So Zeta Slow: Let’s Play Pokémon Zeta

Put your Let's Plays in here.
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What’s Pokemon Zeta?

Last year, back in the old country, Double Negative played a fangame called Pokémon Insurgence. Despite warnings that it wasn’t good, Insurgence turned out to have a lot to love, and the thread warmed up to it pretty quickly. Maybe this positive reception is because DN cut out the most tedious parts of the game for a screenshot LP. Maybe it’s because the LP was concurrent with one for Pokémon Reborn, the worst game ever created by a human.

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Whatever the case may be, it turns out that Insurgence isn’t the first Pokémon fangame developed by TheSuzerain. Sometime before 2013, he made Zeta and Omicron. I’ll be playing Zeta; differences between versions amount to different Pokemon being available at different times, different villain teams, and maybe some other things I don’t know. We’ll get into them.

Are you qualified?

I’m even less qualified than Double Negative because I’ve barely played this game! That’s right, it’s a blind LP, and I’m relying on the game’s wiki, Bulbapedia, maybe some other websites, and the expertise of all of you. You even get to suggest Pokémon and nicknames!

Spoilers?

Nope! Don’t discuss or hint at anything that hasn’t happened in the story yet, or mechanics exclusive to Pokémon Zeta or Omicron. Feel free to discuss game mechanics of the general Pokémon franchise and anything related to Insurgence, though. I assume everyone here is familiar with all of that anyway.

Updates:
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Last edited by Solitair on Mon Aug 29, 2022 8:32 am, edited 21 times in total.

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Fonts folder in Control Panel.

I already did this before I started recording, and the game is still warning me about this. It did make a difference; before I copied the fonts the game had unpixellated text that looked awful when contrasted with the rest of the Gen 3 aesthetic. But hey, I fixed it at the price of my text capture software not working on this game!

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I'll be turning the text speed to insane. I'm a fast reader and I'd rather do it at my own pace. Everything else is fine.

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Image This is a prerecorded message. It is only to be opened in case of emergency.

It will also raise more questions than if Oak had just talked to you at the start of the story, as we'll soon see.

Image My Name is Professor Oak. People call me the Pokémon Professor.

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Image You can also press V to quicksave, F to toggle autosave, and S to toggle autorun.

I'm sure autosave will come in handy when I'm trying to capture legendaries. Autorun will actually be helpful most of the time.

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Image Beginning prerecorded message.

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Many different people live here, all
with different worldviews and beliefs.

Some people desire goodness and altruism.

But, some people also value fame
and power over anything else.

You are about to take a
trip through this world.

At times, obstacles will stand in your way.
By solving puzzles and with clever thinking,
these can be over come.

At other times, others may challenge you to a battle.

By overcoming such hurdles, you can attain
success and power of your own.

Through your journey, we hope you gain
personal growth and learn from the
opinions of others.

That is the most important objective of
this quest, whether or not you succeed.

This reads like the "What is an RPG!?" section at the start of every tabletop game rulebook ever made, and I don't know why it's here. One would assume that Zeta/Omicron is for people who already know how to play a Pokémon game.

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Here and probably nowhere else we have one of the sick sprite animations from Black and White.

People and Pokémon live together by supporting each other. Some people play with Pokémon, some battle with them. But some people abuse them for power. That is why you are here today.

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As janky as this game can be sometimes, it's nice to just use a keyboard instead of hunt-and-pecking on a touch screen or d-pad.

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What kind of challenge run would you prefer?

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Here you're supposed to use the mouse to check which modes you want to toggle. I'll explain what they all do:

-Nuzlocke is that thing you've probably heard of and the only lasting legacy the TV show Lost has left on the world. This mode makes it impossible to revive fainted Pokémon and forces you to nickname them. Normally a Nuzlocke run also limits you to the first Pokémon you encounter in each area, but I guess the Z/O team couldn't make that work and is using the honor system. In Insurgence the mode turns off and lets you play normally when your last Pokémon faints, but the Z/O wiki doesn't specify if this is true here and I'm not inclined to find out.
-Randomized scrambles up all of the wild and trainer Pokémon you encounter, hitting up an RNG that excludes the few Fakemon this game has and possibly also the Gen 6 ones. These were the only two modes available before the 1.4 patch.
-PP Challenge prevents you from recharging lost uses of your moves at the Pokémon Center. Either you get lucky finding Ethers and the like or your buddies become a lot more disposable.
-Solo Run allows you to choose any basic non-legendary at the start of the game to be your only battler, and locks any Pokémon you catch in the PC until you give up or finish the Vesryn region storyline.
-Mystery Challenge hides the sprites and names of any Pokémon you haven't caught and registered in the Pokédex yet. You can also give this particular challenge up whenever you want.
-Non-Technical Challegne prevents you from using TMs, which probably cuts your competitive options in half.
-Anti-ante Challenge keeps you from getting money from trainers. Your only income is from selling items.
-Bravery Challenge prevents you from fleeing battles. Repels are even more valuable if you're doing this.

For what it's worth Insurgence also has:
-Wonder Challenge, which immediately trades away every Pokémon you get for something someone else playing the game just caught.
-Ironman Challenge, which deletes your save when you white out after losing a battle.

I just want to play the game, so all of these options will go unchecked.


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This sounds like a terrible idea. Of COURSE I'm picking yes.

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Team Asgard has attacked Nyasa Town, leaving few survivors.
The remaining citizens are being transferred to Zarivar Town through the Escape Route.
Emergency Pokémon are available in the Escape Route for those who want to help stop Team Asgard.
Thank you for watching this prerecorded message.

When did we have time to watch this if we're evacuating the town?

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This woman comes up the ladder.

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Image Go! Lucario!

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Image Go find... Wilson. Tell him the time for cowardice is over. Tell him to redeem himself.

Does that mean your Lucario can talk?

Image Lu-carrio!

Image Use ExtremeSpeed!

Image Lu-carrio!

He vanishes in a flash, and the woman walks up to Kate.

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Image They're out there. They won't stop until they get what they want. Kate, you're growing up. I think you're ready for your first Pokémon.

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Image You may as well take one. Perhaps, if Team Asgard is ever stopped, you might become a better trainer than I ever was! I only wish I knew why they came after Nyasa Town...

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Image Aria, we need you to help fend them off!

Image Oh no!

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Image ...Kate. I love you. Be safe.

Oak steps aside and lets her leave the cave.

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desperate measures.

Image As a Professor, I'm supposed to give you a Pokémon and start you on your journey. But as a friend of your family...

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ever met.

Image It's not that I doubt you, of course. You're surprisingly mature for your age.

Probably because she doesn't talk.

Image Follow me. I'll take you to get your Pokémon.

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Image It will be your companion for the rest of your life.

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Okay, interesting choice for starter Pokémon. I had this whole spiel ready criticizing the game for gating the starters' final evolutions behind items and trading. That and the fact that their base stat totals in the canon games differ a whole lot more than different starters usually do made me think I was in for a rough ride

However, a quick check of the Z/O wiki left me unable to find any mention of the Magmarizer and Dragon Scale, which only exist to evolve Magmar and Seadra. This makes me sure that the evolution requirements for these Pokémon, and possibly their base stats, have been changed. We'll see how that works out. In the meantime I'm picking the cool one.

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Team Asgard sound like some primitive screwheads to me.

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Image You truly are your mother's child. Amazing. I must be off. I will be waiting for you in my Lab in Zarivar Town. Just continue through the cave, you can't miss it.

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We're doing a more lo-fi version of the Heart Gold/Soul Silver walking Pokémon mechanic. It's no Amie, but it'll do.

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The speech tail appeared when this hiker was walking across the stone bridge and didn't catch up with him.

Image Snub-snub!

Image My name's Jeremy. I'm an intern in the Professor's Lab. The Professor asked me to give you these!

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Image If you see a wild Pokémon, such as in the tall grass or a cave, then you can throw a Pokéball to catch it! You'll have to weaken it first though. A Pokémon is easiest to catch when it is low on HP, and has a status effect like being asleep or frozen.

In most games we get to see the NPC catching something themselves and it takes more time to get through this tutorial. I don't know if the devs skipped this out of consideration or if they didn't know how to do it like the canon games do. I like the change, though.

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Image There are many different kinds of Pokéball. Some of them will catch Pokémon more easily.

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about I show you how to be a trainer? Let's have a battle!

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It's been a while, but I don't remember the Gen 3 battle transitions being like this.

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I think you know what all those buttons do.

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Since Snubbull cut our attack stat in half, we'll be using Ember, which runs on a different stat.

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Boomstick's Attack fell!

Again, not affecting Ember. The battle continues until I win.

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Kate got 160 Pokébucks for winning!

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Image Anyways, come visit Snubbull and me in the Professor's Lab ok? Lets go, Snubbull!

Image Snub-snub!

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"He's a different color, so he got bullied by all the other Mudkips... But I love him just the way he is!"

Aww! What trainer wouldn't like a shiny starter?

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again, aren't they? Here. This will help.

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"That POTION will heal your Pokémon even in the middle of a battle!"

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ok?

I thought we couldn't steal other trainers' Pokémon.

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walking to increase your pace!

Time to smash that autorun button!

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Day and night cycles are here, not that it affects much of anything. Also hope you didn't forget anything in the Escape Route, because the ledge is a one-way trip.

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Here's Zarivar Town. Every town in the Vesryn region is named after a real-world lake or river.

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personally, since our Mystery Gift service has had issues lately.

Pokémon Zeta and Omicron used to have online features and exclusive Pokémon. They're gone now. Mystery Gift was one of those features, so we're just going to get everything that was offered on it right now.

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It'll be a while before we have access to Aerodactyl or a Mega Ring.

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The Cinnabar Ticket, Medical License and License Template are also going on the mantle.

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This is useful right now, though. We could all use a little change.

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Now we're getting to the good stuff!

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hard!

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invasion? Can't blame you.

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You're just not cool enough, yknow?

Calling people "urchin" as a kid is the height of coolness.

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other kids like me...

You're too good for them.

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and...

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Hey wassup it's ya boi! I'm using custom sprites for this guy made by Polahhhbear on Reddit, because the default sprites are identical to Leaf/Blue/Green/Gary from Fire Red and Leaf Green.

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The game gave me one more chance to make him stop saying "swag," which from what I can tell is all of what this option does.

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I take the Potion out like with every other Pokémon game that lets you store items in the PC. Still no inventory limits, though.

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He's a great kid! Sweet, kind and caring!

Out of touch parents never change.

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Its really fun to say!

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Enough beating around the bush. This update's long enough as it is, and we haven't even been playing for ten minutes.

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Image Lets get down to business. I'm not entirely sure where your MOM is, but I'm planning to meet up with her later. She's out recruiting allies to help fight against Team Asgard. I'll see if I can keep you in contact with her. In the meantime, I need a favour.

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with me. Can you go fetch him for me? I would appreciate it.

Talking to him again...

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There's somebody who wants to be my assistant there.

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Image Oh, I see you choose Magby! Here, this Pokémon may be helpful for you to have.

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Because Z/O players can no longer trade for starters, we now have opportunities to get the two we didn't pick. While we won't get the chance to obtain the one which is weak agaisnt my choice for a while...

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...we get the other one almost immediately.

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Image Get out of hee right now or I'll— H-Huh? The Professor wants to see me?

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him.

Image He was the guy who trained Aria, the legendary Champion! Oh, what I would give to meet Aria, or even her kid, Kate.

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Image Er... That is to say, your Mom has swag! I'm going to be your Rival from now on, ok? Let's go then! I'm going to be the swaggiest trainer of all time! Go! I'll meet you over there.

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Image And let me tell you that—

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about how you got a Pokémon already. He said he'll give me one too! I can't believe it! My own Pokémon!

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Image My... swag... Pokémon? Yeah...

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Image Yes... yes you can. Go pick the one that suits you best.

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Image Hmm...! ...I pick this one!

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As usual, he picks the one that beats our starter.

Image You and I, Kate... we'll battle soon enough. Trust me.

I have four Pokémon to your one. Wait until you have the chance to catch up.

Image I'm out of here, losers!

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Image Here, I've got something else for you.

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more Pokémon you find, the more data it will have. Try to make it your goal to fill out the entire Pokedex!

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Image My intern, Jeremy, gave you some Pokéballs, right? Good! If you need anymore, they're for sale at the Pokémart.

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plan to do next.

Image There's a chance lives are at stake here, Kate! I would suggest heading south to Superior Town. Not only is there a Gym there, but I've been getting records of Asgard activity around that area. So go do your MOM proud!

There's a few places between us and that gym, so let's see Pokémon we have available:

Starters (pick two)
Bellsprout
Magby
Horsea

Zarivar Town
Hawlucha
Noibat

Route 301
Caterpie
Pidgey
Rattata
Wurmple
Starly

Naragex Forest
Beedrill (1%)
Paras
Hoothoot
Ledyba
Pineco
Shroomish
Kricketot
Petilil

Naragex Forest (headbutt)
Mankey
Hoppip (5%)
Ferroseed

Wonder Cave
Machop
Geodude
Onix (2%)
Cubone
Whismur
Makuhita
Roggenrola
Unown

Superior City
Munchlax (trade for Beedrill)

If anyone has suggestions for my team, include names Pokémon with a sentence or two on why I should use them, and maybe a funny nickname, too. I think this game uses Gen 5 errata, even with some of the mons being from Gen 6.

NEXT TIME: the game's first non-Escape Route.

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The intro shows an animated Lucario instead of a Zoroark, and the bad guys are Team Olympus instead of Team Asgard.
Last edited by Solitair on Sat Jul 11, 2020 2:55 am, edited 5 times in total.

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I remember playing some of this hack years ago, though I only got to... I think the third gym? before stopping. It'll be interesting to see what's in store following that.

I'd suggest that you use Beedrill (maybe name it Beeach?) but... is it really a 1% chance with no chance of getting its lower evolutions? That's a really weird design choice.

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Moonside wrote:
Sat Jul 04, 2020 3:42 pm
I'd suggest that you use Beedrill (maybe name it Beeach?) but... is it really a 1% chance with no chance of getting its lower evolutions? That's a really weird design choice.
I'm going by the wiki, so I don't know if the 1% chance is accurate, but Weedle is only available through breeding. There are many Pokémon in these games that only have their evolved forms available in the wild. It annoys me, given the way I play these games, but the devs have chosen to spread over five hundred mons through this region and I guess this is how they chose to handle keeping things interesting for collectors in high-level areas.

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A Hoothoot called Duo to ensure you don't neglect learning a second language (and because normal/flying aggressively fine birds are what the early stages of Pokemon are all about)

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I've always been a fan of Mankey for some reason. I know their type aren't as rare as they used to be, but back in the early gens it was sometimes hard to find a fast and hard hitting fighting type. I'm pretty sure their movepool is OK by gen 5, and they evolve pretty early too. So let's grab one and name it Catharsis.

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Ah, the world of Pokémon fangames! These are so cool despite their jank. This one had one hell of a scope for 2013, and for RPG Maker XP, but fans tend to have limitless energy when it comes to fanstuff.

Ah, they have Makuhita and Machop here! Machop is always a strong Fighting-type to have in any Pokémon game, but I used to have an incredibly powerful Hariyama in Emerald that could give and take damage no problem. Yes, I know you have a Hawlucha but your team could always use more fight!

If you do get a Makuhita, you could name it Tochinoshin.

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I only played about 2 badges in Omicron, so it'll be interesting to see where this goes.

I'm gonna vote Petilil named O'Hara after Gone with the Wind, just because I like Lilligant.

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This looks like it could be interesting. What little I've seen of this fangame didn't inspire me with confidence (there's VLP somewhere on youtube by the creator, but he wasn't being particularly serious about it and had nothing interesting to say, I couldn't even get through the first video), although Insurgence turned out better than expected so maybe this one will surprise me too. And failing that, it'll be interesting to see what he learned from. The impression I get is that the creator looks back in embarrassment on some of the choices he made here and tried to learn from them, which is better than a lot of people manage (and honestly, the "here's all the stuff you used to be able to get online, since we're not supporting this any more" is a very nice touch too).

I found the dialogue incredibly off-putting, especially the weird "swag" thing, so I couldn't get into this one (it does let you turn that off and I don't know what that does to the dialogue). Still, it's a complete Pokemon fangame, which given a lot of the others is impressive in its own way.

I don't know the details but the base stats and learnsets of the starters have definitely been changed to make them more functional (otherwise these starters would be very awkward); I'm not sure if other pokemon have been changed in similar fashion or not. That kind of put me off playing this also, personally, because it means that the game invalidates a lot of your prior knowledge and not warning you about it (YMMV but I'd find that frustrating).

Looking forward to seeing where this goes! I don't have any desire to weigh in on team choices, just do what you think is best to get through the game efficiently.

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I should also note that the suggestions I'm taking for my team are for any point in the LP, whether it be this first leg of the journey or saving a mon for later. From what I can tell, saving Noibat for later is the only way to use it.
Explopyro wrote:
Sun Jul 05, 2020 4:07 pm
I found the dialogue incredibly off-putting, especially the weird "swag" thing, so I couldn't get into this one (it does let you turn that off and I don't know what that does to the dialogue). Still, it's a complete Pokemon fangame, which given a lot of the others is impressive in its own way.
From what I can tell, the "swag" option makes it so Jake doesn't say "swag" and "yolo," and that's the only change. His basic personality (trying too hard to be cool, and failing) remains the same.

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We definitely want a Shroomish, and let's name it Breloomish if we can.

Quackles wrote:
Mon Jul 06, 2020 5:06 am
We definitely want a Shroomish, and let's name it Breloomish if we can.
Seconding this. Love that cute kangaroo shroom.

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I am extremely curious about this game. The, er, sequel was quite a trip and I look forward to seeing if this one is just as difficult!

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It will be interesting to compare this to the other fangames that have been LPed...

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Before we go on, I should check out our usual utilities, the Pokémon Center and the PokéMart.

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If you beat all of them, you can face the Elite Four!

Same deal as most regions, then.

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That's so cool!

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two trainers are just so cool!

I haven't played that far ahead, but I know that fanservice and references to canon games will be coming pretty hard.

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I'm on my break now.

I'm gonna be charitable and assume he meant beating the grunt in a Pokémon battle.

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grass without Pokémon attacking you left and right!

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With no badges, our selection is very limited. We can't even get Repels like that guy suggested.

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Route 305 is north of Zarivar Town, but we can't do anything with it yet.

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Before we proceed to Route 301, I'll show our starting team's stats. I'll keep doing this when I can remember to.

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Like in Insurgence, we can see our EVs and IVs directly. I'm a bit worried about Boomstick's offensive capability, but there might be ways around that.

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Jeez, that's not bad at all.

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This movelist, on the other hand, needs a lot of work.

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Do I even need to list the trainer memo pages? I've been doing it to show their natures, but I doubt that'd tell you anything you wouldn't get from looking at IVs.

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Dangit, these are better than Boomstick's. I know what starter I chose, game. Don't make me change my mind.

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If you don't know their types, Boomstick is mono-Fire, MuchaLucha is Fighting/Flying, GetTurnt is Flying/Dragon and Hollyhock is mono-Water.

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No sooner do we step down Route 301 than the first in a line of jabronis steps up.

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He doesn't even wait for all the Pokéballs to load in before sending someone out.

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Bug-types are weak to Fire attacks, and they're a common sight in the rosters of trainers on this route. I'll let you fill in the blanks.

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They don't use Bug-types all the time, of course. We should get an answer for every type down the road, but for now I'll just slug it out and train Boomstick in the art of war.

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And MuchaLucha, since the Pidgey got Boomstick pretty bad.

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I rushed back to the center before talking to him again.

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They're definitely not as bad as they used to be.

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I could really use one of those antidotes I'm not allowed to buy right now.

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Some Bug Pokémon, however, will never be viable.

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Dude, just get a Heracross or something else that can pack a punch. There's a gym leader in Vesryn who could give you pointers.

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Weedle is one of the many basic Pokémon in this game that you can only obtain by breeding their evolved forms. As someone who prefers to keep only one of each fully-evolved Pokémon, I've never been sure about what to do with the spares I'd have to breed to get a full Pokédex.

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We're continuing in the Pokémon tradition of having a forest bisect an otherwise normal route, and the Insurgence tradition of having both ends of a transition point lead south.

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The people standing in the open are not trainers.

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Being full of Grass and Bug mons, this place poses no real threat to Boomstick.

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Not where I'd set up a home, but I guess it takes all kinds.

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Image In every city, the strongers trainers will band together to make a Gym. The strongest of these is called a Gym Leader. Only powerful trainers can challenge a Gym Leader.

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I'm operating under "fake it 'til you make it" principles. It's easy when you have a famous mom.

Image Hmm... ...would you like to back that up? I still have a Pokémon from my days as a trainer.

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Image Well then, lets go at it, shall we?

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I don't know how much of this is Essentials or RPGMaker, but there are a lot of neat battle transitions in this game.

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MuchaLucha makes quick work of it.

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I bet it wasn't even a top-percentage Rattata.

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That's fine. And take this, for good measure.

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Image A Great Ball is special because it has a higher catch rate than a Pokeball! If there's a Pokémon you want really badly... Well, this will make it easier to catch!

I have a very specific use for this in mind.

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It's here that I realize that I might want to give someone the Amulet Coin to make some money off other trainers. Oops.

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"They say it lives in the shrine of this very forest. It brings peace to all the Pokémon of the forest. I hope we'll see it again, however. They say it left the forest long ago."

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I'm trying to track down a rare Pokémon!

In a couple of updates I'll be right there with him.

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Honestly, I kind of wish I had a pair handy. It gets hot outside this time of year.

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Flying is good against fighting... Maybe I could catch something on Route 301?

In a normal game this would be great advice. In this game, it still helps, but... we'll see when we get to Devon.

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Remember berries? I remember berries. In Soul Silver I can take my berry trees with me! No such luck in Zeta, but from what I can tell there's no need (or way) to water your plants before they bear fruit.

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You must be a trainer! I'm in this forest trying to catch one myself... Maybe when I get one, we can have a battle?

You're lucky you're in an area where everything has a high catch rate.

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she's worried about someone?

Not what I'd expect to see in this habitat, but okay, I'll put a pin in this Pokémon.

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Put a pin in this, too. I've got a feeling I can do something with it someday.

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I'm not here! Please... Don't tell anyone I was here! I'll teach one of your Pokémon headbutt! Yeah!

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Let's give it to Boomstick. Why not?

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Sure. We'll leave you to whatever existential horror you're dealing with.

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One more short strip of Route 301, before we pass into...

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A town better than the last one, if its name is anything to go by. Next time, we'll see what makes it so good, and also actually catch Pokémon.

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Ah, I love this meme.

Also, Dusk Balls are the best.

It's interesting that a fangame like this would bother with tutorial messages on very basic mechanics such as Repels and type advantages. I'd assume that 99% of this game's players are already Pokémon experts to begin with.

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Since I just noticed the JPEG artifacts in your images, games like this with clean sprite-art tend to benefit a lot from the lossless compression of PNGs, and they might actually end up smaller filesize-wise than the JPGs you're using too.

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Admiral H. Curtiss wrote:
Sat Jul 11, 2020 1:43 pm
Since I just noticed the JPEG artifacts in your images, games like this with clean sprite-art tend to benefit a lot from the lossless compression of PNGs, and they might actually end up smaller filesize-wise than the JPGs you're using too.
Ugh. I'll see what I can do about just doing PNGs from now on. Dunno if I'll ever redo the screenshots for the first two updates, though.

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MITZE wrote:
Sat Jul 11, 2020 3:50 pm
Carpator Diei wrote:
Sat Jul 11, 2020 12:33 pm
It's interesting that a fangame like this would bother with tutorial messages on very basic mechanics such as Repels and type advantages. I'd assume that 99% of this game's players are already Pokémon experts to begin with.
They do it for the same reason there's tutorials in commercial game sequels: you can't just assume that people have played the other games. Plus it's general good design philosophy to make sure the people playing your game know how to play your game and that it's playable even in a knowledge vacuum; can't think of many where part of the game is figuring out the rules and how to play.
It also helps it feel more like a real game.

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The first thing I notice about Superior Town is that the lampposts cast dynamic shadows. That's mildly impressive, and I don't know how you'd do that in a gen 3 engine.

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Devon, the powerful Fighting-type trainer!

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Ooh, two shadows!

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Perhaps a secret lies inside?

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rainbow wings died here, a long time ago. If only we could turn back the clock...

Weird. Maybe put a pin in this, too?

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something in there, and has requested that nobody disturb him.

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I'd need the HM Strength to push the boulder. Too bad I can't afford it. A guy in the Pokémon Battle Club is selling them for a million bucks a piece!

Oh fuck. The One Rock followed us from Reborn! Thankfully it won't take nearly as long to get rid of it this time. You might be surprised that Strength is the first HM we have access to, but we got Surf first in Insurgence.

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I do like Snorlax a whole lot, but Beedrill is stupid rare right now and a reader wants me to use one, so it'll be a while before we can get a spare.

"Oh, okay then."

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I hate the sunshine so much!

Was the pandemic this kid's monkey's paw wish?

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Image Can you go to the Wonder Cave in the Northeast of our town and find the LEGEND RESEARCHER? He went in there with Devon a couple hours ago... ...could you go in there and tell him the shipment has arrived? He'll know what I'm talking about.

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That request clears off the pig blocking the cave entrance. We'll be inside shortly.

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I need an antidote! ...oh. You don't have an antidote.

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Your guess is as good as mine.

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Can I ask you a question?

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I figured it was best to answer honestly rather than minmax the choice or wait for a reader poll.

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Wandering NPCs will just walk into my Pokémon. Rude.

"Then you should take this!"

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Don't worry, all of the options will be available later.

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We gotta clear Wonder Cave to get our first badge and proceed.

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It's at this point that I figure I should catch Pokémon, build my team and start fulfilling those reader requests.

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Also figured I'd let more of my pals get some exercise and show them off. GetTurnt goes first.

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Kate's lower half vanishes before we actually get in the weeds.

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Here's the first one on the list. I've noticed that the sprites for Gen 6 mons, made by fans since the gen itself left sprite art behind, are a bit blockier than the other sprites.

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Is this a purse or a duffel bag? I've always preferred backpacks, myself.

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First try.

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The reader referenced the Duolingo app, but my mind goes to Gundam Wing.

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Not a Shroomish, not yet a Breloom.

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Thin trees like this are for headbutting. It was kinda weird to play Soul Silver and headbutt every tree regardless of whether a Pokémon would come out.

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Okay, this is an interesting ability. Since I hit this Mankey with a crit, its attack is just quadruple its normal value now.

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Yikes! I'm glad you'll be on my side!

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One trip to the Pokémon center later, I decide to give GetTurnt a break.

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Lotta mixed feelings in this traveling party. Presumably this will change when everyone's friendship levels go up.

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I also catch a couple mons that nobody wanted, for no particular reason.

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Here's where I try the Pokédex for the first time. It's using National Dex numbering, so everything we've seen so far is all over the place.

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Since I don't feel like thumbing through hundreds of blank pages, I switch to A-Z Mode. That'll keep things manageable for a while. Still miss the grid-based navigation of later games.

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This one took a few minutes to show up.

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Some Headbutt trees don't have anything, for some reason.

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When I went to get more Poké Balls, I noticed that this store stocks Antidotes, unlike the last one.

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"Wow! Thanks! I feel much better now! Take this in return!"

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I'm pretty excited to use more TMs now that I'm in a game where they last forever.

"That move will let you shoot powerful acids at your opponent!"

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His color returns to normal after you get out of that conversation.

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I haven't checked to see if the cut off entries can be scrolled through with the arrow keys yet. Sorry.

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I would have called her Giorno if she was male.

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Every so often, I get a double battle in the wild. I'd need to knock out one enemy if I wanted to catch the other, but I don't this time.

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Man, I was all over the place when I recorded this. It took this long for me to remember to barge into all the houses.

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I remember a bit of a stink being raised in the Insurgence thread when in-game characters started discussing things like out-of-game Smogonites. If any of you followed me over, find a belt to bite down on.

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I was blissfully unaware of their existence until I started looking up Pokémon stuff online.

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a lot of places, such as caves and dungeons. Perhaps you should try looking in the Wonder Cave next to our town?

Long story short, IVs determine stat variations on an individual Pokémon beyond its base values. Each stone will let me maximize the IV of one stat on one mon.

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...but I'm worried that Drozwee's Mom forgot about it! Can you remind her for me?

I could resolve this now, but I forgot. I'll do it in a couple of updates.

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There's one of these hidden in every town with a gym. We get something for collecting all of them.

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bucks! ... ...oh, you don't have a million bucks. Too bad!

If you want to extort money out of people like a complete piece of shit, you have to be smarter about it than this, dude.

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He lives near here, I think.

The Rattata is chasing the Zigzagoon in circles on the table, representing a weird location to have a battle.

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I want to battle as well!

Geez, I hope it's either durable or cheap.

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I would let you have a match, but those guys have been battling for 3 days straight! I don't know if they'll ever stop!

Wow, are they using the Gen 2 meta?

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Hah! Who needs her, anyways?

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Snorlax is very strong!

I have some bad news for you.

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That took longer than I thought it would. I'll have to push Wonder Cave to next update.

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Ah, it's nice to see all the different Pokémon.

It's nice that the game doesn't lean all that much into the edgy stuff as of yet, even though that means that Team Asgard is mostly characterized by doing horrible stuff off-screen.

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The route through Wonder Cave alternates between the first floor, which has plenty of light...

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...and the basement, which does not.

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The first part of the basement is pretty tight corridor that funnels me into a fight with this guy.

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This does literally nothing in single battles.

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MuchaLucha doesn't have a Flying-type move yet, but she will soon, especially after I send her after a bunch of trainers down here.

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If a Makuhita is huge, does that mean it has huge guts?

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There was supposed to be an "n" on the end, but I ran out of space.

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Hey, speak of the devil. I throw out Tackle because it's strictly worse than a STAB move with the same PP.

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Down to the yellow in one hit, all because I'm using the swapping method to give Duo some XP.

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One Karate Chop later, Duo gets something that'll help catch more mons if I remember to use it.

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Hah! Don't I wish!

It's easier to forgive the game's lack of original art assets when it leans into that aspect of production.

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Time for some quad damage!

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Nice.

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No quad damage, but still a good matchup for me.

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natural habitats.

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Riolu is mono-Fighting, so Flying attacks work wonders on it. I forget this fact next update!

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Put a pin in that. I forget how many pins we're up to.

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Hey, we have light now! It comes with a note that tells me that I can teach it to a Pokémon, as if I didn't know already. I'd say it's a reminder that you can use some TMs outside of battle without a badge requirement, but some TMs later also have a badge requirement.

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This gal's got some empty move slots, might as well give it to her.

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Not sure how to use this yet. I'll figure it out, possibly with some outside help.

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Here's what Flash looks like. Not great, but better than nothing, I guess.

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I take a break to swap out GetTurnt with O'Hara.

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Wasn't expecting one of these to show up. I take the opportunity to catch it, since it might be a while before I get another one.

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After half a minute of blanking on a nickname for a Pokémon I wasn't planning to catch, I put this down and figured it'd do.

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Did the trainer sprite fail to load or is this meant to represent how stealthy ninjas are? You decide!

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Godspeed, you strange man.

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Second verse, same as the first.

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Once we get Rock Climb and Rock Smash, we can spawn a shiny Unown here as many times as we want. In my case that would be zero times, since shiny Pokémon are otherwise so rare they're not worth seeking out.

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If only I had the HM Strength!

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girls!

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Have you seen her?

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It's not hard if you go back to the Pokémon Center a few times.

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A few times plus one.

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...do you not have it anymore? Is it not the hat you're wearing?

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likes boys at all. Being a Ranger is so complicated.

Oh boy.

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Boys like a lot of things. Sometimes you don't want to know what they like.

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Image I dunno, man. I'm just here to bust open rocks.

Image I may need you to bust it open, after all...

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Both the LEGEND RESEARCHER and Devon get exclamation marks in succession.

Image Huh? It's warm!

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Image Well, whatever you're doing, it's working. Quick! Put your hand on the stone!

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This time all three of us get them!

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Unown is a gimmick Pokémon that only learns Hidden Power, a move with a type that changes depending on the user's IV. In this case it's a type that one-shots poor Hollyhock.

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Uhhh uhhh uhhh you look healthy! Get out there!

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This doesn't really narrow it down. Hidden Power could still be either Grass or Electric-type.

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After a battle of attrition, I get my mark. This is your only chance to catch an Unown in the game for a long time.

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This game doesn't have a bonus mode to keep track of all twenty-eight forms of Unown. I don't miss it; I always caught them in alphabetical order because the game wouldn't arrange them as such for me.

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Image Unown only show themselves when there's great power about. You must have a bright future!

Is this going to be one of those stories where my character is chosen by a legendary Pokémon for one reason or another? That happened to at least five people in Insurgence, and though my memory of the canon games is hazy, I heard they started doing this, too. It's not a dealbreaker per se, but I can't think of a way that twist would enhance my experience of the game in any way.

Image Hey, why are you here, anyways? Oh, my package arrived! Excellent! I have to go. Kate, I think you should go to Fianga City. It's to the South-West of here. My friend, Wilson, has a laboratory there. I'd recommend you see him, I'm sure he'll be very interested in you.

Hope this is what my mom wanted him to do, otherwise he and I are getting an earful.

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Image You should come check out my Gym. I warn you though, I'm much harder to beat than an Unown!

He's not kidding.

Image ...I have to go. Kate, Devon, thanks for all your help. After you, Kate.

Next time, I start grinding and stop fucking around.

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A Zubat-less cave? It's a miracle!

Though, the "chosen-one" thingy already isn't looking good.

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Eh, the player's been 'chosen by a legendary' more often than not since Gen 2. It's so ingrained in canon that it's not worth side-eyeing.

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Black Robe wrote:
Sat Jul 18, 2020 7:53 am
Eh, the player's been 'chosen by a legendary' more often than not since Gen 2. It's so ingrained in canon that it's not worth side-eyeing.
True enough. It's just usually so understated in the main ones you usually forget that's a thing. There's no innate power, usually, they just join because you're a trainer with a good heart or something. They, uh, also usually join you because you find their hiding place, beat them up, and stuck them in a ball.

This one's a bit hard to read, really, but I'll still concede that the legendary chosen thing isn't really that uncommon.

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Black Robe wrote:
Sat Jul 18, 2020 7:53 am
Eh, the player's been 'chosen by a legendary' more often than not since Gen 2. It's so ingrained in canon that it's not worth side-eyeing.
I suppose it depends on why I was chosen and how. In general narratives I don't like it when the hero is predestined to be awesome and do cool things without having earned it.

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That was Onix-pected. :V

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Before we get down to business, let's see what's in here now that this building is accessible.

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I haven't been cleaning the lab lately.

It's just one knocked-over plant. How long would it take to fix that?

Image I've been out on field work... like the Unown mission you helped with, remember? ...well, I may have gotten a bit distracted. I'm studying this statue— I think it may be of a Legendary Pokémon! You can help if you want. I've been collecting scriptures and prophecies about Legendary Pokémon. My research is in the book on the table, if you want to check it out. Maybe you'll find a legendary Pokémon!

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That's all we get out of the book. Maybe it got cut, or maybe it's all spoiler tags. Who knows?

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Let's do this.

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Well, listen up. At the far end of this Gym is Devon! Your goal is to make it across the Gym and defeat him in a battle! But hold on a minute! It won't be that easy! You're invisible!

Yeah, it's not a glitch. The devs meant to do this.

"Devon is a firm believer that you need to find yourself before you can fight others. Devon won't find you until you've found the four flowers and found yourself again. Best of luck!"

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This isn't as annoying as you might think. Your lead Pokémon is always right behind you, and the camera centers itself on your position just like usual.

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Don't think this means we can skip trainer battles, though.

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Most of the Fighting-types you'll see in the gym are available in Wonder Cave.

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Meditite is the only exception. Duo takes normal damage from Fighting-type attacks; the Flying resistance cancels out the Normal weakness.

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My playstyle this update is far from optimal.

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After the first trainer, I healed up and did a bit of training in Wonder Cave. Duo replaced Growl with Peck, giving him a STAB move that would make him worth bringing further into the gym.

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Tricky to find flowers when you can't see yourself, isn't it?

As I said, not really, unless Kate is now blind because light passes through her retinas now. Most fiction ignores that, though.

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His team is the same as the last guy's.

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He even says the same thing as the last guy!

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If you leave the gym without beating Devon, you have to touch the flowers again when you get back.

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Saving right here is one of the two good decisions I make this update.

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Image I'm the Gym Leader of Superior Town, and I use Fighting-types to fight my way to success! You don't have a chance!

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For some reason, the Gym Leaders in this game have two sets of sprites, one smaller and blurrier than the other. The game chooses to pull up the crappy sprite, while I have chosen to use the good ones for my portraits.

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I don't know if it would be more effective to open with Hypnosis and get free hits on his Pokémon. I chose not to risk it.

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Turns out playing a mon that didn't resist Fighting attacks was also pretty risky.

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At this point I was counting on MuchaLucha, being a single-stage mon with better stats than any other Flying-type I had, to sweep the gym.

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But Meditite is a good answer for a Flying/Fighting type.

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I could have gotten lucky and hit it again, but MuchaLucha hurt herself instead, and I decided to restart the game.

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More training in Wonder Cave ensued, but after a while I realized that while the Fighting-types in the gym were easy XP for my planned team, the Rock-types would be stumbling blocks.

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While healing up, I do a bit of box organizing. BumSelects is for everything the thread requested I catch.

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While the BestPalsBox is for mons I catch of my own volition. I won't use these as much.

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He's going in the second box.

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Soon I realized that Naragex Forest would be a much better place to train, because most things there are weak to Flying. Boomstick is in the regimen too, because of a misunderstanding on my part.

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I guess it's better than Leer. It's a lot more aggravating to have your attacks miss than your mons taking more damage.

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The other reason I settled on Naragex Forest is so that I'd still have a chance to fulfill the last thread request. Beedrill only has a 1% chance of spawning in the forest. There are easier ways to get it later, but the thread wanted it now and I wasn't sure how long it would be viable.

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Boomstick still has Tackle, so it's got catching duty.

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Turns out that has its own issues! I don't think Burn is a statust that increases catch rate. It just puts me on a time limit.

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As soon as I got this Great Ball from the guy in the house, I knew what I'd be using it on.

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GODDAMMIT

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But I still had one chance...

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...and luck was on my side that day, barely.

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Welcome to the team!

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Turns out it had turned dark out while I was in the forest, as you'd guess from the Dusk Ball working so well. This update was recorded in the same session as the last three. The raw video is four hours long, half of which is for this update. I left in all the grinding because I wanted to catch Beedrill on camera, though I'll probably still include grinding highlights even when there's nothing left to catch.

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Imagine my surprise when a second Beedrill jumped out at me!

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Before I thought to check and see if I had any balls left (I didn't), I had MuchaLucha go aggro on it.

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He never knew what hit him. That Munchlax trade will have to wait, but at least that was enough to push MuchaLucha to my goal.

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After giving it a lot of thought and asking around, I decided to delete Detect, a 5PP move that's much more situational than a self-healing move.

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Are the shadows always this way in double battles, or did they just get weird this one time?

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GetTurnt finally learns a Flying-type move, for which I gladly ditch Leech Life. Maybe now I'll finally get some use out of him, I say knowingly.

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410,757,864,530 dead Bug and Grass-types later, my team is at level 12 and I'm ready to beat Devon for real this time.

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Oh hey, I actually tried Hypnosis that time!

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It didn't last long, but I got out of one Karate Chop, at least.

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Oh, right. Major trainers like Gym Leaders can use items. I'm not used to them doing so this early in the game.

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He does it again when I switch out Duo! Thankfully I know that's the last item Devon has.

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Two can play at that game.

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Low Kick is an odd move that has a greater power against heavier Pokémon. Hawlucha weighs 21.5kg, so Low Kick has only 40 power.

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It's a critical hit and it still barely scratches her.

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Two Wing Attacks and it's done for.

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Even with our levels, I didn't trust Hawlucha to handle a Psychic-type. Hope Duo can pick up the slack.

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At first it looks dicey. I tried to Hypnotize him before he could pull off Bide, but it didn't take.

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But the second Hypnosis hits!

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He woke up immediately, but decided to buff himself instead of going for the kill.

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Peck almost does the trick...

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But just because Devon's out of healing doesn't mean his Pokémon are.

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That was way too close.

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Can you tell how I fucked up yet?

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Here's the monkey wrench Riolu presents. Rock Throw is super-effective against Flying-types, the only broad solution we have against Fighting-types.

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Boomstick takes it pretty hard, too.

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I was already planning on lowering this guy's accuracy because of his high level, but this gives me even more reason to debuff.

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But Boomstick can only get one off before he goes down.

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I'd brought Boomstick along because Riolu's Steel typing would negate Fighting's weakness to Flying, so I'd have to hit it with one of Steel's weaknesses. I was counting on Fire to do the trick...

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But it looked like I'd have to fight Fighting with Fighting.

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Here's the problem: Riolu isn't actually Steel-type like its evolution, Lucario. It's mono-Fighting. I should have used Wing Attack instead of Karate Chop.

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Thankfully, MuchaLucha is not weak to Rock Throw like the rest of my team, so it weathered Riolu's Quick Attack and took it down without hitting its weakness.

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Image I'm obligated to give you this Discipline Badge. Oh, and you can have this TM too.

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None of his Pokémon actually use this move, but I'm not complaining.

Image A Technical Machine, or a TM for short is a device that can teach your Pokémon a specific move. This TM will teach the move Brick Break. It's a fighting type move that can break through many defenses. I hope you find it helpful! We should battle again sometime!

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One down. We have some more options before the next gym:

Route 302
Bulbasaur
Clefairy
Gastly
Poochyena
Shinx (5%)

Old Rod
Goldeen (Route 301)
Magikarp (Route 302)
Qwilfish (Route 302)

Route 303
Spearow (day, 2%)
Abra
Drowzee (night)
Zigzagoon* (day)
Spoink (night)
Bidoof (day)
Patrat

Midnight Way
Diglett (5%)
Nosepass
Gible
Axew

Midnight Mansion External
Murkrow
Houndour
Stunky
Munna
Zorua

Onega Town
Rotom (only one)

Safari Zone 1
Venonat
Exeggcute
Rhyhorn
Chansey (1%)
Kangaskhan (1%)
Scyther (4%)
Pinsir (4%)
Tauros (5%)
Aipom
Girafarig
Heracross (5%)
Cottonee

If you want me to use any of these Pokémon in the short or long term, nominate them with a nickname in the thread. There are still a few types we don't have a clear answer for, but we can remedy that in short order.

* I'm not entirely sure Zigzagoon isn't exclusive to Omicron. The wiki is inconclusive on this point.

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Oh, hey, a Bulbasaur. That may be useful, though I'm throwing my vote in for Poochyena. Mightyena's a good dark powerhouse with lots of flinching accessibility and I'll never say no to having Intimidate around. Mono-dark also helps cut down on the ways an enemy could super-effective it, given that dark is already a bit of a vulnerable type to start with.

Yeah, I started with Gen 3, so what? *crosses arms*

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If anyone needs a refresher of what mons I have available:

HallOfFame (box pending)
Duo (Hoothoot)
MuchaLucha (Hawlucha)

BumSelects
Breloomish (Shroomish)
Tochinoshi (Makuhita)
Catharsis (Mankey)
O'Hara (Petilil)

BestPalsBox
Boomstick (Magby)
GetTurnt (Noibat)
Hollyhock (Horsea)
BadRats (Rattata)
Fiddlestix (Kricketot)
TrishUna (Ledyba)
Rarity (Onix)
DethLetter (Unown)
Secret (Whismur)
Beeach (Beedrill)

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Echoing Poochyena, it's a decent all-rounder - fairly sturdy, learns some decent coverage, won't die when sneezed on like a lot of others.

I'd also grab a Gible because. Well. Why wouldn't you? It gets so overpowered later that you might not want to use it regularly, but it's probably a good idea to keep its levels somewhat current so it's there to bail you out of tight spots if needed. (also because while I adore Noibat it sucks complete ass for quite a long time.)

And Bidoof is the best HM slave, if that's a concern in this game.

Rhyhorn or tauros are both pretty rad
Last edited by Foolycharged on Wed Jul 22, 2020 11:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Black Robe wrote:
Wed Jul 22, 2020 8:30 am
And Bidoof is the best HM slave, if that's a concern in this game.
It is less of a concern than it is in canon games with HMs.
Last edited by Solitair on Wed Jul 22, 2020 11:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Don't forget those nicknames, folks.

Let's give the OG mascot Clefairy a chance to shine and name it Gengar.

I'm glad to hear HMs aren't as much of an issue. I feel that is one thing that fan games should consider.

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Gastly is a good friend, and Acid gives it a Sp. Atk based stab move way earlier than it normally has one. Does OokiSpooki fit?

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The last thing we need to proceed is the Strength HM itself. Remember the Hypno in Naragex Forest?

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Once we know where her kid is, we can ease her worries.

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Huh? She talked telepathically!

What do you guys think about talking Pokémon? I'm on the fence about the whole idea.

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safe.

I was tempted to transcribe the color of her text, but decided against it after thinking it over.

Image Hmm... You require the HM ...and the man is overcharging? This is a favour I can do. I will be right back.

We skip ahead in time, and...

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Image There you go. I hope we are even now?

There might be some questionable moral implications to what Hypno just did, but honestly, even if Kate didn't have an evil team to stop I still can't stand extortionists like the guy she stole it from.

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Perhaps I should have looked harder into which of my pals could learn Strength, but I just settled on the little sumo.

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As promised, I make a new box for mons that help me out in boss battles.

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Having a new field ability means backtracking, but in this case that just means moving two boulders in Wonder Cave.

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I'm still not quite sure what to do with these. I'm guessing I should do it soon, since this affects stat gains on level up. I'll probably use one on Boomstick's Special Attack.

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Here's the real prize. The thing about HMs is that they're inconvenient; if you want to get around obstacles, you have to sacrifice a moveslot on one of your mons, and most of the HM moves suck in battle, too. Gen 7 phased them out completely, and from what I can tell not a single player misses them.

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Zeta and Omicron's solution is to give you key items that do the move for you, so you don't need to swap out team members every time you need to cross the ocean or cut down a tree. The caveat is that in most cases, you need a mon with that move to access the equivalent item anyway, so Tochinoshin still needs a visit to the Move Deleter. Insurgence did this mechanic better, as is the case with most things about Insurgence.

There might be a way around this, though: checking off the Solo Mode challenge (in which you're only allowed one mon) bundles every HM replacement item in the game with the Running Shoes. If I'd thought to do a Solo Run and forfeit after leaving the Escape Route, I'd have saved myself some trouble. Oh well.

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Sadly, there is no replacement for having Flash.

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Here's what happens if you have both ways to move boulders on you at the same time.

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No thanks, I already have things covered. You're welcome, by the way.

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Team Asgard was sighted down there!

Looks like we'll be getting into trouble sooner than we anticipated.

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Our first badge unlocks a lot more items for purchase. Scroll down to find Burn Heal, Ice Heal, Escape Rope and Repel.

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I just buy balls for now. Every ten Poké Balls purchased at once gets you a free Premier Ball, which looks different but functions the same as the Poké Ball.

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Time to break them in. Our first catch was part of my Elite Four team in Diamond.

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I probably won't use her much because of that, especially if someone in the thread has a liking for a different Electric-type.

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This fight's a bit tedious, but I'll have my prize nonetheless.

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More than a bit, actually.

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I forgot to teach this one Acid like the thread suggested. Give me time, I'll remember soon.

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It's an exciting job!

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That not very effective attack took off seven HP. I'm gambling a bit by putting up such low-level opponents against these trainers.

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This time it paid off, giving Rarity two levels in one fight. Rage seems like a pretty bad deal, even when he has Harden to compare it with.

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Please don't flirt with minors.

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I also forgot that I was supposed to use the nickname given by a reader instead of my own here. Oops. I'll keep an eye out for the Name Rater.

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At level 7, Tochinoshi gains a STAB move. It's not great, but it'll do.

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Supa Hot Fire... I spit that. Two and a Half Men... I watch that!

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Tochinoshi and Rarity get a few levels for enduring this stale meme.

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You're also not funny.

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It's alright so far, but I've seen better.

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Image You remind me of someone... ...Someone I knew.

Hoo boy. In case you don't recognize him, this is Cyrus, the leader of Team Galactic and the main villain of Pokémon Diamond, Pearl and Platinum.

Image ......they say that this region is a haven for legendary Pokémon...

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His deal is that he's a creepy sociopath who wants to remake the world so that people have no "spirit" and they'll stop valuing feels over reals. While some legendaries were key to his plan, I'm pretty sure he was already a bad guy before he got the idea to use them. Don't pass the buck, dude.

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own. Have a nice day.

It's been over a decade since I beat Diamond, so I barely remember anything about Cyrus, but I'm pretty sure he never changed his mind about his goals, so I'm not sure what business he has giving Kate advice.

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He walks off, bumps into another walking NPC, and resumes walking once they're able to phase through each other.

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Only in other games.

Image Wow! You better learn how, then! Take this!

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Image It's pretty low quality, but it works like a charm! Just stand next to a water body and use it from your bag!

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Would you like to have a look?

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He's right about Bulbasaur, but his other mon's a Pidgey and I think he'd be better off with a Starly instead.

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Uproar seems counter-intuitive for a mon with Hypnosis to learn, but I'd rather have that than Foresight.

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I didn't bring a good match for Pidgey, so Duo and MuchaLucha had to whittle it down the hard way.

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My bug Pokémon!

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Butterfree and Beedrill are steps up from the usual Bug Catcher fodder.

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Whatever strangers on the internet tell me to.

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For some reason I decided to switch around my mons a lot as I fought trainers on this route. It's here I decide to at least have a full team.

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Of all time!

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This guy gives us two Rattatas, and two memes, for the price of one.

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One might even call them top-percentage.

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"Holding down+B makes you capture Pokémon better, too!"

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"I saw the Sugarhill Gang in their prime!"

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I think the game's hinting that we, too, can have our own Bulbasaur if we so desire.

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Ha!

Get out of my LP, Dad!

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You keep your dentures away from my Noibat, Ozzy.

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Oh dear. Good thing Duo doesn't know Return.

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I take a brief moment to go fishing. Key registration is a bit more robust than is possible on the canon games and their limited number of buttons.

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It's up to luck whether anything bites. If so, confirm the bite to get in a fight. It might be timed, I dunno.

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Eventually I land something that isn't a Magikarp.

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That horn knocked Tochinoshi out cold, and his health bar was still green.

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Back to Route 302.

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After that catch, I decide to do some grinding. Vital Throw replaces Arm Thrust.

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Rabies does not currently know a STAB move.

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Hollyhock finally gets a good STAB move.

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And with this team at level 10+, I'll be ready to tackle Route 303 next time.

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Route 302 has Purrloin instead of Poochyena and Blitzle instead of Ponyta.

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It's always nice to have more Pokémon. But why is Cyrus here? Here's hoping we're not getting in a Team Rainbow Rocket situation.

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Cyrus is cold, aloof, edgy and connected to Giratina, so obviously fans would think he's the best villain ever and needs to be in their fangame.

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