MonoGen challenge

[Gaunt]

Binacle? If you get one with good IV Tough Claws and teach him Shell Smash you can kill (almost) everything

[CURIE]

Update 28: Binacle-Postponement

I think I’ve figured out what the hardest 6th Gen Pokemon to get in this game is. It’s Binacle. Maybe it’s just me, but I seem to have the WORST luck with Rock Smash stuff. If I’m not looking for Pokemon (which is most of the time) then every single rock seems to have a Geodude. And when I AM looking for a Pokemon, I have to smash dozens of rocks before I can run into something- which is always a Geodude. I finally found and caught a Binacle, which isn’t even satisfying because it’s just for Pokedex completion. I have no real plans to use her. I know she’s potentially a powerful team member; it’s just that I already have a water type who can become a rock type, who is already a powerhouse, can change his type whenever he wants, and doesn’t suffer from the 4x grass weakness. Or 4x anything weakness. Or ANY weakness pretty much, because he's so fast, he almost always can change his type before the would-be-super-effective attack lands.

Speaking of plans for the future, I want to postpone the rest of the playthrough for until episode 14 comes out. It’s no secret that in later episodes, Ame will add field effects for Kiki, Aya, Serra, and maybe Noel. It’s her intention that eventually, every gym leader will have his/her/xis own field effect. And in this regard, I’m like Goku- I want to beat them all when they’re at their best.

Edited October 21, 2014 by Eagleby18

[Sheep]

Kiki and Aya get field effects in episode 14. Serra doesn't get one 'til episode 15, I don't think Noel's will be changing.

[CURIE]

Huh, guess I'll have to wait two episodes instead of just one before I'm in the clear to take this run all the way to the current update. Oh well, I'm patient. Also, I edited the last post to make it sound more like I know what I'm talking about XD

Edited October 21, 2014 by Eagleby18

[ShatteredSkys]

Update 28: Binacle-Postponement

I think I’ve figured out what the hardest 6th Gen Pokemon to get in this game is. It’s Binacle. Maybe it’s just me, but I seem to have the WORST luck with Rock Smash stuff. If I’m not looking for Pokemon (which is most of the time) then every single rock seems to have a Geodude. And when I AM looking for a Pokemon, I have to smash dozens of rocks before I can run into something- which is always a Geodude. I finally found and caught a Binacle, which isn’t even satisfying because it’s just for Pokedex completion. I have no real plans to use her. I know she’s potentially a powerful team member; it’s just that I already have a water type who can become a rock type, who is already a powerhouse, can change his type whenever he wants, and doesn’t suffer from the 4x grass weakness. Or 4x anything weakness. Or ANY weakness pretty much, because he's so fast, he almost always can change his type before the would-be-super-effective attack lands.

Speaking of plans for the future, I want to postpone the rest of the playthrough for until episode 14 comes out. It’s no secret that in later episodes, Ame will add field effects for Kiki, Aya, Serra, and maybe Noel. It’s her intention that eventually, every gym leader will have his/her/xis own field effect. And in this regard, I’m like Goku- I want to beat them all when they’re at their best.

Spritze when the last 3 pieces of the puzzle looked exactly a like (without going into the game files)

[CURIE]

Update 29: Grinding? And Breeding? At a time like this?

Okay look, I was bored, and had plenty of time until episode 14 came out. I know that the next badge won’t raise the level cap, but I couldn’t help but raise my team as much as I could (except for Braveheart who I left at 44 because boosted exp).

Oh, and I didn’t just grind the main team. I also raised Apollo (4 levels to go until he’s usable again) and Pumpkin to the level cap as well. I’ve realized that keeping Pumpkin on par with the enemies he faces is important even with Prankster, so that he can come back in and put up the screens again when they fade. Plus, he can’t put up both screens when he dies in one hit.

Sassy learned Signal beam, making her the team member with the most diverse set of moves.

Also, since I don’t know how long I’ll keep Headbutt on Braveheart, I bred her with Slavetho to make a new Litleo to act as a Headbutt slave. I made sure it was a male baby, because I kinda want to get all the alternate forms of the 6th Gen Pokemon.

I thought about evolving the Pancham, Binacle, and newborn while I’m waiting, but since I’ve already went through the trouble of saving the Ditto for the Exp. Share quest, I think I’ll just wait until then.

[CURIE]

Update 30: We’re back! Time to fight Kiki

I’m about finished with episode 14 on my main file, so it’s finally time to come back to this (plus I was waiting for a day that wasn’t either rainy or sunny)! Only for two episodes though, as I plan to do the same thing with Serra as I just did with Kiki (play the waiting game until next episode where she gets her own field effect so I can fight her at her best).

And now on to the reason I waited so long to fight Kiki- her new field. It’s pretty much the biggest difficulty spike I could ask for, it buffs all her Pokemon and almost none of mine can do anything about it. I COULD bring back Vivillon to spam Gust and mess up her accuracy, but that would only work on half her Pokemon because of their abilities. Not to mention, Vivillon would only survive long enough to get one Gust off. But at least it’s not as bad as the field effect to come, the prospect of fighting Aya in the near future is kinda terrifying right now. What’s worse, the move relearner’s house has been locked in this episode, and I won’t be able to access it until AFTER Aya!

Anyway, on to the battle. As per the norm for the important battles nowadays, I led with Pumpkin and set up some screens. Unlike the norm, I got to keep him in battle for longer than just two turns, because the field boosts the power of Psychic (the only benefit the new field effect gives me). He actually managed to take down Machamp, and next up was Gallade. This gave me the opportunity to switch to my MVP for the match: Strawberry. You see, the majority of Kiki’s Pokemon are physical attackers (because, well, most fighting type moves are physical), and with Cotton Guard, Strawberry becomes all but immune to physical attacks. He easily survived two Zen Headbutts, a Night Slash, and a Strength (it took four turns instead of three because Fake Tears), to one-shot the guy with Draining Kiss AND recover what damage he did take.

Just then my Reflect faded, but it didn’t matter, Strawberry had already become invincible. Even Toxicroak couldn’t take him down (mostly because it didn’t even use a poison move but spammed Sucker Punch). But the inevitable happened, and the inevitable was named Lucario. I was dumb enough to let it get off two Calm Minds and lost Strawberry to a Psychic. It was all I could do to get Pumpkin back in to put Light Screen back up, and I lost him because of it. Thankfully, my OTHER team MVP Braveheart came through, she outsped and one shotted it with Flamethrower! I tried to use the resulting Moxie boost against her final Pokemon (the Medicham), but it didn’t last because type advantage. Jack then finished the job for her.

And lookie there, another gym battle that I won on my first try. Granted, this was easier for me because I had grinded everyone to the level cap, which is higher than they should be at this point. Now every time someone levels up, I’m gonna have to use a common candy.

[CURIE]

Update 31: Azurine Island-The Worst of Betrayals

It’s the little things about Reborn that make it so magical. Things like “oh, so there’s a particularly difficult double battle coming up? Well, let’s put a bunch of cut trees in front of it so that you HAVE to waste a party slot for an HM slave! Oh but don’t worry, there’s a healing machine and a PC in that building- but you can’t use it because the battle starts as soon as you enter!” Yeah, we’re skipping over the island’s overworld, because not much happened there. None of the Pokemon there were sixth gen, and I couldn’t do any level grinding off of them, so I just ran from everything. I did get a Miracle Seed, so that’s something if Jack wants to power up Bullet Seed.

It was this battle, not the Kiki one, where I really needed Pumpkin’s prankster screens. AND GUESS WHO I LEFT BEHIND IN ORDER TO TAKE SLAVETHO? Just kidding, it was Jack I dropped. I led off with both Meowstic, setting up some screens and testing out the new Signal Beam. It all went swimmingly until Solrock started using Psywave, an attack that is based on level and isn’t affected by type or screens. Between that and the Fire Spins, I quickly recognized it would be the most annoying thing in the battle. I switched Pumpkin for Strider and tried to take it out with the new Bug Laser, but it barely survived. I couldn’t attack it again to finish it off either, because Rhydon’s Rock Blast landed WAY to many critical hits in a row and almost killed Sassy. I had to spend that turn healing while Strider took down Rhydon, and while I did, they healed as well, keeping that annoying thing in all the longer.

Next out came Magmar, so Strider STILL couldn’t intervene as he was busy Water Pulsing it while I had to heal Sassy again (I only had Super Potions which only heal her halfway). When she got her chance to attack again, I went for Charge Beam in the hopes of raising my Special Attack to get that OHKO. I got it, but of COURSE another Psywave and I had to heal again. Meanwhile, Electabuzz was forcing Strider to change to using Round so he could avoid getting one shot by a Thunderbolt or something, which caused his damage output to go waaay down. I need some better moves for the guy.

Sassy FINALLY got her shot in and took out the Solrock, but both she and Strider got paralyzed in the process. Just then the light screen faded, so I guess it was the perfect opportunity to switch back to Pumpkin. But before he could get it up again, the final Pokemon Milotic Hydro Pumped Sassy out of the battle (WHYYYYYY MILOTIC? WHY MUST MY FAVORITE POKEMON BETRAY ME?). I went to Strawberry and Fake Tearsed it, preparing to use Energy Ball but didn’t expect it to have Competitive. Not much came of it thankfully, because the only attack it managed to use was a Twister before going down.

Now, I'm conflicted. There's no PC on this island, so do I make the trek all the way to the city and back to change my team? If I go for Taka with the one I have now, some of the fighters might overlevel mid-battle...

[CURIE]

Update 32: Rematch with an old nemesis-Pyrous Mountain Take Two

As it turned out, the only guys I had who were in danger of overleveling were Pumpkin and Strider. So instead of going all the way back to the city, I just backtracked to the nearest patch of grass to level them up and common candy them. It took forever though, because the Pokemon on this island give almost NO exp!

When that was finally over, it was time to do battle with everyones least favorite Chatot. The battle itself is on a factory field, which kinda doesnt make sense to me. How would a secret room in the back of a breeding facility ever count as a factory? Anyway, Taka led off with a new guy this time, a Klefki. Not sure what to do about it, I set up my screens with Pumpkin and switched to Braveheart for a Flamethrower. I expected the Klefki to do something with its infamous Prankster ability, but nope it just spammed Mirror Shot over and over, which didnt do crap because of Light Screen and that Bravehearts a fire type. When it went down though, Braveheart didnt get the Moxie boost. Ame, fix plz. Didnt matter anyway because next up was Floatzel.

Switched to Sassy and used Charge Beam in order to get the boost that Braveheart was denied. The attack was boosted by the field, and almost killed Floatzel twice, but Taka Ultra Potioned it both times. It may have seemed like a waste of time, but it actually set me up for a +3 Special Attack Meowstic sweep! Even Cradily, the Pokemon that was once feared as Florinas crusher of dreams, couldnt resist being one shot! Then again, it helped that Signal beam was super effective.

But then of course the Chatot happened. Pumpkins Light Screen could protect me from much of the damage, but it couldnt stop the confusion hax. Or the critical hit hax. Not only Sassy went down, but also Pumpkin (had to get the Light Screen back up). Thankfully, I had Strider with me to outspeed it and finish the job.

During the trek through Pyrous Mountain, I tried to give DiggersbyTho a chance to shine, since she hasnt seen any action in who knows how long (and because of Ayas new field, she wont see much action in the future either). It didnt really work out, since Bulldoze always seemed to do more damage to my ally than my enemies. And thats only when my enemies werent airborne! I had to resort to leading with Jack, since his Ghost and Grass typing complements Victorias leads Fire and Fighting. Speaking of Victoria, I noticed that one of her lines is I dont understand, why does Team Meteor try to chase everyone away? This is after the whole under the grand stairs incident right? Didnt Solaris tell us he told her the whole thing about the sacred grounds? She should know perfectly well why theyre trying to chase everyone away.

Now if youll excuse me, I have some strategizing to do. Next up is a battle that I dont have to win, but am determined to.

EDIT: whoops, I had accidentally referred to DiggersbyTho as a "he", when it's a female.

[Gaunt]

I would recommend to teach Jack Destiny Bond (by breeding) but it's not working right now so....tough call. without it that Garchomp is a beast (maybe Ame disabled the move deliberately? ), the next strategy would be 6 Pokemon with "Intimidate" but there are no gen 6 Pokes with that.....i really don't know...Toxic stall maybe? But Solaris has Full Restores (argh and FEAR won't work either cause Leftorvers)

[CURIE]

Update 33: The world’s strongest Pokemon

Ask yourself, what is the world’s strongest Pokemon? Did you say Arceus? Mega Rayquaza? NOPE, it’s SLURPUFF! What other Pokemon could defeat a Garchomp, thirty levels higher than it, wielded by a trainer with Full Restores while he himself only gets Super potions and an Ultra Potion, single handedly?

Okay, it wasn’t completely single handedly. He had a LOT of help from Pumpkin. Pumpkin went in first and used Reflect. Then, for some reason, Garchomp used Stone Edge and Pumpkin survived, barley. I used his extra turn to use Charm and lower its attack. It then used Fire Fang, and, miracle of miracles, it missed! I got ANOTHER Charm in before Pumpkin went down. JUST KIDDING! Garchomp was so weak by that point by the first two Charms, that when it used Fire Fang again, Pumpkin survived and let me get in a third Charm, putting him at minimum attack. Boy am I glad I decided to keep leveling this guy.

Finally Pumpkin went down, and out came Strawberry. Two Cotton Guards later, and Garchomp was done for. Used Fake Tears three times in a row, and Draining Kiss took him down in 6 hits (it would have been 3, but the Full Restores). And I didn’t even use ONE healing item. Obviously I went overlevel from this, but I used a Common Candy right after. Don’t worry about me running out, I went out and bought like thirty of these beforehand. And just in case there’s anyone here who doesn’t believe me:

By the way, HOW was Solaris’ Garchomp able to still use Dragon Rush and kill Kiki? I kinda made it faint… Anyway, as a reward for my awesome victory, I got the HM for Strength. Normally I’d just dump it on the HM slave, but in this particular run I have a certain Diggersby who would really appreciate it. It has 10 less Base Power than Take Down, but I think it’s more than a fair trade for better accuracy and not hurting herself. I still gave it to SlaveTho as well, in the off chance I have him but not Diggersby around.

Well, now that all that's finally over, a battle that I've been dreading even more than this one looms ever closer...

[Gaunt]

Update 33: The world’s strongest Pokemon

Ask yourself, what is the world’s strongest Pokemon? Did you say Arceus? Mega Rayquaza? NOPE, it’s SLURPUFF! What other Pokemon could defeat a Garchomp, thirty levels higher than it, wielded by a trainer with Full Restores while Slurpuff only gets Super potions and an Ultra Potion, single handedly?

Okay, it wasn’t completely single handedly. He had a LOT of help from Pumpkin. Pumpkin went in first and used Reflect. Then, for some reason, Garchomp used Stone Edge and Pumpkin survived, barley. I used his extra turn to use Charm and lower its attack. It then used Fire Fang, and, miracle of miracles, it missed! I got ANOTHER Charm in before Pumpkin went down. JUST KIDDING! Garchomp was so weak by that point by the first two Charms, that when it used Fire Fang again, Pumpkin survived and let me get in a third Charm, putting him at minimum attack. Boy am I glad I decided to keep leveling this guy.

Finally Pumpkin went down, and out came Strawberry. Two Cotton Guards later, and Garchomp was done for. Used Fake Tears three times in a row, and Draining Kiss took him down in 6 hits (it would have been 3, but the Full Restores). And I didn’t even use ONE healing item. Obviously I went overlevel from this, but I used a Common Candy right after. Don’t worry about me running out, I went out and bought like thirty of these beforehand. And just in case there’s anyone here who doesn’t believe me:

By the way, HOW was Solaris’ Garchomp able to still use Dragon Rush and kill Kiki? I kinda made it faint… Anyway, as a reward for my awesome victory, I got the HM for Strength. Normally I’d just dump it on the HM slave, but in this particular run I have a certain Diggersby who would really appreciate it. It has 10 less Base Power than Take Down, but I think it’s more than a fair trade for better accuracy and not hurting herself. I still gave it to SlaveTho as well, in the off chance I have him but not Diggersby around.

Well, now that all that's finally over, a battle that I've been dreading even more than this one looms ever closer...

Wow! Yep this is why i hate fairies...how can an awesome dragon lose to that thing? Luck was on your side this time, keep it up!

[CURIE]

Update 34: The Wasteland

Okay, final battle with Cain before entering Byxbision. Long story short, DiggersbyTho won’t have much of a chance to shine in that place, despite type advantage. So, let’s give her a chance to shine now! Okay, Venomoth isn’t weak to Bulldoze, so try out the new Strength move- oh, it has Giga Drain…

Okay, take two. Braveheart, you’re up first. Flame that Venomoth and then we can get to the Diggersby action! No wait, his next guy’s Samurott. Jack, you got this. Okay, now Diggersby can- A HAUNTER? COME ON!

And so Diggersby was only able to shine against the last two Pokemon. And one of them (Nidoking) almost killed her, since it outsped and used Double Kick while I tried to get off a Swords Dance. Because apparently that big hulking mass of armor can go faster than a Rabbit. Seems legit.

And so I gained passage to the wasteland. I would say that it went by uneventfully, for the same reason as Azurine Island (no trainers, and no reason to fight the wild Pokemon), but I did a couple things of note there. For starters, I found an Ability Capsule lying around that I’m pretty positive was not there in earlier episodes. Also, I spent a good chunk of time sitting in front of a tree spamming Headbutt, in order to get an Inkay. I’ll probably never use it on the team, but I did teach it Embargo (I have the TM) and gave it a Focus Sash as soon as I got to a PC, because… Future plans.

Oh look, a Fern Battle is next up. I can do that instead of Aya right? Right? Please don’t make me fight Aya…

[CURIE]

Update 35: Dawn of the final day

Fern’s first Pokemon was Ferrothorn, so obviously I led with Braveheart. And obviously, I used Flamethrower. And obviously, it went down in one hit. Not so obvious, however, is the fact that she didn’t get the Moxie boost from it. I had a sneaking suspicion, and decided to test it by letting her stay in against the incoming Krokorok and 2-shot it with Headbutt. THEN, she got the Moxie boost. My suspicions were confirmed, Moxie in this game only works if you knock out the Pokemon with a physical attack. That is COMPLETE BULLCRAP, because I’ve used Moxie in the real Pokemon games and can confirm that it activates when you knock out the opponent with any attack, as long as it’s direct damage. This needs to be fixed, it’s cramping my strategy with Braveheart (and will make matters even worse against Aya).

STAB Smack Down > Scyther, but that Serperior gave me a problem or two, tanking multiple Signal Beams and doing annoying stuff to heal itself. I decided to fight grass with grass and go to Jack. A Phantom Force later, and it was about to go down. Used Shadow Sneak, and then FREAKIN PARAHAX (it used glare the previous turn). I tried Trick or Treat, but GUESS WHAT? THAT’S BROKEN TOO!

I had to try again and change my strategy. Braveheart can only KO two opponents before overleveling, so this time I saved her for the Serperior and used Strider on the Krokorok. This time Fern decided to send out everyone else in his team before Serperior, but it was fine- I could handle them. When it finally came out, Flamethrower took it down in two shots. Even its Giga Drain and Leftovers couldn’t save it.

Hey, now some of my ‘mons are almost overleveled. Better go level them up so I can common candy them right? I don’t have to fight Aya JUST yet right?

[Omega_Ra1der]

Update 35: Dawn of the final day

Fern’s first Pokemon was Ferrothorn, so obviously I led with Braveheart. And obviously, I used Flamethrower. And obviously, it went down in one hit. Not so obvious, however, is the fact that she didn’t get the Moxie boost from it. I had a sneaking suspicion, and decided to test it by letting her stay in against the incoming Krokorok and 2-shot it with Headbutt. THEN, she got the Moxie boost. My suspicions were confirmed, Moxie in this game only works if you knock out the Pokemon with a physical attack. That is COMPLETE BULLCRAP, because I’ve used Moxie in the real Pokemon games and can confirm that it activates when you knock out the opponent with any attack, as long as it’s direct damage. This needs to be fixed, it’s cramping my strategy with Braveheart (and will make matters even worse against Aya).

STAB Smack Down > Scyther, but that Serperior gave me a problem or two, tanking multiple Signal Beams and doing annoying stuff to heal itself. I decided to fight grass with grass and go to Jack. A Phantom Force later, and it was about to go down. Used Shadow Sneak, and then FREAKIN PARAHAX (it used glare the previous turn). I tried Trick or Treat, but GUESS WHAT? THAT’S BROKEN TOO!

I had to change my strategy. Braveheart can only KO two opponents before overleveling, so this time I saved her for the Serperior and used Strider on the Krokorok. This time Fern decided to send out everyone else in his team before Serperior, but it was fine- I could handle them. When it finally came out, Flamethrower took it down in two shots. Even its Giga Drain and Leftovers couldn’t save it.

Hey, now some of my ‘mons are almost overleveled. Better go level them up so I can rare candy them right? I don’t have to fight Aya JUST yet right?

just correcting, common candy?

[CURIE]

just correcting, common candy?

Yeah, that

[NickCrash]

Battle Aya already? I look forward to it

[CURIE]

Update 36: Aya

If you haven’t noticed, I was not looking forward to this battle. Remember back in episode 13, when I said I wanted to fight the next two gym leaders at their best? Well, the new field effects are as if Ame saw that post and was like “CHALLENGE ACCEPTED”. Aya was already a notoriously difficult gym leader, and her field does something for almost every one of her attacks, from making the already ridiculous Sludge Wave spam even worse to turning Stealth Rock into an instantaneous attack with DOUBLE the power. There’s nothing about the field that I can use to my advantage with my limited choice of Pokemon, and no way to eliminate the field at all. But the worst part is Bulldoze and Earthquake. If this was pre episode 14 Aya, my MVP this match would be DiggersbyTho and her Bulldoze, but the wasteland field reduces Bulldoze and Earthquake to ONE FOURTH their power, making them pretty much useless except for speed reduction on Bulldoze’s part. Now, I’ll have to rely on Strength and Swords Dance when using my would-be MVP.

There is something good to be said about the new Aya, however:

I REALLY like her transition image now that she’s not going all Miley Cyrus on us.

I started with Pumpkin and DiggersbyTho, setting up screens and a Swords Dance on the first turn, hoping not to get sweeped instantly. Thankfully that didn’t happen, and from there Diggersby managed to one-shot both of the first two opponents (Tentacruel and Nidoqueen) with Strength, while Pumpkin offered the screen support. Things were going well, until the next two came out. Both of Aya’s best at once, Dragalage and Gengar. Pumpkin went down, and was replaced by Strider, who I thought would help against the Gengar. Here was my plan: The Gengar sees my Dark type Greninja and uses Focus Blast, just after Greninja uses Water Pulse to kill or almost kill it. Focus Blast either misses or doesn’t do much damage if it hits.

It went almost as planned (Water Pulse almost killed it), but then Focus Blast not only landed, but got a critical hit and one shot Strider! By the way, on this turn I was healing DiggersbyTho so she wouldn’t get rekt by Dragalage. Kinda at a loss of what to do, I just threw Braveheart and used Flamethrower, knowing Aya would spend the turn using an Ultra Potion. And as fate would have it, I got a revenge critical hit for a revene one-shot KO! Meanwhile, Diggersby landed Strength and almost killed Dragalage (It SURVIVED a Swords Dance boosted Strength from a Huge Power Diggersby? WHAT IS THAT THING?). It used Dragon Pulse on Braveheart, got a critical hit as well, and also almost killed her. Critical hits galore.

Knowing Braveheart was either going to get healed or get killed, I decided to gamble that she was faster than the new Pokemon (Drapion) and went for the Flamethrower. Meanwhile, DiggersbyTho kept Dragalage busy with Strength spam. I was right, but unfortunately I didn’t get any critical hits this time, and only did half damage to it. Understandably, Braveheart went down shortly afterward. On a brighter note, Aya didn’t use any more Ultra Potions, so Dragalage went down.

So now it was DiggersbyTho and Sassy against Drapion and Venasaur. I also had Strawberry, but… I don’t think he would’ve done much there. Knowing Drapion could one-shot Sassy and it was slower than the rabbit, I used Strength on it despite the Venasaur having more health. From there the Venasaur was quite literal case of Sassy taking out the trash (‘cause you know, the field effect is… okay fine I’ll stop with the puns). After all my dread of this battle, it was the third(?) gym battle I won on my first try!

As cool as that is, I can't help but feel like a cheater about it. The main reason I won was DiggersbyTho's Swords Dance boosted Strength, and Swords Dance can only be learned through the move relearner. And starting in episode 14, you can only use the move relearner AFTER Aya...

[Gaunt]

As cool as that is, I can't help but feel like a cheater about it. The main reason I won was DiggersbyTho's Swords Dance boosted Strength, and Swords Dance can only be learned through the move relearner. And starting in episode 14, you can only use the move relearner AFTER Aya...

But you could also have used an item (like X Attack) to boost him so you would've win anyway (just using more items/turns)

[dondon151]

Tentacruel is way more likely to KO Diggersby during setup with Muddy Water if it has to take an extra turn to use an X Attack. Icy Wind also pretty much loses the battle for you.

[CURIE]

Update 37: Even more hard battles

Now that Aya was out of the way, I decided to take a break from the story to do some of the other quests in the wasteland. I know the rewards for those things are mostly Pokemon I can’t use, but come on, how can you turn down a battle against a level 65 Medicham?

So first of all, Spectral Kiki. So it turns out if you beat Solaris, she STILL blames you for her death, instead of questioning how Garchomp was still able to kill her (then again, it isn’t really her and just a Ghastly trying to mess with you). Her Medicham is always shiny, to show off the new “spectral” shiny look that this game has. But since Ame didn’t give the female sprite a makeover, and the Medicham’s gender isn’t set, you have a 50/50 chance of actually seeing it the way it was meant to be seen. Led with Jack, thinking he had the type advantage, but noooo, it has Ice Punch.

Take two, leading with Pumpkin. Instead of Reflect, I go for Charm first. And second. And third. And finally I put up Reflect, all without fainting. Pumpkin seems to be pretty good at tanking for a Meowstic! Once Medicham was at minimum damage output, THEN I switched to Jack. Went for Trick or Treat, remembered it doesn’t work, then went for Phantom force. Half damage. Medicham then started spamming Meditate, in an attempt to undo what Pumpkin had done to it. But it was too late, by the time it attacked again, Jack had vanished in preparation for his final Phantom Force. The Medicham went down next turn. Weirdly enough, neither he nor Pumpkin leveled up from that battle…

Next up, Mr. Bigglesworth. Led with Sassy and Braveheart, and instead of one-shotting both of the Trubbish minions at once like I easily could have, I took an extra turn to kill them with Charge Beam and Headbutt, in order to get their respective boosts (I wouldn’t need to do that with Headbutt though if Moxie worked properly). That may have been a bad idea though, because one of the Trubbishes knew Toxic Spikes, which instantly poisons both my Pokemon in this field. It didn’t hinder me in the battle, at least, because one turn later the level 60 Garbador succumbed to the might of a Moxie Boosted Headbutt followed immediately by a +2 supereffective Psychic.

And since I had the Odd Keystone with me, I decided I might as well do the Spiritomb quest. Needless to say, it wasn’t nearly as intense or interesting as the previous two battles.

Going through the caves, I got a TON of cool stuff. An extra Focus Sash, more Heart Scales and Shards, a Max Revive, a bunch of sellable items, and a bunch of evolutionary stones to sell (I only need 1 Shiny Stone, 1 Dusk Stone, 1 Sun Stone, and some Link Stones to complete the Gen 6 Pokedex), and a Pixie Plate for Strawberry. And maybe some other Pokemon later on down the road...

With this sudden windfall, and the money from the new trainers in Opal Ward, I went on a bit of a shopping spree. Went out and bought all the EV training items, stocked up on status healers, got some Pokeballs, the works. I didn’t get any more Super Potions though, because it won’t be long before I can finally start buying some healing items more powerful than them.

[Qaaz]

So it turns out if you beat Solaris, she STILL blames you for her death

We already know that, that's b/c the "true" story split is to lose on Solaris

Edited January 10, 2015 by Qaaz

[CURIE]

Update 38: Yureyu

Remember when I said it wouldn’t be long until I had better healing items? Turns out, I can get them now! As fate would have it, today was a sunny day, which means there was a girl outside the Grand Hall selling Ice Cream. If you buy one from her, of any flavor, and give it to the kid in the candy shop who’s blocking the vending machine, he’ll leave. Now I can buy Berry Flavored Ice Cream, which heals 90 HP compared to Super Potion’s 50! Normally, I’d have to wait until I got to Spinel Town to buy these, and then would have to take one all the way back to Reborn City to unlock the vending machine there.

With all the preparations done, it was finally time to go rescue those kidnapped kids. I’ve been keeping them waiting for WAY too long. I used Strength to get into the railnet, and if you hadn’t picked up the Dull Key all the way back when I told you to, NOW is the point where you can get to it again. Also, on the way to Yureyu headquarters, I found another Link Stone, meaning I can evolve my Spritzee without having to worry about not having one for as soon as I get a Phantump.

And so Cain and I began the raid on the ruined office building. The battles there were in the short circuited factory field, which I don’t get. How does an office building constitute as a factory? Anyway, Cain’s Nidoking has Shadow Ball, a move that is boosted by the field we’re battling in. Not often that a doubles partner does that, usually they’re weakened by the field if anything. Granted it doesn’t matter that much if he doesn’t know when to use it. “Oh look I’m fighting a steel type, I should use Poison Tail!” No wonder Ame says she loses brain cells writing for him. Since Nidoking’s a Ground type, Parabolic Charge wrecked the house with most of the grunts, making Apollo the most useful he’s been in a while. Still not ready to evolve him yet, though. Apollo reached level 48 while we were fighting, and since it was close enough I just used a rare candy to boost him to 49, finally allowing him to learn Thunderbolt, and therefore, to evolve. Hopefully, I can start using him again.

[CURIE]

Update 39: Sirius

The split in the story here is that when you reach the floor where Connal is keeping Heather, you have a choice to either fight him and release Heather, or move on to the top floor where you would end up fighting Sirius instead. I scouted out the short term outcomes of both choices, and it turns out that Sirius’ team has higher levels than Connal’s does. Also, if you say no to fighting Connal, he reveals that he’s sticking around Team Meteor due to hearing a name being tossed around that he’s familiar with, and is curious to find out more. So, harder battle + more information = probably the route you’re supposed to take for the secret ending.

Obviously I led with Pumpkin and started off by setting up some screens. While I did, my ally actually made one smart choice by Shadow Balling Chandelure and almost KOed it. I tried switching to Strider, but as soon as he came out he got confused. I tried Water Pulse anyway, and actually hit, but by then Sirius had already used an Ultra Potion on it. But then my ally Nidoking finally came through and used Shadow Ball on the right target for once, taking Chandelure down! All this time, Hitmontop’s attempts at doing damage were kinda sucking. Since it wasn’t much of a threat, my plan was to keep it alive as long as possible and take out everything that appears on the right side, one by one. Unfortunatley, Cain didn’t understand my plan and kept whaling on it. Out came Manectric, so I switched to Jack, who would resist its electric moves and avoid Hitmontop completely. Didn’t expect Hitmontop to aim a High Jump Kick at Strider just as he switched out, though. The resulting recoil damage almost killed it, but Sirius fixed that with an Ultra Potion one turn later. Manectric had Fire and Ice Fang, which I also didn’t expect, but it didn’t matter that much because a Phantom Force and a field boosted Shadow Sneak were enough to take it down.

Next up was Honchkrow, so Strawberry was the obvious choice. Just then my screens went down, so I spent two turns setting up Cotton Guard to compensate before using Draining Kiss. In those three turns, Honchckrow WRECKED Cain, killing half his team (yes, one of his Pokemon died every freaking turn) and leaving him with Haunter. Out came Serviper, and since I had no screens I had to switch to Pumpkin, hoping he wouldn’t get one shot. He didn’t, but guess who did? Haunter. Man, Cain was doing kinda well at first, and now he’s just getting the crap beat out of him. Since Cain was doing so badly anyway, I went with a strategy that would sacrifice him. After setting up a reflect, DiggersbyTho came out… and was promptly shot down in one hit by a critical hit super effective Aqua Tail from Serviper. Well, never mind then.

I sent out Apollo this time, and went for a Thunderbolt (I would have used Parabolic Charge first to reactivate the field, but I didn’t know how long he could last with Hitmontop out there). By the way, what was Cain doing this whole time you ask? Using Sludge Bomb on Serviper. WHAT THE HECK CAIN. Suprisingly, Apollo outsped everyone on the field, and destroyed Serviper in one hit with his attack! Glad to see he’s useful again now that he’s evolved. Unfortunatley, he seems to be the “glass cannon” type, because he died in one hit immediately afterward to Hi Jump Kick.

Last guy out was Probopass, so I went back to Jack and finally took out that Hitmontop with Phantom Force. From there, it was two against one, so obviously I wo- no wait, it was just one on one. Yeah, Cain sucked so hard this battle (oh crap I just realized what I said) that Muk was his last Pokemon, and Probopass just took it down. Right, well It didn’t matter much anyway. Jack was tougher and dealt more damage, so a bit of Phantom Force spam later I had won the batt- THIS THING HAS REST? I had to change to Strider and Spam Water Pulse, and only after getting it to be slower, asleep, AND confused, was I able to take it down. Ughh it’s a good thing this came out last, it took WAY more hits than any one Pokemon could possibly survive.

After beating that battle and the subsequent cutscene, don’t just run out the door and down the stairs. In the bottom left corner of the room you fight Sirius in, there’s an item ball with a key you need to progress. If you miss it you’ll have to come all the way back up again, like I did. Also, in case you were worried about how I didn’t take Heather back from Connal, she’s with the rest of the gang in the next scene. I guess the other kids came in and got her while Cain and I were fighting Sirius.

[CURIE]

Update 40: More fun with caves

Opening the door to the railnet figuratively opens the door for a bunch of other stuff I wanted to get done. First of all, if you keep heading straight ahead from the entrance, you’ll come by a cracked wall that can be Rock Smashed to reveal a secret cave. There are several of these things throughout the railnet, but this one contains the House Key- finally allowing me to access the move relearner again. Now I don’t have to feel bad about using all my Pokemon’s moves anymore.

Also, the Noibats here are of the highest levels I’ll come across, going up to level 41 (7 levels before evolution). I really don’t feel like having a Noivern on my team right now, but I caught one for later in case I change my mind (not to mention expert mode). I intended to keep looking until I found one that was exactly level 41, so that I’d have the minimum amount of grinding ahead of me, but then…

Shiny happened.

The subrailnet (the room with all the Arons) has a few things I needed too- the TM for flash and a guy who gives me another sticker. I taught flash to Sweetie so that she could do something more than smell good, and as for the sticker, well actually there’s nothing I wanted from the floor it opened up. Still good to have it though, because it gets me a step closer to floors with stuff I DO want.

As soon as we got out of THAT cave, it was time for another one, the Tanzaan Mountain. Not much happened there. Now, the next thing to do is go into Chrysolia Forest to head for Spinel Town, and I have plenty of time to do that today, but I want to wait until tomorrow. It just so happens that tomorrow is a windy day, and I need that weather for something special.