I didn't, but I do now.

 

If that Makuhita is from that first moving piece of grass on that route it's actually a scripted encounter. That is always a Makuhita the first time you get there.

 

I didn’t know that, but I’ve already advanced to past the trial with Makuhita before finding it out and at this point it doesn’t really matter, so I’ll just take that as a mulligan because I didn’t know. I’ll look up the scripted encounters now so I know which ones to avoid the rest of the way.

E: Actually, I cant find any list of that, is there one that anyone knows about?

Training brings Flappy, Butterfly and Shadow up to Level 11 as I am now ready to embark on my first Trial of the Nuzlocke. But first I want to beat all the trainers on Route 2 to level up my non-Butterfly pokemon a bit so they dont lag behind him after he does all the work on the actual trial.

In the Graveyard, Tom beats down on two trainers to reach Level 12 and Shadow and Flappy combined to take on a Sand Attacking Makuhita that kept on dodging moves. Bolts got in on the action by knocking out a little kid's Spearow, and then

Cutscene. With a Delibird. What are the chances I can skip this? Nil? Thought so. I let Poseidon take the lead to take on Team Skull grunts 1 and 2 again, and as expected it's not worth my time. Poseidon grows to Level 13 after winning, and I get rewarded by a bunch of berries. Ok that's a bit better at least.

Moving on, Bolts, Flappy and Gastly all grow to Level 12 by the time I get to the Trial Site thanks to Trainers in the way whose pokemon were all interchangeable and I made the mistake of not typing as I did it so I cant remember them.

Make it to the Pokemon Center and heal up before giving Butterfly the time to shine in the Normal Type trial. Ilima gives me another time to spam A before I can actually start, and then we make our way into the Cave.

Fucking hell Yungoos are strong. First one I find goes for Hyper Fang and immediately brings Butterfly down to 4hp, but thankfully goes down to 3 Arm Thrusts. A liberal use of potions after the battle make me ready for the next Yungoos, who thankfully only goes for Super Fang rather than the more dangerous version. Butterfly then grows a level and I pick up the TM for Brick Break, a welcome move with a lot more reliability than Arm Thrust.

Moving on with the trial I find the team Skull members from before are here, and they challenge me in the middle of the trial. Annoying, but Tom makes quick work of the Drowzee they have, and finds me an Escape Rope as well. Then they suddenly have a change of heart and decide to help me in my trial. I think. It’s part of the text that I did not read. I go to the only hole they’re not covering to face the final mon before the Totem pokemon.

Gumshoos. I don’t want to give this thing a chance to hit me, based off of the Hyper Fang damage from a Yungoos, but he’s faster than me and goes for Leer and survives a Brick Break. I need to switch here, and go into Bolts to take a tackle. He goes for Bite, which makes me really glad Shadow doesn’t know any attacking move aside from Lick because I was thinking about going into it instead. Thundershock finishes off the Gumshoos and Butterfly grows to Level 13, and learns Force Palm.

I go inside the Cavern after giving a few Berries to Tom and Bolts so they’re at full HP. It wouldn’t do to need them and not be able to have them able to take a hit. The Totem Gumshoos appears after I try to take the Z Crystal, and gets a boost to it’s defences. I go for Focus Energy before finding out that it actually outspeeds me, and it calls it’s younger brother to help take me down. Force Palm neither crits nor paralyses, and the combination of the Totem pokemon and Yungoos’s tackle kill Butterfly.

Crap. That was essentially the only plan I had going into this Trial. I need to reorganise now, and grieve for my fallen friend later.

I get Bolts in to try to take them on, paralysing the Gumshoos, but I’m not doing enough to it with Thundershock. I decide to switch in Poseidon and Growl both the Gumshoos and the Yungoos, as they go for Leer and Scary Face on me respectively. Then I switch back into Bolts to take the hits easier, both of them being at -2 Attack. A Super Potion restores Bolts to near full and I paralyse the Yungoos too, because it’s becoming very annoying. Scary Face and Leer are used, to my thanks, and I’m now more confident of pulling through with a victory here.

The combination of Bite and Pursuit is starting to become more threatening, but then a Crit Thundershock knocks out the Totem Gumshoos. Finally. Bolts even learns Light Screen as a result.

Bolts is getting low, slower and at -3 Defense now, so I decide to switch into Tom to pick up the kill on Yungoos. Pursuit brings me down to 3 HP, giving me a massive scare in the process, but Bolts does not join Butterfly in the land of the dead, and Tom has no problem with the -2 Paralysed Yungoos, especially with Bite’s additional 30% chance to flinch.

Now Ilima joins me, apparently having watched my Butterfly die and not wanted to do anything about it, and congratulates me for getting the Z Crystal. And tells me I need to move my arms in stupid patterns to use it. Hmm, really powerful move vs looking stupid as fuck. We’ll see I guess. They also give me some great balls because now I can capture pokemon from in the Cave. After seeing how strong that Yungoos was, I want one.

I head straight to a hole where Yungoos can appear and find one before finding out the Captain used necromancy on my Makuhita. Unfortunately I find this black magic perversive and kill him myself again to restore peace to his soul, but not before using him to capture the Yungoos I encountered.

Thus Mr President joins the team. It is Serious natured with the Stakeout ability, which isn’t great for the Nuzlocke, but is perfectly fitting given its nickname. Sadly I find out Hyper Fang seems to only be a move it gets during the Trial, and it doesn’t actually get such a high Base Power move at Level 11. I also encounter a Zubat, which I actually kinda regret not running into instead of Mr President, I’m fairly sure I can find Yungoos at the next location, and Crobat has always been a personal favourite of mine.

Calling for help is obnoxious. I go into Flappy after killing 2 Zubat with Mr President because confusion and Absorb is starting to actually take it’s toll on him, and Flappy finishes them off, before I go out and heal up. Ilima makes me watch as he opens a gate, and I prepare for the next route, a new friend, and the prospect of these damn cutscenes becoming less frequent.

Current Team:
Poseidon: Level 14 Popplio
Bolts: Level 13 Magnemite
Flappy: Level 12 Wingull
Tom: Level 12 Alolan-Meowth
Shadow: Level 12 Gastly
Mr President: Level 11 Yungoos

Died doing the right thing:
Zazu the Level 9 Pikipek: Fuck Crits
Butterfly the Level 13 Makuhita: Turns out I wasn’t meant to have you anyway

Sacrificed for the Shiny Gods
Neptune the Level 9 Slowpoke: I still regret nothing.

 

The only scripted encounter I can remember after that one are the Wishiwashi splashing in the second trial. Well that and the legendary.

 

In the mood to Nuzlocke Oras again. Anybody have any suggestions on rules? Things you'd like to see?

EDIT: Next few posters each get to choose a random rule of their own design and no matter how crazy they are, I'll attempt to incorporate them into the Locke in addition to vanilla rules.

 

You may not level up any member of your party beyond the average level of the next gym leader.

Given how generous Pokemon is with XP you might want to increase that to average level+5, but the point is to keep your average level low.

 

Russian Roulette- After every battle, roll a die/use a RNG and use the result to determine who leads your party until your next battle.

Edit: changed from Russian Roulette to Death or Glory: No switching during battle, a pokemon fights until it has defeated all the opposing pokemon... or it dies.

 

You get one revive before fighting the Champion but it has to be from the Pokemon with the lowest levels on your cemetery.

 

You must set the language of the game to one you can't read.

 

Turn the Exp Share off. ORAS is decent in its curve.

Two options from me, choose the one you want.

• A) Dungeon crawling: No going back to heal once you enter a forest/cave, Team X building, or similar. You complete the crawl before the Center is an option.
• B) Elemental limitations: Pokémon can only use one move not of their type at a time. Once selected, this move is the only one allowed until the move is unlearned. TM cheating shenanigans obviously not allowed.

 

You can only visit the Pokemart 4 times throughout the entire game. Not the worst rule in the world what with places like the soda shop and such but it limits you.

If you were going to Nuzlocke original Ruby/Sapphire I'd say you're never allowed to visit a Pokemart. But that's because Pickup is broken.

 

I've been Nuzlocking ORAS and my luck has been amazingly lucky, in that I keep getting the cool, low chance encounters in most zones, and entirely shitty in that that my type coverage is hurting.

Ended up with a Seedot, a Shroomish, and a Nincada, for example, except my starter was Treeko and I'm running with a Beldum I took from the PC Mystery Gift shit in a town. I also ended up with Abra, but again, already got Psychic covered. Cosplaychu is just all around better than other possible electric types that i could get, except maybe Manectric. For a long while, my only good pokemon to go up against fire was Tailow. Then i finally got a Marill, and evolved it to Azumarill which...ehh, it works.

Things are a bit more rounded out, now that I have a Slugma too, and Skarmory is useful when i'm running around with the B-team, as i call em. Swablue is...not too sure, yet.

 

Hello all and welcome to the Nuzlocke to end all Nuzlockes.



DEATH OR GLORY
EDITION​

Ruleset

• Standard Nuzlock rules
• Dupues get wonder trade for same level or lower, non moonspeak names only
• Gifted pokemon get wonder traded, same conditions
• Pokemon fight to the death
• No Dexnav bullshit

Wait, what? Pokemon fight to the death? "But Seratin, isn't that what all Nuzlockes are about?" I hear your confusion, folks but nay. This will be a bloodbath. (Or tedious as fuck.)

Once a pokemon is released to battle it must defeat all opposing pokemon. It literally fights until it wins or dies. This is gladiator mode. Those who come out of battles victorious will have earned their glory. Those who fall shall be left to lay in the bloodied sands, unworthy.

Training new catches is going to be tedious as fuck, requiring me to find areas where they can level up on their own, no bait and switching for exp.



Without further ado, let us introduce our contender.

Rovicha​

Named after and containing the spirits of The Iron Rose, Vira and ChaosGuy, this deceptively cute anime girl is hiding a dark secret.

She's a heartless, bloodthirsty monster who will not flinch at leaving those who fall to rot. Her blood lust and cruelty began to attract attention in Goldenrod as she grew older, bringing shame on her father the local gym leader. Her family finally accepted the fact that something was fundamentally wrong with her after Norman found her forcing his Furret to repeatedly attack a small Oddish until there was blood in its muzzle.

They moved to Hoenn, hoping the secluded life of Littleroot town would bring their daughter a sense of inner peace and maybe, just maybe, help cure blood lust.

And so our heroine finds herself locked in the back of a moving truck on a bumpy country road...

 

Rovicha jolted awake as she felt the truck come to a shuddering stop. As she adjusted herself and tried to ease the cramps in her legs and neck she heard the sharp click of grinding metal and turned to see the doors swing open. She had to shield her eyes from the bright, harsh light of southern Hoenn as she climbed out.

"Rovicha!" Her mother beamed, gesturing to her with open arms. "Welcome to our new home!"

Looking around she saw a town with only a scant few nice houses, dominated by a large building that must have been the lab of her father's friend.

Her mother nattered on excitedly about their new life as she was led inside their house, sidestepping the burly Machoke that were carrying their possessions.

"Rovicha, are you even listening?"

She snapped back to reality, tearing herself away from thoughts of how those Machoke could probably crush most Pokemon's skulls with next to no effort.

"Yes mother, it's such a beautiful place and you were right, the house is gorgeous!"

It was clearly an appropriate answer as her mother smiled delightedly and carried on nattering.

A few hours later she'd set up her room as she liked it, given in to the strange compulsion she had to fix the clock and decided to go outside for a walk.

She was drawn to the house next to hers and for reasons she couldn't comprehend, opened the door and walked inside. A woman of comparable age with her mother rushed over and started welcoming her, seemingly knowing exactly who she was already.

"Go on, head upstairs, my son Brendan is excited to meet you!" The woman directed.

Reluctantly, Rovicha went along with it. She'd never had many friends in Goldenrod, finding most children her age to be frighteningly dull. As soon as she entered Brendan's room however something caught her eye that gave her pause. He was bent over his desk with a strong light shining down on what appeared to be surgical equipment. He seemed to be making a long, sharp incision through the abdomen of a pokemon she didn't recognise.

What caught her attention though, was that the strange pokemon with the bulbous blue body was twitching in what she guessed was agony.

"Oh Hi! You must be Rovicha, my father told me you were moving in next door." He said, cheerfully.

She was taken off guard by his friendly demeanor and blurted out, "What are you doing?"

"Oh, right," he said, moving to cover up his work. "I forgot girls could get squeamish. "Just testing out a theory about the connection between Lotad's body and its lilypad, sorry."

"No, don't be. It's kind of cool."

He looked relieved and after that the conversation became easy. Was this how normal kids interacted all the time?

The evening wore on and she ended up excusing herself and saying farewell to the interesting boy, her stomach calling her home.

As she walked back across town towards her house though, she heard a frightened yelling noise. She was hungry but he chill it sent up her spine couldnt be ignored and she dashed off towards it.

At the outskirts of the town a portly man in a lab coat was being chased by a vicious looking Poochyena, one of the regions more common pokemon.

"Help me, grab a ppokeball!" he shouted.

Part of her wanted not to. Part of her wanted to see what would happen when the pokemon caught them man. In the end though the temptation to release another pokemon into the fray was too great and she rushed over to the bag, grabbing the first ball she could see.

RNG dice roll gave Rovicha a six.​

She threw the ball out and in a blinding flash of light a pokemon appeared.

"Fuck Yeah, Free Bird!"​

It looked like a fire type so she called out for it to use a basic move.

"Ember!"

The little fire chicken spat a burst of fire at the Poochyena who turned to it, hurt and angry. it was about to attack when it was consumed in more flame, Rovicha directing the Torchic not to let up. When it was done there was nothing but a charred corpse on the grass.

The professor was ever so grateful, if a little perturbed and led her back to his lab where he promised he wouldn't touch her inappropriately. There he told her that she could keep the Torchic and name it before offering her a Pokedex and telling her she should go out and become a pokemon trainer.

"Fuck Yeah," Rovicha thought.

She named the Torchic Free Bird and raced frob the lab, past her new home only to be caught by her mother. After explaining herself her mother looked troubled.

"Rovicha, you know we moved here to give you a fresh start and I don't really feel comfortable with you being unsupervised alone in a world full dangerous creatures."

"But Moooom," Rovicha countered.

"Well okay then, that professor probably knows what he's talking about. Call sometime," her mother replied before walking off.

Between Littleroot and Oldale she grew close with Free Bird. Together they left a wake of flaming and charred corpses.

Oldale was unimpressive and she stayed just long enough to repair her murdertool in the Pokecenter. North of there, she encountered Brendan again, staring into a large pond.

"Hey, looking for more Lotad?" She asked.

"Woah, didn't expect to see you out here. Yeah, the previous test subject didn't make it."

They shared a warm smile.

"Battle?" he suggested.

She agreed easily and sent her Torchic out to fight his Mudkip. It was a grueling battle but in the end Free Bird had knocked it over, exposing its underbelly and tore out its innards with its claws.

​

Brendan sighed. "You win. Aw man, now I'm gonna have to get another Mudkip from my dad."

They laughed and went back to Littleroot together to pick Brendan up a new pokemon. When they got there he gave her a few pokeballs and told her he'd catch up with her near Petalburg.

She agreed and left, off to catch 'mons!

Her first encounter she thought quite pathetic but caught it anyway.

​

Ziggy Stardust​

Next, she ran into this cute little murder machine.

Black Dog​

Both pokemon she trained on their own against the weak pokemon near Littleroot. As long as they fought for her they wouldn't receive any help. Rovicha only tolerated the strongest and as far as she was concerned if they couldn't win then they weren't good enough.

Thanks to this approach all three of her pokemon had grown strong by the time Brendan rushed past her near Petalburg, following a group of Beautifly with a fresh Mudkip in tow.

In Petalburg she met her father in his gym but he was as cold as ever, instructing her to help some terminally ill kid in catching a pokemon. She accepted this waste of time as a "normal" thing to do and so, complied. Thankfully, it didn't take too long and before she knew it she was out of Petalburg and away from her father, standing by the coast.

Here she caught another Zigzagoon but thought, "Fuck that noise. Dupes get traded."

​

Le Pheonix​

Pokemon obtained:
Free Bird the Torchic lvl 9
Ziggystardust the Zigzagoon lvl 6
Black Dog the Poochyena lvl 6
Le pheonix the Fletchling lvl 3


Trainers destroyed:
Free Bird 2
Ziggystardust 1
Black Dog 2
Le Pheonix 0​

 

I'm loving this already and cannot wait to see what devil girl and murder boy will get up to next :allears:


I hope free bird doesn't die

 

Spear Pillar & Distortion World

Previously, on this randomised Nuzlocke:

Hallowed light filters through my eyelids, vanquishing the accursed darkness that held me tight. My Pokémon; my faithful, nay beloved, Pokémon dragged me outside, into the rejuvenating light. Yes, it all came together wonderfully, and their indiscretions with my supplies of milk and vitamins can be forgiven. Up ahead, grunts cower, caught between the wrath of Cyrus and the Godslayers waiting for their Lady and Mistress.

The area appears temporally locked, else the grunt’s Celebi would have undoubtedly gone back to remove the threat of me at an earlier point in time. Now, TMD and Aekiel make sure that this remains impossible forever more, as the Guardian of the Forest burns.

I feel a momentary craving for onion rings, but I press on towards the chanting Cyrus. Jupiter and Mars throw themselves in my way, and as I accept their impending demise, Barry runs up from Arceus knows where, interjecting himself into the fight. His Diglett falls immediately, but before I can harvest the corpse, Barry returns it, and then I am forced to stay back, as a Bellossom, and later Mars’s Victreebel, make it impossible for me to traverse the area of battle without a mask. Barry’s Pokémon is reduced to Stun Spore Slave while GLaDOS cleans up everything.

I make sure he gives me his best healing items and then tell him to go run to Mummy. He obliges without a word, scampering like the wimp he is. Good.

CYRUS! COME, AND FACE YOUR DOOM!

Cyrus’s chants come to a crescendo, and the sky darkens to preternatural purple-black. Dialga and Palkia appear, and I feel Aekiel bristle beside me, ready for a fight. I scoot around, looking for a good place to sic the Hitmonchan on them, but then the Lake Trio of Sinnoh appears, and… Things get bizarre, even for my tastes.

Of course. Giratina. My oldest foe; the one who nearly ended this pilgrimage before it even began. It all seems so long ago, and I have made my peace with what happened then. I have different priorities now, and most of them involve the blue-haired invoker who… just got invokernapped?

Cynthia arrives, blabbing about something of symmetry and inverse metaphysics. I tune her out and make sure I have all I need in my satchel.

It is all there, and in I go.

Giratina’s dimension – the Reverse World, Cynthia theorises suddenly, making me unable to block her out – is overflowing with arcane energies, invigorating me, augmenting the mystical properties of the items in my satchel like nothing in Sinnoh could. The prospect of using them makes me giddy, and uncaring of what gravitational trickery happens around here. I do recall hanging by Vira’s tail as she swam against the current down a waterfall, but I was a tad more preoccupied with ensuring the sanctity of my items.

Finally, we reach Cyrus, and his Alakazam quickly flees before Zenzao’s might. Tyranitar is at too great an advantage for my tastes, and so I switch TMD in.

Payback one-shots from full health on a crit. Oh, RNG, why hast thou forsaken me.

Xepheria dismembers Alakazam with X-Scissor, Aekiel electrocutes a Huntail in one critical hit. Vira breaks the trend in not killing Typhlosion with one Waterfall, but in her defence, Burn happened. All through this, I notice the megalomaniac smiling softly to himself, and the reason for it is soon revealed.



Memories of something overwhelm me, some other time and place, and… Typing? I am uncertain, but Aekiel is a dear and knocks it straight into the pit.

Cyrus attempts to run away, but he is stopped, held down by two Pokémon and I giggle at the rampant screaming as I open my satchel.

First, the magikarp bones, arranged in a rough circle, radius approximately four feet and out of Cyrus’s range. It wouldn’t do for him to interrupt my plans for him now.

Second, the blood of the fallen. I was expecting to have to use one of Cyrus’s Pokémon for this, but TMD suffices; useful even in death. Part of it is smeared on Cyrus’s face, part of it soaks the quartet of long Jirachi tags I have held onto ever since my rampage after Zeelthor’s death.

Third, I coat the Sharpedo tooth with what remains of the blood, and effortlessly, it slices through whatever material the Galactic Leader’s suit is made of, as well as his skin. The pentagram I carve in one motion isn’t the best I have ever made, but the uninterrupted motion and the delight of anticipation conspire to hinder me. It is of no consequence for me. It is of one for Cyrus, but only in that his agony will be extended. Such a shame.

Fourth, I drape the tags over wrists and ankles, mystical power locking arms and legs into place. The pleading becomes furious in between the snivelling caused by five lines of broken skin. I wonder idly if he understands what is about to happen, then pass it off as irrelevant.

Fifth, I take the sickle out, placing it on the ground, and spread the still-warm abomasnow ashes over the points of power: wrists, ankles, stomach pentagram, and face. Every mote is blissful torture upon Cyrus’s skin: blissful for me, torture for him.

Sixth and last, I take up the absol sickle as I start muttering in an archaic, arcane language I neither know nor understand, and a cold breeze flows in this world without time or space, swelling rapidly, ascending to a hurricane as I near the end of my chant.

The sickle goes down, through the centre pentagon, and a mere moment of screams is all I hear before blood-red and purple erupts, blocking all senses comfortingly, yet the sensory deprivation is not complete. A whiff of fire here; a splash of blood there… It lasts for an eternal second.

Cyrus is gone, and behind the ritual circle, Giratina is waiting. I hold up the Absol sickle, and it rapidly flies out of sight, opening a portal back to Sinnoh as it does.

Shame. GLaDOS wanted blood.

Party:

Vira the Seaking, L46, F. Poison Jab, Horn Attack, Surf, Waterfall.
Aekiel the Hitmonchan, L46, M. Sky Uppercut, ThunderPunch, Ice Punch, Fire Punch.
GLaDOS the Porygon-Z, L46. Nasty Plot, Discharge, Signal Beam, Hyper Beam.
Zenzao the Xatu, L45, M. Return, Zen Headbutt, Confuse Ray, Future Sight.
Xepheria the Armaldo, L45, M. Rock Slide, X-Scissor, Rock Smash, Strength.

Reserve squad:
Monkey the Chimchar, L33, M. Nasty Plot, Torment, Facade, Fire Spin.
Thaum the Staryu, L33. Camouflage, Swift, BubbleBeam, Minimize.
Rehio the Cranidos, L27, M. Pursuit, Take Down, Scary Face, Assurance.
Avery the Spearow, L26, F. Pursuit, Aerial Ace, Mirror Move, Agility.
Cheddar the Pelipper, L25, F. Fly, Water Pulse, Payback, Protect.
Poytin the Empoleon, L23, M. Swords Dance, Peck, Metal Claw, BubbleBeam.
Seratin the Hariyama, L22, M. SmellingSalt, Rock Smash, Sand Attack, Vital Throw.
Irene the Cloyster, L21, F. Withdraw, Supersonic, Aurora Beam, Protect.
Fontisian the Marowak, L20, F. Bone Club, Headbutt, Leer, Focus Energy.

Residents in the Halls of Mandos:
Republic the Larvitar, L5, M. Have a mint, Giratina, please.
Zeelthor the Glalie, L18, M. Ice did not suffice.
Naeblis the Typhlosion, L21, M. Thanks for glitching the Matrix for me so that the run may continue.
MattSilver the Rotom, L28. Cut down before his time.
Drome the Meganium, L34, F. You can dance if you want to, but you left your friends behind.
Minion the Octillery, L41, M. Flattened and put on ice.
TMD the Electivire, L46, M. Payback is bitter-sweet.

Legendaries encountered: 2 (69 total)
_______________________________

So I have a burning hatred of the Distortion World's puzzle gimmick (Azelf's boulder always trips me up) and that plus narrative makes this a pretty short update game-wise. Tea needed to be had after that crit too, because that was blatantly unfair. The Clefable was an unwelcome sight as well, but that was more because Lusamine's in Moon was probably the single hardest Pokémon I fought. The joys of the plot twist boost and me being underleveled didn't help.

Also, obviously, I did fight Giratina - it's actually a fully scripted fight even in the randomiser -but it can't do overly much vs Normal-types. (Read: GLaDOS). Took me a Moomoo milk and a lucky Discharge paralysis, but Giratina ain't that big a threat if you don't get unlucky on Ominous Wind. After the Tyranitar, I wasn't willing to take chances, hence not Aekiel (who does have Ice Punch.)

And now to replace TMD. That's going to be fun to figure out. :/

 

Saw a few speedruns for the first time, and was thoroughly impressed.

Now obviously, I can't speed run, because first generation (or remake) requires a Squirtle or a Nidoran. The astute among you will note that neither Squirtle nor Nidoran are a Bulbasaur. Ergo, impossible.

But, I thought I'd have a crack at seeing how the speedrun game works. To a point. Sort of. Primarily, my goal is:

- Solo with the bossest of pokemon, the Bulbasaur. Who becomes an Ivysaur but NEVER a Venustard.

- Absolute minimal use of the pokecenters, optimize use of items.

- No wild battles (exception: route 1 to level 6). From then on, trainers only. In fact, fight ALL THE TRAINERS (important learning opportunity)

So Sasha begins his journey into the unknown - or he would if the professor didn't stop him. To the lab, pick up Bulbasaur. Henceforth known as Czeedczar.

Seems like a promising fellow. Rash nature, which is not the best but could be much worse. One growl against Charmander and we're away, tackling like a fuckin' champion, level 5.

Level 6 requires killing a level 2 pidgey and a level 3 rattata. Get the package, return to Pallet.

Stop by mom to heal, pick up town map.

Catch first pidgey and rattata I come across on way back to viridian. I will catch no more pokemon for the entire run. (We will use Lapras for surf and strength.)

Into the forest, kill all the bug catchers except the last one. Learn Leech Seed and Vine Whip. Turn back around and go to Viridian.

Use the Viridian pokecenter (first time).

Go kill rival on route 22.

Go back, kill last bug catcher, continue on to Pewter. Sell pokeballz and antidotes. Buy repels and a few potions. Go ahead and fight Brock and his minion. Learn Sleep Powder.

Get running shoes. Fight the first lass and become Ivysaur. Kill all the trainers including that little shit with the Spearow (as at this stage my preferred team in a normal game is Bulbasaur, Mankey, Butterfree... I fuckin' hate that guy).

Use the Mount Moon pokecenter.

Enter Mount Moon. Use repels even though this means I cannot catch Zubat ;_; Kill everyone. Get to the Hiker who is in front of the Moon Stone with only one Vine Whip left. Replace Vine Whip with Bullet Seed.

Use one Bullet Seed to kill his first Geodude... and get level 22. Learn Razor Leaf. :facepalm:facepalm:facepalm

Razor Leaf like a psycopath through a bunch of robbers and/or archeologists (basically the same thing tbh, look at Indiana Jones), grab the Helix fossil for shits and grins, leave Mount Moon.

No time to pokecenter before Misty, kill her minions, kill her as well.

Okay now time for pokecenter, I guess...

Sleep Powder misses against rival's Pidgeotto. He sand attacks. Fuck. (Rattata and Pidgey are in the box because they are chumps, and so can't switch out to refresh status effects). Sleep works this time and he then gets Razor Leafed to death. Good riddance.

Charmander next. Sleep works like a charm. Leech Seed misses three times in a row. Fuck. Wakes, uses ember. Back to sleep. Fuck Leech Seed, Razor spams. Works. Whew!

Abra and Rattata are joekz. Trufax.

Nugget Bridge is always a joke after Misty and Rival Battle. No different here.

Unlike my bullet seed retardation, very pleased with how the route to Bill worked out - was at 0 Leech Seed, 1 Razor Leaf, 0 Tackles when I beat the trainer who guards Secret Power. Replace Tackle with Secret Power. Rape the two or three remaining trainers with Secret Power.

See Bill, 'rescue' him from his cospla-... genetic experimentations gone wrong.

Go down to Vermillion. Kill all the trainers in that first area except the two picnickers. You guys know that fucktard with the level 20 Butterfree that has no actual attacks but can stun and confuse you. Boom! Secret Power paralyzes that fucker. WHO CAN HAZ STATUS FUCKUPZ NAO!!!!111!!1!

No time for pokecenterz...

... but nice lady on SS Anne, sure, wtf not?

Go down and murder everyone on the SS Anne. Steal some berriez and potions after murdering their pokemon. Second-to-last trainer prior to rival edges us to level 34. Use the two rare candies to get to level 36.

Murder rival with Secret Power. Turns out 'The Power He Knows Not' is a normal move with 70 power, 100 accuracy, and the ability to paralyze.

Get Cut. Let Rattata out of his electronic cage if so he can be CutSlave.

Go out and kill all the youngsters/gamblers/electricians (really kinky combo, that) in the outskirts of Vermillion. Kill the picknickers. Learn about how kewl Rapidash is. Grab a bike.

Come back down, wipe out Surge's minions. The 3rd minion (the one with only a pikachu) pushes me to level 39. This is useful for reasons.

Kill Surge.

So that is where we are now. Little over two hours of gameplay.

Obviously, not speedrun worthy: speedrun would be finished by now. But it's been interesting without the noise of wild pokemon to really see what trainer battles gets you, which ones are difficult relative to where they are, and where you gain levels. Interesting that on trainer XP alone, you hit level thresholds right before SS Anne rival battle and Surge.

Hitting Level 39 - ie, fighting every single trainer in the game prior to Surge gives the following EV:

HP: 20
Atk: 31
Def: 44
SpAtk: 24
SpDef: 7
Speed: 77 (+2 for total of 79 in game for killing a pidgey and rattata on route 1)

Speed is cheap, SpDef is hard af to find: first value comes from the Drowzee of the Dig Thief. Attack at this stage comes from Bellsprout and Ekans; SpAtk comes from Oddish. HP is mostly Caterpies.

Factoring in EVs and using the IV Calculator, at this stage I know...

HP and SpDef stats are average, with HP being slightly below average and SpDef being slightly above it.

Atk and Def are terrible: 5-7 and 5-6 respectively. Very annoying given how much of the trainer EVs are stacked into these stats compared to specials.

Speed is in the mid 20s, though given Ivysaur's low speed not sure this really matters. Guess we'll see - one of the things I'm looking to learn.

But, SpAtk is potentially perfect. 29-31. Boosted by Rash. We will Razor Leaf our way into the history books, or die trying. <3

Item use feels pretty well in hand. Not over doing potions - staying in the yellow for the most part. Strategic use of Leech Seed without compromising to grind it.

Edit: Almost hit submit without checking that #(*@&$) "Old Thread Warning" box. That would have been catastrophic.

---------- Post automerged May 31st, 2017 at 11:54 AM ---------- Previous post was May 30th, 2017 at 11:18 PM ----------

Optimization thoughts so far:

Level 10 (Vine Whip) before Brock, can I do it w/o route 22 rival battle, w/o two wild battles. Preferably w/o the 2 metapod bug catcher. Ideally hit 10 at the final mandatory bug catcher (level 9 weedle) at the forest exit.

Skip the magnemite in mount moon. In fact, skip every early game magnemite possible: steel + sonic boom = bad

can't skimp too much because we must be AT LEAST 22 before nugget bridge. can use Misty minions to do this. Should probably save Misty herself for after Bill.

fight the fishermen/sailors (water types) but optimization of fights = lower level = avoid gentleman (fire)?

The nominally optional camper with the squirtle is a must fight. Be wary of the mandatory fight with the ratticate (last guy blocking route into viridian).

Absolutely must not fuck up and block off access to Secret Power.

Leech seed is good starter move against Ekans, given intimidate + poison type.

Paralyze heals so far most important status item.

Worth going out of direct path to fight every hiker imaginable.

 

Things are quiet.

But wait. Do you hear that sound? No, it cannot be…

It is the sound…

… of me deleting my Moon save.

Goodbye my original Moon team. And by goodbye I’m mean you Aloha Marowak. You suck. I’m rescuing everyone but you. Also say bye to my breeding team of Aloha Vulpix. They will stay in the bank until I pick up their shiny project again.

Done?

Done.

LET’S START THIS BITCH.


Rules:

1. If a Pokemon faints, they are permanently dead and will be boxed for eternity.
2. Only the first Pokemon that appears on a route can be caught.
3. Gift Pokemon such as starters will be wonder traded away for a Pokemon of equal level or lower. This Pokemon will keep being wonder traded until such occurs.
4. In-game trades are allowed.
5. SOS Pokemon are allowed as long as they are in the first Pokemon encounter of a route.
6. EXP Share will remain off.
7. If a shiny Pokemon appears (which it won’t; it never does), they can be caught and used in-game as long as the Pokemon actually caught on that route is discarded. Otherwise boxed until the Nuzlocke is over.
8. All Pokemon will be given DLP nicknames. If someone doesn’t have a set gender on their profile, they will be defaulted to female because I’m desperate.


The game opens and Professor Shirtless walks on screen, demanding to know what I look like. As I reluctantly choose to be blonde, I remember I’m going to be buried in cut scenes.

Fuuuuuuck.

It’s not too late to choose HeartGold, is it?

Apparently it is because the screen switches to Lillie, my waifu good friend, and throwing off her shackles like I should be doing to this tutorial. Ugh. Whatever, time to wake up and start the game for real now. Just gotta look at my outfit…

Ah, awful outfit. How I’ve missed you.

After an hour of cutscenes, I finally get to Iki Town or wherever I am and find Lillie at the top of the path. She disappears into the bush and I yell after her, “HEY CAN I BUY YOUR DRESS?”

No response, so I hurry after her and find Nebby that idiot getting attacked by Sparrows on a bridge. Just… sad. Before I can attempt to blackmail Lillie into putting Nebby in a Poke Ball already, she looks at me with a pleading expression and I have no choice but to dive in for the rescue. I return with Nebby clutched in my arms (no I wasn’t rescued by another legendary, you’re silly), and Lillie gives me a hug and I love Lillie and I’m not creepy at all.

I meet the Kahuna and he gives me a choice in starters. Hm, who will I wondertrade away? I choose Litten, but ugh. Of course I can only get female starters when Nuzlocking. I name her DLP-Chan and smash the A button to get the fucking move on. I may or may not have battle Hau. Can’t remember, it was too easy. After the professor forces a Pokemon catching tutorial on me, I finally turn to the grass.

Who will be my next party member?

A Pikipek wants to be! She’s a girl and boring as shit, but I have DLP-Chan Scratch her HP down. Almost there… One more… And….

Crit!

Welp. Bye.

Alone and unloved, I continue to a party where Hau rechallenges me. Like, what is even the point doing two in a row- why do you have two Pokemon? Why do I have one Pokemon? Hey. Hey, this isn’t fair. Wait, stop-

Never mind, DLP-Chan beat him. Geez, I’m starting to feel bad.

With that out of the way, the game puts a hand on my shoulder and says, “Vira, you have completed the tutorial. You may go to Route One and catch another Pokemon now and be forever.”

“Thanks, game!” I say, hugging it, then turning back around.

“But you can’t go deep into Hau'oli City until you’ve done this other thing also no Ten Carat Hill or going in this other direction to Route Three also did I mention you don’t have Wonder Trade yet?”

I turn around. “What?”

“Nothing.”

So, Route One. Grass. Pokemon.

I pray for another Pikipek. A Rattata hops out instead.

Sigh.

Red the Rattata joins the team. I expect him only to be on it for half hour until he inevitably dies, but more surprising things have happened.

At least I can finally go to Hau’oli City, or this little corner of it.

When I was in grade school, I played Pokemon as an escape. Now that I’m out of school, I’m apparently playing Pokemon to go to school.

This is my life.

At least there’s grass. I wander over. I know there are Meowth here and probably Rattata, but I need the former. C’mon, good team member, c’mon…

Grimer!

But that’s impossible. The game can’t be giving me a bulky Pokemon to absorb hits and make things easier. It doesn’t happen like that, but god forbid I’m turning my nose up.

Come here, you scamp. <3

She’s a girl. Names… I’ll name her Font. Font Pokemon have a habit of lasting a long time before tragically and hilariously dying. I need that luck until I get something better than a Rattata.

Some kid is watching this go down and I turn to chat with him only for him to whip a Poke Ball at me. Hey, wait a minute, Red is kind of beat up from catching Font, I can’t do this now! Oh, it’s a Metapod. Emberemberemberember-

Moving on after a Pokemon Center trip: this girl in the alley wants to battle too. Okay, Font, time to show everyone what you can do. The girl sends out a Pikipek. I can handle this. I have Font get to Bite work while Pikipek uses Echoed Voice.

Lolno.

Font bites the bird in half. She does the same to a Bonsley then punches another Grimer to death. Gogo Font! Finally, I battle a teacher who sends out a Magnamite. HA. I will enjoy my fire Litten while I have the chance and in three moves, the Training School is done.

So, Lillie… Wonder Trade? O.O

She doesn’t mention it, instead leading me out.

But.

But.

But.

Lillie walks off and I pull my hair out. I need to get rid of this Litten before I’m doomed to Route One trash. I happen to glance to my lower screen and see Festival Plaza right there.

When the fuck did this happen?

After orange haired guy forces me into a tutorial, I FINALLY get to Wonder Trade.

Goodbye, DLP-Chan. Hellloooooo, hopefully good Pokemon.

A Japanese guy pops up. Breed reject?

Regular Poke Ball, that’s not a good sign.

Oh, it’s a Ralts.

I check the stats. Level 1 male Ralts, doesn’t appear to have any IVs or competitive nature or moves. Just a random Ralts.

Whateves.

I name him Fable.

Do I sense a Gallade in my future?

Read and find out…


Current Team.

Fable the Ralts. L1, M. Growl.
Red the A. Rattata. L9, M. Scratch, Tail Whip, Quick Attack, Focus Energy.
Font the A. Grimer. L9, F. Pound, Poison Gas, Harden, Bite.

Boxed.

None yet.

Rest in Peace.

None yet.

-

Sidenote: Apparently the Training School is part of Route One, but I thought it was part of Hau'oli City so that's where I'm saying I caught Font.

Another Sidenote: Apparently the grass where I caught Font is littered with Magnetite.

*twitches*

I'll get it over. One day.

 

Couple of things to note, Vira.

That first Pokémon you encounter, the Pikipek? That's hard coded into the game. No matter what happens, it will always be a Pikipek. SuMo Nuzlockes generally accept that your first encounter is the second encounter on that route.

Also, with the route system being weird in this game you can really roll with whatever interpretations you want. Most players go with areas like the Trainer's school or the beach by Professor Kukui's being separate routes because it leads to a more interesting and varied game. Plus you'll need those extra encounters with no expnshare and mid game where every asshole spams Z moves.

 

Good stuff Vira!

Fable is hardly a DLP name, but I guess winning the most recent game should get you something