Let's Play Pokemon Life Version! Chapter 3

So we're on a ship now. This place is looking pretty fancy. Let's go and mess around for a bit before we actually progress the plot.



Everyone has a room with a TV and a computer. This must be like a luxury cruise liner or something because oof.



Gah, these backgrounds are so beautiful they make me want to cry. (Well, not literally, but you get the point)

Oh wait, the battle... She had something that was so uneventful that I forgot what it was. Whoops.



This is the most realistic NPC I've ever seen in a Pokemon game.

Like it's alright to barge into people's houses and rooms just because we have Pokemon? Come on.



And then there was this goober. That's practically the same thing the scientist lady back on the farm said.



But I thank you for the truckload of experience. Ralts have a crazy experience loadout in this game and I'm not complaining. (P.S, don't take it out, I'm begging you)



Max just steals someone else's Revive, the bastard. They won't miss it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯



This could be a problem. This would have been a perfect place for a full-heal crystal, but the game just gives you one that saves.



Whoa, grandma has been around. Don't mess with her.





Oooooo, what sweet fucking devilry is this?

... Ah.

Still, as hilarious as this is, please don't have it in the final game or clean it up a bit. Trust me.



: "I'm not your brother, please don't ask. Plus, who's to say I can even help?"



Alright, so... This doctor is your only full heal on the entire ship. I wish I were kidding.

When you use him, that's about it. See, I find a bit of an issue with this because why not just have this be your full-heal bed or have him heal you more than once? It's jarring because unlike the farm, you're practically guaranteed to get into fights when you run into peoples' rooms here.

It's surprisingly tactless design as opposed to what we've seen so far, but I would still consider this manageable because the trainers aren't that tough.



Also, you get another Revive. That's nice.



"We often make an offer to visitors: Defeat me and our three sailors and I will give you the basement key! Who knows what wonderful things are hidden there, right?"

: "Are you sure that's a-"

Captain: "The battles will be one after the other, with no time to breathe!"

Let's do it.



So this is a fun little sequence. You fight through three sailors and the captain himself, but if you have a good team then they should be no hassle.



Leanan destroys this Inkay. The funny thing is that I think Malamar is one of the coolest Gen 6 Pokemon, yet I could never figure out how to make them competitively viable. So boo.



Baroque is proving his worth even despite the fact he's a Budew with Absorb. By the time he becomes a Roserade, he will be unstoppable.



Wow, the captain even got his own special VS splash screen despite being a minor NPC with no real name. That's hilarious.



The funny thing about this encounter is that he only got one Rollout off before the Swablu put him to sleep with Sing. The poison damage wound up taking them out... so he technically won not by the brute strength he's known for, but instead because the opponent was stupid enough to smack him with their tiny bird body.

Excellent.



His Munchlax, on the other hand, can go suck a giant chode. Practically our entire team at this point are special attackers, so here comes this sudden Great Wall of China to make us feel bad.



Thankfully, Baroque and Crucio work together and take down this beast. You did good, boys.





Sweet. What will we get out of this?



... She does know female trainers are a thing, right?



So... A remedy to the "only one full heal" thing is that you can put your Pokemon in the PC to fix them up one-by-one. This is incredibly tedious and should only be used as a last resort, but it gets the job done.



This mother and her son don't say anything up close, but force Max to get out of the way because he's blocking them from the TV. Don't be rude, Max.



... Then just walk up and get it, you dope? I get why this is a thing, too - the coffee is programmed to be on the other side of the table because that's how the tiling works. Guys, you're silly.



Who can resist the call of the mystery box the ship basement?



... Benga was hiding in here along with some items. Behind a locked door. I'd wonder about what he was doing in here, but I'd rather not share my thoughts.



Kick-ass. By the way, those aren't just one Potion and one Great Ball - there's actually five Potions and three Great Balls there. A bit more generous than I expected, actually.



"Come on, the door was locked because of reasons."

... Seriously, Benga, what the hell were you doing in here? Are you sure you weren't up to any funny business?





By the way, he didn't leave behind this Quick Claw - it was just covered up by the outrageous fireball he calls hair.



"You are traveling too! If you want anything, talk to me."

My main man is here! Ghavi will pick up the slack for restorative items and overall be a cool guy.



Wait... like the Hoenn Champion Wallace? Or, should I say, the substitute for Steven?

(I'm not sorry)



... A reference to a Korean rapper? Damn, that's obscure even for me.

Anyway, we've messed around enough - let's get this show on the road!



[Max takes a step back]

"Oh my, I'm late! It's show time!"

[He walks off to the right]

Yep. Wallace is here... for some reason. Who knows? He might have something cool.



"He's a champion or something... I don't know actually, I know that he is really strong and that he has a vacation show here, or something like that."



Interesting... So Wallace is on a vacation to the Nendios region. I do like how champions from other regions are supposed to be like these big hot shot celebrities.



That I will, my good man.



: "I'm curious as to how the champion of another region is like."



[Premonition of something going to happen]

"Only granted to the ones that show capabilities to handle them! Here is my Key Stone! Using it as a bracelet, I can use it to evolve my Sharpedo once we are in battle!"

Oooh, Mega Evolution in a Gen 3 hack. Now that would be a hell of a feature to have.



Wallace: "Oh, yes it does! The strongest Pokemon you can see are in their Mega forms."

Crowd: "How fabulous!"

Wallace: "Oh yes! I feel like they were specifically designed for me! Just as fabulous!"

Correct me if I'm wrong, but was Wallace always this vain? Because god damn, he is putting Crusadermon to shame:





Well said, Lola.



Picking Yes will make Wallace remember your presence. It's not immediately noticable, but I like that things change based on your decisions - regardless if they're big or small.



"In order to Mega Evolve, the Pokemon must be holding their appropriate Mega Stone and its trainer must have a Key Stone. There is no certain way of obtaining a Key Stone. It will choose you, just like mine did to me."

Crowd: "It chose you? What?"

Wallace: "Err, kinda. How many of you want to see some cool moves?"

Kind of dodging the question there, aren't-



"A 'fabulous' way, isn't it? We won't learn much here, let's go..."

This woman is a fireball and I love her.



Going inside and coming back out has all of the rabid fans surround Wallace. If it were possible, I'd have it be like the scene from Hercules where he gets mauled by a bunch of crazy fangirls.



Do you even own a Pokemon, buddy? Let alone one that can actually Mega Evolve? Please.



Oh no. Benga is doing something - this won't end well.



"Why did he give me this Pokeball?"

... I'm curious - would she have said something else had I chose No when we met her? Very intriguing.

[A flash of light, followed by a Pikachu materializing in front of Lola]

"OH MY GOD. CUTENESS OVERLOAD. I'll call you the Puppy Lord! Come on, let's get dressed! Questions later!"

PUPPY LORD. OOOH, THIS IS GOING TO BE GOOD.

If you've been paying close attention, that's the same Pikachu that Benga used for the first fight in the game... Now keep that in mind.



Even Max is like "Lola, please." I love everything that is happening right now, okay?



Going to her room gets us this. She's very aggressive about dressing up her Pikachu, christ.



To proceed with the plot, you have to talk to Lola, go back outside and talk to Wallace now that his fans are gone.

"Sorry about the show, I tend to get really into it. My name is Wallace, the Hoenn League champion. Are you here because you want to learn more about Mega Evolution? You know... Only a few people know the actual secret of how the Mega Evolutions work. It has something to do with Kalos, but I'm not too sure what."

Now that's peculiar... Key Stones are only one part of the deal for Mega Evolutions and it's never quite elaborated how they're formed as opposed to regular Pokemon-specific Mega Stones. The fact they can choose "wielders" seems to be moot because any semi-expert trainer seems to be able to do use them. That's a mystery if I've ever seen one.

Wallace: "I've never went there, though. They say that it's a beautiful region. According to Kalos legend, the first Pokemon to evolve was a Lucario."



"But I'm fine with my fabulous Sharpedo. You are going to Bellura, right? Take this, it will help you:"



"It makes training a little bit easier, but not less effective! It's an important tool if you ever want to become a great Pokemon trainer. If you excuse me, I'm going to stay here and appreciate the ocean."

Wallace, you just went from 0 to 100 in less than 5 seconds. I take back that substitute champion remark... well, some of it, anyway.



And so we just leave him alone here in the rain. I guess it's fine because he's a water trainer anyway.



"Oh, you wanted a twist, huh? Come on, Puppy Lord! Let's get sickening!"

Sickening, huh? I'm probably going to regret this, given how a primarily pastel-colored girl is saying this to me.



We finally get to see her sprite and have another VS splash screen. She is so adorable god damn it.



Cerveau blows her Roselia away, even if she wound up being a pain in the ass halfway through.



This is going to be great. Guys, prepare yourself for this.



Fuck, I'm going to get diabetes at this rate. That's too cute.

[Theme I would use for this scene: On Your Toes]

: ("Why hello there. You're quite the vision, milady. Perhaps we could get to know each other once this is over with?")

: ("Oh, that's flattering... but you see, I'm actually a guy~

")

: ("Why yes, that's-")

[pause]

: ("Excuse me, I didn't catch that.")

: ("I'm a boy, silly.")

: ("... WHAT?!")

[August laughs hard enough to be heard from outside and falls on her back]

: ("This-this can't be! My judgement has never been this wrong before...")

[Puppy Lord stares at Baroque with sparkles in their eyes]



: ("At least you tried. Here, I'll give you a small kiss to make you feel better.")

: ("Please, I'd rather n--")



Draining Kiss is a move that acts as their version of Mega Drain. Puppy Lord can't do anything to Baroque, hence why I chose him, but my god if I'm not dying laughing writing this out.



: ("Way to go, lover boy. You somehow finally managed to screw up.")

: ("Man, you got played. That was awesome!")

: ("I'll admit, they were very convincing with the dress and all...")

: ("But I don't think my heart can take another situation like that.")



"Did you see the cool move it had, though? With this costume on, he was able to perform Draining Kiss in-battle. How amazing is that? I can't wait to try another costume!"

[Puppy Lord blows a kiss at Baroque]

: ("Ah... Don't tell me this is going to be a thing from now on?")

Aw, don't be like that. After all, it's:



(I am practically a corn field right now, please excuse me as I slowly stumble off stage)



"Exit at the main entrance."

: "Let's go, Max! That's our call!"

[Lola puts away Puppy Lord and walks outside]



Well, we've arrived in the middle of a rainstorm. That's good timing, I suppose.



Speaking of good timing - In practically every Pokemon let's play I've made, the lightning has come around at least once to mess up a perfectly good shot.



"They were not lying when they said that Nendios had the best aroma. I'm pretty sure that my new house is in the town ahead. Let's go! We're almost there! Me and Puppy Lord are so excited to see our new home!"

[Lola and her Pokemon walk ahead]

So have Lola and the protagonist been friends for long? I mean, she already knew him before we officially met back in chapter 2 so I guess that's the case.



Both of them say this, by the way. There's so many cute moments in this game, I swear.



It's also surprisingly melancholy around here if Max's father and mother are anything to go off of. Makes me wonder what happened to this girl.



Is this the same guy from back home? It's weird how he comes along and just says practically the same thing as before.



Everyone around here is kind of tweaked in a way. Are we sure there's not anything weird in those flowers?



In this house we had an old man who couldn't figure out how computers worked and grumbled for a newspaper. Funny, but it's strange how there's so much technology around here yet nobody seems to embrace it but us.

... Also, if you look closely, you can see part of a PC jutting out of the right side of the screen. I have no idea what that's about.



Moving ahead takes us here. I'm amazed at how many unique tilesets there have been for the game already, because no one place in this game looks alike.



I missed you, Magic Cure-All Crystal.



Huh? What's the problem?



"It might take some time until they clear it... Better explore my new neighborhood!"

[Lola leaves]

Huh. What's the deal here?



"There are people working on the removal of it."

Given how there's a ton of super strong Pokemon out there, this shouldn't take long.



Yes, but it's... raining... Aren't you afraid your canvas will get wet?



: "No, not really. Sure, you can't see where you're going, but..."

The only real purpose of super tall grass in the original games were to stop bike usage. Therefore, I didn't like them. It's weird how Gen 6 let you use your bike on the super tall grass, but I'm not complaining.



What do you mean "down here" - you're just as tall as Max!



Whoa, that was cutting it a bit close there. Rubus, you're crazy for surviving with only one health.

A very important detail that I... actually forgot to talk about: The Physical/Special split is in effect for Life Version. That means that the moves themselves are physical or special, not the type. For example, Dark was Special and Ghost was Physical... not anymore. Now poor shmucks like Weavile and Absol can finally use what they're best at and not be hindered by some obsolete system.



... Yes. I don't know what to make of this.



Now, believe it or not, this is a real trainer class from Gen 5. Her sprite looks slightly different here, though.



Her only Pokemon was this Chansey that had no chance of defeating Crucio even if she used Doubleslap all day.



Keep in mind - this was split between him and Leanan, so that is a lot of moola.



"The heat it produces attracts fire Pokemon. You better have some fire types! Such a wonderful smell. I wish I had some Poketreats right now."

Neat concept - elemental trees that attract certain types of Pokemon. Although I'm curious as to how it works with all of this rain.



Cool. By the way, there's not really anything new in the grass aside from Whismur. I guess if you want them, they're there.



There was an area to the right here. It wasn't plot important (yet, given how everything has a purpose), but we should go and check anyway.



Interesting question, but I doubt they'll be answered right now.



Oh come on, don't be a baby. It can't be that bad.



... This is shaped like one of the Ruins of Alph. That's sinister in of itself - let's not stay here.



TO KUNG FU FIGHT.



Too bad I have a magical psychic fairy.



... Has anything strange actually happened yet? I mean, aside from Benga being Benga.



Good idea, but we're kind of pressed for time here.



Female Clerks have always been one of the cutest trainer classes to me.



But damn if she's not ready to kick my ass.

Furfrou here is easily one of the most dangerous Pokemon we'll have to face in a while. Poodle or not, their Headbutt combined with STAB makes them one of the deadliest opponents we've had to face so far.



Oh, and to top it off, she has Overcoat to protect her from weather effects and powder like Stun Spore. Lovely.

To be fair, it's more preferable than having to deal with Fur Coat - Furfrou's actual ability - which straight up halves any physical damage done to them without any strings attached.



It was taxing to keep Crucio alive just to get this off. He's certainly been the MVP for this chapter and I love it.



See, that sounds like a good idea now... but then you'll regret it later when you can't even buy fun things.



Weird how she uses the same sprite as a preschooler but is older looking in the actual battle. Eh, whatever.



Her first mon wasn't anything special, but Darumaka here is literally Satan's Monkey. I'm not kidding - one Incinerate or Fire Fang and they can wipe out practically everyone in a snap. It was at this point that I regretted not catching a Wingull from earlier... because damn is she hard.



Thankfully, Rubus persevered with some Double Team spam and took them out. I know it doesn't sound I'm freaking out , but believe me when I say that this was anightmare during the actual playthrough.



Anyway, let's go ahead into the light. What awaits us from here?



[In-game theme: Jigglypuff's Song]

A... Kimono Girl in a spotlight?



"I showed you a Pikachu and asked your name. How is it going? I hope you are enjoying your journey!"

Oh, without question. This has been one hell of a ride so far, so keep it up.

Geisha: "Unfortunately, right now I'll have to stop you from continuing."

Aw, come on!

[A Hoopa and Jirachi come onscreen]

"They will be waiting for you. I know that your stay was short, but there is so much more to come! I'll see you on soon. See ya!"



Well, I guess that's the end of Life Version for now. I'll admit, this short demo was better than a lot of full hacks that I've played - it had incredible graphics, interesting concepts and was overall very polished. The dialogue and some minor things could use some polishing, but it was overall a very pleasant experience. It was very tech demo-like in regard for the graphics, given how they've already won awards despite the game not being finished yet.

All we can do is wait for the next build of Life Version, so for now? See you then.



------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Team setup:

(Leanan, level 15, , ) - "Ah, it's over already? What a shame. I was raring to go!"
(Rubus, level 12, , /) - "You know... this is a good chance for us to catch our breath."
(Cerveau, level 11, , /) - [Quietly ponders on how he'd be like as a Pidgeot]
(Baroque, level 11, , /) - "Even with all of that Puppy Lord business, I'd say that went well."
(August, level 10, , /) - "What? We can't proceed until they finish? What will we do in the meantime?"
(Crucio, level 13, , /) - "Maybe we could go and scare some poor saps! Ha, I'm just kidding... mostly."