Day Three, part two:

Lady in Vermilion gave me an Arcanine. Why couldn't she have given me a Growlithe I could raise and evolve myself? :/

Despite the EXP-Share, I felt very under-leveled, so I decided I'd train my Pokemon in the best way: lobbing balls at unsuspecting creatures. And why not do a real chain? Since I had the naive expectation of running into a shiny and the mistaken belief that chaining one Pokemon would up the shiny chances of every Pokemon on the route, I chose the route north of Vermilion. I randomly chose Vulpix because it seemed the most common.

Random thoughts regarding chaining:

- It takes a long time to get up to thirty-one. I thought it would be ten minutes, and it took me a good twenty-five.
- I learn from my mistakes, so when a Vulpix would break out of three balls, I'd immediately run. On Vulpix #28, I ran, and in the screen asking me if I wanted to, the Vulpix had turned into dust clouds. I nearly died.
- I ended up using mostly Poke Balls with no Razz Berries. No use wasting the good stuff when there was no downside to fleeing.
- The route I was on was a good choice, because staying at the bottom meant I could see the whole route and zero in on any Vulpix.
- Any of my team that hit Level 24, I switched out for another Pokemon. I like my team being one number.
- Once I hit Vulpix #31, it seemed like Vulpix were spawning much more regularly.
- I tripped over one million Chanseys. My own Chansey seems way less cool now.

About an hour later, I felt my soul shriveling up, so I put my switch into sleep mode and plugged it in. I'll do more tomorrow, even though I'm a bit mixed. If I do get a shiny Vulpix, I'd be legally obligated to use it, but I'll also be using an Aloha Vulpix once I get to the trade person in Celadon. Not sure if I like that, or want to use a regular Ninetales for my team.

We'll see how it goes tomorrow.

Current Team: Nidorina, Chansey, the Wartortle twins, Arcanine, and Eevee.

 

You can go up north to the route above Cerulean and chain Bellsprouts. The first ten are semi rare but you get the next 21 easy. Single pokeball captures, all easy. After that go down to the Vulpix route and then wait for your shiny. it will happen. You will get a shiny within 2 hours unless you're very unlucky.

Chaining Chansey is tough but the best way to level up btw.

 

Day Four:

The combo is over…….

With my energy rejuvenated because it was a brand new day, I picked up my combo again, but with conditions.

I would combo enough to get my current team to Level 24, then stop.

I caught one Vulpix. Mostly I was just running around. I was lax, slouching, one eye on the screen and the other on a youtube video of expensive handbags.

Then-

A Chansey burst out of the grass, yellow and shining.

I cannot describe the fear. The anticipation. The failure on the horizon, and it deepening as I went into the battle and saw the dark red rings around my target.

Well, I wanted a challenge, didn’t I?

I didn’t know if the Chansey would flee if I hesitated on the item screen, or whether it would only flee if it broke out of enough balls. Fingers nimble, I threw a Razz Berry at it and changed my Poke Balls into Great Balls.

The Chansey bounced and my first ball went wide, hitting its side. Two shakes. Broke out.

I began to see where this was going, but I remained focused. Another Razz Berry, and this time, my ball hit inside the target.

Nice! the game said.

But the Chansey did not think it was nice. It broke out on the second shake. It was smiling. It looked at me with eyes filled of mocking delight. It tasted the fear, and liked it.

One more chance. One more chance and if I failed, the Chansey would surely flee.

I threw another Razz Berry. I took out my third Great Ball.

Over twenty years of this lifelong Pokemon journey has led me to this.

I threw.

Great! the game said.

The Chansey disappeared into the ball.

It shook once.

I leaned forward.

It shook twice.

I prayed to all the gods I knew.

It shook thrice.

Please, please-

Spoiler

It clicked.



And suddenly, the world was at peace.



Epilogue:

Now I need to catch more Pokemon to train this goddamn Chansey, fuuuuuuuck.

 

Nice @Vira, Chansey is a bro. May I suggest training it up by catching Bellsprouts to get a shiny Vulpix?

I am now heavily invested.

 

Day Four:

In Lavender. I have explored Celedon and Saffron though.

Apparently you don’t get the fishing rod until after you get Surf. I wanted a Horsea. So I guess I’m locked out of water-types until I get to Fuchsia? That’s really shitty.

I’m not happy with my team. I got swept by a Dugtrio. I feel very under-levelled right now, it looks like I need to chain again. My current team is Nidorina (fine, but needs new moves before I can evolve), A-Vulpix (can’t nickname, am disappointed), Chansey (deadweight, but what did I expect?), and Arcanine (no more new moves by level-up, goddamn it).

Looks like the Game Corner in Celedon doesn’t let you gamble anymore, so I desperately need better Pokemon. I’m in the Pokemon Tower right now, but since I don’t have the Sliph Co., I don’t know whether it will let me catch regular Pokemon.

Ughhhhhh

@Seratin I chained some Meowth back in Cerulean to level-up, but decided not to look for a shiny because I was uninterested in all the local choices. I guess I'll consider shinies for my next chain. It seems like there's nothing interesting around my current routes, but I'll look up a guide.

EDIT: all the local Pokemon are trash. -.-
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Let's double post, I'm angry.

The Pokemon variety in this game is awful. The routes east and west of Saffron have the same goddamn Pokemon as the ones when I was stuck in Vermilion and Cerulean. Pidgeys, Rattatas, Chansey, the version-exclusive fire-type, Abra, and their various evolutions, and a couple tag-alongs. Sure, makes sense, Pokemon around Saffron are the same, but it doesn't give me anything new to catch. The only thing new is Porygon, and while a shiny Porygon would be wicked, I rarely use normal-types in-game.

Further, I can't even transfer in anything from Pokemon Go because apparently I have to wait until Fuchsia. As far as I know I have no access to water-types aside from Squirtle and the gift Magikarp. The only thing left is the Aloha trades, and I don't need the other Aloha Pokemon aside from the Vulpix I got.

I'm so frustrated. I don't want to battle one million Rockets in Celadon with a shitty team of Pokemon I'll ditch as soon as I'm able. If anything can turn me off a Pokemon game, it's not being happy with my team.

 

There is a large bottleneck for variety before the 4th badge, thankfully cycling road has a bit more variety and Fuschia is good. Honestly the Lavender tower/Celadon bit has always been the bit that drags the most for me in any Pokémon game.

One thing to keep you going, once you get surf you can find wild dratini by the power plant.

 

Day Four, part two:

I decided to stop whining and get this shit over with. I evolved both my Nidorina and my A-Vulpix since their level-up move sets weren’t good enough to wait around for. I also picked up a Hitmonchan in Saffron. I have beat both Celadon and Lavender, got the Poke Flute, and am ready to move on.

There’s still Celadon Gym, but uh, I have better things to do.

Current team: Nidoqueen, A-Ninetales, Chansey, Hitmonchan, Arcanine (not for battle, but for bike speed).

 

Thinking about this last night. I'm all for Gen 1,I obviously one of the best generations. 151 Pokémon just feels so horribly restrictive.

 

That's the main problem with Let's Go. Restricted to the OG pokemon, no held items, no abilities. At least they had natures!

I'm a 1991er, so Red/Blue was my first game, but I remember G/S/C way more just by virtue of being a bit older. My most played game is Diamond. I'll just say, I'll never sympathize with people who hate the newer pokemon (not saying that's many people here), or dislike the new mechanics.

But I do wish they stopped at mega evolution. Z moves are fun, sure. Dynamax is fun, sure. But mega evolution was amazing and I miss it.

Also, I went into Let's Go relatively blind and when my Golbat made it to level 40 I was completely fucking shocked it wasn't a Crobat yet. Wasn't a fun revelation.

 

Yeah, and now I've just realized my Chansey won't evolve. Very little point in keeping her in the party, then. :/

Can Let's Go connect to Pokemon Home, so I can transfer my Chansey to another game? If not, then what's the point of shinies lol if they're game-bound.

 

Yes it connects, you can have a beautiful Blissey in Galar.

 

@Seratin Excellent.

Made it to Fuchsia, got Sea Skim. I can't find the fishing rod, so I may have to look up a guide, but I've otherwise been going to sea-locked places on the map.

I randomly found a shiny Tentacool when going to the Power Plant. The fuck do I do with this.

I caught Zapdos on my second Ultra Ball, so it's Cinnabar Island next. I still only have three badges lol, but I need to get my team in order first.

EDIT: I've decided my team will be Nidoqueen, A-Ninetales, Starmie, Shiny Rapidash, Dragonite, and Magneton or Electabuzz. Once I catch a Dratini and a Staryu, I'll start chaining for that shiny Ponyta. My shiny Tentacool will be boxed and used for my first Galar run once I get around to buying that game.

EDIT TWO: Fishing rod doesn't exist. Okay, that's fine then.
--- Post automerged ---
That feel when you're ten Ponyta deep in a chain and Ponyta #11 flees after escaping two balls.
--- Post automerged ---
I'm thirty into a Caterpie chain that I'm going to stand on to get the shiny rate up for my Ponyta and literally one away from my goal, a shiny Caterpie has shown up. My game is paused with me next to this thing.

Ughhhh, why is it doing this...
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WAIT IT WON'T BREAK MY CHAIN

EDIT: it mine.

 

Sitting here actually laughing at that realisation.

 

I am super lucky I decided to pause and complain rather than impulsively let it go.

Also, gave up on the shiny Ponyta. It wasn't happening and I'm bored of the hunt.

 

My kid ran into a shiny Bulbasaur in Viridian forest, no chaining, full odds. I was startled at his luck until he ran into a shiny charmander outside Cerulean, same story, full odds, no chaining.

I have now spent countless hours trying to force a shiny Squirtle to get him the set so I'm sympathetic with that.

Protip: If you ever find yourself unable to sleep, shiny hunt.

 

You're a braver man than I, @Seratin. I'd have made the kid rely on himself.

I think I'll be satisfied with the three shinies I do have, even if I'm not using any of them for this play-through.

 

I'm chaining Ponyta to level up my Dragonair, and ANOTHER GODDAMN SHINY CHANSEY

Go awaaaaaaay

I just want a Ponyta!

Or an Eevee

 

Calling it now, by the end of this you'll be running a full shiny Chansey team.

"These are my pokemon! Unloved, Mistake, Not again, GO AWAY, WHY????, and Eeveethatcouldabin"

 

I ran from it.

I feel unclean.

A horrible future- but one that will no longer come to pass.
--- Post automerged ---
The chain is over. I found a shiny Pidgeotto, and since I was done levelling my Pokemon, I caught it to be done with it.

Current team: Nidoqueen, A-Ninetales, Starmie, Jolteon, Dragonair, and Hitmonchan. Also Kabutops who I'm very fond of.

 

I'm very un-motivated to play this game. Finally got around to defeating the Saffron and Fuchsia gyms yesterday, and I'll be challenging Cinnabar's gym tomorrow.

That feel when you find out that three of your four shinies can't transfer to Sword/Shield and may be left behind forever, so they're trapped in Let's Go. Only one I can bring is my Caterpie.

I was hoping to use Galar Rapidash for my Shield run, but I want a shiny on my team. I may instead catch a shiny Koffing to send to Galar. I dunno. I'm just sort of annoyed.