[Sword & Shield] Hau 2.0

[bobandbill]

A fair few comments I've seen, and also my own observations despite only playing a bit, is that Hop is rather like Hau. Thus far:

- Wants to be the very best like no one ever was
- Looks up to an older family mermber who is a champion/kahuna
- Gets advice from said relative
- Runs about first a lot/rushes a bunch
- Says he is your rival
- Overly friendly
- Three letter name starting with H
- Has same animation

Any more to add? Which rival do you prefer? Overall, what are your impressions of Hop thus far?

Hau is better because he has malasadas

 

[Sheep]

I like him! Hau was adorable too so I'm not surprised I like Hop as well. That said yeah....they are incredibly similar. Design-wise I prefer Hau, but I think Hop has a better rivalry/friendship with the protagonist!

 

[thedestinedblade]

Well, at least Hop seems to be somewhat affected by losing. Also points for switching his team up a few times as well. I don't particularly care for Hop, but Hau is my least favorite rival in the series (yes, even over the XY gang)

 

[PageEmp]

I've never really noticed the similarities myself but ok.

 

[Iceshadow3317]

Yeah I noticed this as well. But I really noticed it when I seen his animations which are exactly the same. They basically copy and pasted the skeleton over and then put a new skin on it. I don't like Hau, he annoyed me and Hop is just as annoying right now. I like our other two rivals though.

 

[Kieran]

Aw tbh yes he has more cutscenes and in the face compared to Hau but I personally feel I can relate to him more than Hau.
There were more character-building in Hop and I really like how he was depressed and then got encouraged again, it sounds more realistic than Hau who was always happy and happy.
Won't spoil the ending for anyone but I certainly enjoyed my journey with him as my rival and I will still be once I start on my Shield version.

 

[Nah]

My first thought was that Hop was Barry 2.0 actually, but I can see the comparison to Hau too

 

[LilyGardy]

Hop is a better Barry. He is a fun rival and I like his interactions with the player character.

 

[Marnie]

Did you know his brother is the unbeatable and undefeatable Champion of the Galar region ? ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

 

[Elite Overlord LeSabre™]

I could go on a long rant about how awful his name, facial expressions, body contortions, and personality are, but I'll sum it up with this:

My neighbor's pet hamster would make for a better rival than the nimrod that the game assigns for us. Hell, my neighbor's pet hamster's droppings would be a better rival.

 

[Palamon]

I don't honestly find Hop THAT similar to Hau, though? Hau was a lot nicer and laid back than Hop... I also feel like Hop wanted to be the best a lot more than Hau did. I feel as though he's more of an inbetween of Barry and Hau, but not "Hau 2.0." Hop also beat you to a few gym badges first throughout the story, so I don't know I can see some of the similarities, but he has his differences, too.

 

[Raicheot]

Rather have hau than hop, by the end of the game I had enough of hop and wished he just leave me to the game

 

[Bellsprout]

There's something about Hop that is endearing and after the whole thing is said and done I like him as a rival. I do see the similarities to Hau, but Hop came off as more self aware to me and more relatable as an actual person. Hau is borderline psychotic with his permanent happiness and something about him just made me want to punch him in the face every time he'd show up. I also think where your story and Hop's story is supposed to the mirror the heroes of Galar's story/relationship (what I took from it anyway) it makes sense why Hop is the way he is.

 

[bobandbill]

Thread was made after I only played a bit, but I will add that he does diverge from Hau. Unlike him, who learns something about taking battles seriously more rather than just "battles are fun I like fun malasada malasada" (an exaggeration =p), he has his own plight in being unsure what he wants to do and instead is fixated on being like his bro and not wanting to disappoint him with battles. His changing about Pokemon in his team, including dropping his Wooloo for a while, was a neat touch in that respect.

He also talked a lot more about our using super effective attacks than Hau. :V

 

[colours]

i gotta be honest here: no offense to those who believe so, but i really do think that the comparisons to Hau don't make any sort of sense to me, whatsoever. the similarities start that they have excitable, cheerful personalities and they have people that they both look up to. that's also where it ends, because anyone who's been paying an iota of attention to the story would know that Hop doesn't share that much in common with Hau at all. sure, in the beginning of the game, you start to see the similarities pop up, because Hop stops you literally every five seconds to talk about how he's going to be the best, and how he's going to beat you, his brother, and become the champion and all that. this is all well and good up until halfway through the game, and i'll keep the rest in spoilers for those who haven't gotten there yet:

Spoiler:

the moment you see Hop lose to Bede is the very moment things become an actual reality check for him for literally the rest of the game, up until the post-game (and even then, he was having a bit of an existential crisis moment). things become very apparent to Hop what the stakes are, being the brother of a champion and all, especially as Bede was talking trash to him about him dragging Leon's name through the mud which must've really stung. this really bothered Hop because you can tell that he's trying to not only cope with his loss from Bede, but also from you as well and trying to figure out what pokemon to use and what strategies would work. his mindset was so off-kilter and he became so unfocused during his matches that he even suffered his first gym leader loss at the hands of Opal iirc. he was having serious self-doubts about himself even as he was helping you trying to thwart the plans of Macro Cosmos. this become SUPER apparent when you defeat him during the semi-final match of the Champion's Cup, when it all came crashing down for him. everything he had worked for up to that point which was not only defeating you as the player, Leon, and obtaining the title of champion, all hit a massive concrete wall at full speed and crumbled. while he was happy for the player, he lost his sense of purpose. he's not the champion, and while he still can challenge his brother to a battle, it probably wouldn't mean much anymore because he won't become champion out of it.

Sonia pretty much hypothesizes the same thing as well in the post-game, as she noticed that he wasn't really being himself at all. losing to Swordward and Shielbert was pouring extra salt on the wound on top of that. iirc it wasn't until Hop made friends and caught Zacian/Zamazenta that he finally found what he felt to be his true calling: the goal of being a Pokemon Professor so he can both help people and pokemon both, something he's learned while he was helping the player to defeat the gym leaders' dynamax pokemon problem.

onto Hau.... going to keep this one in spoilers as well. even though it's been a while since SM/USUM, but im doing it, anyway. i'll also do comparisons between both Hop and Hau, here:

Spoiler:

i'll be honest: Hau is a character that stays roughly the same until the end. the biggest difference between the two is that whatever character development that Hau gets is fairly minimal when compared to Hop. yes, they have similar poses (if not the outright same), but that doesn't mean they're the same character in the slightest. Hau treats pokemon battling as nothing more than a game. he has fun with it, and that's all that matters. he does have an end goal: he wants to be like Hala, but that's all we really know. he does have some desire to beat the player, as he is visibly bummed out when you beat him defending your Champion title, but his emotional parts do come about a little forced considering his cheerful and carefree demeanor the whole entire game. you don't really even partner up with Hau anyway to take on the Aether Foundation -- your partner was Gladion, and you team up with him to take on the Aether Foundation grunts iirc while Hau battles on his own or something (it honestly should've been the other way around because this made no sense to me, but whatever). i think you team up with Hau against Faba, but i think that's it? feel free to correct me if im wrong here, but that's about the most i can remember.

the thing is, unlike Hop, Hau doesn't have some groundbreaking character development moment. i suppose an argument can be made that the story had very little if anything to do with Hau, so it wouldn't make sense for him to, but there lies the problem: the story isn't set up for Hau to have some sort of self-reflection moment on what he wants to do for his future and how he should do it. he wants to aim for the title of Champion and beating you just because. i guess the more important part is beating the player rather than becoming Champion, with the latter being a positive consequence of the former. but there was nothing to really change Hau's outlook and general perspective. once you catch Solgaleo/Lunala, as far as im aware, he doesn't make it a mission to catch the other cover legend and battle you with it, he becomes happy enough that the world hasn't gone to shit and lives his normal life. this is fine and all, but it separates him from Hop in that Hop doesn't go through life in such a carefree way. he's determined to make a difference in the world and leave an impact in a similar way the player has. Hau just wants to have fun.

so yeah, i see very little the two have in common besides the obvious.

 

[Super Pokemon]

Blue & Silver had similar jerk personalities, Hau & Hop have similar friendly personalities.

Gladion & Wally are the only ones whom have distinct personalities imo. No other is rival is like them. Just my opinion.