifted my priority to getting FightNight to use Knock Off. I don't think Selene would've been able to take more than 1 hit from a Thick Club boosted Marowak.

I sacked off someone to safely switch in FightNight. I think the Marowak used Detect and the Salazzle it called poisoned her. I was able to hit a Knock Off the next turn, and it almost knocked out the Marowak clean! I was genuinely surprised until I realized that she got the Guts attack boost from the poison. That definitely came in clutch. Selene easily cleaned up the rest of the battle.

Part of me wanted to do the Grass trial today, since the Fire trial wasn't too bad, but I was training my team after the Fire trial for a while, then I stopped midway through for dinner, then I wasn't motivated to play any more after dinner. So here is where we will stop today.

I wonder when SludgeBoss will evolve. I know Flaaffy is at level 30, Brionne at level 36 or 37, and Noibat at level 48. Yes I could easily look it up, but that kinda spoils the fun, y'know?

***

Pirate Captain · Oct 9, 2023

Nice, I had Moon, and was fun. I bought Ultra sun and never got fully into it. Unsure why and it seems very great.
I like the team btw. Do you still play

RadEmpoleon · Oct 11, 2023

Captain Cold said: ↑

Nice, I had Moon, and was fun. I bought Ultra sun and never got fully into it. Unsure why and it seems very great.
I like the team btw. Do you still play
Click to expand...

Yes I do still play. I've had an entry from months ago that I haven't typed up yet

Pirate Captain · Oct 11, 2023

Ah I see. I got curious how it went

RadEmpoleon · Oct 12, 2023

Entry #6! Again I apologize for the delay. I've had these pictures for nearly 2 months now and haven't been bothered to type this out. Therefore, this entry won't be as detailed since I don't remember every single detail.

- Battling in the Battle Royal Dome for the first time
- FightNight (Makuhita) evolved into Hariyama
- A quick and painless Fire trial cleared

I found that motel on the side of Route 8 where Gladion is, where he says his iconic line.

I just HAD to take a picture of this.

Anyway, on to the Grass trial... I will admit, I was stalling a bit because I was a bit nervous since I picked the Water starter (even though I have 2 team members who can deal with Grass types)

I finally got a picture with the Trial Start screen. It only took 4 tries lol

This trial was... strange. I think you were supposed to find the 3 ingredients for Mallow's soup thing in the Lush Forest. What's weird is that I didn't have to fight any Pokémon before the Totem fight. I don't know if it mattered which of the ingredients you were supposed to pick (like if there were certain ingredients that you wouldn't have to fight a Pokémon, and I just so happened to pick those specific ingredients) or if there just weren't any battles before the Totem battle. Either way, we made it to the Totem Lurantis with no issue.

The battle was a breeze, I daresay even easier than the Totem Alolan Marowak.
SludgeBoss was the MVP. All it really took was a toxic poison from Poison Fang, and just stalling it out until the poison damage knocked it out. It kept using Synthesis to heal, which just delayed the inevitable.

I had another team member evolve!

Ampharos has always been one of my favorite Pokémon since I was a kid, so this made me happy! I took a quick celebratory photo in the Photo Club.

Since the Grass trial was over way too fast and I wasn't bored yet, I decided to keep playing. I made my way to Konikoni City to fight Olivia in the Akala grand trial. Again, this was another fairly straightforward fight. FightNight and Selene were the MVPs and did all the work.

And with that, I decided that was a much more satisfying stopping point.

I'm trying my best to keep everyone at the same level. That's the opposite of what we all usually did as kids- overlevelling our starters lol

***

I bought this purple flower hair accessory at Olivia's gem shop before the grand trial. You can kinda see it in the grand trial clear photo.

That date at the bottom was the day I played. Again, it was over 2 months ago.

Pirate Captain · Oct 13, 2023

I like the entry. I dont recall much about the trials.. but it does seem you made a lot of progress

RadEmpoleon · Dec 29, 2023

Entry #7! School has not been kind to me recently, so I have not had much time to play. (I did change my in-game haircut in September-ish when I got my hair cut short irl though) However, now that I'm on break from school, I actually had some time to play.

- Possibly the easiest trial we will have this whole game, the Grass trial
- Andi (Flaaffy) evolved into Ampharos
- Defeated Olivia in the Grand Trial (another easy win for me)

Before we could go to the next island, we had to go to the Aether Paradise first. We got to meet Wicke, Faba, and the worst offender, Lusamine (deadbeat mother). I was laughing so hard at the sheer irony of her telling how she cares for injured Pokémon like a mother when she has 2 kids that she completely forgot about. Mother of the year, everyone. Anyway, our lovely conversation was interrupted when an Ultra Wormhole opened and released a "mysterious" Ultra Beast. Of course, I already know that this is Nihilego (my favorite UB!).

Selene evolved almost immediately after this battle. Look at how close the EXP bar is the the next level

After dealing with Nihilego, we were sent to Ula'ula Island finally.

Wow check out my short hair!

Something I noticed on the map is... did they change the location of the islands between SM and USUM? I could've sworn that Ula'ula was between Akala and Poni, but on the map they had Poni on the left of Melemele.

I had 2 teammates evolve today!

Yippee fully evolved starter! This happened almost as soon as I started playing today.

SludgeBoss evolved towards the end of my session. I thought that it was supposed to evolve at a certain time of day but couldn't think if it was supposed to be at day or night time. I thought it was supposed to be at nighttime, and the game just turned to daytime at that point. Just looked it up, and the time of day doesn't matter. It's just at level 38. I must have been confusing it for something else.

I found Hau at the Malie Garden and went to Mount Hokulani before calling it a day. I got sidetracked for hours doing something unrelated and came back to the game in the evening, so it felt like I was playing all day. I stopped just before the Electric trial. I think I might have some trouble with this next trial. For one, I have a Water starter. I think Selene will sit this trial out. I also don't really have anything on my team to deal with Electric types. I had to teach FightNight the move Bulldoze so I'd have at least 1 Ground type attack to work with.

Now the only one left to evolve is Vanrouge, which won't happen until level 48. We still have a bit of time until then...

RadEmpoleon · Apr 3, 2024

Obligatory "My apologies for not updating this thread in a while" post. School has been beating my ass this semester (heck, this whole school year) and it's hard to stay motivated for my classes, let alone any recreational activities. I probably would be progressing much faster in the game if I didn't force myself to post these (heck, I'd probably be in the post-game by now) but I feel somewhat obliged to keep up with these blog entries. It's a hassle to take pictures while I'm playing and to type all these out, which is why I don't update this very often. However, I don't want to leave this thread to collect dust.

***

Entry 7.5! I didn't progress any further in the story, but I have been busy with something else in the game recently, hence the 0.5 in the entry number.

Something that came to mind recently is that the 3DS internet services are getting shut down on April 8. I've known about this for months now, but it only just occurred to me how quickly that date is approaching. With this in mind, I set out to complete my Pokédex before I won't be able trade online anymore. I'm mostly concerned with getting the Shiny Charm lol. Honestly I really do love completing the Pokédex. Sure, I'm mostly in it for the Shiny Charm, but I love making lists of all the Pokémon I need. I always get happy when I cross stuff off the list.

Since I'm not even halfway through the game, my main focus was getting Pokémon that I won't be able to catch myself- version exclusives, trade evolutions, etc. I figured I could just catch the rest of the Pokémon myself later. I looked on Serebii for USUM version exclusives and the USUM Alola dex. I did what I do best- typed up a list of all the Pokémon I needed. It was about a page and a half of Pokémon names on a Google Doc.

Rowlet line

Litten line

Slowking

Alakazam

Gengar

Rufflet line

Cottonee line

Machamp

Gigalith

Huntail

Gorebyss

Politoed

Milotic

Magmortar

Passimian

Omanyte line

Anorith line

Cranidos line

Tirtouga line

Tyrunt line

Trevenant

Porygon2

Porygon-Z

Turtonator

Houndour line

Electivire

Golem

Vulpix line

Clauncher line

Scizor

Solgaleo

Blacephalon

Buzzwole

Kartana

I hope I didn't miss any Pokémon. I double- and triple-checked to make sure I got everything down, but I am still a bit nervous that I might have missed a Pokémon.

Lucky for me, I have 3 other games with excessive amounts of Pokémon- White 2, Y, and Sun. The majority of the Pokémon I needed I was able to transfer from these 3 games through Poké Transporter and Pokémon Bank. I sent over a box of Pokémon from White 2 and a box from Y. I sent over some Pokémon I didn't necessarily need for the dex- just some other random Pokémon for fun. I figured it would be better than letting them sit and rot eternally in some PC boxes. I even sent a Magmar (which I evolved into Magmortar) from my brother who no longer plays Pokémon. That Magmar is special to me since it's one of the few Pokémon I still have from him.

Transferring Pokémon from Sun to Ultra Moon was a bit tricky. You see, I have these games on separate SD cards. (Sun basically ate up all the storage on my initial SD card, so I had to get another one for Ultra Moon.) As a result, I couldn't transfer through Pokémon Bank. I also only have one 3DS. If I had a second one, I could've easily traded between the two games, with each SD card in each 3DS. My last resort option was trading through GTS and switching back and forth between SD cards. I put incredibly specific trade offers so no one would snag my trade offers (a male Whimsicott that's level 31-40). In retrospect I probably didn't need to do this, but I was just playing it safe.

One of the Pokémon I needed was Gengar, and for some reason I was compelled to hunt for a shiny Haunter in Sun and then trade that over. Honestly it wasn't the best Pokémon to shiny hunt for by SOS calling. I will explain in the spoiler box to keep this post more concise.

At this level, Haunter knows Payback, Sucker Punch, Night Shade, and Confuse Ray. The latter 2 moves are problematic- Night Shade does too much damage, and I can't Magic Bounce a Confuse Ray and risk the Haunter knocking itself out with confusion self-damage. Not to mention that the self-damage from confusion does a lot of damage on my Pokémon, especially combined with Night Shade damage. I got to about 80-ish in my chain with Absol (which I couldn't Mega evolve because I didn't want to Magic Bounce the Confuse Ray) before I got too frustrated to continue.

I switched to hunting for shiny Gastly instead. It was just about as frustrating as hunting for Haunter.

At level 7, Gastly only knows Lick, Hypnosis, and Spite. Initially I was going to use a Normal type with the move Taunt so I would be untouchable (I picked Oranguru). The problem I ran into was when I couldn't use Taunt. For example, when another Gastly gets called the turn the Taunt wears off. I'm at risk of it using a status move when I'm focused on knocking out the Gastly in the chain. Either it would put me to sleep with Hypnosis or it would spam Spite and drain my moves' PP. Both were too frustrating, so I stopped hunting like that.

I switched over to Mega Absol. Sure it would still get hit with Lick and it got paralyzed from it so many times, but it was so much easier to Magic Bounce the status moves. Although the Gastly putting itself to sleep was annoying, since it can't call for Pokémon when it's asleep, and sometimes it would use Hypnosis IMMEDIATELY after waking up and put itself right back to sleep. Maybe it would've been better to teach it Taunt to minimize the likelihood of this happening.

So yeah you could imagine how long this hunt took. I actually started it on Saturday, went to bed, and finished the hunt on Sunday. I've never had an SOS hunt last more than a day. At one point I told myself I'd take a break once I ran out of PP on one of my moves, and literally on the last PP I had, the shiny Gastly finally arrived! It was 166 calls. That's the highest SOS chain I've ever had. Absolute torture, but I am free. And now I have a shiny Gengar! I will definitely buy a Gengarite at some point because shiny Mega Gengar is SICK.

Silly guy put himself to sleep smh

Not sure why I keep naming every Gengar I have "Jazzy", but there you go.

Slowking and Scizor were a bit tedious to get because it was hard to find a King's Rock and Metal Coat, respectively. Both could only be found by a few Pokémon with a 5% chance of holding the item in the wild. Alolan Exeggutor with Frisk and Thief was my MVP. King's Rock was especially annoying, since the only mon holding one that didn't need to be SOS'ed was Hariyama, which only shows up 30% in only 2 spots. When I did eventually find one holding a King's Rock, my Thief mon was already holding an item, so I couldn't steal the King's Rock. I was SO MAD. That took at least half an hour to find. I eventually found another with a King's Rock and stole it successfully.

I think the biggest problem Pokémon (and the last mon I needed to get) was Blacephalon, since it doesn't exist in Sun and Moon. Also since I'm not far enough in Ultra Moon to have any Ultra Beasts to trade, I probably wouldn't have been able to trade for one on the GTS (not to mention every time I tried looking for one just for kicks, the game would freeze on me) I did find someone on another Pokémon forum who was willing to trade their Blacephalon. I only needed it registered for the dex, so I traded it right back to them.

Just in the nick of time, I now have every version exclusive I need to eventually complete the Pokédex! I'll just have to do some breeding and evolving at some point though to actually complete the Alola dex lol.

***

I guess this last section is gonna sound sappy, but it makes me sad to see the end of the 3DS era. First it was the shutdown of the eShop last year, and now it's the shutdown of the 3DS internet services. It makes me sad that this is probably the last time I will ever be able to complete the Pokédex like this. Again, there's something I find really exciting about making lists of all the Pokémon I need to find. It was exciting in Sun, it was exciting in Y, it was exciting in White 2, and it was exciting for these specific Pokémon in Ultra Moon. (I guess technically I'll still get to make a list when I eventually complete the whole Alola dex, but still.)

I think another reason why I love completing the Pokédex so much is nostalgia based. Back in 2015, I bought a 1 year subscription for Pokémon Bank and I transferred almost every single Pokémon (at least 15 boxes worth) from White 2 to Y, which was a great help in completing the National Dex in Y. Now flash forward to today, where I got to transfer more Pokémon again to Ultra Moon from White 2 and Y. I haven't used Bank since then, so it was nice to use it again. Idk it just warms my nostalgic heart to know that all of my games are interconnected.

Granted I don't have a Switch and therefore haven't played any Switch Pokémon games, but I don't think trading online on the Switch is the same as trading online in the DS/3DS games. (For one, it's a paid membership rather than something already built into the games.) I guess it's just unfortunate to see the end of an era that was so special to me as a kid.

And now, back to your regularly scheduled Ultra Moon playthrough journal entries.

RadEmpoleon · Apr 10, 2024

Entry #8! Yes we are finally back on track! It's been a while since I actually continued playing through the story. I've gotten a bit antsy to play since I was trying to get all the version exclusives.

Entry #7:
- met Wicke and Lusamine at Aether Paradise
- Nihilego spotted
- made it to Ula'ula Island
- went to the top of Mount Hokulani, just outside the Hokulani Observatory
- 2 teammates evolved: Selene and SludgeBoss

Entry #7.5:
- set out to get all version exclusives and trade evos before the wifi servers shut down
- transferred from White 2 to UM with Poké Transporter
- transferred from Y to UM with Pokémon Bank
- "traded" with myself between Sun and UM with GTS trade offers (the games are on separate SD cards, and I only have one 3DS system)
- caught a shiny Gastly in Sun to evolve into shiny Gengar in UM
- found a Metal Coat and King's Rock from wild Pokémon
- traded with someone for Blacephalon (and traded it back to them)

We went to the Hokulani Observatory and got to meet Sophocles and Molayne. (I kinda forgot Molayne existed tbh) Now is finally time to take on the Electric trial.

Once again I couldn't get a picture of the "Trial start!" screen because it disappears too quickly before I can get a picture.

This might have been even easier than the Grass trial. I had to line up these Charjabug in a line by clicking the buttons in the corners to rotate the tiles. Nothing difficult. I put FightNight at the front of my party because I taught it Bulldoze. The totem fight was with Totem Togedemaru. I thought that the Totem Pokémon was supposed to be Vikavolt, but I guess that was just in Sun? I don't really remember that well... idk whatever. Doesn't matter. Well the battle literally lasted 2 turns: first turn was Focus Energy, second turn was a 4x supereffective crit boosted Bulldoze.

I poked around for a bit more in the Hokulani Observatory. The meteorite to change Deoxys's forms was there (and I would assume one of the boxes laying around has the appliances to change Rotom's forms). I only point this out because I transferred over a Deoxys and a Rotom from White 2 to UM. Good to know.

After the trial, Molayne gave us something to give to Professor Kukui in Malie Garden. Once I made it down there, we finally got to meet the memelord himself, our boy Guzma. And yeah we had to fight him. He only had 2 Pokémon on his team, but I did struggle a bit.

After that, we were supposed to head to the Pokémon Village to meet Acerola for the next trial. We headed down to Route 11 and then Route 12. Hapu registered Mudsdale into the Page Rider so we could cross the rocky terrain.

And start the Ghost trial. Yeah this was a breeze with SludgeBoss. Knock Off and Crunch for days. The Totem Mimikyu was a bit of a struggle though. Play Rough did a lot more damage to SludgeBoss than I was expecting. It did almost half HP. Turns out he has a much higher SpDef than Def stat.

My next idea was to sack off Vanrouge to safely bring in Andi. I figured I could try to get Static to activate on the Mimikyu, healed SludgeBoss, and spammed Discharge until she was knocked out. I did manage to paralyze the Totem Mimikyu. (I realized after the battle that I was glad to have knocked off the Lum Berry it was holding.) SludgeBoss cleaned up from there.

SludgeBoss was definitely MVP, and Andi had the assist with the crucial paralysis on Totem Mimikyu.

I was gonna stop here and call it a day, but I just wanted to preview what I was supposed to do next. I was forced into the Aether House, where I was given the next mission to go to Po Town to retrieve a stolen Pokémon. First I was supposed to go to Route 15 to meet "a person in a kimono" and I immediately knew who that was- Grimsley. Suddenly I felt like I should keep playing. (He's one of my favorite Pokémon characters. I just wanted to see him tbh)

Grimsley registered Sharpedo into the Page Rider so I could make my way to Po Town. I made it just outside of Po Town before I actually called it a day. I'd been playing for WAY too long at this point. We will deal with Team Skull in Po Town later.

I'm really hoping to evolve Vanrouge soon. Right now he can't deal or take much damage in battle, and I don't want him to fall behind on my team.

Wow, look at how much my Pokédex filled up. Last time, it was only at 32. Of course, that's because of all the version exclusives I had to get. Also I registered a bunch of Pokémon from all the Wonder Trades I did before the wifi shutdown.