Board 8 > Going to play my first Pokemon game in about 15 years

(+) Yeah! (+)

KCF0107 posted...

I went in and out of Lumiose a couple times, but I didn't receive any Holo Caster message. I did find that building I had been referring to. It was called the Battle Institute. Knowing that everyone would be at Level 50, I decided to do a Double Battle and brought Greninja, Roserade, Malamar, and Toxicroak for flexibility (perhaps I should have done Vanilluxe instead of Toxicroak). During the first battle, I only lost Greninja and felt pretty good. Things went horribly wrong after that. I ended up losing the remaining four battles and took out 2, 1, 3, and 1 Pokemon respectively in each battle.

Now we know how garbage I am when everything is on a level playing field. The sense of helplessness and hopelessness is probably how Serena felt during all of our battles. That being said, I'm also assuming this was meant to be brutally difficult given I had to wait until after I became champ to try it. I was given the rank of Beginner and 0 points. I need to find some toddlers to destroy to build my confidence back up. However, I did receive 3 BP, but I'm not going through that just to get those TMs from the Battle Maison.

So all I plan to do now is do more Safaris, find those TMs (some require Waterfall, so I can finally use that), and see if I can do this Looker side quest thing somehow.

Yeah those battles are meant to be hard. To take those trainers out, you usually need to breed competitive Pokemon and make new teams for these battles. It's at that point where you stop using Pokemon you Like, and start using Pokemon that have great stats, abilities and movepools.
---

Well, there are different levels to it. I've beaten the "first tier" battles using only in-game Pokemon. To beat the Super Battles you generally need a competitive team though.

That's for the Battle Maison though. The Battle Institute deliberately rockets up the difficulty over the course of its battles. The Maison has a more gentler curve, and I don't consider the first tier to be that hard. Hell most of the Pokemon are unevolved in that one.
---

SantaRPidgey posted...

x and y are the weakest in the series by a very very wide margin but good luck!

did you play s/m?

While TM hunting, I caught Noibat, Wailmer, Exeggcute, and Weepinbell. I also met up with Moltres again, but like last time, it fled. I looked online about this Looker stuff, and I had to first go to the Battle Mansion, win a match, then defeat Serena in Kiloude. I met up with her, and this time she added a Clefable and Absol could Mega Evolve. She actually managed to knock out Vespiquen, but that was more about me being not fighting with any sense or urgency than Serena getting the better of me.
---

KCF0107 posted...

While TM hunting, I caught Noibat, Wailmer, Exeggcute, and Weepinbell. I also met up with Moltres again, but like last time, it fled. I looked online about this Looker stuff, and I had to first go to the Battle Mansion, win a match, then defeat Serena in Kiloude. I met up with her, and this time she added a Clefable and Absol could Mega Evolve. She actually managed to knock out Vespiquen, but that was more about me being not fighting with any sense or urgency than Serena getting the better of me.

The legendary bird thing is you have to encounter it 10 times in the wild. Then after that, you are able to catch it. There are guides on how to do it easily. It's tedious for sure though.
---

10 sounds obnoxiously arbitrary.
---

KCF0107 posted...

10 sounds obnoxiously arbitrary.

It really is. But following a guide, it takes about an hour, maybe a little less to do it.
---

Also I'm surprised you made Vespiquen a permanent team member. I like her design, but every time I get her in showdown it does like crap.
---

It was tough doing air battles due to her weakness, but her defense was off-the-charts. That plus a pretty good attack rating and having her equip a Quick Claw made her formidable
---

So I spent too much time going through all of my friends' safaris. I eventually got through them all and added a bunch of new Pokemon:
- Ivysaur
- Sunkern
- Tangela
- Swadloon
- Venomoth
- Dedenne
- Electrode
- Phanpy
- Wooper
- Camerupt
- Drowzee
- Munna
- Abra
- Pupitar
- Nosepass
- Spheal
- Nuzleaf
- Corsola
- Forretress
- Ferroseed
- Paras
- Phantump
- Shuppet
- Snorunt
- Wartortle
- Mawile
- Klang
- Togepi

This brings my Pokedex all the way up to 387. I also can say that I have caught a shiny Pokemon, or at least I think I did. During one of the ice safaris, I encountered a Bergmite that had a golden bottom and had a sparkling animation at the beginning of the fight. It would have sucked if I ended up KO'ing it, but I tossed out a Quick Ball to ensure it would be mine.

I will check out the Looker thing next, but if I don't feel it is worth my time, I think that will officially conclude this playthrough.
---

KCF0107 posted...

So I spent too much time going through all of my friends' safaris. I eventually got through them all and added a bunch of new Pokemon:
- Ivysaur
- Sunkern
- Tangela
- Swadloon
- Venomoth
- Dedenne
- Electrode
- Phanpy
- Wooper
- Camerupt
- Drowzee
- Munna
- Abra
- Pupitar
- Nosepass
- Spheal
- Nuzleaf
- Corsola
- Forretress
- Ferroseed
- Paras
- Phantump
- Shuppet
- Snorunt
- Wartortle
- Mawile
- Klang
- Togepi

This brings my Pokedex all the way up to 387. I also can say that I have caught a shiny Pokemon, or at least I think I did. During one of the ice safaris, I encountered a Bergmite that had a golden bottom and had a sparkling animation at the beginning of the fight. It would have sucked if I ended up KO'ing it, but I tossed out a Quick Ball to ensure it would be mine.

I will check out the Looker thing next, but if I don't feel it is worth my time, I think that will officially conclude this playthrough.

Sounds like a shiny to me. If you check your Pokemons status, I think in the pc, there will be a little red star somewhere on its page. That indicates it's a shiny. Congrats on that.
---

Yeah sparkling animation on release means shiny.

Friend safaris have a higher shiny chance.
---

Murphiroth posted...

Yeah sparkling animation on release means shiny.

Friend safaris have a higher shiny chance.

1/512 If I'm not mistaken.
---

Bergmite did have a red star
---

KCF0107 posted...

Bergmite did have a red star

That's a shiny.
---

That's a commie.
---

KCF0107 posted...

The gym leader Valerie looks like someone who spent a lot of money getting cosmetic surgery to make themselves look like another person or a fictional character. After the battle, she admits she wants to be or look like a Pokemon. I didn't look deeply into the eyes of her main Pokemon Sylveon, but perhaps there was a connection there.

I love Sylveon.

mnkboy907 posted...

At some point they started making plot-forced legendaries a lot easier to catch.

They started making the boxart legendaries easier to catch in Gen IV, with Dialga and Palkia having catch rates of 30. Then in Gen V, they started giving the boxart legendaries a catch rate of 45 (which is even easier to catch compared to a catch rate of 30).
---

So this Looker side story was super dumb, but I ended up sticking with it because I kept seeing Pokemon that I hadn't seen all game. At the conclusion of it, I had 405 entries on my Pokedex. I was certain that I wasn't going to reach 400 after finally getting to 300 at the Pokemon Village.

I'm sure that I will revisit the game from time-to-time. I've only had five Pokemon ever reach 100 before (Electrode, Vileplume, Victreebel, Pidgeot, and Typhlosion), and there is something oddly satisfying and bittersweet about getting a Pokemon reach max level. With Greninja finishing up at Level 86, I am not too far away from making it a reality for him. I also probably have dozens and dozens of Pokemon in my employ that I can evolve, including many of which that I don't know (or remember) what their evolved forms look like. Finally, I looked up how to get more fossils in the game, so that's something I can look forward to (though I will probably forget about it).

That being said, I think that this playthrough topic is officially done with.
---

Thanks for writing this. I really enjoyed following along.
---

Well done good sir. Here's to hoping you do another one in the future.
---

So
Did you like it?
---

I also enjoyed this
---

Nanis23 posted...

So
Did you like it?

It was indeed enjoyable revisiting Pokemon after so long.
---

To elaborate, I am not the biggest fan of JRPGs. What they offer tends to give them lower ceilings in my eyes. Pokemon in particular embodies the tediousness, low thrills, and uneven pacing that I find in many JRPGs. I know that the series is gearing more and more toward the multiplayer element, and while I am a fan of multiplayer games, it just doesn't interest me.

That being said, I find its charm and bizarre journey through a child's eyes very appealing. While they aren't all winners, I, in general, really like the Pokemon designs and with there being so many Pokemon I wasn't familiar with, the short period upon learning that a Pokemon was about to evolve and seeing what it became is quite exhilarating. I also admit that I am feeling nostalgic about something that I was super into for a couple of years in the late 90s/early 2000s.

If I were to have played the series prolifically from 1997 (or whenever) to the present day, I would probably feel super burnt out (and likely would have dropped the series long ago). If I get Ultra Sun/Moon, I would probably wait another five or more years before actually playing it. I might even just wait for a future game as to increase the pool of unfamiliar Pokemon.
---

KCF0107 posted...

To elaborate, I am not the biggest fan of JRPGs. What they offer tends to give them lower ceilings in my eyes. Pokemon in particular embodies the tediousness, low thrills, and uneven pacing that I find in many JRPGs. I know that the series is gearing more and more toward the multiplayer element, and while I am a fan of multiplayer games, it just doesn't interest me.

That being said, I find its charm and bizarre journey through a child's eyes very appealing. While they aren't all winners, I, in general, really like the Pokemon designs and with there being so many Pokemon I wasn't familiar with, the short period upon learning that a Pokemon was about to evolve and seeing what it became is quite exhilarating. I also admit that I am feeling nostalgic about something that I was super into for a couple of years in the late 90s/early 2000s.

If I were to have played the series prolifically from 1997 (or whenever) to the present day, I would probably feel super burnt out (and likely would have dropped the series long ago). If I get Ultra Sun/Moon, I would probably wait another five or more years before actually playing it. I might even just wait for a future game as to increase the pool of unfamiliar Pokemon.

That's a really good way of putting it. Unfortunately for us, that means no playthrough story lol.
---

KCF0107 posted...

If I were to have played the series prolifically from 1997 (or whenever) to the present day, I would probably feel super burnt out (and likely would have dropped the series long ago). If I get Ultra Sun/Moon, I would probably wait another five or more years before actually playing it. I might even just wait for a future game as to increase the pool of unfamiliar Pokemon.

The next time you play a Pokemon game, it should be the first Gen VIII games to appear on the Switch. The prospect of a Pokemon experience on the TV would be really tempting here. However, there would only be around 200 new Pokemon that would be unfamiliar to you (between both Gen VII and VIII).
---

So I am not familiar with generation numbers. Did I just play VI?
---

KCF0107 posted...

So I am not familiar with generation numbers. Did I just play VI?

Yes.

Gen I: Red/Blue/Yellow (Game Boy)
Gen II: Gold/Silver/Crystal (Game Boy Volor)
Gen III: Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald/FireRed/LeafGreen (Game Boy Advance)
Gen IV: Diamond/Pearl/Platinum/HeartGold/SoulSilver (DS)
Gen V: Black/White/Black 2/White 2 (DS)
Gen VI: X/Y/Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire (3DS)
Gen VII: Sun/Moon/Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon (3DS)
---

So are gens decided by release dates, Pokemon rosters, or some other factor? I am kind of surprised to see that remakes of old games aren't considered to be in the same gen as their original games.
---

Pokemon rosters. The remakes are able to catch Pokemon from later generations through either post-game or new areas.
---

A new generation has always started with a new region and a new batch of Pokemon.

Remakes being lumped into the current gen is mostly because of connectivity with the other games in that generation. FireRed/LeafGreen can only trade and battle with Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald, HeartGold/SoulSilver can only trade and battle with Diamond/Pearl/Platinum, Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire can only trade and battle with X/Y.
---

Mimikyu's new Pokedex entry says that when its disguise gets broken, it spends hours in front of the mirror trying to fix it, crying on the inside.
---

mnkboy907 posted...

Mimikyu's new Pokedex entry says that when its disguise gets broken, it spends hours in front of the mirror trying to fix it, crying on the inside.

That's f***ing dedication.
---

Whoops I totally meant to post that in the USUM topic.
---

mnkboy907 posted...

Mimikyu's new Pokedex entry says that when its disguise gets broken, it spends hours in front of the mirror trying to fix it, crying on the inside.

Is there a pic of this entry? That's horrible.
---

Well it's only from the datamine, so no pic.

Mimikyu(Busted): It stands in front of a mirror, trying to fix its broken neck as if its life depended on it. It has a hard time getting it right, so its crying inside.

I guess I phrased it more strongly than the dex does.

Sorry for randomly derailing, KCF.
---

Well my playthrough is over, so go nuts here with Pokemon talk if you like
---

KCF0107 posted...

So are gens decided by release dates, Pokemon rosters, or some other factor? I am kind of surprised to see that remakes of old games aren't considered to be in the same gen as their original games.

Each generation of Pokemon games also introduces a new batch of Pokemon. For reference, here are the number of Pokemon introduced in every generation:

Gen I - 151
Gen II - 100
Gen III - 135
Gen IV - 107
Gen V - 156
Gen VI - 72
Gen VII - 86

No one really knows how many new Pokemon Gen VIII will introduce, but we should have a total of 160-200 Pokemon between both Gen VII and VIII combined.
---

Was there a long period of time between Gens IV and V? That 156 new Pokemon really stands out when it is both the highest amount and Gens II, IV, VI, and VII averaged just over 90 new Pokemon.
---

Nope. It's just they did something new for Black/White by only having new Pokemon available during the main game, so they needed a whole lot.
---

Pretty much.

They had to make their own Zubat, Geodude etc. which allowed them to have so many.
---

The decision to practically redo Pokemon at Gen V was very divisive amongst the fanbase, but for me personally it worked great. I had started losing interest around Gen IV and barely played Pearl. I felt like Black and White were a fresh start and being forced to use new Pokemon was something I appreciated because in Pearl you barely had any new Pokemon and so few of them were any good. My team was mostly made up of Pokemon from the previous generations that I had already used. But in Black, I got to try out a brand new team of brand new Pokemon.

Since then, I've always deliberately made my teams out of Pokemon that I've never used, whether they were newly introduced, or just Pokemon from older gens that I never gave a chance.
---

Also Gen V is the best generation so far.
---

Pokalicious posted...

Also Gen V is the best generation so far.

Yup.
---

Yes Gen V was the best.

5 > 7 > 2 > 1 > 6 > 3 > 4
---

Now when you rank gens, are you referring to Pokemon rosters, the games, a combo, or something else entirely?
---

The games
---

So for your low ranking of the gen that I just played, was it more X/Y or R/S remakes that caused you to rank them there
---

I don't include remakes in my rankings.

Overall I felt XY took a step back from the story relative to Black/White. They're still solid games, as are all the mainline games.
---

Not my official ranking (I'd need to think long and hard for it), but for me it's something like:

5 > 2 > 1 > 4 > 3 > 6 > 7

That's not including remakes.
---