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GMH plays Pokémon Perfect Crystal: the Quest for the Full Pokédex

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Comments

  • Creature - Florida Dragon Turtle Human
    lnnkxfb7fayl.png
    Enemy VENONAT
    knows geography!
    

    And there goes Ralph's number, in order to make room for Bug Catcher Arnie's number.

    Record #66: Drowzee

    And I only recently trained up a Psyduck to learn Confusion...

    Also I found a legit zero-radius trainer who's not a special trainer. Bird Keeper Bryan won't get into a fight with you even if you're standing right in front of him. You need to talk to him.

    Also, Bryan has an underleveled (L14) Pidgeotto.

    Also holy crap half my team got wrecked by a L16 Kadabra.

    seen: Kadabra

    Meanwhile, TIL an entire country Spearow can evolve!


    Record #67: Fearow

    Also I misremembered Fearow's evolution level and trained my Croconaw up to 22 for no real reason. Oops. Not really a big deal though.

    FYI in case you're confused, I have an informal rule where my highest-level mon must be my starter (unless I catch something higher but then it just doesn't count).

    Anyway, time to heal up, battle Arnie, bring this now-Fearow to Randy's friend, battle Joey.

    BTW I just noticed that if you look at a fainted pokémon they don't make an animation or a cry. I think something similar happens when a sleeping pokémon enters a battle?

    Going back through Ilex Forest...

    lg8tkomue0hb.png

    It's my official favorite pokémon! And it only took four attempts (when at very low HP and asleep).

    Recod #68: Bulbasaur
  • edited 2021-07-05 20:23:49
    Creature - Florida Dragon Turtle Human
    Oof, there are more trainers who want my number.

    Okay, dumping Hiker Anthony since I already have a Dunsparce. Sorry, Anthony. And now Schoolboy Jack is registered.

    Looks like Drowzee needs to make it all the way to Level 18 just to learn Confusion...

    Record #69: Nidoran (female)

    seen: Raichu (Pokéfan William's)

    Record #70: Sunkern (took two balls)

    > It is very weak. Its only attack is to shake its leaves desperately at its attacker.

    I'm pretty sure I saw it using not just Absorb but Mega Drain.

    Goldenrod's Department Store is having a big sale apparently! Thanks for telling me, Todd.

    > Oddish used Sweet Scent! Gastly's evasion fell!

    You just made a poison gas cloud smell sweeter. Good job.

    Also as far as getting through battles faster is concerned, sleep has a much longer animation than paralyze.

    seen: Cubone (Lass Krise's)

    Cubone has two defense-lowering moves, apparently -- Leer and Tail Whip. Why, I don't know. Also, if only it didn't do a Tail Whip that last turn, it could have won.

    So the "sale" Todd told me about is actually the Rooftop Sale. It offers PokéBalls at 150 pokédollars and Great Balls at 500 (contrast their usual prices of 200 and 600.

    Before:
    Poké Ball x2
    Fast Ball x2
    cash: 9824 pokédollars

    xajmbxt4r1pp.png

    After:
    Poké Ball x4
    Fast Ball x2
    Great Ball x19
    cash: 24 pokédollars

    My next move for progress in the overall game is to beat Whitney's gym, but I feel like tackling the Goldenrod Tunnel first. It'll open up the haircut place where I can raise the happiness of my pokémon.

    seen: Grimer (Super Nerd Eric's), Lickitung (Pokémaniac Isaac's), Magnemite (Super Nerd Teru's)

    Y'know, I noticed how the game sorta warns you where there will be trainers. It's done this for both the National Park (twice) and the Goldenrod Tunnel.

    Also, who greets someone for a pokémon battle with "My pokémon just got a haircut! I'll show you how strong it is!"? Even weirder since Lickitung has no hair. Anyway, thanks for the tip about Anthony the Hiker...though I've already got a Dunsparce, heh.

    And my Geodude learned (at level 16) the first ground-type attack I've got -- Magnitude.

    And hey, here's Super Nerd Teru's electric pokémon for me to try it on!
    Magnitude 7 -> L7 Magnemite
    Magnitude 6 -> L11 Voltorb
    Magnitude 10 -> L7 Magnemite and the whole city shook
    Magnitude 7 -> L9 Magnemite

    Needless to say, all four were one-hit KOs.

    Anyhow, I've always found it a little odd that Magnemite, which is depicted as levitating, is affected by ground-type moves.

    Unfortunately, it's Monday and so the haircut brothers aren't around, and I also missed the bargain store that sets up shop in the tunnel on Monday mornings.

    Anyhow, I've gotten my Geodude to 18, Gastly to 17, Machop to 17, and Drowzee just hit 18 and learned Confusion, so after some team shuffling (almost certainly involving putting Croconaw back on here), I'll take on Whitney's gym.

    I already know about that Miltank, btw.
  • edited 2021-07-05 22:16:09
    Creature - Florida Dragon Turtle Human
    Looking ahead to Morty:

    I know that his Gengar's strat is basically Hypnosis + (I think) Dream Eater on anything that's not weak to Ghost, and Shadow Ball on anything that is.

    Ghost type doesn't have many interactions, which serves him well defensively. The only things that will do double damage against ghost-types are ghost- and dark-type moves.

    IIRC he doesn't use any new gen 2 ghosts, so everything I'll be up against is still also poison-type. That said, they're also very fast.

    Let's see how my crew might stack up against it:

    Geodude
    + Magnitude (100% accuracy ground attack)
    - slow

    Houndour
    + dark type (resists ghost-type attacks)
    + will presumably get Bite? (which has STAB)
    + immune to psychic-type attacks

    Zubat
    + has Bite
    + can't be poisoned (but I don't think Morty does that)
    - poison-type (weak to Dream Eater)

    Gastly
    + has Lick (with STAB) but it's a very weak move and likely can't outdamage Shadow Ball
    - is ghost type (weak to itself)

    Abra
    + psychic-type attack with STAB (after it evolves into Kadabra)
    + fast
    - psychic-type
    - bad physical defense

    Drowzee
    + psychic-type attack with STAB
    + Disable may be useful?
    - slow
    - psychic-type

    Slowpoke
    + psychic-type attack with STAB
    - very slow
    - psychic-type

    Psyduck
    + psychic-type attack
    + somehow NOT psychic-type
    + Disable may be useful?

    Rattata
    + has or will have Bite
    + normal-type
    + fast

    Seems like the best vanilla choice will be Rattata. Houndour is not in the vanilla game, though it seems like a better choice. I don't think any dark-type pokémon is available at this point in the vanilla game, though Umbreon might technically be available, if one raises an Eevee to get it.

    Come to think of it...how would I get more Eevees? Is it only by breeding? Because that would be incredibly slow. I need at least five Eevees to get all the eeveelutions.

    I just checked the Goldenrod Game Corner and it has the vanilla selection of prizes. This makes me think that Celadon Game Corner will also have a vanilla selection of prizes -- meaning that I won't be able to buy an Eevee from there. This means that the only way to get more Eevees is to breed them. Which is really unfortunate; I was hoping there'd be a place where I can catch them.

    Anyway, back to the topic of Morty, the Goldenrod Game Corner also does offer Cubone, which gets Bone Club, a reasonably powerful ground-type move. (Cubone can be wild-caught much later, in Kanto.) And then there's Mud-Slap, the TM I got from Falkner, which is also ground-type and has a chance to reduce the target's accuracy, though as an attack it's weak. Other than this, and Magnitude (mentioned above) as well as other moves in the Geodude and Onix lines, I don't think I have access to ground-type moves at this point...no Diglett at least, and Sandshrew doesn't learn any ground-type moves at all (sadly).

    I haven't reached him yet, so maybe I will have better options after beating Whitney.
  • Creature - Florida Dragon Turtle Human
    Some more research has revealed that people are suggesting the birds since they're part normal-type and but have flying-type attacks (and the Gastly line has poor physical defense), and the TM that teaches Dig is that thing behind the fence in the National Park (but I haven't yet figured out how to get to it).
  • edited 2021-07-06 06:23:24
    Creature - Florida Dragon Turtle Human
    Time to tackle the Goldenrod City Gym, because I'm tired of being blocked by a stupid Level 20 Su-- I mean wiggling tree blocking the road.

    Entering with the following team:
    L14 Houndour - Leer, Ember, Roar, Smog
    L17 Machop "Muscle" - Low Kick, Leer, Focus Energy, Karate Chop
    L22 Croconaw - Scratch, Bite, Rage, Water Gun
    L17 Gastly - Hypnosis, Lick, Curse, Mean Look
    L16 Rattata - Tackle, Tail Whip, Quick Attack, Hyper Fang
    L18 Geodude - Tackle, Defense Curl, Rock Throw, Magnitude

    I forgot my Croconaw has bite and might be able to help me with Morty. But that's for later. Houndour is basically only here for the XP. And while Gastly can defend, it can't do damage to in any way except via Curse, so that basically means I'm saving it for the final boss of this gym.

    seen: Meowth (Beauty Samantha's)

    Houndour & Rattata vs. Meowth (Houndour is now in the red)
    Machop vs. Meowth (OHKO) (Machop levels up)
    Geodude vs. L9 Sentret (no-damage OHKO)
    Machop vs. L13 Sentret (no-damage OHKO)
    Geodude vs. L17 Sentret (got some unlucky Magnitude 4s and then a 10)
    Geodude vs. Snubbull (OHKO thanks to a lucky Magnitude 10)
    Rattata vs. Jigglypuff (no-damage two-hit KO with Hyper Fang causing one flinch)
    Rattata vs. Jigglypuff (no-damage two-hit KO with Hyper Fang, no flinch but Jigglypuff wasted the turn with Defense Curl)
    Rattata vs. Jigglypuff (miss on first attempt, Jigglypuff critted with Pound, healed with berry, then two-hit KO after being Pounded a second time. Rattata now L17 but barely out of the red.)

    seen: Clefairy (Whitney's), Miltank (Whitney's)

    Machop vs. Clefairy (no-damage OHKO)

    Gastly vs. Miltank
    Miltank used Attract -> cancels Gastly's move (I selected Curse)
    Miltank used Rollout, missed. Gastly is infatuated with Miltank...but uses Curse anyway.
    Miltank used Rollout, Gastly's HP is now in the red. Curse deals 1/4 damage to Miltank. Gastly used Hypnosis, puts Miltank to sleep...but Miltank used its Miracleberry.
    Miltank used Rollout, Gastly faints. (I don't think Curse registered this turn?)
    Geodude (started with a little less than full HP) vs. Miltank
    Miltank used Rollout (third time). Geodude now has a little over half HP. Curse deals 1/4 damage to Miltank. Geodude used Magnitude, got a 7.
    Miltank used Rollout (fourth time), Geodude's HP is now in the red (3 HP left). Curse deals 1/4 damage to Miltank, it has a tiny bit of HP left. Geodude used Magnitude, got a 7 again, wins.

    Geodude levels up to 19 on this.

    (For what it's worth, Gastly is male, while Geodude and Machop are both female. I'm pretty sure this is why Miltank opened with Attract but then didn't do it against Geodude. In my current team, the females are Geodude, Machop, and Houndour, while the males are Gastly, Rattata, and Croconaw.)

    So one funny thing about Whitney is that after you beat her she just starts crying. If you try to leave, one of her lieutenants tells you that you made her cry, but she always does that when she loses, and she'll stop crying soon, basically encouraging you to actually go back to talk to Whitney to get the badge.

    And now I can use Strength outside of battle, which means I can move that one rock in Slowpoke Well...if I get the HM for it, that is.

    Time to get that stupid squirt bottle.
  • edited 2021-07-06 06:56:15
    I have an informal rule where my highest-level mon must be my starter (unless I catch something higher but then it just doesn't count).
    I do that, too. I keep some hierarchy of how leveled my dudes must be, with my starter at the top, next is 1-2 levels lower, and so on.
    Edit:
    Miltank used its Miracleberry.
    Thief would have been handy. Say, is Perfect Crystal a mod where items used in-battle get spent?
  • Creature - Florida Dragon Turtle Human
    I presume that items used in battle can't be reused, which would explain why they don't get reused in the same battle.

    Anyhow, Thief is inaccessible to me as I can't get the TM yet and nothing learns it natively.
  • Creature - Florida Dragon Turtle Human
    The National Park's Bug-Catching Contest has some absurdly overleveled wild bug pokémon. Like, a level 17 Weedle, for example.

    Record #71: Scyther (L14)

    seen: Pinsir (L13, so I didn't pick it up)

    I cut short my first bug-catching contest because my Rattata had gotten taken into the red by that Pinsir. But I'll get it next time.

    3rd place: Bug Catcher Ed, Butterfree, 290 points
    2nd place: Yunica (me), Scyther, 336 points
    1st place: Cooltrainer Nick, Scyther, 360 points

    I got an Everstone for this. Which I don't really need lol.

    Nick hints at the existence of shiny pokémon. Meanwhile, Benny has been in the same boat as me -- caught a Scyther but still didn't win.
  • edited 2021-07-07 08:45:00
    Creature - Florida Dragon Turtle Human
    Record #72: Sudowoodo

    My current team comp -- Psyduck, Rattata, Zubat, Geodude, Houndour, Gastly -- turned out to be a bad choice for this thing. It's only at level 20, but it Flail, Rock Throw, Low Kick, and Mimic, making it quite dangerous.

    Record #73: Stantler

    Stantler is fast. It outsped my Zubat that was three levels higher.

    Both are no-chain pokémon, which means I won't be using them. Despite how awesome they might be.

    Meanwhile I am still waiting for Rattata to learn Bite, though. It's already at level 18 and that still hasn't happened yet.

    Edit: I just checked its moveset, and it...never does. :(
    Apparently the only way for it to learn Bite is via breeding.

    I guess I technically haven't been wasting my time though since it hasn't yet evolved into Raticate. It's close though.
  • Creature - Florida Dragon Turtle Human
    Record #74: Nidoran (male)

    Record #75: Growlithe

    Now this one comes with Bite!

    And Snubbull just learned it too, upon reaching level 13. Geodude's also level 20 now too.
  • Creature - Florida Dragon Turtle Human
    "I can do only one haircut a day." wat
  • Creature - Florida Dragon Turtle Human
    Oh, there are only two trainers on Route 37. And now we're in Ecruteak City.

    Seeing Bill there and then back home in Goldenrod lets me get:

    Record #76: Eevee

    Time to drop it and my Ditto off at the Day-Care.
  • Creature - Florida Dragon Turtle Human
    Morty's not in the gym. Instead, he's in the Burned Tower. Along with some dude name Eusine who is looking for Suicune. I still don't know how to pronounce their names; I say "you-SEEN" (an English-style pronunciation) and "su-ee-KU-neh" (a Spanish-style pronunciation), which seems inconsistent. I also see my rival there; I'm gonna wait on fighting him.

    Record #77: Koffing

    Meowth is somewhere on a nearby route and so with that and some evolving I could get the complete gen 1 Team Rocket set.

    seen: Raticate (underleveled wild at L15)
    Okay, should I catch this? I don't actually need my Rattata for anything especially since I realized it doesn't learn Bite.

    Record #78: Raticate

    So I guess raising the Rattata was pointless after all. Aside from bragging in front of Joey I guess.

    Note to self: There's a Rock Smash rock blocking an item in the Burned Tower. Also check other places for Rock Smash rocks.

    Mt. Mortar's unavoiadable to the east. To the west there are trainers and another fruit tree.

    And here's a wild underleveled (L16) Pidgeotto. This is a bit more of a dilemma since I planned to raise my Pidgey and eventually teach it Fly. I'm not sure whether I'll have a good candidate for Fly later on...but then again I haven't even checked Pidgey's learnset anyway. ...ehh, I'll just catch this. Underleveled wild pokémon are amusing.

    Record #79: Pidgeotto

    Note to self: Gina (i.e. Bulbasaur girl) wants to battle.

    Lass Dana sends out a Flaaffy, and this route continues to annoy me how much makes my Geodude useful. It's already my most-leveled pokémon in my current team, sheesh!

    Meanwhile, her L19 Psyduck went up against my L17 Psyduck, and she wasted her first turn on a Disable then only did Tail Whip or Disable (which luckily failed on me) the rest of the fight. So, somehow I won that without taking any damage.

    Dana also wants to give me her number. Let's see...

    Mom (can't delete)
    Prof. Elm (can't delete)
    Youngster Joey (eventually gives HP Up, and also meme)
    Bug Catcher Wade (gives berries)
    Camper Todd (alerts me to the Goldenrod Dept. Store's rooftop sale).
    Juggler Irwin (nothing but just rematches with his Voltorbs)
    Schoolboy Alan (gives fire stones)
    Bug Catcher Arnie (alerts me to Yanma swarms)
    Schoolboy Jack (gives battle tips I think. But honestly he's just rematches)

    This phone's memory is stupidly small.

    But I guess Irwin is the short straw this time. Also when I called him he asked me a bunch of questions including how much money I had. That's a little creepy.

    Speaking of Jack, I was gonna talk to Dana again and then Jack calls wanting to battle.

    Anyway,
    > Next time a boy gives me something after a battle, I'll share some! Does that make me bad?

    lol.

    Sailor Harry says he's seen the world, but somehow all he has is a L20 Wooper and he's looking to battle.

    Beauty Valerie's Hoppip opens with a successful PoisonPowder, but my Growlithe is aided by the fact that Hoppip's actual attack power with Tackle is pathetic. Her Skiploom isn't much better; even with a Tail Whip on my L14 Growlith, this L18 Skiploom only manages to do 6 damage in a Tackle. And my Growlithe manages to survive that battle too...barely! Time to use a PsnCureBerry though.

    And Route 38 has the game's third Berry tree.

    seen: Skiploom, Doduo

    My Zubat survived a solo encounter with Bird Keeper Toby's second Doduo barely, thanks to the RNG only giving me two hits on its second Fury Attack.

    Geodude hits L21 and learns Pineco Explodey Move Selfdestruct, which replaces Defense Curl, which is basically useless.

    Meanwhile, I just found that Machop will learn Foresight at level 21...I hadn't considered him an option against Morty's ghosts yet. Though he's still weak to Dream Eater.

    Record #80: Miltank

    I keep nearly-misspelling this as "Milktank".

    Okay, got Wade's berry (it's a bitter berry this time) and fought Jack.

    seen: Corsola (Beauty Olivia's)

    Psyduck turns out to be a pretty decent powerhouse.

    However, her Corsola basically ended up a really obnoxious opponent, mostly because it's just overleveled compared to mine while also having really good defense (consider that I could hit it with Ember and its HP bar did not visibly decrease) and also Recover. It kept on healing itself (and it can do so ten times), and I just realized I completely underestimated how effective this tactic is.

    This darned thing almost wiped my entire team...and it probably would have if I hadn't used some rewinding. (I'm okay with this because letting myself actually lose would just make what I'm trying to do more tedious without adding anything of value to my playthrough.) Even with rewinding, I've ended up with my Zubat and Houndour down, while Psyduck and Snubbull are in the red and yellow, respectively.

    I also noticed that the game seems to randomly decide whether you get a call and who calls you. Some rewinding from after the battle with Olivia revealed that I could get no call at all, a call from Joey, or a call from Alan.

    I weaved my way around trainers to get to Moomoo Farm, where Moomoo is weak and has a pitched-down Miltank cry. Apparently it wants lots of berries...well, I've got a bunch in my pack, but the game ain't lettin' me give it some, so...

    Also, ever noticed how everyone seems to have a town map in their house? I guess geography is everyone's favorite hobby after pokémon.

    Record #81: Magnemite (took two pokéballs)

    Its national pokédex number also happens to be 81. The last time this happened was with #46 Paras.

    Meanwhile, why there are random living magnets in the grass here is beyond me.

    Anyway, time to sneak past this trainer again and run screaming back to the pokémon center before I get run over by any more well-trained Corsola.

    *heals*

    Okay let's say hi to my rival.

    seen: Haunter (darn, he's up to level 20 already)

    L15 Growlithe vs. L20 Haunter (Haunter cursed me but I won first, and leveled up)
    L18 Psyduck vs. L20 Zubat (it Supersonic'd me but I Confusion'd it and eventually won)
    L21 Geodude vs. L18 Magnemite (Magnemite opened with SonicBoom but I got a OHKO with Magnitude)
    L17 Houndour vs. L22 Bayleef (Your Growling at me isn't gonna help you. Your Razor Leaf crits, however, will, but you wasted your first turn Growling. =P)

    > This is why I hate battling wimps. There's no challenge in it.
    Because you lose, nah nana boo boo. Shoulda brought a Corsola and Recovered the hell out of me like Olivia did.

    ...and I just fell into a hole. And three mysterious creatures just came to life, vocalized at me, and promptly jumped off somewhere.

    Record #82: Slugma
  • edited 2021-07-07 21:01:14
    Creature - Florida Dragon Turtle Human
    Oh, the Day-Care has an egg for me. That's the first of four (or five) Eevee eggs I want to get.

    Let me stick this egg in the Unown and shinies box. That box should contain 6 Unown and up to 6 Eevee(lutions), but has capacity for 20, and I doubt I'll get more than 7 shinies (since a non-shiny Magikarp is there already for evolutionary line completion's sake).

    Also, the Day-Care is surprisingly affordable. 100 pokédollars base cost plus 100 pokédollars per level gained.
  • Creature - Florida Dragon Turtle Human
    Current pokédex: seen 92, own 72. Actual completion: 82/276

    Additional things I have access to via grinding (to level up/raise happiness) and stone evolving, but not yet logged:
    Bayleef, Meganium
    Typhlosion
    Feraligatr
    Pidgeot
    (Ledyba's evolution)
    Ariados
    Graveler, Golem
    Golbat, Crobat
    Clefable
    Wigglytuff
    Togekiss
    Sandslash
    Arbok
    Ampharos
    Swampert(?)
    Haunter, Gengar
    Steelix
    Weepinbell, Victreebel
    Skiploom, Breloom(?)
    Parasect
    Poliwhirl, Poliwrath, Politoed
    Gyarados (guaranteed to get this later)
    Seaking
    Slowbro, Slowking
    Gloom, Vileplume, Bellossom
    Hypno
    Kadabra, Alakazam
    (Pineco's evolution)
    Nidorina, Nidoqueen
    Nidorino, Nidoking
    (Sunkern's evolution)
    Exeggutor
    Venomoth
    Magneton
    Granbull
    Ninetales
    Arcanine
    Golduck
    Machoke, Machamp
    Tentacruel
    1x Eeveelution
    Ursaring
    Houndour
    Magcargo
    Ivysaur, Venusaur

    Also technically available: Cubone and Marowak and Wobbuffet (Goldenrod Game Corner), and Pinsir (bug-catching contest)
  • Creature - Florida Dragon Turtle Human
    Route 38's trainers are tough. Here is Schoolboy Chad with his L20 Mr.Mime.

    seen: Mr.Mime

    It took down my L16 Snubbull and L17 Growlithe with highly effective STAB Confusion. Then it showed off its Substitute ability against my Houndour. Too bad for it I kept breaking its Substitutes.

    He wants my number to tell me about Prof. Oak. He'll also tell me about Snubbull swarms, according to Bulbapedia. I already have a Snubbull, so...I'll stick with Schoolboy Jack I guess.

    After running screaming back to the Ecruteak Pokémon Center again, time to face Psychic Norman.

    Having speed advantage with Bite turns out to be really useful. But sometimes it doesn't make the enemy flinch, and that Slowpoke managed to bring me from near-full down to 1 HP with a Body Slam, after Cursing itself.

    For some reason now I can give a berry to Miltank. I couldn't earlier. Not sure if there was some event flag set by talking to the adults in the house to the right, because I know I went into the barn on the left first, the first time I was here.

    (In fact I kinda remember running into this issue the first time I was here too...maybe...)

    Thankfully, I have a giant pile of berries that I've farmed over the course of multiple days worth of gameplay. (I started with 29 berries in my pack, and that's not including the ones I already gave to pokémon to hold.)

    Also, the sick Miltank's cry has an odd percussive noise at the beginning, in addition to being pitched a perfect fifth lower. Maybe a sneeze?

    Anyway, now it's better. And I got a TM for my troubles. And also bought a jar of Moomoo Milk. And then I ran over and fought Joey again because lol.
  • edited 2021-07-07 23:42:32
    I still don't know how to pronounce their names
    Dunno about that Eusine dude, but Suicune (スイクン) is as in a Spanish "suicun" (or more appropriately, "su-i-cu-n".
  • Creature - Florida Dragon Turtle Human
    The places I've been to have this sort of curious awkward loop where part of the loop (Ilex Forest, specifically) is impassable without Cut, but because I've removed the Sudowoodo, I can go all the way around it from both sides.

    I'm still making the rounds collecting berries from every known plant. Here they are:

    Berry tree east of Cherrygrove
    Berry tree north of Cherrygrove
    PsnCureBerry tree north of that, next to Mr. Pokémon's lab(?)
    Bitter Berry tree north of that, east of Violet City

    going west then north:
    Ice Berry tree on the route with the Sudowoodo, just east of National Park
    Red, Blu, and Blk Apricorn trees in a group in the route north of that, just south of Ecruteak
    Berry tree west of Ecruteak
    Mint Berry tree west of that, right at Moomoo Ranch

    going south from Violet CIty
    PrzCureBerry tree at the southern edge of city limits
    PsnCureBerry tree (I think) at the southern terminus of Union Cave, east of Azalea Town
    Wht Apricorn tree behind Kurt's house in Azalea Town

    It's like I'm drawing a giant uppercase J, but the cap line is a mullet (facing left).

    Anyway I'm on the western tip of the cap line and I just caught:

    Record #83: Meowth

    I think it learns Bite, by the way. It's also an infinite source of money. Not like refights aren't already, heh.

    Checking Growlithe's and Arcanine's learnsets shows the following, btw:
    Growlithe: Bite, Roar, Ember, Leer, Take Down, Flame Wheel, Agility, Flamethrower (50)
    Arcanine: nothing except ExtremeSpeed (50)
    So it seems that I can choose between a more powerful (but slightly less accurate) fire move (Flamethrower) or basically an advanced version of Quick Attack.

    Agility (speed +2 stages) can probably replace Roar, but lineup disruption is fun. Also if I opt for ExtremeSpeed I can arguably forego Agility, though Agility can help Bite land flinches.

    Either way, I need to raise Growlithe to at least 34 to get a better fire attack, 42 if I want Agility.

    Technically might not matter unless Ninetales is in my lineup to take on late-game bosses, but I think I'd prefer to plan for the notion that it might.

    Record #84: Murkrow

    Like Houndour, this is another gen 2 pokémon that was previously only available in Kanto. The maker of the original Perfect Crystal hack made them available in Johto, and it does make for an interesting decision regarding how to fight Morty -- whether to avoid using them because they're not in the vanilla game, since they have major type advantages over Morty's ghosts.

    That said, I have another reason to not use Murkrow -- in gen 2, it is not part of an evolutionary chain.

    Anyway I just dumped Zubat in the box and am training Meowth. I noticed that Meowth's speed is excellent (20/20/21/21/35 at L16). Contrast Snubbull's atrocious speed (38/26/24/24/18 at L18).

    Also, thanks to the magic of emulation, I have discovered that if the Day-Care man tells you there's an egg and you turn him down when he asks if you'll take it, he is perfectly willing to keep it for himself. Of course, we don't want him to do that, because this is Eeveelution egg #2.

    And Dana just gave me a thunderstone.
  • Creature - Florida Dragon Turtle Human
    I need to start regarding Pikachu as a dangerous pokémon. Pokéfan Ruth's Pikachu, for instance, has Double Team, Thunder Wave, Tail Whip, and Quick Attack. It set up really well against my Meowth, and I just barely wasn't able to beat it with Meowth alone. And it left both my Meowth and Growlithe paralyzed. Pokéfan Derek's Pikachu then left Houndour paralyzed.

    I walked around the other two trainers on this route and arrived at Olivine City...only to be greeted by my rival Kishgal. With only 5 pokémon on me, three of which are paralyzed, I was feeling rather anxious, though he announces in his signature arrogant way that he doesn't care to fight me, and that the gymleader is out.

    I was about to say I don't know what type Jasmine specializes in, but then the sign outside disabused me of this ignorance: "The Steel-Clad Defense Girl".

    Stumbling into Olivine City has gotten me some useful stuff, including the Strength HM and the Good Rod. And I also know that if I can fish up a Krabby I can have a Voltorb. Though I'm pretty sure I will encounter some in a Team Rocket hideout semi-soon...

    ON the path to Cianwood City there are apparently four deserted islands. I guess I'll be visiting them. And apparently there's someone over in Cianwood who is bragging about his rare pokémon...

    > Old Rod
    > Level 10 Magikarp
    > Good Rod
    Okay, this has gotta be better than that.

    > Level 20 Magikarp

    ...I was technically correct.

    > try again
    I should get something different this time.

    > Level 20 Tentacool

    ...I was technically correct again.

    There's another zero-radius trainer just north of Olivine, Pokéfan Jaime. Aaaaand she has a L17 Meowth, while I send out a L18 Meowth.

    By the way I should mention that all three of these Pokéfans have had Berries on their pokémon. According to Bulbapedia, the vanilla game has Berries on both the Pikachus but not the Meowth, while the remake, surprisingly, has no items on any of them. Also, strangely, Pokéfan Derek is only rematchable on Gold and Silver versions, but not Crystal.

    Jaime reveals the mechanic where training (or technically, leveling up) your pokémon in the same geographic area where it was caught increases friendship faster, confirming that this mechanic is in gen 2 and in this hack.

    seen: Poliwhirl (Sailor Eugene's), Krabby (also Sailor Eugene's).

    Now I'm faced with a difficult decision: should Snubbull (Tackle, Scary Face, Bite, Charm) learn Lick? It would give Snubbull access to a ghost-type move...though, now that I think about it, ghost-type moves are super-effective against the same two things (ghost and psychic) as dark-type moves are, and I already have Bite, a dark-type move.

    Lick - 20 power, 30 PP, 100% accuracy, 30% chance of paralyzing target
    Bite - 60 power, 25 PP, 100% accuracy, 30% chance of making target flinch

    I think I'd opt to keep Bite.

    Also, Eugene has an underleveled (L17) Raticate.

    And I discovered that the game seems to award XP in the order of your pokémon team. My second pokémon is Psyduck, third is Houndour, and both fought this Raticate. Psyduck got its XP allocation first, even though it participated second in the battle.

    Joey calls me to battle. This time, though......he has a L21 Raticate. That's the second-highest thing I've yet fought. And no, this Meowth isn't gonna beat it alone. That said, Joey, your Raticate is already faster than my Growlithe, so there's no point to further reducing its speed by making a Scary Face.
  • Creature - Florida Dragon Turtle Human
    Record #85: Ledian (L15, underleveled)

    Now I no longer have a need to raise my Ledyba. I could still keep it as an "HM slave" for Flash but I feel like I'd be better served teaching Flash to something else that I would need to grind for XP...

    Note to self: fish the original Eevee out of the Day-Care and replace it with the new Eevee. And don't think too hard about incest.
  • edited 2021-07-09 03:51:35
    Creature - Florida Dragon Turtle Human
    Record #86: Pinsir

    Darn, this thing is powerful.

    And I also leveled my Houndour up to 20, at which point I had it replace Leer with Bite.

    Bug-Catching Contest winners:

    3rd: Pokéfan William, Butterfree, 328 points
    2nd: Yunica (me), Pinsir, 340 points
    1st: Cooltrainer Nick, Pinsir, 372 points

    For getting beaten again by the same pokémon I caught, I get another everstone lol.
  • Creature - Florida Dragon Turtle Human
    Incidentally, an NPC named Ed who also participated in the contest suggests "Maybe you win with big pokémon?".

    Also, like William, "Well, I'm satisfied because I caught a pokémon that I wanted."

    lq9mljfcqus5.png

    holla holla get dolla

    Seriously, I don't know where this phrase is from. One place I read references a certain Moonbase Alpha video, but I doubt that was the origin of it.

    I pick up 40 pokédollars per use. It's apparently specifically twice the user's level.

    And starting today, Kurt will give me more than one ball per day, because I have four different apricorn types I'm giving him, and he only works on one apricorn type per day, giving me as many balls as I give him apricorns of that type.

    Record #87: Heracross

    This turned out to be an unexpectedly difficult catch. It was a sleep and at a sliver of HP and I still had trouble using both a Level Ball and a Great Ball. In the end I used one of each.

    The Level Ball, which I've newly acquired, is apparently yellow.

    My Odd Egg is getting close to hatching. However, it's not quite nearly at hatching yet -- it creates a sound effect and has a different message when it does. This sound effect isn't documented on Bulbapedia, apparently.

    Camper Todd says he even cut back his shopping to focus on training, but he still has just a level 14 Psyduck. (Spoilers: He'll have more later.)

    Youngster Joey also wants to fight! Time to pit my L18 Gastly vs. his L21 Raticate.

    My only way of damaging Raticate is Curse. First turn, it outspeeds me to do...Tail Whip. I put it to sleep, and next turn I use Curse. It stays asleep, and it just so happens to have just-right an amount of HP (probably an odd number?) that four turns of Curse don't KO it but leave it with a sliver of HP. But it only wakes up on the last turn, only to do...Tail Whip. Meanwhile I also noticed that my Curse only cost me half HP rounded down.

    Gastly really needs a better attack though.

    For fun, I decided to take my Togepi for a round of Metronome roulette against an Old Rod opponent. I fished up a L10 Magikarp and I got the following results:
    Blizzard
    Minimize
    Team Up (what even is this?)
    ThunderPunch

    I went for a second round but instead fished up a Poliwag.

    Third round:
    Shadow Ball
    Safeguard
    Ancient Power
    Outrage

    Incidentally, Togepi (and Togetic) doesn't learn any attack moves until level 38, so I just threw Rock Smash on it.

    Since I now have Rock Smash, I picked up the one item behind the smashable rock in the Burned Tower, and I also made my way out to the rocks outside the Battle Tower, where I picked up...

    Record #88: Krabby

    Since I have my Togepi with me, I might as well go give it a haircut. Also, since I'm heading to Goldenrod, I might as well also go switch out my Eevee.

    Amusingly, this means I now have a L29 Eevee. It knows Tail Whip, Sand-Attack, Growl, and Quick Attack.

    Wait...
    > It's brimming with energy.

    What does this mean?
    In Generation II only, if the Defense IVs of two Pokémon are the same, and the Special IVs are either the same or differ by 8, they cannot produce Eggs. Because of how IVs are passed down from parents, this condition suggests the Pokémon are related.

    HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA even the game doesn't want me to inbreed my pokémon

    Fine I'll bring out my first Eevee. It's not like its next three moves are worth much anyway. (Using the Day-Care causes moves to be learned by simply erasing earlier moves, starting from the top of the list.)

    Anyway, at L19 my Zubat learned Confuse Ray. This 100%-accuracy confusion move outclasses Supersonic.

    aaaaaaaaand the Odd Egg hatched, revealing a Cleffa.

    Record #89: Cleffa

    I did some brief experiments, and found that the identity of what comes out of the Odd Egg is not determined by at least the last step. Despite my rewinding repeatedly, and walking in different directions and even getting on my bike, it still hatched into a (non-shiny) Cleffa. I wonder when the RNG determines this...?

    Edit: Apparently I could have saved right before I got it and then savescummed then. Oops. Oh well, my mission isn't to get a shiny anyway and any of the seven will save me a breeding step regardless.
  • edited 2021-07-10 02:54:48
    Creature - Florida Dragon Turtle Human
    Schoolboy Alan has a gift for me, and it's a fire stone!

    Meanwhile, Bug Catcher Arnie has alerted me to the presence of a Yanma swarm on Route 35. I went to Route 35 but I still seem to be getting the regular encounter set. I'm not sure if it's because I turbo'd the process of going there. I doubt it though; I've gone to the site of a Qwilfish swarm before and I don't think it cared whether I turbo'd.

    mbknabwohosd.png

    that feel when it's *that* close

    Record #90: Quagsire

    Hmm, for some reason I was expecting Swampert. You can tell I haven't played gen 3.

    Arnie called me again, asking if I had a Drowzee, because he can't seem to find one. I mean, I can bring him mine...let's see what happens. Oh, and I just ran into a wild Drowzee like three steps away from him.

    (Spoiler: nothing happens. It's one of this randomly-generated messages.)

    > Gastly grew to Level 21!

    FINALLY
    TIME TO REPLACE LICK WITH SOMETHING THAT DOES MORE DAMAGE THAN THROWING JELLO.

    Because I am punting fighting Morty, I went through Mt. Mortar. There's much more to this cave but I just went through a small section of it and weaved around some people I think are trainers in order to get to Mahogany Town.

    There's someone blocking the Mahogany Gym, telling me to do some sightseeing first. This is suspicious. Anyway, at least I know I'm gonna be up against ice-type pokémon after Morty.

    Meanwhile, a local sign is advertising the RageCandyBar. There's a suspicious shop next to it, selling SlowpokeTail for 9800 P (some git previously tried to sell it to me at the insane price of 1,000,000 P). There's also a TinyMushroom selling for 500 P, as well as a regular pokéball and potion selling at normal prices. Also in the store is someone claiming an experiment was a success because Gyarados are "moneymakers". Very suspicious.

    Further down the road is a guy selling RageCandyBars for 300 P each. Let me turn him down for now...oh wait, he won't let me pass. Jerk. Come to think of it, the old man at the front of town also asked if I was going to see the lake...

    Also, channel 21.5 on my radio is giving off some...very weird vibes.

    Going further north from Mahogany Town, I run into a Girafarig. Apparently it's normal-type but also weak to dark-type moves, which makes me wonder about its typing.

    (Spoiler: I checked it after catching it, and realized how lucky I was not to have my Gastly hit by its STAB move.)

    Record #91: Girafarig

    Bug Catcher Wade has a berry for me, so it's time to trek back through Mt. Mortar.

    Record #92: Marill

    I feel like I'm probably wasting great balls on pokémon now, but I do have over 10 of them in my bag. And no regular pokéballs.

    seen: Golbat (underleveled wild, L13)

    Catching this won't help me get a Crobat faster since I've had my Zubat for quite a while now.

    One last thing before I go fight Morty. Day-Care man has an egg for me. By the way, old man, this is the third time in a row you've been surprised by an egg appearing between these two pokémon.

    Anyhow, here's what I've prepared for Morty:
    L22 Croconaw (64 HP, 45/43/40/42/39) - Scratch, Bite, Rage, Water Gun. A strong all-rounder who knows Bite.
    L21 Geodude (50 HP, 43/53/24/24/20) - Tackle, Selfdestruct, Rock Throw, Magnitude. Extremely slow, but knows Morty's Gengar's second-type weakness. Will probably get easily run over if Dream Eater hits it, though at least that's not its weakness.
    L20 Houndour (53 HP, 32/25/45/33/39) - Bite, Ember, Roar, Smog. Weak physical defense (remember that ghost-type attacks are physical in gen 2), but naturally resists them. Has STAB Bite, as well as ability to shuffle opponents' lineup. Technically shouldn't be available in the vanilla game.
    L21 Gastly (51 HP, 29/23/56/28/47) - Hypnosis, Night Shade, Curse, Mean Look. Has no super-effective moves (Night Shade deals fixed damage, aside from nothing to normal-types), and is in fact weak to both Shadow Ball and Dream Eater, in addition to having the defense of a wet paper bag. On the other hand, it has very good speed (and special attack which is currently sadly unused) which might make it get Hypnosis off on Morty's pokémon.
    L20 Zubat (53 HP, 30/28/23/27/32) - Leech Life, Supersonic, Bite, Confuse Ray. Its last move guarantees confusion, and it has Bite, though unfortunately dark-type is special in gen 2 and that's Zubat's weakest stat. It's not the speed demon I used to think it was, and it's actually kinda weak compared to some other mons I have, now that I look at its stats (this is something I rarely do). It's also weak to the Hypnosis + Dream Eater combo. (I could grind this two more levels to get it to evolve into Golbat, and perhaps another level after that to get Crobat, but powerleveling is an option that kinda trivializes the challenge...)
    L20 Growlithe (60 HP, 35/27/40/32/36) - Bite, Roar, Ember, Leer. Has Bite though not STAB, but its best (albeit not overwhelmingly so) stat is its special attack.
    L20 Snubbull (56 HP, 42/28/27/27/21) - Tackle, Scary Face, Bite, Charm. Has Bite, though its special is substandard and its speed is just atrocious. Also has Scary Face (speed -2 stages) and Charm (attack -2 stages).
    L20 Meowth (54 HP, 26/26/28/28/45) - Scratch, Growl, Bite, Pay Day. Second most likely to outspeed the enemy, after Gastly, even though the rest of its stats are poor. Has Bite though.
    L20 Psyduck (59 HP, 33/27/36/30/30) - Scratch, Tail Whip, Disable, Confusion. Aside from substandard physical defense, its stats are generally decent, and its best stat is special attack which it uses for Confusion, which although not STAB is still the ghosts' weakness. More importantly, it's not psychic-type itself, so it avoids being the "glass" in "glass cannon".

    (There's also Girafarig and Murkrow but they have no evolutions so I kinda don't wanna use them. Also there are Machop, Drowzee, and Abra->Kadabra, but the first two are slow and the last one I'd have to raise.)

    Seems like my best bet for now is a subset of Croconaw, Psyduck, Meowth, Geodude, Houndour, Growlithe, Snubbull.
  • Creature - Florida Dragon Turtle Human
    Venturing out at night.

    One haircut turned my Zubat from "It's friendly toward you. It looks sort of happy." to "I get the feeling that it really trusts you." This is a good sign toward my prospects of getting it to evolve from Golbat into Crobat. Also it's now level 21; it was nearly there last time anyway.

    Time to collect all the berries again.

    And here's finally an Ariados, to tell me that I wasted all that time training up a Spinarak for nothing. It does like wasting my balls though. Good thing I have a rewind feature to save me money. (It took like five attempts in total, including alternate timelines.)

    Record #93: Ariados

    Since I'm collecting berries, that takes me nearly home anyway, so I went home and checked out the decoration my (in-game) mom bought for me. It's a Charmander doll. And it's actually pretty cute. Thanks, (in-game) Mom.

    03v7kwxilhlg.png

    And apparently, after having done my daily tour of the world, my Togepi likes me more.

    And apparently I forgot to fight the Kimono Girls. BRB depositing my Togepi and fighting them.

    Left to right! And apparently these are also zero-radius trainers.
    left green: Snubbull vs. Flareon, and due to a crucial miss right at the end of the match, Snubbull loses! Play of the match goes to Flareon's Sand-Attack. (I am gonna heal at the Pokémon Center next door because I actually want Snubbull to gain XP.)
    Left blue: Snubbull vs. Espeon, and that should be an easy win for Snubbull but Espeon still gets in a Tackle and a Confusion. Come to think of it, perhaps I should use Tackle more often. Sure, it has lower power, but it's a physical move and Snubbull's physical attack is much stronger than its special attack. Anyway, it's level 21 now so I don't need to raise it any further.
    brb, taking a call from Joey
    Center red: Growlithe vs. Umbreon. This is pretty much just a Tackle vs. Ember brawl. Umbreon did try Pursuit and Tail Whip once each, but they didn't do much to swing the result, because Growlithe just consistently outdamaged Umbreon anyway.
    Right blue: Houndour vs. Vaporeon. I bet wrong that this would be the Jolteon, and facing a 2HKO on my Houndour I switch it out for Psyduck. Dunno why she doesn't use a second pokémon, but by switching between the two I can keep the Vaporeon doing the wrong move, and my Psyduck's Confusion outdamages Vaporeon's Tackle and Water Gun.
    Right red: Houndour vs. Jolteon. A very lucky first crit on a Bite leads me to an easy victory; Jolteon's Thundershock could only deal about a quarter bar's worth of damage to Houndour and it was slower.

    My prize is HM03, Surf. Good thing I remember this place.

    Two more wild battles later, and all the L20 pokémon I mentioned in my last post are L21. It's time to take on Morty's gym.

    Attempt #1

    Team: (all L21 except Croconaw) Zubat, Growlithe, Psyduck, Meowth, Geodude, Croconaw (L22)

    vs. Sage Ping
    L21 Zubat vs. L16 Gastly: no-damage win. Gastly, amusingly, Cursed itself on its first turn, but it had already taken too much damage, so it instead just fainted. I think my Zubat is Cursed though.
    L21 Growlithe vs. L16 Gastly: no-damage OHKO.
    L21 Psyduck vs. L16 Gastly: Gastly outspeeds Psyduck and manages to Lick it, but Psyduck gets a OHKO with Confusion.
    L21 Meowth vs. L16 Gastly: no-damage OHKO.
    L21 Geodude vs. L16 Gastly: Gastly moves first, usurprisingly, and Curses itself. That just makes Magnitude's job easier, and a Magnitude 7 takes it out in one hit.

    vs. Medium Grace (who uses underleveled Haunters)
    L21 Zubat vs. L20 Haunter: Haunter opens with Spite, but outspeeds Zubat and thus fails, as Zubat Bites it dealing most of its HP bar in damage. On the second turn, Haunter cleverly switches to Curse, as I avoid using Bite and choose Confuse Ray to avoid Spite as I need it to last the entire gym. But this means Zubat gets hit for 25% maxHP damage. On the third turn, Haunter Spites my Confuse Ray anyway but one more Bite finishes the encounter.
    L21 Meowth vs. L20 Haunter: Meowth outspeeds Haunter with a Bite, while Haunter opens with Mean Look, meaning I'm stuck with Meowth. A second Bite nearly finishes the job and then Haunter amusingly Curses itself to death fainting, giving Meowth a no-damage win.

    vs. Sage Jeffrey (who also uses an underleveled Haunter)
    L21 Zubat vs. L22 Haunter: Haunter opens with Mean Look, outspeeding Zubat, while Zubat Bites. Haunter then uses Curse, but with Zubat's Bite, Zubat wins on the second turn taking no damage.

    At level 22, Zubat evolves into Golbat.

    Record #94: Golbat

    Holy crap its stats are WOW: 73 HP (currently 60), 48/45/40/45/50.

    vs. Medium Martha
    L21 Growlithe vs. L18 Gastly: no-damage OHKO.
    L21 Psyduck vs. L20 Haunter (underleveled again lol): Haunter outspeeds Psyduck and opens with Curse; Psyduck's Confusion almost nails the latter half of Haunter's HP, but falls just short, meaning Psyduck takes 1/4 maxHP damage. Haunter uses Lick next turn and leaves Psyduck with just over 1/2 of its HP bar.
    L21 Meowth vs. L20 Gastly: Meowth outspeeds Gastly and uses Bite, dealing over half its HP bar worth of damage and making it flinch. A second Bite gives Meowth a no-damage win.

    vs. Leader Morty
    I forgot how many pokémon Morty uses, but I currently have four undamaged Pokémon, and one of the other two is my Golbat with about 4/5 of its HP bar remaining.
    L21 Growlithe vs. L21 Gastly: Gastly opens with Curse, outspeeding Growlithe, but Growlithe's Bite wipes Gastly off the battlefield. No-damage win.
    L21 Growlithe vs. L21 Haunter (underleveled): Haunter again outspeeds Growlithe and opens with Night Shade, dealing just over 1/3 Growlithe's HP bar of damage. I forgot to recall Growlithe, so it took Curse damage. A second Night Shade brings Growlithe down to red, but a second Bite takes out Haunter.

    Here comes the L25 Gengar! (It's actually not underleveled, because Gastly evolves into Haunter at L25 and then becoming Gengar is a trade evolution, or technically a Moon Stone evolution in this hack, but either way it's not level-based!)

    I open with Meowth. Gengar outspeeds Meowth and tries to open with Hypnosis, but fails. Meowth uses Bite, dealing a bit less than a quarter damage. On its second turn, Hypnosis hits, and I remember I failed to prep my team with Mint Berries. On the third turn, Gengar uses Dream Eater which wipes out Meowth in one hit. I bring out my Golbat. Haunter outspeeds Gengar and uses Hypnosis. I swap to Psyduck. Haunter misses with Dream Eater. I realize I could potentially waste all 20 PP of Hypnosis by constantly switching back and forth, and switch back to Golbat. Gengar uses Shadow Ball this time, though. I switch to Psyduck and Gengar's expected Dream Eater misses. I try to have my Psyduck survive it but it doesn't, unfortunately. I send out Geodude; Gengar misses on Hypnosis and I get Magnitude 5. Gengar misses again on Hypnosis and I get Magnitude 6; Gengar is in the red now...but recovers using a Gold Berry, bringing it back to over half health. Gengar's third attempt at Hypnosis on Geodude works, and I switch to Growlithe. I expect that Gengar will attempt to Shadow Ball this, and when I switch back to Geodude, I'm right and this leaves Geodude with just over half health. I bring out Croconaw, and at this point I'm trying to bait Gengar into wasting Dream Eaters by constantly switching.

    Nope, it doesn't work.

    Let's try this again, but with Mint Berries.

    Zubat vs. Gastly: Mean Look, Bite. Curse, Zubat wins.
    Growlithe vs. Gastly: Bite, Growlithe wins.
    Psyduck vs. Gastly: Lick (paralyzes Psyduck), Confusion, Psyduck wins.
    Meowth vs. Gastly: Bite, Meowth wins.
    Geodude vs. Gastly: Lick (paralyzes Geodude), Magnitude (7), Geodude wins.

    I took Psyduck's and Geodude's Mint Berries and gave them PrzCureBerries for their next battle.

    Zubat vs. Haunter: Lick, Bite. Curse, Bite, Zubat wins.
    Psyduck vs. Haunter: Psyduck cures itself of paralysis immediately. Spite (failed), Confusion. Spite (-2), Confusion, Haunter's got a sliver of HP left. Curse, Psyduck wins.

    I swap out everyone's items and give them all PrzCureBerries.

    Geodude vs. Haunter: Night Shade, Magnitude (5) (crits), Geodude wins (and doesn't even use the berry) and levels up.

    Zubat vs. Gastly: Lick, Bite (crit), Zubat wins.
    Geodude vs. Haunter: Geodude cures itself of paralysis immediately. Lick (does negligible damage), Magnitude (6), Haunter has a sliver of HP left. Spite (-3), Magnitude (6), Geodude wins.
    Meowth vs. Gastly: Bite, Mean Look. Bite, Meowth wins.

    Zubat evolves into Golbat. Golbat's stats: 62/73 HP, 48/45/40/45/50.
    Right now, Golbat, Growlithe, Geodude, and Croconaw have Mint Berries. The others have just regular Berries.

    Rematch with Morty!
    Meowth vs. Gastly: Bite, flinch. Bite, Meowth wins.
    Meowth vs. Haunter: Curse, Bite (crit), Meowth wins, levels up.

    Now if I send something out, and Hypnosis hits it, then the main issue is that Gengar follows it with Dream Eater, which heals it. If he fails to Hypnotize he is likely to try again the following turn, unless he thinks he can get a KO with Shadow Ball. If he's successfully Hypnotized something, I can switch out to something that isn't Hypnotized, at which point Dream Eater will miss, and we basically start fresh, unless he's picked Shadow Ball in which case I'm walk into STAB damage (making for a 120 power attack).

    Growlithe vs. Gengar: Hypnosis (miss), Bite. Mean Look, Bite, Gengar used Gold Berry. Hypnosis (hits), Growlithe used Mint Berry, Bite. Hypnosis (hits). Dream Eater, Growlithe in the red. Dream Eater, Growlithe faints.

    The good news about this is that Gengar's Gold Berry is used up and it's also taken a little damage. The bad news is that I'm down to three Mint Berries left.

    Lemme pick Geodude. I can get off one Magnitude, and Gengar at least can't gain that much HP since Geodude's already down to less than half health.

    Geodude vs. Gengar: Hypnosis (hits), Geodude uses Mint Berry, Magnitude (8), Gengar in the red. Hypnosis (hits). Dream Eater, Geodude falls, Gengar is back in the yellow.

    Golbat and Croconaw still have Mint Berries. But if Gengar eats either of them that'll be a ton of lost progress. However, since they have Mint Berries, they'll pull off at least one Bite before Gengar can definitively put them to sleep. Golbat is actually weak to Dream Eater, and I want my Croconaw to stay the highest level (pay no attention to the Eevee in the Day-Care), so Croconaw it is.

    Croconaw vs. Gengar: Hypnosis (miss), Bite, Gengar falls! Croconaw levels up.

    I can't deal with another Gengar, but fortunately Morty doesn't have another one.

    Psyduck vs. L23 Haunter: Night Shade, Confusion (crit). Night Shade, Psyduck in the red, Confusion, Psyduck wins, levels up!



    Looking over Morty's team in both gen 2 and the remakes, I realized that his first Haunter actually has Hypnosis, but he just used Curse instead for whatever reason. If he knew I was prepping Mint Berries he could have wrecked my strat...though the Haunter doesn't have Dream Eater. In the remake, though...it does, while the Gengar actually doesn't! The Gengar instead has Sucker Punch instead, which is a gen 4 move that takes priority and preys on the idea that the trainer will select an attack move, along with its Hypnosis, Mean Look, and Shadow Ball.

    Meanwhile, I dunno why his two Haunters have Mimic in gen 2. They're built differently in the remakes; one has Hypnosis/Dream Eater/Curse/Nightmare (making it the very nasty Sleep-based opponent), while the other has Curse/Mean Look/Sucker Punch/Night Shade (rather than Spite/Mean Look/Mimic/Night Shade).

    Anyway, as the sun comes up, Wade calls me to remind me the Bug-Catching Contest is today.
  • The thing about switching on Hypnosis is that you quickly run out of non-sleeping dudes.
    I always found it odd that Morty does not have a Misdreavus (and apparently neither does the rest of the gym), you'd think it'd make for a good rare late-game 'mon to be showcased as part of a gym-leader's roster instead of the millionth Gastly-line poke.
  • edited 2021-07-10 18:58:25
    Creature - Florida Dragon Turtle Human
    The thing about switching on Hypnosis is that you quickly run out of non-sleeping dudes.
    I always found it odd that Morty does not have a Misdreavus (and apparently neither does the rest of the gym), you'd think it'd make for a good rare late-game 'mon to be showcased as part of a gym-leader's roster instead of the millionth Gastly-line poke.
    If I can bait out Hypnosis, I know it only has 20 PP and if I can get it locked into an AI cycle of trying Hypnosis on a sleeping target then trying Dream Eater on a non-sleeping target, then I can waste all 20 PP of it (since gen 2 cares about PP, unlike gen 1).

    The problem is that I think there's at least part of Morty's AI that will just Shadow Ball something that's already weak and that it's likely to one-shot, and I'm not sure if it might just choose to do that randomly anyway. That's what makes it unsustainable.

    And yeah, the lack of Misdreavus is rather strange. And for that matter, if you look at the Violet and Azalea gyms, they contain only Pidgey-line and Spearows, and only Caterpie/Weedle lines, Ledyba, and Scyther, respectively. If I were designing these gyms I would definitely have included some more Johto-region pokémon in their lineups. Compare Kanto: you can only catch Geodude, Onix, Staryu, Voltorb, Magnemite, and Tangela much later, and while you can get Oddish or Bellsprout as early as I think Cerulean City, Erika shows off both lines as well as a Tangela (and there's a Bulbasaur user in her gym I think).

    That said, even despite their limited selections, these early Johto gyms do manage to put on quite a challenge. Also, Goldenrod does showcase a decent selection of normal-type pokémon (Sentret, Snubbull, Meowth, Jigglypuff, Clefairy, Miltank). Though, now that I check it, I'm surprised there's an overleveled Sentret in that gym -- at level >15 it should have evolved to Ferret. While evolution prevention is a mechanic available to players, it's still surprising when gym trainers don't use it. Though the Azalea gym is a far bigger offender in this regard, with multiple overleveled Caterpies/Metapods and Weedles/Kakunas.
  • Creature - Florida Dragon Turtle Human
    They still won't let me into the Tin Tower. I thought they'd let me in after I got the badge, but they made up a new excuse to not let me in.

    Discovery: if you white out during the Bug-Catching Contest, you don't lose money. Your participation just ends.
  • Creature - Florida Dragon Turtle Human
    I half-heartedly did today's Bug-Catching Contest, because I don't know of stuff to catch there other than Scyther and Pinsir.

    So I caught a L15 Beedrill.

    3rd place: Yunica (me), Beedrill, 318 points
    2nd place: Bug Catcher Josh, Scyther, 328 points
    1st place: Camper Barry, Venonat, 333 points

    WAT

    a Venonat??????

    I should remember to come back on Saturdays if the competition's this bad.

    But at least I got a Gold Berry! I thought that was the grand prize but apparently it's the third-place prize. Gold Berries are very worth it.

    Josh tells me that he heard that someone won with a Caterpie. Maybe it's just level? I mean, frankly, this competition doesn't exactly publicize its judging procedures. Barry confirms that level is factored in, to no one's surprise, but then says "they also consider other points".

    Anyway, collecting my thoughts now. My next possible moves are:
    * Olivine Lighthouse
    * Mt. Mortar
    * whatever is going on in Mahogany Town
    * Rock Smash in Rock Tunnel

    I think I'll do the last one first. Seems likely to be the quickest.

    *grabs Togepi for Rock Smash and Ledyba for Flash*

    Current team: L7 Bulbasaur, L22 Golbat, L18 Drowzee, L10 Togepi, L8 Ledyba, L24 Croconaw

    9ynf6zmi1i3d.png

    Came out the other end of this cave, at least places where I can get to, and found myself on Route 46. There are two fruit trees here, giving a PrzCureBerry and a regular Berry.
    These two trees are gonna be a pain to get to on my daily fruit farming...

    Going east brings me to Route 45, but I can't get up these ledges. I can only go south on 46. Bulbapedia informs me that I've done everything I can in Dark Cave so far, and there is another section of Dark Cave that is, strangely, entirely separate from the section I'm in. So I can just go south on Route 46.

    Going south leads me to a fork of one-way paths. I take the left and there are a couple trainers.

    seen: Ponyta (Picnicker Erin's)

    Picnicker Erin seems to be unique among rematchable trainers that she immediately lets you rematch her. No, she actually just indirectly asks you whether you'll save her number. Sure! Bye bye Schoolboy Jack.

    Youngster Joey wants a rematch.

    L18 Drowzee vs. L21 Raticate! Scary Face, Confusion. Tail Whip, Confusion. Hyper Fang OHKOs Drowzee! Okay, he's actually good now.

    L22 Golbat vs. L21 Raticate, lightly scuffed! Quick Attack, Confuse Ray, Raticate is now confused. Bite, Raticate flinched, Raticate's in the red. Quick Attack, Leech Life (sucks very little). Quick Attack, Bite, Golbat wins.

    I go right back through Dark Cave to the other path at the fork, and fight Hiker Bailey. Amusingly, Bailey sent out his Geodudes in the following order: 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th, 3rd.

    > Bulbasaur grew to L15
    > learns PoisonPowder
    ok
    > learns Sleep Powder
    wait what
    *checks Bulbapedia*
    Oh, just these two. I think I'm gonna go with Sleep Powder. It'll be more useful when I'm catching stuff.
  • Creature - Florida Dragon Turtle Human
    Record #95: Ivysaur

    Eevee egg #5 of 5 get!

    Time to retrieve my Eevee and Ditto. FYI I put them in at levels 20 and 10. Eevee is now level 33, and Ditto is now level 30.

    Happiness values:
    Ekans: "It's quite cute." (100-149)
    Ivysaur: "It's quite cute." (100-149)
    Golbat: "I get the feeling that it really trusts you." (200-249)
    Croconaw: "I get the feeling that it really trusts you." (200-249)
    Togepi: "It's friendly toward you. It looks sort of happy." (150-199)
    Quilava: "It's friendly toward you. It looks sort of happy." (150-199)

    Camper Todd is calling me in the middle of the night to tell me that Goldenrod Dept. Store is having its bargain sale! Perfect timing since I could use some extra Pokéballs.

    nsl38eji2mbe.png

    I'm not running out of money anytime soon, so why the heck not.

    And I just met Sunny, from the day-of-the-week siblings. He gave me a Magnet.

    Oh, it's a new day so I should go get a haircut for something. My Togepi's coming along nicely, so...maybe my Cleffa? (FYI it's currently "quite cute".)

    Oops, even the little brother charges 300 P. Hold on, lemme have my Meowth generate some money out of thin air.

    Some dumb luck produced the following rather amusing image:

    9xjk2do826hm.png

    Normally, Poison Sting can't poison a poison-type pokémon. But, it set the poison status on Ditto before the Ditto transformed, so, this Ditto-Ekans is actually taking poison damage.

    Oh, also:

    rn8uuu0p5d7b.png
    5h0eummhir1n.png

    This is how much my Golbat loves me.

    Well, it's now a Crobat.

    Record #96: Crobat
  • edited 2021-07-11 06:54:54
    Creature - Florida Dragon Turtle Human
    Currently screwing around with some new team members. My next expected gym is a steel-type gym, and the only things good against that are fire, ground, and fighting.

    I'll bring back Machop later, but for now I have Geodude nearby and Slugma in my team. Slugma is (1) very slow, and (2) starts with Smog and Ember, and learns Rock Throw at level 15. Interesting. I guess I have an alternative Rock Throw user now.

    I also brought Meowth, Koffing, and Ekans together. I'll take a screenshot of them in my team later but for now they're sitting in Box 1. I should also take a further screenshot after I get a Victreebel, Ekans, Weezing, Wobbuffet, and Snubbull.

    I also brought my higher-level Oddish and my Sandshrew to the fore.

    Potential evolution chains to finish soon:
    Houndour at L24
    Sandshrew at L22
    Ekans at L22
    Snubbull at L23
    Togepi at any level when friendship is high enough

    Drowzee at L26

    Abra at L16
    Gastly at L25
    Geodude at L25
    Machop at L28 (likely useful in the Olivine gym)

    Evolution chains I could finish anytime with no drawbacks:
    Onix
    Scyther (maybe...Scyther learns Wing Attack at L30 while Scizor learns Metal Claw instead then)
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