guardians_song (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
guardians_song) wrote2013-10-25 05:20 pm
guardians_song) wrote2013-10-25 05:20 pm
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Pokemon Blue Nuzlocke Time! (Part 15.00)
Elite Four grinding - begin!
(Also, I'm of two minds about this grinding. One is that it was unnecessary - you'll see. The other is that it was absolutely necessary for one specific Pokemon - you'll see.
There's something wonky about the game balance when you only really have to fear one Pokemon on a team - and that Pokemon had the full potential to sweep. To my mind, this is because that Pokemon was one of the few with a moveset that both packed high-power moves and didn't confuse the A.I. By picking Squirtle, I may actually have gotten the easiest Rival starter-Pokemon - Mega Drain has low power, but Venusaur is equally helpless if it wastes time on a Solar Beam against a Pokemon that outsped it. Rival!Blastoise at least has Hydro Pump and Blizzard (though it could easily waste time on Withdraw, and Bite is subpar as an endgame move - equivalent to STAB Mega Drain, but inferior to, say, Strength or Body Slam), and Rival!Charizard has both Fire Blast and Slash. Fire Spin can also be bad in Gen 1 due to wonky Wrap mechanics, though Rage... -_- Uh, never mind.
Blizzard and Fire Blast display that RB!Gary isn't above using TMs. However, he doesn't seem to have put much time into setting up good movesets. Ember on Arcanine? Really, Gary?)
The most feared screen in Victory Road. Note that Reservoir was at full HP when it went off.
There would be a certain amount of merit to using a Haunter in a RB Nuzlocke SOLELY to give the Gravelers the middle finger if Gravelers didn't also have Earthquake.
And incidentally, do you know how I know that the developers INTENTIONALLY put these into the game just to flip off players? Because Graveler learns Explosion AT L43.
The L50 (ignoring Reservoir) lineup!
As you can see, Yulong really pulled ahead of most of the team - I probably have my fondness for early-game Pokemon to thank for that. :);; Beats all Attack stats by a mile, all HP stats by a decent margin, has Defense superior to a good deal of the (glass-cannon-centered) team, and has a Special ahead of everyone by a good stretch.
You may remember that LEERSPEAR and Ambassador are intentionally-chosen glass-cannons, as is Wormtail. Monarch is, truthfully speaking, a catchbot whom I keep around for old times' sake. Therefore Yulong's superiority is for certain good reasons, but is still remarkable.
And I believe this team could have gone through 25/26 of the Elite Four Pokemon without any losses, and 23/26 without much difficulty.
Isn't this a great game? :)
:D
I hadn't realized Gyarados learned Hyper Beam naturally. This...
...actually was part of the reason I don't think the L50 team would have gone through without causalities. Having a 150 Base Power move proved VERY useful at a certain point.
I MIGHT have been able to get through at this point. I didn't attempt it, because I was rather focused on the L55 goal, but it... was possible.
All I know is that L55 was sufficient, but very close at one point. I don't know if Yulong's Special would have been high enough against that specific Pokemon.
(...Meanwhile, I'm thinking about how all of this would have bemused and confused my six-year-old self greatly...)
Weezing are RARE in Cinnabar Mansion in Blue Version, just so you know. You're much likelier to see Muks, and about as likely to see three Muks in ~five battles.
Yes, I was keeping rough estimates in my head at that point. >_> Grinding is a very repetitive thing.
^Went back to Victory Road for a little bit. If the Explosion is the most feared screen, this is the most INCONVENIENT screen in Victory Road!
And before you ask, there are even MORE of them in Yellow. No. No. Nope. You cannot PAY me to grind in Victory Road when I do my Yellow run.
(Checking Victory Road in FR/LG, though, there is an amusing lack of Gravelers... Perchance, did the playtesters complain?)
Final tallies for the run:
127 seen, 41 owned. A respectable amount, all things considered, though I COULD have pushed it higher. (Such as by picking up Kabuto. Oops.)
In all seriousness, many of my Pokemon were unevolved and stayed that way. Part of that was that I seriously intended a rigid L55 limit for the Elite Four, and Exp. Share would have mucked that up - and I had no reason to expand my Pokedex data aside from Exp. Share. Another part is that Cinnabar Mansion was my best grinding zone, and I swear getting Klakarton to L41 or so took the better part of an hour. You REALLY think I wanted to grind Rhinox to L42 and THEN grind up several others?
Pure laziness. ...And, frankly, a certain love for my current team. The latest was caught back in Vermillion City. Why should I kick them out unless it's absolutely necessary for catching a VIP (as was the issue with Klakarton)? :P :)
Note: I am a hypocrite. You'll see that LEERSPEAR, Ambassador, and Wormtail all have non-damaging moves.
You'll also see that LEERSPEAR, Ambassador, and Wormtail are not controlled by an A.I. that doesn't know the difference between damaging and non-damaging moves.
This is going to be very evident in certain screenshots later on. :P
Incidentally, I really didn't need as many as I bought/thought I'd need. I was working off memories of being a single-digit-age kid on this game/catastrophic idiot on a regular run of SoulSilver. (Let's just say that I had no Psychic user, no really strong Fighting type, andno brains good memories of the several-levels-lower-and-lacking-good-movesets Gold/Silver Elite Four and leave it at that. *shudder*)
At any rate, I don't have narration in this part because it's just dull grinding. Syaoran's actual voice will return in the Elite Four battles.
...Truth be told, I kind of prefer not being talky-talky like I was in this run. I misremembered how much Syaoran talked in the early parts, which was why I congested the middle part with Syaoran's constant blather due to 'not wanting to fall behind'. Yellow run will be a lot more peaceful, 'kay?
(Aaaand dystopian, but that's a different matter.)
And here! We! GO!
(Also, I'm of two minds about this grinding. One is that it was unnecessary - you'll see. The other is that it was absolutely necessary for one specific Pokemon - you'll see.
There's something wonky about the game balance when you only really have to fear one Pokemon on a team - and that Pokemon had the full potential to sweep. To my mind, this is because that Pokemon was one of the few with a moveset that both packed high-power moves and didn't confuse the A.I. By picking Squirtle, I may actually have gotten the easiest Rival starter-Pokemon - Mega Drain has low power, but Venusaur is equally helpless if it wastes time on a Solar Beam against a Pokemon that outsped it. Rival!Blastoise at least has Hydro Pump and Blizzard (though it could easily waste time on Withdraw, and Bite is subpar as an endgame move - equivalent to STAB Mega Drain, but inferior to, say, Strength or Body Slam), and Rival!Charizard has both Fire Blast and Slash. Fire Spin can also be bad in Gen 1 due to wonky Wrap mechanics, though Rage... -_- Uh, never mind.
Blizzard and Fire Blast display that RB!Gary isn't above using TMs. However, he doesn't seem to have put much time into setting up good movesets. Ember on Arcanine? Really, Gary?)
The most feared screen in Victory Road. Note that Reservoir was at full HP when it went off.
There would be a certain amount of merit to using a Haunter in a RB Nuzlocke SOLELY to give the Gravelers the middle finger if Gravelers didn't also have Earthquake.
And incidentally, do you know how I know that the developers INTENTIONALLY put these into the game just to flip off players? Because Graveler learns Explosion AT L43.
Very. Funny. NOT.
I will note that, for this very reason, I did exactly what I said I would in this post here and moved the grinding to Cinnabar Mansion. So catching Moltres wasn't necessary after all. >_> Oh well. At least I can say I snagged a Legendary!The L50 (ignoring Reservoir) lineup!
As you can see, Yulong really pulled ahead of most of the team - I probably have my fondness for early-game Pokemon to thank for that. :);; Beats all Attack stats by a mile, all HP stats by a decent margin, has Defense superior to a good deal of the (glass-cannon-centered) team, and has a Special ahead of everyone by a good stretch.
You may remember that LEERSPEAR and Ambassador are intentionally-chosen glass-cannons, as is Wormtail. Monarch is, truthfully speaking, a catchbot whom I keep around for old times' sake. Therefore Yulong's superiority is for certain good reasons, but is still remarkable.
And I believe this team could have gone through 25/26 of the Elite Four Pokemon without any losses, and 23/26 without much difficulty.
Isn't this a great game? :)
:D
I hadn't realized Gyarados learned Hyper Beam naturally. This...
...actually was part of the reason I don't think the L50 team would have gone through without causalities. Having a 150 Base Power move proved VERY useful at a certain point.
I MIGHT have been able to get through at this point. I didn't attempt it, because I was rather focused on the L55 goal, but it... was possible.
All I know is that L55 was sufficient, but very close at one point. I don't know if Yulong's Special would have been high enough against that specific Pokemon.
(...Meanwhile, I'm thinking about how all of this would have bemused and confused my six-year-old self greatly...)
Weezing are RARE in Cinnabar Mansion in Blue Version, just so you know. You're much likelier to see Muks, and about as likely to see three Muks in ~five battles.
Yes, I was keeping rough estimates in my head at that point. >_> Grinding is a very repetitive thing.
^Went back to Victory Road for a little bit. If the Explosion is the most feared screen, this is the most INCONVENIENT screen in Victory Road!
And before you ask, there are even MORE of them in Yellow. No. No. Nope. You cannot PAY me to grind in Victory Road when I do my Yellow run.
(Checking Victory Road in FR/LG, though, there is an amusing lack of Gravelers... Perchance, did the playtesters complain?)
Final tallies for the run:
127 seen, 41 owned. A respectable amount, all things considered, though I COULD have pushed it higher. (Such as by picking up Kabuto. Oops.)
In all seriousness, many of my Pokemon were unevolved and stayed that way. Part of that was that I seriously intended a rigid L55 limit for the Elite Four, and Exp. Share would have mucked that up - and I had no reason to expand my Pokedex data aside from Exp. Share. Another part is that Cinnabar Mansion was my best grinding zone, and I swear getting Klakarton to L41 or so took the better part of an hour. You REALLY think I wanted to grind Rhinox to L42 and THEN grind up several others?
Pure laziness. ...And, frankly, a certain love for my current team. The latest was caught back in Vermillion City. Why should I kick them out unless it's absolutely necessary for catching a VIP (as was the issue with Klakarton)? :P :)
Note: I am a hypocrite. You'll see that LEERSPEAR, Ambassador, and Wormtail all have non-damaging moves.
You'll also see that LEERSPEAR, Ambassador, and Wormtail are not controlled by an A.I. that doesn't know the difference between damaging and non-damaging moves.
This is going to be very evident in certain screenshots later on. :P
Incidentally, I really didn't need as many as I bought/thought I'd need. I was working off memories of being a single-digit-age kid on this game/catastrophic idiot on a regular run of SoulSilver. (Let's just say that I had no Psychic user, no really strong Fighting type, and
At any rate, I don't have narration in this part because it's just dull grinding. Syaoran's actual voice will return in the Elite Four battles.
...Truth be told, I kind of prefer not being talky-talky like I was in this run. I misremembered how much Syaoran talked in the early parts, which was why I congested the middle part with Syaoran's constant blather due to 'not wanting to fall behind'. Yellow run will be a lot more peaceful, 'kay?
(Aaaand dystopian, but that's a different matter.)
And here! We! GO!