Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie
Hi there,
There is an issue with role permissions that is being worked on at the moment.
If you are having trouble with access or permissions on regional forums please post here to get access: https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058365403/you-do-not-have-permission-for-that#latest

Nuzlocke Challenge

  • 20-04-2010 10:18pm
    #1
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 142 ✭✭


    Inspired by these comics: http://www.nuzlocke.com/

    The Nuzlocke challenge is basically about making the game a little harder through some self imposed rules. The basic conditions are:

    • If a pokemon faints then it is considered dead and should be released as soon as possible.
    • You must catch the first pokemon that you find on a new route/area. You may only capture that first pokemon, if you kill it by accident then too bad you'll have to wait until you get to a fresh route/area before you can try and catch something again.
    The challenge really makes you care a little bit more about your pokemon, running to the pokemon centre with a poisoned pokemon certainly feels much more urgent!

    On smogon there is a thread about the challenge and some of the members have added their own rules to make it even harder. The thread is here.

    I'm playing the challenge on my Platinum with the basic rules and one extra of my own design:

    • Evolutions must be "earned". A pokemon that is on the team when a Gym Leader is defeated earns the right to evolve once.
    I chose Chimchar as my starter and the first pokemon that I bumped into on a fresh route after getting my pokeballs was a Bidoof (yay! :rolleyes:), the next pokemon to join my party was a Starly, then a Zubat.
    This was the team I had when I went up against Roark and I have to say that my Bidoof really suprised me by basically winning the fight all on her own.
    I'm at the Valley Windworks now and just caught a Shellos.

    The current team:
    • Pyro the female Chimchar- Lvl 14.
    • Teef the female Bidoof- lvl 14.
    • Sparrow the female Starly- lvl 15.
    • Echo the male Zubat- lvl 12.
    • Squishy the female Shellos- lvl 12.
    In the box:
    • Beefcake the male Machop- lvl 7.


«13

Comments

  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 10,485 ✭✭✭✭Banjo


    Since Poisoning doesn't kill you unless you're in a fight, why the rush to the Pokecenter?

    Also, what's the reason for the only catching the first 'mon rule? Is that to make it more like the animé or just so you definitely won't get an abra?

    Is the Pokewalker allowed? It doesn't specifically say it's *not*... Also, are trades / GTS permitted? Or breeding?

    Sounds like a larf, but I can't help but feel it'll make training up weaker 'mon a real grind.... I might restart Pearl and have a crack at this.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,816 ✭✭✭TheChrisD


    Banjo wrote: »
    Since Poisoning doesn't kill you unless you're in a fight, why the rush to the Pokecenter?
    That's Gen IV only. Ever Gen prior actually caused your Pokémon to faint if you didn't cure it in time.
    Banjo wrote: »
    Also, what's the reason for the only catching the first 'mon rule? Is that to make it more like the animé or just so you definitely won't get an abra? And I take it no routes count as having been visited until after capturing is activated?
    So that you end up using under-appreciated Pokémon that you'd never usually catch or train because they were... well, ****.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,320 ✭✭✭Teferi


    It sounds good, definitely interesting. I think you would end up with a half and half team of decent 'mon. I've often trained a Pidgey, he ends up being a fast little blighter and a decent attacker. Not used in RL battles though.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 142 ✭✭spookymuffin


    I always forget that poison doesn't kill you outside of battle anymore, heh. Some people who are playing the challenge on Gen IV consider Pokemon who recover from poison outside of battle with 1HP as dead. It's really a matter of personal preference though.
    As has already been said, the rule about catching the first pokemon in an area is to encourage you to use pokemon that you wouldn't usually, especially the ones that are often looked down upon. The fact is that a lot of the pokemon that are not considered good enough for competetive play can still be pretty good team members in game.

    I lost two Pokemon to the Team Galactic woman in the Valley Windworks. :(
    On a happier note I caught a Buneary in Eterna Forest, I've never actually trained one before so it should be interesting.

    R.I.P:

    -Squishy the Shellos.
    -Echo the Zubat.

    My current team:

    -Pyro the female Monferno. Lvl 17.
    -Sparrow the female Staravia. Lvl 16.
    -Teef the female Bibarel. lvl 16.
    -Flopsy the female Buneary. lvl 14.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 10,485 ✭✭✭✭Banjo


    I'm backing up my platinum save (no worries then about Pokewalker) so I can try this.... the adventure begins this lunch time! Great suggestion, Muffin!

    Edit : Do those comics make more sense if you watch lost? The Nuzleaf looks a little bit like that bald guy off the ads....


  • Advertisement
  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 142 ✭✭spookymuffin


    Banjo wrote: »
    Edit : Do those comics make more sense if you watch lost? The Nuzleaf looks a little bit like that bald guy off the ads....

    That is exactly who it's supposed to be, that character's name is Locke hence why it's the Nuzlocke challenge.
    A lot of the jokes aren't going to make sense if you don't watch Lost, unfortunately.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 15,183 ✭✭✭✭Atavan-Halen


    Might give it a go with a spare copy of Blue


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 10,485 ✭✭✭✭Banjo


    Luckily there are so many really long ads for lost that it actually makes a lot of sense. Doesn't say a lot for the show that you can some up a whole season of confusing bull**** in a 20 second promo, and even *that* is boring.

    Right, my adventure has begun, and both Zolo the piplup (yes, one day I hope he'll be Empoleon Zolo, what of it?) and myself (Trainer name Sononun) are healthy and raring to go. Not sure which set of rules to follow or if there's a PokéBoards subset... Currently I'm going with releasing all fainted pokemon and catching the first pokemon encountered on a route excluding duplicates (to avoid a team of bidoofs, which it's hard to engage with) and allowing the purchasing of Pokeballs and free use of Pokécenters. No items is fine by me though, I never use them anyway. TMs I will be using.
    Catching of legends is permitted for trading to other games so long as the traded mon I receive is delted. Will probably deck the buggers for the XP though unless they're shineys. Only one-way Legend trading and in-game NPC trades are permitted.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 271 ✭✭Wobbuffet


    What a great idea. Reminds me of Fire Emblem where each unit is valuable and you are just devastated when you loose them.

    So I decided to try this with my old copy of Leaf Green and in my very first battle, Gary killed my Bulbasaur with Charmander, meaning my game was over after ten minutes. I'm going to try again with a different starter.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 142 ✭✭spookymuffin


    When I first started I got totally decimated by the rival in the practice starter fight as well. Fortunately I had saved just before the fight so I didn't have to start again from the very start.

    I lost Teef the Bibarel to a critical hit from an Abra in Eterna forest. I'm gutted, she was my first pokemon after my starter... I never thought I'd get that attached to a Bidoof/Bibarel. Rest in peace little dude :(

    Good luck to everyone who's giving it a go anyway!


  • Advertisement
  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,090 ✭✭✭wobbles


    sounds really good. However id be of the opinion that all legends and any shinys can be caught to trade to other games


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 142 ✭✭spookymuffin


    If you come across a pokemon that would help complete your pokedex in another game (or a shiny etc) I don't think that it would really violate the spirit of the challenge if you catch it.
    As long as you don't use it on your team and trade it off ASAP of course. :D


  • Moderators, Computer Games Moderators, Music Moderators, Regional Midlands Moderators Posts: 24,135 Mod ✭✭✭✭Angron


    I'd consider doing this if I could find my old copy of Red for a laugh. All the funny little glitches I'd remember from back in the day would make the grind of levelling loads of stuff more entertaining.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 10,485 ✭✭✭✭Banjo


    Well 5 hours in. I've had a number of very close calls. The first battle went down to literally the last hit point thanks to that bastard Monkles and his "withdraw, withdraw, withdraw" approach to battling. He was taking two points off me for every point I took off him, but I had a bit of a head start. Nailbiting stuff. Since then, the team has grown to include Nessa the Starly, Arjen the Bidoof (who has had a number of near fatal accidents during training) McConical the Budew and most recently Aurora the Shinx. On our way to Oreburgh. I'm stalling while I try to decide if the cave on the way counts as a new route. I guess anything that has it's own name-plate but isn't another floor of an existing route probably qualifies. Haven't lost a man yet but there's a gym battle looming. Also, I'm using the Pokécenter quite a lot, I may institute a nominal fee to knock that on the head a bit, at least till I get to the café/Cash machine at the resort.

    Edit : I've decided that if a cave doesn't get named on the map, it's not a route so it doesn't count for catching a new mon. Though I didn't have any encounters in the Oreburgh Gate so it's a moot point :)
    Edit again : ****e, that means I can't catch anything in the Mine. Although that would count as Oreburgh City.... wouldn't it?

    If you're playing Gen 4 with no items, and if like me you're playing "The poison faded and X recovered" = "X is dead", just remember that the health display on the Pokétch doesn't update as you walk unless you tap it. I wasted a couple of steps trying to get Nessa healed after a Budew poisoned her 'cause she had loads of health on the screen, but it hadn't updated during my run and she was on her last legs. The guilt when I made it with 2 HP to spare...

    Re: Trading - I'm all for catching 'mons for my other games, but the more I think about it the less I like the idea of Zolo tanking Giratina while I throw ultraballs at it. I have another Giratina. There will never be another Zolo...

    BTW Spooky, this was a brilliant idea, thanks so much for bringing it up! Although my SoulSilver run is completely shagged now 'cause I couldn't give a monkeys about the 5 boxes of pokewalker trash on it...


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 10,485 ✭✭✭✭Banjo


    Apologies for the double-post...
    Yesterday was a black day. The dawn rose on a happy, functional, well prepared team. Sure there were some knocks and scrapes along the way, a few near-fatal injuries, the odd poisoning but that's Pokemon, baby! We hit the oreburgh mine hard, McConical and Zolo ripping through geodudes like they were letters from the bank that you don't want but aren't comfortable putting into the recycling bin in one piece. Along the way we picked up a sixth member, Wanda the Geodudette. We trained. We made ready. Roark was waiting.

    There were early signs that it would not be a good day. Before we hit the Gym we headed up to route 207 for a first encounter. It was a beautiful Ponyta, and our collective hearts leapt. Then Arjen, who till now could not punch a hole in a polo mint and who'd been growled into grinding wafer thin slivers of HP off his foe, suddenly scored a critical hit that inexplicably did ten times as much damage as his previous attacks. We tried to stitch the Ponyta back together but we weren't sure where everything went. We would have called her Pye. As it was there wasn't enough left to call her lunch. Under a cloud we hit the gym.

    Rather than head straight for the main battle, we hit warmup guy number one. McConical and Zolo were ready to take him out but I wanted to build up the guys who couldn't really train in the mine 'cause of their types and weaknesses. Nessa took on the first guy's geodude, her Wing Attacks chipping away at his HP while he spammed mud sport and rock polish. Then, out of the blue he threw a critical tackle and Nessa went down. Hard. I wasn't prepared for how shocked or empty I'd feel. I've never lost a mon before. I don't even release the woopers and bidoofs I get from pity trades. I stared at the screen for a few minutes. Then I took that mother****er down piplup style.

    The loss of Nessa shook us like a Bond martini. But we were also stirred up. This was the Rock gym. Yes, we'd made the mistake of not respecting the enemy, but we could learn from that mistake, and what was a trainer's journey about if not improving yourself and your team through hard work and mutual respect? Well, that and kicking some Onix ass! This time there'd be no mistakes. McConical led the way, taking out the Geodude, Zolo took out the Onix. Then Roark sent out his ace in the hole, a Rampardos. I had completely forgotten about him. And I wasn't prepared.

    It showed. Wanda, eager to prove herself to the team, tried to tank him. She was steamrolled. McConical was next, hoping Stun Spore would slow the bastard down. It missed, the Rampardos didn't. It was like a scene from the Texas Coleslaw Massacre. Aurora got a couple of leers in before I had to pull her back, Arjen and Zolo took care of the clean up but the damage was done. Half the team was now covering half the floor in blood and pokéguts. We may have won the badge but as I headed back through the Oreburgh gate I still felt like a failure.

    Skulking through the cave it occurred to me that it was technically a new area and we hadn't had a first encounter in there yet. As if on cue a Psyduck appeared. While we didn't need a weak water type, we weren't in a position to be picky. Unfortunately, jazzed up on the gym battle we overdid it a little and needless to say the Psyduck did not join the team.

    Cut to the Windworks. We'd been joined by Burp, a Shellos and were waiting for a honey trap to pay off in Floaroma before we headed on but in the mean time Team Galactic were asking for a whuppin' and we were in the right frame of mind to grant them their wish. But it seems wish granting should be left to professional genies. Though confused and a little damaged, Aurora made short work of the Zubat but not before getting hit with Toxic. I swapped her out but it was a gesture, nothing more : we both knew it was a long way back to Floaroma town. Too long.

    But that, as it turns out, was the least of our worries. There was a level 17 Purugly standing between us and a futile dash to the Pokécenter, we had 2 mons on low health, another poisoned and one was a bidoof. In all the excitement, I'd forgotten to grind a few levels, we were outclassed and we knew it. Bleak is not the word. One by one they took a stand, but the Purugly was too fast - Burp didn't get a chance to move and went down in one; Arjen's unfortunate critical streak deserted him when we needed it most, Aurora put a brave face on but it was ripped clean off her skull and finally Zolo went down swinging.

    White out. It's all over bar the planting and reading. I'm moving on to resume my Soul Silver run. But it won't be the same.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 142 ✭✭spookymuffin


    Awesome update, Banjo, if a bit heartbreaking! You said that you're "resuming" your Soul Silver run, is that a Nuzlocke game as well? Or have you decided to leave the challenge for the moment? I know that I would be a little dispirited after losing my whole team anway!

    I'm going to be playing my Nuzlocke game today so I'll have an update later. I have a honey trap set up in Floaroma as well, really hoping that I'll get something decent out of it.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 10,485 ✭✭✭✭Banjo


    I don't think I have the stomach for another Nuzlocke right now. I'd be lying if I said I hadn't started Heart Gold over with that intention last night but the beginning is so slow I had a lot of time to think about the blood on my hands. I'm not ready to get back on this horse. My Soul Silver run is my original beat-the-game one.

    One day I'll go back to it. I had this crazy idea that when I got to the Daycare center, I'd get any pokemon that could breed together and move the eggs over to my other games so that there'd always be a little part of them somewhere in one of my games. I guess that's never going to happen.

    I learned a few things though.
    1. The diversity rule is brilliant. My interpretation was that you can only catch the first pokemon you see on a route, unless you've already caught one before in which case you leave it. It saves you from having a team of Bidoofs and Starlies (Gen 4 is terrible for forcing the same 4 pokemon down your throat) on the one hand, but it means that if you lose your Geodude or Starly, you know you're screwed. You can't get another one. You're going to be stuck with a Barboach and a Hoot Hoot, if you're lucky! And with the heavy emphasis on water types in Gen 4, the loss of that Ponyta to a chance event stung (I know it's weak to water, I just mean 'cause fire types are rare early on and I had more water types than I needed) but losing my grass type really hurt. The Psyduck... not so much.

    2. You have to change your catching and training ethos. You can't afford to put them to sleep/paralyse them and whittle down the HP - if something goes wrong you can lose the catch or worse, lose the hunter. You have to throw early and often. You can't play games with Pokélives just because it's good for XP - the dead don't level up. Once the game gets going and you have exploding Geodudes and supposedly easy meat 'mon using Pursuit training gets really hazardous.

    3. Until you've Nuzlocked it, you have no idea how badly you used to treat your 'mon.

    A lot of Pokemon died for me to learn these lessons. I will never forget....


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 15,183 ✭✭✭✭Atavan-Halen


    Truly heartbreaking stuff banjo :'(

    I started it on blue there today. I'm just before Brock and I'm grinding Dinosaur the Bulbasaur so it'll learn a grass move. Also have Pecky the Pidgey and Fang the Rattata on board aswell :D

    (Apologies for the lack of good nicknames, I don't usually do it :P)


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,090 ✭✭✭wobbles


    Sounds really good. Might give it a go on fire red after im done with soul silver.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 142 ✭✭spookymuffin


    Not very happy with how this particular play session went at all.

    I backtracked through Eterna Forest to check on a honey tree, found a male Burmy in it and called him Lepi. So my team at this stage consisted of:

    • Pyro the Monferno.
    • Sparrow the Staravia.
    • Flopsy the Buneary.
    • Lepi the Burmy.
    Spent some time grinding and headed out of Eterna Forest. The first pokemon that I came across was a female Budew who I named Thorn. Spent some time levelling Thorn up against the fishermen outside Eterna City and then decided to go take on the gym.

    I pretty much destroyed every trainer in the gym (including Gardenia) and was feeling pretty cocky when I entered the Team Galactic Eterna building. We defeated a few grunts without any problems at first but things got real bad real fast. I lost Flopsy to a critical hit in the last grunt battle before fighting Jupiter. With some of the wind taken out of my sails I never the less went on to fight Jupiter thinking it wouldn't be too difficult.

    I was so wrong that it's not even funny.

    Her Skuntank decimated my team with critical hit after critical hit (****ing Nightslash) and by the time I defeated her I only had Pyro and Thorn left.

    Things managed to get even worse when I was in Wayward cave. Pyro was murdered in a fight with a pair of Hikers :( No death has gotten to me as much as Pyro's. She was my starter and that's a position that's not easilly filled.

    I did catch a Bronzor in the cave and Beefcake the Machop is still sitting in the box but I think that me and Thorn might solo it for a while. I'm going to try and beef her up and hopefully get her to evolve.

    Current team:

    • Thorn the Budew. Lvl 29

    R.I.P:

    • Pyro the Monferno.
    • Teef the Bibarel.
    • Echo the Zubat.
    • Squishy the Shellos.
    • Sparrow the Staravia.
    • Lepi the Burmy.
    • Flopsy the Buneary.


  • Advertisement
  • Closed Accounts Posts: 414 ✭✭Thomas-G


    Wow, just wow. I've actually been really annoyed at how easily I breezed through Soul Silver and this seems like a great idea! Years back I gave myself the challenge on Silver of beating the Elite Four with pokemon no stronger than level 40. Needless to say Lance took about 8SRs! I'm defo going to start this right away since I'm getting bored of poketholon and the frontier. But, I'm going to be kind to myself in some areas:
    • If one of my pokemon faints, I'll put it in a graveyard box in my PC. Then I can look and remember all the brave soldiers I lost along the way if I wish.
    • If all pokemon die in a battle, The last one to faint is considered alive. However, this loses you all your money and items. (I hate Game Over screens in any game except crazy ones like Contra or Megaman :))
    Seems like making some route and city checklists to keep track of when you've had a chance to catch a pokemon there would be handy. I'm going get cracking and post up some of my tales!

    UPDATE: So after some careful deliberation, I took the plunge and Trainer L'arc choose a healthy Totodile as his starter. I then spent a few moments deciding on a name, and went with River Rock. He looked strong, and although I'm usually a Cydiquil kinda guy, I figured the bonny blue bundle could take a bit more abuse and preform better earlier on. So off we marched out into the grass with a spring in our step, came across a wild Rattata, who was surely blessed with a gift to teach me not to be so optimistic, since it scored a critical tackle and followed up with a critical quick attack, reducing poor River Rock's HP to 2. Thankfully, a well-placed Scratch attack sent him packing, but I'd learned my lesson, and ran back to Elm's lab cradling my Pokemon as soon as I'd left it. Luckily it was smooth sailing from there and I made it to Mr. Pokemon's house quite easily.
    My next big battle was with my Rivel (whom I later named Squall). A leer and a few scratches (RR knew Water Gun but it didn't do as much damage or benefit from the stat decrease) showed him who was the man in these parts, and I was on my way to New Bark Town once again. After saying farewell to the Mammy, and convincing her that if I let her save my money she'd only spend it in the Game Corner like all the other times and buy me terrible presents to try and compensate, I headed up the northern route that leads from Blackthorn city, crossed my fingers, and dived into the grass to try and catch my first Pokemon. I let off a little hooray as Monster the Geodude was captured.
    Wow, even already it feels like a different game. There's much more of a thrill in catching the same mundane pokemon. I just hope I catch something unusual to use, perhaps spam repel and catch a dunsparce :P


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 414 ✭✭Thomas-G


    Well sorry for the double post, but I really do like regaling my tales on this. I've lost my first little buddy, a Lediba named Red Bull. I caught it this morning on the way into Violet City and was psyced since I've never raised one in the game before, but from what I remember it evolves pretty early and learn a lot of xxx-punch moves. Alas, the little beauty had reached level 7 while training south of Violet City when I came across a level 4 wild Ekans. Needless to say the battle was a funeral. Ekans used Wrap and then Poisin Sting, which poisoned poor RB. Not being able to switch, I battled in vain as wrap and poison whittled down my HP. We mon the battle with about 12 left and I rushed to the Pokemon center but I knew RB wouldn't make it. Luckily I'd caught a Mareep, named Lucazade so I wasn't stuck for numbers. After getting Lucozade up to standard of RR and Monster, I headed to the Sprout Tower, where I caught a level 5 Rattata named Oasis, which I'm going to keep as a backup in case things go bad down the road. After a few close calls for RR and Monster against Bellsprout's Vine Whip, I cleared the tower and head straight to the Gym. During training, Lucozade had learned Thundershock and Monster had learned Rock Throw so I was pretty confident. A few sand attacks slowed things down, and thankfully there was no mud slaps (Do Fawkner's Pokemon still know this?) so I was able to score an easy victory. After some walking down the road underneath the Magnet Railroad, I reached the pokemon center beside Union Cave. Hopefully River Rock will be able deal with any rock types in there, and I won't catch a Zubat (Since I have 2 level 100 Crobats in my Gen IV games, I really like Crobat)

    Current Team:
    • River Rock, Level 14 Totodile
    • Lucozade, Level 14 Mareep
    • Monster, Level 13 Geodude
    • Oasis, Level 5 Ratatta
    Rip:
    • Red Bull, Level 7 Ledyba


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 142 ✭✭spookymuffin


    Great update, Thomas. Loving the nicknames!


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 414 ✭✭Thomas-G


    Great update, Thomas. Loving the nicknames!
    Ha thanks a million, since Platinum I've always chosen a theme for nicknames and stuck with it :)
    Alas, it's been a grim day. I started off good and headed into Union Cave. After smiting two Geodudes (I'm also not catching dupes) I came across a lovely level 6 onix, snapped it up and named it Pepsi. I then proceeded to destroy all the trainers inside, and in doing so Lucozade reached level 15 and evolved into Flaffy.
    I was soon in Azelia Town and nipped into Ilex Forest to see it I could catch something decent. I Weedle popped up, and figured what the heck, a Beedrill wouldn't hurt. Unfortunately Pepsi had other ideas and after scoring a critical tackle, his earlier bind finished it off. I backtracked back to the small rainy route and caught a level 6 Sperow without much trouble, dubbed Dr. Pepper.
    I then headed into Slowpoke well, fingers crossed I could catch a boo-bacious Slowpoke, and lets just say that Zubat that showed up won't be doing much flying the place where I sent him. My egg hatched and Tea the Togipi was born. I tore through all the rockets and there was a little panic when Preston's (That's his name right) Koffing started spamming Poison Gas and getting a hit every time.
    After that, I was on a roll, and headed into the Gym without even stopping by the Pokemon center. I fought two trainers and then headed back to heal my mons before heading back to the Gym.
    I don't know why I did it, I really don't, but I wasn't thinking straight and started walking out towards Ilex Forest. Boom, Rivel battle. I hadn't prepared at all, I thought to myself: "Surely this was an accident, I should just reload my save?" But then the words of Nuzlocke himself echoed in my mind:
    "All this is happening for a reason"

    So I withdrew Dr. Pepper and sent out Monster to deal with his Gastly. It used curse, and a Rock Throw knocked a good dent out of it's HP, then I switched to my lovely Flaffy Lucozade who finishes it with a Thundershock.
    Out pops a level 18 Bayleef. I've got a injured Geodude, a Totodile, a Flaffy and the only one with an acual type advantage, my freshly caught Sperow, is only Level 9. I knew this wouldn't be easy, so I popped off a Thunder Wave to make things easier on myself. After seeing the dismal amount of damage Thundershock did I took a gamble and switched in Monster.
    Big mistake. A Razor Leaf reduced his HP down to 2 and not wanting to endanger him further, I switched to Totodile. I tried out a few Bites, but all I got was Poisonpowder, and while I used my last antidote to cure that, Bayleaf used Sythesis and healed the small about of damage I'd done. I used bite again but the bugger poisioned me AGAIN. Deciding if one Razor Leaf got through my unevolved Starter would be cut to ribbons (and not the type the Syndicate prefers) I switched in Lucozade and used Growl five times in case he didn't make it, then used Thundershock after Thundershock. I had him down to about half health when Lucozade got poisoned. Being at 2 health and poisoned, I tearfully withdrew Lucozade, knowing full well that I'd never make it to th pokemon center to save him. I knew if I switched in Monster and he got hit by Razor Leaf, it was all over, so I made a terrible decision and sent out the newborn Tea. Needless to say I looked away as sharp leafs tore through it's organs and it cried in vain. I didn't dare stop and sent out the already tired Monster, used Rock Throw, and the beast was finally down. He sent out his third pokemon, a Zubat, which Monster easily took down. The battle was over and I'd won, but it still felt like a loss. Bugsy shall prove a lot more of a challenge without my fluffy buddy, and what will Elm say when I see him again and he want's to see what sort of Pokemon hatched? My Journey continues.....

    Current Team:

    • River Rock, Level 16 Totodile
    • Dr. Pepper, Level 11 Spearow
    • Monster, Level 17 Geodude
    • Oasis, Level 5 Ratatta
    • Pepsi, Level 8 Onix

    Rip:

    • Red Bull, Level 7 Ledyba (You were a victim of circumstances, and my inexperience, I'm sorry)
    • Lucozade, Level 17 Flaffy (You did all you could to save the battle, but I couldn't save you)
    • Tea, Level 1 Togipi (We'll never forget your sacrifice, even if you didn't know what was happening)


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 142 ✭✭spookymuffin


    I'm hoping to get some Nuzlocking in later. See if I can actually get past Fantina with a Budew :rolleyes:
    Thomas-G wrote: »
    • Tea, Level 1 Togipi (We'll never forget your sacrifice, even if you didn't know what was happening)

    :(


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 414 ✭✭Thomas-G


    I'm hoping to get some Nuzlocking in later. See if I can actually get past Fantina with a Budew :rolleyes:
    That's pretty nutty, you should train your Bronzor!

    God I'm getting shivers thinking of the bit in Mahogany with the Electrode :(


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 142 ✭✭spookymuffin


    Thomas-G wrote: »
    That's pretty nutty, you should train your Bronzor!

    I know that I really should and that it would be more in the spirit of the challenge. I just really hate Bronzor. :mad:
    God I'm getting shivers thinking of the bit in Mahogany with the Electrode :(

    I'm suddenly very glad that I'm not playing my Nuzlocke challenge on HG/SS :pac:


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 866 ✭✭✭Buzzthebatgirl


    I know that I really should and that it would be more in the spirit of the challenge. I just really hate Bronzor. :mad:
    Bronzor @ King's Rock + Trick Room + Iron Head = Win


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 142 ✭✭spookymuffin


    Bronzor @ King's Rock + Trick Room + Iron Head = Win

    I might give it a shot, but it's so ugly! The whole point of the challenge is to care about your pokemon and Bronzor is, basically, a blue plate with a face, I can't empathise with that! :pac:


  • Advertisement
  • Closed Accounts Posts: 414 ✭✭Thomas-G


    I might give it a shot, but it's so ugly! The whole point of the challenge is to care about your pokemon and Bronzor is, basically, a blue plate with a face, I can't empathise with that! :pac:
    A bigger part of the challenge is having to deal with what you're given though :) Plus if Budew (Or Roserade by then) bites the bullet against say CANDICE you're all outta luck.
    Caught a Drowsee who shall begin training on the bus tomorrow morning, also I have the Route north of Goldenrod, National Park, and the Sudowoodo route all available for pokemon catching, not to mention access to a Sudowoodo and a Eevee soon enough. I'm going try and remain optimistic. I've also started using hold items and TMs a lot earlier, since I want these pokemon to stick around. Totodile knows Rock Tomb (Ripped up Bugsy's Scyther) and Sperow knows U-Turn (Convenient for training against Drowsee). I also used the Headbutt tutor to teach to anyone who'd listen, really nice move on there levels :D


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,816 ✭✭✭TheChrisD


    Thomas-G wrote: »
    I also used the Headbutt tutor to teach to anyone who'd listen, really nice move on there levels :D

    Mmm, the Headbutt tutor is really invaluable at lower levels, since so many Pokémon can learn it where it can replace a much worse move like Tackle, Quick Attack etc.

    High base power and the 30% flinch chance also help it!


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,090 ✭✭✭wobbles


    i stuck headbutt on my kangashan. Fake out with causes them to flinch and skip their turn in the first battle phase, followed by headbutt packs quite a punch on your opponents


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 142 ✭✭spookymuffin


    Thomas-G wrote: »
    A bigger part of the challenge is having to deal with what you're given though :) Plus if Budew (Or Roserade by then) bites the bullet against say CANDICE you're all outta luck.

    Well, my Budew is having a hard time with the trainers in the Hearthome Gym so I'm going to try and level Gong the Bronzor up a little bit before taking on Fantina.
    I still haven't seen any Pokemon in the grass on route 208 so I'm going to head out there and see if I can catch something decent.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 10,485 ✭✭✭✭Banjo


    I can see why you'd keep a graveyard, but they can be awfully tempting... Your 'mons sacrifices are more meaningful if there's no way back and all that's left of them is some bad poetry you wrote about them on a message board! Also, you can introduce the variant rule where if you release a Mon on death and it comes back to you (which apparently happens sometimes) this gives you the option of catching a ghost-type 'mon in addition to your one-per-route limit to represent that 'mons spirit :) It's critical that you quit the game when you lose your last 'mon though. The challenge works by raising the stakes of every single fight. If you can lose your last 'mon and keep playing, you still have the training wheels on.

    "normal" mode just doesn't work for me any more after this. There's no challenge in walking into a gym with a tailor made team and crushing all that dare stand before me. I keep thinking of brave little Nessa squaring up to a Geodude that knew rock throw. I keep thinking of the Valley Windworks. I keep thinking of Mars. The 'Mon are gone. But in a strange way they're more alive than anything on my Soul Silver cart. So I've gone back to Platinum :
    Furious : Level 14 Monferno (Deceased, starter)
    Boof : Level 7 Bidoof (Deceased, route 201)
    Jackson : Level 16 Luxio (Route 202)
    Keisha : Level 15 Staravia (route 203)
    Keiko : Level 15 Psyduck (Oreburgh Gate)
    Chyna : Level 17 Machop (Route 207)
    Mina : Level 9 Zubat (Ravaged Path)
    Stummie : Level 11 Shellos (Valley Windworks)
    Copperhead : Level 4 Magikarp (Twinleaf fishing hole)

    Currently at Floaroma again, growing a few Oran (or as I like to call them "Justice Berries") before I go to face Mars again. A couple of missed opportunities - an Onix down the mines and a Budew on route 204 - which hurt a lot, since there's a lot of water-based pokemon between me and the end of the game. I lost my starter to Roark - he took the Cranidos down to a bare sliver of HP before being stomped flat. Boof on the other hand met an unfortunate end during training - for the love of the Pokégod (which I guess is Arceus) when you're training without an EXP Share don't forget that level 10-ish Floatzels know Pursuit...


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 142 ✭✭spookymuffin


    Good to see you back at it, Banjo!


  • Advertisement
  • Closed Accounts Posts: 414 ✭✭Thomas-G


    Banjo wrote: »
    I can see why you'd keep a graveyard, but they can be awfully tempting... Your 'mons sacrifices are more meaningful if there's no way back and all that's left of them is some bad poetry you wrote about them on a message board! Also, you can introduce the variant rule where if you release a Mon on death and it comes back to you (which apparently happens sometimes) this gives you the option of catching a ghost-type 'mon in addition to your one-per-route limit to represent that 'mons spirit :)It's critical that you quit the game when you lose your last 'mon though. The challenge works by raising the stakes of every single fight. If you can lose your last 'mon and keep playing, you still have the training wheels on.

    "normal" mode just doesn't work for me any more after this. There's no challenge in walking into a gym with a tailor made team and crushing all that dare stand before me. I keep thinking of brave little Nessa squaring up to a Geodude that knew rock throw. I keep thinking of the Valley Windworks. I keep thinking of Mars. The 'Mon are gone. But in a strange way they're more alive than anything on my Soul Silver cart. So I've gone back to Platinum :
    Furious : Level 14 Monferno (Deceased, starter)
    Boof : Level 7 Bidoof (Deceased, route 201)
    Jackson : Level 16 Luxio (Route 202)
    Keisha : Level 15 Staravia (route 203)
    Keiko : Level 15 Psyduck (Oreburgh Gate)
    Chyna : Level 17 Machop (Route 207)
    Mina : Level 9 Zubat (Ravaged Path)
    Stummie : Level 11 Shellos (Valley Windworks)
    Copperhead : Level 4 Magikarp (Twinleaf fishing hole)

    Currently at Floaroma again, growing a few Oran (or as I like to call them "Justice Berries") before I go to face Mars again. A couple of missed opportunities - an Onix down the mines and a Budew on route 204 - which hurt a lot, since there's a lot of water-based pokemon between me and the end of the game. I lost my starter to Roark - he took the Cranidos down to a bare sliver of HP before being stomped flat. Boof on the other hand met an unfortunate end during training - for the love of the Pokégod (which I guess is Arceus) when you're training without an EXP Share don't forget that level 10-ish Floatzels know Pursuit...
    Nah, they're only there as a memory and it's a good way to refer back if I (god forbid) decide to do a comic. I actually don't think I could start using them again, it wouldn't be Nuzlockeing at all then.
    I don't really see it that way, I guess I'll brood on this if Arceus forbid it happens (which is all to possible). I have no problem training up pokemon, it's the thought of having to sit through all those tutorials again that puts me off. In any case, I have about a rattata and an onix that can rise to the challenge.
    Poison is my Achilles Heal, I've been limiting the amount of antidote I've been carrying to increase the challenge I it seems I run out at the worst moments. I realised earlier now that I've reached Goldenrod, I have the Dept. Store at my disposal :) I spent all my money on the lotto upstaurs and it paid off, as I got the TM for Shadow Claw, which should boost up Totodile when I reach Morty. I was horribly tempted to trade Drowsee with the guy in the store for his machop, but it wouldn't feel right. Beside, he's kicking all sorts of ass!


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 10,485 ✭✭✭✭Banjo


    Mars has fallen. It took a day of grinding Mina and Stummie up to about L14 but it was worth it to see how Chyna tore that Purugly a new one, Low Kick stylee.
    Huzzah!

    Alas, in my rush to the woods I encountered a trainer with a Ponyta that trampled Mina into the dust with a one hit critical kill. At least she didn't feel it. But what a waste of all that grinding.

    Managed to creep through the canyon north to the woods without a single encounter. Twice. It's time to grind my Magikarp up to 20 using that helpful chick with the Chansey. This time tomorrow Copperhead should be a killer mouth with a long stretchy ass.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 142 ✭✭spookymuffin


    I managed to catch a Ralts on route 208 and named him Bridget. So at this stage my team consisted of:

    • Thorn the Budew. Level 33
    • Gong the Bronzor. Level 20
    • Bridget the Ralts. Level 18
    I spent a while grinding Bridget and Gong up to level 24, figured that they were plenty strong enough and headed off to take the Hearthome gym challenge. Not the best idea I've ever had, let me tell you :pac:

    I can't really remember the exact details (it was late and I'm dying of a cold at the moment so my head's a bit muggy) but Bridget died in a fight against one of the gym trainers. It was my own fault really, all these years I was under the illusion that ghost pokemon were weak to the psychic type but I guess that I had based that presumption on damage I had dealt to the ghost/poison Gastly family.
    Poor Bridget was at a type disadvantage but I thought he could handle it. I was wrong :(
    Gong died against Fantina, it was a critical hit. I sent Thorn out and she finished the job nicely.

    It was just me and Thorn again when we headed out onto route 209. I was looking forward to catching a new team member but Thorn killed the first thing we came across.
    I wasn't really worried about the trainer battles, Thorn was chugging along at 50% HP when we were challenged to a double battle... A double battle that had two critical hits in the first turn!
    As my character whited out I knew that that was it for the Nuzlocke challenge on my Platinum.

    I have everyone who died in a graveyard on the PC, I'm thinking of trading them over onto my main game (Soul Silver). It would be nice to have them there as a reminder :(

    I wanted to start a new Nuzlocke Challenge but I wasn't in the mood to replay the start of Platinum so soon and I felt kind of the same about playing the challenge on my Heart Gold.
    Then I had an idea to do a little rom hacking on one of my Heart Gold games. I figured that I could make it so the game could be a little more fun to Nuzlocke on, by increasing the variety of pokemon (and therefore lowering repeats) and by upping the difficulty to compensate.

    I've modified what pokemon can be encountered in each route/area and I'm working on making the gym leaders (all will have teams of 6) and trainers (most are getting a level boost) harder.
    I made it so the first few routes now contain pidgey, ratatta, sentret, hoothoot (at night), zigzagoon, poochyena, taillow, starly, bidoof, shinx and a few others rather than just the first four pokemon on that list.
    I've done the same for each route, choosing pokemon that would appear at similar stages of the game from all four generations as well as a few judgment calls. I've pretty much overhauled every cave so that they have more than just geodude and zubat in them now.

    I did some testing this morning and so far my team consists of:

    • Petunia the female Chikorita. Level 9. (My starter)
    • Caramel the female Buneary. Level 6. (Caught on Route 31)
    • Fwoggie the female Croagunk. Level 5. (Caught in Dark Cave)
    • Mink the female Sentret. Level 9. (Caught on Route 29)
    • Petal the female Budew. level 8. (Caught on Route 30)
    I'm making sure that every one is beefed up enough before facing Falkner who in addition to his original Pidgey (lvl 9) and Pidgeotto (lvl 13) will now also have a Hoothoot (lvl 9), Swablu (lvl 10), Spearow (lvl 7)and Taillow(lvl 8).


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,320 ✭✭✭Teferi


    I started this in my Pearl version. Walked downstairs and talked to my mother. I find it really funny that she doesn't have a room in the house BECAUSE SHE BELONGS IN THE KITCHEN :pac:. Met my annoying rival, went into some grass and a few birds attacked. Chose Mcfly the Piplup as my starter. I met Dawn and went to Sandgem Town, on the way I fought a Bidoof. Without pokeballs I couldn't catch him so that area was now out of bounds. Talked to the very strange Prof. and he let me keep Mcfly. On the way to Jubilife City that stupid bitch Dawn taught me how to catch 'mon even though I already knew how and with that, the area was now out of bounds. Immediately went past Jubilife and caught Doc Brown the Bidoof. Walked out onto a route and my annoying rival came back. I honestly thought that it was the end of my journey because Doc Brown had trouble and I had to switch to Mcfly. Luckily I got through it and went on. Met GreatScott and then Delorean when I went into the cave. That's it so far.

    My team:

    - Mcfly, level 11 Piplup
    - Doc Brown, level 7 Bidoof
    - GreatScott, level 7 Shinx
    - Delorean, level 8 Geodude


    Really surprised how much this makes you care about the 'mon. Don't know if I will keep Delorean but I've never trained a 'dude so I'm intrigued.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 30,123 ✭✭✭✭Star Lord


    I'd have thought that a Bidoof would make a better Biff... :pac:


  • Advertisement
  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 10,485 ✭✭✭✭Banjo


    Remember, Dawn encountered that Bidoof, not you. You were not in control, she did the fighting and catching. You're being too hard on yourself. Also, there's no shame in only starting the first encounter rule after you can buy pokeballs, it's tough enough getting your misfit squad through the first gym without culling the numbers needlessly like this.
    Although it's probably too late now...

    Geodudes are pretty cool once they get magnitude and can start doing a bit of damage. Easy to train under most circumstances if you avoid water and grass (types that is, not the terrain. That would be silly...) Worst comes to worst you can load them up with HMs (rock smash, climb and strenght, if memory serves) and leave them with Magnitude, then Earthquake to defend themselves with.

    Sad to hear your Plat run is over, Spooky. I only figured out the poison connection with Ghosts and Psychic a couple of weeks ago when training my Togepi up in Soul Silver to take on Morty. Good thing for him it's not a Nuzlock run, that's all I'm saying.

    Not making much progress in Plat myself. My honey trap in Floaroma yielded a male Combee. Oh joy. I've been grinding my Magikarp, currently at 15 with everyone else on 18-20 barring the Combee and I've got the forest and the route leading to it open for a catch. Fingers crossed for... um.... come to think of it there's not much good in there. Maybe if I can catch a haunter in the woods I can use repels in the house and catch the Rotom?

    Edit : God I love this. Lv16 MAgikarp w/ full health and a Chansey backup against an L10 Buneary and an L10 Budew. I figured he could probably weather the fight instead of swapping out for a mon who could fight back and let the chansey do the work. Then the Buneary hits him with frustration, takes him from full to about 1/4 hp. Copperhead (the 'karp) throws a tackle at the budew, does minimal damage, gets poisoned. Then it's the Budew's turn and I swear time slowed down - if he decided to Absorb on Copperhead, it was all over and I'd pissed yesterday away trying to grind him to 20. I think I felt my heart stop.

    The Budew went with growth, in the end. It wasn't the happiest moment in my life but it was like that feeling you get about halfway through <a word that isn't suitable for a family forum>, a combination of serene grace and relief.
    Nintendo *so* have to introduce a grown-up mode in Gen five. On top of "Are you a boy or a girl?" and "What is your rivals name", professor <tree> needs to ask "And tell me, <name>, what age are you?" <Over 18> "Ok, listen up mary, you get one shot at this, just one. Now listen close..."


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 414 ✭✭Thomas-G


    Teferi wrote: »
    I started this in my Pearl version. Walked downstairs and talked to my mother. I find it really funny that she doesn't have a room in the house BECAUSE SHE BELONGS IN THE KITCHEN :pac:. Met my annoying rival, went into some grass and a few birds attacked. Chose Mcfly the Piplup as my starter. I met Dawn and went to Sandgem Town, on the way I fought a Bidoof. Without pokeballs I couldn't catch him so that area was now out of bounds. Talked to the very strange Prof. and he let me keep Mcfly. On the way to Jubilife City that stupid bitch Dawn taught me how to catch 'mon even though I already knew how and with that, the area was now out of bounds. Immediately went past Jubilife and caught Doc Brown the Bidoof. Walked out onto a route and my annoying rival came back. I honestly thought that it was the end of my journey because Doc Brown had trouble and I had to switch to Mcfly. Luckily I got through it and went on. Met GreatScott and then Delorean when I went into the cave. That's it so far.

    My team:

    - Mcfly, level 11 Piplup
    - Doc Brown, level 7 Bidoof
    - GreatScott, level 7 Shinx
    - Delorean, level 8 Geodude


    Really surprised how much this makes you care about the 'mon. Don't know if I will keep Delorean but I've never trained a 'dude so I'm intrigued.
    Googd to see someone else join the challenge!
    I managed to catch a Ralts on route 208 and named him Bridget. So at this stage my team consisted of:

    • Thorn the Budew. Level 33
    • Gong the Bronzor. Level 20
    • Bridget the Ralts. Level 18
    I spent a while grinding Bridget and Gong up to level 24, figured that they were plenty strong enough and headed off to take the Hearthome gym challenge. Not the best idea I've ever had, let me tell you :pac:

    I can't really remember the exact details (it was late and I'm dying of a cold at the moment so my head's a bit muggy) but Bridget died in a fight against one of the gym trainers. It was my own fault really, all these years I was under the illusion that ghost pokemon were weak to the psychic type but I guess that I had based that presumption on damage I had dealt to the ghost/poison Gastly family.
    Poor Bridget was at a type disadvantage but I thought he could handle it. I was wrong :(
    Gong died against Fantina, it was a critical hit. I sent Thorn out and she finished the job nicely.

    It was just me and Thorn again when we headed out onto route 209. I was looking forward to catching a new team member but Thorn killed the first thing we came across.
    I wasn't really worried about the trainer battles, Thorn was chugging along at 50% HP when we were challenged to a double battle... A double battle that had two critical hits in the first turn!
    As my character whited out I knew that that was it for the Nuzlocke challenge on my Platinum.

    I have everyone who died in a graveyard on the PC, I'm thinking of trading them over onto my main game (Soul Silver). It would be nice to have them there as a reminder :(

    I wanted to start a new Nuzlocke Challenge but I wasn't in the mood to replay the start of Platinum so soon and I felt kind of the same about playing the challenge on my Heart Gold.
    Then I had an idea to do a little rom hacking on one of my Heart Gold games. I figured that I could make it so the game could be a little more fun to Nuzlocke on, by increasing the variety of pokemon (and therefore lowering repeats) and by upping the difficulty to compensate.

    I've modified what pokemon can be encountered in each route/area and I'm working on making the gym leaders (all will have teams of 6) and trainers (most are getting a level boost) harder.
    I made it so the first few routes now contain pidgey, ratatta, sentret, hoothoot (at night), zigzagoon, poochyena, taillow, starly, bidoof, shinx and a few others rather than just the first four pokemon on that list.
    I've done the same for each route, choosing pokemon that would appear at similar stages of the game from all four generations as well as a few judgment calls. I've pretty much overhauled every cave so that they have more than just geodude and zubat in them now.

    I did some testing this morning and so far my team consists of:

    • Petunia the female Chikorita. Level 9. (My starter)
    • Caramel the female Buneary. Level 6. (Caught on Route 31)
    • Fwoggie the female Croagunk. Level 5. (Caught in Dark Cave)
    • Mink the female Sentret. Level 9. (Caught on Route 29)
    • Petal the female Budew. level 8. (Caught on Route 30)
    I'm making sure that every one is beefed up enough before facing Falkner who in addition to his original Pidgey (lvl 9) and Pidgeotto (lvl 13) will now also have a Hoothoot (lvl 9), Swablu (lvl 10), Spearow (lvl 7)and Taillow(lvl 8).
    Sorry to hear your run is over SM :(
    Banjo wrote: »
    Remember, Dawn encountered that Bidoof, not you. You were not in control, she did the fighting and catching. You're being too hard on yourself. Also, there's no shame in only starting the first encounter rule after you can buy pokeballs, it's tough enough getting your misfit squad through the first gym without culling the numbers needlessly like this.
    Although it's probably too late now...

    Geodudes are pretty cool once they get magnitude and can start doing a bit of damage. Easy to train under most circumstances if you avoid water and grass (types that is, not the terrain. That would be silly...) Worst comes to worst you can load them up with HMs (rock smash, climb and strenght, if memory serves) and leave them with Magnitude, then Earthquake to defend themselves with.

    Sad to hear your Plat run is over, Spooky. I only figured out the poison connection with Ghosts and Psychic a couple of weeks ago when training my Togepi up in Soul Silver to take on Morty. Good thing for him it's not a Nuzlock run, that's all I'm saying.

    Not making much progress in Plat myself. My honey trap in Floaroma yielded a male Combee. Oh joy. I've been grinding my Magikarp, currently at 15 with everyone else on 18-20 barring the Combee and I've got the forest and the route leading to it open for a catch. Fingers crossed for... um.... come to think of it there's not much good in there. Maybe if I can catch a haunter in the woods I can use repels in the house and catch the Rotom?

    Edit : God I love this. Lv16 MAgikarp w/ full health and a Chansey backup against an L10 Buneary and an L10 Budew. I figured he could probably weather the fight instead of swapping out for a mon who could fight back and let the chansey do the work. Then the Buneary hits him with frustration, takes him from full to about 1/4 hp. Copperhead (the 'karp) throws a tackle at the budew, does minimal damage, gets poisoned. Then it's the Budew's turn and I swear time slowed down - if he decided to Absorb on Copperhead, it was all over and I'd pissed yesterday away trying to grind him to 20. I think I felt my heart stop.

    The Budew went with growth, in the end. It wasn't the happiest moment in my life but it was like that feeling you get about halfway through <a word that isn't suitable for a family forum>, a combination of serene grace and relief.
    Nintendo *so* have to introduce a grown-up mode in Gen five. On top of "Are you a boy or a girl?" and "What is your rivals name", professor <tree> needs to ask "And tell me, <name>, what age are you?" <Over 18> "Ok, listen up mary, you get one shot at this, just one. Now listen close..."
    I think the first tip of the Nuzlocke challenge should always be:
    If In Doubt, Switch Out
    Lots of nice stuff going on at my end, I think I'll do a comic :D


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,779 ✭✭✭A Neurotic


    I booted up Yellow a couple of days ago (it's exam time, of course) and found that I was pretty much at the start of the game - Pewter City. Decided to play through and Nuzlocke it.

    It's pretty tough so far. I've made it to Cerulean with only one casualty (RIP Mankey, your loss is all the more bitter for the fact that it was to a freaking Rattata :() but the gym battle is going to be pretty tough and I'll need to grind up most of my team for quite a while before tackling Misty.

    My team (some don't have nicknames as I am continuing a previous save where I wasn't doing the Nuzlocke challenge):

    Victor the Magikarp - lv 10
    Pikachu - lv 15
    Flint the Charmander (gotta love Yellow, having all the starters is pretty nice) - lv 14
    Pidgey - lv 13
    Nidorino - lv 17
    Butterfree - lv 15


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,779 ✭✭✭A Neurotic


    *sigh*

    Was sick of fighting Pidgey and Rattata in the grass to level up for Cerulean Gym so headed down to Vermilion to beef up some more. Thought the group of Bug Catchers just north of the city would be a good spot to train my charmander, but it was quickly poisoned. I felt a little bit sick as I realised I wouldn't be able make it back to Cerulean with 30HP and that there were at least two trainers between me and Vermilion. Pikachu had fallen asleep and was on lower-than-safe HP. Magikarp cannot battle. Pidgey is a useless level 13 piece of crap. The last battle between me and the PK centre was against a Raticate. He almost finished off Butterfree before I switched out Nidorino.

    Critical hit Hyper Fang. Just like Mankey :(

    Fúcking rats, keep killing my strongest pokemon :mad:


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 10,485 ✭✭✭✭Banjo


    I'm not a fan but whenever I read these tales of woe I always see a montage of Pokemon sprites accompanied by the Take That song "Never Forget" - specifically the "you're not invincible" bit....

    So did you make it to the center with anything left alive? You can't leave us hanging like that!

    My own run is on hiatus - while grinding my Magikarp I hit some sort of wall, there was no risk and very little reward, my hands were starting to cramp from the repeated left right left right a a a , I was starting to consider compromising on rules 'cause my team was 80% water types and all that money I blew on Soul Silver was weighing heavy on my mind. So I'm back to a regular beat-the-game run and enjoying the luxury of transferring my team to Diamond for quick leveling and a TM make-over. Although I miss my Combee. He kicked a surprising amount of arse.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,779 ✭✭✭A Neurotic


    Banjo wrote: »
    So did you make it to the center with anything left alive? You can't leave us hanging like that!

    Yep, finished off the Raticúnt (think I used Butterfee; not quite sure, but no more casualties anyway) and made it to Vermilion.

    What have I learned? Don't make plans. I had a moon stone in my bag, just waiting for Nidorino to be ready for it some glorious day. I was asking for something bad to happen :(

    New team members:

    Matt the Drowzee - lv 19
    Peter the Oddish (surprisingly useful, and easily trained up in Diglett cave!) - lv 20
    Samuel the Diglett - lv 20

    EDIT: R.I.P Butterfree :( Victim of my ignorance. This is the worst blow yet. And it's all my fault.

    Charlie the Wartortle is settling in well though.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,779 ✭✭✭A Neurotic


    A turbulent few days, peaking this evening with a disasterous attempt at tackling team rocket in Silph Co.

    Lost Butterfree on the path between Cerulean and Rock Tunnel. I was expecting Geodude to tackle, and it used Rock Throw... I'd forgotten that that move existed.

    Samuel the Diglett followed not long after, in the tunnel, victim of a cruel critical hit, just as he was settling into the team.

    I made it to Lavender and - what luck - caught an Abra at level 15 (named Hiro) in the grass west of the town. After a few short hours of training in Pokemon Tower and the Saffron Fighting Dojo he's now the strongest 'mon in my team, at level 35.

    In Celadon, I swept through the Gym with no problems, Flint the Charmeleon and Hiro the Kadabra sweeping through them effectively. I lovingly bestowed the prize TM - Mega Drain - upon Peter the Gloom, doubling the power of his Absorb attack and making him, with his high defence and special stats, quite formidable indeed. I also taught him cut in order to fill the gap left by Samuel.

    Peter died en route to Fushcia, victim of a critical hit Selfdestructing Voltorb. I had his leafstone in my bag, waiting to turn him into a powerful Vileplume at a suitably dramatic junction. Shouldn't have waited :(

    Teleporting back to Saffron, I decided to take on the challenge of Silph Co instead of travelling to Fuschia. I was feeling confident enough, with my three starters (Elle the Pikachu, Flint the Charmeleon, and Charlie the Wartortle) and Hiro the Kadabra all above level 30, my newly bestowed Hitmonchan (Edgar), and my freshly caught level 22 Doduo (named Alejandro).

    I've barely had 5 battles in here and my team has been crippled. First to go was Alejandro, fighting valiantly and using his new technique Fly against a Raticate before going down. His first battle. R.I.P.

    Next to go was Elle the Pikachu, whose power had increased vastly since learning Thunderbolt at level 26. Sent her out at about 3/4 health against a lv 28 Golbat. Thunderbolt reduced it to minimal HP and paralysed it. It struck back with a vicious bite, critical hitting poor Elle...
    Oh, Elle. Your refusal to accept a Thunderstone was always going to be your undoing. You could've been a bítchin' Raichu if you weren't such a sap. R.I.Pikachu :(

    It got worse. Already numbed by the fall of my starter, I barely registered the death of Flint in the next battle. His pitiful Ember attack barely dented the HP of a lv 32 Hypno, who Confusioned poor Flint ruthlessly to death. Charlie the Wartortle got all up in that Hypno's shít, Ice Beaming him to death in what can only be described as a worrying example of the escalation of violence in tit-for-tat gang crime. R.I.P.

    Current team:
    Hiro the Kadabra - lv 35
    Charlie the Wartortle - lv 31
    Edgar the Hitmonchan - lv 30
    Meredith the Flareon - lv 25
    D.L the Gastly - lv 20

    R.I.P:
    Mankey - lv 14
    Nidorino - lv 17
    Butterfree - lv 21
    Samuel the Diglett - lv 22
    Peter the Gloom - lv 30
    Alejandro the Doduo - lv 22
    Elle the Pikachu - lv 32
    Flint the Charmeleon - lv 30


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 414 ✭✭Thomas-G


    I recently purchased an xbox, so my run has been taking a break. I'm very proud of my misfit team, 6 level 24s managed to take out jasmine who had a level 35 steelix. Alas, Nidorino did not survive the fight (Couldn't get a moonstone for the life of me) but overall I think that it could have been a LOT worse. Full update in the near future.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 414 ✭✭Thomas-G


    When Black and white come out I'm planning on nuzlocking it from the start, anyone game to join? :)


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 142 ✭✭spookymuffin


    I had been thinking about it. Although I might only use the fainted=dead rule the first time around, I want to be able to pick and choose from the new pokemon rather than having to go with the first pokemon in each area.


  • Advertisement
Advertisement