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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
    Your TEAM ROCKET MEMBERSHIP STATUS evolved from GRUNT to EXECUTIVE!

    Record #161: Persian
  • Creature - Florida Dragon Turtle Human
    Your SMALL SPROUT evolved into DROOLING PLANT!

    Record #162: Gloom

    The most amusing thing is that I'd been sitting on two level 20 Oddishes for a while now. They would evolve at level 21.
  • edited 2024-02-21 20:09:57
    Creature - Florida Dragon Turtle Human
    One giant training montage after the last time I challenged Jasmine (which was on December 3), I've since leveled up a ton of pokémon to 30.

    Unfortunately I forgot to record what levels I challenged her at the first time, but my pokémon were probably around levels 25-28 at the time. (I remember my Feraligatr was level 28, which I treated as a de facto level cap for the rest of my pokémon, aside from wild-caught pokémon.) A type advantage can often let me win a matchup against a pokémon a few levels higher, but with a few more levels and a properly trained pokémon to cover its own weaknesses, this advantage easily becomes unfavorable.

    As you may already know, her team consists of the following:

    Magnemite, level 30, Thunderbolt, Sonic Boom, Supersonic, Thunder Wave
    Magnemite, level 30, Thunderbolt, Sonic Boom, Supersonic, Thunder Wave
    Steelix, level 35, Iron Tail, Rock Throw, Sunny Day, Screech. In this hack, Steelix has a Gold Berry. Also, she uses one Hyper Potion on Steelix.

    She often sends out her Steelix second. (In gen 2, unlike in gen 1, trainers can choose the next pokémon they send out.)

    This time, I limited myself to three pokémon, with items. I had at first picked out Quagsire, Sandslash, Primeape, Machoke, Slugma, and Growlithe (all level 30), but then decided that since she has no lieutenants (and I usually do a team of six to get through all lieutenants, with no items other than held items), I should walk in with an appropriate limit on myself as well.

    Here was my team:
    Growlithe, level 30, 88 HP, 55/41, 61/49, 55 - Bite, Roar, Ember, Take Down; held item: PrzCureBerry
    Quagsire, level 30, 110 HP, 66/65, 54/54, 39 - Water Gun, Dig, Headbutt, Amnesia; held item: Berry
    Sandslash, level 30, 95 HP, 73/79, 45/51, 51 - Slash, Defense Curl, Sand-Attack, Dig; held item: Berry

    Obviously I mean to exploit a type advantage, especially with Quagsire, who is effectively my ace meant to face her ace (i.e. her Steelix), as Quagsire has two advantageous attacks and one defensive advantage against steel-type moves (as well as a different advantage against electric-type moves).

    Here's how the battle went:

    Growlithe vs. Magnemite: Growlithe outspeeds and uses Ember, dealing about 3/4 bar damage. Magnemite uses Thunder Wave, which is precisely what I prepared that PrzCureBerry for. On the second turn, Growlithe KOs Magnemite with Ember.

    Growlithe vs. Steelix: I debate whether to try to force out her second Magnemite using Roar. I opt not to, but to plant in some damage instead, with Ember. Growlithe outspeeds and hits with Ember, doing a surprisingly large amount of damage -- about 1/3 of Steelix's bar, but Steelix uses Rock Throw, doing about half a bar of damage to Growlithe. On the second turn, I decide to go with the Roar strat -- but Steelix outspeeds, suggesting it might have been a speed tie. Steelix uses Rock Throw, and Growlithe is KO'd.

    Quagsire vs. Steelix: I'm starting this match with a slight advantage, but I had expected to press my advantage as much as possible anyway. (I guess I could do a rematch where I force myself to start against a full-HP Steelix...) Steelix's strategy seems to be to use Sunny Day to ward off any water attacks from me, which means it's pretty good that I have Dig -- though Steelix's physical defense is definitely its strong suit and Dig is ground-type which is all physical in this generation. And if the sunlight is already strong, it uses Iron Tail -- which Quagsire resists, though it still does a bit under or oer a third of an HP bar's worth of damage, albeit after Steelix did Screech and also scored a third defense stage drop via Iron Tail (under before, over after). However, between Steelix being "distracted" using Screech and setting up Sunny Day, as well as two very lucky (for me, unlucky for Jasmine) Iron Tail misses, I end up winning, after both of our pokémon spend their held items and she uses her Hyper Potion. I actually got to use Water Gun twice, whenever the sunlight faded, since Quagsire outsped Steelix (which is gloriously slow, apparently even in comparison to Quagsire). I actually came extremely close to KOing Steelix without her using her Hyper Potion, but, y'know, close doesn't count in pokémon battles. Anyhow, I wouldn't have lasted through another Iron Tail, so I still barely won, and basically thanks to Growlithe's help.

    Given that I'd used Growlithe's help Quagsire KO Steelix, against her finisher Magnemite, I opted not to switch.

    Quagsire vs. Magnemite: I forget whether Quagsire simply outsped or whether Magnemite genuinely missed with Sonic Boom or Supersonic (which is what it uses when she knows she can't get around a ground-type immunity to electricity), but this was an anticlimactic OHKO with Dig.

    So, now I've defeated Jasmine and earned the Mineral Badge. Finally, my sixth badge in a gen 2 game. I also get the TM for Iron Tail with it.

    Seen: Steelix

    Don't get me wrong. She's plenty strong. I just spent two months and change training and carefully prepping for this "rematch". (Okay, I also AFK'd for real life stuff, but you get the idea. I definitely didn't have everyone at level 30 the last time.) She's actually got far more powerful teams in rematches, which were implemented in later games. Oh, and starting in gen 3, pokémon have abilities, which gives her Steelix the Sturdy ability in gen 4 (HGSS), which really comes to shine starting in gen 5, where it just hard-stops any incoming damage at 1 HP remaining, basically guaranteeing that she can Hyper Potion. In short, Steelix is quite strong, and Jasmine is amazing.

    Speaking of rematches, my current hack does let me rematch gymleaders -- a feature I haven't yet used, but I'm actually thinking of doing so to see whether her Steelix would just outright beat my Quagsire in a one-on-one. The fact that I gained no levels lets me actually try this out.
  • edited 2024-02-21 20:11:32
    Creature - Florida Dragon Turtle Human
    Non-canon rematch!

    Growlithe doesn't have a PrzCureBerry so the paralysis from Thunder Wave sticks this time. Also, Thunderbolt does 47 damage, more than half the 88 HP that Growlithe has.

    Water Gun deals about a third of Steelix's HP bar worth of damage, while Steelix sets up Screech. After another Water Gun, Steelix's Iron Tail crits and deal about 2/3 of Quagsire's HP in damage. Steelix's Gold Berry activates, and I realize I forgot to put a Berry no Quagsire. Another Water Gun, then Iron tail misses. Another Water Gun, and I actually knock out Steelix without triggering Jasmine's Hyper Potion.

    Quagsire, of the derpy face and the multiple type advantages, turns out to be pretty much Steelix's biggest weakness, at least based on Jasmine's moveset and AI in this game.

    Anyway, at this point I send out Sandslash (which I didn't use last time) against her last Magnemite. Again, a one-Dig knockout. If I had sent out Growlithe instead, Magnemite wouldn't need to waste a turn on Thunder Wave and could go straight for the KO with Thunderbolt and the only question is whether Growlithe would outspeed with Ember (I think it does) and plant some damage before falling.
  • edited 2024-02-21 20:13:54
    Creature - Florida Dragon Turtle Human
    Come to think of it, I think the first time I won I outsped Magnemite with Quagsire. Because I was still in yellow bar at the end and if I had gotten hit with Sonic Boom I would have been in red bar. Only possible exceptions to this are Supersonic or Sonic Boom misses (and I know I didn't get hit with confusion).
  • Creature - Florida Dragon Turtle Human
    Also, I now have access to an ice-type move. I thought my first access would come through Shellder but this accidentally happened because I decided to level up Remoraid first.
    Correction: I've had access to Shellder's Aurora Beam this whole time. I just never bothered to try using Shellder yet.
  • Creature - Florida Dragon Turtle Human
    While training up before the Red Gyarados:

    Record #163: Gyarados

    This is another one for the underleveled pile: a level 15 Gyarados.

    As for that shiny Red Gyarados...for some reason that took like eight Heavy Balls to catch, while I got the underleveled one on my first try with one Heavy Ball. (Come to think of it I should have used a Level Ball...) I did mess up and let my Noctowl faint (it has Hypnosis to induce sleep status) and had to rely on my backup Magneton to provide paralyze status instead, but I wonder if it's just bad luck.
  • Creature - Florida Dragon Turtle Human
    Doing more training.

    Had a full-HP Noctowl at level 27, already with some XP toward the next level. Faced a wild L23 Geodude. The Geodude used Selfdestruct...and left Noctowl with 2 HP, and one level higher.

    frncjv26g0s3.jpg
  • Creature - Florida Dragon Turtle Human
    Lance: "come see me in Mahogany town"

    me: does the fruit tree rounds, does some training, gets my daily pokéballs from Kurt, buys a ton of Fresh Water and a Lemonade from the Goldenrod department store, buys the Fire Punch, Ice Punch, and ThunderPunch TMs from there as well, reorganizes my item box, realizes I don't have Revives and buys them from Ecruteak

    Incidentally, I learned today that Revives aren't available in the game to the player until Ilex Forest (a single one) and Goldenrod City (repeatedly purchaseable).
  • Creature - Florida Dragon Turtle Human
    I am at 222 hours logged on this game.

    I think this includes some fast-forwarding and some accidental idling. Though this *is* still a pretty long time.
  • edited 2024-02-26 17:13:49
    Creature - Florida Dragon Turtle Human
    Lance: "What took you, Yunica?"

    Dangit, I was called out.

    Also, lol @ the game using something that looks like Tackle to animate Hyper Beam using overworld sprites.
  • Creature - Florida Dragon Turtle Human
    And I realized just how overleveled I am at this point.

    Rocket Grunts start attacking me with...L17 Drowzee, L19 Zubat; L16 Zubat, L17 Grimer, L18 Rattata...

    lol this time I am the one with the (L29) Koffing

    "Surveillance cams are in the pokémon statues. We'll keep appearing until you trigger a secret switch." Why, thanks for telling me this.
  • Creature - Florida Dragon Turtle Human
    L20 Magnemite, L20 Magnemite, L20 Magnemite,...
    L16 Rattata, L16 Rattata, L16 Rattata, L16 Rattata...
    L21 wild Geodude and Koffing, L23 wild Voltorb...

    Anyway I caught one of them wild Voltorbs while I was at it. (My earlier Voltorb was a trade pokémon.)
    Also caught a female Koffing (since I had a male Koffing).

    Y'know, I realized, narratively, I should be capturing all of these pokémon, since they're otherwise trapped here. Though it's more difficult than it sounds.

    I went and captured another male Koffing. And a female Koffing. And a Voltorb. And finally, a male Geodude (my previous one is female).

    (Pretend I didn't go running back to the pokémon center to deposit items and move pokémon to another box.)

    Anyway, second floor! L18 Venonat, L18 Venonat, L18(!) Golbat, L19 Raticate, L24(!) Ditto (okay, this dungeon is now actually trying to be serious), L22 Koffing, L22 Koffing, ...

    I have to AFK but we'll be right back after these messages.
  • Creature - Florida Dragon Turtle Human
    L18 Ekans, L18 Gloom, L17 Rattata, L17 Zubat, L17 Rattata...

    Don't tell anyone, but I went back to the pokémon center and got my Shellder and Sudowoodo.

    Time to fight a Rocket Executive! L22 Zubat, L24 Raticate, L22 Koffing.

    Got ambushed by two grunts. "However strong you are, you can't take both of us at the same time!" Really? Try me.
    ...oh, never mind, Lance showed up.
    "You had an accomplice? Where is your sense of honor?" LMAO a Team Rocket member asking me this.
    Well anyway, time to fight another Rocket Executive. She uses an underleveled Arbok (L23), a Gloom (L23), and a Murkrow (L25).
    Your Arbok beat up my Shellder! That makes me mad. *sends out Magneton and shocks the s### out of the Arbok* (seriously, it paralyzed on the first Thundershock)
    The Gloom fight was funny, because I used Weepinbell. First turn was Sleep Powder (miss) vs. Sweet Scent; second turn was Sleep Powder hit, third turn was Cut, fourth turn was Cut vs. wake up and Acid, fifth turn was me turning the tables and also using Acid.

    "Sorry, Yunica. I saw how well you were doing and and hung back." Well, that was nice; I picked up all the XP. Thanks, Lance.

    Oh hey, underleveled Electrodes! The first one blew up in my face. The second one...well, I tried to catch it. It took wayyyy too many tries -- including like seven Level Balls, across multiple resets. Then again, it probably took so long because I didn't reduce its HP.

    Record #164: Electrode

    Do note that this is particularly annoying to do since Electrodes are gloriously fast (fastest base speed in both gen 1 and gen 2!) and these know Selfdestruct. Heck, every wild pokémon in this hideout knows Selfdestruct. In fact, the first time I played through this part of the story (in my last playthrough I did this before challenging Jasmine), I'm pretty sure everything just went and exploded in my face, including all three Electrodes.

    Third one also blew up in my face, in case you're wondering. Wait, I reset to try to get XP, but this time I saved this one too!

    Lance gives me the HM for Whirlpool, giving me access to the Whirl Islands.

    "Yunica, the journey to becoming a pokémon master is long and hard. Knowing this, will you continue?
    ...
    Well, if you wanted to quit, you wouldn't have chased this dream in the first place. I look forward to seeing you again!"

    (I forgot his exact phrasing, but yeah. This dream has been a long time coming. Even IRL.)

    Well, now the guy trying to get me to buy RageCandyBars Cakes of Rage says he's sold out. I knew he was suspicious.

    Meanwhile, the guard in the second guardhouse up to Lake of Rage gives me TM36. Finally gives me access to the strongest (albeit not that strong) poison-type attack in the game, Sludge Bomb.

    Oh, the other guard going up that way says no one goes to the Lake of Rage these days. Despite me being in and out of here like 20 or more times already.

    I went back up to the Lake of Rage. And was unexpectedly greeted with a fisher! Oh no, this is the guy with six Magikarps isn't it...or four, at least. All L22 Magikarp, all day long.

    There's another trainer, And he wants to battle with the pokémon he just caught. Pfft, probably another Magi--wait it's a L27 Gyarados! Holy crap!

    And one more trainer, who came here for the Red Gyarados. She's now wondering what happened to it. hmmmm
    Anyway she has a L25 Skiploom and a L25 Ninetales.

    Seen: Ninetales

    Well, that was a messy battle. Skiploom with Mega Drain is a pretty potent opponent, especially at super effective and four levels higher.
    Anyway, after I win, she remarks that she's seen a pink Butterfree. It's not clear whether she's referencing the shiny form in gen 2 (which has pinkish wings) or the actual Pink Butterfree that showed up in the TV series. Probably the former, but it would be funny if it were the latter.
  • Creature - Florida Dragon Turtle Human
    That jerk still isn't letting me go east from Mahogany.
  • Creature - Florida Dragon Turtle Human
    Planning for Pryce's gym (which I have not yet even stepped foot into):

    Ice is weak to fighting, rock, and fire, but resists ice. It is strong against flying, dragon, grass, ground, but less effective against steel, fire, water, and ice.

    It is notable that many ice-type pokémon are also water-type. Fire-type and rock-type pokémon are thus vulnerable to counterattacks.

    Dual-type rock/ground pokémon (like geodude and rhyhorn) are particularly hilarious in that they can both take and deal super effective damage when fighting ice-types. They're at an even greater disadvantage against water-type attacks which do quadruple damage.

    Looking at my boxes (current levels indicated)...
    * Sudowoodo L24: a rare single-rock-type with STAB moves. Armed with Rock Throw, itll get the better Rock Slide starting at L28. (It also has the fighting-type Low Kick.) Unfortunately it's weak to water-type attacks and its base special defense is only mediocre anyway.
    * Growlithe L30, Vulpix L30, Quilava L30, Slugma L30, Houndoom L27, Flareon (currently Eevee L5): all fire-type (thus also weak to water) with fire STAB moves. There is at least one ice/psychic pokémon, Jynx, for which Bite (Growlithe, Vulpix, Houndoom STAB) might be useful. Slugma also has Rock Throw, for what it's worth.
    * Primeape L30, Machoke L30: both are fighting-type with STAB moves.
    * Azumarill L30: water-type but with a rock-type move (Rollout, along with Defense Curl to make it stronger). Probably a strong contender.
    * "Wrathwag" L19: Poliwrath has a defensive advantage but not much offensive advantage due to the lack of fighting moves. Well, Submission exists, though it does recoil damage, and I'd have to wait until L35 to get it. Heracross L10 has a similar problem in that its only fighting STAB move is Reversal, which is basically like Flail (lower HP = more powerful).
    * Ampharos L30, Lanturn L30, and Magneton L30 are all electric-type with STAB moves, targeting weakness of the common accompanying type. Lanturn and Magneton also have secondary types that help resist ice-type moves. Lanturn seems like a good contender.
    * Many other water pokémon (Feraligatr L31, Tentacruel L30, Psyduck L30, Wartortle L20, Shellder L21, Goldeen L26, Bropoke L23, Kingpoke L26, Vaporeon (currently Eevee L5)) are somewhat useful defensively, I guess. (However, Gyarados L15/L30 (or Magikarp L10 after it evolves) and Mantyne L21 and Quagsire L30 actually negate their defensive advantage with their secondary type's weakness.)
    * Grass pokémon are weak to ice but can be useful for tackling water-type opponents. These include Viloddish L21, Belloddish L20, Chikorita L13, Ivysaur L30, Weepinbell L31, and Sunkern L14. (Exeggcute L10 and Paras L10 are useless in this regard as they gets no grass-type attacks anytime soon.)

    I might make a go at this gym soon with Azumarill, Lanturn, Primeape, Machoke, Sudowoodo (after some more training), and Slugma.


    Looking ahead: The last gym uses dragon-type pokémon. It is weak to dragon and ice but resists fire, water, grass, and electric. It is more effective against dragon and less effective against steel. (It's one of the two types with an attack advantage on itself, the other being ghost.)

    Pokémon who might have access to dragon-type attacks: I can only think of Gyarados for now.
    Pokémon who might have access to ice-type attacks (and their current levels): Shellder L21, Octillery L29, Vaporeon (currently Eevee L5)
  • And I realized just how overleveled I am at this point.
    I feel like that happens often in RPGs with bifurcations, there's no mechanic such that whichever path you choose at first will end up too easy for whenever it's time to go through it.
    (Unless I'm misremembering and you can't do the Team Rocket hideout before Olivine City.
    I guess it beats the alternative of the first one you choose being too hard.
    (I forgot his exact phrasing, but yeah. This dream has been a long time coming. Even IRL.)
    Finally it's revealed why GMH is into taxonomy.
  • Creature - Florida Dragon Turtle Human
    > taxonomy

    wait, what? lol

    Oh, is this about "you grew up with Pokémon; no wonder you're into animals and plants"?

    Anyway, in my next post, I challenge Pryce.

    In the interest of what you just mentioned, you may be interested to know that Pryce's highest-level pokémon isn't even as high level as Jasmine's Steelix.

    So yeah, I definitely overleveled. Honestly, it feels like the game either expects you to fight Pryce first, or expects the fact that Jasmine has no lieutenants to mean it can throw a tougher challenge at you.
  • Creature - Florida Dragon Turtle Human
    Like I mentioned above, I went and challenged the Mahogany City gym. Usual rules apply: I bring in six pokémon, and use no items other than any held items (which are kinda useless in this case since I don't even have access to Burnt Berries).

    Skier Roxanne's L?? Jynx: After opening with Primeape, I switched to my L28 Sudowoodo. It used Powder Snow, Ice Punch, and Powder Snow against my Sudowoodo, who was barely able to defeat it by using repeated applications of Rock Slide.

    Seen: Jynx

    Boarder Brad's L27 Swinub (x2): I defeated the first one with Primeape, and the second one with Azumarill, where I confirmed that it is indeed part ground-type.

    Seen: Swinub

    Also, Brad said something about not playing games. Out-of-universe, ironic.

    Skier Clarissa's L29 Dewgong: defeated by my Primeape.

    Seen: Dewgong

    For Boarder Ronald's L25 Seel I opened with Slugma. It used Headbutt, I used Rock Throw. (I suspect it doesn't have a water-type move?) I switch to Lanturn, it Headbutts again. I use Spark, defeating it. Ronald's next L25 Seel is also defeated by Lanturn's Spark. He sends out his L26 Dewgong last; Spark doesn't defeat it in one turn, but it Growls, for some reason.

    Seen: Seel

    Boarder Douglas sends out a L25 Shellder first, prompting me to switch from my Slugma opener to Lanturn; Shellder does an Aurora Beam (in the least surprising move given that I'd do the same thing with Shellder). For his L26 Cloyster, I send out Azumarill, using the Defense Curl -> Rollout strategy. Cloyster gets two Aurora Beams in, doing a small amount of damage, before trying Supersonic to no avail, and Rollout has demolished it after that point (I think we had a speed tie). Guessing at Shellder's moveset, I take a chance with Slugma. The first turn, it Withdraws, and my Rock Throw deals little damage. Next turn: Protect, Smog (miss). Protect, Smog (miss) again. Aurora Beam (deals very little damage to Slugma), Smog (successfully poisons). Protect, poison damage, Ember. Withdraw, poison damage, Ember (which deals a pretty decent amount of damage despite being not very effective). Aurora Beam, Smog (I go cheap despite the fact that Ember could beat it now, and lol Smog doesn't). Protect, poison damage, Slugma wins.

    Douglas reveals that Pryce's secret is that "he meditates under a waterfall daily to strength his mind and body." (Though, I'm pretty sure you can find him here anytime. :P)

    Time for Pryce! He emphasizes his age and experience, before beginning the battle.

    vs. L30 Seel:
    Switch Slugma for Lanturn, Seel uses Headbutt.
    Lanturn uses Spark, procs paralysis. Seel uses Icy Wind, which doesn't do much damage; Lanturn's speed falls.
    I try to go cheap, have Lanturn use Flail. Seel uses Rest.
    Lanturn uses Spark, Seel is asleep.
    Lanturn uses Spark, Seel faints.

    vs. L32 Dewgong: I take a chance and send out Slugma.
    Dewgong uses Headbutt, Slugma flinches.
    Dewgong uses Headbutt, Slugma faints.
    I send out Machoke.
    Dewgong uses Aurora Beam, which does a decent chunk of damage; Machoke uses Karate Chop and deals just under half damage.
    Dewgong uses Aurora Beam again. Machoke uses Karate Chop again and crits. Dewgong faints.
    vs. L34 Piloswine: I send out Azumarill.
    Azumarill uses Defense Curl; Piloswine uses Icy Wind, which doesn't do much damage, but causes Azumarill's speed to fall.
    Piloswine now outspeeds (or speed tie), uses Fury Attack, crits on first hit, hits twice. Azumarill uses Rollout, does a piddly amount of damage (because I forgot ground resists rock).
    Piloswine uses Fury Attack, crits on 4th hit, hits 5 times. Azumarill uses Rollout, deals some more damage.
    Piloswine uses Fury Attack, hits 3 times. Each attack is dealing like 4 damage, but Azumarill is now at only 24/107 HP. Azumarill uses Rollout, deals a pretty significant chunk of damage; Piloswine is at about 1/4 or less health left, which makes it use its Gold Berry to just about half.
    Pryce ues a Hyper Potion anyway, bringing Piloswine to full HP, wisely sensing that the next Rollout will take down Piloswine. Azumarill uses Rollout, bringing Piloswine down to red bar (about 1/6 HP left).
    Piloswine uses Fury Attack, which hits 4 times, leaving Azumarill at 8 HP. Azumarill uses Rollout once more, defeating Piloswine and leveling up to 31.

    Seen: Piloswine

    Azumarill was the MVP, as expected, though not quite as fully expected, since I was silly enough to use Rollout against something that wasn't actually weak to it.

    I feel bad for Sudowoodo. This gym should have been the time for it to show off, but it barely got to do that. Then again, it was my fault; Jynx probably has good special attack, and Sudowoodo's specal defense isn't its strong suit.

    In case you're curious, here's my team after going through the gym: Slugma fainted (0/76), Sudowoodo in red bar (12/84), Muscle at 39/99, Primeape still at full (89/89), Azumarill in red bar (11/110), Lanturn at about 70% (92/127).

    Meanwhile, I'm also surprised I didn't see Lapras here.

    Anyway, I have now gotten the Glacier Badge! (or the GlacierBadge lol)

    I also get TM16, which contains Icy Wind. As expected, nothing learns it naturally.
  • Creature - Florida Dragon Turtle Human
    I checked, nothing in gen 2 naturally learns every gen 2 gymleader's TM move I've gotten so far. In case you're wondering, for gen 1 gymleaders, most of their signature moves are now naturally (i.e. on level up) learned by at least some pokémon in gen 2, even some pokémon that existed in gen 1. The only exception is Toxic.

    Also, I think this gym is the first gym I beat on my first try. With the possible exception of Faulkner's gym in Violet City. I know for sure I've lost to Bugsy, Whitney, Morty, Chuck, and Jasmine.
  • Creature - Florida Dragon Turtle Human
    Upon stepping out of the gym, Prof. Elm calls me. There's suddenly a Team Rocket radio broadcast! They had more tricks up their sleeve despite being flushed out of Mahogany Town...

    I checked my radio. Oak's PKMN Talk, Pokémon Music, Lucky Channel, and Buena's Password have all been hijacked by a Team Rocket announcement, seemingly aimed at Giovanni but also publicly bragging.

    I also take the time to call some people, namely Prof. Elm (who says he made a new discovery -- that the time eggs take to hatch depends on the pokémon), as well as my mom, who says she's never been as far as Mahogany Town. Also I've saved up 31440 pokédollars.

    By the way, various NPCs will comment on how the radio broadcast has gone weird.
  • Creature - Florida Dragon Turtle Human
    But at least that jerk is gone from guarding Route 44. And I wasn't careful where I was walking, because I get challenged right off the bat by Psychic Phil.
    vs. L27 Natu:
    Sudowoodo is my opener by default (since Slugma is down), and has just 12 HP left.
    Natu: Confuse Ray. Sudowoodo: hits itself in confusion, down to 1 HP.
    Natu: Future Sight. Sudowoodo: uses Rock Slide anyway. OHKO.
    Sudowoodo gets a very clutch win anyway.
    vs. L29 Kadabra: I send out basically the only pokémon I have that isn't either weak to psychic attacks or in red bar -- Lanturn. The game's levels have caught up to me.
    Kadabra (which, as we've learned from gen 1, is quite fast): Future Sight, which fails. (I think it's because there's one coming already.) Lanturn: Thunder Wave, paralzyes Kadabra.
    Kadabra: Psybeam. Lanturn: Spark. Both pokémon are now at just over half health. Future Sight happens..."But it failed!"...however that works lol. The thread of prophecy has been severed.
    Lanturn: Spark. (I guess there was a speed tie.) Kadabra is defeated.

    After beating Phil, I get a call from Mom, who says she bought this adorable doll and put it in my room. I was just now thinking about how I haven't heard about her shopping for random things in a while. I'll have to check it out next time I Fly home.

    Before I go running back to the Mahogany Pokémon Center, though, I'll want to grab a Burnt Berry from the tree here.
  • Oh, is this about "you grew up with Pokémon; no wonder you're into animals and plants"?
    Yeah, that, and I'm kinda curious what it is that you thought I meant (I guess I was too specific by stating it was taxonomy?).
    I know caring about plot in Pokémon games is the same as caring about plot in porn, but even as a kid it bummed me that the villains in gen 2 weren't any different than they were in gen 1, to the point that their ultimate goal was reaching out to their gen 1 leader.
    I just checked and in the remakes they at least have leaders who are characters of their own, so that's an improvement.
  • Creature - Florida Dragon Turtle Human
    Rockets have blocked off the Game Corner. And the Flower Shop. And various other places of interest in Goldenrod City. The number of NPCs milling about has dropped significantly -- so much so that there's no longer that one NPC blocking my way when I run from one end of town to the other.

    Anyway, brb, training.

    > Your CHIKORITA evolved into SEASONING!

    Record #165: Bayleef

    Meanwhile, poor Phanpy is here getting to the same level (16) and learning nothing good. It's still stuck with Tackle, Growl, and Defense Curl. At the next level it's gonna get...Flail. Yeah.

    Looking through my TM collection, it seems I can make it a more useful pokémon by teaching it Headbutt, Rollout (which it naturally learns much later), Mud-Slap, and Strength. FWIW, the Headbutt TM is reacquirable in the vanilla game. Same with Rock Smash, another move Phanpy can learn. Actually, maybe I'll teach Rock Smash. Type coverage and field utility.

    Wade wants to challenge me to a battle. He finally has a Butterfree nowadays.

    Anyway, I made up my mind. Phanpy now knows Mud-Slap, Rock Smash, Defense Curl, and Flail.

    > encounter a high level Zubat

    Okay, I'm teaching it Rollout.
  • Creature - Florida Dragon Turtle Human
    Speaking of movesets, I'm starting to feel a bit less annoyed at Sunkern not getting Razor Leaf, after being nearly pwned by a Skiploom with Mega Drain.
  • Creature - Florida Dragon Turtle Human
    [later]

    What the heck? Four Razor Leaf misses in a row???

    Note to self for later: Teach Kingler Whirlpool.
  • Creature - Florida Dragon Turtle Human
    [later]

    And time to start tackling the Rockets.

    Seen: Muk. An underleveled one, at that -- L25. I like how I defeated it -- my Arbok Glared at it to paralyze it, then used Bite over and over again -- every turn after that, it was either fully paralyzed or flinching.

    > Rocket Grunt has only one pokémon, a Weezing
    > Rocket Grunt orders Weezing to Selfdestruct
    > Rocket Grunt loses
    > "You're kidding!"

    Seen: Porygon

    And now I've seen a Rocket Executive with a full team of six -- and they're L30 Koffings and one L32 Weezing! (that knows Explosion!) The game is definitely getting serious.

    Okay, I just finished that whole sequence with a bunch of Fresh Water used and still three fainted pokémon. That was messy. And surprisingly tough.

    I reconfigured my team to be "Bropoke" (Slowpoke) L25, Feraligatr L33, Sandslash L30, Shellder L25, Arbok L30, Slugma L30.

    And just in time! Here comes the rival, with a L32 Golbat (curious how he doesn't have a Crobat =P), L30 Magnemite, L30 Haunter (complete with Shadow Ball, but he's not exactly as potent as Morty's Gengar with it, at least not against my L33 Feraligatr, though now that I think about it I should have used Sandslash against Haunter), L34 Meganium (which took out a lot of my pokémon and left me actually worried that I might lose this battle, but fortunately my Arbok had hit it with paralysis and both Arbok and Sandslash had managed to land some hits on it before my Shellder got a very lucky string of fully-paralyzed turns from Meganium and leveled from defeating it (on the other hand my Arbok was rather unlucky in that full-paralysis didn't affect Meganium when it was still facing Arbok)), and finally a L34 Sneasel.

    Seem: Meganium, Sneasel

    That Sneasel is new.

    And anyway, Kishgal is definitely living up to his name at this point. A very tough opponent.

    That's enough for now. We're running screaming back to the pokémon center.
  • Creature - Florida Dragon Turtle Human
    a level 23 muk is very underleveled
  • Creature - Florida Dragon Turtle Human
    Fire Punch is a surprisingly strong move. An enemy trainer seemed to figure out (dunno if they really did according to the AI lol) that Fire Punch, despite being not-very-effective, was doing significantly more damage than Smog.

    I mean, the difference is obvious to a human player, but yeah.
  • edited 2024-03-16 12:38:39
    Creature - Florida Dragon Turtle Human
    > Golbat uses Supersonic; it fails
    > Shellder uses Aurora Beam
    > Golbat uses Supersonic; it fails
    > Shellder uses Aurora Beam

    me: "Why don't you use Confuse Ray?"

    > Golbat uses Confuse Ray

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