Nuzlocke run, part 1!
I've been playing through an emulator of Pokemon Sapphire, using Nuzlocke rules. Here's the rules again:
1. If a pokemon faints in battle, you must release it ASAP (it's 'dead', not just fainted).
2. If all your pokemon faint, game over. You have to start from scratch.
3. You may only attempt to capture the first pokemon you encounter in each new area, route, cave, city, etc. If you don't catch it, tough shit, you miss out for that area.
4. You must give every pokemon you capture a nickname.
I'm also using the optional rule 5. Once you have captured a species once, you cannot capture anything from it's evolution line again. If the first pokemon you find on a route is a duplicate of a species you already have, tough, no capture on that route.
So far it's... not been all that exciting really, LOTS of paranoid level grinding xD
Began the nuzlocke, decided to start out with Torchic, since fire types are always so rare. It'll put me at a disadvantage in the first gym, but leveling at this point isn't too hard. Have to battle a poochyena to save prof birch. That counts as a wild pokemon encounter, so I can't catch anything on route 101. Baws.I get given Torchic officially, so I nickname... Her? wow a female Torchic, go figure. Anyway I name her Kentucky. Geddit? Fried chicken? Nevermind.
Typical, the shop is sold out of pokeballs. No catching for me yet, and I have to walk through another route... ;__; Met a Poochyena, so nothing to be caught on this route either.I battle against May and her Mudkip, I leveled Kentucky up to lvl 7 so it was pretty easy, though I paniced a bit when she got a critical on the first turn
It was all nearly over! Ran into a level 3 Wingull, who knew they had water gun that early on?! Poor kentucky got drenched, but pulled through just.Got the pokedex and pokeballs! Ran over to route 102 and found... A level 3 female Zigzagoon! She is mine and she is called Vector, because she only goes in straight lines. Ya.
Got to the next town where Wally was waiting to give a catching pokemon tutorial... luckily he chose the route I'd just walked through so I didn't lose my next capture chance on route 104. Headed that way and caught myself a level 3 male wurmple! I have no idea which way it'll evolve, no help for choosing a name. I choose Wiggles!
Hm, Wiggles evolved into Cascoon. I'd have prefered Beautifly for the grass moves and stun spore, but on the other hand psychic attacks \o/
Been just leveling up Wiggles so far today, very boring. Tailow showed up for the first time, kinda surprised me since I didn't see any yesterday on this route.
Beat the rich kid and headed into Petalburg Woods. Fingers crossed for a Shroomish! ... nope. I now have my very own level 5 male Slakoth. I think his ability is gonna make him hell to level. I think Viggoroth has a different ability though, insomnia or something. I name my new recruit Narco and head back to heal in Petalburg.
Yup, Truant is the worst ability ever. Leveling is painfully slow for Narco, though Wiggles has evolved in to Dustox! Delicious psychic attacks...
Ran into team Aqua accidentaly. managed to poison his poochyena and take it out before it did too much damage. Huzzah! Right outside the woods a nice npc gave me a TM for learning Bullet seed. None of my team can learn it :/
Reached Rustburo, got the HM for cut and taught it to Narco. Not much better than scratch but I'll take what I can get... Found an NPC wanting to trade a slakoth for a makuhita.... SO TEMPTING. But I think that's against the rules, sigh. I have 2 new routes to play with, but 115 doesn't have any grass on the bits I can reach. Off to route 116 I go
Goddamn, a Zigzagoon. I'm playing with one of the optional rules, once you've caught a species once, you can't catch it again, so no new capture on this route.
Leveling has become pretty slow, but I absolutely HAVE to evolve Kentucky before I even think of challenging the gym. Vector's pickup ability has been very useful, netting me full restores, nuggets and a King's Rock. Flinch chance? Yesplz.
I got Wiggles and Kentucky up to level 16, and Vector and Narco up to 13, time to try the gym! I bought a couple of X-attacks, and used them on Kentucky to set up along with focus energy. Both Roxanne's pokemon went down to critical double kicks. First gym complete with no casualties! =D
Doing some more leveling, need to get everyone up to around 20 before the next gym. Went and battled some trainers on route 116, ran into... YOUNGSTER JOEY? Thankfully he didn't ask for my number.
Chasing an Aqua grunt into Rusturf Tunnel, I stop before battling him to get a new party member... A level 7 male Whismur. I am feeling very saturated in normal types >_> Still, shouldn't be looking a gift horsea in the mouth *cough* He needs a name... Decibel- related, but more macho... DECIBOBBY!
My new recruit turned out to be really easy to level, so I went back and hammered the Aqua grunt, saved The Wingull and returned the Devon goods to the president. Not bad for a days work! Apart from now the Devon president thinks I'm an errand boy and has me delivering a letter and a parcel. Sorry, sir, I actually don't think that the Pokenav is a good reward for this. Not like I get a choice, damn adults exploiting 10 year olds.
Reached Dewford and got the Old Rod... Time for a water type to join my team I think! What a surprise, a Magikarp! Female level 10, I shall name her Princess.
Headed into Granite cave and found a Makuhita! Finally, not a normal type! Which of course means I knocked it out... Poisoned at just the wrong moment. OH WELL, I guess that also means I can't ever have one of them now.
The lower levels of the cave are pitch black, but screw getting Flash from the gym, I just bumped my way around the cave in the dark, and delivered the letter to Steven He even gave me a TM, how nice! Apart from none of my team can learn it. Now to level grind for the gym.
Got Princess up to level 15, and leveled Kentucky to 22, and Wiggles to 20, then headed to Dewford Gym. Brawley gave no problems, and gave me his dumb flash-enabling badge. Hey, flash-enabling? I'm now officially better than the iPad!
Sailed to Slateport, and ran straight for route 110. Give me something not normal type! A Gulpin! Sweet, I love Swalot! I named him Jabbu. I need to make a choice now, who to switch? I have 3 normal types, and I'm kind of attached to them all, but the logical choice for now is Vector. I can keep her in the team while I'm leveling to abuse Pickup at least, she got me a Rare Candy today, immediately used on Princess. I also discover that Jabbu can learn the Bullet Seed TM I got a while back, so I taught him it. Not the best grass-type move in the game, but I really need type variation wherever I can get it.
Narco FINALLY evolved into Vigoroth, at lvl 19 instead of lvl 18, so he could learn faint attack. Now not only can he hit every turn, but he can't be put to sleep, AND he can hit ghosts. And he is certainly never evolving again, Truant can suck it.
*Current route map, bold=current team, italic=in PC, strike=deceased*
Starter - Torchic->Combusken (Kentucky) lvl 22
route 101 - -----------------
route 102 - Zigzagoon (Vector) lvl 15
route 103 - -----------------
route 104 - Wurmple->Cascoon->Dustox (Wiggles) lvl 22
Petalburg Woods - Slakoth->Vigoroth (Narco) lvl 20
route 115 - no encounter yet
route 116 - --------------------
Rusturf Tunnel - Whismur (Decibobby) lvl 16
Dewford Town - Magikarp (Princess) lvl 17
route 106 - no encounter yet
Granite Cave - MAKUHITA
route 110 - Gulpin (Jabbu) lvl 17
I can't imagine how odd that all was to read if you don't know what Aqua Grunts, Truants and Cascoons are :p
1. If a pokemon faints in battle, you must release it ASAP (it's 'dead', not just fainted).
2. If all your pokemon faint, game over. You have to start from scratch.
3. You may only attempt to capture the first pokemon you encounter in each new area, route, cave, city, etc. If you don't catch it, tough shit, you miss out for that area.
4. You must give every pokemon you capture a nickname.
I'm also using the optional rule 5. Once you have captured a species once, you cannot capture anything from it's evolution line again. If the first pokemon you find on a route is a duplicate of a species you already have, tough, no capture on that route.
So far it's... not been all that exciting really, LOTS of paranoid level grinding xD
Began the nuzlocke, decided to start out with Torchic, since fire types are always so rare. It'll put me at a disadvantage in the first gym, but leveling at this point isn't too hard. Have to battle a poochyena to save prof birch. That counts as a wild pokemon encounter, so I can't catch anything on route 101. Baws.I get given Torchic officially, so I nickname... Her? wow a female Torchic, go figure. Anyway I name her Kentucky. Geddit? Fried chicken? Nevermind.
Typical, the shop is sold out of pokeballs. No catching for me yet, and I have to walk through another route... ;__; Met a Poochyena, so nothing to be caught on this route either.I battle against May and her Mudkip, I leveled Kentucky up to lvl 7 so it was pretty easy, though I paniced a bit when she got a critical on the first turn
It was all nearly over! Ran into a level 3 Wingull, who knew they had water gun that early on?! Poor kentucky got drenched, but pulled through just.Got the pokedex and pokeballs! Ran over to route 102 and found... A level 3 female Zigzagoon! She is mine and she is called Vector, because she only goes in straight lines. Ya.
Got to the next town where Wally was waiting to give a catching pokemon tutorial... luckily he chose the route I'd just walked through so I didn't lose my next capture chance on route 104. Headed that way and caught myself a level 3 male wurmple! I have no idea which way it'll evolve, no help for choosing a name. I choose Wiggles!
Hm, Wiggles evolved into Cascoon. I'd have prefered Beautifly for the grass moves and stun spore, but on the other hand psychic attacks \o/
Been just leveling up Wiggles so far today, very boring. Tailow showed up for the first time, kinda surprised me since I didn't see any yesterday on this route.
Beat the rich kid and headed into Petalburg Woods. Fingers crossed for a Shroomish! ... nope. I now have my very own level 5 male Slakoth. I think his ability is gonna make him hell to level. I think Viggoroth has a different ability though, insomnia or something. I name my new recruit Narco and head back to heal in Petalburg.
Yup, Truant is the worst ability ever. Leveling is painfully slow for Narco, though Wiggles has evolved in to Dustox! Delicious psychic attacks...
Ran into team Aqua accidentaly. managed to poison his poochyena and take it out before it did too much damage. Huzzah! Right outside the woods a nice npc gave me a TM for learning Bullet seed. None of my team can learn it :/
Reached Rustburo, got the HM for cut and taught it to Narco. Not much better than scratch but I'll take what I can get... Found an NPC wanting to trade a slakoth for a makuhita.... SO TEMPTING. But I think that's against the rules, sigh. I have 2 new routes to play with, but 115 doesn't have any grass on the bits I can reach. Off to route 116 I go
Goddamn, a Zigzagoon. I'm playing with one of the optional rules, once you've caught a species once, you can't catch it again, so no new capture on this route.
Leveling has become pretty slow, but I absolutely HAVE to evolve Kentucky before I even think of challenging the gym. Vector's pickup ability has been very useful, netting me full restores, nuggets and a King's Rock. Flinch chance? Yesplz.
I got Wiggles and Kentucky up to level 16, and Vector and Narco up to 13, time to try the gym! I bought a couple of X-attacks, and used them on Kentucky to set up along with focus energy. Both Roxanne's pokemon went down to critical double kicks. First gym complete with no casualties! =D
Doing some more leveling, need to get everyone up to around 20 before the next gym. Went and battled some trainers on route 116, ran into... YOUNGSTER JOEY? Thankfully he didn't ask for my number.
Chasing an Aqua grunt into Rusturf Tunnel, I stop before battling him to get a new party member... A level 7 male Whismur. I am feeling very saturated in normal types >_> Still, shouldn't be looking a gift horsea in the mouth *cough* He needs a name... Decibel- related, but more macho... DECIBOBBY!
My new recruit turned out to be really easy to level, so I went back and hammered the Aqua grunt, saved The Wingull and returned the Devon goods to the president. Not bad for a days work! Apart from now the Devon president thinks I'm an errand boy and has me delivering a letter and a parcel. Sorry, sir, I actually don't think that the Pokenav is a good reward for this. Not like I get a choice, damn adults exploiting 10 year olds.
Reached Dewford and got the Old Rod... Time for a water type to join my team I think! What a surprise, a Magikarp! Female level 10, I shall name her Princess.
Headed into Granite cave and found a Makuhita! Finally, not a normal type! Which of course means I knocked it out... Poisoned at just the wrong moment. OH WELL, I guess that also means I can't ever have one of them now.
The lower levels of the cave are pitch black, but screw getting Flash from the gym, I just bumped my way around the cave in the dark, and delivered the letter to Steven He even gave me a TM, how nice! Apart from none of my team can learn it. Now to level grind for the gym.
Got Princess up to level 15, and leveled Kentucky to 22, and Wiggles to 20, then headed to Dewford Gym. Brawley gave no problems, and gave me his dumb flash-enabling badge. Hey, flash-enabling? I'm now officially better than the iPad!
Sailed to Slateport, and ran straight for route 110. Give me something not normal type! A Gulpin! Sweet, I love Swalot! I named him Jabbu. I need to make a choice now, who to switch? I have 3 normal types, and I'm kind of attached to them all, but the logical choice for now is Vector. I can keep her in the team while I'm leveling to abuse Pickup at least, she got me a Rare Candy today, immediately used on Princess. I also discover that Jabbu can learn the Bullet Seed TM I got a while back, so I taught him it. Not the best grass-type move in the game, but I really need type variation wherever I can get it.
Narco FINALLY evolved into Vigoroth, at lvl 19 instead of lvl 18, so he could learn faint attack. Now not only can he hit every turn, but he can't be put to sleep, AND he can hit ghosts. And he is certainly never evolving again, Truant can suck it.
*Current route map, bold=current team, italic=in PC, strike=deceased*
Starter - Torchic->Combusken (Kentucky) lvl 22
route 101 - -----------------
route 102 - Zigzagoon (Vector) lvl 15
route 103 - -----------------
route 104 - Wurmple->Cascoon->Dustox (Wiggles) lvl 22
Petalburg Woods - Slakoth->Vigoroth (Narco) lvl 20
route 115 - no encounter yet
route 116 - --------------------
Rusturf Tunnel - Whismur (Decibobby) lvl 16
Dewford Town - Magikarp (Princess) lvl 17
route 106 - no encounter yet
Granite Cave - MAKUHITA
route 110 - Gulpin (Jabbu) lvl 17
I can't imagine how odd that all was to read if you don't know what Aqua Grunts, Truants and Cascoons are :p