1. Beginnings: a Rough Start

So after a 3 year hiatus we’re back at it. Paul has somehow convinced me to take the first video game I’ve bought since the last pokemon game into an exercise in pain and regret. Let's do this.

(Disclaimer: my ‘mons are being named for me but my namer isn’t always present when I catch them, so I don’t have names for everyone yet.)

For my starter I pick Rowlett, the grass-flying bowtied owl. This marks the 3rd consecutive gen I’ve picked the grass starter on my first playthrough despite never doing it in the first 4.  

The leaf bowtie goes great with his condemning, soulless eyes

 In addition to being very dapper he is a hoss right out the gate. He starts with leafage, the grass equivalent of tackle, and quickly learns peck, astonish, and razor leaf which  make him an early game waddling arsenal… owlsenal.

After some routine intro stuff I’m off to my first route. I’m surprised to find a Ledyba as my first encounter. Definitely not what I was expecting but welcome to the team! Shortly after we catch Gooby the yungoos. I don’t know much about gooby yet. He’s this generation quintessential first route rodent and his ability makes his biting moves more powerful but he doesn't have any yet.

Yes, Paul used this joke already. oh well.

I enter into the trainer's school which offers my first trainer encounter with any sense of organization. I learn that grimers this early are a pain in the butt but nothing my guys can’t handle. My next catch is Deadmau5 the Rattata. Alolan Rattata are dark/normal, which will make his bite attack stronger but ensures he will never be allowed within a mile of any fighting types. His ability hustle is a bit worrying as well. It ups his attacks by 50% (awesome) but drops his accuracy by 20% (scary). Training him up was a bit more stressful than it needed to be as he would periodically miss 100% accurate attacks and take more damage than he should have.

You can tell he's dark type because of his devious mustache

The teacher of the school is the first real challenging battle I have, but only because she has a magnemite. Literally every move I have is not very effective against it so fighting it is a slog. Before It finally succumbs, it takes out Ledyba with a super effective thundershock. My first death.

My next encounter is Meowmers the meowth. I’m initially a little disappointed as this means my team is now ¾ weak to fighting and I was hoping for a gen 7 pokemon. Meowmers quickly wins me over by tearing everything that gets in its path a new one. I’m puzzled as to why this is until I notice it has the technician ability. This increases the power of moves with 60 power or less by 1.5x. When combined with its dark typing it changes the move bite from a 60 power move into a 135 power move. Oh baby.

He's got a punchable face but man does he hit hard.

Paul has already pretty much explained this gen’s alternative to gyms. On each island it seems you battle a captain, take some sort of challenge, and battle the kahuna/gym leader equivalent. I defeated the captain and challenge without incident (the challenge was a cave filled with yungoos and a boosted Gumshoo at the end) and caught Glib zubat on my way out. Now I need to find the kahuna and I will have conquered this island.

Gumshoo: Someday Gooby will be this majestic creature

Will Joe defeat the mysterious not-gym leader as handily as he has his underlings? Will Glib the zubat overcome his wimpy starter form and make it to be a badass crobat? Will Joe be able to come to terms with his team looking more nefarious than those of the evil gang’s grunts? Find out next time on Joe’s Sun Nuzlocke!

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Spoiler alert: Glib died to a yungoos pursuit when I tried to switch him out before I even left the cave I caught him in. So no, he will not become a badass crobat.

Death count: 2