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kjorteoPokemon! That's a thing I used to do in this blog before the other games, game awards, end of the year stuff, life stuff, and everything else all took over, right?
Last time: Team Rocket called for help! But nobody came. Now they're out of their misery once again, and I have a lead on the Legendary Pokemon.
The radio tower director gave us very little information for our next move. We have the Silver Wing now, and we know that the Legendary Pokemon lives somewhere beyond the whirlpools in Whirl Islands. However, just randomly taking the Silver Wing there in its current form will not accomplish anything. We need to do... something, somewhere, to make it work.
That's about as much of a clue as we're going to get. I do know that the Kimono Girls have been upgraded in plot significance in this game, though. They keep appearing along the way and making cryptic comments about Legendary Pokemon. If anyone has the instruction manual for this Wing, they would. Ecruteak is our next stop, then.
Or it would be, anyway. Speaking of hunting for Legendaries, I do beleive it's just about time to do something about those roaming Legendary Beasts first. My team is in the high 30s at this point, and the two catchable Beasts currently roaming the map are level 40. If I surpass them, then using Repels to ward off every random encounter in the area except them will no longer work.
As I said before, in original Gold/Silver, you just had to get lucky and happen across each Beast once, and then you could track their current location by checking their Pokedex entry. In HG/SS, they're visible on the map from the beginning, but... that feels like cheating to me, somehow. I can't really explain why. I'm used to how you did it in Silver, I guess? That's not a good way to have to do it, and changing it was a very good and welcome change.
And yet.
For no other reason than because it was inexplicably going to bother me if I don't, I still want to luck into each Beast at least once before I start using the map. Just like old times, you know?
I already stumbled across Raikou in a previous entry. Suicune is tied to the plot now. That just leaves Entei, for whom I've always held kind of a soft spot in my heart. I did capture all three Beasts in original Silver, but Entei feels the most special of the three to me. Unless I'm misremembering (which admittedly is possible,) I really want to believe it's because Entei was the first one I encountered. This time, though, Entei has been a stubborn holdout, and I'm going to have to force the issue a little. And for that, I'm going to need my two Hunters, regular andextra crispy Omni. Also Nimbly, Auryn, and Sweetie for various "in case I need that move" HMs/field moves, and Empress because she's the team mascot.
Several Super and Max Repels' worth of running back and forth between Routes 35 and 36, I encounter... Raikou again. Omnihunter boops Raikou on the snoot with a False Swipe that does maybe 10% of its health in damage, and then it runs away. I could have stood to hit it harder than that, probably, but I am not taking chances.
While I'm wandering, Fisherman Tully calls and asks for a rematch next time I'm on Route 42. That will go nicely with... did I ever get Bug Catcher Wade's berries? I forget. He hasn't called me about them recently, so I'm going to assume I did.
More roaming, more roaming... AHA. THERE. Look at this Entei that I totally was just minding my own business and happen to run into by complete accident. Shh.
Now that I've seen both Beasts, let's bring them in. This should go a little more quickly, since I'm now allowing myself to use the map.
... I say "this should go a little more quickly" and then I actually try it. The algorithm for roaming Pokemon is different in this game (in that there actually is one, rather than "they teleport to any random spot on the map every time you change locations") but now that I've had experience with it, I think I like the old way better. Even as recently as Diamond, you could go to any two area with random encounters that were right next to each other, and cross back and forth between the two until the Legendary happened to land on you. In Diamond, you didn't even need to pull up the map through a menu to see where the roaming Legendary currently was; you had a Poketch app for that and it always displayed on the bottom screen. By contrast, there are more steps involved to see where a Beast currently is in HG/SS, and it feels a lot harder and more cumbersome to reset it until it's where it's supposed to be.
(Note that this is the first and last time I will ever make any favorable comparisons or otherwise say anything positive about Diamond/Pearl's UI.)
After going through about a zillion iterations of map-checking per time I encountered one, only to get a single low-power attack in each time before they fled again, I finally wear both Beasts down to 1 HP. Then, Hunter leads and tries to Hypnotize whichever Beast gets close, missing a total of four times (with the Beasts fleeing and making me tracking them down again every time) until finally getting one on Raikou. And then it fled anyway, but I knew that part was coming.
Finally, after doing the whole "make the Beast appear next to you" shuffle one more time, I initiated a battle with an already-sleeping 1 HP Raikou and immediately used Mean Look. Beasts can flee in their sleep, but they can't Roar in their sleep, meaning I now finally have a regular more-than-one-turn battle. (Until it wakes up again, anyway.)
I throw a Dusk Ball and... catch it on my first try.
Well, all right, then.
By this point, I'm a little fed up with the trouble these critters have put me through, so I opt for the passive-aggressive revenge tactic of giving Raikou a silly name. "Thundercat" is the most obvious reference, of course, but it's just not humiliating enough.
There.
That just leaves Entei, whom I get down to 1 HP and asleep much the same way, but that's where the similarities end. Unlike my lucky shot with Raikou, Entei has a serious case of what I like to call Won't Get In The Fucking Ball Syndrome, wherein Entei won't get in the fucking ball. I spend so long fruitlessly hunting Entei down, throwing everything I have until it wakes up and the battle disintegrates, resetting, and repeating, that eventually I run out of time for tonight's gaming session. I really wanted this to be an entry about catching all the Legendaries, but I also wanted to post something this weekend (this paragraph was written on December 17, for the record,) and Entei has made these two goals mutually exclusive. This is a terrible place to end this post, so Entei manages to force a post delay until next weekend. Very sorry for the inconvenience. Blame the burn puppy.
...
It is now Tuesday, December 19. After countless encounters and balls thrown, I finally caught Entei. The longer that went on, the more it made me appreciate how much I lucked out with Raikou. I really cannot imagine having to go through all of that twice.
I want to give Entei an even sillier name as revenge for the torment it put me through, but I actually love Entei as much as Eusine loves... well, okay, no one loves anything as much as Eusine loves Suicune, but let's just say I'd totally do Entei. I have some fond memories and nostalgia surrounding this Pokemon, and the gen 4 sprite looks even better (I blame those gigantic paws.) Entei is my favorite Fire type, and I just can't stay mad at the thing. I'm so ecstatic to have one that it overwrites any negative feelings I might have built up getting one.
Thus, Entei needs a properly dignified name. Something befitting of my great admiration for the noble beast. Something that rings forth gloriously when you gaze upon that magnificent visage and...
... that... magnificent visage....
That majestic... um
...
...
Entei, I'm sorry. I love you. I really, truly do. You're my favorite Fire type and one of my favorite Legendaries of any type, of any generation. But you look like you went down on a Starmie and got stuck.
... And that's both Beasts captured! Now all I just need the big one, the one that requires that Silver Wing. "Go see if the Kimono Girls know anything" is still my only lead at this point, so I fly to Ecruteak and... the Kimono Girls do not know anything. There is still only one on stage, and she does not say anything different. No one in the town does.
Well. I, uh... hmm. Hold, please.
*Walkthrough*
Oh for crying... so, it turns out that I need all eight badges. I was trying to make this The Legendary post. I didn't want to split the Legendaries up into several posts up like this. I... can always delay and make this one an even more massive megapost, I guess. More next time!
...
It is now December 31. Happy New Year, everyone! Let's close out 2017 by adding another badge to our collection.
For that, we're going to want to go east from Mahogany. We won't be needing Hunter until later, so she can stay in the PC for now. After Pokewalking throughout the time off, I raised Oracle and Kracko to 40, because I have a feeling they're going to be needed shortly. Everyone else is around 35-38 or so, and I'll want the experience to go to them. Utility demands Nimbly, Auryn, Omnihunter, and Sweetie. Empress is the team mascot. That leaves... Falkor can be our sixth for today. Falkor leads. As a Dragonair, she needs more experience than normal to gain levels, but I have a Lucky Egg from... somewhere. Diamond trade, I think?
Wade doesn't have any outstanding berries for me, but we can go ahead and take care of Fisherman Tully's challenge. Then Fisherman Ralph calls and he wants a rematch, too. Route 32. Good thing I have Fly now. The rematch battles are at far higher levels--in fact, Ralph's Seaking actually had Falkor beat on levels, 40 to 38. It shouldn't have been a difficult battle, because it's still just a Seaking, but Falkor's move pool is severely limited. Even good stats and levels don't mean much if she can't actually do anything. God, I can't wait for her to evolve.
Back to business, Falkor hits 39 and learns Dragon Rush, right after I was complaining about her lack of moves. Dragon Rush still isn't great, but it's an improvement. It replaces Slam as a straightforward "hit the enemy hard for lots of damage" move with higher base power and STAB, but both moves have the same accuracy issues. Even Falkor herself is starting to get testy about her Dragonair form's move pool, since I swear the pose she strikes when she first enters the battle looks like she's using her tail to flip the enemy off. The good news is that she can vent her frustration by squashing things flat pretty darn good when Dragon Rush hits.
Falkor hits 40 because that Lucky Egg really works, so I give it to Nimbly and put her in the lead next. She annihilates Fisherman Wilton's team, gains a level, and gets his number for her trouble. Same story (including getting his number) for Bird Keeper Vance, who asked "Do you know about the legendary bird Pokemon?" just before sending out a level 28 Hoothoot. Keep dreaming, buddy.
The Ice Path is next. This is still a typical obnoxious cave level and one of those infuriating slippery slidey puzzles, but the good news is that the remake was very kind to this area aesthetically. It has a nice new tileset and a great icy-sounding mix of the Dark Cave theme, which I just realized I hadn't heard yet because I skipped Dark Cave with the intention of coming back to it later. This is another song that punches me right in the nostalgia while being very nice in its own right, and the remake is great. Thank you, GameFreak. I like this.
Ice Path is still a cave, though. DID SOMEONE SAY GOLBATS
The good news is that they give Nimbly like a fifth to a quarter of a level per fight. I really should have been using the Lucky Egg a lot sooner.
I explore one of the random side dead ends that probably at least has an item in it, and get the HM for Waterfall! This is... not the worst field move, in terms of feeling legitimate and not like an obvious "It lets you clear the obstacles we made up just so you need this to clear them" move, the way Cut, Rock Smash, and Whirlpool do. Waterfall will allow us to climb up waterfalls while Surfing, turning a normally impassable barrier into the equivalent of a ladder tile. Yes, it's still just a "move to get past an obstacle that requires the move" move if you think about it, but it at least doesn't feel like one as much as the others do.
There are Jynx in this cave and they can fuck right off. I have an Ice type, thank you. Even if I didn't, I would rather go into battle lacking one than rely on that. Some things just aren't worth it.
There's a Kimono Girl at the exit! Her sandals are frozen to the ground, so she needs us to come around and push her from behind. This means one more sliding ice puzzle after a cave full of them.
Through the Ice Path, we arrive at Blackthorn City, at last! This town reuses Azalea's theme, which is appropriate for how overjoyed I am to have made it.
Cameron happens to be in Blackthorn tonight, so we can capture the current team and everything!
Ice Path was longer than this writeup's length would imply, since I didn't have much to say about every individual ice puzzle and Confuse Ray I suffered. It took a lot out of me, though. I am now at the point where I need to look at the time and realize it's foolish to press on. I don't think I'm getting the other Legendary in this block, after all. I do at least want to beat the final gym battle before I call this a post, but even that is going to require putting the rest of this off until next time. Again. Sorry.
...
It is now Saturday, January 13 and I'm going to finish this update if it kills me. The good news is that, thanks to the extra time off Pokewalking, my entire team is now level 40. This even includes Hunter, though it does not include Sweetie.
We start today's session in Blackthorn City. Let's look around!
An NPC in town wants to trade a female Dragonair for his Dodrio and ahahahaha wow God no. Come on, Falkor, let's get out of here quickly.
Santos of Saturday is here, and from him we get a Soft Sand. This powers up Ground-type moves. I may or may not find a use for it later.
Finally, and most importantly, Blackthorn is the home of the Move Deleter and Move Reminder! The former is the only way to erase HM moves, once any Pokemon has them. The latter, in exchange for one Heart Scale per move, can cause a Pokemon to relearn any move from its leveling list. This great news for anything I happen to have missed by being in the Pokewalker at the level they were supposed to learn it. More importantly, it's great news for Pokemon who have innate moves that they don't actually learn at any level, but that sit on their leveling list for this exact occasion.
The main example that's the most important to this team as of this writing is Bullet Punch. According to its move list, Scizor technically starts with it at level 1. Of course, there is no such thing as a level 1 Scizor. We only encountered Omnihunter well into his adolescence, and even then, he was still a Scyther when we did. No, Bullet Punch is on the move list specifically just so that you can teach it via the Move Reminder.
Heart Scales are no object, because they're readily available in the Pokewalker. I have 13 as of this paragraph, and I can easily find more if I somehow use up all of these. So, let's give the team a move makeover! (And since this update was late, this will also be a good chance to go over a memory-refreshing list of who all exactly is "the team" at this point.)
And with our team properly calibrated, the last point of interest in Blackthorn is its gym. Its leader is Clair, "The Blessed User of Dragon Pokemon."
The Dragon type is a tough one. Dragon Pokemon, simply put, are powerful with very few weaknesses. They're not quite as known for status shenanigans as types like Ghost or Poison are, but I think a couple of them might have slam-type moves that cause paralysis as a secondary effect. The biggest problem with Dragons, though, is that (in pre-Fairy type games) they're weak to almost nothing except Dragon and Ice.
Dragon... yes, it's weak to itself, but the problem with countering Dragons with Dragons is that your Dragons are weak to Dragon, too. Meanwhile, as of original Silver, Ice was just not a very good type. It was good design for the game to put the Ice Path in right before the area where you needed an Ice type, but... really, Jynx or Lapras are about the best you're going to do, and I refuse to use Jynx.
Fortunately, this is a generation 4 remake of Silver, so Glaceon exists now. I mentioned before, when trying to decide what to do with Bill's Eevee, that there is no better game to have a Glaceon than this one. This is one of the major occasions (and not even the only occasion!) in which a good dragon-slayer is needed.
Thinking ahead, obviously this is going to be Oracle's fight, but the question of who else to include is an interesting one. The other issue with Dragon types (in this generation, at least) is that there aren't that many of them, so predicting Clair's team is going to be a bit of a trick. She's doubtlessly going to have something from the Dratini family, probably a Dragonair (this is probably too early in the game to face a fully-evolved Dragonite.) I wouldn't be surprised to see Kingdra, too. Beyond that? The game might have to get creative and include things that merely look like dragons, like Gyarados or Charizard. (That last one is unlikely, but still.)
In other words, this battle is hard to plan around because I have no idea what Pokemon she could have.
While I'm thinking about it, Bug Catcher Arnie calls and invites me to Route 35 for a rematch. Ehh. Later.
I'll take Empress for screens and Oracle for freezing Dragons, of course. On the guess that there may be Water types (Gyarados, etc.) I include Kracko as well. Steel is the only type that, defensively, resists Dragon-type attacks, so Omnihunter is in. Auryn in case I need additional Water resistance and because its Water/Psychic STABs are good just in general, I guess? And... Falkor in case it comes down to a Dragon-off? I don't know.
Inside the gym, there is a platforms-over-lava aesthetic and I'm glad I brought Auryn. However, I lead with Omnihunter against the regular trainers, because him being one level off from X-Scissor bothers me.
Oh God even the regular trainers have level 35 Dratinis. I'm scared.
Omnihunter hits 41 and learns X-Scissor just in time to switch out. Oracle leads the rest of the way up to Clair.
Oracle struggles a bit with a Seadra and that's the other problem with this gym. If they're padding the Dragon theme with Water/Dragons like Kingdra, fine. Kingdra doesn't gain the dual-typing until fully evolving, though. Seadra is a pure Water-type which resists Ice! I still don't know what Clair's team looks like, and I'm getting more nervous about this by the second, but she could very well thwart Oracle if her team isn't fully evolved. I could doom myself by overestimating her.
Here we go. Oh God oh God oh God wish me luck.
I lead with Empress, of course. Clair leads with... a level 38 Gyarados. At least that one I predicted, though the level is higher than I'd like.
Gyarados uses Dragon Rage to hit Empress for exactly 40 damage, because Dragon Rage. Empress responds with Light Screen. Gyarados continues with another Dragon Rage, and Empress continues with Reflect.
I switch in Oracle, who eats another Dragon Rage coming in. Gyarados out-speeds Oracle, so she (because she's a Girlarados) begins the next round with--you'll never guess--Dragon Rage. Oracle answers with Hail.
By now, Oracle needs a heal, so I use a Hyper Potion. Gyarados uses Dragon Rage, again.
The following around, Gyarados hits another Dragon Rage, and Oracle follows with Blizzard, which takes Gyarados down to critical health. I, uh, was really hoping that would be a one-hit KO.
Well, Oracle needs healing again, so I use a Hyper Potion next round. ... and so does Clair.
At least Oracle starts the next round with full health, so Dragon Rage/Blizzard happens again. By now, the screens have worn off, as has Hail, but I'm getting sick of this. I just order Oracle to use Ice Beam rather than bothering with any more setup.
Gyarados uses Dragon Rage again, and I'm seriously wondering if she even has any other moves. Oracle's Ice Beam follows, and that's one Pokemon down. A part of me really wants to hope that was Clair's ace and that it gets easier from here, but she follows with a level 38 Dragonair (another one I predicted, at least) so it probably wasn't.
I use a Hyper Potion. The Dragonair responds with Dragon Pulse. Without the screens to protect me anymore, it hits for 30, which is at least better than Dragon Rage's constant 40.
Oracle sets up Hail again. Dragonair promptly paralyzes him with Thunder Wave. I sigh and use a Paralyz Heal. Dragonair tries Fire Blast and oh God they have... of course they have Fire moves; they're Dragons. It misses, though, and I thank all that is sacred and good for Oracle's evasion boost during Hail.
At this point, the presence of Fire Blast tells me that Dragonair needs to stop being conscious now. Oracle is the faster of the two, and begins the round with Hail support. I mash the Blizzard button like I'm in a giant robot anime, and down goes Dragonair.
Clair sends out a level 41 Kingdra, which means I've now seen all three Pokemon I actually predicted. She has four on her team. I have no idea what's coming after this, but... let's not get ahead of ourselves; we need to deal with this one, first. The good and bad news is that it's a fully-evolved Kingdra, which means it's tougher but also is neutral (instead of resistant) to Ice. I still have Hail. Blizzard again!
Kingdra goes first and blasts Oracle with a Hydro Pump that brings him down to about 18 HP. Oracle's Blizzard, by contrast, is only good for about 60% damage, which is more like 30% after Kingdra auto-eats a Sitrus Berry.
I use a Hyper Potion, Kingdra blasts Oracle with another Hydro Pump. From full health, it does exactly 50% of his health in damage. We apparently have an even-worse repeat of the Dragon Rage situation, except isn't Hydro Pump supposed to be inaccurate? And I have an evasion boost--no I don't; Hail just wore off.
One option at this point would be to switch in Auryn, who could resist Hydro Pump and answer with Psychic. That would be the smart play if Kingdra were Clair's last Pokemon. However, she has one more after it, and I don't want to have to switch around again. Option B is to just keep using Hyper Potions every round until Hydro Pump misses, which feels really cheap, but this already isn't going to be my cleanest victory.
I use a Hyper Potion, Kingdra Hydro Pumps and hits. I am officially on a treadmill at this point.
On the second attempt, I use a Hyper Potion and Hydro Pump misses. There's our opening, at least.
Kingdra changes tactics and uses SmokeScreen, which drops Oracle's accuracy. Too bad I used that opening to set up Hail again, and Blizzard is sure-hit in a hailstorm.
Kingdra opens next round with Hydro Pump and of course hits again, hitting through the hail evasion boost and everything; it simply wouldn't do to miss and leave Oracle at full health going into the final enemy. Oracle's Blizzard, meanwhile, predictably finishes Kingdra off.
Oracle hits level 41, has just under half health left, and shakily braces himself for...
A second level 38 Dragonair. Oh, so Kingdra was the ace.
The last Dragonair was slower than Oracle and went down in one Blizzard, but also had Thunder Wave and Fire Blast if I let it stay out for too long. Oracle is hurt, but Hail is already up. I think it's worth the risk of going with Blizzard instead of healing, in hopes that I can instakill this Dragonair like the last one before it has the chance to do anything inconvenient.
My risk pays off. Oracle goes first, Blizzard crits, and that's that.
Whew. That sure was a thing.
Clair doesn't seem to think it was, though, as she refuses to concede defeat. Well, more like she admits that she lost, but claims that we're still not powerful enough to take on the Elite Four. (Given how harrowing this battle was, she might actually have a point.) Rather than giving us the badge or acknowledging our victory in any way, she says we need to take the Dragon-master challenge, which involveslots of stretching and going to a place called Dragon's Den, which is located behind the gym. There's a small shrine in there, and we need to go there to "prove we've lost our lazy ideals."
It's never as simple as "I'll just get the last badge and then I can get the Legendaries," is it? I need to stop planning my stopping points ahead, because everything always has about fifty more steps and five thousand more words than it's supposed to. A showdown like that seems like as reasonable a finish as we're going to get, unless I want to delay this entry again.
Next time: We shall see what the Dragon-master challenge in Dragon's Den is all about!
Last time: Team Rocket called for help! But nobody came. Now they're out of their misery once again, and I have a lead on the Legendary Pokemon.
The radio tower director gave us very little information for our next move. We have the Silver Wing now, and we know that the Legendary Pokemon lives somewhere beyond the whirlpools in Whirl Islands. However, just randomly taking the Silver Wing there in its current form will not accomplish anything. We need to do... something, somewhere, to make it work.
That's about as much of a clue as we're going to get. I do know that the Kimono Girls have been upgraded in plot significance in this game, though. They keep appearing along the way and making cryptic comments about Legendary Pokemon. If anyone has the instruction manual for this Wing, they would. Ecruteak is our next stop, then.
Or it would be, anyway. Speaking of hunting for Legendaries, I do beleive it's just about time to do something about those roaming Legendary Beasts first. My team is in the high 30s at this point, and the two catchable Beasts currently roaming the map are level 40. If I surpass them, then using Repels to ward off every random encounter in the area except them will no longer work.
As I said before, in original Gold/Silver, you just had to get lucky and happen across each Beast once, and then you could track their current location by checking their Pokedex entry. In HG/SS, they're visible on the map from the beginning, but... that feels like cheating to me, somehow. I can't really explain why. I'm used to how you did it in Silver, I guess? That's not a good way to have to do it, and changing it was a very good and welcome change.
And yet.
For no other reason than because it was inexplicably going to bother me if I don't, I still want to luck into each Beast at least once before I start using the map. Just like old times, you know?
I already stumbled across Raikou in a previous entry. Suicune is tied to the plot now. That just leaves Entei, for whom I've always held kind of a soft spot in my heart. I did capture all three Beasts in original Silver, but Entei feels the most special of the three to me. Unless I'm misremembering (which admittedly is possible,) I really want to believe it's because Entei was the first one I encountered. This time, though, Entei has been a stubborn holdout, and I'm going to have to force the issue a little. And for that, I'm going to need my two Hunters, regular and
Several Super and Max Repels' worth of running back and forth between Routes 35 and 36, I encounter... Raikou again. Omnihunter boops Raikou on the snoot with a False Swipe that does maybe 10% of its health in damage, and then it runs away. I could have stood to hit it harder than that, probably, but I am not taking chances.
While I'm wandering, Fisherman Tully calls and asks for a rematch next time I'm on Route 42. That will go nicely with... did I ever get Bug Catcher Wade's berries? I forget. He hasn't called me about them recently, so I'm going to assume I did.
More roaming, more roaming... AHA. THERE. Look at this Entei that I totally was just minding my own business and happen to run into by complete accident. Shh.
Now that I've seen both Beasts, let's bring them in. This should go a little more quickly, since I'm now allowing myself to use the map.
... I say "this should go a little more quickly" and then I actually try it. The algorithm for roaming Pokemon is different in this game (in that there actually is one, rather than "they teleport to any random spot on the map every time you change locations") but now that I've had experience with it, I think I like the old way better. Even as recently as Diamond, you could go to any two area with random encounters that were right next to each other, and cross back and forth between the two until the Legendary happened to land on you. In Diamond, you didn't even need to pull up the map through a menu to see where the roaming Legendary currently was; you had a Poketch app for that and it always displayed on the bottom screen. By contrast, there are more steps involved to see where a Beast currently is in HG/SS, and it feels a lot harder and more cumbersome to reset it until it's where it's supposed to be.
(Note that this is the first and last time I will ever make any favorable comparisons or otherwise say anything positive about Diamond/Pearl's UI.)
After going through about a zillion iterations of map-checking per time I encountered one, only to get a single low-power attack in each time before they fled again, I finally wear both Beasts down to 1 HP. Then, Hunter leads and tries to Hypnotize whichever Beast gets close, missing a total of four times (with the Beasts fleeing and making me tracking them down again every time) until finally getting one on Raikou. And then it fled anyway, but I knew that part was coming.
Finally, after doing the whole "make the Beast appear next to you" shuffle one more time, I initiated a battle with an already-sleeping 1 HP Raikou and immediately used Mean Look. Beasts can flee in their sleep, but they can't Roar in their sleep, meaning I now finally have a regular more-than-one-turn battle. (Until it wakes up again, anyway.)
I throw a Dusk Ball and... catch it on my first try.
Well, all right, then.
By this point, I'm a little fed up with the trouble these critters have put me through, so I opt for the passive-aggressive revenge tactic of giving Raikou a silly name. "Thundercat" is the most obvious reference, of course, but it's just not humiliating enough.
There.
That just leaves Entei, whom I get down to 1 HP and asleep much the same way, but that's where the similarities end. Unlike my lucky shot with Raikou, Entei has a serious case of what I like to call Won't Get In The Fucking Ball Syndrome, wherein Entei won't get in the fucking ball. I spend so long fruitlessly hunting Entei down, throwing everything I have until it wakes up and the battle disintegrates, resetting, and repeating, that eventually I run out of time for tonight's gaming session. I really wanted this to be an entry about catching all the Legendaries, but I also wanted to post something this weekend (this paragraph was written on December 17, for the record,) and Entei has made these two goals mutually exclusive. This is a terrible place to end this post, so Entei manages to force a post delay until next weekend. Very sorry for the inconvenience. Blame the burn puppy.
...
It is now Tuesday, December 19. After countless encounters and balls thrown, I finally caught Entei. The longer that went on, the more it made me appreciate how much I lucked out with Raikou. I really cannot imagine having to go through all of that twice.
I want to give Entei an even sillier name as revenge for the torment it put me through, but I actually love Entei as much as Eusine loves... well, okay, no one loves anything as much as Eusine loves Suicune, but let's just say I'd totally do Entei. I have some fond memories and nostalgia surrounding this Pokemon, and the gen 4 sprite looks even better (I blame those gigantic paws.) Entei is my favorite Fire type, and I just can't stay mad at the thing. I'm so ecstatic to have one that it overwrites any negative feelings I might have built up getting one.
Thus, Entei needs a properly dignified name. Something befitting of my great admiration for the noble beast. Something that rings forth gloriously when you gaze upon that magnificent visage and...
... that... magnificent visage....
That majestic... um
...
...
Entei, I'm sorry. I love you. I really, truly do. You're my favorite Fire type and one of my favorite Legendaries of any type, of any generation. But you look like you went down on a Starmie and got stuck.
... And that's both Beasts captured! Now all I just need the big one, the one that requires that Silver Wing. "Go see if the Kimono Girls know anything" is still my only lead at this point, so I fly to Ecruteak and... the Kimono Girls do not know anything. There is still only one on stage, and she does not say anything different. No one in the town does.
Well. I, uh... hmm. Hold, please.
*Walkthrough*
Oh for crying... so, it turns out that I need all eight badges. I was trying to make this The Legendary post. I didn't want to split the Legendaries up into several posts up like this. I... can always delay and make this one an even more massive megapost, I guess. More next time!
...
It is now December 31. Happy New Year, everyone! Let's close out 2017 by adding another badge to our collection.
For that, we're going to want to go east from Mahogany. We won't be needing Hunter until later, so she can stay in the PC for now. After Pokewalking throughout the time off, I raised Oracle and Kracko to 40, because I have a feeling they're going to be needed shortly. Everyone else is around 35-38 or so, and I'll want the experience to go to them. Utility demands Nimbly, Auryn, Omnihunter, and Sweetie. Empress is the team mascot. That leaves... Falkor can be our sixth for today. Falkor leads. As a Dragonair, she needs more experience than normal to gain levels, but I have a Lucky Egg from... somewhere. Diamond trade, I think?
Wade doesn't have any outstanding berries for me, but we can go ahead and take care of Fisherman Tully's challenge. Then Fisherman Ralph calls and he wants a rematch, too. Route 32. Good thing I have Fly now. The rematch battles are at far higher levels--in fact, Ralph's Seaking actually had Falkor beat on levels, 40 to 38. It shouldn't have been a difficult battle, because it's still just a Seaking, but Falkor's move pool is severely limited. Even good stats and levels don't mean much if she can't actually do anything. God, I can't wait for her to evolve.
Back to business, Falkor hits 39 and learns Dragon Rush, right after I was complaining about her lack of moves. Dragon Rush still isn't great, but it's an improvement. It replaces Slam as a straightforward "hit the enemy hard for lots of damage" move with higher base power and STAB, but both moves have the same accuracy issues. Even Falkor herself is starting to get testy about her Dragonair form's move pool, since I swear the pose she strikes when she first enters the battle looks like she's using her tail to flip the enemy off. The good news is that she can vent her frustration by squashing things flat pretty darn good when Dragon Rush hits.
Falkor hits 40 because that Lucky Egg really works, so I give it to Nimbly and put her in the lead next. She annihilates Fisherman Wilton's team, gains a level, and gets his number for her trouble. Same story (including getting his number) for Bird Keeper Vance, who asked "Do you know about the legendary bird Pokemon?" just before sending out a level 28 Hoothoot. Keep dreaming, buddy.
The Ice Path is next. This is still a typical obnoxious cave level and one of those infuriating slippery slidey puzzles, but the good news is that the remake was very kind to this area aesthetically. It has a nice new tileset and a great icy-sounding mix of the Dark Cave theme, which I just realized I hadn't heard yet because I skipped Dark Cave with the intention of coming back to it later. This is another song that punches me right in the nostalgia while being very nice in its own right, and the remake is great. Thank you, GameFreak. I like this.
Ice Path is still a cave, though. DID SOMEONE SAY GOLBATS
The good news is that they give Nimbly like a fifth to a quarter of a level per fight. I really should have been using the Lucky Egg a lot sooner.
I explore one of the random side dead ends that probably at least has an item in it, and get the HM for Waterfall! This is... not the worst field move, in terms of feeling legitimate and not like an obvious "It lets you clear the obstacles we made up just so you need this to clear them" move, the way Cut, Rock Smash, and Whirlpool do. Waterfall will allow us to climb up waterfalls while Surfing, turning a normally impassable barrier into the equivalent of a ladder tile. Yes, it's still just a "move to get past an obstacle that requires the move" move if you think about it, but it at least doesn't feel like one as much as the others do.
There are Jynx in this cave and they can fuck right off. I have an Ice type, thank you. Even if I didn't, I would rather go into battle lacking one than rely on that. Some things just aren't worth it.
There's a Kimono Girl at the exit! Her sandals are frozen to the ground, so she needs us to come around and push her from behind. This means one more sliding ice puzzle after a cave full of them.
Through the Ice Path, we arrive at Blackthorn City, at last! This town reuses Azalea's theme, which is appropriate for how overjoyed I am to have made it.
Cameron happens to be in Blackthorn tonight, so we can capture the current team and everything!
Ice Path was longer than this writeup's length would imply, since I didn't have much to say about every individual ice puzzle and Confuse Ray I suffered. It took a lot out of me, though. I am now at the point where I need to look at the time and realize it's foolish to press on. I don't think I'm getting the other Legendary in this block, after all. I do at least want to beat the final gym battle before I call this a post, but even that is going to require putting the rest of this off until next time. Again. Sorry.
...
It is now Saturday, January 13 and I'm going to finish this update if it kills me. The good news is that, thanks to the extra time off Pokewalking, my entire team is now level 40. This even includes Hunter, though it does not include Sweetie.
We start today's session in Blackthorn City. Let's look around!
An NPC in town wants to trade a female Dragonair for his Dodrio and ahahahaha wow God no. Come on, Falkor, let's get out of here quickly.
Santos of Saturday is here, and from him we get a Soft Sand. This powers up Ground-type moves. I may or may not find a use for it later.
Finally, and most importantly, Blackthorn is the home of the Move Deleter and Move Reminder! The former is the only way to erase HM moves, once any Pokemon has them. The latter, in exchange for one Heart Scale per move, can cause a Pokemon to relearn any move from its leveling list. This great news for anything I happen to have missed by being in the Pokewalker at the level they were supposed to learn it. More importantly, it's great news for Pokemon who have innate moves that they don't actually learn at any level, but that sit on their leveling list for this exact occasion.
The main example that's the most important to this team as of this writing is Bullet Punch. According to its move list, Scizor technically starts with it at level 1. Of course, there is no such thing as a level 1 Scizor. We only encountered Omnihunter well into his adolescence, and even then, he was still a Scyther when we did. No, Bullet Punch is on the move list specifically just so that you can teach it via the Move Reminder.
Heart Scales are no object, because they're readily available in the Pokewalker. I have 13 as of this paragraph, and I can easily find more if I somehow use up all of these. So, let's give the team a move makeover! (And since this update was late, this will also be a good chance to go over a memory-refreshing list of who all exactly is "the team" at this point.)
- Empress (Meganium, F) already has a fine move set which does not need any adjustment: Magical Leaf, Safeguard, Reflect, Light Screen. Her job, as always, is to lead, set up any combination of screens depending on what I'm up against, and switch out. Magical Leaf is there on the rare occasions she needs to fight something herself, but it does come very much in handy in those occasions.
- Nimbly (Honchkrow, F) is almost, but not quite ready for overhauls for most of her major move slots. She gets a far better Dark type attack at level 45, and she can lose Fly to get Wing Attack back as soon as I get my final HM users. Until then, she's stuck with the set of Pursuit, Fly, Astonish, Haze. I was at least able to swap out Night Shade (set damage "does exactly as much damage as the user's current level" move) for Astonish (regular Ghost-type attack with a chance to flinch,) because I ran some damage calculations and Astonish can at least match if not beat Night Shade on types I tested with a Ghost weakness.
- Atreyu (Machamp, M), after suffering through 40 levels of gimmicky situational moves, finally gets the pure high-powered Cross Chop at 40. Of course, "Gimmicky Fighting attacks" and "Non-gimmicky Fighting attacks" together make up Machamp's entire movepool, so Atreyu is still going to have some situational stuff if only because he still has three slots to fill. He ends up with Cross Chop, Revenge, Low Kick, Seismic Toss.
- Auryn (Starmie, Genderless) already has a fine move set that needs no adjustment: Surf, Psychic, Swift, Confuse Ray. Its job is to blast things with whatever element is the most handy in any given situation, plus Confuse Ray.
- Falkor (Dragonair, F) is... sad. Poor Falkor. Once she's fully evolved, Dragonite has some killer stats and amazing moves to use them. She will be the star of my team someday. As a Dragonair, though, that move pool is just crippling. Even with another chance to teach anything she missed, there's very little in here that would be useful. I still have that Dragon Claw TM, and that will be amazing once she can use it, but until then... sigh. Her existing set of Dragon Rush, Aqua Tail, Dragon Rage, Thunder Wave is about the best we can do for now.
- Kracko (Ampharos, M) has some odd innate moves and a few slots to spare. For the sake of eh-why-not, he ends up with Discharge, ThunderPunch, Fire Punch, Thunder Wave. I'll probably swap in Signal Beam over ThunderPunch for more "Special attack of a different element just in case" coverage, because there aren't a whole lot of options otherwise, but he won't learn Signal Beam until 42. (Note to self: do not forget.)
- Omnihunter (Scizor, M) is the reason why I'm here, though he does have some caveats. He only has three slots for decent boss-killing moves instead of the usual four, because I really want to keep False Swipe for capturing purposes. (This is also why he's as omnipresent in my team as Sweetie; he's my "But what if I find a Shiny" insurance.) He's also another Pokemon whose best moves are coming later. Bullet Punch, Slash, Pursuit, False Swipe is a decent set for now, but X-Scissor will replace Pursuit next level at 41, and Double Hit will replace Slash at 49.
- Oracle (Glaceon, M) already had a fine and previously-explained end-game setup of Ice Beam, Hidden Power (Fighting), Hail, Blizzard. I see no reason to change that now.
- Hunter (Haunter, F) is here just to help put Legendaries to sleep when I need to capture them, and is generally not used otherwise. Hypnosis, Mean Look, Shadow Ball, Dream Eater I guess? The latter two make her somewhat formidable, but are unlikely to see use.
- Sweetie (Kangaskhan, F) is a non-combatant who is there solely for HM field moves, and is going to be replaced soon.
And with our team properly calibrated, the last point of interest in Blackthorn is its gym. Its leader is Clair, "The Blessed User of Dragon Pokemon."
The Dragon type is a tough one. Dragon Pokemon, simply put, are powerful with very few weaknesses. They're not quite as known for status shenanigans as types like Ghost or Poison are, but I think a couple of them might have slam-type moves that cause paralysis as a secondary effect. The biggest problem with Dragons, though, is that (in pre-Fairy type games) they're weak to almost nothing except Dragon and Ice.
Dragon... yes, it's weak to itself, but the problem with countering Dragons with Dragons is that your Dragons are weak to Dragon, too. Meanwhile, as of original Silver, Ice was just not a very good type. It was good design for the game to put the Ice Path in right before the area where you needed an Ice type, but... really, Jynx or Lapras are about the best you're going to do, and I refuse to use Jynx.
Fortunately, this is a generation 4 remake of Silver, so Glaceon exists now. I mentioned before, when trying to decide what to do with Bill's Eevee, that there is no better game to have a Glaceon than this one. This is one of the major occasions (and not even the only occasion!) in which a good dragon-slayer is needed.
Thinking ahead, obviously this is going to be Oracle's fight, but the question of who else to include is an interesting one. The other issue with Dragon types (in this generation, at least) is that there aren't that many of them, so predicting Clair's team is going to be a bit of a trick. She's doubtlessly going to have something from the Dratini family, probably a Dragonair (this is probably too early in the game to face a fully-evolved Dragonite.) I wouldn't be surprised to see Kingdra, too. Beyond that? The game might have to get creative and include things that merely look like dragons, like Gyarados or Charizard. (That last one is unlikely, but still.)
In other words, this battle is hard to plan around because I have no idea what Pokemon she could have.
While I'm thinking about it, Bug Catcher Arnie calls and invites me to Route 35 for a rematch. Ehh. Later.
I'll take Empress for screens and Oracle for freezing Dragons, of course. On the guess that there may be Water types (Gyarados, etc.) I include Kracko as well. Steel is the only type that, defensively, resists Dragon-type attacks, so Omnihunter is in. Auryn in case I need additional Water resistance and because its Water/Psychic STABs are good just in general, I guess? And... Falkor in case it comes down to a Dragon-off? I don't know.
Inside the gym, there is a platforms-over-lava aesthetic and I'm glad I brought Auryn. However, I lead with Omnihunter against the regular trainers, because him being one level off from X-Scissor bothers me.
Oh God even the regular trainers have level 35 Dratinis. I'm scared.
Omnihunter hits 41 and learns X-Scissor just in time to switch out. Oracle leads the rest of the way up to Clair.
Oracle struggles a bit with a Seadra and that's the other problem with this gym. If they're padding the Dragon theme with Water/Dragons like Kingdra, fine. Kingdra doesn't gain the dual-typing until fully evolving, though. Seadra is a pure Water-type which resists Ice! I still don't know what Clair's team looks like, and I'm getting more nervous about this by the second, but she could very well thwart Oracle if her team isn't fully evolved. I could doom myself by overestimating her.
Here we go. Oh God oh God oh God wish me luck.
I lead with Empress, of course. Clair leads with... a level 38 Gyarados. At least that one I predicted, though the level is higher than I'd like.
Gyarados uses Dragon Rage to hit Empress for exactly 40 damage, because Dragon Rage. Empress responds with Light Screen. Gyarados continues with another Dragon Rage, and Empress continues with Reflect.
I switch in Oracle, who eats another Dragon Rage coming in. Gyarados out-speeds Oracle, so she (because she's a Girlarados) begins the next round with--you'll never guess--Dragon Rage. Oracle answers with Hail.
By now, Oracle needs a heal, so I use a Hyper Potion. Gyarados uses Dragon Rage, again.
The following around, Gyarados hits another Dragon Rage, and Oracle follows with Blizzard, which takes Gyarados down to critical health. I, uh, was really hoping that would be a one-hit KO.
Well, Oracle needs healing again, so I use a Hyper Potion next round. ... and so does Clair.
At least Oracle starts the next round with full health, so Dragon Rage/Blizzard happens again. By now, the screens have worn off, as has Hail, but I'm getting sick of this. I just order Oracle to use Ice Beam rather than bothering with any more setup.
Gyarados uses Dragon Rage again, and I'm seriously wondering if she even has any other moves. Oracle's Ice Beam follows, and that's one Pokemon down. A part of me really wants to hope that was Clair's ace and that it gets easier from here, but she follows with a level 38 Dragonair (another one I predicted, at least) so it probably wasn't.
I use a Hyper Potion. The Dragonair responds with Dragon Pulse. Without the screens to protect me anymore, it hits for 30, which is at least better than Dragon Rage's constant 40.
Oracle sets up Hail again. Dragonair promptly paralyzes him with Thunder Wave. I sigh and use a Paralyz Heal. Dragonair tries Fire Blast and oh God they have... of course they have Fire moves; they're Dragons. It misses, though, and I thank all that is sacred and good for Oracle's evasion boost during Hail.
At this point, the presence of Fire Blast tells me that Dragonair needs to stop being conscious now. Oracle is the faster of the two, and begins the round with Hail support. I mash the Blizzard button like I'm in a giant robot anime, and down goes Dragonair.
Clair sends out a level 41 Kingdra, which means I've now seen all three Pokemon I actually predicted. She has four on her team. I have no idea what's coming after this, but... let's not get ahead of ourselves; we need to deal with this one, first. The good and bad news is that it's a fully-evolved Kingdra, which means it's tougher but also is neutral (instead of resistant) to Ice. I still have Hail. Blizzard again!
Kingdra goes first and blasts Oracle with a Hydro Pump that brings him down to about 18 HP. Oracle's Blizzard, by contrast, is only good for about 60% damage, which is more like 30% after Kingdra auto-eats a Sitrus Berry.
I use a Hyper Potion, Kingdra blasts Oracle with another Hydro Pump. From full health, it does exactly 50% of his health in damage. We apparently have an even-worse repeat of the Dragon Rage situation, except isn't Hydro Pump supposed to be inaccurate? And I have an evasion boost--no I don't; Hail just wore off.
One option at this point would be to switch in Auryn, who could resist Hydro Pump and answer with Psychic. That would be the smart play if Kingdra were Clair's last Pokemon. However, she has one more after it, and I don't want to have to switch around again. Option B is to just keep using Hyper Potions every round until Hydro Pump misses, which feels really cheap, but this already isn't going to be my cleanest victory.
I use a Hyper Potion, Kingdra Hydro Pumps and hits. I am officially on a treadmill at this point.
On the second attempt, I use a Hyper Potion and Hydro Pump misses. There's our opening, at least.
Kingdra changes tactics and uses SmokeScreen, which drops Oracle's accuracy. Too bad I used that opening to set up Hail again, and Blizzard is sure-hit in a hailstorm.
Kingdra opens next round with Hydro Pump and of course hits again, hitting through the hail evasion boost and everything; it simply wouldn't do to miss and leave Oracle at full health going into the final enemy. Oracle's Blizzard, meanwhile, predictably finishes Kingdra off.
Oracle hits level 41, has just under half health left, and shakily braces himself for...
A second level 38 Dragonair. Oh, so Kingdra was the ace.
The last Dragonair was slower than Oracle and went down in one Blizzard, but also had Thunder Wave and Fire Blast if I let it stay out for too long. Oracle is hurt, but Hail is already up. I think it's worth the risk of going with Blizzard instead of healing, in hopes that I can instakill this Dragonair like the last one before it has the chance to do anything inconvenient.
My risk pays off. Oracle goes first, Blizzard crits, and that's that.
Whew. That sure was a thing.
Clair doesn't seem to think it was, though, as she refuses to concede defeat. Well, more like she admits that she lost, but claims that we're still not powerful enough to take on the Elite Four. (Given how harrowing this battle was, she might actually have a point.) Rather than giving us the badge or acknowledging our victory in any way, she says we need to take the Dragon-master challenge, which involves
It's never as simple as "I'll just get the last badge and then I can get the Legendaries," is it? I need to stop planning my stopping points ahead, because everything always has about fifty more steps and five thousand more words than it's supposed to. A showdown like that seems like as reasonable a finish as we're going to get, unless I want to delay this entry again.
Next time: We shall see what the Dragon-master challenge in Dragon's Den is all about!
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Date: 2018-01-14 05:21 am (UTC)Entei doesn't have a nose. Dude looks like a Final Fantasy Tactics character. How am I only JUST NOW seeing this? I don't so much see a Starmieface as I see Entei wearing a superhero mask to try to cover for his crippling lack of a nose.
I mean, how does he smell?
[FILL IN ANSWER HERE ___________]
"Do you know about the legendary bird Pokemon?" with undertones of BECAUSE I REALLY NEED ONE PLEASE.
It's like I'm really time traveling with you. *whee* This is probably a good format for these long posts. Helps convey how much time has passed and whatnot.
"An NPC in town wants to trade a female Dragonair for his Dodrio and" boy howdy OPTIMISM sure exists doesn't it.
I do feel sorry for the little wingyheaded pool noodles though. Dragonairs really can't DO much. Maybe if you had a Belmont on your team she'd come in handier in this period of pokepuberty.
Well that was a hell of a battle. Remember: If you fail to master your dragons, your dragons will be the master of you.
...
No actually forget that, you're gonna throw the challenge if you're thinking about that. Stop thinking about that. ...stop it.
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Date: 2018-01-14 05:30 am (UTC)I CAN'T SEE ANYTHING WRONG WITH THIS TRADE SQRL. I'VE BEEN RAISING FALKOR THIS ENTIRE GAME JUST SO I CAN GET A DODRIO YEAH THAT SEEMS FAIR
Thank goodness I'm not into losing challenges or anything. wait
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Date: 2018-01-14 05:35 am (UTC)Okay but, like... Dragon Master challenge. You're gonna wanna level-grind a WHILE because it's gonna be really challenging, and of course you have to bring your finest dragon. You've been raising a good one! That's important. Make sure to feed it plenty of Big Meat and don't let it overwrite any of the good status effects because those things are hard to find. What you're gonna need most, though, is a high-quality pair of goggles. Not swim goggles either, I mean like tough leather aviator goggles. Don't bother putting them on, just wear them on you somepla...
*squint*
Wait this is the DIGIMON Master Challenge.
*toss guide over shoulder*
Nevermind, you'll be fine.
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Date: 2018-01-14 05:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-01-14 05:58 am (UTC)(−) Did someone say “dragons”? o..o (+) o..o
NO
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Date: 2018-01-14 03:23 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2018-01-14 06:35 am (UTC)Entei is also the only one who got his own movie, arguably, though he shared billing rights with goddamn Unown of all things.
Atreyu (Machamp, M), after suffering through 40 levels of gimmicky situational moves,
Check his Ability. Those weren't a thing in Gen 2, they only showed up with Ruby/Sapphire, but the Machop line has a 50/50 shot at No Guard. The description is misleading, so I'll spell it out clearer here: A pokemon with No Guard has perfect accuracy with all moves going in AND coming out. It will always hit, and it will always be hit. It makes a lot of those gimmicky situational moves a lot less gimmicky, and is absolutely a reason to toss Dizzy Punch on Atreyu if he has No Guard. (It also means you should probably never throw him in a battle against things with One Hit KO moves or clutch dodge-victories like you had against Clair.)
It would not have made Clair much easier (as stated about lucky dodges) but it has its uses.
and Double Hit will replace Slash at 49.
I'm not sure this is the greatest idea - you're replacing a 70-power high-crit-rate move with a two hit 35 power move, meaning you're losing the improved critical chance for the ability to break Substitutes?
Gyarados uses Dragon Rage again, and I'm seriously wondering if she even has any other moves.
According to Bulbapedia, it has Twister, Dragon Pulse, and Bite. Unfortunately, HG/SS is after the physical/special split, and Gyarados has cruddy Special Attack. Twister and Pulse are just for thematic purposes, and Dragon Rage is Dragon Rage. Bite is the real terror and you're... probably pretty lucky it never came out. Getting flinch hax'd by the first pokemon is a problem.
Honestly, the Dragonairs are the least scary part of that fight, as predicted. Leading with Shitkicker Pool Noodle and finishing with Look Ma, No Weaknesses (in all seriousness, the only thing Kingdra takes worse than neutral damage from is Dragon-type moves, and as stated it dishes them back in kind - usually faster, too, unless you have a Kingdra or Dragonite of your own) is just a hell of a time all around.
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Date: 2018-01-14 06:41 am (UTC)Something to plan for if you have a No Guard Atreyu, tho.
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Date: 2018-01-14 03:34 pm (UTC)Bear in mind that up until this point, Atreyu's moves were:
* Does damage based on how heavy the enemy is
* Does more damage if you got hit first
* Does exactly as much damage as the user's level
*
Karate ChopSubmission.Every move had some sort of gimmick to trigger its optimal damage conditions (or was set-damage). The closest I had to just pure straightforward "Fighting-type punch that hits enemy for damage" was Karate Chop, which is sort of the Fighting equivalent of Tackle: a low-power starter move that gets you through the first one or two gyms but you should really replace it someday. I finally did with Submission, which is a decently high-powered move with recoil damage, which was about the closest thing Atreyu had to non-gimmicky damage even with that. With Cross Chop, he finally has what I consider a move that is both powerful and normal, its only catch being low PP. I will also put DynamicPunch in that same pile when I get it, because accuracy isn't a concern... but yeah, that comes later.
I'm not sure this is the greatest idea - you're replacing a 70-power high-crit-rate move with a two hit 35 power move, meaning you're losing the improved critical chance for the ability to break Substitutes?
Scizor has Technician. I'm replacing a 70-power high-crit-rate move with a two hit 52ish-power move.
Also, looking at Bulbapedia, I think I'm lucky a few moves never came out, actually. Yeah, the Hyper Potion/Hydro Pump treadmill was annoying, but apparently that Kingdra was also packing Hyper Beam.
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Date: 2018-01-14 04:02 pm (UTC)The other alternative is putting Rock Smash on him, since Technician makes it at least decently powerful and it gives Scizor type coverage against Steel, the only thing it can't do even neutral damage to. Also guaranteed defense debuff is helpful.
I mean there's also Fire but why would you use Omni against a Fire type that's insane.
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Date: 2018-01-14 10:36 pm (UTC)Also, Hyper Beam is both a blessing and a curse - yeah, it'll one-shot anything you have, but then you have an absolutely free turn after that. I've won more than my share of battles playing defensive keepaway by reviving/healing a major attacker while a bullshit pokemon hyperbeam'd my less effective teammates one by one.
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Date: 2018-01-14 08:56 am (UTC)It's as powerful as Wing Attack but never misses.
Also I guess technically you can have a level 1 Scizor because you could trade-evolve a just-hatched Scyther.
Also also: fuck that fucking Kingdra. That thing is a monster.
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Date: 2018-01-14 11:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-01-14 01:05 pm (UTC)Diamond and Pearl fixed a lot of things.
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Date: 2018-01-14 03:20 pm (UTC)Unless I'm wrong! Which I very well could be.
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Date: 2018-01-14 03:36 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2018-01-14 09:12 am (UTC)Haha, joke's on you, fucker, Dragonair is a huge prima donna and now I have a Normal/Flying that knows Drill Peck.
*helicopters away*
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Date: 2018-01-14 03:41 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2018-01-14 11:32 am (UTC)Entei'sSnoutyface's nose!no subject
Date: 2018-01-14 03:42 pm (UTC)Entei: *Runs away forever*
Me: :(
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Date: 2018-01-14 03:34 pm (UTC)God, I can remember Clair being an absolute *bitch* to fight (probably because my team consisted of a singular Typhlosion but that's besides the point), but dang, I got so much adrenaline just from reading that. That woke me right up.
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Date: 2018-01-14 03:43 pm (UTC)Glad you enjoyed the read! I got some adrenaline going through that battle and writing about it too, let me tell you.
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Date: 2018-01-14 07:23 pm (UTC)I mean DiamondSplash my OC do not steal.
I mean Meowribbons.
I mean Prototype Blue Sylveon.
I mean...
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