So Steven got his letter, and Capt. Stern got his Goods. Brawly's Gym at Dewford went down easily enough, between Sybil and Twitter.
Wattson, in Mauville, was another matter.
Apparently Torchik is the most difficult starter in R/S/E, and it doesn't help that as usual I'm waiting for Tabasco to learn certain attacks before allowing him to evolve. But STILL. Last time, Jubal easily swept the whole gym at lvl 24, with everyone else around 20-22. This time...oy. The trainers weren't too bad, but I lost to Wattson three times (saving beforehand and turning the game off each time).
To get past Wattson, I had to spend at least a couple hours out on Rt. 117 getting Twitter and Hemmingway to lvl 24, Sybil and Sancho to lvl 26, and Tabasco to lvl 28. Took for-freakin'-EVER, but hey, at least this time I nabbed a Volbeat almost straight off. Go figure.
I've currently got some Leppa growing -- you can never have too many Leppa -- but after they've been harvested I can FINALLY move on to the desert, then do the Lavaridge Loop. Right after I open up the Rustboro-Verdanturf tunnel, of course. Got my Macho Brace from the Winstrates, and already ran back for the Exp. Share.
I'm still divided on what to do about all the HMs I don't want to bother with...I'm actually regretting giving Cut to Hemmingway, because Vigoroth learn some good moves. I'm leaning towards just making that Zigzagoon another HM slave like Meadow, then trading up to a Linoone when I get that far. Just rotate out the team for training. Not that I know yet what that team will be.
[later edit -- looking up Pickup, I see that Phanpy also has this ability, and can learn Strength and Rock Smash. And hey, I need a Donphan. Perhaps I could trade one in; that sure would've helped against Wattson, and would also be useful in New Mauville.]
That still doesn't solve the Fly problem; Tropius probably is a good bet for a grass-type, but still, I'd wanted to raise the max evos I don't already have, like Cacturne. I guess as far as Fly goes, I've already raised everything that could learn it anyway. *sigh* I wish this game didn't have so many darrn HMs. Maybe I should trade over Sam's starter Samson and raise him -- I do need a Sceptile.
Silly thought: It'd be really cool to do a playthrough with all three starters. Perhaps someday.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Another round of Emerald
Finally succumbed to the temptation to play through Emerald again.
After spending HOURS of beach time hand-raising a Swalot (Slurpea, from Sam's game) it occurred to me that, with rematches dependent on Match Call, raising all the max evo's I still needed would take for-freakin'-EVER. It'd be much easier to raise them as part of a core team, in a new game. Which would either mean cleaning out and restarting my Emerald cartridge -- or getting another one.
As luck and the Internet would have it, there was a GameStop right nearby in White Marlin Mall. Which had not just one, but three cartridges of Emerald. One was defective -- but the second was perfect: trainer Drake (heh) had only 6 hours and 12 Pokemon on his game, so I could just restart without feeling the need to clean out the cartridge first.
So now I've got a second game of Emerald going, have completed Rustboro, and am about to head out to Slateport to deliver the Devon Goods, stopping at Dewford to bring Steven his Letter. The guiding principle for this play-through: Concentrate on catching and raising the Pokemon I'm missing in the first Emerald cart.
The team so far is: Tabasco (Torchik), Sancho (Lombre, evo'd from Lotad), Sybil (Ralts), Hemmingway (Slakoth), and Twitter (Taillow). Plus I've got a nameless Zigzagoon along, because Pickup is just too useful. I've also caught Drama (Whismur) to raise later on, and also plan to catch and raise a Spheal.
This leaves me with a couple problems. First, neither Torchik nor its evolutions can learn Fly. Raising a Swellow, Pelipper, or Altaria is a waste of time, as all of these can be caught wild. Things like Skarmory or Tropius don't evolve. And I've already raised a Flygon and Salamence.
The other problem is the lack of decent Electric types, when the end of the game is so slanted towards Water. Again, there's no point in raising an Electrike when Manectric can be caught wild, and Plusle and Minun don't evolve. I could go for a Magneton, but again, I already have one (finally caught one in New Mauville).
Maybe I should go for a Tropius. Grass is just as good against Water as Electric (even though it's weak to Fire). And Tropius make great HM slaves, too. The other option would be to trade in that female Bagon, and raise her as a match for Fafnir.
[later edit: Did I mention I finally got the solid walloping of the Elite Four that I wanted, in my original Emerald game? With the team finally at lvl 70, I did. ^_^ ]
----------
Didn't get in much swimming at the beach. Though Hurricane Igor was nowhere near the coast, it was raising more surf than I've ever seen at OC. But I sure did get my steps in. So I've caught pretty much all the Pokemon I needed off every Pokewalker route up to Sinnoh Field.
Am still standing outside Diglett's Cave, in SS.
Entei continues to elude me.
After spending HOURS of beach time hand-raising a Swalot (Slurpea, from Sam's game) it occurred to me that, with rematches dependent on Match Call, raising all the max evo's I still needed would take for-freakin'-EVER. It'd be much easier to raise them as part of a core team, in a new game. Which would either mean cleaning out and restarting my Emerald cartridge -- or getting another one.
As luck and the Internet would have it, there was a GameStop right nearby in White Marlin Mall. Which had not just one, but three cartridges of Emerald. One was defective -- but the second was perfect: trainer Drake (heh) had only 6 hours and 12 Pokemon on his game, so I could just restart without feeling the need to clean out the cartridge first.
So now I've got a second game of Emerald going, have completed Rustboro, and am about to head out to Slateport to deliver the Devon Goods, stopping at Dewford to bring Steven his Letter. The guiding principle for this play-through: Concentrate on catching and raising the Pokemon I'm missing in the first Emerald cart.
The team so far is: Tabasco (Torchik), Sancho (Lombre, evo'd from Lotad), Sybil (Ralts), Hemmingway (Slakoth), and Twitter (Taillow). Plus I've got a nameless Zigzagoon along, because Pickup is just too useful. I've also caught Drama (Whismur) to raise later on, and also plan to catch and raise a Spheal.
This leaves me with a couple problems. First, neither Torchik nor its evolutions can learn Fly. Raising a Swellow, Pelipper, or Altaria is a waste of time, as all of these can be caught wild. Things like Skarmory or Tropius don't evolve. And I've already raised a Flygon and Salamence.
The other problem is the lack of decent Electric types, when the end of the game is so slanted towards Water. Again, there's no point in raising an Electrike when Manectric can be caught wild, and Plusle and Minun don't evolve. I could go for a Magneton, but again, I already have one (finally caught one in New Mauville).
Maybe I should go for a Tropius. Grass is just as good against Water as Electric (even though it's weak to Fire). And Tropius make great HM slaves, too. The other option would be to trade in that female Bagon, and raise her as a match for Fafnir.
[later edit: Did I mention I finally got the solid walloping of the Elite Four that I wanted, in my original Emerald game? With the team finally at lvl 70, I did. ^_^ ]
----------
Didn't get in much swimming at the beach. Though Hurricane Igor was nowhere near the coast, it was raising more surf than I've ever seen at OC. But I sure did get my steps in. So I've caught pretty much all the Pokemon I needed off every Pokewalker route up to Sinnoh Field.
Am still standing outside Diglett's Cave, in SS.
Entei continues to elude me.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
I know he's out there somewhere
Still no Entei, and I've been trying once or twice almost each night. ARGH. Part of me is tempted to just take a break and wrap up the islands, but my stubborn half wants to nab Entei first. I am SO done with this game, I just want to find that dang Entei so I can clean out the cartridge already.
Nothing new in SS except a couple Pokewalker catches. I did get the Wailmer off Warm Beach, so now I just need the Carvanha and I can move on to the next route.
As for Emerald, I got that Lairon raised to an Aggron, and am now contemplating the various grass-types I'm missing. Haven't had time to pick it up this crazy week, though.
Happily, my beach vacation is coming up, so that'll be Sunday through Wednesday where I should have plenty of time to do....something.
Last but not least: Black and White have arrived in early pre-order shipments in Japan, so all kinds of info on that should hit the Internet in the next few days.
Aaaaand....I'm off for shots!
Nothing new in SS except a couple Pokewalker catches. I did get the Wailmer off Warm Beach, so now I just need the Carvanha and I can move on to the next route.
As for Emerald, I got that Lairon raised to an Aggron, and am now contemplating the various grass-types I'm missing. Haven't had time to pick it up this crazy week, though.
Happily, my beach vacation is coming up, so that'll be Sunday through Wednesday where I should have plenty of time to do....something.
Last but not least: Black and White have arrived in early pre-order shipments in Japan, so all kinds of info on that should hit the Internet in the next few days.
Aaaaand....I'm off for shots!
Friday, September 10, 2010
The hunt for Entei goes on, and a BW rant
Have gone Entei-hunting in FR most every night this week, to no avail.
The process is basically this: Use a Max Repel with a lvl 30 Snorlax in the lead, then run around the grass between Celadon and Saffron until the Repel gives out. Dodge into one of the towns and back out again to make Entei change routes. Rinse, lather, repeat. If all Max Repels are used up, turn game off.
You'd think that if there's 23 routes in Kanto, he'd go roaming in the grass of Rt. 7 at least ONCE, out of 25 Max Repels. >_< But nooooo.
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Haven't picked up Emerald or SS this week, other than to transfer in stuff from the Pokewalker. Despite the whole company walking program thing, I haven't managed to get enough steps for a Skitty off Hoenn field, so I decided to be more realistic and try the Warm Beach. Hmmm. Maybe if I go for new tires/brakes tomorrow, I can do some walking up and down Rt. 40? It's supposed to be lovely this weekend.
-----
Okay, so about Black/White. Today, Serebii posted the count of Pokemon in the new Isshu region, along with how many legendaries there'd be. For the sake of spoilers I won't repeat the total amount but, holy crap, 9 in-game and 3 event legendaries?? That makes a total of 47 legendary Pokemon in the total 'Dex!
Not to sound like one of the old-gen diehards, but...really, Nintendo? The more legendaries they add, the less "legendary" they get, and the more they seem like excuses to make players scramble after yet more stuff. There's already too many to fit in a single PC box (not even counting forms), and given the gimmicky nature of many legendaries, that's where most of 'em end up staying. Especially since most legendaries have high levels but no EVs when caught, making them actually WEAKER than a trainer's carefully raised core team -- some fairly intensive training is needed before they're even really usable.
Aren't two version mascots, one trio, one uber, and one event legendary enough per generation? Am I the only one who thought the Regis were extraneous in Hoenn, or that Heatran was just one more 'Dex chore in Sinnoh? Am I the only one who thinks most legendaries aren't worth much but to fill up box space?
The process is basically this: Use a Max Repel with a lvl 30 Snorlax in the lead, then run around the grass between Celadon and Saffron until the Repel gives out. Dodge into one of the towns and back out again to make Entei change routes. Rinse, lather, repeat. If all Max Repels are used up, turn game off.
You'd think that if there's 23 routes in Kanto, he'd go roaming in the grass of Rt. 7 at least ONCE, out of 25 Max Repels. >_< But nooooo.
-----
Haven't picked up Emerald or SS this week, other than to transfer in stuff from the Pokewalker. Despite the whole company walking program thing, I haven't managed to get enough steps for a Skitty off Hoenn field, so I decided to be more realistic and try the Warm Beach. Hmmm. Maybe if I go for new tires/brakes tomorrow, I can do some walking up and down Rt. 40? It's supposed to be lovely this weekend.
-----
Okay, so about Black/White. Today, Serebii posted the count of Pokemon in the new Isshu region, along with how many legendaries there'd be. For the sake of spoilers I won't repeat the total amount but, holy crap, 9 in-game and 3 event legendaries?? That makes a total of 47 legendary Pokemon in the total 'Dex!
Not to sound like one of the old-gen diehards, but...really, Nintendo? The more legendaries they add, the less "legendary" they get, and the more they seem like excuses to make players scramble after yet more stuff. There's already too many to fit in a single PC box (not even counting forms), and given the gimmicky nature of many legendaries, that's where most of 'em end up staying. Especially since most legendaries have high levels but no EVs when caught, making them actually WEAKER than a trainer's carefully raised core team -- some fairly intensive training is needed before they're even really usable.
Aren't two version mascots, one trio, one uber, and one event legendary enough per generation? Am I the only one who thought the Regis were extraneous in Hoenn, or that Heatran was just one more 'Dex chore in Sinnoh? Am I the only one who thinks most legendaries aren't worth much but to fill up box space?
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
And now for something completely Emerald
Having blazed through half of Kanto, I got the sudden urge to boot up Emerald and see what the heck I'd been up to in Hoenn. Which, it turned out, was raising the Marill and the Jigglypuff I'd bred.
I renamed the Marill Freddie, so I'd remember it was supposed to have Sing (for Freddie Mercury, who else?), and finished raising both him and PuffDaddy. Marill don't learn much that's interesting, but PuffDaddy ended up with Body Slam, Doubleslap, Hyper Voice, and Perish Song. Getting them up to lvl 45 wasn't too hard -- since I hadn't booted the cartridge in a while, practically every trainer was ready for a rematch or two.
Also straightened out Bombadil's moveset, and whoah is that combo of Chlorophyll - Sunny Day - Synthesis - Solarbeam effective. Got him up to lvl 35.
All this training did good things for my core team. Jubal's up to lvl 70, Tympany's at 68, and everyone else is at 69. Since the Pokemon remaining in the 'Dex will need to be hand-raised, the whole team's sure to make it to lvl 70 at some point.
It occurred to me that my 'Dex was still missing a few Pokemon that could be caught. Lots of running around Mt. Pyre finally nabbed me a Chimecho. I then went to the back of Granite Cave, and ran around there long enough to inspire this haiku:
All those Pokemon
In the back of Granite Cave.
Yet, not one Nosepass.
Okay, Professor Oak I'm not. Finally I admitted defeat and looked it up. Turns out Nosepass only appear by using Rock Smash on the boulders in the lowest part of the cave. Armed with that knowledge, I went and caught one.
That left only Snorunt. Them, I looked up straight off, as I've never seen one in-game, and thus the 'Dex wouldn't tell me where they were. I had to wait for low tide in Shoal Cave, and for some reason had trouble finding the way down, but a little bit of running around that ice chamber at the bottom got me a pair of Snorunt.
From there, there's a few more trades I can do from Sapphire or FireRed (at least, once I complete the islands and fix that infernal machine, AGAIN), and then the rest will have to be hand-raised. Right now I'm working on a Lairon -- it gets Double-Edge at lvl 53, which will be downright wicked with the Rock Head ability -- but I dunno if I'll have enough patience to get more than that done in the near-term. Maybe raise that Nincada to get Ninjask and Shedinja, but that might be it for now.
As for the trades -- the Terrell cart has a Latias, Zangoose, and Lunatone that I can get trade-credit for; I can't catch any of those in Emerald, so that's fair. Will probably also trade over Huntail and Gorebyss if JD had them among his max evos, since you can only get one of the pair per game. Good thing I restarted for the other two Hoenn starters.
And what will all this effort of finishing the Hoenn 'Dex get me? A Jhoto starter, namely a Chikorita, from Prof. Birch. That's a lot for one little Chikorita.
When I get worn out with raising Pokemon on Emerald, I might go and finish the Islands in FireRed. Nab the three legendary birds, get that Sludge Bomb TM from the Rocket Warehouse, and try for Mewtwo. Might as well, right? Oh, and try for Entei. Yeah.
I renamed the Marill Freddie, so I'd remember it was supposed to have Sing (for Freddie Mercury, who else?), and finished raising both him and PuffDaddy. Marill don't learn much that's interesting, but PuffDaddy ended up with Body Slam, Doubleslap, Hyper Voice, and Perish Song. Getting them up to lvl 45 wasn't too hard -- since I hadn't booted the cartridge in a while, practically every trainer was ready for a rematch or two.
Also straightened out Bombadil's moveset, and whoah is that combo of Chlorophyll - Sunny Day - Synthesis - Solarbeam effective. Got him up to lvl 35.
All this training did good things for my core team. Jubal's up to lvl 70, Tympany's at 68, and everyone else is at 69. Since the Pokemon remaining in the 'Dex will need to be hand-raised, the whole team's sure to make it to lvl 70 at some point.
It occurred to me that my 'Dex was still missing a few Pokemon that could be caught. Lots of running around Mt. Pyre finally nabbed me a Chimecho. I then went to the back of Granite Cave, and ran around there long enough to inspire this haiku:
All those Pokemon
In the back of Granite Cave.
Yet, not one Nosepass.
Okay, Professor Oak I'm not. Finally I admitted defeat and looked it up. Turns out Nosepass only appear by using Rock Smash on the boulders in the lowest part of the cave. Armed with that knowledge, I went and caught one.
That left only Snorunt. Them, I looked up straight off, as I've never seen one in-game, and thus the 'Dex wouldn't tell me where they were. I had to wait for low tide in Shoal Cave, and for some reason had trouble finding the way down, but a little bit of running around that ice chamber at the bottom got me a pair of Snorunt.
From there, there's a few more trades I can do from Sapphire or FireRed (at least, once I complete the islands and fix that infernal machine, AGAIN), and then the rest will have to be hand-raised. Right now I'm working on a Lairon -- it gets Double-Edge at lvl 53, which will be downright wicked with the Rock Head ability -- but I dunno if I'll have enough patience to get more than that done in the near-term. Maybe raise that Nincada to get Ninjask and Shedinja, but that might be it for now.
As for the trades -- the Terrell cart has a Latias, Zangoose, and Lunatone that I can get trade-credit for; I can't catch any of those in Emerald, so that's fair. Will probably also trade over Huntail and Gorebyss if JD had them among his max evos, since you can only get one of the pair per game. Good thing I restarted for the other two Hoenn starters.
And what will all this effort of finishing the Hoenn 'Dex get me? A Jhoto starter, namely a Chikorita, from Prof. Birch. That's a lot for one little Chikorita.
When I get worn out with raising Pokemon on Emerald, I might go and finish the Islands in FireRed. Nab the three legendary birds, get that Sludge Bomb TM from the Rocket Warehouse, and try for Mewtwo. Might as well, right? Oh, and try for Entei. Yeah.
Saturday, September 4, 2010
SS - Three badges down, three more to go
Because I am a lazy doofus, instead of enjoying the gorgeous weather and getting all kinds of exercise like I should have, I went on something of a Poke-binge.
Ended up taking the eastern seaside route from Lavender down to Fuschia. The part just south of Lavender that's all wooden piers over water is now apparently called Silence Bridge -- people tiptoe so as not to scare the water Pokemon away. ^_^ This was a decidedly long haul, especially as I took the opportunity to clear the route east of Vermilion that I couldn't get to because of the Snorlax.
(It occurs to me that Vermilion the town is easily confused with Vermillion my Red Gyrados. Heh.)
The southeastern-most part of Kanto, south of the fence maze, is now a pretty hill with wind turbines. A surprise awaited me there: Suicune, calling to me from out on the water. It ran away as usual when Eusine showed up, but he said something about it liking windy hills near water -- "somewhere up north". (Apparently that's not the Cape north of Cerulean, either, 'cause I've looked.)
Having made it to Fuschia and verified that the Pal Park was available, and seeing as it was Saturday, I hopped the border back to Jhoto and entered the Bug Catching Contest with Rotti again. This time, Rotti was more than strong enough -- in fact, he KO'd pretty much everything with one hit. It was still good training for him, though, and as a bonus I caught myself a female Combee: trading gold. This also got me second place, and another Everstone (though what I could really use is another Exp Share).
After that, I hopped back over to Kanto and opened up Cerulean. Misty was nowhere to be seen, so I decided to tackle Cycling Road. The bikers on it were astonishingly friendly after being defeated; I got a bunch of phone numbers, and one of them called me up later to hand me a Dusk Stone, of all things. Since I'd used the one I bought to evolve Rotti after he reached lvl 35, that was an unexpected but very welcome gift.
All that battling had finally gotten Rotti and Tremor up to decent levels, so I went for some badges. Erica's Gym was pretty easy, between Rotti and Cynder. In Janine's Gym -- she took over in Fuschia from daddy Koga after he joined the Elite Four -- I bungled a little and missed a trainer battle. Instead of being subtly marked on the floor, the invisible walls were only obvious when you stumbled into them, and then a small section would become visible. Worse, all the trainers were disguised as Janine. And I found her before I found all of them. So, missed one there.
Still, that got me two more badges, and with the Snorlax blocking Diglett's Cave, the only way to western Kanto was the long water route past the Seafoam Islands. So I decided that I'd check out what was up at the Power Plant. I'd been expecting a Rocket hideout, but all that was there were the workers who'd cleaned the place up and gotten the generator working. A part had been stolen by some "shady character", was all. Sure enough, the guy turned out to be a Rocket when I chased him down -- and with his badly mangled English, from some other country at that (Isshu, maybe? heh) -- but his single Golbat went down easily, and the Power Plant was running again in short order.
At some point, though, I'll have to go back that way and go through Rock Tunnel, which I totally skipped. Vermillion's really the only one of the team that's strong enough against Rock types.
With that wrapped up, I was able to chase down Misty on her date at the Cape (was that really Red? He didn't look at all familiar) and nab the Cascade Badge. Sadly, though I was able to get the Expansion card for my Radio, neither Lavender Tower nor Silph Co. were accessible beyond their first floors. The only thing left to do was to go play PokeFlute music on my Radio to wake up the Snorlax, which I caught easily enough.
All that being quite a Poke-marathon, I stopped outside the entrance to Diglett's Cave. Next stop, Pewter City and the Boulder Badge!
I have to say, I'm really impressed with the new rendering of Kanto in SS. Besides the basic improvements to the graphics, the routes have more variation and, well, for lack of a better word, really great landscaping. Instead of just being long stretches between cities, they feel like real countryside now -- but at the same time, they're similar enough to bring back that Red/Blue-era nostalgia. It's very well done. Props to Nintendo on that one.
You'd think I'd be Poke'd-out after all this, but I have the sudden urge to boot up Emerald and check where I was...
Ended up taking the eastern seaside route from Lavender down to Fuschia. The part just south of Lavender that's all wooden piers over water is now apparently called Silence Bridge -- people tiptoe so as not to scare the water Pokemon away. ^_^ This was a decidedly long haul, especially as I took the opportunity to clear the route east of Vermilion that I couldn't get to because of the Snorlax.
(It occurs to me that Vermilion the town is easily confused with Vermillion my Red Gyrados. Heh.)
The southeastern-most part of Kanto, south of the fence maze, is now a pretty hill with wind turbines. A surprise awaited me there: Suicune, calling to me from out on the water. It ran away as usual when Eusine showed up, but he said something about it liking windy hills near water -- "somewhere up north". (Apparently that's not the Cape north of Cerulean, either, 'cause I've looked.)
Having made it to Fuschia and verified that the Pal Park was available, and seeing as it was Saturday, I hopped the border back to Jhoto and entered the Bug Catching Contest with Rotti again. This time, Rotti was more than strong enough -- in fact, he KO'd pretty much everything with one hit. It was still good training for him, though, and as a bonus I caught myself a female Combee: trading gold. This also got me second place, and another Everstone (though what I could really use is another Exp Share).
After that, I hopped back over to Kanto and opened up Cerulean. Misty was nowhere to be seen, so I decided to tackle Cycling Road. The bikers on it were astonishingly friendly after being defeated; I got a bunch of phone numbers, and one of them called me up later to hand me a Dusk Stone, of all things. Since I'd used the one I bought to evolve Rotti after he reached lvl 35, that was an unexpected but very welcome gift.
All that battling had finally gotten Rotti and Tremor up to decent levels, so I went for some badges. Erica's Gym was pretty easy, between Rotti and Cynder. In Janine's Gym -- she took over in Fuschia from daddy Koga after he joined the Elite Four -- I bungled a little and missed a trainer battle. Instead of being subtly marked on the floor, the invisible walls were only obvious when you stumbled into them, and then a small section would become visible. Worse, all the trainers were disguised as Janine. And I found her before I found all of them. So, missed one there.
Still, that got me two more badges, and with the Snorlax blocking Diglett's Cave, the only way to western Kanto was the long water route past the Seafoam Islands. So I decided that I'd check out what was up at the Power Plant. I'd been expecting a Rocket hideout, but all that was there were the workers who'd cleaned the place up and gotten the generator working. A part had been stolen by some "shady character", was all. Sure enough, the guy turned out to be a Rocket when I chased him down -- and with his badly mangled English, from some other country at that (Isshu, maybe? heh) -- but his single Golbat went down easily, and the Power Plant was running again in short order.
At some point, though, I'll have to go back that way and go through Rock Tunnel, which I totally skipped. Vermillion's really the only one of the team that's strong enough against Rock types.
With that wrapped up, I was able to chase down Misty on her date at the Cape (was that really Red? He didn't look at all familiar) and nab the Cascade Badge. Sadly, though I was able to get the Expansion card for my Radio, neither Lavender Tower nor Silph Co. were accessible beyond their first floors. The only thing left to do was to go play PokeFlute music on my Radio to wake up the Snorlax, which I caught easily enough.
All that being quite a Poke-marathon, I stopped outside the entrance to Diglett's Cave. Next stop, Pewter City and the Boulder Badge!
I have to say, I'm really impressed with the new rendering of Kanto in SS. Besides the basic improvements to the graphics, the routes have more variation and, well, for lack of a better word, really great landscaping. Instead of just being long stretches between cities, they feel like real countryside now -- but at the same time, they're similar enough to bring back that Red/Blue-era nostalgia. It's very well done. Props to Nintendo on that one.
You'd think I'd be Poke'd-out after all this, but I have the sudden urge to boot up Emerald and check where I was...
Friday, September 3, 2010
SS - Kanto it is
Allright, so maybe I'll be staying in Kanto. :P
It turns out that one can easily Fly between regions by using Victory Road/Indigo Plateau as a transfer point. Thinking that the Bug-Catching Contest would be a great way to get Rotti levelled up some, I flew over to the National Park and sallied forth into the grasses.
Only, I'd forgotten that after one gets the Nat'l Dex, the park now features bugs from all the regions -- at levels twice as high. Poor Rotti was KO'd within five minutes, and I simply rebooted the game instead of taking the hit to my Pokeyen.
So instead, I decided to look around Kanto some more. Conveniently enough, the levels of the wild Pokemon north of Vermilion were around level 13 or so, just in the right range for Rotti and Tremor to get in a few levels. The weird thing was, the trainer battles along the same route were at waaay higher levels, as in low-40's. This disparity seemed strange to me -- if you went through with low-level Pokemon, the trainers would clobber you; but if you went through with Pokemon strong enough to defeat the trainers, there'd be little point in the wild encounters. Lots of switching up was required.
I'd expected Saffron to be blocked off as always, but it wasn't; so I went up and netted myself the Marsh Badge from Sabrina. This wasn't too hard, especially since I dodged out of the Gym to heal up after defeating the other Gym trainers. Both Silph Co. and the Magnet Train were inaccessible, though -- it seems that the Rockets are up to something at the Power Plant.
Instead of jumping on that situation immediately, I ran over to Lavender. Lavender's Pokemon Tower is now a Radio Tower, but again, not in operation due to the Power Plant issue. If it were, there'd be a PokeFlute station, which would wake up the Snorlax blocking the path east from Vermilion. With not much else to do there, I went over in the other direction, to Celadon. There I discovered that the Game Corner there is also a Voltorb Flip game, and satisfied my itch to play for a bit.
Erika's Gym ought to be a cinch with Cynder, though I'd like to get Rotti up to the point where I can use him there as well. From there, I have several options. I could go back to Vermilion, and through Diglett's Cave to Rt. 2, and do the usual trek eastward through Mt. Moon and Cerulean. Or I could just run north to Cerulean from Saffron, and grab the Badge. Finally, there's Cycling Road, which would take me to Fuschia to net another Badge and open up the Pal Park.
With the guidebook ending at the League, there's really no way to tell which Gym to hit next. From Bulbapedia, it seems like most of the Kanto Gym teams are around high-40's to low-50's levels, so maybe it doesn't really matter. I'd like to get most of the towns opened up to Fly to, at least.
With no gaming (though I wish the reason for that was not so unfortunate! D: ) and a holiday weekend coming up, I should be able to make some definite progress.
Also -- Saturday is supposed to be cool and windy, so I should get me out for some triking if I can. I've been looking at the Spring Grove campus as a potential location closer than the BWI trail. I should also try for some serious steps, since I'm now on the Hoenn Field Pokewalker course. Pity I didn't think to stay on the previous stroll, which could have netted me a Skitty. I now have a second PC box dedicated to Pokewalker catches, and I intend to fill it. 8D
It turns out that one can easily Fly between regions by using Victory Road/Indigo Plateau as a transfer point. Thinking that the Bug-Catching Contest would be a great way to get Rotti levelled up some, I flew over to the National Park and sallied forth into the grasses.
Only, I'd forgotten that after one gets the Nat'l Dex, the park now features bugs from all the regions -- at levels twice as high. Poor Rotti was KO'd within five minutes, and I simply rebooted the game instead of taking the hit to my Pokeyen.
So instead, I decided to look around Kanto some more. Conveniently enough, the levels of the wild Pokemon north of Vermilion were around level 13 or so, just in the right range for Rotti and Tremor to get in a few levels. The weird thing was, the trainer battles along the same route were at waaay higher levels, as in low-40's. This disparity seemed strange to me -- if you went through with low-level Pokemon, the trainers would clobber you; but if you went through with Pokemon strong enough to defeat the trainers, there'd be little point in the wild encounters. Lots of switching up was required.
I'd expected Saffron to be blocked off as always, but it wasn't; so I went up and netted myself the Marsh Badge from Sabrina. This wasn't too hard, especially since I dodged out of the Gym to heal up after defeating the other Gym trainers. Both Silph Co. and the Magnet Train were inaccessible, though -- it seems that the Rockets are up to something at the Power Plant.
Instead of jumping on that situation immediately, I ran over to Lavender. Lavender's Pokemon Tower is now a Radio Tower, but again, not in operation due to the Power Plant issue. If it were, there'd be a PokeFlute station, which would wake up the Snorlax blocking the path east from Vermilion. With not much else to do there, I went over in the other direction, to Celadon. There I discovered that the Game Corner there is also a Voltorb Flip game, and satisfied my itch to play for a bit.
Erika's Gym ought to be a cinch with Cynder, though I'd like to get Rotti up to the point where I can use him there as well. From there, I have several options. I could go back to Vermilion, and through Diglett's Cave to Rt. 2, and do the usual trek eastward through Mt. Moon and Cerulean. Or I could just run north to Cerulean from Saffron, and grab the Badge. Finally, there's Cycling Road, which would take me to Fuschia to net another Badge and open up the Pal Park.
With the guidebook ending at the League, there's really no way to tell which Gym to hit next. From Bulbapedia, it seems like most of the Kanto Gym teams are around high-40's to low-50's levels, so maybe it doesn't really matter. I'd like to get most of the towns opened up to Fly to, at least.
With no gaming (though I wish the reason for that was not so unfortunate! D: ) and a holiday weekend coming up, I should be able to make some definite progress.
Also -- Saturday is supposed to be cool and windy, so I should get me out for some triking if I can. I've been looking at the Spring Grove campus as a potential location closer than the BWI trail. I should also try for some serious steps, since I'm now on the Hoenn Field Pokewalker course. Pity I didn't think to stay on the previous stroll, which could have netted me a Skitty. I now have a second PC box dedicated to Pokewalker catches, and I intend to fill it. 8D
Thursday, September 2, 2010
SS - Onward to Kanto
Simply decided, heck with it, and boarded the S.S. Aqua to Vermilion City. The re-done graphics look pretty good. But the Gym was way harder than I'd been expecting -- one of the trainers almost took me out, before I even got to Lt. Surge. Tremor and Rotti are apparently just not up to Kanto standards. Even the wild Pokemon near Vermilion would likely be more than they could handle.
To get them properly levelled, not to mention EV'd, it looks like I'll have to make the trip back to Jhoto and do some tedious training. But I missed the Wednesday return voyage of the SS Aqua, and haven't looked yet to see if I can Fly to Indigo Plateau or Victory Road, then back to Jhoto from there. Honestly have just been too tired to bother with Poke-ing, despite a growing craving to play some Voltorb Flip.
To get them properly levelled, not to mention EV'd, it looks like I'll have to make the trip back to Jhoto and do some tedious training. But I missed the Wednesday return voyage of the SS Aqua, and haven't looked yet to see if I can Fly to Indigo Plateau or Victory Road, then back to Jhoto from there. Honestly have just been too tired to bother with Poke-ing, despite a growing craving to play some Voltorb Flip.
Monday, August 30, 2010
SS - The Elite Four are down
Yay! first current post!
By dint of sheer stubbornness and too many wild battles to contemplate, I finally got Sheepish and Cynder caught up to the rest of the team. With everyone at lvl 50, I finally went for the Elite Four.
The funny thing is, the trouble was not where I'd anticipated. I'd been thinking that Lance's lvl 50 Dragonite would be the Poke to beat, but instead it was Bruno's Machamp and Lance's Aerodactyl that gave me the most trouble (along with a few tense moments during the battle with Karen's Dark team).
Machamp was a problem mostly because it hit so dang hard. But Aerodactyl exposed a real weakness in my team: none of them can stand up to Rock-type attacks. And with Vermillion down, no one else had something super-effective. I was reduced to using hasty Max Revives just to stay in the fight, as one after another of my Pokemon were one-shotted. Also, Chet really must have crap IVs, because his stats are far lower than everyone else's at lvl 50, and he wasn't nearly as much help as I'd have liked.
Still, once I finally got Aerodactyl down by reviving Vermillion, the rest of Lance's team went down to Ice Beam, and it was over. I hit the Hall of Fame with something between 85-90 hours on the game (I blame this on the lack of easy trainer rematches).
Following the credits, the game took me back to New Bark Town. Mom told me to go see Prof. Elm, who gave me the SS Ticket for Kanto.
Except, I was strangely reluctant to depart for Kanto. Instead, I bred me that Murkrow. Took a few tries to get a male with Super Luck. I named him Rotti -- for Rotti Largo from Repo the Genetic Opera -- and set about raising him. I also pulled my Larvitar Tremor out of storage to raise him as well, and put away Peya and Chet. [and I forgot to say, I spent a truly stupid amount of time chasing around to get the whole team their three Shiny Leaves; except Tremor who was put off by the rain on Rt. 33.]
The next task was to get a Dusk Stone for Rotti. Research said that one could buy one at the Pokeathlon Dome, or get one by winning the Bug Catching Contest. However, it turned out that this was only after one has the Nat'l Dex, and a tiny little, easily-missed superscript on Bulbapedia's Pokeathlon page was the only indicator of this.
So I spent a good bit of time trying the Bug Catching Contest. From Bulbapedia, I found out that the Bug Catching Contest is about only two things: the stat total, as inferred by rarity and level, and how undamaged the captured Pokemon is. I'd had no idea that the amount of damage even mattered. Sure enough, I was able to catch a lvl 15 Beedrill with max HP, which won first place.
Right after that, I stupidly fainted Raikou on a chance encounter on Rt. 32. D'oh. I couldn't find whether the roaming beasties reappear if you faint them, so I was forced to turn off the game and do the Contest again. I didn't win that time, but since I'd also learned that the Sun Stone was the only pre-Nat'l Dex first prize, it didn't really matter.
Finally, I bit the bullet and flew to Olivine, to see if I could get the Nat'l Dex without boarding the ship to Kanto. And sure enough, up came Prof. Oak, before I could even talk to the guy at the boarding gate. So I was able to go back and buy the Dusk Stone from the Pokeathlon Dome. I just have to check if Rotti gets any more good attacks as a Murkrow -- he's currently got Fly, Sky Attack, Wing Attack, and Night Shade -- because it'll be a LONG while before he learns Night Slash or Dark Pulse.
Only problem is, this leaves all of my current games basically finished, except for after-game stuff. I mean, I know I still need to do Kanto in SS, but we'll see if I can keep up my motivation.
By dint of sheer stubbornness and too many wild battles to contemplate, I finally got Sheepish and Cynder caught up to the rest of the team. With everyone at lvl 50, I finally went for the Elite Four.
The funny thing is, the trouble was not where I'd anticipated. I'd been thinking that Lance's lvl 50 Dragonite would be the Poke to beat, but instead it was Bruno's Machamp and Lance's Aerodactyl that gave me the most trouble (along with a few tense moments during the battle with Karen's Dark team).
Machamp was a problem mostly because it hit so dang hard. But Aerodactyl exposed a real weakness in my team: none of them can stand up to Rock-type attacks. And with Vermillion down, no one else had something super-effective. I was reduced to using hasty Max Revives just to stay in the fight, as one after another of my Pokemon were one-shotted. Also, Chet really must have crap IVs, because his stats are far lower than everyone else's at lvl 50, and he wasn't nearly as much help as I'd have liked.
Still, once I finally got Aerodactyl down by reviving Vermillion, the rest of Lance's team went down to Ice Beam, and it was over. I hit the Hall of Fame with something between 85-90 hours on the game (I blame this on the lack of easy trainer rematches).
Following the credits, the game took me back to New Bark Town. Mom told me to go see Prof. Elm, who gave me the SS Ticket for Kanto.
Except, I was strangely reluctant to depart for Kanto. Instead, I bred me that Murkrow. Took a few tries to get a male with Super Luck. I named him Rotti -- for Rotti Largo from Repo the Genetic Opera -- and set about raising him. I also pulled my Larvitar Tremor out of storage to raise him as well, and put away Peya and Chet. [and I forgot to say, I spent a truly stupid amount of time chasing around to get the whole team their three Shiny Leaves; except Tremor who was put off by the rain on Rt. 33.]
The next task was to get a Dusk Stone for Rotti. Research said that one could buy one at the Pokeathlon Dome, or get one by winning the Bug Catching Contest. However, it turned out that this was only after one has the Nat'l Dex, and a tiny little, easily-missed superscript on Bulbapedia's Pokeathlon page was the only indicator of this.
So I spent a good bit of time trying the Bug Catching Contest. From Bulbapedia, I found out that the Bug Catching Contest is about only two things: the stat total, as inferred by rarity and level, and how undamaged the captured Pokemon is. I'd had no idea that the amount of damage even mattered. Sure enough, I was able to catch a lvl 15 Beedrill with max HP, which won first place.
Right after that, I stupidly fainted Raikou on a chance encounter on Rt. 32. D'oh. I couldn't find whether the roaming beasties reappear if you faint them, so I was forced to turn off the game and do the Contest again. I didn't win that time, but since I'd also learned that the Sun Stone was the only pre-Nat'l Dex first prize, it didn't really matter.
Finally, I bit the bullet and flew to Olivine, to see if I could get the Nat'l Dex without boarding the ship to Kanto. And sure enough, up came Prof. Oak, before I could even talk to the guy at the boarding gate. So I was able to go back and buy the Dusk Stone from the Pokeathlon Dome. I just have to check if Rotti gets any more good attacks as a Murkrow -- he's currently got Fly, Sky Attack, Wing Attack, and Night Shade -- because it'll be a LONG while before he learns Night Slash or Dark Pulse.
Only problem is, this leaves all of my current games basically finished, except for after-game stuff. I mean, I know I still need to do Kanto in SS, but we'll see if I can keep up my motivation.
In retrospect: SS - Drive for the Enigma Stone
(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.)
(8/23/2010)
According to Petty, the Enigma Stone isn't needed to catch whichever of the Lati@s pair roams in your game version -- it's needed to catch the OTHER one of the pair.
Technically, since I've already caught a Latios in Emerald, I don't strictly need the Enigma Stone; but no self-respecting Pokemon fan should pass up a chance at a legendary. So, just in case, I went over to the Pokeathlon Dome and got my Aprijuice Blender and my jersey, and gave the whole thing that ol' college try.
And, as I expected, it was a pain in the ass. The Apricorns don't blend by the same rules Berries do, so a juice that raises one performance stat can unexpectedly lower another. And there's several of the minigames that require you to control multiple Pokemon at once. So I failed to get any medal except Stamina.
With that done, however, I headed out towards Kanto, as Petty has assured me that my legendary beasties will happily continue to roam Jhoto until I return. So, while it was too late to attempt Victory Road last night, I'm in position to make a go of it.
Now if I could only remember what the heck I was doing with my team! Looking over the target movesets in an earlier entry, I think Izzel, Sheepish, Vermillion, and Chet are basically in final form (Chet just hit lvl 50 and learned Poison Jab) so it's just Cynder who needs to level up to 46 to get Rollout, so I can let him evolve. He may have to do without Blast Burn for the E4, though, since once I get through Victory Road I won't be able to Fly back to Blackthorn to have him learn it.
So tonight's agenda is just to make it through Victory Road, doing the complete run of trainers and items. Hopefully that'll get Cynder to 46, and catch the rest of the team up to Chet somewhat. I think the levels of the Indigo E4 are lower in HG/SS, so getting the team up to lvl 50 should be enough. ...I hope.
To be sure, getting past the E4 gets me more than just the Enigma Stone -- it means more Pokewalker courses, and access to Pal Park once I reach Fuschia. More courses will be helpful, as I've indicated my intent to sign up for the Shape Up the Nation walking program, and it'll be good to have that extra motivation. At my last allergist appointment I was actually down to 244, from a high of 262, and that's just from watching portions, 'cause the weather's been WAY to hot for walking.
But sadly, I'm still not in much of a Poke-mood; not in much of a mood to do anything, in fact. Otherwise I'd be tempted to bring forward all my Emerald Pokes into GIV and restart Emerald...
(8/25/2010)
Petty was right, the Enigma Stone triggers an event that lets you fight and capture whichever of the Lati@s pair that doesn't normally appear in your game version. Unfortunately, though, I looked this up at Bulbapedia, and it seems this is my only try at a Latias! It's Latios that roams in SS.
So I've been training like a mad thing the past couple nights. Victory Road was something of a let-down -- it wasn't all that hard, more like annoying because the constant encounters kept interrupting my Itemfinder. And there were NO trainers, except for the one rival battle at the end. Now that, I had not counted on. Every other Victory Road has always been a long-haul ordeal of encounters and trainer battles to get you properlly levelled up to face the E4. But not here. Not at all.
That leaves me with no ready source of Exp, since you have to wait for folks to call you for trainer rematches, which means it's wild battles or nothin'. Even so, I got all the team up to at least lvl 45/46, with Chet at lvl 50. And Cynder finally learned Rollout, so I let him evolve at last. Better yet, I discovered that you CAN Fly back to Indigo Plateau, as well as to the start of Victory Road. So I went back to Blackthorn, got Cynder Blast Burn, and found that only Peya still needs her Effort Ribbon. I also collected a crapton of Apricorns, and discovered that blending longer actually makes Aprijuice worse. Fought a few trainer rematches, but nowhere near enough.
Where this leaves me is, if I want to get the whole team to lvl 50 before taking on the E4, I've got a LOT of wild battles to fight, and not much time to do them in. I'm debating using up my Rare Candies to save me at least a little time; or just making a go of it with the team at lvl 46 (since most of the E4's Pokemon are well below that, except for their standouts, and Lance). At this point, I think everyone's got their final attack sets. I guess it'll depend on my level of impatience with the whole thing, when I get home tonight.
(8/26/2010)
Argh.
Via Exp Share, the team is now up to lvl 50 for Chet and Izzel, and up to lvl 47 for everyone else. And everyone's got their Effort Ribbons. If there is time/patience, I may try and get Cynder to 50 as well. But otherwise, levelling properly is simply too time-consuming without trainer rematches. LOTS of rematches.
So tonight's plan is grind Cynder through those last three levels as quick as possible (i.e. without Exp Share on anyone else), then maybe feed one Rare Candy to the other three to get them to lvl 48. And then just save and GO for it.
After the E4 are down and I'm on my way to Kanto with the Nat'l Dex in hand, I should sync over the Pokewalker to get all those new courses. Broke 5000 steps already today by walking to Pratt St and back for the Shared Services training; it'd be nice if that could have gotten me some new Pokemon. I should probably do some Item Dowsing before syncing over, just for the heck of it.
(8/27/2010)
Well. Apparently there was no need at all to go through all this trouble, because Dave had left a message last weekend that one did NOT have to have the Nat'l Dex in order to download the Enigma Stone. And sure enough, I was able to download it last night with no trouble at all. D'OH.
Still, as long as I'm so close, there's no point in just putting the game down again. So, with the Enigma Stone safely bagged, I kept on training. Got Peya up to lvl 50 via Exp Share, and the remaining team members all up to lvl 48.
As luck would have it (or unluck, because Joni and Kaye are both sick, poor things) there is no gaming tonight. Without Exp Share active, getting everyone up those last couple levels shouldn't be nearly as time-consuming. Some stupid, stubborn part of me wants to get everyone to lvl 50 without resorting to the Rare Candies.
And then it'll be time to take on the Elite Four at last! Hopefully my levels will be high enough that even Lance won't be TOO problematic. I'm hoping for a nice satisfying trouncing, if not exactly an easy battle.
From there, it'll be maybe one more sweep of Johto for Apricorns, and then onward into Kanto. The guidebook ends at the Elite Four, so I've no idea at all what to expect. Should be fun.
I'm seriously thinking about changing the team up somewhat, though. Maybe I just haven't given Peya the right moves, but I'm finding Xatu somewhat underwhelming. I'd really like to train the Murkrow from the Pokewalker, see what they're like. Plus I should train up my two Dratini (and breed them for a third one, to trade). I'm also not feeling the Ariados vibe as much as I'd hoped, so maybe there's room in the team for something else there.
I dunno. I'm fairly certain about swapping Murkrow in for Peya (heeee, if it's a male I should name it Sayik), but the other slots will likely depend on how well they do against the E4.
Oh, and I should likely run up to the Shinjo Ruins with Arceus, and get me my lvl 1 dragon legendary. Get a Dialga (since that's my only chance at a self-caught Dialga) and name it Tardis. 8D
further -- research shows that Honchkrow learn Night Slash and Dark Pulse at lvls 45 and 55 respectively. Murkrow can get Drill Peck by breeding, and learn Night Shade fairly early, at lvl 21. With Fly, this'd make for a really awesome moveset. They can also learn Shadow Ball or Psychic by TM, plus the usual heavy-hitting Flying type TMs. Abilities include Insomnia or Super Luck. Super Luck would be especially nasty, as it doubles the normal critical hit ratio to 12.5%. On top of that, moves that have an increased crit ratio like Night Slash and Sky Attack (also an Egg Move) would be particularly vicious. Sky Attack is also available from the Frontier Access tutor for 64BP, or can be relearned by Noctowl for a Heart Scale. ...I think that gives me a breeding project!
(note: this entry catches me up to the end of the "pokeplans" file -- finally!)
(8/23/2010)
According to Petty, the Enigma Stone isn't needed to catch whichever of the Lati@s pair roams in your game version -- it's needed to catch the OTHER one of the pair.
Technically, since I've already caught a Latios in Emerald, I don't strictly need the Enigma Stone; but no self-respecting Pokemon fan should pass up a chance at a legendary. So, just in case, I went over to the Pokeathlon Dome and got my Aprijuice Blender and my jersey, and gave the whole thing that ol' college try.
And, as I expected, it was a pain in the ass. The Apricorns don't blend by the same rules Berries do, so a juice that raises one performance stat can unexpectedly lower another. And there's several of the minigames that require you to control multiple Pokemon at once. So I failed to get any medal except Stamina.
With that done, however, I headed out towards Kanto, as Petty has assured me that my legendary beasties will happily continue to roam Jhoto until I return. So, while it was too late to attempt Victory Road last night, I'm in position to make a go of it.
Now if I could only remember what the heck I was doing with my team! Looking over the target movesets in an earlier entry, I think Izzel, Sheepish, Vermillion, and Chet are basically in final form (Chet just hit lvl 50 and learned Poison Jab) so it's just Cynder who needs to level up to 46 to get Rollout, so I can let him evolve. He may have to do without Blast Burn for the E4, though, since once I get through Victory Road I won't be able to Fly back to Blackthorn to have him learn it.
So tonight's agenda is just to make it through Victory Road, doing the complete run of trainers and items. Hopefully that'll get Cynder to 46, and catch the rest of the team up to Chet somewhat. I think the levels of the Indigo E4 are lower in HG/SS, so getting the team up to lvl 50 should be enough. ...I hope.
To be sure, getting past the E4 gets me more than just the Enigma Stone -- it means more Pokewalker courses, and access to Pal Park once I reach Fuschia. More courses will be helpful, as I've indicated my intent to sign up for the Shape Up the Nation walking program, and it'll be good to have that extra motivation. At my last allergist appointment I was actually down to 244, from a high of 262, and that's just from watching portions, 'cause the weather's been WAY to hot for walking.
But sadly, I'm still not in much of a Poke-mood; not in much of a mood to do anything, in fact. Otherwise I'd be tempted to bring forward all my Emerald Pokes into GIV and restart Emerald...
(8/25/2010)
Petty was right, the Enigma Stone triggers an event that lets you fight and capture whichever of the Lati@s pair that doesn't normally appear in your game version. Unfortunately, though, I looked this up at Bulbapedia, and it seems this is my only try at a Latias! It's Latios that roams in SS.
So I've been training like a mad thing the past couple nights. Victory Road was something of a let-down -- it wasn't all that hard, more like annoying because the constant encounters kept interrupting my Itemfinder. And there were NO trainers, except for the one rival battle at the end. Now that, I had not counted on. Every other Victory Road has always been a long-haul ordeal of encounters and trainer battles to get you properlly levelled up to face the E4. But not here. Not at all.
That leaves me with no ready source of Exp, since you have to wait for folks to call you for trainer rematches, which means it's wild battles or nothin'. Even so, I got all the team up to at least lvl 45/46, with Chet at lvl 50. And Cynder finally learned Rollout, so I let him evolve at last. Better yet, I discovered that you CAN Fly back to Indigo Plateau, as well as to the start of Victory Road. So I went back to Blackthorn, got Cynder Blast Burn, and found that only Peya still needs her Effort Ribbon. I also collected a crapton of Apricorns, and discovered that blending longer actually makes Aprijuice worse. Fought a few trainer rematches, but nowhere near enough.
Where this leaves me is, if I want to get the whole team to lvl 50 before taking on the E4, I've got a LOT of wild battles to fight, and not much time to do them in. I'm debating using up my Rare Candies to save me at least a little time; or just making a go of it with the team at lvl 46 (since most of the E4's Pokemon are well below that, except for their standouts, and Lance). At this point, I think everyone's got their final attack sets. I guess it'll depend on my level of impatience with the whole thing, when I get home tonight.
(8/26/2010)
Argh.
Via Exp Share, the team is now up to lvl 50 for Chet and Izzel, and up to lvl 47 for everyone else. And everyone's got their Effort Ribbons. If there is time/patience, I may try and get Cynder to 50 as well. But otherwise, levelling properly is simply too time-consuming without trainer rematches. LOTS of rematches.
So tonight's plan is grind Cynder through those last three levels as quick as possible (i.e. without Exp Share on anyone else), then maybe feed one Rare Candy to the other three to get them to lvl 48. And then just save and GO for it.
After the E4 are down and I'm on my way to Kanto with the Nat'l Dex in hand, I should sync over the Pokewalker to get all those new courses. Broke 5000 steps already today by walking to Pratt St and back for the Shared Services training; it'd be nice if that could have gotten me some new Pokemon. I should probably do some Item Dowsing before syncing over, just for the heck of it.
(8/27/2010)
Well. Apparently there was no need at all to go through all this trouble, because Dave had left a message last weekend that one did NOT have to have the Nat'l Dex in order to download the Enigma Stone. And sure enough, I was able to download it last night with no trouble at all. D'OH.
Still, as long as I'm so close, there's no point in just putting the game down again. So, with the Enigma Stone safely bagged, I kept on training. Got Peya up to lvl 50 via Exp Share, and the remaining team members all up to lvl 48.
As luck would have it (or unluck, because Joni and Kaye are both sick, poor things) there is no gaming tonight. Without Exp Share active, getting everyone up those last couple levels shouldn't be nearly as time-consuming. Some stupid, stubborn part of me wants to get everyone to lvl 50 without resorting to the Rare Candies.
And then it'll be time to take on the Elite Four at last! Hopefully my levels will be high enough that even Lance won't be TOO problematic. I'm hoping for a nice satisfying trouncing, if not exactly an easy battle.
From there, it'll be maybe one more sweep of Johto for Apricorns, and then onward into Kanto. The guidebook ends at the Elite Four, so I've no idea at all what to expect. Should be fun.
I'm seriously thinking about changing the team up somewhat, though. Maybe I just haven't given Peya the right moves, but I'm finding Xatu somewhat underwhelming. I'd really like to train the Murkrow from the Pokewalker, see what they're like. Plus I should train up my two Dratini (and breed them for a third one, to trade). I'm also not feeling the Ariados vibe as much as I'd hoped, so maybe there's room in the team for something else there.
I dunno. I'm fairly certain about swapping Murkrow in for Peya (heeee, if it's a male I should name it Sayik), but the other slots will likely depend on how well they do against the E4.
Oh, and I should likely run up to the Shinjo Ruins with Arceus, and get me my lvl 1 dragon legendary. Get a Dialga (since that's my only chance at a self-caught Dialga) and name it Tardis. 8D
further -- research shows that Honchkrow learn Night Slash and Dark Pulse at lvls 45 and 55 respectively. Murkrow can get Drill Peck by breeding, and learn Night Shade fairly early, at lvl 21. With Fly, this'd make for a really awesome moveset. They can also learn Shadow Ball or Psychic by TM, plus the usual heavy-hitting Flying type TMs. Abilities include Insomnia or Super Luck. Super Luck would be especially nasty, as it doubles the normal critical hit ratio to 12.5%. On top of that, moves that have an increased crit ratio like Night Slash and Sky Attack (also an Egg Move) would be particularly vicious. Sky Attack is also available from the Frontier Access tutor for 64BP, or can be relearned by Noctowl for a Heart Scale. ...I think that gives me a breeding project!
(note: this entry catches me up to the end of the "pokeplans" file -- finally!)
