Sorry I was away for the past month: a lot has come up since August, and Ive been really busy with school and the like. So to make up for it, I'm doing something very interesting: a Nuzlocke challenge for the Pokemon series with a little twist.
For those who are Pokemon-illiterate, Ill explain what a Nuzlocke is: It's like playing through a standard Pokemon game , but you have to abide by special rules that are as follows (taken from Bulbapedia):
-You can only catch the first Pokemon you encounter in the wild
-If a Pokemon faints, it is considered dead and must be released
-You must nickname every Pokemon you catch (to establish a connection with it)
-No resetting the game if something goes wrong
-If you lose a battle (a white out/black out), it's considered an instant Game Over
Those are the basic rules. But due to a bug in my Game Boy Emulator that freezes the game whenever I try to catch anything (except Zigzagoons), I'm adding a few rules for myself to create a challenge I like to call a Froglocke. Here's what I've come up with:
-You can only use Pokemon gifted to you by non-player characters and your starter
- Allowed 2 ¨mulligans"before it is considered a Game Over
- Allowed 1 Pokemon just to use HMs- cannot fight with you in battles
-Maximum of 3 Pokemon allowed at a time (not counting the HM Pokemon)
-Battles you have no chance of winning (level 30s Vs level 100s) don't count towards a Nuzlocke game over
And to top it all off, the game I'm playing is one of the hardest Pokemon ROM hacks around- Pokemon Snakewood, a great hack that blends the graphics and fighting of Pokemon with a story involving demons, zombies and talking dragons. It's a fun story, but also insanely hard, which is why I'm allowing myself some leeway. If I can pull this off, I shall go down in history (or at least in my Skype group) as a legend of Pokemon. I've got a bit of experience with Pokemon and have some impressive victories under my belt (I've beat the final boss of Heartgold without hacks, and came 4th in the Pokemon Regionals at my game store), but this is going to be my hardest challenge yet. Can I be the very best? Let's hope so.
DAY 1:
I started the game by creating a new character, a girl named Evilina (or Lina for short) and looked at the 3 starter Pokemon of the hack avaliable in Littleroot Town: Baltoy, Koffing and Paras. I went with the Baltoy (Topsy) due to my love of Psychic-types and Claydol in particular. Topsy and I got into our first battle against a Boilbasaur (the zombified version of Bulbasaur), which we dispatched easily due to Bulbasaur's poison typing and Baltoy's Confusion.
New Pokemon: Topsy (Baltoy), Level 5
Ground/Psychic
Moves: Confusion, Harden, Rapid Spin
We then moved on to Odale Town, where I was given an egg by Professor Birch. After grinding levels for a while with Topsy's advanced moveset compared to other starters, I encountered a trainer that gave me my first challenge.
FIRST MAJOR BATTLE: Deathcaller ???
Pokemon: Sneasel (Ice/Dark) Level 5
Lina (Frog)
Pokemon: Topsy (Baltoy, Psychic/Ground) Level 12
Right off the bat, Sneasel had an advantage due to it's superior typing over Baltoy- It's dark-type made it immune to my Confusion, forcing me to rely on Topsy's new move Sand Tomb to assure victory. It was a close battle (Sand Tomb isn't very accurate, allowing Sneasel many hits on me), but in the end Topsy proved victorious.
After the battle and a visit to the Pokemon Center, I used some of my new funds to buy some Potions before heading on to the next route. Interesting thing here: there was a vending machine in the Poke'Mart. Upon using some money to buy a bottle of Fresh Water for Topsy, I instead received a can of Zombie Livers. I'm not sure if this happened with the Soda Pop and Lemonade options, but to be frank, I'm not sure I want to.
(NOTE: Returning to the machine for a Lemonade, I tried the other options. Apparently only the Fresh Water has been replaced with random body parts.)
DAY 2:
Moving through the route leading to Petalburg City, I encountered many trainers I had to do battle with. Many of them used zombified versions of starter Pokemon, particularly Rotmander (Charmander) and Boilbasaur. Topsy's typing gave it an enormous advantage over the opponent's Pokemon, enabling it to endure many Rotmander attacks and easily destroy any Boilbasaur he did battle with. While farming on this route, my egg hatched- but to my surprise, it hatched into another egg. I'm guessing this is a custom-made Pokemon. This better be worth it.
New Pokemon (2/3)- Benedict (Mysteryegg), Level 5
Disease
Moves: Harden, Leech Life
After expressing my frustration about not being able to catch a Slakoth due to the rules (because Slaking is one of my favorite Pokemon), we moved on to the actual city. While attempting to go to the PokeḾart for some Antidotes in preparation for the woods, I was stopped by a zombie who came at me with an Oozle (zombie Squirtle). Although the Oozle's typing and speed gave it a slight advantage over Baltoy, Topsy's high level combined with his new move Psybeam proved to be a stronger force. With that out of the way, I went into the PokeḾart and finally purchased my antidotes (although sadly, they gave me no discount for chasing a ghost away from their mini mart). Upon discovering I couldn't enter the Petalberg Gym because it was blocked by a mass of skulls (how foreboding), I began to head to the next route. I decided to mainly train Topsy until I could find an Exp. Share to benefit two Pokemon at once, and such much time went into training him.
After a small amount of grinding in the Petalburg Woods, Topsy learned Rock Tomb. It was immediately put to use as we encountered a trainer who warned me that there was something disturbing and strong up ahead. Not one to be scared by trainer comments, I began to charge ahead- but then stopped and ran back to the city to use the medical kit I found to heal my team, just in case. Good thing I did, too- that trainer was right.
SECOND MAJOR BATTLE- Levitating Legless Corpse Zabulon
Pokemon: Houndsour (Fire/Dark) Level 11, Dirtkrow (Flying, Dark) Level 13
Lina (Frog)
Pokemon: Topsy (Psychic, Ground) Level 23, Benedict (Disease) Level 5
As shocked as I was to see a Levitating Legless Corpse in the seemingly innocent woods, I was a tad more surprised to see the Houndour she sent out, or more particularly, it's lack of a head. Instead, it had a bleeding stump where it's neck was to be. My first instinct, being a lover of Houndoom (And fire-types in general, in fact), was to put the poor thing out of it's misery.
Because the poor creature was Dark-type, my Psybeam and Confusion were rendered useless, making me rely solely on Rapid Spin and Rock Tomb to emerge the victor. The Houndsour went down surprisingly fast, but then the Dirtkrow came out. Not surprisingly, this was a Murkrow with a strange coloring to it. While this gave me a large amount of trouble due to it's absolute advantage (Flying and Dark are super effective against Psychic and Ground) and speed, and so I gave Topsy some Lemonade for a boost. This paid off in the long run, as while the Dirtkrow was fast and strong, it could not handle the damage output of a rock-type attack like Rock Tomb. Upon the corpse's death, it dropped my first badge- guess even Roxanne couldn't stand against her. While I was happy to get past the corpse, the battle made me think. If I'm seeing levitating corpses so early in the game, what horrors await later? I don't know, but I really want a Dirtkrow. It's coloring is pretty cool, and if it can outspeed a Baltoy almost twice it's level, it's not all that bad.
(Note: Upon looking at the Wiki, it is impossible to catch a Murkrow, or any variant of it, in Snakewood. That's a shame, I'm quite fond of Honchkrow.)
DAY 3:
After exiting the Petalburg Woods, I came across what looked like a Pikachu sprite. After close examination it was revealed to be a severed Pikachu head on a pike. Naturally, I did the right thing and looted it's corpse for a Super Potion. Pikachu would have wanted me to have it.....
After crossing the bridge leading to the first Gym, I saw the sprite of a youngster. Upon approaching it I was thrust into a battle with a severed head. Joy.
The disembodied head sent out an Eye-Eye, which apparently is a zombified Jinx. After realizing that Psybeam would be no help in this situation, I used Rock Tomb to make quick work of the Jinx.
After a visit to the Pokemon Center and the Mart, I decided to check the Gym to see if the first leader was still alive. Sadly, all I discovered in the gym was emptiness and a TM containing Rock Tomb. Seeing as how Baltoy already had the move, I decided to pick it up anyway and move on.
It wasn't long before I ran into the Deathcaller I had met earlier (See 1st Entry), who's name I discovered is Alicia. From the looks of it, she didn't seem to happy about me knocking her out the first time, and wanted revenge. But Topsy and I don't intend on giving it to her.
THIRD MAJOR BATTLE: Deathcaller Alicia
Pokemon: Sableye (Dark/Ghost) Level 10, Shuppet (Ghost), Level 10, Sneasel (Dark/Ice), Level 15
Lina (Frog)
Pokemon: Topsy (Psychic, Ground) Level 30, Benedict (Disease) Level 6
This battle was a bit more challenging than anything I've seen before.Of course the big problems came from Sableye and Sneasel, as Shuppet went down extremely quick after a Psybeam. Sableye took quite a bit to bring down, being immune to normal and psychic attacks- competely negating 3/4 of my Baltoy's move set, using up many of my Rock Tombs. By the time I faced Sneasel, I was nearly out of tombs ad was forced to rely on Rapid Spin for the battle. Luckily, I had saved quite a few potions for an occasion like this. 20 Rapid Spins and 4 Potions later, Sneasel was downed, and Alicia with it. I swear, the next time I find a TM, it's going to teach Topsy something to smash these lousy Dark-Types.
Passing by Alicia, I encountered a trainer named Gleiss. He said that demons were attacking, and only we could save the world, but he needed to test me first. He sent out a Faceleech, which looked like Deoxys' disembodied arm. While I was expecting a challenge from the new Pokemon, it's Poison-typing and weak attack made it an easy target for Topsy. It's a pretty cool Pokemon, though- I wonder where I can get one.
DAY 4:
After helping Gleiss take down a few demons, I headed through Rusturf tunnel hoping that there would be some sanity in the peaceful Verdanturf town. Sadly, no such thing happened. Instead of the flowery town we all know and forget because it's kind of boring, I saw a pit of fire and my old enemy Alicia, standing next to another girl. Upon approaching her, I discovered that she was the reason behind all these recent attacks- her name is Pestilence, the only female of the Four Horsemen apparently. Because Alicia was apparently not up to taking me down, she decided to give it a shot herself.
I know that the battle against something that sounds so serious should be considered a major battle if I put something like the levitating corpse as one- but to be honest, I only use that term for battles that really put me and my team in jeopardy. In this case, all Pestilence sent out were 3 Moulder (zombie Grimer), which of course fell very quickly to Psybeam.
After eliminating the Horseman, I decided to continue exploring the smoking crater. Discovering an area called Endless Plains I located HM Cut inside, along with what appeared to be a graphics glitch resulting in an endless grassy area. Testing to see if the glitch was gone, I caught a Zigzagoon (my HM Pokemon according to the rules) and proceeded to teach it Cut.
HM Pokemon: Mr. Slave (Zigzagoon) Level 3
Normal
Moves: HMs Only
Soon after finally getting my slave, I used him to cut down the tree leading to my next stop. After pressing on through some zombies, I learned that my next objective was to venture to Dewford Town, where the zombie apocalypse could not reach. There's a Gym Leader there apparently- why challenging the gyms is still a big deal is beyond me. I was pondering how to get the HM Surf so I could accomplish this when I saw the corpse of a fisherman. Examining it, I found not only the HM I needed but also my third and final member of the party. But sadly, it's not exactly the best choice.
New Pokemon (3/3)- Flop (Magikarp)- Level 5
Normal
Moves: Splash
Slightly disappointed about using Magikarp as my third party member, I taught Mr. Slave Surf and headed down to Dewford. I encountered a lot of Quilfish and trainers using them on the ride over, forcing me to use a couple of Antidotes. Upon arriving in Dewford, I approached the Gym only to become slightly irritated- the easy-to-destroy Brawly and his Fighting-types were replaced with an entire Dark-Type Gym. Oh, Snakewood, you Psychic-hating game. Needless to say, my next move was to enter the caves outside of Dewford and grind levels for my entire team.
Multiple levels later, I decided to try a few battles in the Gym. They were kind of difficult, pushing me to my limits and forcing me to use potions and such. I took this mainly as a sign that I needed to train more, so I set out for Slateport City, thinking there would be more battles and exp to be found there. On the bright side, these battles gave so much exp that Topsy evolved!
EVOLUTION: Topsy (Baltoy- Ground/Psychic) Evolved into Topsy (Claydol- Ground/Psychic)
Sure enough, there were quite a few battles on the beach, but what really made me curious was the trainer's warnings not to go into the house on the shore. Naturally, being an easily distracted person, my first action was to rush into the house and see what the commotion was. Big mistake.
I was greeted with the corpse of a small child stuffed with salt (while it was disturbing, it didn't stop me from looting the corpse) instead of the normal trainer in the area. Soon, I heard a yell and an angry chef came charging at me. Rather than take a whack at me with the large cleaver he was holding, he decided to send out a Munchlax to do battle with Topsy. After enduring a few hits with Flop (I needed to give him the exp) I switched to Topsy and slowly brought him down with Ancientpower and Psybeam. When the chef was finished, I took a look around the house and saw nothing else strange (aside from the salty corpse still sitting in the front) but a soda machine. Completely undisturbed by the situation that just happened, I bought a soda for Topsy and I and called it a day. The only thing I was thinking about then was, what could have made that chef go so crazy? Since the Four Horsemen are clearly some sort of antagonists, I'm guessing it was the work of Famine. But that's not the important thing. The important thing is, why do I keep buying soda and lemonade for a Pokemon that doesn't seem to have a mouth in the first place?
DAY 5:
Much to my chagrin, I was not allowed to proceed into Slateport without the second Gym badge, forcing me to traverse my way back to Dewford for the long-dreaded fight with the Dark-Type Gym. Luckily, upon fighting through the gauntlet and coming face-to-face with new Gym Leader Haruko, she told me she wouldn't fight me without my help investigating the mystery of the Solar Caverns just outside of town. Jumping at the chance of experience, I accepted her task.
Slowly moving down the cavern and farming experience from the Nosepass (the very first Pokemon I ever made fun of) that dwelled inside, I heard the roar grow louder. Eventually, through farming in the caves in case a big fight was coming up, I was treated to the evolution of Flop.
EVOLUTION: Flop (Magikarp-Normal) Evolved into Gary "Mother Fucking" Dos (Gyarados- Water/Flying)
Upon entering the cavern with Topsy and Gary, I was shocked to see a shiny Charizard sprite appear. Apparently this is the Dragon King, and for some reason he hates Lina for reasons unknown. But one thing's for sure, he wants to fight.
FOURTH MAJOR BATTLE: Dragon King Meteor
Pokemon: Dragon (Dragon/Flying) Level 22
Lina (Frog)
Pokemon: Topsy (Psychic, Ground) Level 38, Benedict (Disease) Level 6, Gary (Water, Flying) Level 31
I wasn't prepared to face a dragon-type so early into the game, especially not one as strong as Dragon. It's typing made it very difficult for me to bring down, mainly due to the lack of Ice or Dragon-types I could get so early in the game. Upon enduring some fire-type hits with Gary, I switched to Topsy and brought him down steadily with Ancientpower, at the cost of a few drinks. Shortly after the battle, Gary ended up learning Dragon Rage. Oh, so NOW he gets it.....
Upon gaining a few extra levels in the caves, I decided to return to the Gym and fight my way through to Haruko. I saved in front of her, told her what I saw and headed in.
FIFTH MAJOR BATTLE: Gym Leader Haruko
Pokemon: Poochyena (Dark, Normal) Level 18, Carvahna (Water, Dark) Level 19, Luxray (Electric, Dark) level 25, Absol (Dark) Level 18, Sneasel (Dark/Ice) Level 22, Kingmadio (Ghost/Dark) Level 1
Lina (Frog)
Pokemon: Topsy (Psychic, Ground) Level 40, Benedict (Disease) Level 6, Gary (Water, Flying) Level 33
Honestly, for the second Gym Leader, I REALLY didn't expect her to have 6 Pokemon. Would you?
Either way, I started out the fight with Gary against her three Pokemon under level 20. I figured that after learning Hydro Pump and Dragon Rage he could inflict some serious damage. And he did: he managed to sweep through most of her team, though enduring a lot of damage during it, until it was time for Luxray to come out. Naturally, I knew it was time for Topsy to show the fruits of his training.
Surprisingly, Luxray was pretty strong for a level 25. He speed ahead of my Claydol and was ahead in health for quite a bit until I scored a lucky hit with Ancientpower. Sneasel went down almost the same.
With Kingmadio, however, I had no idea what to expect: this was obviously a fan-made Pokemon. Upon trying to use Ancientpower I discovered it had Wonder Guard, meaning he was immune to any non-super-effective attack- and with Kingmadio's Ghost/Dark typing, it was literally immune to all attacks. I ended up forcing it to use all of it's moves (as a level 1, it only had one move- Night Shade, which ended up only doing 1 damage per turn) and making it rely on Struggle, forcing it to damage itself and slowly leading to it's demise.
I finally recieved the second badge for all my trouble, along with TM Bulk Up. To be completely honest, I just hope that's the last I've seen of Luxray. Not very fond of it in this version.
DAY 6:
Finally moving through Slateport and plowing through many former chefs, I pursued my quest to get Gym Badges during the zombie apocalypse by heading through the grassy pathways between Slateport and my next destination, Mauville City. Upon traversing this path I encountered a group of soldiers calling themselves the Inquisition. They all used rock and ground-type Pokemon, however, making them easy pickings for my Gyarados to take down.
When I arrived in Mauville after getting past the strange group, Gleis was already there to greet me. He told me the city was evacuated and that to find answers, I was supposed to go into New Mauville, a cave near the city. Upon surfing to the island I discovered that before the Gym Leader, Wattson, would challenge me, I needed to solve a mystery. Apparently, a man had been murdered in the cave and it was my solemn duty to track down the crook.
After a short investigation, all signs pointed to the chef of New Mauville, but then I had a thought: Chefs don't use Fire Pokemon (the body was badly scorched, and all Chefs use Normal and Psychic types), but Electric moves can also deal scorching damage. Not to mention that a pot of electric honey was said to go missing, and that Wattson was the Electric-Type gym leader....
I tracked down Wattson and faced him only to discover that not only did he have a Luxray, but it was level 100- I had a feeling I wouldn't win this fight. Naturally, I lost.
But upon awakening back in Mauville, I noticed that I was supposed to lose that fight. No mulligan needed.
I learned I had to shut off the generator that powered his Pokemon in order to defeat him. Sure enough, I knocked out the power and all of his Pokemon became significantly weaker. the Luxray that swept my team was reduced to a measly Shinx. His now-weak Pokemon made excellent targets for Claydol.
Upon exiting New Mauville, I learned I was to go to the Island of Calm (another small Island on the grassy path) and hunt down the Inquisition. After hunting down a straggling member in the Mauville gym (who didn't have the badge, but did have TM Shock Wave), I grinded about 10 levels for each of my teammates in preparation for the battle ahead. I broke into their fortress and prepared to face the most amusing enemies I've ever seen in a Pokemon Game: the Inquisition Deadly Seven.
Fighting each of them in a puzzle area, I was surprised to discover that not only were there actually 10 of the Deadly 7. I traveled through the Inquisition board room fighting member after member of the Deadly 7 over and over and over. I never want to see Onix, Mareep, Beldum, Oddish or any of their fake Pokemon ever again.
So after a lot of puzzles I found Gleis, stranded near a lake of lava (although on closer examination, it was revealed to be orange soda- yum). After rescuing him and freeing his Pokemon from mind control, I was gifted with the Dynamo Badge and HM Rock Smash. I taught it to Mr. Slave and proceeded into the desert above Mauville. Surely enough, Famine of the 4 Horsemen was waiting for me, as was Alicia. And from the looks of it, she wasn't too happy to see me.
SIXTH MAJOR BATTLE: Deathcaller Alicia
Pokemon: Sableye Level 29, Banette Level 32, Duskull Level 35, Sneasel Level 38
Lina (Frog)
Pokemon: Topsy (Claydol, Ground/Psychic) Level 52, Benedict (Hyperegg, Disease) Level 32, Gary (Gyarados, Water/Flying) Level 50
The Sableye went down pretty easy this time, with a few shots from Gary. Banette and Duskull hit the floor quickly due to their weakness to Psybeam, and Sneasel yet again fell to an Ancientpower.
BATTLES I STILL NEED TO WORK ON (Coming Soon!)
SEVENTH MAJOR BATTLE: Horseman War
Pokemon: Sableye Level 39, Gigawolf Level 44, Banette Level 40, Dusclops Level 41, Gengar Level 42, Weavile Level 41
EIGHTH MAJOR BATTLE: Taoist Gleis
Pokemon: Haunter Level 38, Quilshark Level 39, Faceleech Level 41, Alakazam Level 40, Seviper Level 38
No comments:
Post a Comment