Let's Play! Let's Catch 'em All in Pokémon Mystery Dungeon! (Part 31 up: Wish Cave (2) & End))

[Ullar]

i have since been informed my code was buggy for hammer bros

16FY 13S? 48F!
MF?2 6N60 !7?W

new one

 

[Altissimo]

Replies

Hydrachomp: Sky Tower's a little easy. To fix that, I'll use a lower-leveled Pokémon from my recruits, to make it challenging.
Meta-Kraid: There's no skill in wandering around a dungeon for six days looking for a low-spawn Pokémon either I'd argue :V nah but I see your point about that, and it's kind of my thought on the subject. Maybe if Wish Cave weren't a level 1 dungeon I wouldn't think that way.
Ullar: You're terrible. I love it.
HotFuzzBall: Usually I just use Jirachi to wish for Chansey because it really is easier to go to floor 99 of a dungeon and beat a boss than to go to floor 50 of a similar dungeon and hunt for a low-spawn recruit (twice). Though I did get some handy advice from Pearl about dealing with the Chansey situation (he actually pulled it off, the madman) so I'm going to at least attempt to get Chansey legitimately a few times in this run before resorting to Jirachi wishes.
I know I was so sad about Friend Areas :( like I get why they removed them, it was part of a general overhaul of mechanics that were intended to make recruitment not a giant pain in the ass, but that doesn't mean it's not a sad time

Fair warning: There are a lot of screenshots in this update. Like, over a hundred. This is gonna be a long one, so buckle up.

Also, it was played really out of order, so don't be surprised if you see a screenshot that, for instance, has a Pokémon at a certain level and then a later shot has them at a lower level. The mazes at the end of the update are the actual last thing I did.

Anyway, way back a while ago...

Ekans: ........................
Medicham: ... We've found it at last!
Ekans: Yesss! Find it we did!
Medicham: My wish... It will finally come true! Pshehehe!
Ekans: Hey, now, don't forget about my wish!
Medicham: Listen, Ekans. We must keep this a secret just between the two of us.
We can't tell any Pokémon. Not even Gengar.
Ekans: I know that!
Medicham: Let's decide on how we're going to do this... First...

Medicham: I... I don't know anything!

I ended up accidentally deleting the next part of their dialogue but they continue to specifically deny that they know anything about making wishes come true or anything. How suspicious!

A few days later...

If either one of us falls before the end…
Ekans: Oh, I get it. The other one can still go make wishes!
That’s smart, Medicham!
Medicham: But of course. I can’t wait until our wishes come true~
Ekans: My wish is for a broader lower jaw.
Ekans: I want bigger jaws so I can swallow bigger things whole.

If you want that it might be easier to just evolve

Medicham: My wish is for a place where I can meditate in peace~
With no one to bother me…

How nice.

It would be magnificent if I could meditate for a year without food~

… You might die

they noticed me :v

Medicham: I… I don’t know anything!
Ekans: Me too! I don’t know a thing!
I don’t know anything about a dungeon that makes wishes come true! I know nothing!

ok jon snow

They run off. How suspicious…! Again…!

A few days later…

I hope she gets to the end and gets my wish to come true…

WHY are you always so SURPRISED

Wh-what are you staring at, you?!
I’m having a hard time trying to make up my mind! Get lost!

>trying to make up my mind
nice

must be nice that this is all you need to worry about :V

I wonder if it’d be better if I could coil myself tighter…
… Hmm… Mutter…

…
GOOD

A few more days later...

If I went, I’d only last a little while… Oh, no…

Well, that’s not good. Let’s see what this is all abou-

Ah.

”My name is Medicham.
We had no trouble entering this dungeon… But it’s horrible here! It is much too difficult!
Ekans, he was defeated right away. It makes me want to scream!
Somebody! Please help me!
The place is the Wish Cave.
The reward is a secret~ But it’s really very nice – you can be sure of that~”
The place in which Medicham is thought to have gone missing…
The Wish Cave is now open for exploration!

They may be our enemies, but we’re still a rescue team. To Wish Cave!
So yeah, this has been unlocked for a while now but I decided to wait on showing the plot until I got to the point where I wanted to do it. Now, here I am.

Music: Tiny Woods
Recruits: A lot of things. In practice, the only things I care about are Bellsprout, Sunkern, Cleffa, Caterpie, Togepi, and Ralts.

So! As you can see, Cordis and Red are both level 1.

This is the first of three level 1 dungeons. They automatically reset whatever Pokémon you bring in to level 1, and they have to level up using normal level mechanics. You also have your IQ reset to 0, which means you lose the nifty AI skills and things like the ability to avoid traps. You also lose most of your recruit bonuses (unless you choose to bring the Friend Bow, which I did).

So... have fun!! These dungeons are kind of terrible and they're the bane of most MD players' existence, especially since so many Pokémon can only be found in them. (MD2 remedied this significantly by not making any Pokémon exclusive to level 1 dungeons.)

Good Pokémon to bring include most third-stage evolutions (hence Alakazam and Charizard), as well as Kecleon. These level up decently fast and start with pretty good movesets. Alakazam in particular has Teleport, which is HUGELY helpful for getting away from unfavorable situations.

It's also beneficial to bring the Frustration TM. Frustration deals more damage the lower your IQ is, so with IQ being forcibly reset to 0 it deals a whopping 45 damage.

Gravelerocks, doing a fixed 20 damage, are also great.

Our goal is to make it to level 20 to rescue Medicham. Let's see if we can pull that off.

I love how Charizard learns a new move at level 2 lmao

Named Brussels.

... I wasn't planning on this (or expecting it at all) but sure. Named Stympha.

W O W look at that high level!

We made it! (it was surprisingly not as difficult as I anticipated. Hooray!)

What am I to do...?

Yes, me. ... us.

............ Perhaps...
You have come to rescue me?

Well, what does it look like?

Yes, yes! I am so lucky!

And we all just kinda warp out.

Thank you for saving me.
I appreciate it~
Ow, ow, ow... My body -- it hurts all over even now...
... But that dungeon... What is it about it?
They say it makes a wish come true. So, I went...
But it was very hard in there -- most terribly so!

Yeah, that's probably kinda the point.

Kiih! I never want to go again! Such a terrible place!

Well rip.

At first, I made an SOS Call because I did not want to lose this...

"This"?

But I will give it to you. Here! Your reward for my rescue~

A what now?

Medicham: They say if you take that stone to the Wish Cave... To its very depths...
Wonder of wonders! A wish -- it comes true!

Hot damn!

You see~ A rich reward, won't you agree?

Yeah sure.

However... If you lose that Wish Stone on the way, the wish cannot come true.

Well that sucks.

For me, it was impossible. But you must try~

Okay, sure.

And that's that. But not for us! Because I'm crazy, I'm going right back to pick up some recruits and at least look for the items Leaf Stone and King's Rock. These items can only be found in Kecleon Shops, as long as those Kecleon Shops are on specific floors. However Kecleon Shops have a mere 8% chance of spawning on those floors, and they only have a 1/3 chance of containing a Moon Stone/Leaf Stone/King's Rock (basically all three of those items together have a 33% total chance of showing up). This is why I posted about the Wonder Mail situation (though I didn't make that post until I'd already been to the dungeon like three or four times). I will make it a point to get to Floor 13 (the first floor that can have the evolution items) each time I go there for recruitment, though.

Before we head back, I have completed the Ravaged Field Friend Area and here are its inhabitants.

I also take a trip to Western Cave for Reasons and this happens!!! Now Red can recruit more things too.

Named Salio.

The experiment was successful.
Here's what's up: basically, when you use a TM in this game, it becomes a Used TM. Used TMs can be "recharged" and made usable again through the move Recycle, which Mr. Mime gets at level 33. (Porygon and Porygon2 also get it, but at higher levels, so Mr. Mime was easier to work with.) Mine was at level 29, so I took him to Western Cave to level him up to 33.
The reason I care about this is because I need to use a Frustration TM every time I enter Wish Cave and I only have about 20, which is likely not going to be enough for Wish Cave and Joyous Tower if I don't abuse the Recycle mechanic.

We're done with that, so back to Wish Cave.

I have to do this because the NPC Caterpie is a liar and never joins the damn rescue team. Named Blueberry.

lmao wow ok that was quick (don't forget I'm lacking my 24% recruit bonus)
Named Stella.

No Leaf Stone/King's Rock, of course. Let's go again.

(What follows is mostly a montage of Wish Cave recruits, with a single Leaf Stone mission thrown in for good measure.)

Named Caroline.

Caroline died because a confusion trap got Cordis confused and he was unable to help when Caroline got attacked by a Machop >:( >:( >:( >:( I'm anger.y

Once more...

Caroline returns.

Named Shellby.

Named Pierre.

On the next trip, I'll be taking one of the Leaf Stone/King's Rock Wonder Mail missions. This one was given by my best friend (whom Flametail the Typhlosion was named for). She also decided to make my life hard by making it an escort mission in a level 1 dungeon, though fortunately it was only to floor 7 lol (she hasn't played MD1 iirc)

[5/12/17, 11:44:47 AM] Altissimo: i need a name for a weepinbell
[5/12/17, 11:44:50 AM] Altissimo: not a victreebel
[5/12/17, 11:45:09 AM] bf: banana
[5/12/17, 11:45:14 AM] Altissimo: ok

i did it!!!! I finished the mission \o/

[5/12/17, 11:50:55 AM] Altissimo: how about a togetic
[5/12/17, 11:50:59 AM] Altissimo: togepis evolution
[5/12/17, 11:51:06 AM] bf: DESTRUCTOR
[5/12/17, 11:51:15 AM] Altissimo: HOW COULD I FORGET

(We nicknamed Misty's Togepi "the Destructor" after watching a bunch of episodes where it did ridiculous things with Metronome.)

... oops :(

I do get this though.
Ullar named it Wallabee.

Floor 13 doesn't have any Kecleon Shops, which is basically my cue to Escape Orb out.

I still have 6 things left in Wish Cave to get, so let's get those before moving on.

I name it Popcorn lol
[5/12/17, 12:15:24 PM] Altissimo: how bout a sunkern
[5/12/17, 12:20:07 PM] bf: a what
[5/12/17, 12:20:39 PM] bf: http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/upload/thumb/9/95/191Sunkern.png/250px-191Sunkern.png
[5/12/17, 12:20:42 PM] Altissimo: lol i named it popcorn anyway. its like a yellow sunflower seed palnet???
[5/12/17, 12:20:43 PM] bf: IS THAT A REAL POKEMON
[5/12/17, 12:20:45 PM] Altissimo: *plant
[5/12/17, 12:20:46 PM] Altissimo: yes

And this one is Molly.

[5/12/17, 12:44:51 PM] Altissimo: ok nickname for a metapod
[5/12/17, 12:50:24 PM] bf: the cops opening but with the office theme song over it
[5/12/17, 12:50:46 PM] Altissimo: that isnt a nickname
[5/12/17, 12:50:48 PM] bf:

[5/12/17, 12:50:52 PM] Altissimo: but let me see
[5/12/17, 12:50:53 PM] bf: name it
[5/12/17, 12:50:55 PM] bf: uhh
[5/12/17, 12:51:02 PM] bf: name is bluntman

Named LeoBurnett lol

Dammit I misclicked and LeoBurnett died. >:/

but he returns

Named Violetwing.

Banana returns.
(And no, we didn't find any King's Rocks or Leaf Stones in the process.)

That's it for Wish Cave, until later when I come back to actually complete the dungeon.
Let's go to Buried Relic and try to pick up Regirock and Mew. (Note: I started playing Buried Relic before Ullar posted the Buried Relic mission, so these first few runs are without any knowledge of that mission lmao)

Maybe this Tachi will survive.

Named Ceroma.

Yes, I see you there. Don't think I don't.

That makes four! whole! Mew! that I have killed and will not join me.
>:/

oh my god can we NOT

Named Rex because I am unoriginal and also have a raging headache.

hey, look who it is. I'll find you.

It worked this time! Hell yes!

After recruiting Mew, your party automatically warps out of the dungeon and you get this special message to go with it.

Here it is in Final Island.

Still gotta pick up Regirock, though!

Named Sonum. (the text for the Tuba mirum section of Dies irae includes the word "sonum" that's literally the only reason I'm putting this here. ok also because it's a GREAT part of a stellar work i guess :B)

Named Microsoft.

Forgot to screenshot it, but no luck with Regirock. Let's go again.

Venum returns to the team and survives this time.

Wow, Regirock doesn't want to join my team at all. :(

Named Cantus.

Named Clamos.

[hotel mario voice] no

and not the next time either
or the next time

Then I saw Ullar's Buried Relic mission. The stipulation was that I have to leave two open slots to recruit Regirock and Mew. I have Mew already (and actually that wouldn't have worked out because Mew automatically teleports you out of the dungeon, so if I had recruited Mew before the escort mission finished, I'd still have to redo the whole mission), so I decided instead that I'll manipulate it so that I definitely do recruit Regirock during the escort mission (assuming there's no sort of hard coding against that... ? I don't know). So, here we go, escort mission/recruitment time!

This is Ullar's mission. I also have a separate mission to rescue a Dragonite on floor 65 of the dungeon that I just got from the mission board. Let's go :v

Gonna just reset every time Regirock fails to join the team, it's quicker that way. Buried Relic is a "save before entry" dungeon but I have savestates and if I didn't do that I'd just be using an Escape Orb after the failure to recruit it anyway.

let's GO

(Silver Wind in process.) Oh no Venomoth has a room hitting move. This won't get annoying at all as it tries to use it even when it's out of PP :B

all right lets go
no dice on this.

ahaha what the fuck hoothoot used hypnosis on me and venomoth managed to survive until red woke up by using supersonic on hitmonlee and disable on hoothoot
props?????

Okay well I tried 10 times to recruit Regirock - where it had nearly a 1/4 chance of joining me - to no avail. I began to suspect that it's actually impossible to recruit the Regis during an escort mission (or maybe just a mission in general). This was also in part because sometimes after I beat Regirock it'd flash for the tiniest amount of time like it was going to stay on screen (aka join my team) but then disappear, which might have been the game rolling that it could join me but then overriding it because of the mission. Or maybe I'm just seeing things and that's not how programming works, idk. Either way I reported it back to Ullar and he said to just run the mission straight.

Sorry this didn't work out!!!! It was a real neat stipulation so I thought it would be cool too but alas :(

I did recruit something though. Named Ceno.

(I fought Regirock and did not have an experience where it suddenly decided to join my team lol.)

Named Ceroma.

Well we're halfway there!! So far this is going fine, apart from Venomoth trying to use Silver Wind (which it is out of PP for) every three seconds. At least it's not as bad as when you escort a Vileplume somewhere and it tries to use Aromatherapy every. single. turn.
Pro tip. Never escort a Vileplume anywhere. Or a Slaking for that matter. You will regret it significantly.

fuck everything
venomoth got warped away and I can't change its AI so I can't make it run the fuck away from that sandshrew
it is about to die

RESETTING

(fuck this :( )

(for the record I remembered afterward that I had unofficially decided to accept any losses that occurred within save-before-entry dungeons but by the time I remembered this I had already kind of overwritten the failure. If I lose again I'll accept it)

Ceno again.

And Ceroma.

... that was a pitfall trap. I can't believe this. Okay, I'll accept the loss this time.

Aaaaaand I lost my Friend Bow! Cool. Guess that means I have to go back to Mt. Faraway to get it back. But I'm not gonna do that until after I finish this damned Venomoth mission.

you all know this by now lol
it got defeated in a Monster House though :(

but its ok
The other Makuhita also joins my team. That one is named Lucta.

30 floors left, I can do this

...
.........

(9:10)

(8:07-8:26)

(basically the entire video but specifically 0:38; 1:50-2:25; 2:50-3:10; 4:35-5:02; 6:13; 7:45-8:11; 9:13-9:22)

he basically sums up how i'm feeling better than i could myself

And now you all see why I never take escort missions.

Fine if that's how it's gonna be I guess I might as well fight the game right the fuck back. Fuckin gorilla warfare n shit

yeah okay

at least it wasnt venomoth

one down, one to go

at least it wasnt venomoth

OKAY.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
okay
we're DONE

I only used 3 Reviver Seeds that time lol.

Also I went up in rank but forgot to screenshot it :B

You can see that I have a Lucario statue now! And also this letter.

All right, time to head back to Mt. Faraway to get the wretched Friend Bow back.

Cool.
Now let's finally get that fucker Regirock.

This is the Ceno that will survive.

The first FIVE times at Regirock fail :V

but finally FINALLY it JOINS the FUCKIN TEAM GOD

Ullar also had a mission for Silver Trench, so I need to take that too...

I need a Water type here so Randy's along for the ride until he dies :v
And I have to escort Marowak here to Shedinja! Shedinja which flies through walls and won't let you get close to it! Great :B this isn't gonna suck at all!!!!!! (I may or may not be panicking a little inside because of how terrible the Buried Relic mission was. Though fortunately Silver Trench doesn't have Pitfall Traps.)

oh my god that happened on the first turn
I can't even be mad, that's hilarious

floor 11, so far so good

welp here we go, the first of three.
I set Green to go after enemies as a way of making my life easier lol.

Oh dammit I forgot about Powder Snow and its room-wide effect. Okay can I do this I can do this dammit

Fuckin really that's two of my three reviver seeds in one go. Oh god. Do not want. I might need to spam Agility to get through the other 2 one-room monster houses :v I'm not losing this mission, I'm not.

Well I got through the rest of that room without any further problems fortunately.

And here we go again. Hey, being at the bottom of the screen might work to my advantage in keeping Marowak safe... hm.

Yeah, this works. (Green is off chasing enemies.)

the tactic of "have Green kill everything" worked lol

[5/10/17, 5:51:45 PM] Altissimo: i nedd a name for a remoraid
[5/10/17, 5:51:47 PM] Altissimo: its a pistol fish
[5/10/17, 5:52:00 PM] bf: gunnpy
[5/10/17, 5:52:10 PM] bf: its like guppy
[5/10/17, 5:52:13 PM] bf: but it has gun in it
[5/10/17, 5:52:20 PM] Altissimo: thats terrible and i love it

Unfortunately Gunnpy is level 21 so this is also going to be an escort mission for it as well! Hooray. This is exactly what I wanted out of this.

Okay well fortunately I actually know how to get out of it because I saw something like this before.
Step 1: Switch the leader to Green.
Step 2: Use Agility three times.

Step 3: Get over to fight the Luvdisc before it can even move.

Step 4: ???
Step 5: Profit

And then switch the leader back to Red because I am a creature of habit.

The last one. And I'm going to cheese it with a Petrify Orb :B I mean Dewgong has Sheer Cold and that is a scary scary move and we are nnNNOT risking that.

Awesome, well that was easy :V just 13 more floors!!!!!!!

I'm 4 floors away! This will not be the end!!!
(I made it.)

Ha! You all thought I'd die before I got there, didn't you! Well guess what I didn't!

And Shedinja wasn't hard to reach either!!! Hooray!!!!!!

(I'm kind of insane with relief right now if you can't tell.)

I'm not actually gonna leave yet, though. Since I'm here I might as well try to pick up a Chinchou on the next floor.

Lmao nice. Named Dave as per bf's suggestion.

ok fine now give me my reward

all is forgiven.

Two more missions: Magma Cavern and Sky Tower. Since I'm way overleveled for these dungeons, I'm going to have Storm the Absol leading the party with Shellshock the Wartortle as backup.

I'm a little underleveled. Let's go :B

Ah rip. Double Kick is deadly. (This is in the middle of a Reviver Seed reviving me though lol)

I managed to make it without dying again though. Whew, I enjoyed that, it was challenging for a change!

Now for Sky Tower. I have one escort mission there, and that's the last of the evolutionary-items-missions!

This one went pretty well too.

Evolution montage!

I also wanted to go clear out recruits from Lapis Cave. I need 3 Zubat, Nincada, 2 Nidorina, Nidorino, and Illumise. I also have a shitton of missions to take there too lol

Named Naruto :B (i know jack shit about naruto ok)

Named Lumen.

[missed the screenshot, got a Zubat]
Named Wilson.

[missed the screenshot, got a Nidorino]
Named Edward.

Named Laylee :p this isn't really fair to Laylee but there also aren't other bats by gen 3

This took way too goddamn long, holy shit. Named Arianne.

Named Ellie.

Named Victoria.

And evolutions.

Last thing: Some more mazes!

The Grass Maze. Bahahha Sunkern is only like level 3 I think. Amazing.

such a shame I can't recruit things here. Look how quickly that Exeggcute showed up!

four pokémon!!!!!!!

Electric Maze.

Good bosses. Yup

Ice Maze. I dig this design.

look it's the one time ice doesn't suck as a type bc piloswine is high leveled compared to the mons in the other mazes

oh no!!!!!!!!1

(They weren't tough.)

Anyway, that's it for this update. Next time: Murky Cave!
Upcoming recruits: Porygon2, Marill/Azumarill, Snorunt/Glalie

Hope you enjoyed this!

Recruitment Progress

333/413: 80.6%
Aged Chamber AN (14/14):
Unown A (Anger)
Unown B (Bear)
Unown C (Chase)
Unown D (Darkness)
Unown E (Engage)
Unown F (Find)
Unown G (Give)
Unown H (Help)
Unown I (Increase)
Unown J (Join)
Unown K (Keep)
Unown L (Laugh)
Unown M (Metal)
Unown N (Normal)
Aged Chamber O? (14/14):
Unown O (Observe)
Unown P (Perform)
Unown Q (Quicken)
Unown R (Reassure)
Unown S (Search)
Unown T (Tell)
Unown U (Undo)
Unown V (Vanish)
Unown W (Want)
Unown X (XXXXX)
Unown Y (Yield)
Unown Z (Zoom)
Unown ! (!)
Unown ? (?)
Ancient Relic (6/6):
Aerodactyl (Big Boy)
Baltoy (Dreidel)
Baltoy -> Claydol (Oracle)
Regirock
Regice
Registeel
Beau Plains (4/12):
Hoppip (Apple)
Skiploom (Lou)
Skiploom -> Jumpluff (Bloom)
Roselia (Dahlia)
Boulder Cave (3/4):
Diglett (Speckles)
Onix (Snek)
Steelix (Dacian)
Bountiful Sea (7/9):
Tentacool (Stinger)
Tentacool -> Tentacruel (Frank)
Slowpoke (Felix)
Slowpoke -> Slowbro (Trip)
Slowking (Hatty)
Shellder (Pearl)
Cloyster (Mystery)
Crater (7/7):
Magby -> Magmar (Rachael)
Slugma (Gabriel)
Slugma -> Magcargo (Bogey)
Magby (Cynical)
Numel (Kipling)
Numel -> Camerupt (Java)
Torkoal (Coleman)
Cryptic Cave (1/1):
Mewtwo
Darkness Ridge (13/13):
Vulpix (Sparkle)
Ninetales (Spirit)
Gastly (Maya)
Haunter (Sabrina)
Gengar (Willa Wisp)
Misdreavus (Lucy)
Sneasel (Tachi)
Sableye (Garnet)
Shuppet (Teru)
Shuppet -> Banette (Ira)
Duskull (Umbra)
Duskull -> Dusclops (Phatos)
Absol (Storm)
Decrepit Lab (6/7):
Abra (Spoonless)
Kadabra (Animus)
Alakazam (Cordis)
Mr. Mime (Ted)
Ditto (Proteus)
Porygon (Microsoft)
Deep-Sea Current (1/1):
Lugia
Deep-Sea Floor (6/12):
Omanyte (Lord Helix)
Omanyte -> Omastar (ShellSmash)
Chinchou (Dave)
Clamperl (Juanita)
Clamperl -> Huntail (Murderfish)
Clamperl -> Gorebyss (Ariel)
Dragon Cave (3/3):
Bagon (Defiance)
Bagon -> Shelgon (Perseveren)
Shelgon -> Salamence (Blue)
Echo Cave (11/11):
Zubat (Wilson)
Zubat -> Golbat (Laylee)
Zubat -> Crobat (Ellie)
Dunsparce (Perry)
Whismur (Sonum)
Whismur -> Loudred (Cantus)
Whismur -> Exploud (Clamos)
Nosepass (Moana)
Mawile (0dd1)
Wynaut (Bicuzz)
Wobbuffet (Wobburrito)
Enclosed Island (1/1):
Deoxys
Energetic Forest (10/15):
Pikachu (Lightning)
Raichu (Rachel)
Meowth (Brian)
Persian (Laetu)
Mankey (JellyDonut)
Mankey -> Primeape (Altissimo)
Snorlax (Barbara)
Aipom (Bonzi)
Stantler (Olive)
Slakoth (Sid)
Final Island (1/1):
Mew
Flyaway Forest (12/12):
Pidgey (Birb)
Pidgeotto (Otto)
Pidgeotto -> Pidgeot (Kenny)
Hoothoot (Leroy)
Noctowl (Minuit)
Togepi (Shellby)
Togepi -> Togetic (Destructor)
Natu (Seer)
Xatu (Swensen)
Murkrow (Elphaba)
Swablu (Byssis)
Swablu -> Altaria (Nefela)
Frigid Cavern (3/7):
Swinub (Sara)
Swinub -> Piloswine (Pryce)
Delibird (St. Nick)
Furnace Desert (7/7):
Sandshrew (Guy Fieri)
Sandslash (Flavortown)
Trapinch (Bobblehead)
Trapinch -> Vibrava (Art Deco)
Vibrava -> Flygon (Desertsong)
Cacnea (Dirty Dan)
Cacnea -> Cacturne (Dorothy)
Ice Floe Beach (5/5):
Seel (Aurora)
Seel -> Dewgong (Tristan)
Spheal (Clubber)
Spheal -> Sealeo (Tubber)
Spheal -> Walrein (Blubber)
Jungle (13/13):
Oddish (Natura)
Gloom (Toadstool)
Vileplume (Toxia)
Bellsprout (Brussels)
Bellsprout -> Weepinbell (Banana)
Bellsprout -> Victreebel (LeoBurnett)
Exeggcute (Benedict)
Exeggutor (Smashmouth)
Tangela (Medusa)
Bellossom (Dancer)
Sunkern (Popcorn)
Sunflora (Molly)
Tropius (Ariera)
Legendary Island (3/3):
Articuno
Zapdos
Moltres
Magnetic Quarry (3/3):
Beldum (I3)
Metang (I5)
Metang -> Metagross (I7)
Mist-Rise Forest (13/14):
Caterpie (Blueberry)
Caterpie -> Metapod (Bluntman)
Caterpie -> Butterfree (Violetwing)
Weedle (Bean)
Kakuna (Timon)
Beedrill (Beeyonce)
Ledyba (Francis)
Ledian (Lyson)
Yanma (Shade)
Silcoon (Miriam)
Beautifly (Charlotte)
Cascoon (Fortunato)
Dustox (Luna)
Mt. Cleft (7/9):
Charmander (Char)
Charmeleon (Karma)
Charmander-> Charizard (Red)
Pupitar (Jones)
Pupitar -> Tyranitar (Rex)
Aron (Aaron)
Aron -> Lairon (Larry)
Mt. Deepgreen (9/12):
Geodude (Hazy)
Graveler (Heavy G)
Cubone (Skelebro)
Gligar (Chirops)
Shuckle (Shuckie)
Teddiursa (Toklo)
Teddiursa -> Ursaring (Oka)
Spoink (Spring)
Spoink -> Grumpig (Chex Mix)
Mt. Discipline (9/11):
Machop (Connor)
Machoke (Erika)
Machamp (M'Champion)
Tyrogue -> Hitmonlee (Bruce)
Tyrogue -> Hitmonchan (Jackie)
Tyrogue (Griff)
Tyrogue -> Hitmontop (Leo)
Meditite (Rebecca)
Meditite -> Medicham (Marise)
Mt. Moonview (5/6):
Cleffa -> Clefairy (Caroline)
Cleffa -> Clefable (Pierre)
Cleffa (Stella)
Lunatone (Mane)
Solrock (Alea)
Mushroom Forest (6/7):
Paras (France)
Paras -> Parasect (Mushpeckle)
Seedot (Acorn)
Nuzleaf (Nuzlocke)
Shroomish (Toad)
Breloom (Portobello)
Mystic Lake (4/4):
Lapras (Icerain)
Dratini (Ray)
Dragonair (Celia)
Dragonair -> Dragonite (Tempest)
Overgrown Forest (6/9):
Pinsir (Carabus)
Scyther (Pearl)
Sudowoodo (Fauxliage)
Scizor (Nightmare)
Heracross (Honey)
Sceptile (Green)
Peanut Swamp (7/7):
Wooper (Yippy)
Quagsire (Yeppa)
Mudkip (Muddy)
Marshtomp (Mallow)
Marshtomp -> Swampert (Skipper)
Barboach (Cashier)
Barboach -> Whiscash (Grandpa)
Poison Swamp (6/6):
Grimer (Billy Mays)
Grimer -> Muk (Shamwow)
Koffing (James)
Koffing -> Weezing (Pascal)
Gulpin (Venum)
Gulpin -> Swalot (Ceno)
Power Plant (6/6):
Magnemite (Duracell)
Magnemite -> Magneton (CRT)
Voltorb (PokéCube)
Voltorb -> Electrode (Cathode)
Elekid (Windmill)
Electabuzz (Sulpur)
Rainbow Peak (1/1):
Ho-oh
Ravaged Field (5/5):
Spearow (Spearmint)
Fearow (Not Ho-oh)
Skarmory (Stympha)
Houndour (April)
Houndoom (Heckdoom)
Rub-a-Dub River (7/7):
Goldeen (Arches)
Goldeen -> Seaking (Fortune)
Totodile (Gatorface)
Croconaw (Cruncher)
Croconaw -> Feraligatr (Florida)
Volbeat (Lux)
Illumise (Lumen)
Sacred Field (3/3):
Entei
Raikou
Suicune
Safari (11/15):
Nidoran F (Diane)
Nidorina (Arianne)
Nidoqueen (Victoria)
Nidoran M (Meliodas)
Nidorino (Michael)
Nidoking (Edward)
Doduo (Clarence)
Doduo -> Dodrio (Aegon)
Rhyhorn (Corona)
Kangaskhan (Salio)
Tauros (Thirty)
Scorched Plains (6/10):
Growlithe (Fido)
Arcanine (Firebolt)
Quilava (Mr. Danger)
Quilava -> Typhlosion (Flametail)
Combusken (Mark)
Combusken -> Blaziken (Scorch)
Seafloor Cave (1/1):
Kyogre
Serene Sea (2/4):
Wailmer (Chum)
Wailmer -> Wailord (Jonah)
Secretive Forest (6/9):
Venonat (Tracey)
Venonat -> Venomoth (Mothra)
Spinarak (Arachna)
Ariados (Aragog)
Nincada (Illinois)
Nincada -> Ninjask
Shallow Beach (4/5):
Krabby (Eugene)
Kingler (Snake)
Wingull (Type Gull)
Wingull -> Pelipper (Drizzle)
Sky Blue Plains (5/13):
Girafarig (Harvey)
Snubbull (Muchmoney)
Smeargle (Bitchworth)
Ralts (Wallabee)
Kirlia (Nijinsky)
Southern Island (2/2):
Latias
Latios
Stratos Lookout (1/1):
Rayquaza
Tadpole Pond (9/9):
Poliwag (Doodle)
Poliwhirl (Tajiri)
Poliwrath (FurioFrog)
Politoed (HypnoToad)
Lotad (Lily)
Lombre (Carefree)
Ludicolo (Ariba)
Surskit (Skitter)
Masquerain (DeMasque)
Thunder Meadow (10/11):
Sentret (Joanne)
Sentret -> Furret (Pavarotti)
Mareep (Android)
Flaaffy (Layla)
Ampharos (Jasmine)
Electrike (Ravi)
Manectric (Drew)
Plusle (Positive)
Minun (Negative)
Chimecho (Giotto)
Treasure Sea (6/10):
Remoraid (Gunnpy)
Carvanha (Jaws)
Carvanha -> Sharpedo (Ari)
Anorith (Small Fry)
Anorith -> Armaldo (Pinch)
Luvdisc (Valentine)
Turtleshell Pond (6/10):
Squirtle (Cannon)
Wartortle (Survivor)
Wartortle -> Blastoise (Shellshock)
Azurill (Scout)
Corphish (Hey)
Corphish -> Crawdaunt (Radium)
Volcanic Pit (1/1):
Groudon
Waterfall Lake (4/4):
Magikarp (Emone)
Magikarp -> Gyarados (Randy)
Feebas (Duckling)
Milotic (Sera)
Wild Plains (11/13):
Rattata (Sword)
Raticate (Rodentia)
Farfetch'd (Onion)
Drowzee (Sleeper)
Hypno (Piper)
Poochyena (Missile)
Mightyena (Dingo)
Zigzagoon (Midnight)
Linoone (Longcat)
Zangoose (Harmony)
Seviper (Repiv)

 

[pika pal]

I recall owning a guide as a kid that said you needed to have the Music Box or the Regi's "part" in your inventory to affect their recruitment rate. Were you bringing that for the runs, because I'm wondering if that means you forgot something or if my childhood was a lie?

I don't envy you when you get to recruiting from the other Level 1 Dungeon(s).

 

[Altissimo]

I recall owning a guide as a kid that said you needed to have the Music Box or the Regi's "part" in your inventory to affect their recruitment rate. Were you bringing that for the runs, because I'm wondering if that means you forgot something or if my childhood was a lie?

Actually, I think this is it. I looked up some stuff about the Regis online and nothing said that I had to have the Music Box/part in my inventory... but Regirock only joined the team when I added the Music Box. And Regice and Registeel joined when I had the Music Box. I suspect maybe the fact that the Regi has to drop its item if you don't have the Music Box/part kind of overrides the recruiting ability, or something along those lines.

 

[Ullar]

 

[Altissimo]

Fair warning: The next update may be a little delayed. Despite it being summer, I somehow have more things to worry about doing than during the school year, so I don't have as much time for this as I would like. Update will happen eventually though!

 

[Altissimo]

So.

I think I'm going to be putting this run on hiatus, and possibly ending it entirely.

Basically, I'm kind of trying to cut back enormously on the amount of video gaming/Internet-ing I'm doing this summer, in favor of actually trying to develop other hobbies and getting some important things done for school and friends. I was initially going to see this run through to completion because I feel like I have that obligation, but... I have a lot left to do and just trying to evolve one Pokémon takes literal hours. Even if I cut the other parts of gaming/Internet-ing out of my life, I'd still have that as a massive timesink, and that kind of thing is what I'm trying to avoid. I want to finish this run, I really do, but I don't want it to come at the expense of my ability to engage in other activities that may be more meaningful to my career development, hobbies, or happiness. I hope you all understand.

That said... if you really want to see the run conclude... there may be hope for you yet.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/kn2ztc63ts0i4ry/Blue Recruit em all.sav?dl=0
(How to use: https://www.techwalla.com/articles/how-to-use-sav-files-in-desmume)
(I also have a copy of the file with an alternate extension (DSV as opposed to SAV) if that comes into play for whatever reason: https://www.dropbox.com/s/flgnarqp0xauxfk/Blue Recruit em all.dsv?dl=0)

This is my save file, and it works in DeSmuMe (or at least it should; I haven't had the opportunity to test it). If anyone really wants to see this run finish... you can totally download the file and pick up from where I left off.
Or maybe, if the prospect of doing a bunch of shitty recruits and evolutions isn't fun, you could make it like a community effort. Like person 1 evolves 3 Pokémon and then gives the file to person 2 who recruits stuff and then gives it to person 3 who finishes Purity Forest or stuff like that. Maybe it could be fun that way, see how different people play the game and approach things. Share advice and ideas. I don't know, I haven't really done a round-robin game before so I couldn't tell you the best way to do it :B

https://www.dropbox.com/s/cwpjocmff64pzl9/Recruitment Doc.docx?dl=0

If anyone picks it up, this is the Word document I've been maintaining to keep track of my recruitment progress. Within you'll find:
-The Pokémon whose levels are high enough to evolve but haven't yet
-The Pokémon I haven't gotten yet, which dungeons are best to get them in, and the floors on which they can be found within those dungeons
-All the Pokémon that still need to level, the level they are (approx), and the level they need to be at. Bolded levels are "my current pokemon is very close", blue pokemon are "I haven't actually recruited this yet".
-My plans for each update that was to follow this. Of course, there's no need to stick with this if you pick up the game :B

Here are some other resources:
Dungeon statistics, including Pokémon spawn rates
Bulbapedia on Friend Areas
Bulbapedia dungeon listing
Lots of indepth guides and stuff
Pearl 's guide on how to get Chansey: https://pastebin.com/JpvKAGLq
A Purity Forest guide

Of course, if no one wants to pick it up, that's fine too. I'm at least presenting you with the option if you'd like to take it.

There is also the fact that I may return to this run in the end, though most likely that would be in several months' time, and I of course can't tell you ahead of time if I will be returning or not. Hence the save file.

I'll still be checking the thread semi-regularly if people have questions/comments or anything, though, so I'm not disappearing entirely. If people do decide to pick up the save file I will certainly be supportive and help you out with anything you might need: game information; the resources I've been using through this run (both on how to make it into LP format and resources about the game itself); suggestions for certain tricky parts of the game; etc.
Hell, I might be willing to do parts of a round-robin playing process if need be. I just cannot commit to the whole thing anymore.

I'll leave here with what I had complete of the next update before I made my decision.

Replies

pika pal: I don't envy me either. Fortunately most of the mons I need from Joyous Tower are available in the first handful of floors, though.
Ullar: u r terrible and mean :(

After rescuing Medicham...

Uh… no?

… Oh, OK.
Ekans: Something seems to be wrong with Gengar lately.
Medicham: He won’t do anything wicked with us anymore…

You guys don’t seem like you’re doing much wicked stuff yourself so…

I wonder what’s wrong with him?
Ekans: Yeah… He looks like he has a lot on his mind…
Medicham: You think so? His expression… It looks the same as usual, no?
All I have seen is him laughing in his usual mean way?
Ekans: No, it’s different. I can tell.

… that is extremely subtle.

Medicham: … Hmm…
Perhaps that is so.
Anyway, without Gengar around, Team Meanies can’t operate.

Such a vexing problem!

So it is!

The next day…

Uh, okay… why?

Medicham: I have heard it is a place that is very difficult. Will he be OK?

He’s a Gengar, he’s at least level 25 by default, I’m sure he’ll be fine.

Oh. Uh… huh.

What he means to do when he does meet… I don’t know.

It is a mistery.!

The next morning...

wow ok have you been just sitting there waiting for me to wake up?? creepy

Like always, slow to rise, aren't you, Team Wildfire! Kekeke!

excuse you, we got up early enough when we had to leave town for fear of being MURDERED

... Tchah! But that's not what I came here to say. Not today.
It irks me to say this, but... I need your help.

bwoah shit what?

Can you take me up Mt. Freeze?
I tried going up over and over, but... Keh... It's steep and harsh...

You're literally a ghost

Ninetales is up on Mt. Freeze.
I've got to see Ninetales. I'm prepared to do whatever it takes.

Well that's not random and unexpected at all

Ehhhhh fine I guess.

Keke! That's settled! You have my trust!

Oh great.

The only place I want to go is Mt. Freeze.

Yeah we kinda gathered.

I'm not about to tag along if you're going to other dungeons.

drat

I'll only tag along when you go off to Mt. Freeze. Keke!

Yes, we've established that.

Alright, well - no time like the present. Let's take Gengar up Mt. Freeze.

This might be the only dungeon exterior we get to see twice. Cool!

Don't forget to take me, kekeh!

Bro that's literally the reason I'm here.

Here we go!

Fun fact: Gengar's moveset is Scratch, Leer, Quick Attack, and Taunt. The only one of these that Gengar can learn is Taunt. However, this is the moveset of a level 20 Absol... which is, coincidentally, the last Pokémon that we had to "escort" (not really because it was an official team member, but still) through this dungeon. Coincidence? I think not, I think just an oversight in programming.

So now let's take this freaky Gengar through the dungeon. (Shouldn't be hard at level 95 lmao)

Yeah lol Gengar didn't even get so much as hit. Six more floors!

i did it!1

(Still don't get how this is a peak but whatever. Like there's literally stuff that is higher than us around, how is this the top?)

Hey, Ninetales! Where are you?! Come out!

That's probably not the best way to address it tbh

ello
... "long time????"

Recognize me?

wat

very kind introduction.

Gengar: Kekeh! You want to know what I want?!

He's pretty angry lol

Look at me! Isn't it your fault that I look like this?!

is
is this indicating what I think it is
(If you didn't figure it out before, yes, Gengar is the human from the Ninetales legend, who abandoned Gardevoir and fled.)

What, you can't even begin by apologizing?

gengar a little indignant

Ninetales: It is not my fault.
It all arose because you fled, isn't that so?

Like I said before. He coulda been runnin off to find help. You never know.

You fled from yourself as a human... And you fled from Gardevoir.

assumptions

It was I who cast the curse.

Yeah we know.

But you became Gengar because you abandoned Gardevoir.

gotcha

It was Gardevoir that bore my curse, not you.

That seems a little fucked tbh but who am I to judge

Anyway... About that curse... How about lifting it already?

lmao you're not gonna get Ninetales to agree wording it like that

Ninetales: You... You have the nerve to ask that?

for real!

Gengar: Keh! That's right!
Imagine! Me asking anyone for a favor! I'm breaking out in hives at the thought!

(I actually really love Gengar in this segment lmao)

Turn me down, and I'll KO you!

I DIDNT AGREE TO THIS

I DIDN'T AGREE TO THIS!
(Random thing: I brought Green! But he's not here. So why the hell does Gengar say "those behind me" if the game is programmed to not show anyone but the leader????)

I'll see this curse lifted even if it means taking you on!
Ninetales: Humph. I regret to inform... Even if you could defeat me, the curse would remain.

Well shit. Now what.

I don't have the power to lift curses.

That seems like a gigantic oversight.

Gengar: Gegeh! What are you saying?!
Ninetales: We Ninetales are known to be vengeful in the extreme.

"Are known to be" seems like an odd word choice, why wouldn't you just say "are vengeful" because it applies to your situation too

Once we cast a curse, it is final...

so it's just like. In your biology. That seems like a terrible decision.

Our curse is so powerful, even we cannot lift it... There may be a way, however...

oooOOOO?

I became enraged at your treacherous heart... And on it, I laid my curse.

is that really even fair i mean like who are you to decide whether what he did was moral or immoral. Who died and appointed you lawmaker?

For that reason, depending on your heart now, the curse may be lifted.

(insert squabbling about whether it should be "heart" or "brain" here)

Take this with you.

The what now? Okay

Gardevoir's physical form is sealed within the Murky Cave.
The seal can be broken by that stone. The 9-Tail Crest.

... it's a stone?

Gengar: Gotcha!
We just go to this Murky Cave and plunk down that rock...
And that breaks the seal, so good-bye to the curse!

I don't know if it will be that easy tbh but w/e

Kekeh! How do you like that? It's ridiculously simple!

Yeah uh
no

There was a way to lift the curse after all! You had me scared! Kekeke!

... okay

Soo we leave, buuuut...

He kinda saved Green's and my lives (there is no way that is grammatically correct but w/e) after Sky Tower, in addition to helping us get there in the first place, so

But he is wavering... His old and new emotions are clashing within his heart...

That's kind of an odd way to describe it but ok

If he would only realize that upon reaching the Murky Cave... If he does not...

ominous

... thanks?

Next, we go to that Murky Cave place...

Eh, sure, I don't have anything better to do after all.

That sounds like another challenging place, so I'll need your help still! Keke!

Nah you just want an easy ride. Whatever, why not?

The next day...

ffs I did all the fighting yesterday, I'm worn out! You just coasted!

Yea sure.

Kekeh! Then we'll go! To the Murky Cave!

Wait what
What does that have to do with your curse?

For my sake, Gardevoir...
... Nah, that's not important. I just feel like going! Keke!

... uH I'm confused and disturbed now

... OK, go there for me! To the Murky Cave!

I'm not going anywhere for you, you're coming with.

The only place I want to do is the Murky Cave.
I'm not about to tag along if you're going to other dungeons.
I'll only tag along when you go off to the Murky Cave. Keke!

Yeah okay cool

Anyway I get Green and we head off.

What the hell, this place looks like something's stomach. (I hate "creature interior" levels in games, eugh.)

Don't forget to take me, kekeh!

Tch, you're the only reason I'm here!

Music: Stormy Sea
Recruits: Cascoon, Zubat, Venonat, Seviper, Grimer, Golbat, Shuppet, Misdreavus.
All of which I already have so eh.
This dungeon is 20 floors, not too bad, and the Pokémon aren't terribly high leveled either.
Gengar keeps its Absol-moveset too.
The only item in this dungeon is money, so packing food and stuff is actually important here.

I made it while starving lmao
Still looks like an animal's insides though.

This is it? This is the deepest floor of the Murky Cave?

I mean there's kind of a wall everywhere so we can't go any further.

Oh, look! There's a dais!

Gengar placed the 9-Tail Crest in the hollow spot.

The screen flashes and then...

Um...

........................
.......................................
Kekeh! What's this about? Nothing's happening?

That's. How it appears.

...............? Huh? I thought I heard something...
Kekeh! Did you just say something?
That's odd... I could've sworn I heard something...

wat

... W... e... lc... ome...
Welcome to the Murky Cave!

WHO DAT

Who are you?
Voice: I am the judge of darkness.

ok but WHO are you and what does that MEAN

You have nothing to fear from me. I mean you no harm.

if you say so

Just now, a key was inserted to break a curse.

... THAT'S A THING?? Like that is common? You can get a key to break a curse and insert in a certain place.
What the shit?

The curse... It is the one on Gardevoir?

No actually there was this whole other thing with him being turned into a Pokém

oh
Well. That changes things!!! Gengar isn't trying to save himself, who'dathunk?

Voice: I cannot allow that right away.
I must first know if you have earned the right.

Isn't the fact he's trying to break Gardevoir's curse and not his own turned-into-a-Pokémon thing kinda... proof enough?

I must evaluate you.

Again with people deciding arbitrarily they are the judge of morality. Who gave you the right?

You must bare your true feelings to me.

well that's gonna be hard for Gengar lmao

Gengar: Kekeh? What? You're going to test me?
What, I have to fight some boss creature?

Gengar I really don't think that's the kind of thing that

... lmao

All that I need is for some questions to be answered.

the scariest test of all!!!
(Speaking of. I'm done with my finals. My last final was last Wednesday, I had to do an oral exam with two of my professors where they would kind of on-the-spot quiz me about terms, people and concepts we'd looked at during the semester. I massively dropped the ball on the first thing they asked me and was kind of terrified following that so I made some rather dumb mistakes. I ended up getting a 97 on it lmao)

However...

Gengar, you will not be doing the answering...
Red.
You will answer.

You know, this would have been pretty shitty if you brought anyone other than your starter or partner to Murky Cave and they just literally didn't know what happened with Gengar and Gardevoir.

Gengar: Gegegeh! What are you saying?!
Why is someone else speaking for me?!

u might lie. its honor code

Let me do it!
Voice: Gengar. Your heart is interwoven with conflicting emotions.
You will probably never show the truth within your heart.

He saved Red and Green's lives after Sky Tower - after helping them get to Sky Tower - and I think that speaks for itself tbh

Gengar: Kekeh?! What?!
Voice: Red will enter Gengar's heart.

wait
wait what

Please navigate carefully through Gengar's emotions.

I HAVE TO DO WHAT NOW

THIS IS REALLY QUESTIONABLE!!

The curse will never be broken!

SO MUCH PRESSURE PUT ON ME FOR THIS. I ONLY MEANT TO ESCORT HIM HERE I DONT NEED THIS.

Gengar: Gegege! Hey, Red!
Don't you dare fool around! I'll make you pay for it!

Threatening me is probably not the smartest option, Gengar, but I'll do what I can.

Voice: You have but one chance. Red, do your best.

shitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshitshi

IM AS READY AS ILL EVER BE!!!

First of all...

I... think he means it to help Gardevoir in earnest.

That's a lie, isn't it?

fuckfuckfuck noooo

Didn't Gengar abandon Gardevoir long ago?

The key word here is "long ago" though. People change.

I think something changed Gengar's interpretation of the situation. Namely that night he was watching my dreams. I think he gets it now.

Came to understand Gardevoir's feelings?
What is it you claim to understand?

See, if I brought anyone other than Red they simply would have no way of knowing the contents of Red's dream where Gardevoir talked about Gengar.

Caring for Gengar. I see...
Gardevoir became a presence without a physical form because she bore the curse...
But even then, Gardevoir never stopped caring for Gengar...
Having learned that, Gengar now wants to save Gardevoir...
It makes sense... However...

OH GOD HOWEVER WHAT

Until now, Gengar had forgotten entirely about Gardevoir, correct?

If you ask me, I think he quickly came to regret his decision, but assumed Gardevoir hated him so just kind of stopped caring because Gardevoir had.

Eh... no. Like I said, people can change, and the inability to realize that can result in poor decisions that last a lifetime.

You say that is not so...
You believe that this is another matter? And to help is only natural? That is what you believe?
I understand now... My questions are finished.

oh thank arceus

I will now render my judgment.

... what? :(

Gengar: W-wait...
Voice: It is most regrettable, but the curse on Gardevoir will last all eternity...

that's just mean... :(((

Gengar: Wait! Wait a minute!

I don't know if Gengar is meant to have broken his own paralysis or the judge of darkness did it for him, but something broke it and Gengar stepped up.

It's true. I abandoned Gardevoir and ran.
I was afraid that the curse would fall on me.
I had to get away, no matter what... That's what I thought.

(you probably shouldn't have pulled a Ninetales' tail in the first place but that's a bit different)

It didn't take long for me to forget about the curse and about Gardevoir.

rude

Many long years passed...

exactly how long has it been anyway

But Gardevoir... She never forgot about me.
One night... In Red's dream, Gardevoir said this...
That she considered me an irreplaceable friend, and that she still believed we would meet again...

I mean Gardevoir can like appear in dreams in shit so couldn't she have just shown up to Gengar herself?

Gardevoir kept thinking about someone like me.

:( he's crying

I lived carefree all this time... I realize now how selfish I was.
It's not just Gardevoir.
Team Wildfire put up with my selfishness and brought me here.

Yeah, we did.

I finally know what I was missing.

it takes a lot to realize that tbh

The place starts kind of awkwardly exploding and then

!!!!!!

Gengar: Gardevoir!

HI, WHERE DID YOU COME FROM

Gengar: N-Ninetales!
... But... I don't know what you're saying...

isn't that kinda obvious

Ninetelaes: The curse has been broken.
I case my curse, enraged at your twisted heart.
When your heart gained what it had been missing... The curse was shattered.
The final key to break the curse... was your sense of gratitude.

shock!

Gengar: Then, Gardevoir...?

SHE'S RIGHT THERE AIN'T SHE

You may be reassured. Gardevoir has returned. She will soon awaken.
However... That you were her partner in the past...
Gardevoir will have no recollection of that.

idk when i was a kid and playing this I always thought it'd be better to keep your memories but be kind of insubstantial rather than exist with amnesia. I'm still torn

Gengar: ............ That doesn't matter.
Gardevoir is back. That's enough for me...

:')

ok but if you don't remember anything how do you know you had a curse. or did we just tell u "by the way u were cursed until now" on the way back

You did this for me, even though I had never met you before... I have no idea how to thank you.

I feel like if I had a curse on me broken by someone but I didn't remember who they were I'd at least think "maybe they know me and I just don't remember" but idk

From the bottom of my heart...
Thank you so very much for saving me.
Gengar: ............... Good for you, Gardevoir.
Hey, Red. Thanks for getting me through this.
This is my thanks.

This lets you walk inside walls like Ghost-types do, except your belly decreases five times as fast.
It's possible to find this in some dungeons, and I might already have one in storage actually, idr. I might be using it for Joyous Tower later, we'll see :B

Gengar: Adios.
Gardevoir: Oh, wait, please!
Gengar: What is it now?
Gardevoir: Your name... Please, what is your name?

Gardevoir ffs everyone in this town is named after their species except the members of Team Wildfire and maybe Felicity the Persian.

Gengar: Keh!
The name's Gengar. Glad to meet you.
Gardevoir: My name is Gardevoir. I am also glad to meet you.

awwww

Then Gengar leaves for real.

The next day...

Oh, hey.

I would like to join Team Wildfire and help on rescues.

!!!!

Absolutely!

Thank you! I promise to do my best for the team!

I decide to nickname her Katrina after the suggestion. She heads off to Sky Blue Plains.
And that's the easiest way to get Gardevoir as a team member in this game. :p That's also the last NPC-turned-team member (Caterpie and Metapod are liars) so everything else has to be gotten legitimately. But we're over 80% of the way there!!
Even though like 20 of the mons I still need all need to come from a single level 1 dungeon but we're not gonna worry about that quite yet.

We still have four things to get from Buried Relic, so let's go off and do that. I need Porygon2, Aron, and 2 Makuhita. Yeah, even with all the Makuhita I've recruited in all my Buried Relic adventures, they all ended up dying somehow, go figure.

Porygon2 is surprisingly rare, this took some time to find. Named Apple.

The actual Ceroma lol

Named Ferro.

Lucta returns.

Next off to Frosty Forest to pick up those recruits: two Azurill and two Snorunt.

this escort mission won't SUCK

Pikablu :B

Named Nix.

Named Tree (I have my reasons)

Named Oni.

That's it for Frosty Forest... now let's start doing some evolution trips.

Basically I plan to get any Pokémon that needs to evolve up to the appropriate level by taking them with me to Western Cave (while I also attempt to recruit some of the stuff I don't have). I'll be doing a few such trips every update, but I'll cut out the boring stuff and just show recruits and evolutions :V

Named Anguis.

named Kodra because Arbok spelled backwards is Kodra righT?

PARTY TIME!

Named Vacca. (Pryce hit level 33 and was sent home.)

Named Type Bull.

Named Thyme.

Level 100 \o/

YASSS this is an unlikely recruit so I'm glad it worked
Named Quercus :B

Recruitment Progress

347/413: 84%
Aged Chamber AN (14/14):
Unown A (Anger)
Unown B (Bear)
Unown C (Chase)
Unown D (Darkness)
Unown E (Engage)
Unown F (Find)
Unown G (Give)
Unown H (Help)
Unown I (Increase)
Unown J (Join)
Unown K (Keep)
Unown L (Laugh)
Unown M (Metal)
Unown N (Normal)
Aged Chamber O? (14/14):
Unown O (Observe)
Unown P (Perform)
Unown Q (Quicken)
Unown R (Reassure)
Unown S (Search)
Unown T (Tell)
Unown U (Undo)
Unown V (Vanish)
Unown W (Want)
Unown X (XXXXX)
Unown Y (Yield)
Unown Z (Zoom)
Unown ! (!)
Unown ? (?)
Ancient Relic (6/6):
Aerodactyl (Big Boy)
Baltoy (Dreidel)
Baltoy -> Claydol (Oracle)
Regirock
Regice
Registeel
Beau Plains (5/12):
Bayleef (Thyme)
Hoppip (Apple)
Skiploom (Lou)
Skiploom -> Jumpluff (Bloom)
Roselia (Dahlia)
Boulder Cave (3/4):
Diglett (Speckles)
Onix (Snek)
Steelix (Dacian)
Bountiful Sea (7/9):
Tentacool (Stinger)
Tentacool -> Tentacruel (Frank)
Slowpoke (Felix)
Slowpoke -> Slowbro (Trip)
Slowking (Hatty)
Shellder (Pearl)
Cloyster (Mystery)
Crater (7/7):
Magby -> Magmar (Rachael)
Slugma (Gabriel)
Slugma -> Magcargo (Bogey)
Magby (Cynical)
Numel (Kipling)
Numel -> Camerupt (Java)
Torkoal (Coleman)
Cryptic Cave (1/1):
Mewtwo
Darkness Ridge (13/13):
Vulpix (Sparkle)
Ninetales (Spirit)
Gastly (Maya)
Haunter (Sabrina)
Gengar (Willa Wisp)
Misdreavus (Lucy)
Sneasel (Tachi)
Sableye (Garnet)
Shuppet (Teru)
Shuppet -> Banette (Ira)
Duskull (Umbra)
Duskull -> Dusclops (Phatos)
Absol (Storm)
Decrepit Lab (7/7):
Abra (Spoonless)
Kadabra (Animus)
Alakazam (Cordis)
Mr. Mime (Ted)
Ditto (Proteus)
Porygon (Microsoft)
Porygon2 (Apple)
Deep-Sea Current (1/1):
Lugia
Deep-Sea Floor (6/12):
Omanyte (Lord Helix)
Omanyte -> Omastar (ShellSmash)
Chinchou (Dave)
Clamperl (Juanita)
Clamperl -> Huntail (Murderfish)
Clamperl -> Gorebyss (Ariel)
Dragon Cave (3/3):
Bagon (Defiance)
Bagon -> Shelgon (Perseveren)
Shelgon -> Salamence (Blue)
Echo Cave (11/11):
Zubat (Wilson)
Zubat -> Golbat (Laylee)
Zubat -> Crobat (Ellie)
Dunsparce (Perry)
Whismur (Sonum)
Whismur -> Loudred (Cantus)
Whismur -> Exploud (Clamos)
Nosepass (Moana)
Mawile (0dd1)
Wynaut (Bicuzz)
Wobbuffet (Wobburrito)
Enclosed Island (1/1):
Deoxys
Energetic Forest (10/15):
Pikachu (Lightning)
Raichu (Rachel)
Meowth (Brian)
Persian (Laetu)
Mankey (JellyDonut)
Mankey -> Primeape (Altissimo)
Snorlax (Barbara)
Aipom (Bonzi)
Stantler (Olive)
Slakoth (Sid)
Final Island (1/1):
Mew
Flyaway Forest (12/12):
Pidgey (Birb)
Pidgeotto (Otto)
Pidgeotto -> Pidgeot (Kenny)
Hoothoot (Leroy)
Noctowl (Minuit)
Togepi (Shellby)
Togepi -> Togetic (Destructor)
Natu (Seer)
Xatu (Swensen)
Murkrow (Elphaba)
Swablu (Byssis)
Swablu -> Altaria (Nefela)
Frigid Cavern (5/7):
Swinub (Sara)
Swinub -> Piloswine (Pryce)
Delibird (St. Nick)
Snorunt (Nix)
Snorunt -> Glalie (Oni)
Furnace Desert (7/7):
Sandshrew (Guy Fieri)
Sandslash (Flavortown)
Trapinch (Bobblehead)
Trapinch -> Vibrava (Art Deco)
Vibrava -> Flygon (Desertsong)
Cacnea (Dirty Dan)
Cacnea -> Cacturne (Dorothy)
Ice Floe Beach (5/5):
Seel (Aurora)
Seel -> Dewgong (Tristan)
Spheal (Clubber)
Spheal -> Sealeo (Tubber)
Spheal -> Walrein (Blubber)
Jungle (13/13):
Oddish (Natura)
Gloom (Toadstool)
Vileplume (Toxia)
Bellsprout (Brussels)
Bellsprout -> Weepinbell (Banana)
Bellsprout -> Victreebel (LeoBurnett)
Exeggcute (Benedict)
Exeggutor (Smashmouth)
Tangela (Medusa)
Bellossom (Dancer)
Sunkern (Popcorn)
Sunflora (Molly)
Tropius (Ariera)
Legendary Island (3/3):
Articuno
Zapdos
Moltres
Magnetic Quarry (3/3):
Beldum (I3)
Metang (I5)
Metang -> Metagross (I7)
Mist-Rise Forest (13/14):
Caterpie (Blueberry)
Caterpie -> Metapod (Bluntman)
Caterpie -> Butterfree (Violetwing)
Weedle (Bean)
Kakuna (Timon)
Beedrill (Beeyonce)
Ledyba (Francis)
Ledian (Lyson)
Yanma (Shade)
Silcoon (Miriam)
Beautifly (Charlotte)
Cascoon (Fortunato)
Dustox (Luna)
Mt. Cleft (8/9):
Charmander (Char)
Charmeleon (Karma)
Charmander-> Charizard (Red)
Pupitar (Jones)
Pupitar -> Tyranitar (Rex)
Aron (Aaron)
Aron -> Lairon (Larry)
Aron -> Aggron (Ferro)
Mt. Deepgreen (9/12):
Geodude (Hazy)
Graveler (Heavy G)
Cubone (Skelebro)
Gligar (Chirops)
Shuckle (Shuckie)
Teddiursa (Toklo)
Teddiursa -> Ursaring (Oka)
Spoink (Spring)
Spoink -> Grumpig (Chex Mix)
Mt. Discipline (11/11):
Machop (Connor)
Machoke (Erika)
Machamp (M'Champion)
Tyrogue -> Hitmonlee (Bruce)
Tyrogue -> Hitmonchan (Jackie)
Tyrogue (Griff)
Tyrogue -> Hitmontop (Leo)
Makuhita (Ceroma)
Makuhita -> Hariyama (Lucta)
Meditite (Rebecca)
Meditite -> Medicham (Marise)
Mt. Moonview (5/6):
Cleffa -> Clefairy (Caroline)
Cleffa -> Clefable (Pierre)
Cleffa (Stella)
Lunatone (Mane)
Solrock (Alea)
Mushroom Forest (7/7):
Paras (France)
Paras -> Parasect (Mushpeckle)
Seedot (Acorn)
Nuzleaf (Nuzlocke)
Shiftry (Quercus)
Shroomish (Toad)
Breloom (Portobello)
Mystic Lake (4/4):
Lapras (Icerain)
Dratini (Ray)
Dragonair (Celia)
Dragonair -> Dragonite (Tempest)
Overgrown Forest (6/9):
Pinsir (Carabus)
Scyther (Pearl)
Sudowoodo (Fauxliage)
Scizor (Nightmare)
Heracross (Honey)
Sceptile (Green)
Peanut Swamp (7/7):
Wooper (Yippy)
Quagsire (Yeppa)
Mudkip (Muddy)
Marshtomp (Mallow)
Marshtomp -> Swampert (Skipper)
Barboach (Cashier)
Barboach -> Whiscash (Grandpa)
Poison Swamp (6/6):
Grimer (Billy Mays)
Grimer -> Muk (Shamwow)
Koffing (James)
Koffing -> Weezing (Pascal)
Gulpin (Venum)
Gulpin -> Swalot (Ceno)
Power Plant (6/6):
Magnemite (Duracell)
Magnemite -> Magneton (CRT)
Voltorb (PokéCube)
Voltorb -> Electrode (Cathode)
Elekid (Windmill)
Electabuzz (Sulpur)
Rainbow Peak (1/1):
Ho-oh
Ravaged Field (5/5):
Spearow (Spearmint)
Fearow (Not Ho-oh)
Skarmory (Stympha)
Houndour (April)
Houndoom (Heckdoom)
Rub-a-Dub River (7/7):
Goldeen (Arches)
Goldeen -> Seaking (Fortune)
Totodile (Gatorface)
Croconaw (Cruncher)
Croconaw -> Feraligatr (Florida)
Volbeat (Lux)
Illumise (Lumen)
Sacred Field (3/3):
Entei
Raikou
Suicune
Safari (12/15):
Nidoran F (Diane)
Nidorina (Arianne)
Nidoqueen (Victoria)
Nidoran M (Meliodas)
Nidorino (Michael)
Nidoking (Edward)
Doduo (Clarence)
Doduo -> Dodrio (Aegon)
Rhyhorn (Corona)
Kangaskhan (Salio)
Tauros (Thirty)
Miltank (Vacca)
Scorched Plains (6/10):
Growlithe (Fido)
Arcanine (Firebolt)
Quilava (Mr. Danger)
Quilava -> Typhlosion (Flametail)
Combusken (Mark)
Combusken -> Blaziken (Scorch)
Seafloor Cave (1/1):
Kyogre
Serene Sea (2/4):
Wailmer (Chum)
Wailmer -> Wailord (Jonah)
Secretive Forest (6/9):
Venonat (Tracey)
Venonat -> Venomoth (Mothra)
Spinarak (Arachna)
Ariados (Aragog)
Nincada (Illinois)
Nincada -> Ninjask
Shallow Beach (4/5):
Krabby (Eugene)
Kingler (Snake)
Wingull (Type Gull)
Wingull -> Pelipper (Drizzle)
Sky Blue Plains (7/13):
Girafarig (Harvey)
Snubbull (Muchmoney)
Snubbull -> Granbull (Type Bull)
Smeargle (Bitchworth)
Ralts (Wallabee)
Kirlia (Nijinsky)
Gardevoir (Katrina)
Southern Island (2/2):
Latias
Latios
Stratos Lookout (1/1):
Rayquaza
Tadpole Pond (9/9):
Poliwag (Doodle)
Poliwhirl (Tajiri)
Poliwrath (FurioFrog)
Politoed (HypnoToad)
Lotad (Lily)
Lombre (Carefree)
Ludicolo (Ariba)
Surskit (Skitter)
Masquerain (DeMasque)
Thunder Meadow (10/11):
Sentret (Joanne)
Sentret -> Furret (Pavarotti)
Mareep (Android)
Flaaffy (Layla)
Ampharos (Jasmine)
Electrike (Ravi)
Manectric (Drew)
Plusle (Positive)
Minun (Negative)
Chimecho (Giotto)
Treasure Sea (6/10):
Remoraid (Gunnpy)
Carvanha (Jaws)
Carvanha -> Sharpedo (Ari)
Anorith (Small Fry)
Anorith -> Armaldo (Pinch)
Luvdisc (Valentine)
Turtleshell Pond (7/10):
Squirtle (Cannon)
Wartortle (Survivor)
Wartortle -> Blastoise (Shellshock)
Azurill -> Marill (Pikablu)
Azurill -> Azumarill (Tree)
Azurill (Scout)
Corphish (Hey)
Corphish -> Crawdaunt (Radium)
Volcanic Pit (1/1):
Groudon
Waterfall Lake (4/4):
Magikarp (Emone)
Magikarp -> Gyarados (Randy)
Feebas (Duckling)
Milotic (Sera)
Wild Plains (13/13):
Rattata (Sword)
Raticate (Rodentia)
Ekans (Anguis)
Ekans -> Arbok (Kodra)
Farfetch'd (Onion)
Drowzee (Sleeper)
Hypno (Piper)
Poochyena (Missile)
Mightyena (Dingo)
Zigzagoon (Midnight)
Linoone (Longcat)
Zangoose (Harmony)
Seviper (Repiv)

(10:05)

 

[lucariomaster2]

Jeez, how did you get through Murky Cave on the first try? I remember losing from Gengar hitting Pitfall Traps all the time.

 

[pika pal]

Jeez, how did you get through Murky Cave on the first try? I remember losing from Gengar hitting Pitfall Traps all the time.

Maybe my memory's off, but I think Pokemon who aren't on the ground like Flying types or Levitate users are less likely to trigger traps.

Good luck with real life obligations, this run has been impressive so far and I hope to see it completed some day, whether by you, the community, or both.

On the curse, I always took it to be Gardevoir having her memories (or at least most of them), but lacking ones pertaining to Gengar specifically, whether his true identity or just her relation to him as the cursed human in general.

One thing I definitely miss from the sequels is the ability to recruit mons from missions or eggs. Gave a decent alternative to things like THAT mon halfway through Joyous Tower.

 

[smogon account]

sad reacts only

leave the run intact for when you have time in the future

 

[Altissimo]

I'll get there...! Slowly. After I deal with busy summer.

 

[Altissimo]

Just letting everyone know that I have resumed work on this. It is still exceptionally slow going (a full-time job and working on stuff for graduate school besides will do that to you) but I am moving again. I haven't abandoned it!

 

[Altissimo]

So. We’re back, finally.

(For the record, this does not necessarily mean the next updates will be up in a timely manner. There’s a lot to do, after all. But it won’t be two months… probably. And I will be actually working on it to the best of my ability. Promise!)

Replies

lucariomaster2: Surprisingly, I didn’t run into a single Pitfall Trap the entire time I did that dungeon. I guess I just got obscenely lucky????

pika pal: Actually, from my experience, what it is is that partner Pokémon don’t trigger traps on their own. It has to be revealed somehow (either by the leader stepping on it or attacking the space where it is) and only then will it trigger when a partner steps on it. Of course, if you have maxed IQ like Red does, then it’s very easy to reveal a trap and not realize it because no message pops up, and then accidentally lead a partner onto it. That happened a million times in Buried Relic and Western Cave.
Hmm… you might be right about Gardevoir, I just always assumed she was completely amnesiac.
lol I on the other hand don’t really like recruiting Pokémon from missions/eggs… though I’ll grant it’s a hundred million times easier than Joyous Tower ; ;

smogon account: I am return!!

The rest of the update, after I cut off after finishing the Murky Cave plot, was just going to be a bunch of evolution trips and some mazes. Obviously, it would be completely uninteresting to resume with those… So, we’re gonna start off with something a little bit different than those evolution trips and mazes.

We’re gonna go get ourselves a Kecleon.

Of course, if you know anything at all about this game, you’ll know that that’s much, much easier said than done. If you don’t know anything about this game, allow me to elaborate.

You’ve seen the Kecleon Shops we can buy and sell items at within dungeons throughout the game. Normally, these are pretty amicable affairs: you pick up an item, and when you leave the shop the game will prompt you to pay, or you can drop an item and when you leave the shop Kecleon will offer you sale price for it. Pretty convenient, albeit random. A nice, easy way to get some rare items in-dungeon (Reviver Seeds, Huge Apples, and the like are common) and have a good time.

Unless you steal the items.

Stealing can happen in one of three ways: 1) you press no when asked to pay; 2) you don’t have enough money to pay to begin with; or 3) you use a Trawl Orb, which draws all items on the floor to the player, on a floor with a Kecleon Shop. After stealing the items, Kecleon will issue a call to arms for his fellow Kecleon and they will begin to swarm the floor, spawning at a very rapid rate. There is exactly one way to get out of the mess without dying, and that’s to move to the next floor. Escape Orbs will not work once you’ve stolen the items (though you can pick up all the items in a shop and use the Escape Orb before leaving the shop to effectively steal them). Rescues will not work either. (I know this from experience. I went to rescue the client and they said something like “A thief can’t do a rescue!” It was kind of amazing.) Getting away from the Kecleon swarm is extremely difficult, as they are all level 99 and actually have double speed, meaning they move two tiles to your one. If you want to get to the stairs after stealing, you either have to have an assortment of items that will allow you to get there or be close by when the stealing occurs. (A common game strategy is to use Trawl Orbs while in the room with the stairs, picking up the items, and then quickly going to the stairs).

Of course, if you want to recruit Kecleon… that’s another matter entirely. For you see, shoplifting and then mowing down hordes of Kecleon is the only way to acquire Kecleon in this game. (You might be able to use Jirachi’s wish to recruit one if conditions are right, but I have not tested this myself. It feels like cheating to me.)

Being level 99, even a level 100 Pokémon may struggle against the onslaught of Kecleon if its stats are low. I used Red for my Kecleon adventures, and even at level 100 her basic attacks were a 2HKO and Kecleon’s attacks did far too much damage to make it feasible to attempt to play the long game. To deal with this, I decided to do several of my Western Cave evolution trips before going after Kecleon. Western Cave boasts the stat-boosting drinks (Protein et al) as random item spawns within the dungeon, so I’d just have Red drink all of the ones she came across. When I went back to try for Kecleon again, the basic attacks did about 2-3 damage and the actual attacks (Fury Swipes, Ancientpower, Thief, Slash, Lick, Psybeam) did 20-40 at most, out of Red’s 192 HP. Red herself dealt about 160-210 HP per basic attack to the Kecleon’s 195 HP, so a fair few attacks were OHKOs. Her actual attacks all did several hundred damage, easy KOs, although I primarily stuck to basic attacks because of the IQ skill that allows them to be Swift-accurate.

It wasn’t the best situation, but it worked well enough when paired with a couple Reviver Seeds. Red regains HP very rapidly, so if she ever got low, wandering around, being careful with movement (because of the Kecleon’s increased movement speed), and using OHKO attacks until her HP got back up was usually effective.

This was made easier by one of the Kecleon’s moves – Substitute. In this game, using Substitute turns the other Pokémon (not the user) into a decoy. If one of your allies is a decoy, your other allies will attack them and ignore enemies. Enemies will ignore decoys on your team: as far as the enemy is concerned they may as well just be invisible. Kecleon using Substitute on the player with no allies, then, is both a blessing and a curse: a blessing because they stop attacking you and therefore you can use the time to regain health, and a curse because the fact that enemies ignore you means it can be hard to get in a position to attack one… combine that with the Kecleon’s increased movement speed and you get Kecleon running away from you too fast to catch up with. I also wouldn’t be surprised if you couldn’t recruit in decoy form, but this isn’t something I’ve been able to test.

(Interesting to note: Decoy lasts a hell of a lot longer than other status effects in this game. I’m talking like 15-20 turns, maybe more.)

As an aside for anyone who plays Mystery Dungeon: I’m pretty sure that the initial Kecleon spawned with the shop when you enter the floor will spawn in with four random moves (in Mystery Dungeon, if a Pokémon spawns at a level where it has more than 4 moves in its move history, the game will select a random 4), and then every other Kecleon spawns with the same moveset as the initial Kecleon.

Now… in all this, I haven’t yet mentioned recruiting. Recruiting Kecleon works just like recruiting any other Pokémon. They’re just harder to kill. But… they have the lowest recruit rate of any Pokémon in the game. In order to recruit them, you need to be level 90+ (giving you the 24% bonus), and you need to be holding the Friend Bow (10% bonus – but this makes Thief a terrible move for Kecleon to have… you do get the Friend Bow back when you kill the Kecleon, but it means that Kecleon can’t be recruited), and with those two bonuses you still only have a 0.1% chance of recruiting.

That’s 1 in 1000.

That’s a lot of Kecleon.

So… buckle up! It’s time to grab some popcorn and sit back and watch as I spend forever trying to recr

...
oh
o-or that could happen

I mean… I know you haven’t seen how long it took me to recruit Kecleon. This could have taken up literally the entire two months between “I’m on hiatus” and this post for all you know. But here’s the thing: It didn’t.

It took less than two hours (over the course of two days), and a total of 5 shops robbed. And I don’t think I killed more than about 100 Kecleon – and that’s probably stretching it – per shop robbery. So. This came as a complete and utter surprise to me when it happened.

I mean, I recruited Kecleon before – once in this game, once (or maybe twice, idr) in Sky – and both times it took far longer and many more attempts than this. So I’m legitimately astounded. When I saw this I stopped everything I was doing and hit the screenshot key and almost had a heart attack when the rainbow wheel of death (I use a Mac) appeared over Desmume – it’s not like Desmume hasn’t crashed before for seemingly random reasons, and the rainbow wheel of death is a sign of imminent doom – but nope it ended up completely fine.

I named Kecleon Lester after that game Lester the Unlikely for obvious reasons :v

Anyway… so I now have a Kecleon, but I need to get out of the dungeon with it. Remember, Escape Orbs don’t work at this point, and you can see how far we are from the stairs (the blue square). (Usually during Kecleon missions I’d just stay near the stairs because that’s the smart thing to do, and I started out that way in these missions, but ultimately ended up wandering a bit too far – mostly because I wasn’t expecting to get a Kecleon so quick.) So, we need a plan of action for how to get there without Lester dying. I’m not worried about Red; she doesn’t take much damage and can one-shot everything with her attacks. Plus I have a Reviver Seed, maybe two. I did save state after getting Lester, but I’d rather not reload the save state since I want to do this “legit”. The save state was in the event of an emulator crash or something else not gameplay-related (which thankfully didn’t happen).

First thing to do is to swap the now-useless Friend Bow for the X-Ray Specs. This will allow me to keep an eye on the Kecleon swarm and turn back if anything is sneaking up from behind me.

Unfortunately my plans are thwarted early on when Lester is turned into a decoy by another Kecleon. I say this because, while I’m not “forced” to attack Lester like other allies might be, an issue with having an ally turn into a Kecleon is that they stop following you. So Lester is now just wandering wherever. This is a problem because then I can’t protect him from other Kecleon. (I had forgotten that enemies will also ignore allies-turned-decoys at the time.)

I ended up using my Petrify Orb on the Kecleon immediately above Red in this shot, masterfully blocking the doorway… until I accidentally clicked on the touch screen of the emulator and ended up wandering through the wall next to the Kecleon, opening a new path for non-petrified Kecleon to take. Go me.

Anyway so after that blunder I finally realized that enemies weren’t going after Lester and decided to make a beeline for the stairs. I was very close when Lester lost the decoy status, allowing him to be attacked again. Fortunately I had planned for this… see, because Lester shares the same moveset as all his other Kecleon brethren, that means that he has Substitute too, and decoys don’t attack! (For some reason.) So he successfully dealt with both the Kecleon that tried to attack him by using Substitute on them. (In the process I discovered that there can only be one decoy at a time. When Lester used Substitute the second time, the Kecleon that had been a decoy turned back into a Kecleon and the Kecleon that Lester was attacking was made a decoy. Interesting.)

Meanwhile we made it to the next floor, at which point I used my Escape Orb (it works on the next floor) and got us out.

And then saved like hell lol.

So yeah! Now we have a Kecleon!!

(As an aside: For anyone who plays this and also wants to grind for Kecleon, the best dungeons for finding shops are Mt. Blaze, Frosty Forest, Wyvern Hill, Northern Range, and Pitfall Valley.)

A little later…

Doot dee doot checkin the bulletin board for missi

Oh hello well that’s a thing I’ve been waiting for!
…
Wait.
Escort mission?
74 floors?
Western Cave?
With a Sunkern?

… Uh, this isn’t gonna end well.

Three main problems here: 1) Western Cave is basically the highest-level dungeon in the game. 2) Floors 50-60 of Western Cave swarm with Tyranitar, meaning near-constant Sandstorm. 3) Sunkern has one of, if not the, lowest base HPs in the game. In other words, Sandstorm will take its toll and kill the Sunkern more times than I can possibly have Reviver Seeds unless I get incredibly, unreasonably lucky in finding the stairs. Oh, and while I do have Weather Bands, you can't give escort allies items. Not even by throwing them at them. I should know, I've tried. So... there goes the best method of dealing with Sandstorm.

Welp, nothing to it but to do it :x

Though I do have something else in my sleeve to deal with the Sandstorm issue…

Surprise bonus guest! I don’t yet have a Psyduck/Golduck so this is the next best thing. Let’s see how this goes :xxxx

See that Tyranitar? Its Sand Stream doesn’t work! Hooray!!!!! Relief!

Aaand no more Tyranitar. Just 11 more floors left…

Oh.
Oh fuck.
This is not good.
I have a shitton of Reviver Seeds but not nearly enough time to make it to the Sunkern before it dies and no items that I can use.

I actually wanted to cry when this happened, it was literally over an hour of my time, even though I was on Skype with the boyfriend I still wanted to cry. :(

Feh. Again.

Yes, I am holding Poké (the currency) here, even though you’re not supposed to be able to. It’s because Alakazam used Trick on me while it was holding Poké. I guess they programmed it as a holdable item to prevent the game glitching in the event something like this happens. Cool programming!!
Although I’m pretty sure I’ve actually managed to confuse the game into putting Poké into my inventory when stepping on it before. This isn’t the first time I’ve seen this Poké glitch, after all. That's why I'm not freaking the fuck out, I think this is like the third or fourth time I've seen it ever.

The Alakazam dropped my X-Ray Specs when it died…

and then the idiot Sunkern stepped on an explosion trap and blew up the X-Ray Specs. Not a problem because I have 7 more in storage… except now I have to navigate the rest of the dungeon blind.
You can see why this would be a problem when I can’t see enemies that might come up on Sunkern from unexpected angles.

Which happens a floor later. (Fortunately I can deal with this situation though)

four more floors. four more floors

OKAY
WHERE THE FUCK IS THE THING I NEED TO FIND THE ESCORT QUICKLY

Aaaaand Rayquaza has been warped away. Well damn. You’re on your own.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAA

AAAAAAAAAAAAAA

look how pretty it is!!!!!!!

Anyway, for the rest of the update I took stuff to evolve in Western Cave and had a bunch of fun experiences while I was there!! (I didn’t actually, grinding is unfun)

I did however recruit all of the following pokermans in Western Cave…

Igglybuff have something like a 3% spawn rate in the 4 floors they can appear in, so they were annoyingly hard to find. Fortunately, they come at level 35, which is kind of high for this dungeon, and they’re not bad fighters either. Maybe that’s where Wigglytuff in MD2 trained after he left home?

They are named Rosey, Sugar, and Bob Ross… because Wigglytuff is a friend and so is Bob Ross. (My mom thinks Bob Ross is creepy. She’s wrong.)

The Ivysaur is Kayzie.

This Ivysaur (to be Venusaur) is Bruteroot and the Bayleef (to be Meganium) is Parsley lol

Named Tailure. In Platinum, Lickitung’s Pokédex entry says something like “when its tongue is stretched out all the way, its tail quivers, researchers wonder if there’s a connection” and so I named my Lickitung Tailure and have done so ever since.

Named Vectrex because I’m not really sure?? Okay that’s not true I am sure but it doesn’t make any damned sense so let’s just pretend it was out of nowhere.

So let’s talk happiness evolutions. Since there’s no happiness mechanic in this game, it is approximated with… IQ points. If you get IQ high enough, Pokémon that require happiness to evolve will be able to.

At the moment, we have 8 Pokémon that can evolve by happiness: Zubat, 2 Igglybuff, Togepi, 2 Cleffa, and 2 Azurill. Dunno if we’ll have enough Gummis to evolve all of these, let’s try and see what happens!!

I’ll be keeping an eye on this to determine when the IQ is high enough.

You can feed Gummis to a Pokémon in its Friend Area, which is super convenient, and also has the ability to raise their stats, which you can’t get in dungeons.

That didn’t actually take too long surprisingly. Let’s see… how many Pokémon can we evolve today…?

As it turns out it was 4 with the Gummis I had. Soo I went out to get more! The best dungeon in the game for Gummis seems to be Stormy Sea, surprisingly, so I took some evolution friends there while scouring the dungeon for Gummis, and eventually got enough to evolve all of my friends, while also getting up the levels of some other Pokémon as well.

The only happiness evolutions we have left after this are Eevee’s two as well as Chansey, and I haven’t picked up either of those yet – though I will next update.

I also evolved a buncha other stuff. You probably don’t want to see a bunch of screenshots of me evolving things but guess what that’s what I’ve been doing a lot of so far!! I’ll try to include some moderately interesting things underneath each screenshot though??????

These are all things that I managed to get up to evolution level while taking my trips to Stormy Sea in order to pick up Gummis. I need some more Irons to boost the other Tyrogue’s Defense stat before I can evolve him, but he is at level 20.

finally doing this from the last update. Now Type Bull can be like Snubbull-Granbull in Pokémon Square!!!! It has a friend

kodra can now be the arbok-spelled-backwards he always should have been

NPC Caterpie and Metapod never join the team so here we are :B

lookit that parade of pseudo legends!!!!

The pseudo-legends are some of the hardest things to evolve because they require a lot of experience to level up and usually need a fair amount of levels to get to evolution levels, so I’m glad I’m done with them all. Not that there won’t be annoying evolutions later, like Spheal, of course, but still.

How do you get Shedinja in this game, you ask?

After evolving Ninjask, a Shedinja will automatically be on your team. Magic!!
It is the only Pokémon in the entire game you have the opportunity to name after recruiting it. I named mine Sunwise after a famous Shedinja from a famous Nuzlocke

Here it is.

blah blah BLAH evolving stuff
entertaining content i know :B

well ok since this update is almost over i will show you something mildly interesting! Some of the friend areas have filled up so we get pics of those! Oooh.

Wild Plains, which is too wide for me to get a shot of everything…

Mystic Lake, which is BARELY big enough…

Tadpole Pond, which is the worst Friend Area to navigate…

Dragon Cave and Magnetic Quarry…
(am I gonna get a Pokémon Snap style deferral for not getting the fronts of the Pokémon in Magnetic Quarry)

Jungle…

And Ancient Relic.

We also have some mazes to take on.

Fighting Maze, which boasts Tyrogue and Meditite. Lookit that Hitmonlee, that’s gotta be a high level!!! (Or not because this is an early maze :B)

Ground Maze, which has ... just Diglett and Phanpy.

Flying Maze.

alas pidgey if only I could recruit you here, it is literally the only mon in this maze until the boss. Why is it that all the super annoying mons (Ponyta, Exeggcute, Pidgey) are found in these mazes? Why must I be taunted in this way :(

anyway that’s all for this time. Next time: Joyous Tower!

Upcoming recruits: Wurmple, Treecko, Bulbasaur, Taillow/Swellow, Pichu, Spinda, Chikorita, Psyduck/Golduck, Torchic, Eevee + evolutions, Cyndaquil, Smoochum/Jynx, Skitty/Delcatty, Chansey/Blissey, Ponyta/Rapidash

Hope this update wasn’t too boring for you all! But do remember to suggest names for these recruits - it'll be the last batch of recruits where you can have a voice!

Recruitment Progress

358/413: 86.6%
Aged Chamber AN (14/14):
Unown A (Anger)
Unown B (Bear)
Unown C (Chase)
Unown D (Darkness)
Unown E (Engage)
Unown F (Find)
Unown G (Give)
Unown H (Help)
Unown I (Increase)
Unown J (Join)
Unown K (Keep)
Unown L (Laugh)
Unown M (Metal)
Unown N (Normal)
Aged Chamber O? (14/14):
Unown O (Observe)
Unown P (Perform)
Unown Q (Quicken)
Unown R (Reassure)
Unown S (Search)
Unown T (Tell)
Unown U (Undo)
Unown V (Vanish)
Unown W (Want)
Unown X (XXXXX)
Unown Y (Yield)
Unown Z (Zoom)
Unown ! (!)
Unown ? (?)
Ancient Relic (6/6):
Aerodactyl (Big Boy)
Baltoy (Dreidel)
Claydol (Oracle)
Regirock
Regice
Registeel
Beau Plains (8/12):
Ivysaur (Kayzie)
Venusaur (Bruteroot)
Bayleef (Thyme)
Meganium (Parsley)
Hoppip (Apple)
Skiploom (Lou)
Jumpluff (Bloom)
Roselia (Dahlia)
Boulder Cave (3/4):
Diglett (Speckles)
Onix (Snek)
Steelix (Dacian)
Bountiful Sea (7/9):
Tentacool (Stinger)
Tentacruel (Frank)
Slowpoke (Felix)
Slowpoke -> Slowbro (Trip)
Slowking (Hatty)
Shellder (Pearl)
Cloyster (Mystery)
Crater (7/7):
Magmar (Rachael)
Slugma (Gabriel)
Slugma -> Magcargo (Bogey)
Magby (Cynical)
Numel (Kipling)
Numel -> Camerupt (Java)
Torkoal (Coleman)
Cryptic Cave (1/1):
Mewtwo
Darkness Ridge (13/13):
Vulpix (Sparkle)
Ninetales (Spirit)
Gastly (Maya)
Haunter (Sabrina)
Gengar (Willa Wisp)
Misdreavus (Lucy)
Sneasel (Tachi)
Sableye (Garnet)
Shuppet (Teru)
Shuppet -> Banette (Ira)
Duskull (Umbra)
Dusclops (Phatos)
Absol (Storm)
Decrepit Lab (7/7):
Abra (Spoonless)
Kadabra (Animus)
Alakazam (Cordis)
Mr. Mime (Ted)
Ditto (Proteus)
Porygon (Microsoft)
Porygon2 (Apple)
Deep-Sea Current (1/1):
Lugia
Deep-Sea Floor (6/12):
Omanyte (Lord Helix)
Omanyte -> Omastar (ShellSmash)
Chinchou (Dave)
Clamperl (Juanita)
Clamperl -> Huntail (Murderfish)
Clamperl -> Gorebyss (Ariel)
Dragon Cave (3/3):
Bagon (Defiance)
Shelgon (Perseveren)
Salamence (Blue)
Echo Cave (11/11):
Zubat (Wilson)
Golbat (Laylee)
Crobat (Ellie)
Dunsparce (Perry)
Whismur (Sonum)
Loudred (Cantus)
Loudred -> Exploud (Clamos)
Nosepass (Moana)
Mawile (0dd1)
Wynaut (Bicuzz)
Wobbuffet (Wobburrito)
Enclosed Island (1/1):
Deoxys
Energetic Forest (10/15):
Pikachu (Lightning)
Raichu (Rachel)
Meowth (Brian)
Persian (Laetu)
Mankey (JellyDonut)
Mankey -> Primeape (Altissimo)
Snorlax (Barbara)
Aipom (Bonzi)
Stantler (Olive)
Slakoth (Sid)
Final Island (1/1):
Mew
Flyaway Forest (12/12):
Pidgey (Birb)
Pidgeotto (Otto)
Pidgeotto -> Pidgeot (Kenny)
Hoothoot (Leroy)
Noctowl (Minuit)
Togepi (Shellby)
Togetic (Destructor)
Natu (Seer)
Xatu (Swensen)
Murkrow (Elphaba)
Swablu (Byssis)
Swablu -> Altaria (Nefela)
Frigid Cavern (5/7):
Swinub (Sara)
Swinub -> Piloswine (Pryce)
Delibird (St. Nick)
Snorunt (Nix)
Snorunt -> Glalie (Oni)
Furnace Desert (7/7):
Sandshrew (Guy Fieri)
Sandslash (Flavortown)
Trapinch (Bobblehead)
Vibrava (Art Deco)
Flygon (Desertsong)
Cacnea (Dirty Dan)
Cacnea -> Cacturne (Dorothy)
Ice Floe Beach (5/5):
Seel (Aurora)
Seel -> Dewgong (Tristan)
Spheal (Clubber)
Spheal -> Sealeo (Tubber)
Spheal -> Walrein (Blubber)
Jungle (13/13):
Oddish (Natura)
Gloom (Toadstool)
Vileplume (Toxia)
Bellsprout (Brussels)
Weepinbell (Banana)
Victreebel (LeoBurnett)
Exeggcute (Benedict)
Exeggutor (Smashmouth)
Tangela (Medusa)
Bellossom (Dancer)
Sunkern (Popcorn)
Sunflora (Molly)
Tropius (Ariera)
Legendary Island (3/3):
Articuno
Zapdos
Moltres
Magnetic Quarry (3/3):
Beldum (I3)
Metang (I5)
Metagross (I7)
Mist-Rise Forest (13/14):
Caterpie (Blueberry)
Metapod (Bluntman)
Butterfree (Violetwing)
Weedle (Bean)
Kakuna (Timon)
Beedrill (Beeyonce)
Ledyba (Francis)
Ledian (Lyson)
Yanma (Shade)
Silcoon (Miriam)
Beautifly (Charlotte)
Cascoon (Fortunato)
Dustox (Luna)
Mt. Cleft (8/9):
Charmander (Char)
Charmeleon (Karma)
Charizard (Red)
Pupitar (Jones)
Tyranitar (Rex)
Aron (Aaron)
Aron -> Lairon (Larry)
Aron -> Aggron (Ferro)
Mt. Deepgreen (9/12):
Geodude (Hazy)
Graveler (Heavy G)
Cubone (Skelebro)
Gligar (Chirops)
Shuckle (Shuckie)
Teddiursa (Toklo)
Ursaring (Oka)
Spoink (Spring)
Spoink -> Grumpig (Chex Mix)
Mt. Discipline (11/11):
Machop (Connor)
Machoke (Erika)
Machamp (M'Champion)
Hitmonlee (Bruce)
Hitmonchan (Jackie)
Tyrogue (Griff)
Tyrogue -> Hitmontop (Leo)
Makuhita (Ceroma)
Hariyama (Lucta)
Meditite (Rebecca)
Meditite -> Medicham (Marise)
Mt. Moonview (5/6):
Clefairy (Caroline)
Clefable (Pierre)
Cleffa (Stella)
Lunatone (Mane)
Solrock (Alea)
Mushroom Forest (7/7):
Paras (France)
Paras -> Parasect (Mushpeckle)
Seedot (Acorn)
Nuzleaf (Nuzlocke)
Shiftry (Quercus)
Shroomish (Toad)
Breloom (Portobello)
Mystic Lake (4/4):
Lapras (Icerain)
Dratini (Ray)
Dragonair (Celia)
Dragonite (Tempest)
Overgrown Forest (8/9):
Pinsir (Carabus)
Scyther (Pearl)
Sudowoodo (Fauxliage)
Scizor (Nightmare)
Heracross (Honey)
Grovyle (Vectrex)
Sceptile (Green)
Kecleon (Lester)
Peanut Swamp (7/7):
Wooper (Yippy)
Quagsire (Yeppa)
Mudkip (Muddy)
Marshtomp (Mallow)
Marshtomp -> Swampert (Skipper)
Barboach (Cashier)
Barboach -> Whiscash (Grandpa)
Poison Swamp (6/6):
Grimer (Billy Mays)
Grimer -> Muk (Shamwow)
Koffing (James)
Koffing -> Weezing (Pascal)
Gulpin (Venum)
Swalot (Ceno)
Power Plant (6/6):
Magnemite (Duracell)
Magnemite -> Magneton (CRT)
Voltorb (PokéCube)
Electrode (Cathode)
Elekid (Windmill)
Electabuzz (Sulpur)
Rainbow Peak (1/1):
Ho-oh
Ravaged Field (5/5):
Spearow (Spearmint)
Fearow (Not Ho-oh)
Skarmory (Stympha)
Houndour (April)
Houndoom (Heckdoom)
Rub-a-Dub River (7/7):
Goldeen (Arches)
Goldeen -> Seaking (Fortune)
Totodile (Gatorface)
Croconaw (Cruncher)
Croconaw -> Feraligatr (Florida)
Volbeat (Lux)
Illumise (Lumen)
Sacred Field (3/3):
Entei
Raikou
Suicune
Safari (12/15):
Nidoran F (Diane)
Nidorina (Arianne)
Nidoqueen (Victoria)
Nidoran M (Meliodas)
Nidorino (Michael)
Nidoking (Edward)
Doduo (Clarence)
Doduo -> Dodrio (Aegon)
Rhyhorn (Corona)
Kangaskhan (Salio)
Tauros (Thirty)
Miltank (Vacca)
Scorched Plains (6/10):
Growlithe (Fido)
Arcanine (Firebolt)
Quilava (Mr. Danger)
Quilava -> Typhlosion (Flametail)
Combusken (Mark)
Combusken -> Blaziken (Scorch)
Seafloor Cave (1/1):
Kyogre
Serene Sea (2/4):
Wailmer (Chum)
Wailmer -> Wailord (Jonah)
Secretive Forest (7/9):
Venonat (Tracey)
Venonat -> Venomoth (Mothra)
Spinarak (Arachna)
Ariados (Aragog)
Nincada (Illinois)
Ninjask (Naruto)
Shedinja (Sunwise)
Shallow Beach (4/5):
Krabby (Eugene)
Kingler (Snake)
Wingull (Type Gull)
Wingull -> Pelipper (Drizzle)
Sky Blue Plains (11/13):
Jigglypuff (Sugar)
Wigglytuff (Bob Ross)
Lickitung (Tailure)
Igglybuff (Rosey)
Girafarig (Harvey)
Snubbull (Muchmoney)
Granbull (Type Bull)
Smeargle (Bitchworth)
Ralts (Wallabee)
Kirlia (Nijinsky)
Gardevoir (Katrina)
Southern Island (2/2):
Latias
Latios
Stratos Lookout (1/1):
Rayquaza
Tadpole Pond (9/9):
Poliwag (Doodle)
Poliwhirl (Tajiri)
Poliwrath (FurioFrog)
Politoed (HypnoToad)
Lotad (Lily)
Lombre (Carefree)
Ludicolo (Ariba)
Surskit (Skitter)
Masquerain (DeMasque)
Thunder Meadow (10/11):
Sentret (Joanne)
Furret (Pavarotti)
Mareep (Android)
Flaaffy (Layla)
Ampharos (Jasmine)
Electrike (Ravi)
Manectric (Drew)
Plusle (Positive)
Minun (Negative)
Chimecho (Giotto)
Treasure Sea (6/10):
Remoraid (Gunnpy)
Carvanha (Jaws)
Sharpedo (Ari)
Anorith (Small Fry)
Anorith -> Armaldo (Pinch)
Luvdisc (Valentine)
Turtleshell Pond (8/10):
Squirtle (Cannon)
Wartortle (Survivor)
Wartortle -> Blastoise (Shellshock)
Marill (Pikablu)
Azumarill (Tree)
Azurill (Scout)
Corphish (Hey)
Corphish -> Crawdaunt (Radium)
Volcanic Pit (1/1):
Groudon
Waterfall Lake (4/4):
Magikarp (Emone)
Magikarp -> Gyarados (Randy)
Feebas (Duckling)
Milotic (Sera)
Wild Plains (13/13):
Rattata (Sword)
Raticate (Rodentia)
Ekans (Anguis)
Arbok (Kodra)
Farfetch'd (Onion)
Drowzee (Sleeper)
Hypno (Piper)
Poochyena (Missile)
Mightyena (Dingo)
Zigzagoon (Midnight)
Linoone (Longcat)
Zangoose (Harmony)
Seviper (Repiv)

 

[Altissimo]

Poll time.

So, as I said, the next update will be about Joyous Tower. For the most part, it's not that bad if you know what you're doing. But that doesn't make a certain Pokémon any easier to get. I'm talking about Chansey, of course.

So, here's the deal. Chansey appears on 3 floors: floors 50, 60, and 77. On floor 50, it has a 0.86% chance to spawn. On floor 60, it is 0.85%. On floor 77, it is 0.95%.

Now, of course, these spawn rates suck. That much is obvious. But the shitty spawn rates are also confounded by a few other factors:
a) This is a level 1 dungeon. This means that I have no advantage over the wild Pokémon except for the one I can build myself over the course of the dungeon. This means that camping on out the Chansey floors is quite difficult, as some wild Pokémon may take their toll on me and it will actually affect me.
b) There is no other reason to go this high in the dungeon... as I have already recruited two Ponyta, the only other necessary Pokémon that resides that high in the dungeon.
c) Chansey has a roughly 20% recruit rate with the Friend Bow. This means that even the Chansey I do find may not join me. (This has already happened to me.)
d) I have already attempted the dungeon twice looking for Chansey. Each attempt took a couple of hours of my time.

However, there is a second way to get Chansey: You can use Jirachi's wish to get it. This is how I got Chansey in my cartridge recruit-em-all. However, I am reluctant to do this on a public Let's Play without the fans' approval because it carries some degree of in-authenticity to it. So that's why I'm putting it up to the voters. I've got four options for you, so please, please give me your input so I can come to a decision that satisfies everyone!

1) I must recruit Chansey in Joyous Tower. This is the "legitimate" way to do it, but it will also take longer, and therefore the update will probably be delayed significantly.
2) I am able to use Jirachi's wish if I so desire. This is not so legitimate, but it is guaranteed that beating Jirachi will allow me to obtain Chansey, so it will not take as long.

Those are the two options that go wholly one way or another. It's also worth noting that using Jirachi's wish also means I have to trek through a 99-floor level 1 dungeon in order to obtain Chansey, so there is a sort of trade-off where going to Joyous Tower means I don't have to go so far but have to get lucky, and going to Wish Cave means I have to beat the whole dungeon and a boss but there is no luck factor involved. So the difficulty is (sort of) evened out a little, if that helps.

My other two options are save state compromise options.
3) I must recruit Chansey in Joyous Tower, but I am allowed the use of save states to reload the floor if I don't find Chansey and am forced to leave the floor, so that I don't have to trek through the entire dungeon again to get back to the floor. This will not make finding, or recruiting, Chansey any easier. It will just cut out the dungeon trek and therefore significantly lower the time spent on finding Chansey.
4) I must recruit Chansey in Joyous Tower, but I am allowed the use of save states to reload the Chansey battle if Chansey fails to join my team. This will not make finding Chansey any easier, but it will allow me to manipulate the RNG (by reloading and changing my actions before I beat Chansey) to guarantee that any Chansey I do find joins my team.

Alternatively, if you'd like, you could also suggest a combination compromise - such as "do Joyous Tower 3 times and if you don't recruit a Chansey on any of those three times than you can save state or do Wish Cave" or something along those lines.

Either way, I'd really like your input! I'll leave this open for a few days while I tackle some evolution missions before I make a decision. So please post!

 

[pika pal]

I'm going to propose an odd condition: You should need 2 Chanseys for this (one for Chansey, one for Blissey). I propose Wish Cave be limited to obtaining ONE Chansey of the two, and the other must be recruited from Joyous Tower (Save Stat provisions up to any other thread opinions).

 

[Meta-Kraid]

I would suggest a combination of options 3 and 4. Once you get onto the preferred floor, make a save state. Go through the floor until you either recruit a Chansey or are forced to exit. If you don't recruit a Chansey after the initial trek through the floor, reload the first save state, and you can use save states to abuse the RNG and recruit the next encountered Chansey. After recruiting your first Chansey, you can recruit your other one through any option you wish.

 

[Hydrachomp]

In my opinion, the best way to solve this problem is either use pika pal's suggestion or go with option 3. Pika pal's suggestion keeps it as legitimate as possible, but I think using safe states in order to encounter a chansey isn't a bad thing to do. In order to reach those floors, you have proven that you are able to legitimately track through the dungeon. I think it would be more than fair to reload the floor to find Chansey, as putting such much time and effort in traversing the same floor over and over would just be a waste. You could even combine these two, if you would really want to. Completing the pokedex is already an enormous task and I don't think speeding up this part would make that any less valuable.

 

[Altissimo]

Looks like what I'm going to be doing is this:

My first Chansey will be from Joyous Tower. I'll save state at the beginning of one of its floors and hang around until I either recruit one or am forced to leave the floor. If I am forced to leave the floor I'll reset the save state and then save state when I find a Chansey to ensure it joins the team.

The other Chansey will be from Wish Cave. It doesn't have to be, but this would also give me a good excuse to show off Jirachi's wish options which I wouldn't need to do otherwise, so for the sake of the Let's Play I think it's worth showing.

That said, it will still be a little while before the next update comes out. I'm almost done with work for summer, but I'm about to go to the beach for a week and ... you can imagine I probably won't accomplish much gameplay-wise in that time :B

 

[jordanthejq12]

Have fun!

 

[Altissimo]

We're back! For the record, I start school in a week and my boyfriend's coming to visit for a few days shortly after, so updates are going to stay slow. I will finish, though!

This time, we’re taking on Joyous Tower. Buut we’re not gonna get to that right away, gotta build suspense (or something). So we’ll start with some other recruit missions instead.

The first thing I do is go to Mt. Freeze to pick up the last recruits I need there… which is basically just two Pineco.

Fibonacci is so named because pinecones in nature exhibit the Fibonacci sequence. … or something like that. The other one is Grenade and that was boyfriend’s idea.

Well that was entertaining I guess :V

I also pick up the last three things I need from Mt. Faraway – two Vigoroth and Castform.

… yup, that sure is all three of them, right there.
Vigoroth is Solomon and I don’t really know why. The one that will be a Slaking is Louie after Jungle Book. Castform is Aer.

That wasn’t particularly interesting, but it did fill up Thunder Meadow, hooray! Here it is.

Okay now on to the main event.

I really don’t want to do this… any of it, the actual dungeon or the mandatory save beforehand. :( Oh well…

Music: Makuhita Dojo
Recruits: A lot of things. Relevant to my interests are Wurmple, Treecko, Bulbasaur, Taillow, Pichu, Spinda, Chikorita, Psyduck, Torchic, Eevee, Cyndaquil, Smoochum, Skitty, Chansey, and Ponyta, all of which can only be found in this dungeon alone.

Here’s the problem with Joyous Tower. 1) It’s another level 1 dungeon, which are always nerve-wracking. 2) The level curve here is ridiculous compared to the other two such dungeons. 3) In order to finish Wish Cave, you need to bum around like the first 11 floors a while, and beat it once. In order to finish Purity Forest, you need to beat it once. In order to finish Joyous Tower, you’re probably gonna be going all the way to floors 50-60 or so a good couple of times, unless you get lucky.

So, what’s the deal with it specifically? Well… it’s just got a lot of stuff to recruit. Specifically, several starters can be found here exclusively (including Eevee, which you need 6 of), and Ponyta and Chansey are exclusive to the higher floors of the dungeon. Ponyta is on floors 57-59, and Chansey is on floors 50, 60, and 77. Chansey however is a horrible thing to try to get because its spawn rate never gets above 1% (though it’s never as low as Exeggcute, and the fact that it can be found on three distinct floors means you have that much more opportunity to get it) and its recruit rate probably won’t top 20%. That is twenty percent. That’s as many as one out of five. And that’s terrible.

That’s why I never got Chansey the “legit” way but always Jirachi-wished for it.

I may do that again, if it turns out that Chansey becomes that much of a horrible Pokémon to recruit, but I’d rather not – I’d rather do this legit. No matter how much it sucks.

Anyway, moving on from Chansey. You may notice I am using Lester the Kecleon as my sole party lead. This is part of the reason why I recruited him last update – I wanted to have him available to me as a level 1 dungeon party lead. Kecleon and Alakazam are probably objectively the two best level 1 dungeon leads in the game, so here we are.
Which one you use is probably up to how you individually choose to approach level 1 dungeons. Alakazam starts out with far superior stats to Kecleon, but levels up much slower. Kecleon’s stat gains eventually surpass Alakazam’s. At level 15, their defensive stats are equal, except Kecleon will get to level 15 quicker than Alakazam and can make use of those boosts more quickly. If you want to just storm through the dungeon as fast as possible, Alakazam is probably the Pokémon for you – aided by its immediate access to Teleport. But if you’re like me and want to play the long game, I recommend Kecleon. Kecleon is also useful due to its expansive level-up movepool that includes Fury Swipes (!!!!), which is a godsend in this kind of environment.
No matter who you choose, though, be sure to give it the TM Frustration for an automatic high-PP 45-damage attack!

Pearl’s guide to recruiting Chansey stars Alakazam, but I chose to run with Kecleon for my first few attempts for the reasons listed above.

I brought the following items: Tight Belt (as held item), Mobile Scarf, Friend Bow, X-Ray Specs, 3 Huge Apples, 2 Reviver Seeds, 2 Max Elixirs, 99 Gravelerocks, Frustration TM (later 2 of them), Cleanse Orb, Escape Orb, Petrify Orb.

And… all these reasons mean it is surprisingly not difficult to arrive at floor 50, the first of the Chansey floors. However, we will have to be careful: apparently Azumarill lurks this floor and is a horribly deadly foe. This is why I brought the Mobile Scarf with me, which will allow me to slip away from enemies if need be, though due to its cost on Belly I would rather not use it. (Though said cost on Belly is also why I brought my Tight Belt.)

… and due to some idiocy on my part I get poisoned. Great. I want to spend a long time on this floor, and now I can’t. That defeats the point, doesn’t it?

Eh, not due to luck. I had a Grimy Food, which inflicts a status effect on the consumer, and I got lucky with it inflicting me with paralysis – a temporary effect that removes poison permanently. Yay for thinking?

OH NO AZUMARILL IS NOT ANY BETTER TO FIGHT AS KECLEON

AAAAAAAAA!!
… but due to Frustration I end up beating it. Gonna have to stay the hell away from those in the future though.

Alas though my time on floor 50 comes to a premature end, mostly because I’ve accumulated enough defensive stat drops that it is too risky to stick around. That sucks.

I arrive on floor 57, the first of the Ponyta floors.

wait wtf why is Rapidash also on this floor, that’s rather odd

I found a Ponyta! But will it join me, even with the Friend Bow?!

… yes. I named it Applejack because I might have been pony trash once :B It comes at level 30 (!!!!!) which gives it the ability to hold its own against enemies, though I still don’t trust them not to kill it and will be defending it as much as possible.

Unfortunately, I do not have any further luck with the two more Ponyta I encounter before being forced onto floor 60, where Ponyta stop appearing. However, this is a Chansey floor. Will I get lucky?

NOPE INSTEAD I JUST LEARN THAT GRANBULL ALSO SUCKS TO FIGHT

More stat drops mean I have to leave this floor prematurely as well. One day I will find you, Chansey.

I was on my way to floor 77 when this happened. With a very low Defense due to Screech and no decent offensive items to fight the menace that is Granbull, I decide to call it quits and use an Escape Orb, preserving my items and Applejack’s life.

Let’s go again.

… this seems like the most useless item ever, what the hell

Oh, don’t think I don’t see you there. I absolutely do.

Friend Bow equip.

As you know if you read my prior post, this Chansey does not join me. It is after this run that I post the question in the thread because wow this took way too long

… there’s a reason Pearl’s post said to beware of Azumarill, and here it is.

I… ended up using a rescue generator for this. I didn’t have to, for the record, as I have my own copy of Blue that has every Pokémon and I easily could have gotten it and rescued myself, or posted a rescue request here/somewhere else where MD fans are and gotten a legitimate rescue. At the time of this though I was rather in a bad place mentally from spending so long trying to find the Chansey only for it not to join me, and I figured that if I were going to get rescued / rescue myself anyway it would still have the same result, it just wouldn’t take as long if I used the generator. I probably shouldn’t have done that, but there isn’t anything I can do to make up for it now, really.

Regardless, I continued.

Named Cherokee at the boyfriend’s suggestion. This actually drained my drive a bit since now that I had two Ponyta, the only other reason I ever had to go this far in the dungeon, it was a bit upsetting to know I would still have to come back this far but instead be banking solely on a <1% chance with a 20% recruit rate, something I might not even run across. Regardless, I still had two possible floors to find Chansey on, so this run wasn’t a waste – not yet.

… until this happens, at any rate. Lacking the resources to adequately deal with the Monster House, I decide instead to Escape Orb out.

Following this is when I posted the question about how I should obtain my Chansey. My decision, as my second post indicates, is that I would progress through the dungeon normally, save state at the beginning of floor 50, and progress until I either needed to leave the floor or recruited a Chansey. If I failed to recruit a Chansey, I could reload the save state and go again, but when I found a Chansey I could save state until it joined me.

After a few hours of play (accompanied by a Discord chat with the boyfriend) I find myself here.

As I was exploring the floor, I ran into a Monster House. I had a Mobile Scarf and an Escape Orb. Had I been playing the game “legitimately”, I probably would have instantly used the Escape Orb out of terror, because there were like three Azumarill surrounding me and the time it took to equip the Mobile Scarf would have allowed them to kill me. I had already used my only Petrify Orb on an earlier Monster House. In this case, I reset the save state, rationalizing that using an Escape Orb would effectively be “leaving the floor”, and even if I had managed to get the Mobile Scarf and leave, the amount of fucking terrifying Azumarill left wandering the floor would probably have shortened the length of time I could reasonably stay on the floor.

Plus, no Chansey spawned in the Monster House.

However, I still decided to give the floor one “honest” attempt where I would trawl it for as long as I could looking for Chansey, and not save state if I found one. In this go, I avoided the Monster House completely (the floor layout was the same) and therefore didn’t have to deal with the issue.

I was on the floor for a pretty damn long time, enough to deplete my hunger completely from full to empty at least. Eventually, I ran out of Reviver Seeds, had been Screeched at twice by Electrode (without any Wonder Tiles on the floor, I couldn’t fix this), and was at 10 HP adjacent to the stairs. This is when I decided to cut my losses and “head to the next floor”… aka reload the save state. I did not find any Chansey on that attempt.

That said, it did not take terribly long to find a Chansey when I returned to the floor. (For the record, if you’re curious, the Monster House room is the one immediately above Lester in this screenshot.)

The first attempt was unsuccessful. So I reloaded.

Basically, making different actions will cause the RNG to roll differently when it comes time to roll for recruitment. I’m pretty sure it’s more dependent on the number of turns passed than the amount of real-world time or the actions you take on one specific turn (e.g. using Scratch instead of Frustration won’t change the RNG) but I cannot be 100% sure of this. Regardless, after the first failure to recruit this Chansey, my approach was to either attack with basic attacks (which wouldn’t kill it, thus delaying a turn) or move around to waste turns. When these failed to work after a couple tries, and there was only so far I could go with the only direction open to me being the Monster House, I equipped the Mobile Scarf and sent Lester through the wall to open up the possibility of moving in more directions and wasting even more turns.

Eventually, I got it.

… And promptly left.

I named it Cappy, by the way, after the Hamtaro character who teaches you the word “Blissie” in Ham-Hams Unite :B I decided I’m going to evolve this one into Blissey, because that means that even though I’m “cheating” by getting the other Chansey via Wish Cave, I still need to put in the effort to evolve Chansey, which I think makes it fair.

I cannot, however, get the other Chansey this update, due to the way the Jirachi wish works. So the rest of the update will be… clearing out the rest of Joyous Tower, finishing some evolution missions, and doing four mazes. Same stuff as always. Let’s get to it!

My first trip through Joyous Tower yields these three: Tiny, Babos (boyfriend’s idea and I hate him for it – it’s from Pokémon Quartz), and Chiquita.

The second trip. Ullar provided names for these: Chuh (sounded “thuggish” enough), Sup, Bub, and WhaTheDuck lmao

Named ProfKissum (after a famous Jynx from a Crystal LP), Aisha (after a Jynx from a FireRed Omega LP, who was in turn named for the player’s ex-gf), and Heather.

Skitty is level 22 and that is terrifying.

Named Chanticler (after the rooster Chanticleer from Canterbury Tales), Mudpaw (because all my Eeveelutions must use the Warrior Cats naming scheme), and Stargleam. Props if you know what Stargleam is from :B

Swellie and Persia. Didn’t have time to get a third before I had to leave though :C

Geico (original I know), Quack Fu (thanks Ullar), and Vaporcloud.

Bernard. Ended up in a bad situation so I got out before I had the chance to recruit the Eevee I still need.

Joltstorm and Flareheart. Just two more Eevee!

Sunstream and Moonfall. That’s everything for Joyous Tower, time for some evolutions & evolution missions.

bahahahaha

Vigoroth comes at a high enough level to immediately evolve, thankfully.

These guys rather sucked to level up as they needed a lot of experience and had to get to comparatively high levels.

blah blah BLAH evolvin stuff not much to see here

ahahahahahah good

this was actually one of the easiest ones despite the fact that Ponyta evolves at level 40. It just did not need nearly as much experience as some of the other level 40 evolutions did to get there. Weird.

Found enough Irons for this.

Eeveelution party, hooray. Espeon and Umbreon evolve by having high enough IQ and being given the Sun Ribbon/Lunar Ribbon to evolve with. Sun Ribbon was found in Wyvern Hill, and Lunar Ribbon in Northwind Field. As it turned out, though, I... didn't actually have the Lunar Ribbon for some bizarre reason, I could have sworn I'd picked it up. But since I didn't had to go back to helldungeon in order to get it, so that was fun :B

Fun fact this is the first time I've actually evolved Chansey in this game, because last time I got a Blissey through the Jirachi wish and therefore didn't need to separately evolve a Chansey.

In recruiting + evolving some of these Pokémon, we have also managed to fill up a few more Friend Areas. Here are the newly filled ones:

Mist-Rise Forest.

Overgrown Forest. Lookit that beautiful Kecleon this is such a relief

Transform Forest. God, now that I look at them, all these Eeveelution sprites are kind of a hot mess.

Beau Plains.

Scorched Plains. Yay for Ponyta!

Echo Cave.

And time for this batch of mazes...

Psychic Maze. Funny, it doesn't look very "psychic" to me. I feel like Solar Cave or Joyous Tower's tileset would have been better suited to this.

The only Pokémon in it is Wobbuffet. Which is a complete non-threat in this game because of the fact that Counter and Mirror Coat reflect any attacks made after they are used, meaning what used to be a game of predicting the Wobbuffet's attack choice is now a game of "use an attack that it won't reflect back or items".

Poison Maze. This is another unique tileset. The only mon in the dungeon is Nidoran F... which is level 4. Can you tell I'm doing these late?

boss fight has Nidoran M though omg!!!!!!!

Bug Maze. Contains Weedle, Pinsir, and Beedrill.

... and the bosses are the same.

Rock Maze. Contains Geodude and Sudowoodo.

omg its a curveball since there's a wall there and everything :o

Well that was fun! That's the end of the update though. Next time: we take on Purity Forest!

Recruitment Progress

388/413: 93.9%
Aged Chamber AN (14/14):
Unown A (Anger)
Unown B (Bear)
Unown C (Chase)
Unown D (Darkness)
Unown E (Engage)
Unown F (Find)
Unown G (Give)
Unown H (Help)
Unown I (Increase)
Unown J (Join)
Unown K (Keep)
Unown L (Laugh)
Unown M (Metal)
Unown N (Normal)
Aged Chamber O? (14/14):
Unown O (Observe)
Unown P (Perform)
Unown Q (Quicken)
Unown R (Reassure)
Unown S (Search)
Unown T (Tell)
Unown U (Undo)
Unown V (Vanish)
Unown W (Want)
Unown X (XXXXX)
Unown Y (Yield)
Unown Z (Zoom)
Unown ! (!)
Unown ? (?)
Ancient Relic (6/6):
Aerodactyl (Big Boy)
Baltoy (Dreidel)
Claydol (Oracle)
Regirock
Regice
Registeel
Beau Plains (12/12):
Bulbasaur (Sup, Bub)
Ivysaur (Kayzie)
Venusaur (Bruteroot)
Chikorita (Chiquita)
Bayleef (Thyme)
Meganium (Parsley)
Hoppip (Apple)
Skiploom (Lou)
Jumpluff (Bloom)
Taillow (Tiny)
Swellow (Swellie)
Roselia (Dahlia)
Boulder Cave (3/4):
Diglett (Speckles)
Onix (Snek)
Steelix (Dacian)
Bountiful Sea (7/9):
Tentacool (Stinger)
Tentacruel (Frank)
Slowpoke (Felix)
Slowpoke -> Slowbro (Trip)
Slowking (Hatty)
Shellder (Pearl)
Cloyster (Mystery)
Crater (7/7):
Magmar (Rachael)
Slugma (Gabriel)
Slugma -> Magcargo (Bogey)
Magby (Cynical)
Numel (Kipling)
Numel -> Camerupt (Java)
Torkoal (Coleman)
Cryptic Cave (1/1):
Mewtwo
Darkness Ridge (13/13):
Vulpix (Sparkle)
Ninetales (Spirit)
Gastly (Maya)
Haunter (Sabrina)
Gengar (Willa Wisp)
Misdreavus (Lucy)
Sneasel (Tachi)
Sableye (Garnet)
Shuppet (Teru)
Shuppet -> Banette (Ira)
Duskull (Umbra)
Dusclops (Phatos)
Absol (Storm)
Decrepit Lab (7/7):
Abra (Spoonless)
Kadabra (Animus)
Alakazam (Cordis)
Mr. Mime (Ted)
Ditto (Proteus)
Porygon (Microsoft)
Porygon2 (Apple)
Deep-Sea Current (1/1):
Lugia
Deep-Sea Floor (6/12):
Omanyte (Lord Helix)
Omanyte -> Omastar (ShellSmash)
Chinchou (Dave)
Clamperl (Juanita)
Clamperl -> Huntail (Murderfish)
Clamperl -> Gorebyss (Ariel)
Dragon Cave (3/3):
Bagon (Defiance)
Shelgon (Perseveren)
Salamence (Blue)
Echo Cave (11/11):
Zubat (Wilson)
Golbat (Laylee)
Crobat (Ellie)
Dunsparce (Perry)
Whismur (Sonum)
Loudred (Cantus)
Exploud (Clamos)
Nosepass (Moana)
Mawile (0dd1)
Wynaut (Bicuzz)
Wobbuffet (Wobburrito)
Enclosed Island (1/1):
Deoxys
Energetic Forest (15/15):
Pikachu (Lightning)
Raichu (Rachel)
Meowth (Brian)
Persian (Laetu)
Mankey (JellyDonut)
Mankey -> Primeape (Altissimo)
Snorlax (Barbara)
Pichu (Chuh)
Aipom (Bonzi)
Stantler (Olive)
Slakoth (Sid)
Vigoroth (Solomon)
Slaking (Louie)
Skitty (Heather)
Delcatty (Stargleam)
Final Island (1/1):
Mew
Flyaway Forest (12/12):
Pidgey (Birb)
Pidgeotto (Otto)
Pidgeot (Kenny)
Hoothoot (Leroy)
Noctowl (Minuit)
Togepi (Shellby)
Togetic (Destructor)
Natu (Seer)
Xatu (Swensen)
Murkrow (Elphaba)
Swablu (Byssis)
Swablu -> Altaria (Nefela)
Frigid Cavern (7/7):
Jynx (Aisha)
Swinub (Sara)
Swinub -> Piloswine (Pryce)
Delibird (St. Nick)
Smoochum (ProfKissum)
Snorunt (Nix)
Snorunt -> Glalie (Oni)
Furnace Desert (7/7):
Sandshrew (Guy Fieri)
Sandslash (Flavortown)
Trapinch (Bobblehead)
Vibrava (Art Deco)
Flygon (Desertsong)
Cacnea (Dirty Dan)
Cacnea -> Cacturne (Dorothy)
Ice Floe Beach (5/5):
Seel (Aurora)
Seel -> Dewgong (Tristan)
Spheal (Clubber)
Spheal -> Sealeo (Tubber)
Spheal -> Walrein (Blubber)
Jungle (13/13):
Oddish (Natura)
Gloom (Toadstool)
Vileplume (Toxia)
Bellsprout (Brussels)
Weepinbell (Banana)
Victreebel (LeoBurnett)
Exeggcute (Benedict)
Exeggutor (Smashmouth)
Tangela (Medusa)
Bellossom (Dancer)
Sunkern (Popcorn)
Sunflora (Molly)
Tropius (Ariera)
Legendary Island (3/3):
Articuno
Zapdos
Moltres
Magnetic Quarry (3/3):
Beldum (I3)
Metang (I5)
Metagross (I7)
Mist-Rise Forest (14/14):
Caterpie (Blueberry)
Metapod (Bluntman)
Butterfree (Violetwing)
Weedle (Bean)
Kakuna (Timon)
Beedrill (Beeyonce)
Ledyba (Francis)
Ledian (Lyson)
Yanma (Shade)
Wurmple (Persia)
Silcoon (Miriam)
Beautifly (Charlotte)
Cascoon (Fortunato)
Dustox (Luna)
Mt. Cleft (8/9):
Charmander (Char)
Charmeleon (Karma)
Charizard (Red)
Pupitar (Jones)
Tyranitar (Rex)
Aron (Aaron)
Lairon (Larry)
Aggron (Ferro)
Mt. Deepgreen (10/12):
Geodude (Hazy)
Graveler (Heavy G)
Cubone (Skelebro)
Gligar (Chirops)
Shuckle (Shuckie)
Teddiursa (Toklo)
Ursaring (Oka)
Spoink (Spring)
Spoink -> Grumpig (Chex Mix)
Spinda (Babos)
Mt. Discipline (11/11):
Machop (Connor)
Machoke (Erika)
Machamp (M'Champion)
Hitmonlee (Bruce)
Hitmonchan (Jackie)
Tyrogue (Griff)
Hitmontop (Leo)
Makuhita (Ceroma)
Hariyama (Lucta)
Meditite (Rebecca)
Meditite -> Medicham (Marise)
Mt. Moonview (5/6):
Clefairy (Caroline)
Clefable (Pierre)
Cleffa (Stella)
Lunatone (Mane)
Solrock (Alea)
Mushroom Forest (7/7):
Paras (France)
Paras -> Parasect (Mushpeckle)
Seedot (Acorn)
Nuzleaf (Nuzlocke)
Shiftry (Quercus)
Shroomish (Toad)
Breloom (Portobello)
Mystic Lake (4/4):
Lapras (Icerain)
Dratini (Ray)
Dragonair (Celia)
Dragonite (Tempest)
Overgrown Forest (9/9):
Pinsir (Carabus)
Scyther (Pearl)
Sudowoodo (Fauxliage)
Scizor (Nightmare)
Heracross (Honey)
Treecko (Geico)
Grovyle (Vectrex)
Sceptile (Green)
Kecleon (Lester)
Peanut Swamp (7/7):
Wooper (Yippy)
Quagsire (Yeppa)
Mudkip (Muddy)
Marshtomp (Mallow)
Marshtomp -> Swampert (Skipper)
Barboach (Cashier)
Barboach -> Whiscash (Grandpa)
Poison Swamp (6/6):
Grimer (Billy Mays)
Grimer -> Muk (Shamwow)
Koffing (James)
Koffing -> Weezing (Pascal)
Gulpin (Venum)
Swalot (Ceno)
Power Plant (6/6):
Magnemite (Duracell)
Magnemite -> Magneton (CRT)
Voltorb (PokéCube)
Electrode (Cathode)
Elekid (Windmill)
Electabuzz (Sulpur)
Rainbow Peak (1/1):
Ho-oh
Ravaged Field (5/5):
Spearow (Spearmint)
Fearow (Not Ho-oh)
Skarmory (Stympha)
Houndour (April)
Houndoom (Heckdoom)
Rub-a-Dub River (7/7):
Goldeen (Arches)
Seaking (Fortune)
Totodile (Gatorface)
Croconaw (Cruncher)
Croconaw -> Feraligatr (Florida)
Volbeat (Lux)
Illumise (Lumen)
Sacred Field (3/3):
Entei
Raikou
Suicune
Safari (12/15):
Nidoran F (Diane)
Nidorina (Arianne)
Nidoqueen (Victoria)
Nidoran M (Meliodas)
Nidorino (Michael)
Nidoking (Edward)
Doduo (Clarence)
Doduo -> Dodrio (Aegon)
Rhyhorn (Corona)
Kangaskhan (Salio)
Tauros (Thirty)
Miltank (Vacca)
Scorched Plains (10/10):
Growlithe (Fido)
Arcanine (Firebolt)
Ponyta (Applejack)
Rapidash (Cherokee)
Cyndaquil (Bernard)
Quilava (Mr. Danger)
Typhlosion (Flametail)
Torchic (Chanticler)
Combusken (Mark)
Blaziken (Scorch)
Seafloor Cave (1/1):
Kyogre
Serene Sea (2/4):
Wailmer (Chum)
Wailord (Jonah)
Secretive Forest (9/9):
Venonat (Tracey)
Venonat -> Venomoth (Mothra)
Spinarak (Arachna)
Ariados (Aragog)
Pineco (Fibonacci)
Pineco -> Forretress (Grenade)
Nincada (Illinois)
Ninjask (Naruto)
Shedinja (Sunwise)
Shallow Beach (4/5):
Krabby (Eugene)
Kingler (Snake)
Wingull (Type Gull)
Wingull -> Pelipper (Drizzle)
Sky Blue Plains (12/13):
Jigglypuff (Sugar)
Wigglytuff (Bob Ross)
Lickitung (Tailure)
Igglybuff (Rosey)
Girafarig (Harvey)
Snubbull (Muchmoney)
Granbull (Type Bull)
Smeargle (Bitchworth)
Blissey (Cappy)
Ralts (Wallabee)
Kirlia (Nijinsky)
Gardevoir (Katrina)
Southern Island (2/2):
Latias
Latios
Stratos Lookout (1/1):
Rayquaza
Tadpole Pond (9/9):
Poliwag (Doodle)
Poliwhirl (Tajiri)
Poliwrath (FurioFrog)
Politoed (HypnoToad)
Lotad (Lily)
Lombre (Carefree)
Ludicolo (Ariba)
Surskit (Skitter)
Masquerain (DeMasque)
Thunder Meadow (11/11):
Sentret (Joanne)
Furret (Pavarotti)
Mareep (Android)
Flaaffy (Layla)
Ampharos (Jasmine)
Electrike (Ravi)
Manectric (Drew)
Plusle (Positive)
Minun (Negative)
Castform (Aer)
Chimecho (Giotto)
Transform Forest (6/6):
Eevee (Mudpaw)
Vaporeon (Vaporcloud)
Jolteon (Joltstorm)
Flareon (Flareheart)
Espeon (Sunstream)
Umbreon (Moonfall)
Treasure Sea (6/10):
Remoraid (Gunnpy)
Carvanha (Jaws)
Sharpedo (Ari)
Anorith (Small Fry)
Armaldo (Pinch)
Luvdisc (Valentine)
Turtleshell Pond (10/10):
Squirtle (Cannon)
Wartortle (Survivor)
Wartortle -> Blastoise (Shellshock)
Psyduck (WhaTheDuck)
Golduck (Quack Fu)
Marill (Pikablu)
Azumarill (Tree)
Azurill (Scout)
Corphish (Hey)
Corphish -> Crawdaunt (Radium)
Volcanic Pit (1/1):
Groudon
Waterfall Lake (4/4):
Magikarp (Emone)
Magikarp -> Gyarados (Randy)
Feebas (Duckling)
Milotic (Sera)
Wild Plains (13/13):
Rattata (Sword)
Raticate (Rodentia)
Ekans (Anguis)
Arbok (Kodra)
Farfetch'd (Onion)
Drowzee (Sleeper)
Hypno (Piper)
Poochyena (Missile)
Mightyena (Dingo)
Zigzagoon (Midnight)
Linoone (Longcat)
Zangoose (Harmony)
Seviper (Repiv)

 

[Altissimo]

See the bottom of this post for an important announcement!

Anyway, let’s take on Purity Forest!

Well, in a bit anyway. I have some recruit missions to do here first.

Forgot to get a screenshot of it (as with a lot of Pokémon in this update, unfortunately), but I went to Magma Cavern to get myself a Graveler to evolve into Golem. This one is named Al and I don’t really know why.

Music: Frosty Forest
So this is a new dungeon! It’s called Grand Sea and it’s yet another Water-type haven. The following Pokémon are exclusive to this dungeon: Corsola and Mantine (Mantine only being available on floor 30, the last floor of the dungeon). So… it’s not much. But a lot of Water-types are available for recruit here, so I also decided to get Horsea, Staryu, Qwilfish, and Kabuto from this dungeon. They’re also available in Silver Trench, but I have a lot of other recruits to get from there, so I just decided to transfer a bunch of the “easy” ones over to Grand Sea.

Grand Sea isn’t just notable for having Corsola and Mantine, though. It’s also got the two Clamperl evolution items on floors 15 and 25.

side note, I find it funny how Deepseascale has an item sprite (it’s the scale sprite and is shared with the Dragon Scale) but Deepseatooth is just kind of a generic box. Yes because teeth are boxes, got it.

I missed most of the recruitment shots, but I did get this one of Mantine:

it big
Named Mr. Ray after the manta from Finding Nemo.

Also, I found out what happens when you try to recruit something when the Friend Area is full. In this case I had written down that I needed to get two Krabby when in fact I already had them lol. I’d never had this happen before so this was new to me!

Other recruits:

This actually finishes up the Serene Sea Friend Area, hence the second screenshot.

… I don’t really have a good reason for why the coral is named Nemo other than the fact that Nemo’s mom was Coral but whatever

Pat for Patrick from Spongebob and Roxie for the main character of the musical Chicago.

Callie because something something Splatoon even though I never played that, Dollar because it’s a name I gave a Seadra once like twelve years ago and have reused ever since, Elvis because … I’m not really sure.

boyfriend suggestions can u tell

That’s it for this part of the update. There are only 2 dungeons left to take recruitment missions in at this point: Southern Cavern and Silver Trench, and those will be saved for next update.

Random side note:

Why does this happen? When I italicize and bold something it just turns into a music font for no discernible reason. Weird.

Anyway, it’s time for Purity Forest.

If you’re not aware, Purity Forest is a level 1 dungeon. But… it’s not really your average level 1 dungeon. It’s intentionally designed to be the “ultimate dungeon”.

As you can see from this… yeah, it’s worse than the other two. You have 1 Pokémon, at level 1, with no items, no IQ skills, no money, and you cannot bring friends or recruit any within the dungeon. The way to win basically comes down to a) your choice of starting Pokémon and b) how you play in order to build an advantage for yourself over the course of the dungeon.

So… it’s gonna be a challenge! For this one, I decided to go with Alakazam over Kecleon, at least for the first attempt. This is because a) I beat the dungeon with Alakazam last time I tried it and b) Alakazam gets access to Teleport, allowing it to flee from problematic foes. Since you can’t recruit, there’s no risk of leaving allies behind as you go, so there’s basically no downside except for the part where you don’t know where you’ll end up. Except that’s where you use Teleport again.

This guide goes into pretty good detail about what to expect in the dungeon and how to choose your lead. It recommends Alakazam, which is a good start, but then also – it talks about a strategy where, if you get lucky and find a Warp Scarf (a held item which warps you every 1-5 turns), you can use this to absolutely cheese the dungeon and beat it with minimal effort. I actually got lucky and found a Warp Scarf to do this with last time I played the dungeon, but in lieu of the item – that’s what Alakazam’s Teleport is for. So that’s another reason I’m bringing Alakazam, so I can make use of Alakazam’s moveset to go through with this awesome strategy.

We’ll see whether or not that is a good idea in time.

Let’s go.

Music: Thunderwave Cave
Looks (and music) can be deceiving, lol.

Anyway, my plan for this is to bum around on the first ten or twenty floors to the extent that I am able (remember, no Tight Belt – though they can spawn in the dungeon, so I may get lucky – means I actually have to worry about Belly again) in order to rack up experience and pick up a surplus of items.

lol or I could just run into a shop on the first floor with an Apple after I already picked up a bit of Poké, that works too lmao

Life Seeds increase HP. In a dungeon like this, there’s no reason not to eat them.

The look of the place changes not terribly far in.

Music: Buried Relic
Already getting hungry. This is a bad sign. I hope I can find more food quickly.

First level up! Hooray lol

… Unfortunately, I ran out of Belly and died on floor 9 rip. So I’ll be redoing this, I’ll just restart commentary at the place I left off unless something interesting happens before then.

Death counter: 1

Music: Sinister Woods

Music: Silent Chasm
I’m about to die of hunger again, though…

AH HOLY SHIT YES I SEE SALVATION THERE

… teleport time

Music: Stormy Sea
Oh, great, Sandstorm. As if this wasn’t bad enough. At least I have food now, though.

One-fourth done. It only gets harder from here, though.

Music: Lapis Cave

lmao I hate this dungeon, I am not leveling up NEARLY fast enough for it and I don’t have any Reviver Seeds either
That Yanma is level 10, so I am pretty behind.

Oh, good. With no Frustration TM in sight, this is the next best thing. It basically makes enemies unable to do anything for long enough for you to get away from them. It is insanely broken and this was a pretty lucky find. I take it over Kinesis.
Cordis’ moveset at this point is Confusion/Hidden Power (a TM find)/Teleport/Attract, a good set for the time being.

lol great I'm glad.

On this floor, I warped into a monster house.
Rip in piss.
Warping out again...

Music: Frosty Forest
I made it out alive, somehow. This is getting very rough, though. I have a plan… but I wish to wait until at least floor 50.
Let’s see if we can make it that far.

… are you KIDDING ME right now?? It exists, but it’s stickied, and I don’t have a Cleanse Orb?? Seriously???? God. I was so ready to use that insane Warp Scarf strategy I touched on earlier.

...
OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOOOOD

Okay, spoiler time. My ~genius plan~ once I hit floor 50 was to Teleport-spam my way to the end. I have 4 Max Elixirs, and Teleport has 15 PP, so I would have had 60 uses of Teleport to finish 50 floors, and that’s not counting cases where I could make it to the stairs without using Teleport.
But this. This changes things.

Because I grabbed that sticky Warp Scarf in the event I found a Cleanse Orb.

IT’S TIME TO GO.

Music: Mt. Thunder Peak

This is the most hilarious run. I encourage you all to play Purity Forest with an Alakazam so you can see just how nuts it is if you get lucky. Here’s how it goes:
-Enter a floor
-If the stairs are immediately visible, take off the Warp Scarf and go to them, re-equipping it on top of the stairs.
-If the stairs are not immediately visible, wander & inevitably warp.
-If a Pokémon approaches, either use Teleport to get away from it immediately or Attract to immobilize it while you run

NOTHING CAN TOUCH YOU. NOTHING. It’s the best strategy ever. Sure, I’m cheesing the hell out of the dungeon, but – like – this is supposed to be about intelligence and wits, and that’s what I’m doing. It’s amazing. It’s brilliant.

It’s so good I decided to break my self-imposed “never take gameplay videos” policy and record a few floors for you. No sound unfortunately but that’s okay – play the funniest music you know overtop of it :B

I didn’t know how long I had been recording when I cut off so I just ended after about 16 floors of it. Bonus content in the video: How warps can be used to avoid monster houses, in real time.

Music: Magma Cavern Pit
Level 8 (lmaooo) and still going strong. This is ridiculous and I love it.

ahahhaa now I have 2 warp scarves in case i lose one somehow
AMAZING

Ten more floors. Will my errant warping be enough???

Okay, this is actually scary since a lot of these Pokémon could do serious damage to me if I let them. I have to warp out of here with Teleport, but who knows if I’ll run into them again?

Or that could happen.
One more floor.
One more floor.

Hm.
Well, I’m in the same room as the stairs.
The problem is that I don’t know what that distant Pokémon is. It could be Parasect, which has Spore to put me to sleep from a distance, or it could be Venomoth which will without question 2HKO or OHKO me with Silver Wind. My best bet is to Teleport out and see what happens.

A little warping later and the threats are gone.

There’s someone there.

If you didn’t see this coming… you haven’t been paying much attention to which legendaries I’m missing. It’s only two at this point, and we all know Jirachi is in Wish Cave.

Celebi wants to join the team.

save stating in case I hit “no” like I did that one time with Suicune or in case I just hit a wrong button here out of excitement

A THOUSAND TIMES YES

Celebi joined the team!

As usual, no.

Cordis gained access to the Friend Area Healing Forest.

The only Friend Area we are missing!

c: (not shown: it doing lots of happy dances)

It’s delighted to have joined the rescue team!

LEVEL EIGHT BITCHES

(Real talk: That was extremely risky, going for the Warp Scarf approach at such a low level. Alakazam may have high defenses, but level 8 is still at a serious disadvantage when you consider the levels of the Pokémon on last few floors of the dungeon…

Venomoth, Claydol, Salamence, and Metagross are all Sky Tower Pokémon. You know, the dungeon I usually can’t beat in the main game unless my Pokémon are in their early-mid 20s at least. And Cordis was level 8. And the guide I linked to even specifically says not to risk it at that low of a level:

So… yeah. I got lucky in not dying even after I started the Warp Scarf strat. I would absolutely recommend you try this at home, but don’t get cocky, or else you may find yourself facing a devastating loss at floor 95 or something – and who is going to come rescue you there?

If I had died in the dungeon, I would have either asked for opinions on the rescue generator, attempted a rescue myself with my cart copy, or asked my best friend who prolly still has her copy of Blue somewhere. But I am just so, so, so glad that didn’t happen, and you all should be too.)

lol no fuck you I’m not going back

Celebi in its Friend Area, Healing Forest. This is one of the most visually stunning Friend Areas in the game – too bad most players won’t see it because of what a ridiculous challenge Purity Forest is.

I even get to hold on to the Warp Scarves as a memento of my journey :’)

Well… that’s over, but it’s back to the ol’ grind for the rest of us. Evolutions time!

These guys could evolve as soon as I get done with recruitment stuff.

These guys, on the other hand, need a little more leveling. Horsea is level 28 and evolves at 32, so it doesn’t need much, but Kabuto needs to go 12 levels from 28 to 30 and let me tell you… that is not fun.

What the fuck is Dewgong’s sprite
Anyway, these guys are all really annoying because they require a fair few levels and have the max amount of experience required at this early level (30,000 per level, and the majority of Pokémon give less than 1,000) to get there. Magikarp is super obnoxious because it comes at level 5, so it dies to a stray breeze. I’m so glad to have it out of the way.

Everything else is pretty bog standard.

Newly filled Friend Areas:

Bountiful Sea.

Flyaway Forest. I really like the layout of this one.

Waterfall Lake. Figured I’d show off Gyarados and Milotic’s more impressive sprites.

Furnace Desert. This one’s pretty cool too, got an animated quicksand pool and everything.

Energetic Forest is indeed energetic, I mean it’s cramped here

Power Plant ~proves humans were here before ooOOOoo~ or something idk.

Maze time!

Ghost Maze. This one only contains Gastly. The boss fight is stressful because they can go through walls!!! … or, it would be, if we didn’t have the ability to attack through walls due to Super Mobile.

Dragon Maze. What, no volcano for Dragons? Contains only Bagon and Shelgon. Man, they’re getting lazy.

Dark Maze. Only has Poochyena which is the least amount of threat ever.

Steel Maze. Has Beldum and Aron. At least the tileset fits.

After that, we’ve actually finished all 18 type mazes! So…

Wuh? What, what, what?!
Did you maybe… Conquer all the training courses?

Well, what do you think?

That’s… Amazing! You! Congratulations!

It… wasn’t hard, buddy.

I promised! I promised you a reward for completing the training courses!

\o/

Isn’t it smashing? Hey?!

I dunno I haven’t seen it yet

Aight lets go see this thing.

That’s all the trophies! \o/ Getting ever closer to the end.

Next time: The final update! We go to Wish Cave and complete it for real!

Recruitment Progress

400/413: 96.6%
Aged Chamber AN (14/14):
Unown A (Anger)
Unown B (Bear)
Unown C (Chase)
Unown D (Darkness)
Unown E (Engage)
Unown F (Find)
Unown G (Give)
Unown H (Help)
Unown I (Increase)
Unown J (Join)
Unown K (Keep)
Unown L (Laugh)
Unown M (Metal)
Unown N (Normal)
Aged Chamber O? (14/14):
Unown O (Observe)
Unown P (Perform)
Unown Q (Quicken)
Unown R (Reassure)
Unown S (Search)
Unown T (Tell)
Unown U (Undo)
Unown V (Vanish)
Unown W (Want)
Unown X (XXXXX)
Unown Y (Yield)
Unown Z (Zoom)
Unown ! (!)
Unown ? (?)
Ancient Relic (6/6):
Aerodactyl (Big Boy)
Baltoy (Dreidel)
Claydol (Oracle)
Regirock
Regice
Registeel
Beau Plains (12/12):
Bulbasaur (Sup, Bub)
Ivysaur (Kayzie)
Venusaur (Bruteroot)
Chikorita (Chiquita)
Bayleef (Thyme)
Meganium (Parsley)
Hoppip (Apple)
Skiploom (Lou)
Jumpluff (Bloom)
Taillow (Tiny)
Swellow (Swellie)
Roselia (Dahlia)
Boulder Cave (3/4):
Diglett (Speckles)
Onix (Snek)
Steelix (Dacian)
Bountiful Sea (9/9):
Tentacool (Stinger)
Tentacruel (Frank)
Slowpoke (Felix)
Slowbro (Trip)
Shellder (Pearl)
Cloyster (Mystery)
Staryu (Pat)
Starmie (Roxie)
Slowking (Hatty)
Crater (7/7):
Magmar (Rachael)
Slugma (Gabriel)
Magcargo (Bogey)
Magby (Cynical)
Numel (Kipling)
Numel -> Camerupt (Java)
Torkoal (Coleman)
Cryptic Cave (1/1):
Mewtwo
Darkness Ridge (13/13):
Vulpix (Sparkle)
Ninetales (Spirit)
Gastly (Maya)
Haunter (Sabrina)
Gengar (Willa Wisp)
Misdreavus (Lucy)
Sneasel (Tachi)
Sableye (Garnet)
Shuppet (Teru)
Shuppet -> Banette (Ira)
Duskull (Umbra)
Dusclops (Phatos)
Absol (Storm)
Decrepit Lab (7/7):
Abra (Spoonless)
Kadabra (Animus)
Alakazam (Cordis)
Mr. Mime (Ted)
Ditto (Proteus)
Porygon (Microsoft)
Porygon2 (Apple)
Deep-Sea Current (1/1):
Lugia
Deep-Sea Floor (8/12):
Omanyte (Lord Helix)
Omanyte -> Omastar (ShellSmash)
Kabuto (Kabooty)
Kabutops (Why2??????)
Chinchou (Dave)
Clamperl (Juanita)
Huntail (Murderfish)
Gorebyss (Ariel)
Dragon Cave (3/3):
Bagon (Defiance)
Shelgon (Perseveren)
Salamence (Blue)
Echo Cave (11/11):
Zubat (Wilson)
Golbat (Laylee)
Crobat (Ellie)
Dunsparce (Perry)
Whismur (Sonum)
Loudred (Cantus)
Exploud (Clamos)
Nosepass (Moana)
Mawile (0dd1)
Wynaut (Bicuzz)
Wobbuffet (Wobburrito)
Enclosed Island (1/1):
Deoxys
Energetic Forest (15/15):
Pikachu (Lightning)
Raichu (Rachel)
Meowth (Brian)
Persian (Laetu)
Mankey (JellyDonut)
Primeape (Altissimo)
Snorlax (Barbara)
Pichu (Chuh)
Aipom (Bonzi)
Stantler (Olive)
Slakoth (Sid)
Vigoroth (Solomon)
Slaking (Louie)
Skitty (Heather)
Delcatty (Stargleam)
Final Island (1/1):
Mew
Flyaway Forest (12/12):
Pidgey (Birb)
Pidgeotto (Otto)
Pidgeot (Kenny)
Hoothoot (Leroy)
Noctowl (Minuit)
Togepi (Shellby)
Togetic (Destructor)
Natu (Seer)
Xatu (Swensen)
Murkrow (Elphaba)
Swablu (Byssis)
Altaria (Nefela)
Frigid Cavern (7/7):
Jynx (Aisha)
Swinub (Sara)
Piloswine (Pryce)
Delibird (St. Nick)
Smoochum (ProfKissum)
Snorunt (Nix)
Snorunt -> Glalie (Oni)
Furnace Desert (7/7):
Sandshrew (Guy Fieri)
Sandslash (Flavortown)
Trapinch (Bobblehead)
Vibrava (Art Deco)
Flygon (Desertsong)
Cacnea (Dirty Dan)
Cacturne (Dorothy)
Healing Forest (1/1):
Celebi
Ice Floe Beach (5/5):
Seel (Aurora)
Dewgong (Tristan)
Spheal (Clubber)
Sealeo (Tubber)
Spheal -> Walrein (Blubber)
Jungle (13/13):
Oddish (Natura)
Gloom (Toadstool)
Vileplume (Toxia)
Bellsprout (Brussels)
Weepinbell (Banana)
Victreebel (LeoBurnett)
Exeggcute (Benedict)
Exeggutor (Smashmouth)
Tangela (Medusa)
Bellossom (Dancer)
Sunkern (Popcorn)
Sunflora (Molly)
Tropius (Ariera)
Legendary Island (3/3):
Articuno
Zapdos
Moltres
Magnetic Quarry (3/3):
Beldum (I3)
Metang (I5)
Metagross (I7)
Mist-Rise Forest (14/14):
Caterpie (Blueberry)
Metapod (Bluntman)
Butterfree (Violetwing)
Weedle (Bean)
Kakuna (Timon)
Beedrill (Beeyonce)
Ledyba (Francis)
Ledian (Lyson)
Yanma (Shade)
Wurmple (Persia)
Silcoon (Miriam)
Beautifly (Charlotte)
Cascoon (Fortunato)
Dustox (Luna)
Mt. Cleft (8/9):
Charmander (Char)
Charmeleon (Karma)
Charizard (Red)
Pupitar (Jones)
Tyranitar (Rex)
Aron (Aaron)
Lairon (Larry)
Aggron (Ferro)
Mt. Deepgreen (11/12):
Geodude (Hazy)
Graveler (Heavy G)
Golem (Al)
Cubone (Skelebro)
Gligar (Chirops)
Shuckle (Shuckie)
Teddiursa (Toklo)
Ursaring (Oka)
Spoink (Spring)
Spoink -> Grumpig (Chex Mix)
Spinda (Babos)
Mt. Discipline (11/11):
Machop (Connor)
Machoke (Erika)
Machamp (M'Champion)
Hitmonlee (Bruce)
Hitmonchan (Jackie)
Tyrogue (Griff)
Hitmontop (Leo)
Makuhita (Ceroma)
Hariyama (Lucta)
Meditite (Rebecca)
Medicham (Marise)
Mt. Moonview (5/6):
Clefairy (Caroline)
Clefable (Pierre)
Cleffa (Stella)
Lunatone (Mane)
Solrock (Alea)
Mushroom Forest (7/7):
Paras (France)
Paras -> Parasect (Mushpeckle)
Seedot (Acorn)
Nuzleaf (Nuzlocke)
Shiftry (Quercus)
Shroomish (Toad)
Breloom (Portobello)
Mystic Lake (4/4):
Lapras (Icerain)
Dratini (Ray)
Dragonair (Celia)
Dragonite (Tempest)
Overgrown Forest (9/9):
Pinsir (Carabus)
Scyther (Pearl)
Sudowoodo (Fauxliage)
Scizor (Nightmare)
Heracross (Honey)
Treecko (Geico)
Grovyle (Vectrex)
Sceptile (Green)
Kecleon (Lester)
Peanut Swamp (7/7):
Wooper (Yippy)
Quagsire (Yeppa)
Mudkip (Muddy)
Marshtomp (Mallow)
Marshtomp -> Swampert (Skipper)
Barboach (Cashier)
Barboach -> Whiscash (Grandpa)
Poison Swamp (6/6):
Grimer (Billy Mays)
Grimer -> Muk (Shamwow)
Koffing (James)
Weezing (Pascal)
Gulpin (Venum)
Swalot (Ceno)
Power Plant (6/6):
Magnemite (Duracell)
Magneton (CRT)
Voltorb (PokéCube)
Electrode (Cathode)
Elekid (Windmill)
Electabuzz (Sulpur)
Rainbow Peak (1/1):
Ho-oh
Ravaged Field (5/5):
Spearow (Spearmint)
Fearow (Not Ho-oh)
Skarmory (Stympha)
Houndour (April)
Houndoom (Heckdoom)
Rub-a-Dub River (7/7):
Goldeen (Arches)
Seaking (Fortune)
Totodile (Gatorface)
Croconaw (Cruncher)
Croconaw -> Feraligatr (Florida)
Volbeat (Lux)
Illumise (Lumen)
Sacred Field (3/3):
Entei
Raikou
Suicune
Safari (12/15):
Nidoran F (Diane)
Nidorina (Arianne)
Nidoqueen (Victoria)
Nidoran M (Meliodas)
Nidorino (Michael)
Nidoking (Edward)
Doduo (Clarence)
Dodrio (Aegon)
Rhyhorn (Corona)
Kangaskhan (Salio)
Tauros (Thirty)
Miltank (Vacca)
Scorched Plains (10/10):
Growlithe (Fido)
Arcanine (Firebolt)
Ponyta (Applejack)
Rapidash (Cherokee)
Cyndaquil (Bernard)
Quilava (Mr. Danger)
Typhlosion (Flametail)
Torchic (Chanticler)
Combusken (Mark)
Blaziken (Scorch)
Seafloor Cave (1/1):
Kyogre
Serene Sea (4/4):
Qwilfish (Mrs. Puff)
Mantine (Mr. Ray)
Wailmer (Chum)
Wailord (Jonah)
Secretive Forest (9/9):
Venonat (Tracey)
Venomoth (Mothra)
Spinarak (Arachna)
Ariados (Aragog)
Pineco (Fibonacci)
Pineco -> Forretress (Grenade)
Nincada (Illinois)
Ninjask (Naruto)
Shedinja (Sunwise)
Shallow Beach (5/5):
Krabby (Eugene)
Kingler (Snake)
Corsola (Nemo)
Wingull (Type Gull)
Wingull -> Pelipper (Drizzle)
Sky Blue Plains (12/13):
Jigglypuff (Sugar)
Wigglytuff (Bob Ross)
Lickitung (Tailure)
Igglybuff (Rosey)
Girafarig (Harvey)
Snubbull (Muchmoney)
Granbull (Type Bull)
Smeargle (Bitchworth)
Blissey (Cappy)
Ralts (Wallabee)
Kirlia (Nijinsky)
Gardevoir (Katrina)
Southern Island (2/2):
Latias
Latios
Stratos Lookout (1/1):
Rayquaza
Tadpole Pond (9/9):
Poliwag (Doodle)
Poliwhirl (Tajiri)
Poliwrath (FurioFrog)
Politoed (HypnoToad)
Lotad (Lily)
Lombre (Carefree)
Ludicolo (Ariba)
Surskit (Skitter)
Masquerain (DeMasque)
Thunder Meadow (11/11):
Sentret (Joanne)
Furret (Pavarotti)
Mareep (Android)
Flaaffy (Layla)
Ampharos (Jasmine)
Electrike (Ravi)
Manectric (Drew)
Plusle (Positive)
Minun (Negative)
Castform (Aer)
Chimecho (Giotto)
Transform Forest (6/6):
Eevee (Mudpaw)
Vaporeon (Vaporcloud)
Jolteon (Joltstorm)
Flareon (Flareheart)
Espeon (Sunstream)
Umbreon (Moonfall)
Treasure Sea (9/10):
Horsea (Callie)
Seadra (Dollar)
Kingdra (Elvis)
Remoraid (Gunnpy)
Carvanha (Jaws)
Sharpedo (Ari)
Anorith (Small Fry)
Armaldo (Pinch)
Luvdisc (Valentine)
Turtleshell Pond (10/10):
Squirtle (Cannon)
Wartortle (Survivor)
Wartortle -> Blastoise (Shellshock)
Psyduck (WhaTheDuck)
Golduck (Quack Fu)
Marill (Pikablu)
Azumarill (Tree)
Azurill (Scout)
Corphish (Hey)
Corphish -> Crawdaunt (Radium)
Volcanic Pit (1/1):
Groudon
Waterfall Lake (4/4):
Magikarp (Emone)
Gyarados (Randy)
Feebas (Duckling)
Milotic (Sera)
Wild Plains (13/13):
Rattata (Sword)
Raticate (Rodentia)
Ekans (Anguis)
Arbok (Kodra)
Farfetch'd (Onion)
Drowzee (Sleeper)
Hypno (Piper)
Poochyena (Missile)
Mightyena (Dingo)
Zigzagoon (Midnight)
Linoone (Longcat)
Zangoose (Harmony)
Seviper (Repiv)

Important announcement:

As I've stated a few times throughout this LP, I do plan to do a catch-em-all run of Explorers of Sky following this. Seeing as how we are rapidly approaching the end of this LP, I figured I'd put out some information about starters and partners so you all can start thinking about offering me a team for that. I'll also start an LP thread and allow suggestions there, but that LP thread may not be started for days, weeks, or maybe months (I need a break after this one!), so I'd just like to give you all a head start by putting the information here.

Starter/partner info

Starter options: All Grass/Fire/Water starters up through and including gen 4, Pikachu, Vulpix, Eevee, Phanpy, Skitty, Shinx, Riolu.
Partner options: All of the above plus Meowth and Munchlax.

Pretty sure Pokémon utilize their Platinum level up movesets. The following starter/partner options also come with egg moves:
Vulpix (Feint Attack), Meowth (Hypnosis), Eevee (Flail), Phanpy (Ancient Power), Skitty (Zen Headbutt), Shinx (Quick Attack), Munchlax (Zen Headbutt), Riolu (Bite).

Things I'd rather not use: I basically flat-out refuse to use Pikachu and Squirtle because I've used that specific duo a million and a half times. I have also used Vulpix and Shinx before, and I don't mind doing it again, but I would slightly prefer a new combination.
If you'd like to see the adventures of Red the Charmander and Green the Treecko specifically continue, I can do that too, but again I would slightly prefer a new combination.
I've also used Eevee a million times so I'd rather not use it but I won't be opposed if that is the favor of the commenters.

Type considerations:
-Normal struggles a lot. Rock, Steel, Fighting, and Ghost are all represented at least once each in a boss battle throughout the game. Skitty in particular is nerfed from PMD2 not only because Attract doesn't work on everything anymore - but also because it automatically comes with Normalize. Munchlax doesn't get any non-Normal moves by level iirc. (Meowth and Eevee both get Dark moves.)
-Grass has a better time than it did in PMD1, but again, Steel boss, plus some postgame Poison and Fire bosses, and a few Dragons. They are mostly late enough that the Grass type will have had time to fill out its movepool and get some TM support, but I tend to shy away from TMs if I can, so it really depends on the mon.
-No clue about Phanpy or Riolu, never used them. I know Phanpy doesn't get any Ground moves by level though, only Normal type moves and Rollout (and Ancient Power), so it's not any more useful against the Steel enemies. Riolu gets only Fighting and Normal moves (and Bite) by level.
-Fire is decent. There are some Water, Dragon, Rock, and Fire enemies in boss fights in the postgame, but there are other methods of dealing with them.
-Water is probably the best for the main game. There is one big Electric boss fight, but apart from that it's not threatened by much during the main game. It struggles a little more in postgame when more Water, Dragon, and Grass bosses show up.
-Electric struggles against the Electric boss fight and has noticeable issues in the postgame's final boss fight. There is also one Ground boss during the main game. Apart from that, though, it's pretty decent.

Other things:
-Mudkip is stuck with Water Gun as its Water STAB until lv. 33.
-Munchlax has a shit tier movepool lmao
-Bulbasaur gets Sleep Powder early which is still very broken. Meowth and Skitty also get sleep moves. Vulpix gets Confuse Ray and Will-o-Wisp (though the latter is less useful).
-Bulbasaur, Vulpix, Meowth, Eevee, Chikorita, Cyndaquil, Skitty, Turtwig, Piplup, Riolu, and Shinx all get early ranged or semi-ranged attacks.
-Cyndaquil gets Lava Plume which hits all adjacent Pokémon. Shinx gets a very late Discharge, which hits all Pokémon in the room.
-Totodile gets Ice Fang. That is all.
-Charmander gets early Dragon Rage which is fixed damage. Pretty handy.

Also, you can suggest names for the starter/partner and team (all 10 letters, though if you want me to evolve the starter/partner make it less than 10) too!

Comment! We are approaching the end!

 

[pika pal]

In my personal run, I used Chimchar and Turtwig, which I remember having a relatively easy run with in part thanks to finding a Dig TM, which went a long way for the infamous Electric Boss and the Final Boss. Turtwig's also useful if you feed him Gummis thanks to the Bodyguard Skill to protect yourself (teammates would be valuable if they didn't thankfully update the recruit system).

 

[Mowtom]

I second the Turtwig suggestion! Turtwig is my favorite! I also have a desire to see Cyndaquil but Chimchar would also suffice.

 

[Altissimo]

This is the last update. Today, we’re going to be taking on Wish Cave for the final time, as well as finishing up all of the remaining evolutions, recruits, and mazes.

Anyway, so we’re going to start this with all the remaining recruits, evolutions, and mazes so that we can end on a high note. Or something idk.

Anyway, we still need to clear out Southern Cavern and Silver Trench, so…

Named He-Man. Finally we can use that name!

As you can see here Cubone (for Marowak) is named Mallow. I don’t remember the logic behind this. It might be because I fucked up Marrow from Silver Resistance idk

Named Phan Phan after an elephant miniboss from Kirby.

Named James May because something something Donphan is a tire and something something Top Gear i dont know ok

Named Nick.

And finally, Corono, giving us Corona and Corono lmao

Over at Silver Trench…

Named Grandma because I don’t know, it’s some old nickname that I don’t remember the origin for lmao

Named Hardy because again idk lmao

Coal.

Here I have a Remoraid (for Octillery) named Fry after an Octillery from a Let’s Play after Fry from Futurama. Vinyl I don’t really have an explanation for.

After getting these guys, I can now take on the last batch of evolution missions.

These guys can evolve as soon as I recruit them. Even Cradily, which evolves at level 40 – surprisingly, Lileep comes at level 40. A nice convenience.

In order to get to Silver Trench, you need a Water-type in your party. I took these Water-types and they all leveled up a bit on the trip, some enough to evolve and others almost enough to evolve lol.

[I accidentally deleted screenshot of Forretress lmao]
Standard evolutions.

Walrein is the worst ever let me tell you why.
Spheal comes at either level 18 or 22. It evolves at level 44. It needs 30,000 experience (the maximum a Pokémon can need at this low of a level) for every single level in that path. It is almost certainly the single most tedious Pokémon to evolve and the reason this game sucks. Fuck Walrein.

Glalie sucks too. Comes at level 20, needs to get to level 42, requires a lot of experience (though thankfully not 30k/level) to get there. Whoever made this game hated Ice-types too it seems.

Omastar’s not much fun either, as it needs 15 levels at 30,000 each to get to level 40. But it’s not as bad as Spheal. Not nearly as bad.

After getting all of these evolutions, we are now sitting at 411/413 complete, the two missing being Chansey and Jirachi.
This also means we have a lot of Friend Areas to show off.

Boulder Cave.

Crater. I really like this Friend Area, and the fact that all its recruits come from Mt. Blaze. Seems fitting.

Darkness Ridge the friend area with the best music ever for seemingly no reason

Deep-Sea Floor which I don’t really get but ok.

Frigid Cavern. So basically Ice Path got it

Ice Floe Beach. Which is at the same spot on the Friend Area map as Shallow Beach despite Shallow Beach clearly being tropical. Consistency!

Mt. Cleft. One of the earliest friend areas we got and one of the last to fill, oddly.

Mt. Deepgreen. I like this one a lot.

Mushroom Forest.

Peanut Swamp which does not seem related to peanuts.

Poison Swamp which is just. why are there stairs

Rub-a-Dub River which inexplicably makes the game lag noticeably lol

Safari.

Secretive Forest. oooOOOooo

Shallow Beach. The tropical beach inexplicably paired with Ice Floe Beach.

Treasure Sea which proves the existence of humans!!!! because of the ship. Or something. Idk.

Turtleshell Pond which is quite cute.

And, finally, mazes. I’m sure you thought we were done with mazes last time when we got the doll. But… you’re wrong.

See, four of the NPC rescue teams have mazes, too. These are a lot tougher than the normal mazes. I actually think you can only unlike them in postgame.

Let’s go!

For the record, all of the bosses in these mazes are recruitable – not in the maze, but elsewhere in the game. It’s the reason I was able to recruit Shiftry despite it being a fully-evolved Pokémon. The recruit rates for all these final evolutions are -30% or -33.9% (same as Kecleon), so it is tough to recruit them, but possible.

Team Shifty’s maze contains only Nuzleaf up until the boss fight.

Team Constrictor’s maze has only Tentacool.

Team Hydro’s maze has Poliwag… despite Poliwrath not being one of the Pokémon you fight as a boss………

Team Rumblerock’s maze has Graveler up until the boss fight.

Each one of the Team Mazes offers a Ginseng as a reward, an item which boosts the strength of one move. I haven’t used any of my Ginsengs this entire run :B maybe next time

Anyway that’s enough of that. We still have two runs through Wish Cave to do.

So here we are. I can bring up to 3 Pokémon with me, but I decide to just stick with the two kings of level 1 dungeons. I also brought an ample amount of Frustration TMs to supplement them with, too.

Gonna play the slow game: use my Tight Belt immunity to belly to bum around the first several floors until Lester reaches level 10, and then attempt to steamroll the dungeon.

Level 10… let’s go.

the layout has changed (later it changes every 10 floors I think)

For the record I have 4 Reviver Seeds lmao I don’t think I’m gonna be too badly beat up here.

Skarmory give a quite frankly ridiculous amount of experience for this level, so if you’re low in levels it might be a good idea to bum around a bit here and kill them.

Accidentally deleted the screenshot, but Floor 20 doesn’t have anything on it since it’s the same as from when we rescued Medicham, fortunately.

The stuff beyond here is uncharted territory for me in this run. I’m slightly overleveled (enemies max at 11, I’m 12) for this section though, which is helpful.

1/4 done…

this may be a monster house but I do not feel threatened in the slightest

the theme has changed again, now we’re apparently in Joyous Tower lol. Horror flashbacks

And again.
It’s getting harder to kill things with my non-Frustration moves by now, but they are basically incapable of doing anything back to me. So far, so good.

Cordis has finally hit level 10. His stats are still very impressive, but he is falling behind Lester regardless.

Halfway done, and I still have four Reviver Seeds!

AUGH DUGTRIO IS TERRIFYING IT USED MAGNITUDE 9 AND DID LIKE 50 DAMAGE

And my first death, to Sonicboom. Alas

Getting close. I believe in us…!

This dungeon has weird designs.

lmao what the hell is this tiny floor

3/4 done…

20 floors left. Pretty sure this tileset is unique to Wish Cave – it’s a pink reskin of Lapis Cave, but still.

Second Reviver Seed down. Hitmontop is terrible to fight because of Triple Kick.

Lester made it to 20. I think that’s the highest I’ve ever gotten a Pokémon to in a level 1 dungeon.

The end approaches…

wtf is this orange water

And here we go! [/hydraulic press channel]

Before I go, I set Cordis to use only Attract and use a Link Box I brought to link all of Lester’s attacks (Frustration, Frustration, Scratch, Fury Swipes) into one mega-attack for massive damage.

… yes?

……Fwaaaaaaaahhh……
I’m still sleepy… Fnyumnyum…

okay What

… Who is it?
Who is that over there? Fnyumnyum…

lester and cordis, ok but Why are you sleeping

……Fwaaaaahhhh…… I’m still… sleepy…

… and then boss fight. Ok cool makes sense to me. (Not.)

Starting out with a Gravelerock due to the distance involved here. Jirachi approaches, and then I let loose my SUPER AWESOME ATTACK. Cordis uses Attract, making Jirachi unable to do anything. It literally takes two more turns to kill lol rip

This is a 99.9% chance, so it’s not at all surprising.
… and here’s where we will intentionally say no. If you say yes, you don’t get a wish, and we’re here for Chansey, right?

ok we GET IT
Then there’s a weird sound effect and…

Jirachi: … Oh, oh?! I hear singing…
A song of purity…

Finally.

I don’t know why, but I’m wide awake!
I’m Jirachi.
When I awaken, I grant a wish. I have to.

It only works if you have the Wish Stone that Medicham gave us as a reward for her rescue, though.

Er-hem… Then… I ask you this.

Lots of items gives random items that can be found in Wish Cave.
More Strength gives Joy Seeds and stat-boosting items.
Something good! gives either: a) a boost to Lucario Rank; b) a new Pokémon (if Lucario Rank has been attained); or c) money (if all Pokémon are recruited and Lucario Rank has been attained).
We all know what we want here…

Then why did you offer it?

But I’ll do my best!
Nnnnnnnnnn!

It’s done…
If you can get home safely, I think there will be something good waiting for you. Maybe. Definitely.

… maybe? Definitely?

… Fwaaaaaaahhh…
Using that power… Made me sleepy… Good night…

… bye?
And so we leave the dungeon.

The next day…

Despite that we used Lester as a lead, Red automatically is here for this cutscene.

Green I miss ur face :(

Chansey wants to join us!
I saw Chansey outside looking stunned, so I introduced myself.
It says it was blown here by a sudden gust of wind!

How convenient!

It doesn’t seem to know why it would end up here.
… But since it’s here, it decided that it must be for a good reason. And so it wants to join us!

Hooray!

lol imagine if you fucked up and hit ‘no’

Green: Great! That’s that!

\o/
I nicknamed it Scramble.

And with that, we’re only missing a single Pokémon. Back to Wish Cave!

But first…

Sky Blue Plains. It is very pink here, huh?

Alright, back to it! I won’t show off every 10 floors this time, just interesting events overall.

Using the same dynamic duo as last time. If I really wanted to I could just carry in a Warp Scarf and go nuts with that again, but when I have the option to bring in items there are slightly more reliable ways to attack the dungeon… like the way I did last time. Mostly because this dungeon has a boss fight at the end and that’s an issue.

I picked up a Warp Scarf only like three floors in though :B so if I want to pull that strategy off in the later floors, I have the means to do so.

Hey… look at that. It’s completely useless now since I have already gotten all the items and used them, plus I don’t have enough Poké to purchase it (sadly), but… there it is. :B
I do buy a Reviver Seed here, though, bringing me up to 4.

lol still not threatening

This one though I’m going to use my Petrify Orb on.

I have like five or six Reviver Seeds lmao so this doesn’t mean much. Annoying, though.
Cordis died too, rip.

lmao okay so I saw no king’s rocks or leaf stones any time I came through in the past but now there’s two shops with them in one run??
I now have enough Poké to get them, so honoring my earlier promise, I will pick them up here.

Magnitude sucks

OH, SHIT! Aaaaand I don’t have any Petrify Orbs or anything.
Okay, change of plans. Mobile Scarf go. This is the whole reason I brought that item.
I left Cordis out to dry (in retrospect I should have had him Teleport), but he was able to hold up for just long enough for Lester to reach the stairs, which you can see are in the same room as the Monster House.

Okay, made it without wasting any Reviver Seeds!

I made it!
Time for the boss fight. Still got two Reviver Seeds… I don’t expect to die anyway, though.

Lol Jirachi did have the chance to hit me with the basic attack and it did no damage. Then it died two turns later. Get fucked

Not nicknamed, as per tradition.

I even have a (useless) King’s Rock and Leaf Stone to show for it!

Here we go, the final Friend Area: Mt. Moonview.

There is no in-game indication that we’ve completed the game. However…

First of all, all the “big” legendary recruits are visible on the continue screen.
Also dat time

Second, you can see in the Adventure Log that “all Pokémon” is now there. (The two missing entries are for completing Friend Rescues, which I never did in this run, and for “all Pokémon led the team” which is kind of a ridiculous requirement that I have no plans to pursue.)

So after seven months and fifteen days of real time, ten days, twelve hours, nineteen minutes, and forty-one seconds of game time (not counting resets), and a whopping 1981 screenshots (not counting the ones I accidentally overwrote), we are now looking at a complete copy of Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team.

Recruitment Progress

413/413: 100%
Aged Chamber AN (14/14):
Unown A (Anger)
Unown B (Bear)
Unown C (Chase)
Unown D (Darkness)
Unown E (Engage)
Unown F (Find)
Unown G (Give)
Unown H (Help)
Unown I (Increase)
Unown J (Join)
Unown K (Keep)
Unown L (Laugh)
Unown M (Metal)
Unown N (Normal)
Aged Chamber O? (14/14):
Unown O (Observe)
Unown P (Perform)
Unown Q (Quicken)
Unown R (Reassure)
Unown S (Search)
Unown T (Tell)
Unown U (Undo)
Unown V (Vanish)
Unown W (Want)
Unown X (XXXXX)
Unown Y (Yield)
Unown Z (Zoom)
Unown ! (!)
Unown ? (?)
Ancient Relic (6/6):
Aerodactyl (Big Boy)
Baltoy (Dreidel)
Claydol (Oracle)
Regirock
Regice
Registeel
Beau Plains (12/12):
Bulbasaur (Sup, Bub)
Ivysaur (Kayzie)
Venusaur (Bruteroot)
Chikorita (Chiquita)
Bayleef (Thyme)
Meganium (Parsley)
Hoppip (Apple)
Skiploom (Lou)
Jumpluff (Bloom)
Taillow (Tiny)
Swellow (Swellie)
Roselia (Dahlia)
Boulder Cave (4/4):
Diglett (Speckles)
Dugtrio (He-Man)
Onix (Snek)
Steelix (Dacian)
Bountiful Sea (9/9):
Tentacool (Stinger)
Tentacruel (Frank)
Slowpoke (Felix)
Slowbro (Trip)
Shellder (Pearl)
Cloyster (Mystery)
Staryu (Pat)
Starmie (Roxie)
Slowking (Hatty)
Crater (7/7):
Magmar (Rachael)
Slugma (Gabriel)
Magcargo (Bogey)
Magby (Cynical)
Numel (Kipling)
Camerupt (Java)
Torkoal (Coleman)
Cryptic Cave (1/1):
Mewtwo
Darkness Ridge (13/13):
Vulpix (Sparkle)
Ninetales (Spirit)
Gastly (Maya)
Haunter (Sabrina)
Gengar (Willa Wisp)
Misdreavus (Lucy)
Sneasel (Tachi)
Sableye (Garnet)
Shuppet (Teru)
Banette (Ira)
Duskull (Umbra)
Dusclops (Phatos)
Absol (Storm)
Decrepit Lab (7/7):
Abra (Spoonless)
Kadabra (Animus)
Alakazam (Cordis)
Mr. Mime (Ted)
Ditto (Proteus)
Porygon (Microsoft)
Porygon2 (Apple)
Deep-Sea Current (1/1):
Lugia
Deep-Sea Floor (12/12):
Omanyte (Lord Helix)
Omanyte -> Omastar (ShellSmash)
Kabuto (Kabooty)
Kabutops (Why2??????)
Chinchou (Dave)
Lanturn (Vinyl)
Lileep (Grandma)
Cradily (Hardy)
Clamperl (Juanita)
Huntail (Murderfish)
Gorebyss (Ariel)
Relicanth (Coal)
Dragon Cave (3/3):
Bagon (Defiance)
Shelgon (Perseveren)
Salamence (Blue)
Echo Cave (11/11):
Zubat (Wilson)
Golbat (Laylee)
Crobat (Ellie)
Dunsparce (Perry)
Whismur (Sonum)
Loudred (Cantus)
Exploud (Clamos)
Nosepass (Moana)
Mawile (0dd1)
Wynaut (Bicuzz)
Wobbuffet (Wobburrito)
Enclosed Island (1/1):
Deoxys
Energetic Forest (15/15):
Pikachu (Lightning)
Raichu (Rachel)
Meowth (Brian)
Persian (Laetu)
Mankey (JellyDonut)
Primeape (Altissimo)
Snorlax (Barbara)
Pichu (Chuh)
Aipom (Bonzi)
Stantler (Olive)
Slakoth (Sid)
Vigoroth (Solomon)
Slaking (Louie)
Skitty (Heather)
Delcatty (Stargleam)
Final Island (1/1):
Mew
Flyaway Forest (12/12):
Pidgey (Birb)
Pidgeotto (Otto)
Pidgeot (Kenny)
Hoothoot (Leroy)
Noctowl (Minuit)
Togepi (Shellby)
Togetic (Destructor)
Natu (Seer)
Xatu (Swensen)
Murkrow (Elphaba)
Swablu (Byssis)
Altaria (Nefela)
Frigid Cavern (7/7):
Jynx (Aisha)
Swinub (Sara)
Piloswine (Pryce)
Delibird (St. Nick)
Smoochum (ProfKissum)
Snorunt (Nix)
Glalie (Oni)
Furnace Desert (7/7):
Sandshrew (Guy Fieri)
Sandslash (Flavortown)
Trapinch (Bobblehead)
Vibrava (Art Deco)
Flygon (Desertsong)
Cacnea (Dirty Dan)
Cacturne (Dorothy)
Healing Forest (1/1):
Celebi
Ice Floe Beach (5/5):
Seel (Aurora)
Dewgong (Tristan)
Spheal (Clubber)
Sealeo (Tubber)
Walrein (Blubber)
Jungle (13/13):
Oddish (Natura)
Gloom (Toadstool)
Vileplume (Toxia)
Bellsprout (Brussels)
Weepinbell (Banana)
Victreebel (LeoBurnett)
Exeggcute (Benedict)
Exeggutor (Smashmouth)
Tangela (Medusa)
Bellossom (Dancer)
Sunkern (Popcorn)
Sunflora (Molly)
Tropius (Ariera)
Legendary Island (3/3):
Articuno
Zapdos
Moltres
Magnetic Quarry (3/3):
Beldum (I3)
Metang (I5)
Metagross (I7)
Mist-Rise Forest (14/14):
Caterpie (Blueberry)
Metapod (Bluntman)
Butterfree (Violetwing)
Weedle (Bean)
Kakuna (Timon)
Beedrill (Beeyonce)
Ledyba (Francis)
Ledian (Lyson)
Yanma (Shade)
Wurmple (Persia)
Silcoon (Miriam)
Beautifly (Charlotte)
Cascoon (Fortunato)
Dustox (Luna)
Mt. Cleft (9/9):
Charmander (Char)
Charmeleon (Karma)
Charizard (Red)
Larvitar (Nick)
Pupitar (Jones)
Tyranitar (Rex)
Aron (Aaron)
Lairon (Larry)
Aggron (Ferro)
Mt. Deepgreen (12/12):
Geodude (Hazy)
Graveler (Heavy G)
Golem (Al)
Cubone (Skelebro)
Marowak (Mallow)
Gligar (Chirops)
Shuckle (Shuckie)
Teddiursa (Toklo)
Ursaring (Oka)
Spoink (Spring)
Grumpig (Chex Mix)
Spinda (Babos)
Mt. Discipline (11/11):
Machop (Connor)
Machoke (Erika)
Machamp (M'Champion)
Hitmonlee (Bruce)
Hitmonchan (Jackie)
Tyrogue (Griff)
Hitmontop (Leo)
Makuhita (Ceroma)
Hariyama (Lucta)
Meditite (Rebecca)
Medicham (Marise)
Mt. Moonview (6/6):
Clefairy (Caroline)
Clefable (Pierre)
Cleffa (Stella)
Lunatone (Mane)
Solrock (Alea)
Jirachi
Mushroom Forest (7/7):
Paras (France)
Parasect (Mushpeckle)
Seedot (Acorn)
Nuzleaf (Nuzlocke)
Shiftry (Quercus)
Shroomish (Toad)
Breloom (Portobello)
Mystic Lake (4/4):
Lapras (Icerain)
Dratini (Ray)
Dragonair (Celia)
Dragonite (Tempest)
Overgrown Forest (9/9):
Pinsir (Carabus)
Scyther (Pearl)
Sudowoodo (Fauxliage)
Scizor (Nightmare)
Heracross (Honey)
Treecko (Geico)
Grovyle (Vectrex)
Sceptile (Green)
Kecleon (Lester)
Peanut Swamp (7/7):
Wooper (Yippy)
Quagsire (Yeppa)
Mudkip (Muddy)
Marshtomp (Mallow)
Swampert (Skipper)
Barboach (Cashier)
Whiscash (Grandpa)
Poison Swamp (6/6):
Grimer (Billy Mays)
Muk (Shamwow)
Koffing (James)
Weezing (Pascal)
Gulpin (Venum)
Swalot (Ceno)
Power Plant (6/6):
Magnemite (Duracell)
Magneton (CRT)
Voltorb (PokéCube)
Electrode (Cathode)
Elekid (Windmill)
Electabuzz (Sulpur)
Rainbow Peak (1/1):
Ho-oh
Ravaged Field (5/5):
Spearow (Spearmint)
Fearow (Not Ho-oh)
Skarmory (Stympha)
Houndour (April)
Houndoom (Heckdoom)
Rub-a-Dub River (7/7):
Goldeen (Arches)
Seaking (Fortune)
Totodile (Gatorface)
Croconaw (Cruncher)
Feraligatr (Florida)
Volbeat (Lux)
Illumise (Lumen)
Sacred Field (3/3):
Entei
Raikou
Suicune
Safari (15/15):
Nidoran F (Diane)
Nidorina (Arianne)
Nidoqueen (Victoria)
Nidoran M (Meliodas)
Nidorino (Michael)
Nidoking (Edward)
Doduo (Clarence)
Dodrio (Aegon)
Rhyhorn (Corona)
Rhydon (Corono)
Kangaskhan (Salio)
Tauros (Thirty)
Phanpy (Phan Phan)
Donphan (James May)
Miltank (Vacca)
Scorched Plains (10/10):
Growlithe (Fido)
Arcanine (Firebolt)
Ponyta (Applejack)
Rapidash (Cherokee)
Cyndaquil (Bernard)
Quilava (Mr. Danger)
Typhlosion (Flametail)
Torchic (Chanticler)
Combusken (Mark)
Blaziken (Scorch)
Seafloor Cave (1/1):
Kyogre
Serene Sea (4/4):
Qwilfish (Mrs. Puff)
Mantine (Mr. Ray)
Wailmer (Chum)
Wailord (Jonah)
Secretive Forest (9/9):
Venonat (Tracey)
Venomoth (Mothra)
Spinarak (Arachna)
Ariados (Aragog)
Pineco (Fibonacci)
Forretress (Grenade)
Nincada (Illinois)
Ninjask (Naruto)
Shedinja (Sunwise)
Shallow Beach (5/5):
Krabby (Eugene)
Kingler (Snake)
Corsola (Nemo)
Wingull (Type Gull)
Pelipper (Drizzle)
Sky Blue Plains (13/13):
Jigglypuff (Sugar)
Wigglytuff (Bob Ross)
Lickitung (Tailure)
Chansey (Scramble)
Igglybuff (Rosey)
Girafarig (Harvey)
Snubbull (Muchmoney)
Granbull (Type Bull)
Smeargle (Bitchworth)
Blissey (Cappy)
Ralts (Wallabee)
Kirlia (Nijinsky)
Gardevoir (Katrina)
Southern Island (2/2):
Latias
Latios
Stratos Lookout (1/1):
Rayquaza
Tadpole Pond (9/9):
Poliwag (Doodle)
Poliwhirl (Tajiri)
Poliwrath (FurioFrog)
Politoed (HypnoToad)
Lotad (Lily)
Lombre (Carefree)
Ludicolo (Ariba)
Surskit (Skitter)
Masquerain (DeMasque)
Thunder Meadow (11/11):
Sentret (Joanne)
Furret (Pavarotti)
Mareep (Android)
Flaaffy (Layla)
Ampharos (Jasmine)
Electrike (Ravi)
Manectric (Drew)
Plusle (Positive)
Minun (Negative)
Castform (Aer)
Chimecho (Giotto)
Transform Forest (6/6):
Eevee (Mudpaw)
Vaporeon (Vaporcloud)
Jolteon (Joltstorm)
Flareon (Flareheart)
Espeon (Sunstream)
Umbreon (Moonfall)
Treasure Sea (10/10):
Horsea (Callie)
Seadra (Dollar)
Kingdra (Elvis)
Remoraid (Gunnpy)
Octillery (Fry)
Carvanha (Jaws)
Sharpedo (Ari)
Anorith (Small Fry)
Armaldo (Pinch)
Luvdisc (Valentine)
Turtleshell Pond (10/10):
Squirtle (Cannon)
Wartortle (Survivor)
Blastoise (Shellshock)
Psyduck (WhaTheDuck)
Golduck (Quack Fu)
Marill (Pikablu)
Azumarill (Tree)
Azurill (Scout)
Corphish (Hey)
Crawdaunt (Radium)
Volcanic Pit (1/1):
Groudon
Waterfall Lake (4/4):
Magikarp (Emone)
Gyarados (Randy)
Feebas (Duckling)
Milotic (Sera)
Wild Plains (13/13):
Rattata (Sword)
Raticate (Rodentia)
Ekans (Anguis)
Arbok (Kodra)
Farfetch'd (Onion)
Drowzee (Sleeper)
Hypno (Piper)
Poochyena (Missile)
Mightyena (Dingo)
Zigzagoon (Midnight)
Linoone (Longcat)
Zangoose (Harmony)
Seviper (Repiv)

So… what’s next?

Well, as my last post indicates, I’m soon going to be starting a similar run in Explorers of Sky. This will probably not come within a few days; I am very burnt out after this run and also need to take some time to focus on myself and my schoolwork, so we’re probably looking at a couple weeks to months before I can fully commit myself to Sky. Plus I just got a new laptop and probably have to commit some time to getting that together (I’m switching from a Mac to Windows lol) too.

This run may be over, but it’s not closed: feel free to comment on the entirety of the run and even begin discussing the Explorers of Sky run. Still interested in starter/partner options, and you can also go ahead and suggest nicknames for things. I’ve got over 500 Pokémon to pick up in Sky, and a lot of them are the same as in this game, so without suggestions I’m going to be reusing a lot of the same names, which is probably not what you want to see. The recruitment is the least interesting thing about these runs, I feel, and if you got a laugh out of my snarky commentary (I was inspired heavily by RedChocobo/Chorocojo’s series of Pokémon LPs on the LP Archive, which were the first text-based LPs I ever experienced) you’d probably agree with me. :B

Additionally, if there’s anything you’d like me to show off from this game further, feel free to ask for/suggest it and it probably won’t take much time for me to grab some screenshots.

Also, I’ve uploaded the run’s save file, in case you want to mess around with it yourself - https://www.dropbox.com/s/gvmzzp2peczbf1c/BlueFinished.dsv?dl=0

Relatedly, I have also put archive.is links to all four pages of this run on the first post of the thread, in case vgy.me ever goes the way of Photobucket or something similar happens.

Finally, I just wanted to thank all my loyal readers for their dedication to and appreciation of this run. You’re the reason I decided to do this, and your support kept me going even when it got to be a slog in the end. So thank you all for being here and keeping up with this. I hope to see you all soon, in a brand new story!

 

[lucariomaster2]

While I'm sad to see this run end, I'm very happy that we were able to see it go to completion!

I can't wait to see explorers of Sky. Will you be doing the Special Episodes as well? (Completing the first one is required to recruit everyone, but I think the rest are fully optional)