the very best, pt. xxiv
Welcome back once again to The Very Best, our ongoing quest to document exactly how cool and talented all the trainers are in Pokemon X. Last time we hung out in a winding forest to track down the Gym Leader; this time it's time for the Snowbelle Gym!
It's A Cool Place, And They Say It Gets Colder
This gym has a fun little puzzle gimmick; it's not hard but oftentimes in gym puzzles the solution is "just hit the button when it's made available to you" and this one you have to actually think about a little bit (or at least verify that it works); you're not going to get stuck but it's a bit more satisfying than most of the gym puzzles in these games end up being.1
Anyway, short one this time around, so let's get into it.
Snowbelle Gym: Ace Trainer Imelda
Imelda has a Sneasel and a Cloyster, at level 54 and 55 respectively. Points deducted for the unevolved Sneasel (a fully evolved Weavile would actually rule here), but bonus points awarded for Cloyster, whose Water typing in an Ice-type gym lets it avoid super effective damage from Fire types (and also Steel types, if you got 'em), and which is pretty respectable overall. Our Gym standard is "how good are you at making people expend resources" and this team is at least a solid baseline. Skill Rating: 3/5
Imelda asserts that she is called the queen of the ice rink, makes some cold and speed quips when defeated, and then notes that we aren't actually in an ice rink. Maybe she used to work at a different gym? One of the old Ice-type gyms is an ice rink or something, right? Coolness Rating: 3/5
Snowbelle Gym: Ace Trainer Viktor
Viktor has a Delibird at level 54 and a Mamoswine at level 55. The less said about Delibird, the better, but Mamoswine is solid here. It has access to Earthquake at this point, and is tanky enough to survive one (1) flamethrower, and with its 130 base Attack, that Earthquake will be taking out your Fire-type in response. Skill Rating: 3/5
Viktor gives me weird vibes. Initially he feels very "cold-themed villainous team" but then after we beat him he says "You think strength justifies all, do you?! Well, I suppose it does... This is a Pokémon Gym, after all." I don't . . . I don't think that, Viktor. I just think that being in a Gym makes that more true, either. Coolness Rating: 2/5
Snowbelle Gym: Ace Trainer Shannon
Shannon has a Cryogonal at level 52, a Piloswine at level 53, and a Jynx at level 54. I quite like this team; the Piloswine should be evolved, but even at this mid-stage its Earthquake hits pretty hard. Cryogonal is a rare specially defensive Ice-type, so it can tank your standard Flamethrower pretty well. This one has Recover and Confuse Ray to eat up resources for the Piloswine. And then if Piloswine took out whichever Pokemon you have trying to sweep the gym, Jynx might survive long enough to get some hits in! Good setup, Shannon. Skill Rating: 4/5
Shannon likes frozen desserts. She makes frappes by using Ice Beam on Berry Juice. Honestly, I respect this. I could go for some gelato right now. Coolness Rating: 4/5
Snowbelle Gym: Ace Trainer Theo
Theo has a Beartic and a Vanilluxe, at level 54 and 55 respectively. These are both perfectly respectable monotype Ice-types, but neither of them are bringing anything exciting to the table for an Ice gym. Skill Rating: 3/5
Theo is a big fan of "keep[ing] your cool no matter the situation" because he thinks this is a "trademark of the truly powerful", but he struggles because he gets very excited when he gets into a tough battle. While I do think maintaining one's composure is an admirable skill, I'm not sure if just doing it for the aesthetic is really the correct approach. Sorry, Theo. Coolness Rating: 3/5
Snowbelle Gym: Leader Wulfric
Wulfric has an Abomasnow at level 56, a Cryogonal at level 55, and an Avalugg at level 59. Abomasnow is . . . really quite bad for an Ice gym leader. Its 4x weakness to Fire makes it evaporate if you just turn up the thermostat a little, and its only non-Ice move is Energy Ball, which doesn't really help against any of the usual Ice-defeating types. I guess Rock? It'd be good against Rock. But that typing and that stat spread are just begging to be crushed. Cryogonal fares better for the same reason that I liked it on Shannon's team, though it switches Confuse Ray out for Hail and has added Flash Cannon to its arsenal. Flash Cannon I could take or leave here, but I think the loss of Recover makes it a worse pick overall. And then there's Avalugg, who has a Special Defense stat of "nope". Massive defense and hefty Attack score, but . . . well. Most of the time with other Gym Leaders I've come away with the impression that they're pretty capable trainers; I've looked at their Battle Chateau teams and looked at some of their other movesets and which Pokemon they bring there. They are working at a disadvantage because of the monotype rules, but they try to come up with sensible counters. Wulfric . . . doesn't. His teams are bad. They get worse. They simply don't feel as if they were made with any thought whatsoever. Skill Rating: 2/5
Wulfric has a fairly standard gruff but kind old man persona. He says he could be our "most challenging opponent yet or I could be a total pushover", and while I am not convinced anyone finds him a challenging opponent, when we defeat him he offers a lot of wisdom on how being rigid can make you brittle, and it's probably better to be flexible and adaptive. He just is too stubborn. "Maybe that's why I love Ice types." All right, man. Coolness Rating: 4/5
The Ice type is fascinating. Gamefreak seems to think of it as very powerful, and offensively it does indeed rule, but it's so fragile defensively, and . . . Pokemon is, at heart, rock paper scissors, right? You can just counter it. This gym feels like it is built with the assumption that Ice is this all-conquering juggernaut--multiple trainers in the final gym with Pokemon that aren't fully evolved, etc--but this has the effect of making it fairly easy if you have one of several common types on your team. This ends up being a bit anticlimactic for the last Gym of the game. But at least we get an Ice Beam TM out of the deal, eh?
And that's all for this installment. Next time for reals: cleanup of previous routes, and probably Route 21, the last route before Victory Road. The end is near, friends! Or nearish, I guess. I'll see you then.
I have been thinking recently of how fun it would be if instead of moving into the open world formula they instead delved into a world where the gyms were full on Zelda dungeons, but this feels like an unlikely direction for the future of the franchise.↩