Before we leave Lavender, let’s stop off at one other house.

Why is this guy in Lavender Town? I mean, even if you assume the town isn’t actually nonstop morbidity and unrelated NPCs should have a place here, there’s something particularly frivolous about a guy who rates the causal nicknames of living pokemon in a town full of trainers mourning their dead ones.

Another sign the designers assumed nicknames would be the overwhelming norm. The game already distinguishes between nicknames and non-nicknames in the code, because an unnicknamed pokemon has its name change with evolution, but they didn’t bother to program in anything for the name rater to acknowledge this.

Naturally, he refuses to rename any traded pokemon, and more irritatingly, he doesn’t say it’s because you shouldn’t rename them but because DUX is the best name imaginable. It’d have been a lot better to have him refuse on the basis it’s traded rather than coincidentally thinking those names are great, or say the pokemon likes its name too much, or anything.

Anyway. Let’s try going down the way ghost girl disappeared.

And it’s lots of water!

In contrast to previous routes, this one doesn’t say the other half of where it’s going.

As you can see, the layout follows a similar fakeout structure as Rock Tunnel, only without the issue that wasted steps lead to more pokemon attacking you. This is perhaps the best justified layout in the game so far – the platforms are presumably designed to give people access to good fishing spots.

And, naturally, there’s fishermen around. Unlike later games, they aren’t facing the water, harmless unless talked to.

But you have pokemon too…

The dialogue is not particularly good, and probably I like it out of nostalgia, but I do think there’s a difference between generations. There was some terrible dialogue in the fourth gen games, but it seemed forced and hollow. This isn’t inviting us to laugh knowingly at the joke of its quality, it’s just there for you to take as you will.

I think this is the first sign confirming that it’ll eventually be possible to cross water. There’s water at the beginning, but never proof you’d actually need to be able to travel on it.

It’s a little odd to see that emphasis here instead of one of the other places, as there’s nothing plot-relevant here.

Even leaving doesn’t make the depressingness end.

That’s swift.

See? Nothing really vital here.

Then the snorlax again. I can’t compliment the looping nature of the original map enough. First, you run into the block when heading east, and see a north/south path going off into the unknown. Then, you go a different way, and end up here to realize that you now know the northern area, but still don’t know what new mysteries lie to the south.

That leaves west for me.

I think it makes sense to assume the gamblers are also drug users, at least alcohol and probably more.

Okay, I can sort of see how you’d consider this comparison less than family-friendly, since one of the myriad charges leveled at the games was that it promoted gambling. But that was a decade ago, it sure didn’t hurt sales then, and in the intervening years videogames have gotten worse while gambling has become mainstream.

And yet, you can’t offer her one.

It occurs to me that you can sum up lots of my original dissatisfaction with the game as that I wanted more fetch quests.

This is even more illegal than Gary’s hydropumping L22 gyarados. Grimer doesn’t evolve until almost L40.

This guy is the trainer who stays at home studying instead of raising pokemon because he figures knowing strategy is all that matters. Funny to see a later cliche is actually present and slapped down in the game already.

I’ve never been sure what the point of this is. I think it may not really have one – it’s not like this is a viable way of avoiding pokemon battles given it takes longer than just walking does, and it has no impact other than that. I think it’s just that obviously a pokemon that can cut bushes should also be able to handle grass, so they put that in.

The fact it and the bushes are erased every time you go to a battle screen means it’s even more useless than it first seems.

I think I’m running afoul of the weirdness where getting a pokemon too weak starts to make it harder to catch. I wasn’t trying too hard here and yet didn’t have a problem, catching it in a single pokeball, while when I do, the pokemon keep breaking out of greatballs.

This is one of the many points where it’s not clear if the pokedex entries are supposed to be distinct and only talking about the particular pokemon they’re under, or if they might be commenting from the viewpoint that pokemon evolution is less distinct and they’re really all the same basic creature. Does it mean that it starts with one and quickly develops six, or if it slowly grows more tails until one day it’s a ninetails?

See, that’s the official level to know dragon rage. Of course, if you go with the idea pokemon can evolve at varying levels, why not that they can learn moves at varying levels? Just because the player character’s experience is always the same doesn’t mean it represents an established norm.

Dragon rage removes 40 points of HP, so it’s like a double power sonic boom. Of course, with the sort of attack gyarados get, regular moves do similar damage already.

It’s these guys!

Yet you don’t offer any explanation…

Gyarados is easily one-shotting all the pokemon, a sign I’m overleveled.

They are!

It’s odd there aren’t lass cosplayers. She seems like the type to be wearing kitty ears.

It’s easy to forget just how hideous nidorina’s sprite is.

When I played the games I thought she was dumb because who cared what they looked like, evolved pokemon were stronger and that’s all that mattered. Now, though, I have to say that tinyme was too quick to dismiss her points. Sure, for most it’s acceptable, but you’ve got to admit nidorina hit every branch falling out of the ugly tree.

I always liked dispersing the line.

Don’t think there’s any point to this bit.

The guards appear to share a hive mind.

Luckily, there’s another underground path.

Yeah, I heard.

Wait, no, that’s different.