Pokemon SoulSilver Part 2: Good choice? Bad choice? Out of three, you've chosen misery

[kjorteo]

Right, so, last time we devoted an entire entry to the title screen. What happens if you actually start the game?

The game gives you the option of reading basic control and objective info as if you'd never played an RPG before, which is kind of odd for what I just said about the intro having been aimed at previous generation fans. Fortunately there's an "I know all that stuff already" button.

Professor Oak appears in business-casual slacks and a yellow coat and gives us the obligatory "Welcome to the world of Pokemon" speech, including asking our gender. This is new for the SoulSilver remake--there was only one (male) protagonist option in the original.

I am honor bound to be a girl this time of course, though I do have to admit the boy (Ethan) is slightly more stlyish than the girl (Lyra) because I'm not a super huge fan of the latter's super huge hat. Oh, well. Worth it.

After the portrait of Lyra (whom I of course renamed to Celine) shrinks down to chibi overworld sprite form, we begin in Celine's bedroom. There are almost no usable controls--I can't even pause to bring up a menu or anything--but I'm sure all that unlocks once I go downstairs. In the meantime, I do what anyone would do in this situation and instead stay in my room on the computer all day.

Well, okay, I check my email once.

I have a message from Ethan, because whichever of the two you don't pick is still in the game as an NPC.

"ADVENTURE!
EXCITED!

I love POKEMON!"

Ah, yes. This was from the era when you sent messages to each other by forming together rudimentary thoughts and sentences out of predefined building block words and phrases, as if people in this world communicate exclusively via refrigerator magnets. I believe Nintendo implemented this system rather than allowing you to write whatever you want so that players communicating with each other couldn't send anything dirty, but of course we all just spelled out the most innuendo-laden things we could within this system instead. It just made us be more creative with our filth, is all.

Downstairs, Celine's mom immediately walks right and I mean right up to her and, uh, personal space? She informs us that Ethan was just here, playing hide-and-seek with his Marill, and that Professor Elm is looking for us.

As expected, she also loads us down with a bag and a trainer card and the apparent physical manifestation of Options and Save menus. After fiddling with some options (Window Frame #17 is clearly the best-looking text box for me) and signing my trainer card--which is an oddly nice feeling to do under my feminine name--we're off.

Ethan and his Marill are tearing around having the time of their lives, which of course is new for this version--again, in the original Silver, you are Ethan, and there's no girl counterpart NPC in your hometown. This is the first time I've seen Ethan as a distinct character with his own personality, and said personality is "Suspiciously all over that Marill." The two bump into you upon leaving your hourse, and later you find them running around in his house, and it's clear they are inseparable. I suspect the point of this is to rub it in your face how much fun he's having with his Pokemon, since even his dad has this quote:

"Hi, Celine! Ethan is upstairs. He's having fun with his Pokemon as usual. You didn't bring your...Pokemon? ...Oh, I should've known. You don't have your own Pokemon yet. Well, I hope I didn't hurt your feelings, Celine."

Nah, this is obviously what Professor Elm wants to see me about, so I'm sure I'll be fine. Speaking of, we should probably go there.

Professor Elm's speech is also mostly new for this version, because it sets up one of the new mechanics of the game: whichever Pokemon you have in the lead slot in your party walks out of its ball beside you, like Pikachu did in Pokemon Yellow. Just like Ethan and his Marill! ... Oh so that's why it was showcasing those two out so hard. Okay.

Professor Elm gives Celine a Pokemon because he wants to see if walking alongside it "brings any special feelings or bonds between Pokemon and people" and I'm sorry but the last time I read a fic about the girl protagonist in this game exploring special feelings and bonds between... actually you know what let's move on.

We are presented with our choice of starters for this generation:

Chikorita is the grass starter of this generation and is actually pretty awful. Teenage me chose Chikorita in original Silver brand-loyal to Grass types after gen 1 and its Bulbasaur, but here the Chikorita line is by far the least impressive of the three starters, both aesthetically and in gameplay. They're cute and all, but they just look weak, and guess what? They are. Smogon had to invent a whole new tier below even the never-used ones just for the blatantly useless Pokemon like Luvdisc and Unown, and the Chikorita line has somehow ended up there according to their rankings. My Chikorita in original Silver Chikorita was disastrous mistake, one I now finally have the chance to correct.

Cyndaquil is the fire starter of this generation and is... okay. Like the Grass line, this an obvious downgrade from generation 1's Charmander, but it's at least cooler and tougher than Chikorita. Not much to say about its line one way or the other, I suppose--Cyndaquil is the "meh" choice.

Totodile is the water starter of this generation and, in hindsight, by far my favorite of this generation. I have a personal attachment and fond memories of this species, since I had a Totodile partner in Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers, and he was the absolute most precious thing. Aesthetically, Totodile is the hands-down best starter of this generation. Its basic form is the cutest of the three, and (after an admittedly awkward adolescent phase) its fully evolved form is the cutest of the three. That fic I mentioned went with a Totodile starter, and it's easy to see why. Gameplay-wise, Totodile wins as well, being decisively backed by Smogon as the best (well, the least-worst; this is Smogon) of the three.

The catch is that whichever Pokemon you pick, your eventual rival character ends up taking the one that has a type advantage over it. (Fire beats Grass beats Water beats Fire, so if you pick the Fire starter then your rival will take the Water one, and so on.) Gold/Silver are somewhat unique among Pokemon games for just what an asshole your rival is this time around. We haven't met him yet, but eventually he will make his debut by breaking into Professor Elm's lab and stealing whichever Pokemon beats yours, forcing it to fight you, then complaining about its weakness every time you win. He does eventually come around, and it is a nice payoff to his character arc when he does, but for most of the game he is cruel, abusive, and picking any of these Pokemon knowing I'm also sentencing another one to live with him actually makes me feel a little guilty inside.

Cyndaquil is out for this reason. That Totodile in PMD:Explorers was a total sweetheart, a somewhat timid yet loyal and warm-hearted soul. Like a delicate flower, he needed the proper care and support to blossom, but it was truly beautiful when he did. I may be battling a nasty cold as I write this, but the thought of this game's rival coming anywhere near a Totodile truly makes me ill.

I could just take the Totodile for myself, but that would mean he gets Chikorita, which is another somewhat unpleasant thought. Chikorita is cute but weak and really does not deserve this.

Picking Chikorita leaves him with Cyndaquil, the only Pokemon of the three who seems tough enough that it might actually be okay. I mean, Cyndaquil doesn't deserve this either, but if someone has to endure it then Cydaquil would at least survive the experience. Of course, the catch is that I'd have to pick Chikorita.

In the end, though, this really isn't a hard choice. Cyndaquil is the worst of both words (kind of meh and I refuse to let my rival have Totodile,) which leaves by far the best starter of this generation versus by far the worst. The only reason I would ever handicap myself by picking Chikorita is sheer "that's the one I used to have and I remember it" nostalgia (even though I thought it was a mistake even at the time) or sheer me being a big dumb overly sentimental idiot over the mental image of my rival flogging that poor Chikorita every time it predictably fails at everything it tries. Otherwise, Totodile is clearly and obviously the best choice for me and a major handicap for my rival, making it the smart pick for anyone who wants to get into the numbers.

...

So after I pick my Chikorita, and reset 7 times to make sure I get a female Chikorita, it is time to give her a nickname.

I recently tried and failed to recover my original Pokemon Silver save data before the battery in the old Game Boy cart died and it was gone forever. It turns out that that had already happened before I could get there with my recovery and archival tools. Alas. Before learning that, though, I had told xyzzysqrl that if my Chikorita (well, Meganium, it evolved) from that game survived, I would take back everything mean I ever said about it, because at that point that thing is a survivor. It would have survived the literal apocalypse, its data living on even after its entire world had been lost to the mists of a dead battery, like its entire homeworld had been devoured by The Nothing.

Well... turns out The Nothing corrupted my save data years ago and there were no survivors. Oops.

However, I still like the idea of taking my party from this game away from a doomed homeworld, safe and sound into the future. It mostly works because SoulSilver itself is a bit antiquated by this point, but it's just barely new enough that you can transfer Pokemon from there to Black/White and from there to Pokemon Bank. Also, I still like viewing what happened to my original file in terms of Neverending Story references. Hell, if anything, that might actually light a fire under me to finish this one instead of abandoning it again. My last party didn't make it, so I don't want to let this one down too. I can't guarantee I'll make it through this game without burning out, but I want at least this one to survive The Nothing.

This is why I gamed the system to get a female one, for the theme naming.

Meet "Empress."

(Yes, I know the Childlike Empress from The Neverending Story has an actual name which Bastian gave her, and I know what that name is, and I even verified it fits in the game's character limit, but... that's later. Bastian gave her that name at the climax of the movie--it was how she survived. This particular Empress hasn't survived anything yet, because I'm only about ten minutes into this game. I'll rename her if we actually make it to the end.)

After all that, Professor Elm tasks me with taking Empress to his friend Mr. Pokemon, because if you're an NPC in this game then you can get away with being named "Mr. Pokemon." On my way out, his assistant stops me to give me a few Potions. "Pokemon are weak in the beginning," he warns. Buddy, I picked a Chikorita. I know.

Next time: Off to Mr. Pokemon's house! Maybe I'll get more than five minutes into the game before derailing on some entire-entry-requiring tangent, but since I know what's coming, I kind of doubt it.

Comments

[xyzzysqrl]

...
Wow. Vizzini would be proud.

[kjorteo]

Erm, sorry. I did mention I would be glossing over some parts and really magnifying others.

[xyzzysqrl]

No, it's cool. You clearly cannot choose the pokemon in front of you, yet if you choose the pokemon to your left, your rival gets the pokemon to your right. And if your rival gets the pokemon to your right, that confers an emotional advantage, UNLESS you honed your emotions on internet forums where no one feels anything. But if you had that kind of training, your opponent could incite you to anger with memes, and so you deliberately left yourself emotionally vulnerable to head off such an attack, so OBVIOUSLY the pokemon to your left is your correct choice, UNLESS your opponent ...

[swordianmaster]

Chikorita (and its Mega Evolution, Mega Nium) is kind of a cleric type character. It's beefy, it knows a bunch of stuff that can help out your team like Aromatherapy and Heal Bell... it just can't do a damn bit of damage on its own.

Unfortunately, Pokemon is a game where They Who Hit Hardest Typically Win, and Meganium isn't enough of a tank to get by like some tanks (Blissey and Snorlax say hi), in no small part because Grass has too goddamn many defensive weaknesses.

(Also you'll take my Typhlosion from my smouldering corpse, I don't care if it's not ~optimal~, give me my honey badger that is also currently on fire)

[kjorteo]

Low-difficulty single-player story mode in particular isn't exactly super strategic outside "Read the sign outside the gym for what exclusive element its leader uses, come in with a type that beats it, rain Super Effective DPS hell down and sweep their entire team."

In theory, I could set up Empress as a cleric/support role for very smart and strategic chess match-type bouts across entire teams. Or I could notice that I'm about to walk into Greenery McGrasstype's gym, shrug, and set the whole thing on fire.

I do still have a sentimental attachment to the Grass type because Bulbasaur is the best starter forever, ~optimal~ status be damned, but even I have to admit that Chikorita is... not the best mon of this gen.

[swordianmaster]

Yeah, that's the thing. Tanky pokemon generally fall flat in single-player since the optimal "strategy" is "lean on the murder button", but even with a level advantage, Grass just doesn't do enough on its own and she doesn't have the muscle that... pretty much any other Grass starter does in order to make the donuts.

She'll soak damage real good though. Unless it's fire. Or ice. or bugs, or birds, or errant lawnmowers

[xyzzysqrl]

From a purely logistical standpoint I've never understood why you'd pick a water (super-common) OR a grass (also super-common) starter when Fire pokemon are A: Hard to get and B: usually not available until like midway through any given game.

And then I look at the visual design of most of the fire starter pokemon and go "...oh that's why."

[kjorteo]

Nintendo Power loudly proclaimed in their Red/Blue article that Bulbasaur was hands-down the best choice for starter, because it's the only dual-type (Grass/Poison) which means it's twice as good as Charmander (Fire) or Squirtle (Water) who have but a mere single type.

This, of course, is such hilarious logic that it probably should have come in the form of a Professor Oak Poke Tip. First off, that's not how dual-typing works, and second, even if it was, Charizard is Fire/Flying. Poison had zero worthwhile moves in gen 1, so Bulbasaur was less "A Grass/Poison dual-type" and more "A Grass type that also happens to be weak to Psychic." You know, that type that was so blatantly broken in gen 1 that they had to introduce two entire new Types in gen 2 (Dark and Steel) just to counter it?

What Nintendo Power meant was that Bulbasaur was hands-down the best choice for starter because the first two gyms in that game are Ground/Rock and Water. This is also why Charmander was a poor choice for at least the early game (though that could be overcome and Charizard is of course great later) despite being one of the visually best starters of any element in entire franchise history.

My eternal love for Bulbasaur (and by extension, most Grass starters by default unless their competitors are vastly better) stuck though, sorry.

[dreadlordmrson]

I am honor bound to be a girl this time of course
and signing my trainer card--which is an oddly nice feeling to do under my feminine name
Celine

Wait, I apparently haven't been following you closely enough. You're going feminine? Should I start using she pronouns for you?

Cyndaquil is the "meh" choice.

Boo!
Cyndaquil is my favorite!
It's the cuddliest!

Aesthetically, Totodile is the hands-down best starter of this generation

...our growing friendship is canceled.

its fully evolved form is the cutest of the three

Canceled forever.

That Totodile in PMD:Explorers was a total sweetheart, a somewhat timid yet loyal and warm-hearted soul.

...
Wow my experiences of totodile is completely different from yours. I'm used to a much more... aggressive personality (minor blood warning).
From this old Crystal LP.
Then again, that totodile would not suffer though Silver's mistreatment. It would... respond.

I will agree that cyndaquil does have the guff to stay strong even in the adverse circumstances that are being Silver's Pokémon.

I'm confused by all the arguments that chikorita's so weak, though. I know the older games were more difficult, but it was never a huge challenge to beat the gave even with weaker mons. Heck, I loved running with a poochyena/mightyena, despite the handicap. I just caught them early and got attached.
I... tend to get attached and be less likely to swap out weaker early mons for stronger ones caught later. If it was ever a serious issue I just leveled them more.

Nice to see I'm not the only one who likes to restart for female starters. It was a trial to do that with SuMo because of the frickin' cut scene. :/

Ah, you have a much more specific reason for doing so than I do.
This run is starting with lore prebaked in. :p

Good fortune!

[kjorteo]

"Wait, I apparently haven't been following you closely enough. You're going feminine? Should I start using she pronouns for you?"

Hehe, it's, uh, been an interesting year or two self-discovery-wise, yeah. And yes, please. :3 No worries if that takes some getting used to, though. I mean, I still sometimes mess my own name and pronouns up. :P

"Boo!
Cyndaquil is my favorite!
It's the cuddliest!"

I like how this sounds like it could be one of those EasyChat system messages, possibly in my email inbox right next to Ethan's "ADVENTURE! EXCITED! I love POKEMON!" proclamation. I'm now choosing to imagine someone in New Bark anon'ing this at me after seeing me with a Chikorita and disapproving.

But yeah, I guess what it came down to for me was that Cyndaquil was the only one of the three with whom I didn't have any sort of special sentimental nostalgic connection.

Chikorita is the one I had and the one I remember having in original Silver. For a game that meant as much to me as the original Silver did, I desperately wanted to preserve my file from back then, to transport all those Pokemon I'd spent over a hundred hours raising (yes, even that one) to safety. When I discovered I was already too late, it was... well, a bit devastating, not gonna lie.

After thinking about it, though, I decided to just... proceed with that lore/headcanon for it anyway? Which is why we're now in this weird half-state where I'm giving this game's Chikorita the Neverending Story reference and treating her like I still need to save her from this collapsing world, even though technically the one I needed to save is already dead, and this world is in absolutely zero danger (DS cartridges don't have battery issues or anything like that.) Like I'm still doing this for them, even if the game and world (and even the rest of the party) are subtly different now. It's... well, it's like HG/SS itself I guess: it's a remake of my childhood.

Totodile is the cute and powerful one I probably would have chosen the first time had I known a little more about them, but mostly it's the one I remember from PMD: Explorers of Time/Darkness/Sky, where Leonard the Totodile was my Bulbasaur's partner. They have actual personalities in those games, and Leonard (or whoever you pick as your partner, but the role went to Leonard in my file) is this total sweetheart Cowardly Lion type who dreams of being an explorer someday but is afraid of his own shadow, but through his extremely shippable bond with you, he grows and matures and finds the will to do these absolutely heroic things despite how much he's trembling. I love Leonard's entire character and character arc so much. He is too precious and pure for this world.

Cyndaquil is... there. I mean, don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with Cyndaquil. It is cute! I just can't say much about it compared to the other two.

"Wow my experiences of totodile is completely different from yours. I'm used to a much more... aggressive personality (minor blood warning).
From this old Crystal LP.
Then again, that totodile would not suffer though Silver's mistreatment. It would... respond."

Wow, now that is the kind of LP that demonizes your own starter for laughs to the point that it strikes me as more than a little mean-spirited now. Then again, maybe I'm just boggling at it because of a strong "THAT'S NOT LEONARD" reaction.

"I'm confused by all the arguments that chikorita's so weak, though."

Chikorita is a bad choice in gen 2, especially if you're used to how awesome a choice Bulbasaur was in gen 1, largely because of how the world treats them.

Like I said elsewhere, the first two gyms in Kanto are Ground/Rock and Water, so picking Bulbasaur means you basically have an invincible murder machine for at least a quarter of the game. (The catch later on is that being half-Poison made it weak to Psychic, and this is gen 1 Psychic we're talking about, but by then you'll have had plenty of time to raise the rest of your team.)

By contrast, Chikorita is more a defensive tank-type Pokemon than an offensive damage dealer, and that playstyle really does not work in the single-player campaign, where most of the strategy is spamming high-damage sweeping moves and leaning on type advantages. More importantly, the first two gyms in Johto are Flying and Bug, and even being a tank isn't going to help against those. People picking Chikorita expecting another Bulbasaur, or at least something that could defeat things, were left feeling a bit deceived and disappointed.

That being said, I am with you on the emotional connection overriding combat prowess. The single-player campaign is not hard, so you absolutely can just play with whichever ones you actually like and still win. At this point, I see Empress sort of like the king piece in chess: arguably the weakest, least-combat capable except maybe pawns, but the most important. The glue that holds my entire side together, preferably from behind the scenes. You'll notice she has yet to not be in my active party, even if she's hanging out in the back slot to the HM users. She'd probably be the one I was walking with in this game, were that role not assigned to your slot-1 party lead who is therefore also the first into battle.

[dreadlordmrson]

She it is. :3
I have a terrible memory generally but the fact that your profile name is Celine now should help me remember. :p

Yeah, it's fair not having the same emotional attachments to the same Pokémon that I do.
I just got my hackles up a little at it being dismissed as "meh". :p

I suppose meeting Leonard might have changed my feelings about totodile a bit. I played PMD: Blue Rescue Team, myself, and always went for charmander as my teammate, IIRC.

I'm sorry you lost your old game before you could rescue everyone.
That potential loss is why I dumped all my old gen 1 and 2 games when I learned you couldn't transfer up to gen 3. I didn't want to get attached to anyone else I couldn't bring with me. :(

And you should totally be able to set your walking Pokémon instead of it just being slot one.
I hope they make another game where your mons can walk with you, and you have more control over which.