(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.)
(2/15/2010 -- four months later!)
Aaaand my interest in Emerald just sort of poofed after that last entry, and I have done nothing since. Haven't booted any of my Pokemon cartridges except to get event items or Pokemon.
However, HG/SS will be out next month, so my Poke-interest is sure to pick up again for SoulSilver. Also, when we went for the special Shiny Pichu this weekend, Corwin got a used cartridge of Platinum. After his parents help him plunder the cartridge for any useful items or Pokemon from "Mat", he'll be restarting his own game. He's already planning on picking Chimchar (and naming it Bob) so I bred him one of my fabulous Piplups, and Traci will be breeding him one of her terrific Turtwigs. That should help re-vitalize all our Poke-interest, as well.
So between here and there, I will need to wrap up Spirit Tracks. I've already spent some time crossing off sidequests before the last dungeon. Just need maybe a couple more heart containers and then I'll feel up to tackling the Sand Realm, which most likely features dead things. From there it should just be the top of the Tower of Spirits, then Malladus. [hah. it's not. there's a whole 'nother realm between me and the final battle after I get through the Sand Realm.]
Also, they'll be giving away the special Jirachi that unlocks the Edge of the Night Sky Pokewalker course, later this month.
For Jhoto I'm already planning on re-constituting some of my team; defnitely Cynder, Vermillion and Sheepish, and maybe Hootie and Izzel. That last slot, though, I think I'll do something new and different with. Petty had mentioned really liking her Ariados, and that might be pretty kick. Xatu or Heracross also come to mind. ...dang. Now I'm already tempted to do one game and then restart. Will have to decide whether nostalgia is stronger than sense of adventure: nostalgia would dictate that the core team re-create the original Silver team as closely as possible, but then I limit myself from trying out new Pokemon.
(2/18/2010)
Still working on Spirit Tracks. Had begun the Sand Realm, got the Sand Wand out of the temple, but got stalled on one of those STUPIDLY DIFFICULT things with the sinking sand. Lots of rocks and spikes, some sand-critters, and a few Stalfos so far. Apparently there's not just the top floor of the Tower but also some kind of Dark Realm thing after that, before Malladus. I want to be done and all, but it's just kinda ARGH.
Tried out Google Docs last night to make a spreadsheet of all my Pokemon games, with sheets for select Pokemon: team, specials, and legendary/event. Plus a sheet for the Pokedex, listing all 493 Pokemon and detailing which ones I've caught or raised, have stored or just data-traded for. That way I'll have a central repository, accessible from multiple computers, of all my info going back to Blue. It'd be neat to be able to look at all my teams, and assemble an all-star lineup. Maybe even raise those to lvl 100.
Have been sort of looking sidelong at Emerald with the vague thought of raising some of the 35 more I need for the 'Dex, but haven't been able to rouse myself to actually do it.
(2/23/2010)
Have filled in the Poke-spreadsheets with everything up to Emerald, to which I threw away most of my Saturday. That prompted me to actually fire up the game and finish raising Fafnir, who is now a lvl 50 Salamence. Got the whole team up to lvl 67 (and Jubal to lvl 68) doing it, too.
After that I took another look at the Emerald Pokedex, and noticed that when I switched it to Hoenn mode instead of National, that I was in fact missing a whole bunch of Kanto Pokemon as well. This brings the total I'd have to obtain to 50-some, instead of 35. D'oh! Some of those I can easily bring over from LG, but still, it's lots more than I'd thought.
So, since I was home with cramps Monday, I decided to do me some breeding. Seeing as how I had to get the baby and max evo's of both the Marill and Jigglypuff evo chains, I thought, why not breed in some egg moves while I'm at it? I grabbed a male Lapras from that last LG game who had Perish Song, caught a Luvdisc for the Heart Scale to have him remember Sing, then snagged a female Marill and female Jigglypuff, both around lvl 25-26.
This gave me an Azurill with Sing, and a male Marill with Perish Song. I raised him high enough for breeding, then threw him in with the Jigglypuff to give me an Igglybuff with Perish Song. Then I biked back and forth with the two babies until they were happy enough to evolve.
And there I made my first mistake: challenged one of the breeders on Rt. 117 with Exp Share on the Azurill. That trainer has a team of six, all in the low 30's. So the Azurill got raised far too high all at once. Am attempting to fix that with the Macho Brace, with Exp Share on the Igglybuff. So the Azurill will probably not turn out so well. The Igglybuff, I named PuffDaddy, and aside of Perish Song will maybe dupe my old PuffDaddy from Blue.
I also need to get Bombadil straightened out. Looking above, his final moveset was supposed to be Sunny Day, Synthesis, Solarbeam, and Faint Attack. So I need to teach him Solarbeam (replacing Nature Power) and hand him a Leaf Stone, and that'll be another Hoenn Pokemon I can cross off the list.
Speaking of that last LG game, otherwise known as "you STILL haven't caught Entei?" I now believe that I messed up the game by not doing the island quest for Lostelle before beating the Elite Four. I recall someone saying that if you didn't do that, your legendary beast would not show up. I can't find where I read this, but this is my only LG game so far where I didn't save Lostelle pre-E4, and the only one where I've had THIS much trouble finding my legendary. So I've been importing its random-caught Pokemon to Pearl, for transfer to the Ranch. Will most likely trade out its TMs, items, and Berries to Emerald, and its team/special Pokemon to my main LG game. Should most likely catch the game's Mewtwo as well, just to have it.
From there I have a couple options. One, just restart and go for it again. Two, trade it in to GameStop and get FR instead. This'd give me access to the Kanto Pokemon that I never get to have, like Ekans, Growlithe, Scyther, Shellder, and Electabuzz. Either way, once I got through it I'd trade the cart in again. I've got the Kanto region down to Hall of Fame debut in 30-40 hours or so, it shouldn't take too long. Though it galls me to have wasted all that time on the 3rd round of LG only to have to play through Kanto AGAIN. And goodness knows I'll be catching the legendary beasts in SoulSilver anyway -- and by the time I get all those random Pokemon Pal-Parked to Pearl (alliteration!) it'll probably be out already.
Bleh. And of course, all this Poke-ing means I haven't gotten any futher in the Sand Temple in Spirit Tracks.
(2/26/2010)
Spirit Tracks? what's that?
For some reason it wasn't enough to Pal Park all my random catches from the Entei-denied game of LG to Pearl for the Ranch. No, I had to go out and catch YET MORE STUFF. While I was at it, I took a turn through the Cerulean Cave and nabbed Mewtwo. In an Ultra Ball, too, so I get to keep this game's Master Ball. That gives me two legitimate extras.
All this catching does serve a useful purpose, though. The trade-evolvers alone will allow me to cross off a nice chunk of the Kanto portion of my Emerald Pokedex, given that I'll get credit for both evolutions. Not to mention a few more that are not available in Emerald but easily caught in FR/LG.
So the next things to catch will be Horsea, both for the dex credit and to get a Dragon Scale for Trident. Then off to the Islands to catch Ponyta, Rapidash, Persian, and to nab a Haunter from the Lost Cave. Hopefully it'll be higher level than the ones in Pokemon Tower, if not equivalent to the other trade-evolvers I caught in Cerulean Cave.
As a bonus, running around Cerulean Cave allowed me to level up some of my team (even if I did have to Revive poor Salome a half-dozen times. Damn Wobbuffets and their Shadow Tag). I should spend time leveling them there, since in this game all the outsiders get extra Exp. Maybe to level 60.
(3/5/2010)
I know not of this Spirit Tracks you mention. O_<
So yeah, still Pal Parking the random caught Pokemon out of LG, though not every single night, so this isn't going all that quickly. It occurs to me that, with four cartridges at 6 Pokemon a day, if I stuck to it I could have a Mew within a month. I ought to Pal Park in all of JD's max evos and store them, that'd be a bunch.
Finally gave up on catching wild Horsea and hoping for a Dragon Scale, and just went for Trainer Tower. Winning the Double Battle challenge there nets you a Dragon Scale (the other challenges also give various evolution hold items like Upgrade, Metal Coat, and King's Rock). Since the other trainers are at the level of your strongest Pokemon, it was more of a haul than I'd expected. Many revives and potions were used. But I did the run in about a half hour and had my Dragon Scale.
Then it was time for trading. Along with Trident and his Dragon Scale, I sent across a Kadabra, a Golem, a Machoke, and a Haunter. I hadn't actually needed credit for some of those, so it didn't increase my Emerald 'dex as much as I'd hoped, but that still got me credit for five max evo's. And because all the trade-evolvers had been caught at high levels, they're good enough without being hand-raised.
Unfortunately, that leaves me with all the stuff that DOES have to be hand-raised. And I haven't gone back to that Marill (who needs renaming) and Puffdaddy. Should take care of Bombadil, too.
I'm leaning more and more towards trading in that LG cart for a FR one, once I get it cleared out.
Pokemon in FR but not LG include: Ekans/Arbok, Oddish/Gloom/Vileplume/Bellossom, Psyduck/Golduck, Growlithe/Arcanine, Shellder/Cloyster, Elekid/Electabuzz, Scyther/Scizor, Wooper/Quagsire, Murkrow, Quilfish, Delibird, Skarmory.
Of the Kanto portion of those, only Oddish and Psyduck can be caught in Hoenn (Psyduck in the Safari Zone). And I know that I've always had trouble getting hold of Ekans/Arbok, Growlithe/Arcanine, Shellder/Cloyster, Elekid/Electabuzz, and Murkrow.
Plus, it sounds like the FR exclusives would make a pretty good team. Given that I have to start off with Bulbasaur (again!) if I want Entei, then Growlithe would be good for Fire type, and Shellder would be good for Ice against Lance's dragons. And it'd be lovely to raise something that WASN'T a friggin' Pikachu for once, for my electric type. Only issue there would be that I'll need an electric type against Misty before Electabuzz is available. Since Eggs can't be traded in, I'd have to catch an Electabuzz before restarting, trade it over to the main LG game to breed and hatch it, then put up with potential obedience issues. Or just wait until I can get one, and just take Misty on with what I've got. But that Starmie of hers is a bitch.
STILL. The team would then be: Yet Another Venasaur, Arbok, Arcanine, Electabuzz, Cloyster, and...what? Well, I've never raised a Nido-thing all the way before, maybe one of those. They're tanks, and would also make a good HM slave. It's also tempting to raise an Oddish instead of Bulbasaur, but it seems more worth it for Emerald's dex just to catch two high-level Glooms and apply the stone of choice. ...Ohwait. Y'know what the team is missing, is Flying.
Unfortunately the list of Pokemon that can learn Fly in FR/LG is depressingly short, and are all either things I don't want, things I've already trained, or single evos. Kanto's flying Pokemon are just so...boring. And I can't trade in anything from outside Kanto until post-E4. Bleh. Might do Farfetch'd just for the novelty of it; in fact since the only Farfetch'd one can get is a trade anyway, might as well breed some moves and trade in. Once I get past Misty, levels up to 30 will be no problem, then Erika in Celadon will clear me up to lvl 50.
Looking at the GIII learnset, it doesn't actually look like Farfetch'd learns much that's interesting. Maybe if I haven't already traded for the one in the latest LG, I can catch a waaaay high-level Spearow in the Islands to trade for it. Still looks like Cut and Fly are the most interesting moves it can get; Swords Dance (at lvl 31) and False Swipe (at lvl 46) seem to be the other choices. Possible Egg Moves might include Flail, Gust, Quick Attack, or Steel Wing.
(3/8/2010)
Well foo. I have indeed traded for the Farfetch'd in both LG games. So, getting a high level one for breeding is out. Egg moves would still be possible, though, I guess.
Of course, the problem now is, HG/SS are out this Sunday. And there's no darn WAY I'd finish a 30+ hour game between now and then. So unless I put off buying SS just to catch Entei, my set of legendary beasts must remain incomplete. But that rankles. I dunno.
In any case, I'm nearly done Pal Parking random catches out of the no-Entei game. All that's left to do will be to trade out the team, specials, and legendaries, and clean out the items and Berries. I'm thinking the Pokemon can go to the other LG game, but maybe the TMs/items/berries can go to Emerald?
One thing I do think I'd like to do, is to restrict my SS Pokedex to things I caught or raised myself. No plundering cartridges of any game I didn't play, no data trades, no GTS even. Given that only a very very small subset of Pokemon are unobtainable within HG/SS, and most of those are either legendaries I have, or ones that involve specific Sinnoh locations to evolve, this shouldn't be too much of a limit. Anything I can't get in SS I can either import, or trade over from P/Pt.
Since SS gives us GIV access to Kanto, the other thing I should consider is transferring over everything from FR/LG to SS. Well, not everything -- all the random catches can likely be transferred to Pearl and put into the Ranch, especially Arceus' named ones. But certainly all the teams and anything I actually raised, along with ALL items, TMs, and Berries. Though, if I'm going to give up my LG cartridges I should likely trade items/TMs/berries over to Emerald, because I wouldn't have another GIII source after that.
One VERY nice feature of HG/SS is that they nixed the six-per-cart-per-day limit on Pal Park. You can still only transfer six at a time, but now you could do it all day long from a single cart. This'll let me clear out my main LG cart MUCH more quickly. Of course, I'd still need to trade them over to Pearl if I want to put anything in the Ranch.
(3/10/2010)
So bored and scattered today, and yet I managed to get some things done, or at least further along.
Spirit Tracks? Pffffft.
All the random catches from the no-Entei game are now stored in the Ranch. All that's left are the team, specials, and legendaries; plus the items, TMs, and Berries.
Items, TMs, and Berries should go to Emerald. With a few exceptions (the trade evolvers should maybe also go to Emerald?) everything else can go over to the main LG cartridge.
From there, I plan to restart the game, pick the default trainer and rival names, and save; that'll keep any hackers from using my trainer name and ID.
I can then take the game back to GameStop and trade it in for FR. Maybe at the same time that I buy SS. Even though I'll most likley play SS first, I'll at least have the cart for FR. Maybe if Jhoto doesn't Poke me out (not to mention re-doing Kanto in SS) I can complete my set of legendary beasts.
Regardless, it occurs to me that I should also transfer out all the random catches that I didn't actually raise from Emerald and LG and toss them in the Ranch too. Maybe even the ones from Pearl, as well. If I haven't done anything with them since catching them, there's no reason for them to sit in there; and if I need to breed or raise anything I've caught once, I can always catch another. Probably I should Pal Park JD's Pokemon as well, except maybe the starters and legendaries. I imagine that'd get my Ranch totals up a bit, and simplify storage on my remaining cartridges.
In any case, the first thing I need to do is catch trade fodder in the main LG cart, and some rotating trade fodder in Emerald, and get that no-Entei cart cleaned out.
(3/15/2010)
Haven't Pal Parked anything else -- technically there's no hurry on that for the cartridges of LG and Emerald that I'm keeping, unless I want the Ranch Mew THAT badly. However, I did get the rotating trades done to move items, TMs, and Berries to Emerald. The only things I didn't move were the 26 TinyMushrooms, because those are useless in Emerald (the Move Relearner dude has stepped up to Heart Scales), and 4 Moon Stones. So I'll either toss those on the Pokemon I'm moving to the main LG cart, or do five sets of rotating trades to move them over.
I've also caught my trade fodder in the main LG, and just need a box named to put things in. I believe I'll name it "no Entei for you". D:<
With that done, I can restart (will likely release the remaining Pokemon first, because I'm a dork) and save. And then I'll be free to go get SS! WHOO
Though, should not forget that this week I also have to do my Ostra Bag, and get something for Heather's birthday -- both of these by Saturday. So, playtime might be limited. And I should really make some time to work on the Castle Town map. Too much to do, too much time spent on working for a living. bleh.
(3/16/2010)
Got all my trading done last night. Remaining items and all Pokemon from the "NoEntei" game of LG are safely in the main LG cart (though, I had a nervous moment when I accidentally released Salome, and had to reboot the game to get her back). Restarted the cartridge with naught but a single Magikarp left, and saved straight off, before even getting a starter. I pity the poor schmoe who buys this cart looking to plunder it...
And tonight I will turn it in and get a FR cart at the same time I buy SS (provided they have both). Solved the time crunch for the week by taking Friday off, to make time for sleep and Ostra prep. Still need to figure out a present for Heather. Still, that should let me start out with either SS or FR tonight. FR if I'm being nice and showing solidarity with poor Petty not having gotten her game yet. [nope, no FR for me....and, did not start SS.]
Besides, if I -can- get my hands on a copy of FR, and it's far enough along in the game, there's a couple things I should do before restarting. Bring over the team Pokemon and anything else interesting, surely; but this time I shouldn't be such a dang packrat. One, it takes such ridiculous amounts of time, and two, I can't be sure that the previous trainer's stuff isn't hacked. So I will try to be strong, and leave most stuff behind. It's not like I don't have several dupes of every dang thing from Kanto at this point, anyway.
What I -do- want to do, though is catch an Electabuzz to breed from, so I'll know it's not hacked. And also, if the Farfetch'd is still available, get a very high-level Spearow from the islands, in LG if I have to, to trade for it. That'll let me breed a fairly kickass Farfetch'd for my flyer. ....allright, so maybe I won't be starting EITHER FR or SS tonight.
So, looking into movesets for the prospective team.
Ekans/Arbok doesn't learn a whole lot, will have to supplement with TMs (Toxic or Sludge Bomb, and something off-type). Bite and Glare are both learned before it evolves, so no reason to hold off. Should try to catch one with Shed Skin ability.
Growlithe doesn't learn Flame Wheel until lvl 31, but it evolves via Fire Stone so there's no worry it'll evolve too soon. One with Flash Fire would be ideal, as that both protects against fire moves AND boosts them. Learns Flamethrower at lvl 49 but Arcanine learns Extremespeed at the same level, so choice would have to be made by then.
Shellder is another stone evolver. It gets Icicle Spear, Supersonic, Aurora Beam, and Protect all by lvl 30. Ice Beam at lvl 49. Surf is obvious here too. If evolved will learn Spikes at 33 and Spike Cannon at 41. Ice Beam is stronger, but can also be learned via TM so it might be best to evolve Shellder sooner.
Electabuzz will most likely need to be bred, because the levels of the Power Plant ones will definitely cause obedience problems early on. They get Quick Attack and Thunderpunch from the get-go. Thunderbolt at lvl 47 and Thunder at 58. Elekid learns these even earlier. They can also learn Strength, Flash, and Rock Smash. Egg moves include Karate Chop and Cross Chop, which would be wonderfully super-effective against Rock. Ah -- but wait. If I breed an Elekid, it won't trade over until I have the Nat'l Dex -- and they don't evolve until lvl 30. I'll have to come up with something else for beating Misty, then.
As for Farfetch'd, Steel Wing is the only interesting Egg move. I'm thinking a moveset of Swords Dance, Cut, Fly, and Steel Wing ought to work. Swords Dance is learned at lvl 31.
And that's another thing I ought to do: Catch one each of all the version-exclusive Pokemon before restarting, and trade them out to LG.
