(note: next chunk pasted from the original "pokeplans" file on my work computer. Dates left as-is rather than attempting to create back-dated blog entries for each.)
(9/1/2009)
Having fixed William's template issue (which actually turned out to be a data issue) I'm pondering Pokes. I won't get to play tonight, since Julie's coming over for sushi and videogames, but I'm still mulling over the problem of that extra slot on the team.
I really need something that's good against Water, preferably that can learn an electric attack like Shock Wave or Thunderbolt. And now, there's a thought....I'll be needing something to learn Dive and Waterfall, and Bulbapedia says that Chinchou are common in the underwater seaweed. That way I wouldn't have to switch out that last slot when I went underwater. Only problem there is, I'd have to have something with Dive before I could even catch a Chinchou. All right then, maybe not.
Just...dunno. The other Hoenn Pokemon that appeal to me are all either overused (like Salamence), legendaries (I was thinking of replacing Gossamer with Rayquaza if I catch it before the E4), or are weaker/novelty Pokemon: Spoink, Spinda, Kecleon, Castform...things like that. NPLU kinds of Pokemon.
Garrrrgh. Can't decide.
Another idea I was musing upon: I'd hauled that Nincada out of the boxes to dump Flash on. Turns out they can learn Secret Power as well. So maybe I should give it a name, level it up a bit so it learns False Swipe, let it keep Flash, and teach it Secret Power. Then I could take it out when I needed it, without having to spend slots in my team's movesets for Flash or Secret Power. Then I could give Thunderbolt to Meadow (but again, spending TMs on a female might not be a good idea).
Maybe I should just keep that last place on the team free, for rotating out special-use Pokemon. Anyway. Off for sushi and gaming!
(9/3/2009)
Allright, so I did look at Rt. 119 online before I went for it.
Wasted a ton of time going through the tall grass looking for Kecleons. The whole team is now lvl 35 or above. Somewhat ominously, both Jet and Alba had a bit of difficulty against the wild Pokes there, which were mostly Oddish, Zigzagoon, and Linoone at lvl 24-27, with the occasional Tropius.
I did find a Kecleon eventually, which I caught in a Premier Ball and named George with the thought of training it; but after all that, it turned out there were opportunities to catch about three or four (I forget) Kecleon that were invisibly blocking the path in places. I just had to go through Fortree to Rt. 120 and run into Steven, who gave me a Devon Scope. So now I've got Martha (to go with George), another unnamed female, and Argyle (also in a Premier Ball).
Before Fortree, I took care of Team Aqua at the Weather Institute, and got my Castform. Luckily I thought to heal and save before heading back out, because I was soon surprised by Brendan, who nearly ran me over with his bike before demanding to see how I was raising my Pokemon. He only had a team of three, so it wasn't too tough a battle. And it paid off -- after giving me props for having gotten "decent" at this whole Pokemon thing, Brendan handed me HM 02 Fly before pedaling off. After collecting a few more items from the area, I taught Fly to Gossamer, then went back to the Institute and put Alba away. As an afterthought, I threw Argyle into the party.
The Fortree Gym wasn't all that difficult. I went through it with Tympany in the lead and won my sixth badge without too much trouble. That also means I can now use Fly outside of battle. Because of the time I'd spent looking for the dang Kecleon, though, it was too late to get any farther. I saved with 6 badges, 62 Pokemon owned, and 30 hours on the game.
I haven't actually trained Argyle or George at all, so I might check their IVs before I do. Alba is officially retired from the core team, now that Gossamer has Fly. And Dragonbreath is kickass, so Gossamer is definitely strong enough now. That leaves me that extra slot on the team.
It turns out that of my five final team members so far, only Meadow can learn Thunderbolt. Given that I'm now planning to have the Nincada learn Secret Power, Meadow has a slot open in her moveset (currently taken by Covet, which is apparently a normal-type equivalent to Thief). Bulbapedia says the Lilycove Dept Store has Thunder -- I could teach her that instead so I'm not spending a TM I can't replace on a female. The alternative would be to teach Jet Shock Wave, though the TM/female problem applies there too.
When I reach Lilycove, it'll also be time to bring in the Berries from Sam and JD, so I can get with the making of Pokeblocks. In fact I should see about trading in all their items. I should only need six Pokemon for this, since I can rotate through the groups and just remove items then trade them back for the next set. That would also advance the heck out of my Pokedex.
Though, maybe that's a bit unfair, since JD raised all those poor Pokemon through powerlevelling. So maybe I take the Berries off the Whismur first, then put the other items on them? But Sapphire is so cumbersome with moving items. Eh. Maybe I just take the Berries now, then, and put off the rest.
Whichever, the next goal is to get to Lilycove. There's no Gym there, so no badge. However, there's the Contest Hall, which opens up that whole thing, and I think Team Aqua's base, so I can expect some story advancement. There's also a berry person, and the Move Deleter. It also looks like I can catch Wailmer here, even with just the Good Rod, so I should probably try for one since I will need a Wailord later to get to the Regis. All of that should be enough to occupy an evening....
(9/4/2009)
More than an evening, as it turns out. Granted that I started late, but still.
Route 120 out of Fortree was hella long. I'd had no idea there was that much on it...tall grass, trainers, berries, items, even a couple more of those invisible Kecleon. By the time I got to Rt. 121 towards Lilycove, most of my team were nearly out of attacks. And I'd forgotten that both Mt. Pyre and the Safari Zone were on Rt. 121.
By the time I got that far it was nearing midnight, so I just booked it for Lilycove, avoiding trainers as much as possible, and even leaving items lie.
In Lilycove, my neighbor was waiting for me in front of the Dept. Store, where I needed to go get that Thunder TM for Meadow. I had her in the lead, and she took down his team of four, including his starter. Upon his defeat, Brendan said he was going back to Littleroot to help out his dad with the Pokedex. Which, as I know from Bulbapedia, means Wally ought to be showing up soon with that Ralts of his to take over the rival role.
I did get to try berry blending, and I suck at it. It's all about timed button pressing, with each spin getting faster. The first two spins are easy but after that it swiftly becomes nigh-impossible to hit the marker. Still, I got a couple Pokeblocks that were about as good as a Dept. Store Poffin in Pt.
So, tomorrow I should have lots of time, if I can drag me outta bed at some kind of semi-decent hour. And there's tons I want to do:
--Go back to the start of Rt. 121 and go through it properly.
--Team Aqua's up to something in Mt. Pyre. And hey, I was going there for Shuppet and Duskull anyway (should make sure they're both in Emerald).
--Take a hike or two through the Safari Zone.
--Try out a Contest, and practice Berry Blending.
--Catch a Wailmer.
--Team Aqua's base is in Lilycove, and I'm sure I'm supposed to do something about that.
--Bring in Berries from the other games.
--All five of the core team are now lvl 38. I'd like to get them to lvl 40 before leaving Lilycove.
Also. While roaming the grasses of Rt. 120, I caught an Absol. Took an Ultra Ball to catch it, too; it wouldn't stay in anything less. I should look them up again; maybe that's my other slot?
(9/8/2009)
Whew. I need a day off to recover from my days off. At least there shouldn't be much more than one more trip to the house...
Gaming was canceled Friday night, so I had a good chunk of time. After clearing Rt. 121 properly, I caught my Wailmer (named Hugh) and headed down for Mt. Pyre. I fought my way up through the trainers, caught a Shuppet, grabbed the items on the way back down, then climbed the slope outside. Turns out Team Aqua wanted the Red Orb; Team Magma had already taken the Blue Orb. The old couple at the top told me the legend and worried about what would happen with the Orbs separated. I took a minute to catch a Duskull and went back down.
The Safari Zone was unexpectedly difficult. There's a Pokeblock feeder near the entrance, and apparently you need to fill it before you'll see the rarer Pokemon. Also, there's portions you need specific Bikes to get to, meaning you can't get to all sections in a single trip, which is a real pain. Still, I caught what I could in two hikes, which wasn't much. Probably I should look up the finer points before going back.
Back at Lilycove, I gave Berry Blending another try. I'm getting better at the four-person blender. Looking over the party, Jet seemed the most contest-ready with all her Smart moves, so I blended up a bunch of purple Pokeblocks with Pomeg berries and got her a couple ribbons. They evidently simplified contests a lot between GIII and GIV, because whoah this was complicated. The first appeal still depends entirely on condition, and therefore on Pokeblocks. But the move appeals are much harder. There's five rounds of appeals, and you not only have to worry about getting hearts and the audience excitement, but about your opponents jamming you. So you can set up a great appeal, and then have it ruined by the Pokemon who come after you. The GIV version is much simpler and more fun. I can see why Traci was so proud when her beloved fire-chicken won the Master rank -- just the Normal rank was hard as hell.
Tired of that, I went to check out the Team Aqua base. There were two grunts blocking the way in and talking about what Team Magma could be up to at Mt. Chimney. That was enough for one night, so I left it there for the rest of the weekend. Instead, I grew me bunches of berries at the Berry Master's plot. It seems that even left unwatered, the more common plants at least will produce two berries, so I could theoretically double my berries just by planting in the morning and harvesting in the evening. I'm sure the higher-order berries won't produce more than one unless watered, though.
I didn't get around to bringing in the berries from the previous Emerald games. Instead, I spent some time in Sapphire catching the things that don't appear in Emerald. It took longer than I'd thought it would. Surskit in particular was a bitch to find, and I had to go to Victory Road to find Meditite and Medicham. While there, I made the mistake of talking to Wally and was immediately dumped into a rival battle I had not been prepared for. Three of the Pokemon I had with me were lvl 30-ish, and all of his were in the upper 50's. Yikes. It took some Hyper Potions, but I pulled it out and managed the win.
Despite being tired as hell last night after going down to the house, trying to rewire Kaye and Joni's AV system, and having Julie and Heather over for a bit of FFXII, I flew up to Lavaridge and bounced up Jagged Pass to Team Magma's hideout. There were many grunts but most only had one Pokemon. And by now my team was all lvl 40, versus the Magma grunts at lvl 29, so that wasn't too hard. I did have to spend some Max Repels on the annoying number of wild Pokemon inside the hideout, though. After getting a bit lost, I finally cleared all the grunts and found my way to Maxie just as he (I think he's a he) awakened Groudon with the Blue Orb. Maxie was quite perplexed when Groudon promptly ran away. I swear, these people always think the legendaries are just going to do whatever they want. So he blamed it on me, and the battle was on.
I was glad I was levelled as high as I was, because his team was all mid-to-high 30's. Still, it wasn't too difficult, except for the darn Crobat. With Maxie defeated, Team Magma abandoned their base, and that was that.
I assumed that the next order of business would be a similar scenario at Team Aqua's base. But to my surprise, the grunts were still blocking the way. They blabbed about Archie stealing Capt. Stern's new sub from Slateport, so down to Slateport I went. Sure enough, Archie showed up and stole the sub. I took a minute to run by the market and show my team to the Effort Ribbon lady. Turns out that both Jet and Tympany -- who both trained with the Macho Brace a lot -- had reached their max EVs. The rest of the team still needs to "go for it a little harder". At that point I called it a night.
Not sure what's next. Team Aqua's base, maybe? Or the underwater canyon? Though, for that I need Dive. I've been training Hugh via Exp. Share, so hopefully he'll be caught up to the team before I reach that point. One thing's sure, between the no-doubt upcoming confrontation with Team Aqua, and the concentration of water routes in the last part of the game, and also that last Water gym, I really need to deal with my team's ineffectiveness against Water types, and soon.
(9/10/2009)
7 badges, 72(?) caught, 40-some hours. Started the evening's efforts in the Acro Bike area of the Safari Zone, but didn't catch much (just Phanpy and Heracross).
Turned out that witnessing the sub being stolen unlocked the Team Aqua hideout. Except for figuring out if the warp panels had made me miss anything, it was dead easy. Archie was already aboard the sub though, and it went off right after I fought the admin, so no leader battle. However, there -was- a Master Ball, just lying around on the floor in an inner office. Whoo! I'm saving it for Latios. Roaming Pokemon are too much darn trouble otherwise. Though that probably means I should buy as many Ultra Balls as I can for Rayquaza...
With the hideout cleared, the Wailmer who'd been blocking the sea route disappeared. So I Surfed on out there, ran from a bunch of Tentacool I didn't feel like dealing with, fought the swimming trainers, and got to Mossdeep.
The town was all abuzz about the ominous letter to the Space Center from Team Magma informing all and sundry that they were going to come steal the center's rocket fuel. However, Steven didn't seem pressed, and asked me if I'd looked around town. This meant, of course, that I was supposed to take down the Gym first.
Since Tympany was the only one of the team who wasn't yet lvl 41, I went through most of the Gym with it in the lead, reserving Gossamer and Jet for the twin Gym leaders. Tympany wasn't as effective as I'd have liked against the Psychic trainers, but we made it through anyway, and it did level up. However, the Gym leader battle was unexpectedly difficult. Their team was at or beyond my levels, and I had to use Revives and Potions to get the win, even using Jet and Gossamer who both have Dark attacks. This got me the Mind Badge -- my seventh -- and the ability to use Dive outside battle.
On the way back to the Space Center, I ran into a cluster of Magmas, so I knew it was time to take them on. Sure enough, they were all over the Space Center. The Grunts went down easily, and then it was time for the double battle: me and Steven vs. Maxie and Tabitha. I'd never done a true double battle before -- it made me choose which three Pokemon I was going to use. No idea what would have happened if all three went down, since Jubal and Steven's Metang made short work of the two Magmas. Maxie began to question the team's purpose before the Team ran off. I expect that since they've already let Groudon loose, it's the last I'll see of them.
That was pretty much it for Mossdeep, so I straightened out my items, taught Hugh Dive (he's catching up, at lvl 37), and saved there. I should likely spend some time Diving on that previous route to catch what I can before I head south towards Sootopolis. Also, I got the Super Rod in Mossdeep, so I can now fish properly.
The difficulty at the Mossdeep Gym worries me, though. Here I am with my seventh badge, almost to the E4, and yet my team's only lvl 42? It would appear that I need to do some serious, serious training. They need to be lvl 50 at least before I can even aspire to beating the E4, maybe higher. It does look like there's a good chunk of the game between here and the E4, however, so maybe that'll be okay.
There's also the ineffectiveness against water-types thing. I still haven't taught Meadow Thunder. It occurs to me that if I wanted to train an electric type against the upcoming water gym, a Magnemite might be a good choice. I'm sick of Pikachus, Electrike/Manectric are ridiculous, and this game doesn't have Shinxes. And when I was going through New Mauville, I remember avoiding them because the Electric/Steel combo made them such a pain. Granted that you can catch 'em in FR/LG, and I think in New Mauville, but I've never raised one. And I never did do the water routes to Dewford, which'd give me the opportunity to train it up. Hmmm. Looking them up on Bulbapedia, they are weak to Fighting, Fire, and Ground, but resistant or immune to damn near everything else.
(9/11/2009)
Didn't end up doing much last night except levelling Meadow up to lvl 42, and diving around Rt. 124. I did catch a couple Clampearl, a couple Chinchou, and a Relicanth, though, which brings me up to 85 Pokemon caught. I'll need the Relicanth for getting into the Regis, and I'm thinking of raising Chinchou along the Dewford Surf routes. Its Electric attacks should get it through there with ease, and will make it a better Dive/Waterfall slave than Hugh. If I have the patience to level it enough, it should help me sweep the last Gym.
About that extra slot, though? Who am I kidding, I'm totally saving it for Rayquaza -- so that solves that problem. Provided, of course, that I can catch the darn thing. I'd like to get it in a Premier Ball, which is darn unlikely.
The next game goal is to get to Sootopolis and get the last badge. The Sootopolis Gym is all around lvl 40, except for Juan's Pokemon. According to Bulbapedia, two of his team are at lvl 43, and his Kingdra is at lvl 46. This means I better darn well have at least one decently levelled Poke on hand with an electric attack, or that I better level up the whole team to around lvl 45. Possibly both. If I did that, Jubal would be just one level away from learning Earthquake, and Gossamer would evolve to Flygon. That'd get most of the team to final evolutions and movesets. Plus, the TM Brick Break is available in Sootopolis, which I was considering as an option for Jubal (especially given that all the good Move Tutor moves are only purchasable at the Battle Frontier, after the E4).
Instead of going for the badge right away, then, I'll probably spend some time diving around, while levelling the team and training that Chinchou (whose name is Phosphor). Since Hugh's at lvl 40, I can put him away and teach Dive to Phospor. But I should most likely try and get to Sootopolis, at least, so that I can Fly there when I'm ready (unless I get impatient and try for the badge anyway!)
Also, unless I spend a bunch of Pokeyen on Max Repels, I'm probably going to want to have Bulbapedia's route maps up while I'm diving about. Otherwise there's too many damn Tentacool in the water. >_<
I've also got an urge to get every one of the core team at least one contest Ribbon. Hopefully I can do that without having to make Pokeblocks.
Not, of course, that I'm going to get any play time until tomorrow night at the soonest.
(9/14/2009)
Progress! 8 badges, 91 caught, just short of 52 hours.
While diving around the routes near Mossdeep, I discovered the Seafloor Cavern. So instead of just trying to get to Sootopolis, I decided to run on in there and see what Team Aqua was up to. The cavern doubled back on itself so much that I got a little lost, but eventually I found my way to the bottom. And of course, what Archie and his grunts were up to was awakening Kyogre. Like Groudon, Kyogre paid Archie back by running off.
That set off the whole "battle of the super-ancient Pokemon" chunk of the story, so I'll never know whether the Sootopolis Gym would have been accessible beforehand (unless I am insane enough to replay this someday). After much battling of swimmers and snagging of items from the seafloor, I navigated the underwater path to Sootopolis. Kyogre and Groudon were going at it right in the middle of the caldera lake, with all the town's inhabitants anxiously looking on.
This was apparently major bad juju, causing torrential rains in some parts of the surrounding routes and abnormally strong sunlight in other parts. Maxie and Archie were blocking the way to the Gym, brandishing their useless Orbs, begging the ancient Pokemon to stop their battle. Interestingly, there was one kid who said he got the feeling that Kyogre and Groudon weren't angry, so much as that their power was too strong for them to control.
Obviously the crisis had to be averted before I could get to the Gym. Steven was on the scene, and took me back to the Cave of Origin to meet Wallace, who knew that Rayquaza was needed but not where it might be found. The game allowed me to suggest the Cave of Origin itself ("don't be silly! that's right here!"), Mt. Pyre, and Sky Pillar (along with a "don't remember" option). Wallace discarded every suggestion but Sky Pillar, and then ran off. I knew that the Cave would be sealed off once I'd brought Rayquaza back, so I took the time to run around until a Golbat appeared (though I should have caught a female too, if I'd had patience for it).
Of course, no one knew where Sky Pillar was. I had a vague recollection that it was along the sea routes near Pacifidlog, so off I went, once again battling swimmers along the way. Sure enough, a resident of Pacifidlog mentioned a tower out to sea a little ways, and there it was. Wallace apologized for running off without me, and let me have the distinction of going up and poking Rayquaza.
I thought that meant that I'd have to catch it, so I went and bought Ultra Balls and did the buy 10-sell 10 thing to get a TON of Premier Balls. Then I ran up Sky Pillar without stopping to level up or catch anything else, wanting to be fresh for the fight with Rayquaza. Somewhat anticlimactically, it flew off as soon as I approached it. D'oh! So I headed back to Sootopolis to watch the throw-down. Rayquaza more or less flew up and screeched at the other two, and they sank away and disappeared. It was like it was their mom -- "you two stop that RIGHT NOW or you are gonna be in SO much trouble when Arceus wakes up!" Heh.
With that, the weather cleared up, and all was well. Maxie and Archie ran off, lamenting the futility of their foolish plans, and Wallace invited me to take on his mentor Juan in the Gym. I also got HM07 Waterfall, which I'd need the badge to use.
I didn't think I was levelled enough for this, but I whipped out that Thunder TM, taught it to Meadow, and gave it the old college try. And what do you know, between Tympany, Meadow, and Jet, I managed it. Juan wasn't as easy as I'd have liked, but I got my last badge.
That left me with two immediate goals: Catch Rayquaza, and go for the E4. In that order.
Problem being, Rayquaza is lvl 70. So I ran down to New Mauville, figuring that'd be a good place to train Jubal, and I could catch a Magneton while I was at it. Only, random number generator still hates me. I think I spent three hours running around there, got everyone up to lvl 46-48. Jubal even learned Earthquake and I let him evolve. And I caught an Electrode, which has the same appearance rate. But NO Magneton. ARGH. It's like when I spent all that time trying to get a Volbeat, except Martin pointed out that I could have raised a Magneton by then, probably to lvl 50.
So I got Gossamer (who is now a Flygon) up one more level, and vacated the premises. Flew over to Slateport long enough to confirm that yes, everyone has all the EVs they're going to get. Effort Ribbons all around, ta dah and yay. Then I flew over to Pacifidlog and saved.
I'm debating what to do about catching Rayquaza. On the one hand, I'm tempted to bring in something high-leveled from Sapphire, and go for an easy catch. But that smacks of cheating, and I kinda want to see if I can do it without the "help". So the other plan is to spend some time in Sky Pillar, catching what I can and training the team. Maybe get 'em all up to lvl 50 and pray it'll be enough. If I do manage to nab Rayquaza, then it'll be time to head off for Victory Road. If I fail the first attempt.....maybe I just switch off without saving, then go look up all those trainers that are ready for a rematch. [totally did NOT realize how hard it'd be just getting UP the Sky Pillar, here.]
One thing's sure, I shouldn't stay up so darn late trying, this time. >_< I feel like crap today.
(9/24/2009)
Badges: 8 -- Caught: 101 -- Hall of Fame debut: 65:18 hours. TAA DAAAAH.
I wasn't kidding about feeling like crap; I've been sick since that Monday, including during our beach trip. Went into work anyway, infected two co-workers, ran around at night, and didn't stop until we left for OC Saturday morning. So, no Poke time until beach.
Sky Pillar had apparently acquired a lot more cracks in the floor since I went up to poke Rayquaza the first time, and it took a good couple aggravating hours just to get back up to the top. Still, only Tympany was lvl 50 by the time I reached Rayquaza. Since I had clawed my way up there, though, I decided to try for it anyway.
As expected, it was monstrously powerful. Tympany was the only thing that could stand up to multiple attacks and get its HP down...whereupon it would use Rest. ARGH. I had to turn off the game after fainting it probably about ten times, but finally Meadow actually managed to paralyze it with Thunder, and it stayed paralyzed while Tympany got it down into the red. The stars aligned and an Ultra Ball nabbed it (as difficult as the whole thing was, I'd given up on getting it in a Premier Ball). I cheered, named it Coriolis, and headed gratefully back to Pacifidlog to heal.
Since I wanted the whole team to be lvl 50 before hitting Victory Road, I surfed right back out to Sky Pillar and headed for the fifth floor, cursing the cracked floors mightily. Sky Pillar is a great training ground, with all the wild Pokes at mid-to-high 30's. I managed to get everyone up to lvl 50 and accomplish my secondary goal of catching a female Altaria to go with the males I had already caught.
With that accomplished, I surfed on over to Evergrande, and taught my Relicanth Sockeye (who I'd been levelling via Exp Share to match Hugh) Waterfall. I hadn't gotten too far into Victory Road before I was challenged by Wally, which I hadn't seen coming. Fortunately his team was only in the 40's, so I was able to one-shot most of them via type advantage. With him out of the way, I discovered I needed Flash, so I swapped Sockeye for Phosphor, my little Chinchou. I knew I'd need Waterfall inside Victory Road, so I taught him both that and Flash, and then forayed into the caves again.
Trucking through Victory Road got everyone up to lvl 53 -- still not high enough. So after saving at the Pokemon League center, I spent some time doing some serious levelling, mostly by looking up the trainers who were ready for another battle.
That's when I got the sudden urge to look for Feebas. In Emerald, Feebas appears in only six of the water tiles on Route 119. This is a very long route, and its water area is extensive, so that's quite a chunk of time. I began at the top and worked my way down, fighting any Carvanha over lvl 30. This raised at least a couple of the team up to lvl 55 by the time I finally found one of the six magical random tiles. I caught about seven Feebas (in Premier or Dive Balls, and all with nicknames). I plan to raise at least one to a Milotic and enter it in contests with the Dive-Surf combo.
Following that, I looked up some more trainers to fight. This took me to the neighborhood of the Desert, and it occurred to me that Sky Pillar had given me valuable practice in getting over cracked floors. Sure enough, I made it past the second floor of Mirage Tower within a handful of tries. To my relief, there weren't any more cracked floors, just the fossils. I selected the Claw Fossil and watched the Tower collapse before flying off to Rustboro to revive my new Fossil into an Anorith.
By that point, Jet was the only one of the team not yet at lvl 55, so I fixed that with a couple sorties into Victory Road, then pulled out Rayquaza and saved. Deep breath: it was time for the Elite Four.
Sidney and his Dark types went down without too much trouble, and Phoebe's Ghosts went down fairly easily given how many of my team had Dark attacks. Glacia's Ice team was a bit tougher, and Drake's Dragons were a bit of a pain. Still, I only had to pull out Coriolis once, for Drake's Salamence -- I'd wanted to try and make it through on the merits of my own trained team as much as I could.
Wallace, though, was quite a challenge. Not on the order of Cynthia, but still bad enough. I managed to get down all but his last Pokemon -- a lvl 58 Milotic -- but my team was low on both attacks and HP (and I was getting low on potions), so in the end everyone had gone down except Coriolis. And of course that's when the damned Milotic started throwing Ice Beam at me, for 4x effectiveness. >_< Luckily I had more Full Restores than it had Ice Beam PPs, and a single Outrage took it down on a critical hit. I didn't even need the Persim Berries I'd been growing (along with more Leppa).
Not quite as well as I'd wanted to do -- I hadn't wanted to have to use Coriolis, much less win by dint of potions -- but still. I'd done it. More hours on the game than usual, but I blame that on all the looking for impossible Pokemon like Volbeat and Magneton, and the fishing for Feebas, and insisting on that female Altaria.
So after Wallace entered my team in the Hall of Fame, I watched the credits, and then opened my post-game back home in Littleroot. Watched a news bulletin with Mom about a strange Pokemon flying over Hoenn (they said blue, Mom!), got the SS Ticket, and more importantly, the National Pokedex upgrade. Which means I can now trade with LG.
The SS Ticket, of course, is my invite to the Battle Frontier, which I've never really cared about. Scott sounded positively ecstatic about it though. I'm not really sure what else I want to do with my post-game. There's all the legendaries to catch, Kyogre and Groudon and Latios and the Regis, which would give me an almost-full set of Hoenn legendaries that I'd actually caught myself. And I kinda want to take a stab at contests; get everybody a ribbon or two, and evolve that Milotic.
Oooh, plus there's those new areas in the Safari Zone. I could catch a Mareep and raise me an Ampharos.
Another thing I should look into is finally bringing over all those items and berries from the previous games. That's a lot of trading, i.e. a lot of time. Plus JD's Pokemon would sort of unfairly bulk up my Pokedex. Maybe I should just strip the items/berries off of Sam's Pokes, bring over the ones I want to keep/raise, and Pal Park the rest to Pearl for transfer to the Ranch. I also feel that I'd be within my rights to trade with LG for credit for everything I've caught there. Maybe clean out the Entei cartridge of everything I don't actually need to catch Entei? ...of course, that means I'm back to catching Entei. Argh.
Something else not to forget: Oak's Letter will be available via WiFi starting Monday 9/28. I should nab that and then go get my Shaymin, since I think it's only at lvl 30.
