Big Klingy Posted March 22, 2011 Author Share Posted March 22, 2011 The fact that TMs are now unlimited-use, just like HMs, that I saw here made me yell "HALLELUJAH!" Also, I'm really intrigued by the whole self-referential humour thing, that sounds right up my alley. And I'm really surprised that the Pokemon trainers now have Pokemon from right around there at the levels you need to level up your Pokemon. Also, it looks like grinding isn't NEARLY as monotonous and often as it was in Platinum, and that's a very good thing indeed. BJ 1: Yeah, it's one of the best mechanics changes in the series, hands down. 2: The self-referential humor mostly comes at the beginning. Later on its more like self-referential...philosophical stuff. Kind of. 3: Yeah, it's one of the reasons I'd call the main story more 'well-designed' than some of the past games. You very rarely 'need' to grind in this game, and when you do, they make sure you'll be exploring a new area while doing it, so it doesn’t feel like a chore. I'm noticing a theme with the later Gyms: the game will often force you to go on some kind of quest before letting you take on the Gym itself. This is no bad thing, as by the time you've finishes you'll be at the perfect level for the Gym. Near guaranteed. Chapter 15: The Cave... of Even More Frustration One strange thing about the 5th Badge I forgot to mention. Clay doesn't give you his TM yet. Instead, he tells you to meet him at the entrance to Chargestone Cave on Route 6. Time to head out west. Well, after one distraction. Bianca's back. It's been a while since I faced her last. Vs Bianca Herdeir Lv 26, Stage 2 Starter Lv 28, Monkey Lv 26, Musharna Lv 26 Hyper Potion x2 Only one change of note here: I knew Munna would evolve sooner or later, and it turns out it was sooner. It has crazy Special Defence, but I managed to get a lucky burn on it, then add Leech Seed for good measure. Funny thing is, it doesn't have moonlight anymore. If it did it alone may have been harder than Clay for me. I seriously don't know why that happened, but then again, you can't really understand main story AI. Bianca has a gift for me after the battle... the HM Fly! YES! ...Oh wait, I can't actually use it yet, since Archen can learn it until evolution. On the plus side, it means you'll have to wait until later for my inevitable 'backtracking chapter'. I'm actually getting a wild west vibe from the music here. Well, it is western Unova. But mostly, there's just Scientists with Deerlings here. You won't find out exactly why they're so fond of them until a bit later though. Hihidaruma learned Belly Drum here. I decided to keep it for a while. Yeah, it's overkill, but I figure it may come in handy for sweeping entire teams later. There's a fair few Parasol Ladies here, and most of them mention rain, but I don't see any on this route. Odd. (Update: I later discovered that it can rain here, it's just random) Up the road is a lone research lab, dedicated to documenting the seasons. To help then gather experimental data, they want you to show them a Deerling from each season. So that's why the Scientists were using them against me before. (they still like their X items btw) In the patch of grass just ahead, there seems to be lots of items. Don't let your guard down though, some of them are Foongus! They're among us, apparently. But that doesn't mean you should avoid them, the middle one is a Leaf Stone. There's a rest house just after. They put these in the most convenient places, don't they? There's an old man here who goes on about legendary Pokemon, but he does inform me that Cobalion is nearby, but it seems I'll need Surf. Now, you can actually get this far before beating Clay, but the cave itself is blocked by a yellow web thing. Clay's Krokorok takes it out for me, he says it was a nest of a Pokemon called Galvantula. But... doesn't that mean you're disturbing the balance of nature? What if they're an endangered species?? (Turns out they're REALLY not. You'll see.) I shouldn't worry about the details, I have a cave to explore. Chargestone Cave I spy with my little eye something beginning with... N. Guess what, it's N. But it's not quite what it seems, as I approach, three shadowy ladies appear out of nowhere. N says they're the Shadow Triad and apparently, I've "been chosen". I answer 'Yes' to if that surprises me so I can hopefully hear him explain. Turns out, the Shadow Triad have been watching me. They know everything about Cheren and Bianca too. I'm more than a little creeped out here, though I really hope I get to battle them as, frankly, they look awesome. It seems their boss (I can only presume they report directly to Ghetsis) wants to test me. Team Plasma is waiting further down the cave. But first, there's bound to be some new Pokemon to catch here, sure enough I find one, but not the one I was expecting. A Ferroseed! It's spinning kind of makes my head hurt. Caught it, but I have a feeling I'll be seeing more. A little further into the cave, and I'm surprised to see another familiar face, but thankfully a more friendly one. Bianca's back, but she's not alone, the Professor's here too! She really gets around, doesn't she? But this time she's got a present 10000000000 times better than just a bunch of Ultra Balls, the Lucky Egg!!! Again, Game Freak is finally giving players what they want, it was just too good an item to be so hard to obtain. I was lucky (no pun intended) enough to get it through XD, and it served me well through all my 3rd and 4th gen training. Now everyone gets a chance to experience just how convenient it is. Now... here's a Joltic. Why do I get the feeling I'll be seeing a lot of these? But I'm glad I finally found it, remember what I said before, about having an Electric type planned? Well, now my team is finally complete. It's a little behind, but I now have the perfect tool for solving that. Though it does have a fair few problems against the wild pokes here. Elec Net is a little too weak, and the only other moves it has are Big Bite, which is NVE against nearly everything here AND come off a low Attack stat, and Slash, which it... even worse. I had to find a better STAB move. I did have Volt Switch, but that's a little annoying in that it forces you out. It's pretty good now though, as I'd be switching anyway. When teaching it, I noticed something about TMs that you guys may find interesting. When you use a TM to teach a move, it starts with less than full PP. (usually 1/2 or 1/3) This is probably to prevent using the TM over and over as a method of restoring PP. Speaking of the wild pokes here, there's also Klink. Strange it came so late. I will admit it is a pretty cool Pokemon, despite having a movepool so awful it makes me nauseous. By the way, Gear Grind looks incredibly painful. I'll quote TVtropes here: "With Klingklang it's a freaking industrial accident!" Oh, yeah, having Joltic means swapping out Swak. But I was short on pure special attackers, I kind of needed the switch. Ace Trainers are starting to appear, though they don't look nearly as cool as they did in DPP. One particular one made me eat an absolute faceful of my own medicine, however, as he had an Archen, with Acrobatics. Yeah, it HURTS to be on the receiving end of that, especially after abusing it so much myself. I actually think this guy was tougher than most Gym Leaders for me, certainly the toughest regular trainer so far. Those digging dirt patches from Wellspring are back, but you'll mostly get Gems out of them this time. I already have a Drillbur, so there was no need to seek them out. No, they don't contain Excadrill yet, that'll be later. The Professor meets me again down the path, she's been researching Klink (why that one, I don't know) and says all the evidence points to it suddenly appearing 100 years ago. Okaaaay... Among the battle-able trainers here is a Hiker, the first in the game, it appears. Wow, that's really late. At the bridge, the Triad teleports in again, but only to say the rest of Team Plasma is waiting down the stairs. The music changes slightly as you go deeper into the cave, nice touch. The two guys standing side by side aren't here for a double battle, just to give you not one, but two Nuggets. Oh, and there's a Doctor just before the Plasma gauntlet, so no need to worry. These guys are nothing, seriously. But one even says "It's bad for trainers to use Pokemon, but it's good for us members of Team Plasma to." Okay, and that makes sense... how? There seems to be an even lower floor, and the music goes even deeper there. But there's no more Plasma grunts here, just Ace Trainers. And a Brightpowder. You REALLY don't want to read me ranting about how much I hate that item, so I won't. But I did find something useful down here, after seeing so many of the same Pokemon over and over, I finally ran into a Tynamo! You were right, Psychedelica, they do take forever to find. I'm not going to use it for the moment, but at least I actually have one. By the way, the other wild Pokemon here is Boldore. Yeah, nothing special. Random note: this is a great place for training Fires, as they're effective against everything here, apart from Boldore. The bottom floor doesn't lead anywhere, so let's go back up. Back on the top floor, there's a fork in the path. One way leads to a scientist, the other.......N. Yeah, I think I'll go the other way first. By the way, Missile finally evolved here, at Level 32! He gets the honour of first team member to reach its final stage. Right, time to face the end boss of this pseudo-dungeon. N says whan values mix, the world becomes grey. Is that a hint at the 3rd version? Oh well, let's get to it then. Vs N Boldore Lv 28, Joltic Lv 28, Klink Lv 28, Ferroseed Lv 28 This was an easy battle, since I'd now seen every member of his team about a jillion times in the last few minutes, I was perfectly adapted to taking them down. The only real difference from the myriad wild encounters was that the first had Power Gem, which was surprisingly painful. And the rest was lol. Ferroseed still died to Fire Punch even after 2 Iron Defence boosts. Juniper and Bianca arrive afterwards. N says that the very idea of a Pokedex revolts him, and leaves after motive ranting again. Juniper says all people should decide for themselves how to relate to Pokemon. Finally, I'm glad to be rid of this cave. For some reason the wild encounter rate is strangely high here. Outside, a strange man greets me. It seems he's Cedric Juniper, the Professor's father. He has his own theme, which is a variation of his daughter's. He offers to upgrade my Pokedex, awesome...actually it turns out it's just the Form viewer. But it is improved, you can now compare forms side-by-side, and it records Shinys too. The other one with him I can recognise, it's ms fanservi...uh, Skyla. She mentions Kanto and Sinnoh. Apparently, we'll have to wait for this Gym too, Skyla saw an injured Pokemon at Celestial Tower during a flight, and wants to go check it out, with my help. I'm more than happy to oblige, most of my team is very close to evolution anyway. Chapter 16: Tower of resting spirits...and aliens?! First, time to check out Mistralton city. It's pretty small, actually, besides the airport there's only a few houses. But they are important, one contains the entire Move Family: Relearner and Deleter. In the Pokemon Center, you'll find the Hidden Power Checker. And the shop here sells all the weather TMs. Speaking of weather, it's raining here. You'd think a city with constant rain wouldn't be the best place for an airport... The music here is pretty nice too. It does kind of give me a RSE vibe though. That's not necessarily a bad thing. Come to think of it, the upcoming route is very RSE-ish too, with tall grass and thin walkways above it. Well, that's a surprisingly decent segue, so... Route 7 Neither of the first two NPCs battle you, in fact, the one on the high ground even gives you a TM for being bold enough to talk to her. One of the Backpackers here gives some great advice. "To reach Celestial Tower, walk down the road." Thanks, that really helps. Beware of wild Youngsters lurking in the grass. One of them even has a Scolipede, which is so massive it knocks up dust when it lands from its Pokeball! It's not the most threatening of opponents though. One also has a Shelmet. I keep forgetting that its not Steel. After seeing all those bugs, I was very glad when Hihidaruma learned Flare Blitz, which now has a chance of burning. (meaning, yes, it DOES get the Sheer Force boost) You can use the walkways to avoid the grass, but be warned that at the first will land you face to face with an Ace Trainer, who immediately challenges you to a Rotation Battle. Yeah, that came out of nowhere. He has Swoobat, Liepard and Watchog, all at a decent level. I noticed here that a Pokemon will not take Poison damage while 'inactive'. There's a Trainer Tips sigh up ahead, but this one is quite interesting. It says that the amount of exp you gain from battle depends on you and your opponent's levels. As in a lower Lv poke will get more exp from a higher level poke, but the reverse is also true, higher level pokes get less Exp from weaker opponents. I already saw a few things that made me suspect they now did the formula like this, when I tried the classic 'send out weak pkmn first then switch', I noticed the one out first often gained slightly more exp. Hmm... I'll have to start training properly before I can comment on the impact of the new system, but it seems it will be easier to level up lower level Pokemon, but getting to Lv 100 may be harder. Another rest house can be found across the next walkway, once across, you'll get a Xtrans call from Mom, but she doesn't say anything too important. The next few walkways aren't entirely safe: they're patrolled by Clowns. The TM X-Scissor can be found here, along with wild Zebstrikas. Here I noticed that if Pursuit hits and KOs a Pokemon on the switch, the switch does not occur, and you get to pick a new switch in. I believe this is different from earlier gens, and may impact the competitive scene. Turns out this way leads to Twist Mountain, which isn't our current destination. Back we go. Celestial Tower isn't to far up the straight path, but Carmen Sandiago yet again ambushes us before getting there. Since there aren't and ACME agents nearby I'll have to let her go. Celestial Tower Aah, the obligatory Ghost Tower. This one feels very much like a reimaging of DPPs one, and this time it does manage to stand out, those 3D spiral staircases are awesome. The music is also pretty good. Sure enough, a Litwick appeared almost as soon as I entered the 1st floor. I love these guys. Psychics start showing up as I make my way through the floors (the trainer variety) and one sends out an Elgyem. Hmm... considering the '2 routes away' rule, I check the Pokedex and sure enough, it appears right here. Now, I understand ghostly candles, but what are aliens doing in a graveyard/memorial? Oh crap, it's Plan Nine from Outer Space! Run for your lives!! No, thankfully these aliens didn't come here in paper plates, and can't be defeated with stock footage. I found one soon enough. They're a little rare, but not ridiculously (coughTynamocough) so. They appear more often the further you go up. The TMs Wil-o-Whisp and Shadow Claw can be found here, along with a Nurse on floor 2 if you need the healing. By the way, unless I find a better one, I can safely call this place the prime Special Attack EV training spot. Litwick and Elgyem are all that appear, and both give 1 Sp.Atk point. Plus there's a nurse for when your PP runs low. Great! Not quite as good as the Old Chateau in DPP, as it has Haunter and Gengar for faster training, but it's still pretty damn good. You can see a great cloud/mist effect on the roof, but don't spend too much time gaping in awe, you can still encounter wild Pokemon here. Skyla accomplished her mission, and wants you to ring the bell, which apparently reflects the character of the one who rings it. Well, about time to leave. My team is around Lv 35 now, perfect for the Gym... Except for one thing. Hihidaruma was just off that mark, but very close. So I decided to fight a few wild Pokemon until it got there... And, well, let's just say Hihidaruma actually a real Hihidaruma now. After evolution it learned Hammer Arm. A good coverage move I guess. (although to be honest, there isn't much this think can't OHKO anyway...) Next time we take to the skies, earn our wings, and whatever other lame flying puns you can think of. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Klingy Posted March 25, 2011 Author Share Posted March 25, 2011 (edited) Chapter 17: To new Heights Both literally AND metaphorically. You'll see. As most of you know, this Gym has canons. The gym guy (I want to say Clive, but are they all the same guy? Or are they like Nurse Joys, i.e. a bunch of people who all have the same name?) reminds me that they can be entered from all directions, up, down, left and right. Okay... But trust me, that WILL become vitally important later. I thought it was strange at first that some of the trainers here are Workers, but I later realised they're the engineers who work on the planes. Cool. Duckletts used to really annoy me, since they were the only Waters Cottonee couldn't reliably counter. Now, however, they're easy prey for my new Joltic, with that 4x weakness. Oops, did I say Joltic? Let's just say that with all these easy kills, he didn't go by that name very long: I finally have a Galvantula! I just love this guy, one of my personal favourite designs of this gen. And I can't wait to try out Compoundeyes Thunder later. Back to the Gym, and it turns out the angle you enter the cannons does make a difference. It determines where you land. You can't progress until you figure this out. The next trainer here has an Unfeazant. It's always a bit scary seeing a stage-3 Pokemon for the first time, but thankfully this one's nothing to fear. My team is aproaching the 36 mark, and you know what that means. Though Quetzalli (Archen) did Not evolve at 36. I had a strong feeling it would be 37 though. The 4th cannon requires you to use its lowermost entrance, which is a little hard to find without looking. And then I reach the last string, fly through rings and... crash into the rear wall. Ouch! Seriously, the protagonist here must be made of steel or something. Being launched out of a cannon into a wall?! The final cannon lands you right in front of the leader, but I had something I wanted to do first. Itagaki was lv 35, and very close to leveling up again. It just didn't feel right to have her miss out on the mass evolution action, did it? After a fair few wild battles, it finally happened. My starter has reached its final stage! It's always such a great feeling. Right, back to buisness. Gym Battle: Vs Skyla Swoobat Lv 33, Unfezant Lv 33, Swanna Lv 35 Hyper Potion x2 An interesting battle: for each of her three, I had a corresponding hard counter. Missile took care of her first with a Work Up boosted Crunch. Her second is no Staraptor, and thus has no way of getting through Rock types, so Quetzalli saw to it, but then fell just as quickly to her third. Of course, due to a 4x weakness, it was nothing to Galvantula. Not too tough. MY ADVICE FOR 6TH GYM: Electric types work wonders. Since they're so common in chargestone cave, you really have no excuse for not having at least one. If you're really desperate, there are Zebstrikas in Route 7. All of these come at a decent level, so don't need much grinding. Rock is fine against her first two, but her highest level will obliterate them. I suppose Ice could work ok, but there's only really one available now. Recommended level: 35-36 Skyla hands me the TM Acrobatics, which may not be as useful as it seems. After all, it's brilliant in-game, but in competitive the lack of an item is a huge loss. Still, at least it has one niche. She also said she fley past Icirrus, and Team Plasma was on their way there. Better get going then! Team Update: Pokedex: 87 Seen, 49 Owned Quetzalli (Lv 36 Archen) HP: 87 Atk: 89 Def: 41 Sp.Atk: 59 Sp.Def: 43 Spe: 71 Acrobatics Ancientpower Crunch Quick Guard Comments: Still hasn't evolved yet, but it will veeeeery soon. Anyway, having another Crunch user, especially one so fast, is pretty useful. Galvantula Lv 36 HP: 107 Atk: 62 Def: 52 Sp.Atk: 85 Sp.Def: 52 Spe: 91 Volt Switch Signal Beam Electra Ball Slash Comments: This is its debut update, isn't it? So I've got a fair bit to talk about. Its become the speedster of the team, and Electric is a great attacking type to have on hand. Although its options in that department are a little unreliable: Volt Switch forces you out, while Electra Ball has varying power, sometimes its amazing (e.g. vs Boldores) other times lacking (e.g. anything that's speedy and non-flying) It got a lot bette once it learned Signal Beam though, now it can finally put both STABS to good use. Missile (Lv 35 Stoutland) HP: 106 Atk: 91 Def: 69 Sp.Atk: 41 Sp.Def: 73 Spe: 66 Strength Take Down Work Up Crunch Comments: The first to reach its final stage, Missile still functions much the same way, ith just a bit more bulk. Speed leaves a lot to be desired, but the raw power of Take Down (can you believe it's still an incredible STAB move?) and the ability to boost make up for it. Cottonee Lv 35 HP: 82 Atk: 31 Def: 58 Sp.Atk: 34 Sp.Def: 44 Spe: 69 Growth Leech Seed Stun Spore Giga Drain Comments: Since everyone else is starting to evolve, I may as well use the Sun Stone soon. I kept this guy away from the Gym, for obvious reasons. Itagaki (Lv 36 Samurott) HP: 124 Atk: 90 Def: 71 Sp.Atk: 97 Sp.Def: 59 Spe: 63 Razor Shell Return Water Pulse Grass Knot Comments: Now we're really talking!! Great mixed attacker, which is a pretty useful role in-game if I do say so myself. Surprisingly good HP too. Hihidaruma (Lv 35 Darmanitan) HP: 126 Atk: 115 Def: 60 Sp.Atk: 31 Sp.Def: 38 Spe: 77 Flare Blitz Dig Hammer Arm Thrash Comments: Ha. Ha ha ha. Hahahahahaha. Sorry. Remember when I said its pre evo was crazy? Well, multiply that by a factor of three, and lose the drawback of random misses. See those four moves? In reality, the choice between them an be summed up as: 'which animation do you want to watch as you OHKO your opponent.' Because really, very few things are going to survive ANY hit from this guy. Did I mention it learns Flare Blitz REALLY, REALLY early? (in the 30's, when most Fire types don't get it until the 60's) AND it now has a burn chance, and thus gets boosted by Sheer Force? I rank this thing as one of the best in-game Pokemon ever, or at least one of the most fun to use. (btw, Hammer Arm does NOT get boosted. The secondary effect must only apply to your opponent.) So with that done, let's just walk out of the Gym and AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaAAAAAaaAaAAaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAggggggh!!!! Damn it N, stop doing that!! Someone seriously needs to file a restraining order on this guy. He says he wants to talk to my Archen. (it was the first one in my party.) Hey! His name's Quetzalli, and trust me, you probably don't want to hear the things he's going to say about you. Well, he says it trust me for some reason. And then starts going on about Team Plasma's plans. Apparently there's these things called the Light Stone and the Dark Stone. (not to be confused with the Japanese names for the Shiny and Dusk Stones) He says they're going to resurrect the legendary dragon from the stone. Why does he want me to know about this? He aims to change the world without force, he says, because if you use force others will resist. That's not such a bad view, but does he have to be so... creepy about it? Thankfully, he's gone after that. I can finally breathe easy again. Time to head for Twist Mountain and a new city, but I had a few things to do first. I'm really not one to rush games, okay? Quetzalli was so close to evolving, and evolving it meant Fly. I figured now was the perfect time. And yes, it was 37. Now I've got another crazy 140 base attacker, although this one has speed. But I'd have to try him out in battle later, now seemed the perfect time for some backtracking! Interlude 2: Come Fly with Me Firstly, fley back to Straiton to move the boulder on Route 2. This gets you a Rare Candy. I also somehow decided to check my Pokedex progress on the PC, and Juniper says she wants to give me something. Next stop Nuvema! Ok, go in, show her the dex, blah, blahm now where's my gift... TM False Swipe?!?!?! Oh. Hell. Yes. I've been wanting this for ages. I actually think you can get it earlier, but who wants to run all the way back to the hometown? Oh, and she gives me Protect too. That'll come in handy when I start making Doubles teams. Only Itagaki can learn False Swipe for now. It'll hold me back in the raw power department, but I figure it's so useful in-game that it's worth it. And besides, I can always swap it out for Return at Gyms and the Elite 4. That's the beauty of the new TM system. Bact to Castelia now, remember that artist who wanted to see a certain type? Well, he wants a Normal type now, and of course I have one. Turns out the reward is just a choice of one basic berry. You can do this once per day, and it's kind of important since you can't grow berries in this region. At Nimbasa now, and it seems more trainers get added to the sports domes as you progress through the game. The cheerleaders are here now, and the old trainers have got better. I guess the domes are kind of like your Vs Seeker for this game. I also went to the Ferris Wheel for the battle there. I got a Clerk named Ingrid with a Minccino. Sadly, these people don't get better as you rematch them, but at least they're good for training lower Lv Pokemon. And, well, that's about all I can do now. I love how each city has at least one reason to come back there. [End backtracking] On the way to Twist Mountain, I get stopped by... no, not Biance, the other one. Vs Cheren Unfezant Lv 33, Stage 2 Starter Lv 35, Stage 2 Monkey Lv 33, Liepard Lv 33 His monkey is stage 2 now, and his bird evolved again, but neither were much hastle. His starter isn't at its final stage yet, and it seemed to like using Mega Drain now, rather than Leaf Tornado. Did it actually get worse? Oh, and Itagaki had its debut as a Sumurott against Simipour, but trust me, she'll be seeing a lot more use from now on. Defeated once more, Cheren wonders what being strong actually means, and if you can be strong even if you lose? Someone else remarks on this from off screen. It's... Champion Axel! ...who then proceeds to jump down the freaking cliff face to meet us. Yes, I kid you not. I said earlier that the protagonist was made of steel, so this guy must be made of industial strengh titanium or something. (I apologies to anyone who actually knows about metalworking if that sounded stupid) Whatever, I think this guy just managed to out-badass the other champions, and that's really saying something. Charen tells him becoming the champion is the reason for his existance. Okaaaay, I think that's a little extreme. The champ says he reminds him of Marshal. This made me thing: 'which Marshal?' My choice of fan-nicknames may be a little confusing. He then gives me... the HM Surf! Just in time, now that I have a fully-evolved Water starter. And with that it's time for... more backtracking! Edited March 26, 2011 by Big Klingy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eclipse Posted March 25, 2011 Share Posted March 25, 2011 No nickname for Galvantula? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Klingy Posted March 26, 2011 Author Share Posted March 26, 2011 No nickname for Galvantula? I couldn't really think of a good one that fit. Gohma crossed my mind, but that's a little too evil and creepy for this guy. To anyone reading this rignt now: I'm going to update the previous post with an extra bit, rather than put it in the next chapter. I just think it looks generally neater. So please be sure to read that first. Interlude 3: Surfin' Un Ov A My first destination was Driftveil, where I was surprised to find it raining. Time to see just what is across the water. But mostly I'm just here for the Pokemon. I found the first of what I like to call 'surf shadows' here, and it was an Alomomola. I Thought I'd try out my new false swipe here, but... A Great Ball failed instantly when it was on 1HP?! An Ultra Ball too?!?! What is this? The third caught it though. There's a Water Stone by the Lighthouse. I managed to get a Frillish too, but couldn't seem to find anything else. At Route 6, (where it was also rainy) surfing between bridges found me the TM Poison Jab. Caught a Basculin too. But there's an even greater benefit to surfing here. Think back to when I was here before, remember the old man? Surf at the Double Grass to reach... Mistralton Cave It's dark here, so I taught Flash to Galvantula. I think it's good that it's back to optional status now. There's also lots of Strength rocks, but I don't think any of them are required to complete the cave. And also Hikers. This cave is entirely optional, but there's a few good reasons for going here. Firstly, there's Axew. It can't be found anywhere else. Thankfully it's a lot easier to find than Gible was, no secret entrances hidden under cycling bridges here. The TM Rock Slide can be found on the second floor. Yes, this cave goes up rather than down. Nothing much else to note here. The 3rd floor is light, no flash required here. It's aldo called the Guidance Chamber, apparently. And the old man is here. He tells the story of the Musketeer Trio, how they ended a great war that's description sounds an awful lot like the Serenes Massacre. They then went into hiding, and attack people who approach because they only know the old world, they don't know people and Pokemon help eachother now. I think that's a very interesting take on the whole legendary thing, previous gens never really explained why the legendaries attacked you. Well, Mewtwo is naturally violent, Ho-oh and Lugia were most likely testing you (HG/SS makes this more apparent) but what about the legendary birds? Anyway, it's interesting. And yes, Cobalion is here and yes, you can catch it now. It'd be a huge help against the next Gym as a matter of fact. But I'm going to hold off until I can synchronise for it. At least I was able to pick up a Dusk Stone here. Well, that's all the backtracking for now. I know you can reach an optional area from Route 1, but I'll save that until later. For now, it's mountain-climbing time. Chapter 18: Come on Brycen, I thought you were stronger than that! Twist Mountain Oh great, Twist Mountain uses the same music as Cold Storage. Damn. The only theme in the game I dislike. Oh well. As I venture into the cave, I see someone I wasn't expecting, Clayton Marshal! Ok, I really need to stop calling him that. He said all the Gym Leaders had some kind of meeting. I don't know what that entails, but it sounds awesome. They can't seem to find Team Plasma though. Some of the people here say the mountain changes in Winter. Looks like I'll need to come back. There's mostly Boldores here, but you'll find Gurdurrs too. Funny, in the older games you found Marchokes all the time in later caves, but this is the only place where you'll find Gurdurrs. It's quite the opposite with Boldore, they're actually a lot more common than their pre evolved form by a LONG way. (Roggenrola only appears in ONE cave.) But after a while I found there is something new here, Cubchoo! Got one. The path sometimes leads outside, where the many spiraling levels of the mountain are visible. (though it's not how I expected, it goes inward) Well, kind of visible, in my case, as it was raining here. Funnily enough, it was raining heavily in real life while I was playing this part, what are the odds? I beat someone claiming to be "the no.2 on Twist Mountain." Turns out the no.1 was Clay. Since I beat him, does that make me no. 1 now? Lower down, Workers like to jump out of dirt piles. But check the others, some of them contain Stardust. Another Doctor awaits on the lower walkway. Only a little further to the bottom, where I find an oddly empty house amidst the mining machines. That has to be there for a reason. Maybe I need to come back later. Through the right cave opening, I find Cheren talking to a Team Plasma grunt. The grunt says they've found what they were looking for, then leaves. Cheren says he wants to stay in the mountain for a while, to reflect on what the Champion told him. The exit is just through here, but there was another area I still hadn't explored yet. The other path leads to an icy area, which contains the Ice Rock, and the TM Flash Cannon. As I explored the mountain, I couldn't help but notice a few ledges and cave entrances I couldn't find any way to access. I think these are the places that will open up in Winter. Since its Autumn now, there's nothing left to do here. What will the next city hold? Icirrus City By the way, I only just realised all the cities in Unova are named after clouds. I believe Hoenn and Sinnoh dropped the theme naming convention establised in Kanto and Johto, but Unova brought it back. Pretty cool. Cedric is waiting just outside the mountain exit. He says my Galvantula is doing well. He talks about Unova's oldest building, the Dragonspiral Tower, which no one has ever been inside. He wants to investigate it, but says he's getting a little old for adventuring. Time to explore and... wait, WHAT?! You can find wild Pokemon here?! In the puddles to be specific. This my be the first city in the series where you can encounter wild Pokemon without surfing or fishing. Speaking of which, you can surf in the dark puddles, in which you can find Stunfisk, which seems to enjoy making a troll face at you. Actually, this is a great place to EV train for HP. Palpitoad and Stunfisk both give HP EVs, and you can find Seismitoad (3 EVs) in surf shadows. If you want to be guaranteed to get HP, just surf. You'll have less of an encounter rate though. The Pokemon Center here contains more than a fair share of helpful NPCs. Firstly, the old lady give the TM Brick Break, apparently she used to be a Battle Girl. Sadly, it's now outclassed by Drain Punch in nearly every way. The other is a man by the counter, who adores ores. He'll buy anything ore-related off you, and he pays ridiculous prices for them. He buys Nuggets for 10000, for example. He'll also buy evolution stones (3000), but I'd lkike to hold onto mine for now. I think he might buy those Elemantal Gems you find in caves, but I'm not sure how much he offers. Basically, if you find any 'useless except for selling' items, do not sell them at a regular shop! Hold onto them and bring them here, you'll be glad you did. And speaking of shops, the one here sells Blizzard, Thunder and Fire Blast for 70000 each. Yeah, it's not cheap, but you only ever have to pay once. Of course, considering what I have, one of these in particular caught my eye... But I was a little short. I figured I'd have enough after battling the Gym trainers. There's a Fan Club here, the chairman gives another Exp Share if you're lead Pokemon has leveled up enough. I struggle to think of a situation where two could be useful to. Maybe if you're training for Little Cup and want to divert as much Exp from your lead as possible. For perhaps the first time, the Gym is fully accesable right when you arrive. But I wanted to check out reast of the area first. Dragonspiral Tower You can't actually acces the tower itself, just the grass outside and the water leading up to it. I found a Blue Stripe Basculin in a shadow patch, I had to catch it before it suicided with Double Edge. This is where False Swipe isn't so good. Outside I was finding nothing but Deerlings, although I know there must be something new here. Wierd. I looked around Route 8 a bit, (yes, you can go there) avoiding the trainers. I found the entrance to the Moor, but I think I'll save it until later. I did manage to get a Shelmet though, seemingly with the fabled 'Critical Capture'. The ball shakes in mid air after capturing the Pokemon, and only wobbles once before clicking. I still don't know what the probablity of it is though. Icirrus Gym A slight twist on the typical Ice gym. There's the sliding ice floor, but also a few 'rebounders', that knock you to a different location. And the trainers here are all Black Belts or Battle Girls, rather than the usual Skiers or Boarders. They seem to like Cubchoo and Cryogonal. The latter is very fast, and bulky on the special side. It can get pretty annoying, like when one froze Itagaki on the swtich in. It took about 5 turns to thaw out. And yet whenever I manage to get a lucky freeze on the AI, they ALWAYS thaw out instantly. I found out Cryogonals are found in Twist Mountain, but only have a 1% chance of appearing. That's bumped up to 5% in winter, so I'll try then. After each 'section' you jump a cliff on an icy slide to get to the next. This place has an interesting art style too. It's very white and brown, rather than the usual blues of most ice gyms. You know Ice Bryyo from Metroid Prime 3? It kind of reminds me of that. The 2nd level is a bit more involved than the first. It's certainly one of the more complicated Gym puzzles so far. At this point, I left the gym for a bit to catch a Mienfoo and Druddigon near the tower. Back to the Gym, I come face to face with the leader, Brycen, who is Riku. Seriously. The whole Axel thing with Alder is mostly just an appearence thing, but this guy literally is Riku. You'll see. Gym Battle: Vs Brycen Vanillish Lv 37, Cryogonal Lv 37, Beartic Lv 39 Hyper Potion x2 He doesn't actually say "come on Sora, I thought you were stronger than that", but he does mention you being strong in one of his quotes. Anyway, Quetzalli's Ancientpower just fell short of KOing Vanillish, so that helped waste his Hyper Potions. Strangely, he sent out his highest leveled next. That thing has a powerful Icicle Crash attack, so I quickly switched to Hihi, for an OHKO Flare Blitz. And even more oddly, his Cryogonal has Aurora Beam, rather than Ice Beam like the earler ones had. What? It got Flare Blitzed too. MY ADVICE FOR 7TH GYM: If you don't have a compotent Fire, Fighting or Rock type by now, something's wrong. I suppose you could get a Mienfoo in the grass north of town. His highest leveled Pokemon is by far the most dangerous, and with me he sent it out early. Try to get rid of it as fast as possible. "In honor of your stout heart, I will give you this." he says. Yeah, he's totally Riku. Time to ride the epic slide out. Wait, what's this? No team update? Truth is, I forgot, but I think it's a little more fitting it comes later, as the story is about to take a pivial turn... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eclipse Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 1. Suggestions for Galvantula: - Jirai Gumo (don't ask) - Lt. Buzz - Lighty - Glowstick - moonglow (ahem. . .I'll stop here. . .) 2. Multiple EXP Shares allow for EV training across multiple Pokemon. 3. I hope you have a Ferrothorn. I have a soft spot for those things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Klingy Posted March 27, 2011 Author Share Posted March 27, 2011 1. Suggestions for Galvantula: - Jirai Gumo (don't ask) - Lt. Buzz - Lighty - Glowstick - moonglow (ahem. . .I'll stop here. . .) 2. Multiple EXP Shares allow for EV training across multiple Pokemon. 3. I hope you have a Ferrothorn. I have a soft spot for those things. 1: I Kind of already have an idea, but thinks anyway. 2: Except you don't get the benefit of Power Items. And it's hard to keep track of. 3: I'm planning to. After the main story is done, I'm going to pick out new Pokemon I like, come up with a set for them and EV train them. I already have a few definite ideas, Ferrothorn is one of them. Chapter 19: Team Plasma's Master Plan Interestingly, Riku, I mean, Brycen, is the only Gym leader so far (and, as I would later find out, the only one, period) not to meet you at least once outside the Gym before the battle. So I felt for sure he would be involved in a story event soon. Upon leaving the Gym, Cheren and Bianca are there. Cheren has descended into angst, wondering if he's really become stronger, or if it’s just his Pokemon. Sure enough, Brycen comes out of the gym, and asks "who are you?" Bianca gets on with the introductions, but... "I know you're here, show yourselves." So, he wasn't referring to usAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA. It's the Creepy Triad! 'This is a message from Lord Ghetsis, I await you at Dragonspiral Tower.', they say. Sorry, I couldn't resist. Rik-Brycen decides to go too, and now it's Cheren who has to wait to challenge the Gym. I think this is a nice touch, it stops this 'waiting for the gym' thing from feeling like a gameplay device and makes it seem like something that can happen to anyone within the universe. Cheren thinks there's no better was to pass the time than to accompany the leader to the tower. And now, I look at Brycen's badge memo: "Don't limit yourself to hot or cold, but use them both to your best advantage." Replace 'hot' and 'cold' with 'light' and 'dark'. Now try to tell me he's not Riku. I now had enough money for Thunder, and I didn't hesitate. But WTF, Missile can learn it?! At the tower entrance, Bianca decides to stay and bodyguard Cedric. She's really starting to like that job, isn't she? He gives you the Old Gateau. For some reason. Dragonspiral Tower The bridge is up now, and it seems there's one grunt here. But to my surprise, he doesn't battle you. I can now enter through the broken hole in the wall. Not very subtle, are they. Nice water on the 1st floor. Since I already have Mienfoo and Druddigon, the only new thing to catch here is Gollett. Youch, Dynamicpunch is painful though. When approaching the staircase, the whole tower shakes. That doesn't sound good. Cheren awaits on the 2nd floor, and informs me I can walk on fallen pillars. Thanks for that. I find you can actually skip right to the stairs if you have Strength, but I explored the floor anyway for the items. The stairs here are awesome, just like in Celestial Tower. On the next floor, I notice that the jumping ledges from Tin/Bell Tower are back! Gotta love these subtle call-backs. There's a Shiny Stone here if you deviate from the path slightly. On the next floor, Riku and Cheren are holding back Team Plasma so you can go on. But they can't hold everyone, there's still a fair few grunts to battle on the stairs. I'm noticing a pattern here: the males use Watchog, Scraggy and the Sandile line. Females use Liepard and the Trubbish line. There's a big 3D section next floor. Now I know where the spiral in this place's name comes from! After navigating the maze, I hear something on the rampage at the top. Definitely not good! The Sage Giallo is on the next floor, and he sicks his henchmen on me. Surrounded by 4 grunts. Thankfully they're pretty pathetic, although one of the Trubbishes has Sludge Bomb. The next staircase is partly shadowed, which isn't a good sign. True enough, the next floor is dark, with ominous music. I'm then treated to the closest thing Pokemon has to a full cutscene of N and Zekrom. N says he's going to defeat the Champion in the last Pokemon battle. Only someone recognized by Reshiram can try to stop him. It is waiting in the form of the Light Stone... but where? Back at the bottom, Bianca wonders why there are two dragons. But it seems someone hat arrived who has the answer... Champion Axel! He says Zekrom and another devastated Unova in the past. He doesn't like the idea of complying to N's demands, but we certainly can't let Team Plasma awaken both dragons. He suggests searching the Relic Castle. Aha! I knew that place would become important later! Well then, no time to lose, let's get moving! But first, NOW it's time for a team update. Pokedex: 97 Seen, 61 Owned Itagaki (Lv 39 Samurott) HP: 133 Atk: 98 Def: 77 Sp.Atk: 105 Sp.Def: 63 Spe: 69 Razor Shell False Swipe Surf Grass Knot Comments: With Surf, it now hits nearly everything hard. False Swipe is absurdly useful for catching, unless your target is Ghost of course. Or they have recoil moves. Galvantula Lv 39 HP: 123 Atk: 68 Def: 56 Sp.Atk: 92 Sp.Def: 56 Spe: 98 Volt Switch Signal Beam Thunder Flash Comments: Compoundeyes Thunder is a ton of fun to use. Pretty devastating too. Quetzalli (Lv 39 Archeops) HP: 109 Atk: 119 Def: 60 Sp.Atk: 90 Sp.Def: 62 Spe: 112 Acrobatics Ancientpower Crunch Fly Comments: Finally evolved! It still basically fills the same role, just a good deal faster. Hihidaruma (Lv 39) HP: 139 Atk: 129 Def: 67 Sp.Atk: 35 Sp.Def: 43 Spe: 87 Flare Blitz Dig Hammer Arm Thrash Comments: Obliterated Rik, uh, Brycen's team. Decent bulk too. Missile (Lv 39 Stoutland) HP: 118 Atk: 102 Def: 77 Sp.Atk: 46 Sp.Def: 81 Spe: 74 Strength Take Down Work Up Chunch Comments: He's getting good use out of the Rocky Helmet, I actually get quite a few KOs with it. Whimsicott Lv 39 HP: 106 Atk: 64 Def: 85 Sp.Atk: 69 Sp.Def: 68 Spe: 121 Growth Leech Seed Stun Spore Giga Drain Comments: Yes, I evolved it. Everyone else had evolved by now, so I thought I may as well. But I only realised around here that if I evolved it one level later (at 37) it would have got Cotton Guard!!!!!! GHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! [facepalms repeatedly] Oh well, I guess that comes with doing a blind run. Only thing to note here is he's the main speedster of the team, due to a Timid nature. Chapter 20: Chekov's Ruins The closest city to the Castle is Nimbasa, but while I'm here, I may as well stop at the sports domes for some training. There are even more trainers here now, and they're around Lv 40. The fanboys with the Zebstrikas were a little irritating, they kept activating eachothers Motor Drives with their Discharges. I meet up with Cheren at the entrance to the castle. Time to venture deeper, into that area that was previously blocked. The Sage Ryoku is waiting, and it seems Ghetsis wants to test me again. Time for another Plasma Gauntlet. As I suspected, you fine wild Cofagrigus down here. Also Krokoroks. The path here is a little confusing, some of the sinkholes just take you to a shortcut back to an earlier floor. The grunts are using Garbodor now. Walking slowly across the top of one of the next sinkhole gets you the TM Shadow Ball. Psychedelica was right, you DO find it here, just not till later. After eventually finding the right path through the sinkhole maze, the last drops me into a huge sandy chamber. Axel and Ghetsis seem to have got there first. He informs me the Light Stone is not here. But Team Plasma doesn't seem to have stolen it... His next words surprise me, he says to the Champion: "illness took the Pokemon you had for many years. You haven't had one serious battle since then." Wow. A champion who's somewhat of a tragic figure, interesting. (although seeing as the only Pokemon illness we know about is beneficial...) He goes on to say he's prepared a castle for Zekrom and the king. He tells Alder N says victory against him as assured. "The moment when someone loses all hope. I really do love that moment." It goes without saying that this guy makes even Cyrus look tame by comparison. Anyway, Alder prepares to return to the Pokemon League to battle N, but it bothers him to do exactly what Ghetsis wants. As it should. With that, we get taken out of the cave automatically. But...but... there's a Volcanora down there!! (Well, it IS Lv 70, I don't think I'm quite ready.) An Xtranciever call comes in from the Professor, saying to come to the museum in Nacrene City. Wait... could it be...? (Think back to one of my earlier logs. When I first visited the museum. There was something there that always felt a little out of place. I suspected it would be a Chekov's Gun. Well, figured it out yet?) Upon arriving, Axel, Bianca and both Junipers are there. So is Lenora. It seems the Light Stone was there all along. But the Champion says that by accepting the stone, you will be the one to battle N should anything happen to him. Judging by that speech, something certainly will. So I finally receive it, after an epic 'get' theme. But... it seems no-one knows exactly how to get the dragon out of the stone. Well, there is someone... perhaps an expert on dragons? Like... the final Gym Leader. Who just happens to look like he could be Damon Gant's long lost brother. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Psych Posted March 27, 2011 Share Posted March 27, 2011 "We just put it there cause it looks cool." Swimming, anyone? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadow Mir Posted March 27, 2011 Share Posted March 27, 2011 (edited) It can get pretty annoying, like when one froze Itagaki on the swtich in. It took about 5 turns to thaw out. And yet whenever I manage to get a lucky freeze on the AI, they ALWAYS thaw out instantly. What can I say? Well, other than "The Computer is a Cheating Bastard" that is... Edited March 27, 2011 by Metal King Slime Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eclipse Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 I hope the next update has a cool nickname for Galvantula! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strawman Posted March 29, 2011 Share Posted March 29, 2011 Name it(your Galvantula) Killer. Its both cute and dangerous. I really like reading this log also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Klingy Posted April 1, 2011 Author Share Posted April 1, 2011 UPDATE: Have already finished the main story. Now I just need to type it all up... And everyone else seems to be getting on the playthrough log bandwagon, so I should probably just get mine done. Oh, and Galvantual is already named. You may find whet I decided to go with a bit boring though. Chapter 21: Drayden Gant Random tidbit, I had exactly 33:33 on the clock at this point. Anyway... Time to head out for the final Gym, but while I'm here, I may as well check out a few more areas on my 'come back with Surf' list. Surfing to the west on Route 3 sllows you to reach a hidden patch of grass. The Pokemon are still the same though. But there is a Pokemon Breeder, with the three 2nd stage monkeys. But the real attraction here is the fact he gives you a Lum Berry after the battle. Always a useful filler item under Item Clause, and you only really need one. Now it's back to: Wellspring Cave Surfing leads to a hidden floor, but it requires Flash. Still, it's a good thing all the flash caves are optional now. The music also goes deeper just like in Chargestone. Across a small lake is the TM Low Sweep. Not the best fighting move available, but it'll do for now. (I'm still waiting for Drain Punch) At the end of a winding water path is the TM Focus Blast. IMO it's one of the worst moves in the game, but I admit it is a necissary evil sometimes. You can also pick up a Mystic Water here, but I already had one from an NPC, so I didn't need it. Working my way back down, there are a couple of trainers near the middle, two Battle Girls and a Black Belt. Oddly, they won't battle you unless you walk directly in front of them. The girls have a Sawk and Throh between then, while the Black Belt has both. Straiton City That NPC standing across the water just out of reach has been annoying me for far too long. Turns out he just gives you a big pearl. (but I'll bet the Icirrus guy would pay a ton for it) Using the Dowsing Machi9ne, however, I find a Balmmushroom. I'm sure this is what you need to sell to the chef on Rt 5. Enough backtracking, on to... Route 8 The puddles are still here, although the Pokemon are the same. Past a couple of trainers is the TM Sludge Bomb. Up a luttle further is the Moor entrance. To be honest, it's pretty dull. All the Pokemon are the same as Rt 8/Icirrus City and there's very little to explore. The only real consolation are the Rangers who give Sitrus berries. There is an optional Strength area, but that just leads to a Carbos and a Parasol Lady. Next! Back on the main route, a Parasol Lady gives the TM Facade instead of a battle. Another gave me a Smooth Rock, and implies she'll give a different one each day. This game does have a habit of 'disguising' helpful NPCs, especially TM-givers, as trainers. It always pays to talk to everyone. Almost at Tubeline bridge and... sigh, Hi Bianca. Well, at least I haven't had an actual battle with her in a while. Vs Bianca Stoutland Lv 38, Stage 3 Starter Lv 40, Stage 2 Monkey Lv 38, Musharna Lv 38 Ok, I did not expect her to be the first one to get their starter fully evolved. But lol, I got it down to red health, and it KO'd itself with Take Down. I made sure to get rid of Musharna quickly after that. She gives another present after the battle, although this is just a Full Restore. She then says "I want you to stop Team Plasma. Stop them from stealing Pokemon from people who love them. I think that's the ideal or truth you've ben pursuing." Wait, who is she to decide my ideals for me?? Actually though, looking back... there's actually a significat bit of foreshadowing in what she just said. Think carefully about two specific words in that last sentence. Into the gate, which contains a model of the bridge itself. I wonder what this one will be like... Tubeline Bridge This one uses a 3D view with a foward camera. You can see trains passing beneath. Actually, this place reminds me a lot of my own Sydney Harbour Bridge. It's basically the same kind of look, except the train routes are on either side of the main road, rather than below it. No trainers or wild Pokemon here, but a lady says to avoid the place on weekend evenings, as a Biker gang comes here. Looks like I'll have to come back. There's another girl here but... hey, come back! Just stand still would you... FINALLY! Oh, the TM Flame Charge! Awesome! As I walk down the bridge, I see another figure siluetted in the distance. It looks like... no...no...NO...NO!!!! Yes. It's Ghetsis. And the Creepy-Come-Out-of-Nowhere Triad. He goes on about the two heroes with dragons putting their beliefs on the line to find out who is the true hero. He paces evily. He then says he educated N from infancy to become the hero. He's using Team Plasma to spread the message that mistreating Pokemon is bad so that it will be considered a bad thing to have Pokemon. Then people will be unable to face public opinion and will be forced to release their Pokemon. Ok, it was about now that I had a good idea of exactly who Ghetsis is and what he true goals are. I'll refrain from saying my guesses yet, since they mostly turned out to be right. He leaves, causing a massive mood clash as the rather upbeat bridge theme comes back. And that's the end of the bridge. Pretty short, yeah. Route 9 The moment I enter, an NPC throws something at me! Hey... it's the TM Fling. Oh, I get it, lololol. The first Bikers (apart from Charels) and Roughnecks appear here. Note that the bikers start riding REALLY fast if you run while near them. Oddly, using the Bike doesn't trigger this behavior. One of them has Pawniard, and a quick Pokedex scan reveals it to be in this very area. As many od you know, the Dept. Store is on a route now, as opposed to a city. It's also called Shopping Mall 9. Though I'm not sure if it was a good idea to build a major shopping centre in an area that's a favourite hangout for thugs and bike gangs. How they get buisness is beyond me. Shopping Mall 9 Ah, I knew it, I just knew this would happen! This place uses a remix of the old Poke Mart theme! It's great they manages to keep it in despite the removal of regular marts. Now, in a first for a Dept. Store, some people here actually battle you. Theres only about 3 though. The bottom floor sells items, the 2nd is for Balls. There's also a TM Department... but it turns out all they have is Hyper Beam and Giga Impact. Aww. The 3rd floor sells Vitamins and X Items. There's also a guy here who gives a Thunderstone. A chef mentions there being a cave on Route 9. Better go back and investigate. Back on the route, a gap in the fence leads to some grass in the south. Gothorita can be found here. And Garbodor. Ugh. But at least there's Pawniard, which I made sure to catch. After heading west through some Double Grass, I find the cave entrance. But there's a guy blocking it. He says I'm not ready. Seeing as he mentioned the Champion training here, it's safe to assume this is a post-League location. Time to head to Opelucid City. Random tangent, I've said a lot of negative things about DPP, but as far as 8th Gym cities go, I find it will be hard to beat Sunnyshore. Mostly in the music department. Will this one do it? Wait and see... Opelucid City The bulletin board mentions the city being famous for its security... yet a man there mentions that someone with a legendary Pokemon has come to visit. How someone like him manages to slip through is anyone's guess. I step out into the city itself and... WOAH! Yeah, I heared this place wasn't afraid of change, but I didn't expect it to be this thechnologically advanced! Everything is neon blue, even the streets have streaks of it. And they seem to have borrowed Metroid door technology and used it on... normal houses. Yeah. But no time to explore yet, Team Plasma is holding another rally. Or rather, Ghetsis is conning people with speech, as Champion Axel puts it. Yes he's here too. Along with Gant and Iris. The former tries to explain why catching Pokemon isn't necissarily cruel. If Pokemon didn't like being with humans, they would just leave on their own accord. We explain the situation: N wants the two dragons to fight, but mine really isn't in the condition to do that, what with kinda not being alive and all. Iris tells me to follow her to their home to hear the full story. But now I have control again, I'd like to do some sightseeing first. Well, there's a guy in one of the houses who'll give a random Musical Prop every day. Upstairs though, there's someone quite interesting, but not from a gameplay perspective. He's an ex-Team Plasma member, who left because he thought it was scary that everyone was thinking the same way. In the north-western corner of the town is the Gym, which looks really badass. But there's a man in front of it who essentially tells me the gym leader is in another castle. That was obvious. The next house along is a place to test your Rotation Battle skills. (it's Triples in White, apparently) The bottom floor has an Ace Trainer with all 3 Monkeys, each Lv 38. Pretty easy. The top floors trainer uses Mienfoo, Elgyem and Pawniard. Even easier. A note: I later found out that these trainers will rematch you. So stop by here if you're doing any training. In another house, it seems I've finally found the EV checker. But I'm wondering, now that there aren't any ribbons, what exactly does she do when you're maxed? (She does simply say 'It needs to work harder.' without any implication of 'I'll give you somethig nice if it does.' like in past games. Maybe she just says 'It worked really hard.' without giving you anything?) A man on the top floor says he's building a time machine. He mentions that "in another world, there's another Opelucid City that looks all old-timey." He wants to see a Pokemon from that world that knows Charge. This is kind of an interesting bit of info, as it confirms that at least Black and White take place in alternate universes. Now this is certainly going to spawn mass theories. It's possible all the versions function like this. (e.g. Red and Blue are parallel universes too) Maybe. Just as I exited the house, night fell. This place looks really awesome at night. Oh, I haven't mentioned the music, have I. Well... it fits the city, I'll give it that, but it's nowhere near as amazing as Sunnyshore's. Now, I may as well hear the story at Drayden's house. He and Iris tell of how Reshiram and Zekrom were once the same Pokemon. It was this single dragon Pokemon, along with the twin heroes, who brought the region into being. The two brothers argued over who was right, one supported truth, the other ideals. The dragon was split in two and each half sided with one of the brothers. The black dragon stood for ideals, the white, truth. [so... that makes Reshiram the Edgeworth Pokemon?] The dragons fought until the exausted themselves. The two heroes eventually decided no one side was right, and stopped fighting. But... their sons began the fight again. As interesting as this story is (to be honest I didn't see that prophecy twist coming, despite knowing Resiram and Zekrom we're once one Pokemon.) Iris and Drayden don't actually know how to awaken the dragon. They do think it will awaken itself when the time is right though. The house has a top floor too, where you can get the Float Stone and Ring Target items. The Gym is available now, but so is one place I want to check out. Route 10 Located straight north, this is the path that leads to the Pokemon League. The music is great, but I'll talk about that later. All I want to do here is pick up a few new Pokemon. Vullaby can be found here. (damn, that's late.) Bouffalant is here too, but the one I found suicided with Head Charge. Gaaah! The Foongus Pokeballs are back too. I figured I was at the right level for the gym now. Note that the eastern exit of the city is inaccesable, and I presume it will remain so until after the Elite 4. I tried to teach Ice Breath for the Gym... but nothing I have can learn it. Is Ice Beam available now? Oh well, I like a challenge. opelucid Gym There's a pretty cool perspective here. The start contains a lot of Ace Trainers. They like using Fraxures with Dragon Dance, which gets annoying. Now apparently, the puzzle here is to "get up on the dragons backs!" Sorry. True enough, there's a big black dragon back here. There's also a significantly smaller black dragon nearby, a Deino to be specific, used by an Ace Trainer. (Named Olwen, which I thought was significant enough to note down. I forgot if anyone from before had FE character names though.) Interesting puzzle here, jumping on the dragons hands causes their heads to move. You can, however, move them back. The head's movement depends if none, one or both hand switches are pressed. The second dragon, for example, can't be progressed on with just one hand down. Later on in the gym, I encounter my first Veteran, though they're bacically just cooler looking Ace Trainers. Now, I'm noticing here that Quetzalli is not always OHKOing, and when he doesn't, he tends to get reduced to the below 50% mark. I'll have to start using him more carefully from now on. Hihidaruma is also starting to not OHKO things too. It looks like things are coming to a peak. The 3rd dragon is interesting, it's actually pointing the right way from the start, but simply getting there messes that up. You need to retrace your steps and jump on the hand again to progress. If you then raise its second arm, the path to Drayden Gant will be opened. (I should explain that, shouldn't I. Well, the moment the game first came out in Japan and I saw his Vs Sprite, I was like 'he's Gant.' Seriously, just look at it.) Gym Battle: Vs Drayden Fraxure Lv 41, Druddigon Lv 41, Haxorus Lv 43 Phew, looks like I am at the right level after all. I was afraid his highest would be 45, but it turns out it was just 43. I lead with Missile due to his balanced nature. The first foe spammed Dragon Dance, which made me freak out for a bit... but he was a little too focused on spamming it and forgot to, you know, actually attack. Foolish fool. I managed to get a lucky crit on the second, but it survived, barely. To my horror I then saw the words: the foe's Druddigon used Revenge! Oh crap. It OHKO'd Missile, NOOOOOOOO... wait, what's this: the foe's Druddigon is hurt by the Rocky Helmet. Ha! If I go down I'm taking you with me, sucker! Seriously, that item has saved me countless times, as well as causing much hillarity. Okay, one more to go. Sadly, this will be the last time I hear the 'Gym Leader: Last Pokemon' theme. Or will it...? But I don't care, I have the soundtrack anyway. Okay, the best thing to do to a seriously threatening Dragon sweeper? Paralyze it. So I sent in Whimsicott and... missed. Crap. He got a free DD. Okay, my 2nd Stun Spore did hit. And to my utter amusement, it was FP'd (fully-paralyzed) twice in a row. It cartainly lived up to its name... but on the wrong side. I decided to switch to Itagaki (really odd choice, I know) but as she came it she was hit with Dragon Tail and forced out again. Tourns out the randow switch was to Quetzalli. Not such a good move, my Acrobatics finished it quick and easy. Still, pretty epic battle. MY ADVICE FOR 8TH GYM: The DDers seem really scary at first, but later realised they do have a slight handycap. Their only STAB move is Dragon Tail, which has negative priority and thus renders the speed boost from DD pointless. This means you will (most likely) always get a shot at it before it slices you in half, so keep that in mind. It can't really take repeated beatings, but you may need a few sacrifices to wear it down. Two more things to note, bear in mind his second Pokemon has an odd movepool. And I mean really odd. Just be careful of that. And lastly, there is little access to Ice moves, apart from the unreliable Blizzard, outside of actual Ice types at this point. So unless you want to gamble, you probably won't be abusing this weakness. Your best bet if you want to play the weakness game is a Haxorus of your own. You can get an Axew in Mistralton cave. (see earlier for location.) Recommended Level: 43-44 Degeated, the leader gives me the... Gant Badge. Seriously, look at it, it's a staring eye! Really! He tells me to head to the League and go after Alder. In a humourous little bit of optional dialogue, talk to Clive after the battle and he'll joke that he deserves some of your winnings for giving you so many Fresh Waters. Outside the gym, a familiar face is waiting, although this time it's a substantially less creepy one. Professor Juniper! She came with a report on the Reshiram thing, saying it will awaken itself when it deems worthy. Which to me screams one word: Gato. It's probably going to pick the most dramatic moment to make its entrance, I just hope it's one when I have Synchronise access. She goes on about how much I've changed since leaving Nuvema Town, and points out the league route gate. She reminisces about it feels like yesterday when she was showing me around the Accumula Town Pokemon Center. Actually, yeah, that does make me feel kinda nostalgic. She then asks if I regret going on the journey. Oh come on, of course not! She has one last present for me.... [drumroll] ... ... The Master Ball!! And it turns out it arrived just in time. Because an unexpected distraction occured on the way to the Pokemon League... Interlude 4: A Fateful Encounter When I walk into the Rt 10 gate, the receptionist immidiately stops me and says a huge storm has occured on Route 7. It doesn't appear to be a natural phenomenon. Well, what could I do but check it out? Route 7 Holy crap! The said 'big storm' but I didn't think they meant 'Kyogre on seteroids'! Massively heavy rain, and occasional enormous winds that cut visability down to near zero. What's going on?? I think I had an idea... But there didn't seem to be anything different in the grass. I kept searching, and searching... Finally, I thought I may as well give up. Maybe he doesn't appear until post-League...? But then I crossed just in frront of the rest house. An old woman came out and told me to come inside. Well, I guess taking shelter is the best thing to do at a time like this. But more importntly, she goes on about "that Pokemon" being here. I think I may have found the event flag I was looking for. I just prayed this wasn't the point where its IVs and Nature were set, as I haden't saved since before Gant. "Don't go into tall grass, that Pokemon may be too much for you." Yeah, I appreciate your concern and all, but I have a Master Ball. I should explain to all you readers that I always save mine for the roamers. And since there's only one roamer is B/W... Inside, she identifies the Pokemon as Tornadus. It can make a lap around Unova in one day. In the mornings its to the south, in the evenings, the north. I saved now, just in case. Turns out I picked exactly the right time. Upon leaving, the storm intensifies, and Tornadus appears before me... then leaves, taking its crazy weather with it. That got it registered in the Pokedex, but I can't track its area. At this time, I decided I may as well move on. I probably missed the IV-set point anyway. I may as well just head to the league. I step onto route 10. But wait, what's this? The wind, the rain? It's... Tornadus! Holy crap, it's like a sign or something! I couldn't let this oppertunity pass me by, Master Ball go!!! I want to check it on the PC. Now, I already have an idea of what I'm going to use it for. But I won't tell you guys, in case any of you end up facing me on WiFi. Let's just say it's the one thing it can do that Thundrus can't. For that job, nature wasn't necissary. I'd accept anything, anything... Except Adamant. Damn. Oh well, maybe its IVs are good? (in order of Hp, Atk, Def, Sp.Atk, Sp.Def, Spe) 18, 8, 18, 1, 11, 14 Bleeegh! Baaaaaaaaad. I thought I may as well reset to see if they'd change. And... they did. Important note to IV/Nature perfectionists: It turns out your roamer's Nature and IVs are set the moment you LEAVE the old lady's house on Route 7. So if you want to soft-reset, be sure to save INSIDE the house! My second had good IVs, but was Gentle. Not a very good nature. (+Sp. Def, but -Def still detracts from your overall bulk) Many resets later, and I finally landed this spread: 28, 26, 28, 18, 21, 26 That's good enough for me. I won't tell you the nature for aformentioned reasons, but I will say it's not amazing, but not bad either. Time for the team update. Team Update: Missile (Lv 43 Stoutland) HP: 129 Atk: 114 Def: 84 Sp.Atk: 50 Sp.Def: 90 Spe: 82 Strength Reversal Work Up Crunch Comments: Decided to teach it reversal, but it's not seeing much use. Oh well. Strength is more or less fine as STAB anyway. It's become a nice 'Mario' at this point. Ok, but not stellar, at offence and defence, but one of the only things on my team that can do both. And has few weaknesses to boot. Bolting (Lv 43 Galvantula) HP: 126 Atk: 76 Def: 61 Sp.Atk: 101 Sp.Def: 62 Spe: 109 Volt Switch Signal Beam Thunder Flash Comments: Yeah, I decided to call it this, mostly because I wanted something that reflects its use of Thunder, and looking at its BW animation this was the first thing that came to mind. Anyway, I'm glad its main stats have finally surpassed the 100 mark. Although I realised it's a little behind in the stat department as it joined late, and thus has had less time to gain EVs. Still, what can I say but "Compoundeyes Thunder"? Itagaki (Lv 43 Samurott) HP: 146 Atk: 110 Def: 84 Sp.Atk: 116 Sp.Def: 70 Spe: 76 Razor Shell False Swipe Surf Grass Knot Comments: Shame it couldn't learn Frost Breath, or it would've been awesome at the gym. I actually don't want to change its moveset anyway, these four moves have done me wonders. It may seem odd to use two Water moves, but being able to hit whichever defencive stat your opponent is weakest in is a huge boon. Hihidaruma (Lv 44 Darmanitan) HP: 156 Atk: 146 Def: 74 Sp.Atk: 39 Sp.Def: 48 Spe: 99 Flare Blitz Dig Hammer Arm Thrash Comments: It's got huge HP, but that only serves to soak up recoil damage. Still crazy strong, but suffers a bit when its STAB is NVE. Quetzalli (Lv 44 Archeops ) HP: 122 Atk: 137 Def: 67 Sp.Atk: 103 Sp.Def: 70 Spe: 126 Acrobatics Rock Slide Crunch Fly Comments: Only realised recently that I had the TM Rock Slide, taught it, and it is working wonders. Especially in double battles. Nothing is more satisfying than seeing the message "It's Super Effective on the foe's X and the foe's Y!" followed by seeing their health bars both drop rapidly simultanously. (and yes, that happens surprisingly often. Usually with flyings or Darmanitans in the sports dome.) Whimsicott Lv 43 HP: 117 Atk: 72 Def: 93 Sp.Atk: 76 Sp.Def: 74 Spe: 134 Growth Leech Seed Stun Spore Giga Drain Comments: Still a great little annoyer. Nothing much else to add. 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Psych Posted April 1, 2011 Share Posted April 1, 2011 There's also a significantly smaller black dragon nearby, a Deino to be specific, used by an Ace Trainer. (Named Olwen, which I thought was significant enough to note down. I forgot if anyone from before had FE character names though.)Not an FE name, but I was playing last night, and I noticed a Parasol Lady on 8 that was named Lumi, so a little SF was cool. The first foe spammed Dragon Dance, which made me freak out for a bit... but he was a little too focused on spamming it and forgot to, you know, actually attack. Foolish fool. Oh you... You need a whip then. :P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I.M. Gei Posted April 2, 2011 Share Posted April 2, 2011 There is no Drain Punch TM in BW, sadly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Klingy Posted April 4, 2011 Author Share Posted April 4, 2011 There is no Drain Punch TM in BW, sadly. Ah, thanks for pointing that out! I just assumed since it's often suggested for most of the new Fightings, but looking now it appears to be an Egg move for all of them. (except Mienshao, who gets it by level) Chapter 22: The begining of the End Finally making my way across Rt 10 proper. Glad they've brought back the epic 'road to the Pokemon League' route. RBY and GSC had them, but in RSE and DPP you just had to surf there, which, IMO is a little anticlimactic. And the music really helps. I love it, but it's a little hard to describe without comparing it to something else. Basically, its the direct antithesis of HG/SS's 'league route' theme,which was very triumphant and upeat. Now, that track was amazing too, don't get me wrong. But I kind of have a sorf spot for those bittersweet, somewhat-mournful, 'On our way to the final dungeon themes.' See 'Someday this Deam Will End' (Final Fantasy X) and 'Holy War'. (FE3/12) Yeah, immagine Pokemon's take on those themes and you'd get this. And, of course, this is always the point where the trainers start using lots of cool evolved Pokemon to add to your dex. Here's a list of things I saw on this route: Eelektrik, Accelgor (which Me First'd my Thunder, but missed, lol), Sawsbuck, Jelicent and a few others I forgot to write down. Oh, and you know things are starting to get serious when you see Cryogonals with Hyper Beam. Right, I'll just make my way across the bridge... "Stop!" Sigh, I knew this was coming. (come to think of it, it happens every gen. Blue stopped you just before the league route gate, Silver challenged you in Victory Road, Wally did the same. Barry still gets special WTF honor for chalenging you just as you attempt to step into the Pokemon League itself.) He's brought Bianca with him too. They want to see if I'm ready for the Team Plasma boss, N. Vs Cheren Unfezant Lv 43, Serperior Lv 45, Simipour Lv 43, Liepard Lv 43 [sitrus Berry] He's finally manned up and evolved his starter, it's about time. I learent the hard way: this thing is bloody fast. It took out Quetzalli (my supposed speed freak) with a crit Leaf Blade. There wasn't much it could do to Hihi though. Only other thing to note is that Simisear's Scald got its first burn, on Whimsicott. To my utter relief, he fully heals you afterwards. And Bianca gives some Max Revives. (trust me, I would be needing them down the track.) She talks about how we've all changed, and that there are as many truthes and ideals as there are Pokemon. The most important thing is that we keep helping each other out. Cheren says he'll do what he can to help. And Bianca... She says she wishes she could say something totally inspiring but... yeah, and runs off. I kind of liked that simi-self refferential humor from before coming back. But no time to dwell on things, moving on! To the north is a path of Double Grass. The Item Balls here contain Amoongus, rather than Foongus, though you'll also run into them as normal wild Pokemon in the grass. This path leads back, but to some pretty sweet items, a Dawn Stone, a Dusk Stone from an NPC (who mentions it evolves Lampent) and the TM05 Roar. Heading down the main path, I FINALLY caught a Boufalant. The route is actually pretty short, and past the imposing building at the end are the Badge Check Gates. I really like how they've brought back this mechanic from Gen 1, it always felt epic having your badges checked individually, rather than just some dude saying 'you have all the badges, yay!!' and stepping sideways. This one's just a straight path, unlike RBY's, but the gates are in awesome 3D rendering, and the music gets added to after each one. I'll give a quick recount of each area: 2nd Gate: Grassy, with wooden tables (a refference to Straiton Gym) and flaming torches. Drums start. 3rd: Actual wild grass. More drums come in. 4th: Big stone beetle bridge. Can hear faint melody in background. 5th: Electric bridge. Main music starts. 6th: Rocky walls inlaid with gems. 7th: Ramp to windy chasm. Is this one of those leap of faith things.. woah! I'm floating! (these Pokemon League officials sure put people through some weird stuff) 8th: Sliding ice floor, with crystals. Proper music starts. 9th: Big stone dragon heads. (the resemble Charizard more than anything else.) Music crecendos to an epic beat. [in case you haven't realised, each area is a refference to the gym badge you showed before it.] And with that, the instruments have made the full Victory Road theme. Now to actually enter... WOAH!! Yeah, suffice to say, Victory Road is VERY different this time around. It's more accurately Victory Cliff. And yes, that means it's not all just cave. Quite a refreshing change. And there's another one too, one I'm really glad they did. This is perhaps the first Victory Road with actually worthwhile wild Pokemon. By that I mean: in EVERY other gen, Victory Road would always contain Marchokes, Gravelers, Golbats, you know, the stuff you'd already seen like 1,000,000 times before. So you'd just use a repel and leave it at that. Bo-ring. Not so here. In fact most of the wild Pokemon you'll meet in this incarnation of Victory Road are completly unique to it, use a Repel, and you'll be missing out on a LOT. Some of which are quite noteworthy. (Deino mainly, and they're not all that rare to boot.) It's a really nice touch. IMO, diversity in wild Pokemon is what makes a location memorable. The only previous Victory Road that even came close to this was RBYs, and that was just because of Moltres. Most of the others just ended up feeling like a chore, a necissary evil. I did find a Deino just as I entered, but I had a brainfart and forgot it was weak to bug. Oops. Oh well, there's plenty more where it came from. A Durant was next. Now, a warining to all attempting a playthrough. It may not look it, but Durant is pretty deadly by wild standards. It's got great speed, so it's hard to run from, and each failed attempt will see you eating a Bug Bite or Iron Head coming of a base 110 Attack stat. Just remember their one Achilles Heel, very poor Sp.Def and HP. Which basically means: kill it with Fire. But watch out, the higher-leveled ones may have Dig... Speaking of wild Pokemon, every wild battle in here uses the 'rare' version of the wild theme. Oh, and speaking of music, even if you Surf, the surfing theme won't play. Now, I had a bit of a harsh awakening when I realised the trainers are now all in the 45 range. I think I'm actually a little unprepared. Out in the fresh air again on the first floor, and a Vetreran shows you tht you can slide down the slopes. Cool. Outside, you'll find wild Pokemon in the cracked earth. Heatmor can be seen here. ...Now, I'm really sorry about this, but there's one last interlude before the end of the game. I need to level up just a bit more, the trainers here are quite nasty. There is one area I haven't explored yet so... Interlude 5: Rough Seas and Conspicuous Labs Yep, that spot on the map has been annoying me for too long. Truth be told, the only reason I didn't go here sooner was that I thought It'd be involved in the story at some point. Now that I know it's totally optional, what better way to sped my pre-League training? But first, a stop off at Junipers to see how my Dex is coming along. She gives the TM Hidden Power for seeing over 100. Route 1 Back here, who would've thought it? Surfing to the west leads to a small shore with doubles grass (different wild Pokemon here, mostly Scraggy) and a Carmen. There's also a sighn to remind you, yes, you are still on Route 1. Theres a gate hare, although bulletin board is blank, as there's apparently nothing of intrest down here. You're not going to fool me that easily, there always is. Route 17 Route 17 is where those rapid waters I've been hearing about are located. They're not too difficult to navigate, just trail and error really. The TM Toxic can be found early on. As well as the first swimmers in the game. (Unova is REALLY light on sea routes, evem more so than DP) The famales wear green bikinis now... yeah. They use a lot of Alomomola. I first laughed at them when they used Soak on me, (oh yeah, make your own moves NVE) but it is kinda annoying having your STAB cancelled. The currents up next take you over a series of jumps. The top current leads to the Deepseatooth, the bottom to the island. I do find the placement of the item a bit odd, its description mentions it can only be used by Clamperl which... isn't even in the Unova dex. I'm a little concerned about all those new players starting with BW, it's sure to cause a lot of confusion. The island mostly contains a large cliff, with a single house in the centre. Inside, a man wants to see something cool found behind a rock. Or something. I have no clue. The girl heals your team. But the main one to note is the male Ranger, who offers to give a Larvesta egg he found at the Relic Castle. I don't have a spare slot at the moment, but I'll be sure to come back later. The centre of the lower part of the island can be reached with Strength, leading to a Dragon Scale. To the extreme west lies a short strip of land with grass, and an item ball at the end. To my extreme shock, I realise it's the HM Waterfall! Did not see that one coming. I suppose it's optional this generation, but still, a pretty obscure place to put it. (yeah, it was in the Ice Cave in Johto, but I believe there was an NPC who hinted at its location.) Up the cliff from here is a Veteran. Quite an amusing battle, I sent out my Hihidaruma and get locked into Thrash, then he sends out a Darmanitan, and it uses Thrash! Of course, mine won though. Surfing out to the east, there's more currents. The lower one drops me off right at the Lab. Though there isn't really much to see here. The lab itself is abandoned, though it does contain a Dubious Disk. And there's a memo written here, it mentions the 'strongest Pokemon', and that Lord N rejected his research. The main thing here is the TM Thunderbolt, just outside. Now, I noticed there was one area of the island I couldn't get to before. I'm not one to leave a stone unturned, so I spent ages figuring out how to get there. Turns out, you have to go to the lab, then surf back, weaving between the currents. For this effort I get to battle another trainer, pick up a Heart Scale and the TM Telekinisis. Well, that's just about all for here. That bumped me up a few levels, enough to take on Victory Road proper. See you next time for, hopefully, the grand finale. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eclipse Posted April 5, 2011 Share Posted April 5, 2011 Since you're nearly there. . . . . .there's something you'll see during this portion of the game that should pique your interest. The game will hint at it. My suggestion is to abuse the A button. That's all I can say without giving too much else away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Klingy Posted April 21, 2011 Author Share Posted April 21, 2011 (edited) Phew, really late with this. I was planning to have the last bits up about two weeks ago, but then the 3DS came, and my scedule got busy, and then there was a tournament, so I had to spend the week non-stop breeding. The stuff I'm about to post I did ages ago, so I may get a few details wrong, but anyway... Chapter 23: On the road to Victory Right, now I'm ready. Caught a Heatmor outside, and finally managed to not KO the next Deino I found. Fought my way through some more trainers, there was an annoying Beheyem with Thunderbolt, I recall, as well as a very lolsy battle against someone with a Heatmor. I send in Hihi to use Dig, and to my amusement he uses dig too. Sadly, in that situation the faster one loses. Oh, and Whimsicott learned Hurricane. I figured it may help against Grass types who completley wall the rest of its moveset. I find two entrances I can go through, but one just leads to a Full Restore. Further in, there's a Black Belt with a Conkeldurr. Weird, I didn't expect to see that until the Fighting Elite 4 guy. And to my relief, there's a Doctor on the next floor. You can puch the nearby Strength rock for quick future access to him. There's an Ace Trainer who says something about the importance of reading what your opponent is doing, as they're a human and may change their plans. Wow, in-game trainers giving competitive advice? Interesting. Okay, there's lots of stairs here, so I figure I'm near the end. I arrive in a room with two sets of stairs: one up, one down. The down path leads to a cave blocked by a small rock. (which looks like the old Strength rocks) I'm guessing this is where Terrakion is. At the top, an NPC tells me there's an item all the way down the cliff. I really hope this is worth trecking back fo... just an Ultra Ball?! Damn, I feel like I want to punch that guy. Aside: I didn't find this out till later, but I missed the TM Taunt. It's down a cliff on the extreme right. Go to the second level, and slide down at the rightmost possibe point. You'll land right near it. Right, well there's a big cliff path at the top, so I guess this is it. I take one step and find the character automatically walks down the valley... Chapter 24: The Elite Meet and Greet I'm greeted with a full foward view of the building. It has for massive towers and a Greek temple looking building in the background. A very different feel to previous Leagues. The Pokemon Center and shop are in the left tower, but unlike previous gens this one doesn't have a 2nd floor. It's actually not even a proper Poke Center, just a counter with a healing machine, and the usual shop. Funnily enough, I arrived here with exactly 40 hours on the clock. Looks like it's time for the finale... Not quite. I need a tiny bit of grinding just to be sure. I admit I kind of cheated here and did a little scouting, and found out their levels start at 48. So I figured I'd have my team at 49. It didn't take all that long, and I even (finally) found a Throh in the meantime! Now it's time. I have no idea as to the E4's teams, but I can hazard a pretty good guess as to what each will have. We'll be about eavnly matched at first, but once I beat one I figure the rest will quickly fall due to my exp advantage. I bought a huge stock of potions and full restores, just in case. I find money is generally easier to come by this gen. A few final precautions... Items: Itagaki: Mystic Water Whimsicott: Big Root Quetzalli: Nothing Hihidaruma: Shell Bell Bolting: Scope Lens Missile: Rocky Helmet Inside the building, I find a statue, and four paths. Southwest: Ghost Southeast: Fighting Northwest: Dark Northeast: Psychic My planned order is: Ghost, Dark, Fighting, Psychic. Mainly because I wanted to leave Caitlin till last, her being the familiar character. I think I'll put my full impressions on the battles in spoiler tags along with the teams, just in case people want to leave this as a surprise, like I did. And this way I get to give full in-depth accounts for those of you who've done this already. Ok, here we go: Ghost: I arrive in an epic haunted library, with occasional lightning. When steping on the first step, laughing spirits take me all the way to the top, where Shauntal waits, the lightning strikes giving off a very cool b-horror movie shadow effect. They really haven't taken this route with a Ghost trainer before, which is surprising. And yes, this room pretty much cemented in my mind that this was the most epic Pokemon League ever, and I hadn't even battled yet! Vs Shauntal Cofagrigus Lv 48, Golurk Lv 48, Jellicent Lv 48, Chandelure Lv 50 Full Restore x2 Her teak turnd out to be exactly what I predicted. Lead with Missile for the immunity, and left Cofagrigus with early 1HP after a crit Crunch. "Good beginnings are essential in both novels and battles", she says, and how appropriate she was. And then, I got another crit! She's all out of Full Restores now, so I used Work Up to ensure I would at least 2HKO with non-crits... and got Will-o-Whisped. Still, her Psychics really didn't do much to me. After a while it went down. The next was Golurk... which fell to one Surf. Next! Then it was Whimsicott vs the Jelly, I got yet another crit, but Cursed Body ensured I wouldn't get any more. Jellicent went down, but Whimsicott would need to get out fast, I did not want to be on the recieving end of a Chandelure Fire move. Got Samurott out, but it was faster and Shadow Balled me. It was then I learned exactly how freakishly strong Chandelure is. 145 Sp. Attack HURTS! Damn, Surf was JUST short of a KO! I switched to Missile to take the next Shadow Ball... what, FIRE BLAST?!?! Nooooooooo! Missile!!!!!! Quetzalli had to finish the job, but not without getting a nasty parting gift courtesy of Flame Body. Wow, that sure had as many ups and downs as your average noval! 1 down, 3 to go. Dark: Well, this guy's cerainly unsubtle. A big red-carpeted ballroom, with a spiral escalator and flaming torches that light when you pass them. I find him sitting on a couch under a massive chandelier. (Thankfully this one isn't of the "Fire Blast you into oblivion" variety) I'm pretty sure this room is an alusion to Dracula and possibly Phantom of the Opera. I think one of the developers actually confirmed this. On a less relevant note, I kind of immagined this guy having a voice like Xigbar. Don't ask why. Vs Grimsly Scrafty Lv 48, Krookodile Lv 48, Liepard Lv 48, Bisharp Lv 50 Full Restore x2 Ok, this guy wasn't quite what I'd expected. Then again, they did have a fair few new Darks to choose from. I just thought he's at least have Zoroark. Anyway, Scafty fell to one Acrobatics, and oddly Bisharp came out next. I fugured I should use Hihidaruma's Superpower seeing as it's 4x Fighting weak, and sure enough, it fell with little effort. Turns out this little bit of info would come in useful later... Krookodile liked to use Foul Play. This was good, as I fought it with Whimsicott, who has a crappy Attack stat. (Off topic here, but once in Multi Subway I had the move used on my partner's Golurk, who had something like 196 Attack. It wasn't pretty.) Ok, just one more cool Dark type left... Liepard?!?! To be honest, I was a little disappointed. I mean, I've been seeing this thing time and time again, and another major story opponent, Cheren, uses it. It just didn't seem... special enough for an Elite 4 member. But it made me eat my words in a werid way, as it was easily the toughest one to handle. I thought I'd Stun Spore it... Limber. Ah, I thought it had that. Then it Attracted me. Gaah! Okay, I don't care if you've 'sedoozded' my Whimsicott, you're still going to be doing crap damage... holy bleep AREAL ACE! I still ended up winning though, but it did embaress me a little. Oh, and I seem to have written in my hand notes that this guy had an epic loss quote. I've forgoten what it was though. Fighting: At first glance, with its cogs, rails and ascending platform, this looked more like a Steel room than Fighting. And then the platform drops me in a freaking boxing ring, with spotlights. That's pretty cool. Vs Marshall Throh Lv 48, Sawk Lv 48, Conkeldurr Lv 48, Meinshao Lv 50 Full Restore x2 I still think this guy looks like he should be in Street Fighter. Heh, the Sawk-Throh duo, should've seen that coming. I led with Hihi, because she hadn't got much Exp yet. Used Dig to scout, as I was expecting him to have something good on Fire. Turns out it was Bulldoze. At least it's not Earthquake. Now I can switch to Quetz and Acrobat him. Sawk's Syone Edge did surprisingly little to Itagaki, I crited with Surf, but he's got Sturdy. Nonetheless he went down soon after. Conk was up next, I knew it. But what shocked me was that it wasn't his highest level. Seriously, the moment I heared there was a fighting Elite 4, I knew he'd just have to have Conkeldurr as his signature Pokemon. But it seems I was a little off. Eh, who cares, Acrobatics time! Ok, for the final round, in the red corner, we have Hihidaruma! And in the blue corner, we [beaten up for using all too obvious puns] Anyway, Meinshao's Rock Slide brought me down to 3 HP. I cringed, as I realised I'd selected Flare Blitz. Sigh, a double KO, which means, bigger sigh, no-one gets any exp. I hate it when such a waste happens, especially now when I need all the levels I can get. Psychic: One left... Her room contains a night sky filled with shooting stars, with a spot of light carrying you to... a bed. The curtains open, and a familiar face appears. Random aside, when I read her text, I couldn't help picturing her speaking in a certain voice I'd heared before. I realised a few minutes later it was Rachel from Blazblue. You know, I wouldn't be surprised if she was a direct tribute to Rachel, they're actually pretty similar in general manner. Vs Caitlin Reuniclus Lv 48, Sigliph Lv 48, Musharna Lv 48, Goffithell, sorry, Gothitelle Lv 50 Full Restore x2 To be honest, I wasn't entirely sure what Reuniclus could do. I lead with Bolting, but Psychic hit me hard. I don't think I'll get a 2HKO with Signal Beam, so for the first time I had to waste a turn on a Full Restore. I decided to switch to missile for reasons unknown. (aside: that's what I get for leaving this post so late. I can barely make sense of my hastily scrawled notes for this battle, so just bear with me.) Psychic was a 3HKO on me, so I had to use a Hyper Potion to guarantee I'd get another hit in, which was all I needed. I believe Gothitelle was out next. I tried to Razor Shell it, but I misses, and took a Thunderbolt for my trouble. This thing is surprisingly bulky, it took a Thrash fro Hihidaruma too. Bolting had to come in, but it got left on 1HP! But next turn I KO'd back with a Signal Beam crit. (I got a lot of these, didn't I?) Missile took down Sigliph next. Strange, I guessed the other three on her team, but this guy totally slipped me mind. Oh well, still pretty standard Psychic movepool. (generally just Psychic and Thunderbolt) It was about here I realised to my horror I had no Psychic resists. But I had nothing weak to Psychic either, so it kind of evened out. I knew full well how annoying Musharnas could be, (Damn you Bianca!) but by now I knew how to counter them, steal that massive HP for yourself with Leech Seed. I thought I'd add paralysis for good measure, but I forgot about Synchronise, ouch! Switched to Bolting again, I didn't KO, but Signal Beam confused! Musharna had just about had it then. Phew, all done. The last member you beat has an alternate defeat quote, telling you to check the statue for the path to the Champion. For me, this was Caitlin, which is annoying as I later realised her normal quote contains a crutial bit of backstory regarding why she didn't battle in Platinum. But no time to muse on that, I return to find the central statue glowing. Turns out, it contains an elevator. Down, down, down... thud. A huge room, and a tall, tall flight of stairs... leading to the temple-like building. The end is in sight... WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! The following section contains MASSIVE MASSIVE SPOILERS!!!!!!!! Trust me, if you don't know what's coming, you really don't want to spoil yourself for it. If you are planning on playing this game yourself at ANY time iN the future... DO NOT READ THE NEXT [AND LAST] SECTION!!! Seriously. I managed to avoid spoiling myself on this, and I want others to too. Those of you who've played the game already, read on... Final Chapter: Evil Thy Name is Dennis I enter the Champion's very shiny room. Aproach the pedestal and... N and Azel are there. Okay, so most people saw that coming. "It's over. I won." N says. Oh crap, this can not bode well for the universe. He says he's been waiting, and I've got the stone like the future he envisioned said. But he wants a more suitable place for the Dragons to battle. "Rise up, castle of Team Plasma!" A full cutscene. A castle rises from the ground, complete with ominous lighting, casting a massive shadow over the Pokemon League. And just when you think it can't get any more ominous, way too many bridges extend to connect to our one building. Okay, the music that plays now is holycrapabsolutleyfreakingamazing!!! Although, it seems it only ever plays at this one point. Needless to say, I spent a fair few minutes just standing on the bridge. N says everything will be decided at the Castle. Oh, and Cheren's here too. Now, I notice that there's a teleport pad behind where Axel was standing, but it's blocked off by rubble. My guess is this would've led to the Hall of Fame. N's Castle I am immediately greeted by the Seven Sages. They all say some vaguely-philosophical sounding quote, and mention that if anything happened to the King, it would ruin Ghetsis' perfect plan. Funny, I could have sworn the, uh, king would be running this operation... Suddenly, Clayton Marshal appears! Followed by... all the Gym Leaders... er, except for the Straiton Trio. They were probably busy umm... challenging some more newbs. Still, this moment is EPIC nonetheless. Apparently Bianca told them all to come. So she was able to do something after all. Although this means I don't get to battle the sages. Still, a few epic quotes while I'm here: Drayden Gant: "I can empathise with some of what you say, but I can't forgive the way you reject everything else." Sorry, just more morality stuff. Brycen: ... [i'm Riku, do I really have to say anything else?] Up to the next floor, the Triad appears, saying you can use the PC and heal in the castle. Okay, so you can switch around your party before the inevitable Dragon catching. So you can synchronise, if you want. But I'm not really sure I want one of my team to be abscent for the finale... In the small room, there's too strangely significant-seeming ladies who strangely haven't been remotely introduced before. I believe they were in the opening. Anthea heals your team, while Concordia does an Ishizu Ishtar and gives you exposition on N. It seems he was brought up isolated from the world, and was only given abused and abandoned Pokemon to look after, as dileberately chosen by Ghetsis. My 'manipulative bastard with hidden agenda' radar is going crazy. The grunts in the next room don't bttle, but tell you the horrible truth about Team Plasma: the castle was built in secret by overworking Pokemon. All this stuff about 'liberation' is presumably all a lie. The next floor contains rooms with PCs you can use, although the Plasma scientists say they can now hack the storage system and force people to release all their Pokemon. Noooooooooooo! Not my perfect IV breeding Dittos!!!! [thankfully I don't have them here yet as I can't transfer] On the next floor, a member of the Triad directs me to N's old room. It contains various childs toys, while a music box rendition of N's theme plays. I don't know if you're supposed to feel like this, but I found it really creepy. A grunt in another room mentions Team Rocket and Team Galactic, saying they failed because they drew too much attention to themselves. A bit hypocritical, given that they openly hold rallies in major cities. Then again they may as well be called Team Hypocrite anyway. Random off topic: in my view Team Galactic failed because they had no organisation, the grunts wern't even informed what their plan was. Team Rocket, well... they just didn't realise 10 year old kids could be that badass. Team Plasma, on the other hand, have come up with a surprisingly genre-savvy plan. Make everyone think they're being cruel to their Pokemon and release them, and you remove all possible threats in this universe. The next floor is presumable towards the end, with all those Plasma emblem flags. And sure enough, a great big ominous door. And a great big ominous... GHETSIS!! He says he'll seize the hearts and minds of the people, and only Team Plasma will be able to use Pokemon, to rule the powerless populace. But he assures me he's definately not a villain. Well then, we'll see just what heppens... The Throne Room, N walks over from the hall, and summons Zekrom in a full cutscene. And now the light stone is trembling inside the bag, in comes... Reshiram Okay, I may be going crazy here, but I think bits of Reshiram's theme are remixes of the Lake of Rage theme. Or... something really similar. Seriously, just listen. Okay, it has Extrasensory and Slash, and FUSION FLARE. [immagine that in a deep, booming voice] It looks epic. ...I caught it in my second Dusk Ball, after Stun Sporing and then False Swiping it. And here I was worrying if I needed a Sleep move. By the way, I chose not to Synchronise, but mine actually turned out to be Timid anyway! I tend to have decent luck with mascot legend natures. Now, interestingly, you now get the oppertunity to add Reshiram to your party right now. Yeah, I know it makes sense for the story, but I'm not going to. I don't want a single member of my team to miss out on the final showdown. They've been with me through most of the game, I want them to see it until the end. Bsides, I like challenging myself not to use Ubers. N fully heals you after the battle with your legend, saying there's no honour in defeating a weaknened opponent. And so, it begins. Or ends. Which is it? We'll find out... Vs N Zekrom Lv 52, Carracosta Lv 50, Klingklang Lv 50, Archeops Lv 50, Vanilluxe Lv 50, Zoroark Lv 50 [not sue how many Full Restores] Yep, as I thought. The only ever in-game trainer to use an Uber. (Greevil doesn't count, Shadow Lugia was a separate battle, not a part of his team.) But I freaked out when I realised he had another 5 Pokemon! Yikes, the jump from 4 Pokemon opponents up to the full 6 is pretty unnerving. And he always sends out his Dragon first, so be ready for it. Well, I had Missile up first. Let's hope he could hold his own... a crit with Crunch, nice! "You think you can stop me with that?" says N. Uh, yes. Okay, considering this thing's absurd stats, and the fact it has a level lead on me, I figured I needed to stack the odds as far in my favour as possible. So in came Whimsicott to Stun-Seed, but I ate a Giga Impact. Youch! The recharge turn gave me a chance to Revive though, and I managed to get the Seed in eventually. Bolting then weakened it with Signal Beam, and Leech Seed finished it. The Dragon was down! Now I just have 5 angry Lv 50's to deal with... Itagaki had a good matchup against Carracosta, but Sturdy let it survive a Grass Knot. But it wasn't like it would be doing anything with that extra turn. Goodbye. Klingklang fell to one Flare Blitz from Hihidaruma. I feel really sorry for that thing, I mean, it's pretty cool, with nice stats and a great boosting move in Shift Gear... but it has possibly the most horrendously awful attacking movepool of all time. Seriously, it makes Entei's look amazing. Anyway, next up was Archeops, so I decided to send mine in for a mirror match. I hit first, no doubt due to my Jolly nature, and KO'd with Rock Slide. I decided to stay in on Vanilluxe, but couldn't quite KO. My screams of horror turned into sighs of relief when I say its Blizzard miss. And now it was just down to Zoroark. Shame he had to leave it until last, it would have been really cool if it mimicked Zekrom to fake you out. But you know what would be really hilarious? If N had 5 Zoroarks, plus Zekrom. So basically, they'd all illusion into Zekrom, and it'd be a game of finding out which one is the real thing. Back in reality, it missed Focus Blast and fell to one Superpower. See why I hate the former move? "Everything's ruined. The plans I had, the dreams my Pokemon shared." Seriously though, what did you expect? The series would have been over if you won. It goes into that close up face portrait view, where N wonders if the two heroes both be right, and if it's not by rejecting, but by accepting ideals that is the true formula for changing the world. Yeah, they push this moral a lot, but I'm not complaining, as it's practically my philosophy of life. But wait, what's this? Ghetsis: "After all you've done, you still think you're worthy of sharing the name Harmonia with me?" Oh crap. This can not be good. I kind of saw this coming, but they were surprisingly subtle about it. And that makes Ghetsis all the more terrifying. I'll say it again, Cyrus has NOTHING on this guy. So basically, Ghetsis tells all. About how he manipulated N into becoming the hero, so everyone would release their Pokemon, apart from Team Plasma. And that means the rough equivilant of them having nuclear weapons while everyone else is in disarmament. I had pretty much guessed this since the conversation on Tubeline Bridge, the only thing I had wrong was that I first thought they would be using some kind of mind control. Well, that was half right, they did intend to "manipulate the hearts of people who know nothing", but this manipulation was on a purely psychological level. Of course, Ghetsis wants to eliminate me now I know the truth. But it seems Cheren and Alder heared every word. Cheren: "Rule the world? Didn't you say your goal was to liberate Pokemon?" If I haven't said this before, Cheren should have been a prosecutor. I mean, he even has an Objection pose! Well, I think I have one more battle. Time to finally put this guy in his place, before he gets even crazier. Final Battle: Vs Ghetsis Cofagrigus Lv 52, Hydreigon Lv 54, Bisharp Lv 52, Bouffalant Lv 52, Seismitoad Lv 52, Eelektross Lv 52 [has a few Full Restores] Woah crap. Swirling dark background, and the MUSIC!!! Could this possibly get more ominous? I'm actually pretty scared of Cofagrigus in general now. Speaking of which, it opens things up with a Toxic-Protect combo. Wow, this guy is surprisingly smart for an in-game opponent. Though not too smart, I used the Protects to set up Work Up, which lets me take it out in two hits. Next is... Hydreigon! Yeah, this guy's an abusive parent AND a hacker. (Zweilous doesn't evolve until 62) Still, it's pretty scary. I thought I'd stay in and... Focus Blast! Aaaagh! Okay, Whimsicott will paralyze it... Fire Blast! Thankfully, Quetzalli ended its rampage. But that's quite a few members down. I hadn't whited out one in the main story, and I certainly did not want my first loss to be against this guy. Must. Keep. Going. Next is Bisharp. We all know how to handle those. In comes Hihi... Stone Edge?! [yeah, that's happening a lot. This guy doesn't mess around with his movesets.] Thankfully, I survived. Now, just eat that Superpower like before... there we go! Who's next? Bouffalant? Hmm... doesn't seem all that threatening, I thought at first. I thought WRONG! This thing was a freaking beast, it took down Hihi with Earthquake, I thought Itagaki would be safe, but I took a Wild Charge. Not even Bolting's Thunder made a dent. I was getting really, really freaked out now. I needed to start spamming those Max Revives. But still, it seemed like nothing could stop that thing... Except itself. In the end, it was its own worst nightmare. Rocky Helmet, combined with Head Charge recoil spelt its doom. I could literally immagine Ghetsis screaming in frustration. Looks like I was in with a chance after all. In came Seismitoad. Great, I always hated that thing, how fitting for it to be used by the main villain. A quick Giga Drain should do it. Or not, I seem to have left it with, like 1 HP. Damn. Oh well, all it did was use Rain Dance. The last Pokemon... Eelektross! I may as well Stun Spore it... oh great, I missed. Well, what can it do to m..Flamethrower?! Oh come on! Thankfully, Seismitoad's Rain was still in effect, so it cut the damage. And then the rain stopped. Bad, baaaaaaaaad. I had no other choice but to sacrifice myself to Max Revive someone else. Thankfuly, he was Fully Paralyzed. Maybe that'll give me a chance to heal someone... fp'd again? Switched to Hihi... paralyzed AGAIN?!?! It seems something really wants me to win this battle. I had a major brain fart and used Dig, forgetting about Levitate. Okay, it's got no weaknesses, but I still figure a STAB, Sheer Force Flare Blitz coming off a base 140 attack stats will still hurt a fair bit. It took the overgrown eel down to red HP. Here comes its Wild Charge... A crit, Hihi goes down! But wait, what's this? The recoil...! And... it's over. A fitting way for Ghetsis to go out, forcing his Pokemon so hard without concern for their safety comes back to bite him, hard. "What?!" is all he can say, though I picture either a Disney Hades explosion or a Manfred Von Karma headband here. Needless to say, he refuses to accept his plans failing, ending his rant with "I AM PERFECTION!" Okay, now I know he's Von Karma. He goes on aboyt how N is " a freak without a human heart" though Alder points out this is a more fitting description of Ghetsis himself. He says N really did believe in his ideals of liberation, and followed them out of his heart, not Ghetsis' manipulation. The champion and Cheren take Ghetsis away, leaving N along. He walks down the broken throne room, to the point where Zekrom burst out of the wall. He muses about the first encounter in Accumula town, that he was shocked when he heared my Pokemon's voice, it said it wanted to be with me. Up till then he never knew Pokemon that liked people. He felt conflicted on his jorney, as he saw more Pokemon with humans. He feels in the end, he didn't understand Pokemon. In the light of the wall's hole, he sends out Zekrom. One more close up, and he tells me to make my dream a reality. Well, I would say mine at this point was to train a competitive team of Unova Pokemon, and I've since done that, so... yeah. And with that... "Farewell!" And the credits roll. To absolutley amazing music. The black backgound eventually becomes Zekrom, leading to a full shot and... it's over. I'm a little annoyed, actually. These are the only credits in the series so far I actually want to sit through. It also has easily one of the best tracks in the game. I just wish it went on longer. Yeah, I think that shows how much I enjoyed this game. At the end, I see a shot of N and Zekrom flying over the ocean. An epic end to an epic game. I'd like to do a full review of this game, but I don't really have the time now. Suffice to say, I like the fact that they've tried to do something different with the story, it actually felt more like one of the Orre games stories than any other handheld games, which is certainly no bad thing. And I found I warmed to a lot of the new Pokemon more than I thought I would, and it surprised me how little I missed some of the old ones. Unova as a region felt like a world of its own, the most satisfying to explore since Johto. Oh, and it has possibly the most badass set of gym leaders ever, though the Kanto ones still have a special nostalgia value. Enough about that, here's the final team update! Missile (Lv 50 Stoutland) HP: 149 Atk: 137 Def: 99 Sp. Atk: 58 Sp. Def: 104 Spe: 98 Strength Reversal Work Up Crunch Comments: Surprisingly decent in the E4, with a Ghost immunity and Crunch. It can take quite a few hits with its decent HP and balanced stats. All in all a decent all-round attacker/tank Bolting (Lv 50 Galvantula) HP: 147 Atk: 91 Def: 72 Sp. Atk: 118 Sp. Def: 72 Spe: 129 Volt Switch Signal Beam Thunder Flash Comments: Pretty good in the E4. Plus, and your probably getting tired of this, Compoundeyes Thunder is nasty. Whimsicott (Lv 51) HP: 138 Atk: 88 Def: 110 Sp. Atk: 90 Sp. Def: 88 Spe: 160 Hurricane Leech Seed Stun Spore Giga Drain Comments: Without this guy, I wouldnt've been able to beat Zekrom. Plus it helped to catch Reshiram. I think he gets MVP for the endgame. One thing I want to add, I bred him for the Cottonee I needed in my VGC team, and the first egg hatched shiny. Yes, really. So yeah, gave birth to a shiny, I think he deserves credit for that. Quetzalli (Lv 51 Archeops) HP: 141 Atk: 160 Def: 78 Sp. Atk: 120 Sp. Def: 80 Spe: 150 Acrobatics Rock Slide U Turn Fly Comments: Yeah, I got U Turn, as I thought it'd help for the E4. Turns out... not so much. I would have preffered to keep Crunch. Oh well, still an amazing sweeper, right to the end. Hihidaruma (Lv 50 Darmanitan) HP: 177 Atk: 169 Def: 86 Sp. Atk: 58 Sp. Def: 104 Spe: 98 Flare Blitz Dig Superpower Thrash Comments: Major powerhouse, but yeah, you may notice recoil started to work against it more and more. Still, KO'd many keay opponents in the final stages of the game. And last, but certainly not least... Itagaki (Lv 50 Samurott) HP: 170 Atk: 130 Def: 99 Sp. Atk: 135 Sp. Def: 81 Spe: 91 Razor Shell False Swipe Surf Grass Knot Comments: Sadly, water isn't good on many endgame opponents. Still, mixed attacking is as useful as ever. BigKlingy Vs Unova: Starring: Itagaki the Samurott: Peerless Warrior Missile the Stoutland: Loyal Companion Whimsicott: Windblown Prankster Hihidaruma the Darmanitan: Unstoppable Force Quetzalli the Archeops: Terror of the Skies Bolting the Galvantula: Thunderbolt from a clear sky With: OPTICBLAST the Patrat as the early-game filler Purrloin as the Cut slave Serra the Audino and Gouken the Sawk Featuring the talents of: Jake Marshal's Uncle as Clay Axel as Champion Alder Riku as Brycen Damon Gant's Long-Lost Brother as Drayden And Manfred von Karma as Ghetsis "Dennis" Harmonia. Well, I hope you've enjoy this. Sorry the last parts were really late. I just had to get this done, because I'm about to start on another project, that's going to be a big one. I have written a bit on post-game stuff, which I may put up later, depending on how occupied I am with... this other thing. Well, until then, see you. Edited April 21, 2011 by Big Klingy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eclipse Posted April 24, 2011 Share Posted April 24, 2011 Now that you're done, read the remainder of my draft run. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BJWanlund Posted April 25, 2011 Share Posted April 25, 2011 Glad to finally see you finish that! I just got White, and I hate to say it, but I think Black might be easier, slightly. That first gym is absolute murder, though. And no Sawk in White unless you either a) wanted to hang around the Pinwheel Forest forever and a day to try and find just that one patch of rustling grass that held Sawk, or b) traded with someone who had Black for it? Unacceptable. Although Throh is making itself extremely useful against the Normal gym and Team Plasma, but he had to learn Vital Throw to do so, as he only comes with Seismic Toss, which is NEVER super effective, even against normal types. BTW, every time I see Team Plasma, I cannot help but to yell "PURAAASUMA!" Those who played the first Goemon N64 game, or at least have seen footage from that game, understands what I'm talking about. And BTW, while I am not one to use ubers really early on normally, that Victini has really saved my butt so far, because I was really getting beaten left, right, and sideways before that by gyms, etc. BJ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ether Posted April 27, 2011 Share Posted April 27, 2011 You can catch Throh at level 17, and he will come with Vital Throw. Just go into the double grass, and it shouldn't take too long. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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