LogFAQs > #979658436

Before heading into Ilex Forest, I level up Zen to 18 so he can learn Headbutt, then I got back and check a few trees in areas I haven't had an encounter yet. Route 46 and Azalea Town both yield an Aipom, and I went all the way back to New Bark Town just to find yet another Hoothoot. I'm counting Togepi as the Violet City encounter, so that's all for now. I named both Aipoms mnk, cause those letters all appear in the word monkey. One of them has Pickup, which might come in handy.

I decided to wait until night time to go into the Forest, as that gives me a 75% of either Oddish or Paras, both of which would be- gosh darn it it's another Zubat. I accidentally killed that last one, so the species clause wouldn't even have saved me here. I catch it and name it Tickle, Wickle's evil twin. I chase some Farfetch'd around, get Cut, and move on to Route 34.

This route has Drowzee at 50%, Abra at 10%, and Ditto at 5%, so of course I get the 35% chance of ANOTHER FREAKING RATTATA I HATE THIS POKEMON

Before doing story stuff in Goldenrod, I pop up to Route 35. No Rattatas or Zubats here, and only a 5% chance of running into Hoothoot, surely my luck isn't that bad! 90% chance of getting either an Abra, Drowzee, or one of the Nidorans. Suffice to say I did not, I got Ditto, which is a 4% encounter. Would Ditto even be useful? I'll never know because it broke out of all my balls and I had to kill it. I don't even know how luck can be this bad.

Now that I have caught exactly nothing to make Platinum easier, I head back to Sinnoh to try and make some progress. Outside the Power Plant I find a wild Buizel, which is level 10 and stronger than most of my team. This is where I made a grave mistake. Buizel doesn't learn Water Gun until around level 14 or 15 in the recent games, but in Gen 4 it's around level 6. I send it Lea to do some damage and get one-shot by Water Gun. Well, that's not good. I end up catching the killer and naming it Flubb the Lea Slayer.

The grunt guarding the door nearly kills my entire team, but I escape without any casualties. I head to the meadow where one of the Grunts has a Stunky that is Bad News. Tickle falls in battle, but at least it wasn't the real Wickle. The other Grunt has two Zubats which are powerless against Aga. I get the key and some honey, but I really don't know how I'm going to beat Mars. I might need to abandon my low level strategy and take the risk with high level Pokemon ignoring me. Platinum is definitely much harder so far, but I think it will be mostly smooth sailing if I can get past Gardenia.

Team update

Heart Gold:
Zen the Rash Bibarel - Lv. 19
Poka the Quirky Luxio - Lv. 19
tcaz the Hasty Staravia - Lv. 19
Maniac the Careful Magikarp - Lv. 7
wallz the Bold Ponyta - Lv. 5
chey the Quiet Geodude - Lv. 11

On Standby:
Wickle the Sassy Zubat - Lv. 6

Platinum:
Raka the Jolly Cyndaquil - Lv. 11
Aga the Impish Hoothoot - Lv. 9
Kirby the Brave Rattata - Lv. 9
Ermy the Quirky Togepi - Lv. 7
Ana the Serious Magikarp - Lv. 10
mnk the Docile Aipom - Lv. 5

The Fallen:
Skull the Adamant Monferno - Slain by Bugsy's Scyther
Lea the Rash Geodude - Slain by Flubb the Bold Buizel
Tickle the Docile Zubat - Slain by a Grunt's Stunky