(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.)
(5/6/2009)
Stayed up waaaay too late last night starting Platinum.
The opening reel was a bit different: the player sprites are dressed for the new snowy Sinnoh; the new NPCs Looker and Charon are shown; and instead of just showing Mt Coronet, you see Cyrus and then the portal opening to the Distortion World with Giratina's glowing eyes inside; its mouth also glows when it opens, as if to eat you! And Giratina shows on the Start screen.
You get your starter sooner, and not at Lake Verity. And oddly, you don't get the chance to nickname it until you get to Sandgem. I was thinking I was tired and missed my chance, for a bit there!
So I have me a little Chimchar named Agni (couldn't quite bring myself to make it Agni Kai, heh). In my party I also have a Shinx, Kricketot, and a Budew (Voltron, Trina, and Rosebud respectively). Agni is already quite strong and useful, but Voltron needs to level to 13 before he'll learn Spark; I want Trina to learn Bug Bite at lvl 16 before she evolves; and I don't even know about the Budew. They need to level up with friendship during the DAY to evolve to Roselia, what a pain in the neck. Depending on what moves she'd learn each way, I may just haul her around a while and let her get to love me before I level her. Voltron and Trina probably won't end up in my core team for the E4 though.
The lack of certain items I'm used to having is already painfully apparent, especially Exp. Share. I need to check when I get that, and if it's too long I might just trade one over from Pearl. Should look at what else I can transfer from Pearl, and while I'm at it, look at which Pokes are hard to get or missing from Platinum. Stunky, Glameow, Purugly, and Feebas come to mind. Also need to bring over Shaymin and the Regigigas. I should concentrate on the Sinnoh Dex though.
I did get to Jubilife for the first time around...now I just need to scoot over to Oreburgh and do the mines and the Gym, then back over to Jubilife TV and presto! Secret Key. (though if I miss the deadline, it CAN be shared from friends via Mystery Gift, as long as they keep the Wonder Card). That'll also get me GTS access, and I can try out the new features. whee!
From there, I should probably leave Platinum aside for a bit, and wrap up LG. I didn't manage to either nab Entei or a Kangaskhan yet. :P Plus I still need to do the Islands and snatch Mewtwo. Then it'll be either import it all to Pearl, or trade it all to the other LG cart. Probably trade, 'cause Pal Parking all that would take weeks. O: No use bringing anything into Platinum from LG, since it doesn't connect to the Ranch; and I likely won't get that far before then anyway.
Trading presents another problem. I should see about getting a second GBA and a link cable so I don't have to borrow Dave's. Maybe I can borrow Traci's SP? For Pearl to Platinum, I can ask to use someone's DS either Thursdays or Sundays, so that's not so bad.
Towards a final team: Infernape (Agni), Budew (Rosebud), Lopunny, Empoleon (HM slave), and what? Garchomp, maybe, and Milotic?
(5/8/2009)
So in Platinum, I'm currently standing in front of Oreburgh Gym, waiting to fight Roark.
See, the thing is, I want to make sure Rosebud evolves before lvl 16, so she'll learn Leech Seed instead of Worry Seed. But to do that, she's gotta love me, and she has to level during the day. Since she's already at lvl 13, I better make sure I fight Roark during the day, if I'm going to use her in the battle. Which means I basically am stalled on Platinum today, except maybe for racking up steps to raise her happiness as high as possible.
Maybe I could work on getting Trina up to lvl 16 so she can get Bug Bite and evolve. That would also build up steps, which would work towards Rosebud's happiness. I could also try fighting Roark without Rosebud, though that'll be tough.
Tonight could also be a perfect time to go Entei hunting. I should also set up Pokemon in Pearl for trading to Platinum on Sunday, with some useful items. I'm dyin' for an Exp Share, and an Amulet Coin or Luck Incense would be highly useful, too. As would an Everstone.
(5/11/2009)
Platinum progress....sorta.
So I tried to beat Roark, and lost twice (resetting the game each time). Spent some time leveling everyone, plus training a Psyduck named Migraine, and tried the Gym again. This time I beat it, without relying on Rosebud. She did go up a level without evolving.
Went on to Floaroma and got sidetracked by Berries and honey trees. Spent a LOT of time just running around to jack up steps towards Rosebud's happiness. Still, I'm going to have to get to Eterna before I can check for sure.
Traci helped me out a lot (even though I kept her up late to do it all) by catching me a Stunky and Skuntank in Diamond; I traded her stuff from Chris towards completing her Pokedex. Then she helped me trade stuff from Pearl to Platinum: her two trades plus Glameow and Purugly, and the Shaymin and the event Regigigas. With them went Exp. Share, Amulet Coin, Everstone, and a Rare Candy. It's slightly cheating, but it'll sure help A LOT.
Tonight after one more swipe through the Honey Trees I slathered this morning, I'll be ready to traipse into Eterna Forest. Traci pointed out that since Marley heals your Pokes after every battle that it's just a great opportunity for leveling. I think I can make it through tonight; then go back for a Buneary.
Whereupon I can get the Friendship Checker, and see if Rosebud will deign to evolve for me. Getting to Eterna will also get me the Underground kit (which means fossils!). Plus once I have Cut, I'll be able to get into the Old Chateau and get Rotom? I think the Secret Key is for the building in Eterna....
Also should try out the WiFi Plaza (which is not in the GTS building, but is the downstairs middle counter in PokeCenters.)
(5/12/2009)
This is totally turning into a regular little Pokediary. I should get a blog... *rolls eyes*
BUT ANYWAY. Instead of Poke-ing last night I read straight through Shadow of Sorcery that I got from Amazon. But I have kept those honey trees slathered, despite having harvested all my berries. Most of what appeared were male Combee, but I -did- catch a male Burmy, which gets me Mothim. I need to look him up and see what he'll learn and when he evolves (Bug Bite at 15, Hidden Power at 20, and evolution at 20)
Deadliest Catch is on tonight but I should still be able to get through Eterna Forest. Gardenia's team is lvl 20-22 so I should get everyone to around 25. Then I can beat the Gym, get Cut, go back for a Buneary (and possibly Rotom). Maybe evolve my Mothim, too. And I can get the Underground kit, and try out WiFi Plaza (though the Cooking is the only really important feature there).
I should also do laundry. >.<;
(5/13/2009)
Honey tree slathering paid off; I netted a female Combee yesterday. w00t.
Spent a long evening taking advantage of Cheryl's accompaniment to level up, though I only had the patience to get everyone to 20 before heading for town. Except Rosebud, because when I got the Friendship Checker, it showed she doesn't like me enough yet. ARGH. Gave her Cut, though.
Caught all sorts of things in the Forest, though, including the Buneary I wanted. Did the Underground stuff and beat the Gym, as well. Then went back to the Old Chateau and caught me a Rotom, and MAN was that way harder than I'd have expected. No wonder I needed a Timer Ball last time.
I even did laundry. ^_^
Next up: I need to hand Rosebud the Soothe Bell, maybe that'll help. And I missed most of the items in the Chateau, so I should go back there -- after seeing what that second badge will get me at the Pokemart. Maybe I can catch another Rotom?
Then it'll be time to clear out the Galactic building -- and maybe try out that Secret Key.
(5/15/2009)
So I went back to the Chateau and cleaned out all the items I could see, but there was no Rotom to catch. I've gone back two nights in a row and it just says the TV is staring at me malevolently. You're supposed to be able to catch it any number of times -- I will have to look that up and see if there is another condition that applies.
But I was able to clear out the Galactic building in Eterna, even if Mars was hideously hard to beat. Her Skuntank took down everyone but Trina in one shot; I kept Trina up with potions long enough to get the thing to sleep and finally take it out.
Despite this, handing Rosebud the Soothe Bell did wonders, and she is now a Roselia. However, I shouldn't have taught her Cut, I think. I went to all that trouble so that she'd learn Leech Seed and then didn't have room to keep it! I have to give thought to her final moveset.
In fact, it's becoming clear that I don't know what the heck I am doing with my team. There's just not room for all the Pokes I want to raise, especially when I'm going to need HM Pokes for Cut/Strength/Rock Smash and Surf/Waterfall, and something to use Fly. And I'm not even sure all the ones I'm raising now should end up in my final team. ARGH.
So yeah. Next up is Wayward Cave, which now has Mira to accompany you and keep your party healed. I will need to teach Flash to something though. And then I should get through Mt. Coronet to Hearthome, so I can get with the Poffins and maybe snag a few Ribbons. Not to mention buy some mulch and grow some more Berries.
Then there's some Pokes and stuff I want to bring over from Pearl, but preparations need to be made. I want to breed one of my fabulous Piplups, and bring over Vagnar if I still have him. In fact I can use the opportunity to clean out at least a couple spots in my Trade box in Pearl. I also want to bring over some fossils, 'cause once again I am stuck with Shieldons. And last but most difficult, I want to either breed a Feebas to bring over, or GTS a lvl 2 Milotic. If one can trade Eggs I would like to do that with both the Piplup and the Feebas to avoid obedience issues, even if that leaves me with the whole Poffin problem.
And lastly, I put in my friend code to get a Cyndaquil from Pokefarm -- gotta remember to get online at 8 PM Saturday.
---
About Rosebud.
For some reason I'd thought Roselia was Grass/Psychic, but that's Ralts etc. Roselia are Grass/Poison. With that in mind, a good final moveset would be --
Leech Seed, Grasswhistle, Giga Drain, Toxic
It's a little more strategy-based than my usual moveset but has the potential to be devastating. Put 'em to sleep, then get Toxic going, then steal their remaining HP via Leech Seed and Giga Drain. [That should be put them to sleep, OR get Toxic going -- only one status ailment at a time!] I should transfer her to Pearl long enough to forget Cut and remember Leech Seed. Then I can replace Magical Leaf with Toxic and Mega Drain with Giga Drain. Toxic is learned at lvl 37 so she should be evo'd right after that.
Now about Agni.
If I hold off on evolution until lvl 41 he can learn Flamethrower; then as Monferno he can learn Flare Blitz at lvl 49. At max evo he can be taught Blast Burn. He's also Fighting type though, which makes him a candidate for Focus Punch or Brick Break. He'd be vulnerable to Water, Ground, Flying, and Psychic, so I should think about moves that would offset that. ThunderPunch can be tutored and would offset two of those.
Something like -- Flamethrower, Focus Punch/Brick Break, Thunder Punch, and Blast Burn.
So, then, a Flying Pokemon.
Cut + Fly = Farfetch'd, Skarmory, Torchic etc., Drifblim. I should trade over Dave's Skarmory that he gave me. He uses them as HM slaves himself anyway.
(5/19/2009)
Totally did not get to Wayward Cave this weekend, or grow any Berries.
However, I did get my Pokefarm Cyndaquil, and his name is Habenero, which is awesome. Plus I did my breeding and trading with myself. Vagnar was brought over to Platinum, plus Eddie's Happiny and a Sneasel Kate had traded me. I ran off a quick Piplup, Feebas, and Spiritomb and traded them over as Eggs, then hatched them in Amity Square.
Even better, I was able to get Traci and Kyllian to help with Poffin cooking, so the Feebas is now a lvl 2 Milotic. I also picked up the Eevee from Bebe and gave it the Soothe Bell, with an eye towards getting an Umbreon. It's a female, too, which is nice for breeding.
Instead of using Wayward Cave for levelling up to beat Fantina, though, I ran around Amity Square a lot with the different various cute Pokemon and picked up Accessories and Berries. And then I went through the Contest Hall and got a couple ribbons for most of my team, which was surprisingly hard to do (except with the Milotic, 'cause his Beauty is so maxed).
There was no Skar-whory (as Dave puts it) to trade from Pearl, so I was hosed there. I think I'd told Dave I didn't need one. Also no Skull Fossils; you can only get those in Diamond.
I need to teach Flash to Camphor (and later, Defog) and get everyone up to lvl. 30 in Wayward Cave, then go for Fantina. And I've got to be careful not to leave Hearthome from any other direction than back towards Mt. Coronet, because that (or entering the Gym) might trigger the next rival battle.
(5/28/2009)
Finally beat Fantina, and she went down way easier than I'd thought she would. The Umbreon I'd held off evolving 'till she learned Bite pretty much carried me through that entire Gym. The rival battle -- triggered by attempting to leave towards Solaceon -- was really easy too; just respond to each switch with whatever has a type advantage, and voila. None of my team were above lvl 26 or 27, except the Umbreon.
Also spent some time growing Berries, and chased down that trade for the Chikorita I'd missed from the previous Pokefarm event. Little Peanut is practically ideal for Smart contests, and he won his first two ribbons with no trouble. Sadly, I think he'll need Poffins to get farther; I just don't know my accessories well enough, and I can't dance.
I still haven't left Hearthome yet, though. Instead I spent a bunch of time catching some ghosts in Sapphire to import the rest of that spare set of TMs, and did a little bit of Entei-hunting.
I also was reminded, by a chance remark at the Pokefarm forums, that Smeargle can learn anything via Sketch. As in, ANYTHING. The idea of a Flying Smeargle was just too funny, so I went into the restaurant with various team-ups and taught a freshly-caught Smeargle Fly, Cut, Rock Smash, and Rock Climb (with the help of Pastoria's Move Relearner to teach her Sketch again). And she does indeed Fly! Hee! I want to breed Smeargle with four Sketch attacks, to facilitate customization.
And lastly -- I finally broke down and bought a used GBA SP from GameStop, and the guy will get me a link cable from another store. Granted that I probably won't need it as much after I finish this last round of LG and get everything cleared out, but what the heck, it was only $40. It's nice to have a secondary system that's rechargable, and has a backlight. Hopefully the original DS will come down in price after the DSi's been out awhile, and I can snag one of those...wonder if I could master two-handed Poffin cooking. O:
Next for Platinum is just getting to Solaceon. I don't think I've got any potential breeding projects there, but I do want to catch me some Unown. It'd be fun to put up Boxes on the GT with messages in them, spelled in Unown. Plus there's lots of berry-growing space along that route.
For LG, I need to devote some serious time to tracking down that darn Entei. By then I should have my link cable, which means that after one last sweep through the Islands, I can bring over another Master Ball from Sapphire and go nab my last Mewtwo. One more evening to clear out the game, and I will be DONE with LG.
Which brings me to Emerald. I would like to play through the Hoenn region at least once, but I don't want to re-start Terrell's Sapphire game; all those TMs and Master Balls would take too long to transfer out. And as long as I'm going for Hoenn I might as well get the latest and greatest experience. So once I am done with LG -- and ONLY once I'm done with LG! [much later note: HAH.] -- I will trade in my extra LG towards a copy of Emerald. After clearing out the existing game of anything useful, I can then restart it and play from scratch. Not sure LG will trade with Emerald, or just with R/S, but I'm sure Emerald can trade with Sapphire, so technically I can bring in whatever I need from my other Generation III games.
All of which ought to keep me well and truly occupied until HG/SS come out. :D
(6/3/2009)
Haven't done much, Poke-wise. I just haven't felt the oomph, haven't really been in a Poke mood.
Though, I did just figure out how to draw Scyther for that dude on Pokefarm who's offering his old EV-trained Pokemon; now I wish I could go home and do me up a kickass X-Scissoring Scyther. By the time I -do- get home tonight, after Mom, I know I won't feel like it. Argh.
Tried twice more for Entei, didn't find him. Grew some rare Berries (Apicot, Lansat, Starf, and Enigma) which took four days. Did absolutely nothing in Platinum. I was all excited that I could catch a Swablu, 'cause I had the inspiration that an Altaria would make a great Flying Pokemon. But then I found out that I'd have to get those headachy Psyduck out of the way first, and was like, eh.
So I haven't done anything beyond merely reaching Solaceon and catching half the alphabet. I wanna put up a box on the GT called "Message" that spells out something like "visit Pokefarm.com", but I want to use a Seedot for the dot, and those are Ruby-insertion Pokemon, which means breeding one in Pearl and trading it over. Bleh.
Plus cleaning this weekend means not having time to really Poke, or arrange trades. Bleh some more.
I haven't even unwrapped my new link cable....
(6/8/2009)
As I predicted, didn't feel up to drawing; nor have I tried again for Entei.
BUT. In a marathon stretch that went to 3AM, I caught myself up in Platinum and tore through Veilstone and Pastoria Gyms. This got me Fly and the Secret Potion, which in turn got those Psyduck out of my way. So I've got my Swablu, and it has Fly.
Even better, with Corwin helping, we were able to cook up some pretty decent Poffins -- lvl 49, smooth 27 -- for Peanut. And last night, dear little Peanut took the Master Rank Smart Ribbon on his second try. WOOT. Just for grins, since the Poffins maxed out his Tough as well, I got him up to Ultra Rank in Tough. Turns out that in Platinum, you only have to win one Master Rank contest to upgrade your Trainer Card, not all of them, so I've got a star on my card.
While I was at it, I borrowed Corwin's DS and got Rosebud's and Trina's movesets fixed, and moved Amelia the Flying Smeargle over to Platinum.
I've also spent some time at the Game Corner -- turns out that the whole Clefairy thing makes it LOTS easier to ratchet up the Coins, slowly but surely. Pretty much you get 15 Coins per replay as long as you follow the Clefairy's pointing when the moon isn't red.
So the next thing is to follow Rt 212 back from Pastoria to Hearthome, and get everyone leveled up a bit. The final team seems to be shaping up; I might be able to retire Voltron if I teach an Electric attack to Sabli. Her Hidden Power would also be Electric, though at this point there's no way to find out how powerful it'd be. But the team's looking like Agni, Amaranth, Rosebud, Sabli, and Kyrie (my Swablu). That leaves me room for an HM slave, probably Amelia. I should also look into an alternate Surfer that I can use for Waterfall (though Rhone, the Pokefarm Totodile, has Waterfall too).
I was thinking about breeding a Swablu, but I see they have no Egg Moves interesting enough to bother. I also see that I should evolve her as soon as possible so that she learns Dragonbreath -- though what I really want is Draco Meteor, which I can get as soon as she's evolved. Since Ice will do her heinous damage, Heat Wave might be a good off-type move. Unfortunately, though, it's taught by the Survival Area tutor, which puts it out of reach until after the E4. Perish Song might be another good choice eventually, but she won't learn it for a loooong time (lvl 50 as a Swablu, lvl 62 as Altaria).
Hmm. Before I start training Kyrie, I really need to look up her Hidden Power, given the constraint on her pre-E4 moves.
I should also try to find some time to grow some Berries, though that might have to wait until the weekend.
(6/11/2009)
Argh. Cramps. Maybe Robbie will let me leave early....
I spoke too soon when I said Kyrie could learn Draco Meteor right away. You need Rock Climb to get to Granny Wilma's cabin, which can't be used until you have the Icicle Badge. So it looks like Kyrie will have to make do with Dragonbreath for a while. Her Hidden Power is apparently Poison, according to the Veilstone guy, so that's out.
I did get to Celestic Town. Returned the Old Charm to Cynthia's grandmother, and fought my first battle with Cyrus (and man, were his Pokemon STRONG!). I also defeated the trainers between there and the Mt. Coronet entrance. Cynthia mentioned the library in Canalave, so that's obviously where I am supposed to go next. That'll be good training for Agni, plus getting there will level Voltron (or Sabli if I get her Thunder before then). First, though, I want to pick the Berries that were growing just east of the town. I'd never encountered wild berries still in sprouting stage before.
I should probably get Agni up to 41 before Canalave if I can, though; as a Chimchar he might not be strong enough to sweep that Gym.
(6/12/2009)
So tired. Shouldn't stay up so late battling.... O:
More unpleasant surprises. Neither Monferno nor Infernape can learn Drain Punch, and Umbreon can't learn Thunder or Thunderbolt. Well, FOO. So Agni will have to learn another fighting move -- most likely Brick Break -- and the only way Sabli can get an electric attack is via Hidden Power. And the only method of obtaining TM10 in Platinum is from the Game Corner, for 6000 Coins. Ouch.
However, I did get Angi up to lvl 41 to learn Flamethrower, so he's now a Monferno. The Gym went down pretty easily, and I can now use Strength outside battle. There was also a rival battle on the bridge that spans the town, and that was harder than it should have been. "Thud" is now waiting outside the library for me to get back from Iron Island, so that is apparently next.
The primary wild Pokemon on Iron Island are Zubat and Geodude and their evolutions. Having Riley along will make this a great opportunity to train Amaranth and Rosebud; with Exp Share I can level Voltron or Sabli at the same time. Though, I'll need to leave an empty slot for that Riolu egg, and it might be nice to have Amelia along to use Strength. Since it's found on Iron Island in Platinum, it's bound to be required at some point, and that way I don't have to clutter anyone's moveset with it. Unless -- I forget what I taught her, did she sketch Strength? Hmmm. Anyway, I can most likely leave Kyrie in the PC, since she's leveled to 45 already.
From there, Bulbapedia claims it'll be on to Lake Valor with Prof. Rowan and my rival. And then, it'll likely be time for the long and horrible haul through Mt. Coronet and on up to Snowpoint. Great training for Agni, surely, but not necessarily for anyone else. Hmmm again...
(6/16/2009)
Iron Island went swimmingly. I took thorough advantage of Riley and his Lucario to get Amaranth, Rosebud, Voltron, and Sabli all up to lvl 44. Rosebud learned Petal Dance, so I gave her the Shiny Stone I'd been saving, and evolved her to Roserade. Snagged my Riolu egg and hatched it, then put little Ferron away for later.
Coming back to the library, Prof. Rowan began droning on about how maybe Pokemon who don't evolve are already complete as beings when BOOM! explosion. Turns out that was the Galactic Bomb being detonated at Lake Valor. Went there, fought Saturn, checked in at Lake Verity and fought Mars too (along with numerous Grunts). Agni leveled up and learned Slack Off (HP recovery move), so I finally let him evolve into Infernape.
Then it was time to haul ass up to Lake Acuity to check up on my dear rival. Only, in Platinum you need Rock Climb to get to it, and for that you need the Icicle Badge. I took my time digging items out of the snow and leveling Amaranth and Voltron. I left Sabli behind in favor of Amelia, who got the Exp Share. So Amelia's at lvl 38 but Sabli and Rosebud are still lvl 44. I'm trying to get Voltron (who I did teach Strength) up to 48 to learn Discharge so he can evolve. He and Electra ought to breed perfect little Shinxes.
Either way, I should still be in a good position for the Gym. If I recall the levels there are around 44 also.
After that I think it's off to the Galactic HQ to save the lake trio, and from there maybe to the Distortion World. The DW better be worth it, 'cause I am finding re-playing the game more than a bit tedious, even if there are lots more Pokemon that can be caught (I nabbed Snorunt, Snover, and Swinub on my way up to Snowpoint). Really I just wanna get my last couple badges and get past the E4 to open up all the cool after-game features like PalPark and PokeRadar....
Oh, and I have found that recoloring sprites is fun. :D
(6/30/2009)
Given all the fuss with Moving Week of Doom, it's amazing I got as much Poke-ing done as I did. Mostly I just made time somewhere each day to make the rounds collecting words, berries, accessories, etc.
Before that I'd gone through the Galactic HQ and followed Cyrus up to Spear Pillar -- never summon what you can't put back! The Distortion World was kinda neat but really very brief. Here's the kicker though: I caught Giratina with a single Ultra Ball, after not even whittling its health down past yellow. It was even easier to catch than it was in Pearl!
This finally gave me access to Sunyshore, and I spent time fooling with Seals (crap, forgot to check the Seal Merchant yesterday). The Gym wasn't too hard, and oddly enough, it was Sabli who got through most of it since I'd decided to keep Rosebud in reserve for Volkner. Sabli, as an Umbreon, has insanely high Def. and Sp. Def., and it turns out she's quite the wall. So yep, last badge down, and the Elite Four await.
In Platinum, though, the E4 are a bit higher in level. So I've been levelling everyone up, and the whole team's at 55, except Agni who I got to 60. Everyone's got their Effort Ribbons -- no more EVs -- so it's just piling on the Exp from here on out.
Poor Migraine got taken out of storage to play HM slave. Taught him Waterfall, Rock Smash, and Rock Climb, and he's currently holding the Exp Share to get him up to a reasonable level (I left Amelia at 50).
So the next push is up from Sunyshore and through Victory Road. Right now I just want to get there, so that I can Fly back when I've got everyone levelled up enough, maybe to 60. Might be nice to kick my rival's butt while I'm there, too.
Tonight is also Deadliest Catch night, and I've got three episodes to catch up with starting at 7 PM. So, don't know how much I'll get done. We'll see.
Post-E4, I do want to try chaining for shinies once I've got the radar, and I also would like to try and win all the Master Rank contests. But other than that, I anticipate putting the game down for a while and maybe taking on Emerald (not to mention, maybe finally catching Entei and being DONE with LG!)
(7/3/2009)
Don't know why I'm bothering to write just to say that I haven't really made any progress.
The obstacle now is that I need a good solid chunk of time to get myself to and through Victory Road. And this weekend is pretty well booked, so time won't be readily available.
So I've been messing with Seals (when I've remembered to pick up the daily selection) and just making the daily errand-rounds to collect the giveaways. I've done a tiny bit of furniture-shifting and cleaning, more than Poke-ing.
I know I keep saying this, but....I really, really gotta catch Entei so I can get LG over with. *sigh*
(7/10/2009)
Have gotten the team up to lvl 56, except Migraine who is lower and Agni who is lvl 60 still. I think a couple of them are actually at 57 but whatever.
I think Monday's are the only Seals I don't have. I haven't played the past couple days, anyway. Not with the caring, obviously.
One thing I have pursued is the Contests. In my boxes was a Gastly that had a good start on Tough moves, and I looked up the rest and made a strategy. Next, I raised the Gastly to a Gengar and named her Nails (ha ha). After I get through Victory Road and nab the TM for Torment, she'll have Lick, Torment, Fling, and Curse. Lick and Torment both score high on low voltage, a must for the higher rank contests. Curse scores higher the later the turn, and Fling adds 3 for the lowest score. So that ought to be a good Contest moveset. Also, the Dept Store Poffins are indeed sufficient to max out a Pokemon's condition, without even filling up Sheen. Nails already has the first two Ribbons, and once I get her TM'ed up...
Oh, but hang on. Maybe I should give the TMs to a male, and then I could breed Contest-ready Gastlys? ...No, because Gastly can't learn Fling anyway. Allright, never mind.
I should have all of Saturday this weekend; I do want to fill out a char sheet for Kell for the online D&D (and how's that for a dorkfest, right there!) but I should have time to get through Victory Road and smack down my rival. Might even go for the E4 since at this point I'm approaching Cynthia's levels.
And then, technically, since that finishes the main action in Platinum, I would be justified to put it aside (except maybe for breeding/chaining) and start Emerald. Whoo!
(7/13/2009)
They don't call her the Champion for nothing.
Despite sleeping far, far too much of the day on Saturday, I did manage to get through Victory Road, grabbing all the items as I went. Vinnie went down without too much problem, except for his Snorlax, and then I figured, well, I'm here, why not take on the E4 while I'm at it?
The E4 themselves went down without too much of a hitch, maybe one difficult Pokemon each. But then...Cynthia. That has got to be the hardest damn battle I have EVER fought in all my years of playing these games. It got so bad I was using Sabli as a sacrifice just to revive whoever had the type advantage and get one shot in before they went down again. Rinse, lather, repeat. It seriously took me half an hour just for that one battle.
At last, with four out of six Pokemon fainted, the fifth below half HP, and Agni in the red, I got her last Pokemon down.
When the credits finished, I left Mom's and went to collect all the postgame goodies: Pokeradar, Trainer Counter, Pal Park access, Super Rod. Imported from LG just to test it out, and brought in a Ditto (turns out Platinum has them in the Trophy Garden instead of by radar, which makes them a pain to get).
I also got Nails her third Tough Ribbon, but couldn't get the last one.
But still. Except for messing around with chaining, and maybe some breeding and GTS, Platinum is at a point where I can put it down. Which leaves me in a position to start Emerald.
Only, I'd really like to catch Entei and wrap up that last game of LG. Plus, I'm getting a wee bit Poke'd out (though I think that's due to so much replaying of the same couple games recently, I think a new region might get me going again).
So. Tonight I should get Monday's Seals, keep looking for Entei, and maybe check for Sapphire Pokes you can only get through Pal Park [other than the starters, this is only Trapinch and Clampearl, and their evolutions; both can be caught in D/P though]. I want to draw up Durreye so I can post him, and color the OCDemon, as well as write up Kell's character sheet on paper so I have a quick reference (Sunday's session went very well). Plus I should really do laundry...
Too much to do, never enough time and energy.
