Why the hell does a Bug Catcher have a Mew?! Let's Randomize: Pokemon FireRed!

[Third Eye Lem]

LEM'S FICKLE FIRERED PLAYTHROUGH
I was gonna call it "Random Red" but rdj kinda beat me to the punch :V

That said, welcome to what will hopefully be a successful let's play for me (famous last words): A randomized run of Pokemon FireRed! How is it random? Well, Erebus found this Universal Pokemon Randomizer on the wonderful internet, which allows you to randomize almost everything about any Pokemon ROM (except maybe the contents of item balls). You can change random encounters, trainer lineups, even the types of Pokemon and what moves they can learn! Needless to say, this can result in some hilarious, broken, or even unwinnable runs, but we'll give it a shot and see where this goes.

SETTINGS FOR THIS RUN:
-Remove Trade Evolutions (because Alakazam, Gengar and Machamp are awesome, Golem less so)
-Lower case Pokemon names
-Give Nat'l Dex at start (necessary for some evos)
-Randomize held items
-Randomize Base Stats, Following Evos (this means that the base stats will be consistent when a Pokemon evolves, IE: if a Pokemon with a high Attack stat evolves, it'll keep its high Attack (hopefully))
-Randomize abilities (NO WONDER GUARD)
-Completely random starters
-Random Pokemon types, following evos (IE: Ponyta might have a Grass element, but it'll still be grass when it evolves)
-Completely random movesets
-Completely random trainer rosters, w/Rival carrying their starter through the game (this will probably be the biggest source of frustration XD)
-Area 1-to-1 mapping, Catch 'Em All Mode, Set Minimum Catch Rate to 45 (I think what this does is that if there are two random pokemon in an area, two Pokemon will be picked to replace those slots. Catch'Em All mode ensures, or at least promotes, the chance to collect every single Pokemon in the game. Set Min Catch Rate ensures that we won't have extremely frustrating legendary enounters :V )
-Randomized Static Pokemon (ones obtained from trades, Game Corner, etc)
-Randomized TMs (this could be just as frustrating, or perhaps useful)
-Randomized TM/HM compatibility (this could be a game ender, if I don't get anything with Surf/Strength, but it's unlikely)
-Randomized Move Tutors and compatibility with said move tutors

Also, a couple things to note: if this run is successful, I'll post the preset and log file for this game. Another thing is that I won't be doing any screenshots or videos, there's not much to show; I assume everyone that's interested in Pokemon knows how the original games went. I will also not be looking at the log file; this will be a completely blind random run. That being said, let the adventure BEGIN!!

PALLET, ROUTE 1, VIRIDIAN
*During the intro, Oak produces an Omanyte. I'm...Pretty sure that wasn't in the original intro, but I forgot what was originally there. Oh well :V I pick the male trainer and name him Lucky, and name my rival Doofus. I then head off to collect my starter.
*Starter Choices:
--Azurill (Ice), Sticky Hold ability, @Iapapa Berry, knows Mist Ball and Body Slam. Low but decent stats all around.
--Castform (Dark/Fire), Flash Fire ability, @Iapapa Berry, knows Crush Claw. Shockingly high defense, but low attack and Sp.Def.
--Politoed (Ground), Pickup ability, @Iapapa Berry, knows Heat Wave, Charm, Megahorn and Constrict! Too bad its Sp.Atk and Def stats are weak, but its Atk is very high.
*I decide on Politoed (Lonely nature), Rival takes Azurill. I'll rename my starter later. Doofus comes after me like his namesake implies; I burn the poor ice mouse with Heat Wave and win. I take the berry off of Politoed so it can start picking up things.
*First random encounter: A Slowking! It knows Crush Claw and Aeroblast, apparently (which both hurt)...But it's still weak to Megahorn. They also seem to be pretty common and worth good EXP for this level; I get Politoed to level 9 on my way to Viridian.
*I get the package, rush back to Pallet, and get my Pokeballs! Now to catch that Slowking...WITH JUDICIOUS SAVESTATE ABUSE! (seriously it took over a dozen attempts to catch that thing, lol) I name it Talon to go with the Crush Claw and Aeroblast moves. (Quirky Nature, Ground/Psychic, knows Dizzy Punch in addition to the other two moves, Rain Dish ability, has good Attack and Sp.Def but lousy stats elsewhere)
*Ooddly enough, I only ran into Slowking on Route 1...Doesn't Route 1 have two Pokemon? Eh.

ROUTE 22, ROUTE 2
*I run into Wheezing on Route 22. Lots of evolved mons early, this'll make training easier...Whoops, I spoke too soon, it knows BIDE! Thankfully, it is a lot easier to catch. I name it "PunchinBag".
--Wheezing (Fighting), Relaxed Nature, Shadow Tag ability, knows Bide, Horn Drill (!!), Sludge Bomb and Crush Claw. Stats are similar to that of Slowking's.
*Lots of Crush Claw Pokes in this run...Since I'm in the area, I'll bash Doofus' face in and get P-Bag some EXP (lol, Zelda II ref).
==RIVAL BATTLE 2: Starts with Azurill, gets Heat Wave'd. Azurill knows Counter too, apparently, I'll have to watch out for that...Wait wait? Doofus has TWO Azurill?! Good gravy, I almost feel sorry for this guy. The second one dies just as badly as the first.
*After that battle, I heal up and continue searching Route 22. There's a Meditite here with Confusion, and a Stantler that is either Rock or Steel-type (Constrict isn't very effective). Heat Wave reveals it to be Rock, and possibly a Psychic or Dark subtype, since Megahorn KOs it...And Meditite apparently has a Speed Boost ability too! (catches one and names it "Videl")
--Meditite (Water), Mild Nature, Speed Boost ability, knows Confusion. Crappy stats though, especially Attack...
*I also catch that Stantler while I'm at it. Nickname: Buck.
--Stantler (Rock/Water, wow I was way off, since when was Rock neutral to Bug?), Brave Nature, Liquid Ooze ability (...), knows Headbutt. Stats are similar to Slowking and Wheezing...This might be problematic later if I don't get some more stat variation soon.
*I just remembered that after all this time, I never got the Town Map. Haha...I'll get it later I guess. Onto Route 2, in which I find a MEGANIUM! It knows Faint attack, and seems to have lousy Sp.Def....And then it hits me with Blizzard. Ouch. Thankfully it does minor damage. SAVE-STATE ABUSE CATCHING TIME!
--Meganium (nicknamed Oliver, Poison type), Lonely nature, Magma Armor ability, knows Uproar, Faint Attack, Blizzard, and Crunch. Useful, but its Attack stat is much higher than its Sp.Atk (it does have good speed though). I'm starting to miss Gen 4's special/physical split now

I now have a full party, so I'm gonna stop the post here and level up my mons before I go into the the forest. What kinds of horrors will the trainers unleash upon me? Find out next time!

> TO BE CONTINUED

[Jq1790]

This is...this is...a real shame I don't do ROMs of stuff I don't own(and i sold fireRed an eternity ago), since I'd LOVE to play this.  Sounds like some really messed up things can happen here, which would be quite fun.  Will be watching this for sure.

[Keegster2]

This is a very good start. (The starters even follow a Rock-Paper-Scissors Triangle!) I can't wait to see what non-rock type Pok?mon Brock has.

[Third Eye Lem]

This is a very good start. (The starters even follow a Rock-Paper-Scissors Triangle!) I can't wait to see what non-rock type Pok?mon Brock has.

I never realized that until now! I would like to see a triangle that doesn't use Fire/Grass/Water, but the only one I can think of is Dark/Psychic/Fighting, and Dark >>>> Psychic most of the time thanks to immunities. I can't wait to get to the gyms either, those should be really fun/frustrating.

TRAINING SESSION 1
Videl: Learns Endeavor at level 4, Spikes at level 9
Oliver: Learns Defense Curl at level 8
Venus: Learns Counter at level 4, Charm at level 7

Pickups: Chesto Berry x2, Nugget(!)

*Finally, Pokemon that aren't level 3. I was worried that the randomization messed up the wild Pokes' levels.
*Grabbed the Town Map, finally.
*Discovered Torkoal on Route 2. Apparently, they can learn Counter too.
*Shuppet's the other Pokemon on Route 1, too bad I don't have any Pokeballs :<
*Scratch that, thanks to that Nugget, I can afford more Pokeballs (and a few Potions)! :3c I bench Talon and Buck so I can make room for the newbies.
--Shuppet (nicknamed BloodyMary, Flying type), Serious Nature, Swift Swim ability, knows Mega Drain. Lousy stats, but might come in handy against anything that knows Earthquake/Dig/etc.
--Torkoal (nicknamed Venus, Ghost type), Bashful nature, Own Tempo ability, knows Pay Day. Good defensive stats and Sp.Att, lousy Speed and Attack, but this looks promising.
*I learned that Pay Day gives you money after any battle, not just a trainer battle :V (it's not huge, but it does add up). Venus failed to produce a decent attacking move, so she's benched for now.

Current lineup: PunchinBag (lv4), Politoed (lv10), Videl (lv10), Oliver (lv11)

VIRIDIAN FOREST
*This place needs an EO4-style title for it, I feel a definite sense of forboding stepping into this sacred place.
*FORBODING FEELING CONFIRMED! HERE THERE BE NONDRAGONS!...A Charizard that knows Mega Drain and Tri Attack, for instance. The latter freaking HURTS. Thankfully it only took two reloads to catch it.
--Charizard (nicknamed Helios), Ice type (!?), Lonely nature, Liquid Ooze ability, knows Block, Tri attack, Seismic Toss, and Mega Drain. Stats look pretty damn good, he looks like a keeper.
*I run into a Roselia as I flee back to the Pokemon Center, and it knows Arena Trap. My NERVOUSNESS GAUGE ticks up one more notch. I manage to poison it with Sludge Bomb before P-Bag gets KO'd, and catch the little flower. Can I just say I love Roselia's design, and that it's one of the most adorable Pokemon to exist? :3c
--Roselia (nick: Rosa), Fight/Water, Timid nature, Arena Trap ability, knows Submission...Crap, its offensive stats are way too low to use in combat, which really sucks because this is the first 'mon that has a STAB move! :fail: I am disappoint, RNG. This also makes it really problematic while going through grass in here, since I have to waste PP fending them off, and most of my moves are low on PP. Oh well, might as well get some EXP in.
*Togetic? Yes please!...Oh gogs it's another ghost type. And it knows Bounce. And it just paralyzed Helios. This is problematic. Thankfully it doesn't know Shadow Tag OR Arena Trap, but it's gonna be annoying to catch...Even moreso since it appears to be part flying (or some other resistance to grass), and I don't have any Pokemon handy to catch it without getting mauled by its attacks or KOing it :< Now it knows SMOG too? Good gravy, what's its final move?! Okay whew, stopping stream-of-consciousness commentary after Oliver's Faint Attack fails to KO Togetic. SAVE STATE ABUSE TIME!!
--Togetic (nick: Youki), Fire/Ghost, Naughty Nature, Pure Power ability, knows Growl, Leaf Blade, Bounce, and Smog. Boy, did my luck turn around fast! The stats on this...Dude are pretty good (save Attack, but the ability offsets that I guess), I'm gonna keep this one and use him as my Anti-Roselia defense.
*This is becoming quite the wall of text, so let's break this up with...

TRAINER BATTLE 1: VS BUG CATCHER RICK
*This is why I didn't randomize the trainer names and classes, so people know where I am in the game and can keep track of my progress more easily.
*All right dude, show me your worst! (trainer sends out Latios) ._. I'm so fucked. At least it's level 6...It knows Focus Punch, but it's weak to Grass (YAY!). Only problem is that this guy seems to have rather high...Defenses? Wait...Wait what is that?



IS THAT A GODDAMN GENDER SYMBOL I SEE?! DOES THIS MEAN LEGENDARIES ARE BREEDABLE IN THIS HACK?! _{no it doesn't, latios is in the egg group as the nidos and the babies}
...
... ...
... ... ...
Regardless, I have stepped into the Garden of Madness.

Back to the fight. Latios apparently knows Triple Kick too, but neither move can hurt Youki because GHOST TYPE :V It seems resistant to poison, though, so Leaf Blade keeps the NotDragon-type down. Youkai gains a couple of levels from the fight, too
*Next up is Lairon. It knows Endure. This is annoying. So I Bounce on it. It's super-effective, apparently! Lairon also knows Absorb, for what it's worth. Youki levels up again and learns...Sand Tomb? Eh, could be worse. I delete Growl to learn it.

TRAINER BATTLE 2: VS BUG CATCHER DOUG
*Any time I'm fighting a trainer, I'm not living in dread of Roselias. I'm still saddened that the RNG screwed over one of my favorite Pokemon like that ;_;
*Anyways, the first Pokemon is--MEW?! WHAT THE HELL, MAN?! Augh, and it knows Bonemerang. Youki's left hurtin', so I swap it out for Helios...Who prompty gets critted and KO'd. I send out Politoed instead. He fares much better and KOs Mew with Megahorn.
*Weepinbell is next, and...It Extremespeeds me. Only a scratch, though. Megahorn also KOs it :V Politoed levels up from the kill.
*Finally, we have...Dratini? Oh boy. Thankfully Megahorn also kills it with a supereffective hit. Whew!

My team's pretty messed up, so it's back to the Pokemon Center. There's still three trainers left, but this post is getting pretty long as it is, so I'll stop here for now.

> TO BE CONTINUED

=== Current team ===

Youki (Fire/Dark Togetic) lv9, Leaf Blade/Bounce/Sand Tomb/Smog
Politoed (Ground Politoed) lv11, Heat Wave/Megahorn/Constrict/Charm
Videl (Water Meditite) lv10, Confusion/Endeavor/Spikes
Oliver (Poison Meganium) lv11, Crunch/Faint Attack/Blizzard/Defense Curl
PunchinBag/P-Bag (Fighting Wheezing) lv5, Sludge Bomb/Crush Claw/Bide/Horn Drill
Helios (Ice Charizard) lv4, Mega Drain/Tri Attack/Seismic Toss/Block

National Pokedex stats: 17 seen, 11 caught

[Keegster2]

Those Bug Catchers (I miss them. ) Should have been called Legendary Catchers!

Also, Latios (And Latias) Does actually have a Gender normally. (Atleast in Gen 5.)

Also also, FireRed was the first Pok?mon game I ever owned.

[Third Eye Lem]

Those Bug Catchers (I miss them. ) Should have been called Legendary Catchers!

Also, Latios (And Latias) Does actually have a Gender normally. (Atleast in Gen 5.)

Also also, FireRed was the first Pok?mon game I ever owned.

1- I totes agree with you there.

Spoiler:

Sadly, I have not encountered any other legends in this next update. I encounter a Pseudo-Legend though!

2- Really? Huh. They didn't have genders back in Sapphire/Ruby from what I recall. Odd.
3- Mine was Blue. It was also the last Pokemon game I beat recently (that or Black 2, I can't quite remember).

And now, time for our next exciting not really episode of Fickle FireRed!

=====

I'm gonna try and be a bit more concise on my play-by-plays of the trainer fights, and maybe skim over the less interesting ones. I want to show how each of the 'mons are changed, but not just dump a buttload of text on everyone's screens. That being said, I may not be able to catch every single Pokemon, but I will complete the Sevii Island sidequests and fight the E4 Round 2. FireRed is kinda light on the post-game content, maybe I'll fix that with something like Emerald or White/Black.

Also, if you have any constructive criticism on how I do LPs (either here or in my FE7 draft run), don't hesitate to say something. I want this to be enjoyable to everyone, not just me.

That being said, ONWARDS!

VIRIDIAN FOREST, PART 2
* Crawling through this forest makes me wonder what Mt. Moon will be like...And the rest of the cavern-like dungeons. Thankfully, the forest is rather short, but the fact that you have to waste PP cutting through enemies armed with Arena Trap/Shadow Tag (and maybe Magnet Pull) makes getting through each area that much more tedious. Man, why couldn't the later games allow you to use CUT to remove patches of grass? I liked that feature...Anyways, onto the next trainer.

TRAINER BATTLE 3: VS BUG CATCHER ANTHONY
== First up is a Zubat that has the Drought ability. I lead with Helios, who scores a crit with Tri-Attack, while Zubat counters with Twin Needle. Another Tri-Attack kills it, and nets Helios a much-needed level.
== Next is an Aerodactyl with Trace. Mega Drain is super effective, but since Aerodactyl copied Liquid Ooze, I only ended up hurting myself more! Whoops. ^^;; Aerodactyl knocks Helios out with Mud Shot, but Youki Leaf Blades the old fossil into rubble. That's too bad about Helios, Aerodactyl gave up a ton of EXP. I need to pay more attention next time! =P

*I put Youki up front and run through the grass. Thankfully, no Roselias attacked me, so I'm in good shape for the next trainer fight.

TRAINER BATTLE 4: VS BUG CATCHER CHARLIE
== Oh hey, a Geodude. It's pretty fast compared to Helios, but it foolishly Mega Drains me and hurts itself. Oh, the irony! Unfortunately, my Mega Drain isn't very effective, so I use Tri-Attack...And almost get hurt by a freaking HYDRO CANNON attack. Good gravy, that would have hurt for sure. Thankfully, Tri-Attack paralyzes (on top of Hydro Cannon having a cooldown), so Helios takes the kill and levels up twice, learning Aerial Ace in the process! Sweet! I drop Block for it.
== Staryu is next. I try Aerial Ace on it, it's not very effective. Staryu counters with Silver Wind. Thankfully, it does very weak damage, but if it boosts Staryu's stats, it might be a problem. However, Mega Drain KOs it and Helios levels up again (twice, to be exact).
== Last is Slakoth. It doesn't get to do anything before Aerial Ace destroys it. XD Helios is now level 10, which is good.

* Youki is put in the lead, I run through the grass, etc. I'm almost home free!!

TRAINER BATTLE 5: VS BUG CATCHER SAMMY
== I'll tell you why I'm in a hurry, so I can get out of this place! You and your friends (well, two of them at least) are crazypants with their legendaries...That weren't even that hard...How many Roselia did you have to kill to get to this point?
== Sammy has just one 'mon, and it's a freaking Wynaut. I put P-Bag up front, but swap it in for Youki, which proves to be a good decision, since it knows Fire Punch. Youki uses bounce, Wynaut uses Smokescreen (maybe Wynaut's a Charmander in a Wynaut costume?) and Bounce connects for massive damage. Leaf Blade finishes it off despite not being effective. Both P-Bag and Youki level up from the fight.

* I belt it out of this accursed forest as quickly as I can (A Charizard dies along the way) and run for Pewter City. Do not pass go, do not collect 200 dollars, Roselia. Good riddance! Oh, and Politoed picked up a Cheri Berry along the way. Nice.

PEWTER CITY + GYM
* Ahhhh, it feels so GOOD to be in civilization again. Okay, so Viridian Forest wasn't NEARLY as bad as I anticipated, but in a randomized run like this, you can't take anything for granted. Everything is a potential threat. But for now, I can rest easy. Next stop, the gym; I remembered I didn't set types for certain trainers, so I have no idea what to expect. But that's part of the fun, yes? Into the gym we go!

TRAINER BATTLE 6: VS CAMPER LIAM
== Solrock? Wow, a Pokemon that actually fits this place. Unfortunately, it's packing Magnitude, Fury Cutter, and Taunt, and knows Levitate. I suspect it's a Flying type, because Grass and Poison don't do effective damage, and Ice does. Or maybe it's a Dragon-type? I dunno. Either way, its defenses are pretty decent, so I have some trouble KOing it (I'll admit I had to reset because it was taking too long). I kill it with Oliver's Blizzard, and get him and P-Bag some much-needed EXP, both leveling up, and Oliver learns Heal Bell in the process. That's pretty useful, so I delete Defense Curl for it.
== Another fiery mon (despite Solrock not being a fire-type at all, in this game or otherwise), Flareon! It's pretty fast, and knows Swift (that at least is canon) and Stomp (definitely not canon). Oliver's Crunch and Blizzard take it down, but neither were its weaknesses; Flareon has low Sp.Def though. Oliver levels up yet again.

GYM LEADER BATTLE 1: VS BROCK
== After a quick PokeCenter heal, it's time for the man of the hour himself! What is his first horrorterror that awaits me? PSYDUCK, of course! Just look at that blank stare. It pierces into your SOUL. It is also absurdly slow (even P-Bag can outrun it, and it's the lowest level on my team), and resistant to Poison. Psyduck knows Bind (which it keeps spamming), so I can't switch out of. So P-Bag Crush Claws it with its non-existent claws. Maybee P-Bag has spikes in this version? That'd make Wheezing a lot cooler! P-Bag levels up from the kill.
== Vileplume is next, and boy is it packing heat...Literally, with Blast burn! P-Bag is KO'd. This just gives me an excuse to break out Youki again and use Leaf Blade...Which barely scratches Vileplume. Yikes. Thankfully, Bounce lets me avoid its next attack (another Blast Burn), and KO it with a critical hit. Nice! Youki levels up from the battle in celebration.
== For my first randomized Gym Leader battle, it was...Kinda lackluster, to say the least. Then again, this is Brock we're talkin' about here, it's his job to get steamrolled :V

* So at long last, I get my first TM! It contains...Refresh. BLEH. Not a good start there, but I guess I could slap it on a defensive Pokemon with healing skills to make a wall or something. Onto Route 3, or as I like to call it...

ROUTE 3: THE PLACE COOLKIDS HANG OUT AT
* Since this place has so many trainers, I'm just gonna put the trainers in a PasteBin file so this post doesn't get absurdly long. Click here to see how I roll with the Route 3 Coolkids.
* Done reading? Good. Now to buy a dubious Pokemon from the local peddler...
-- Altaria (nick: MsMillions), Quiet Nature, Normal type, Speed Boost ability, knows Sleep Talk, Vital Throw, Luster Purge(!!) and Icy Wind. Why do I keep getting so many evolved Pokemon? Oh well, this doesn't look too bad, the stats aside from Speed look pretty good. I at least have something weak to hunt the wild Pokemon here.
* And now to check out the local wildlife!
-- Anorith (nick: Dr. Claw), Lax Nature, Ground/Dragon type, Synchronize ability, @Blackglasses (which I promptly take), knows Icicle Spear and Swagger. Good gravy, this was hard to catch! Has good stats other than Defense and Speed, but its 4x weakness to ice makes me feel rather ehhhhh about it using it. The Blackglasses will help with Oliver's attacks, so I give them to him.
-- Kadabra (nick: Pyromaniac), Bashful nature, Psychic/Electric(!), Huge Power ability, knows Megahorn, Wing Attack, Eruption. Now here's a keeper! Good all-around stats, high speed, decent moves, and a rather unique typing. Now if I can just get an electrical move on it...
-- Azurill (nick: Bianca), Adamant nature, Ice, Sticky Hold Ability, knows Mist Ball, Body Slam and Counter. Still as weak as ever. =P
-- Trapinch (nick: Sandy), Quirky nature, Normal, Arena Trap ability, knows Dragon Claw. Only noticable stat is defense, but even then, the rest of them are kinda eh. Too bad though, Trapinch evolves into a pretty useful Pokemon in the normal game (at least to me).

=== CURRENT TEAM ===
Pyromaniac (Elec/Psychic Kadabra), lv7, Megahorn/Wind Attack/Eruption
Oliver (Poison Meganium), lv15, Crunch/Milk Drink/Blizzard/Heal Bell @Blackglasses
Youki (Ghost/Fire Togetic), lv15, Leaf Blade/Bounce/Sand Tomb/Fury Cutter
Helios (Ice Charizard), lv14, Mega Drain/Aerial Ace/Tri Attack/Mimic
Politoed (Ground Politoed), lv13, Heat Wave/Megahorn/Constrict/Charm
PunchinBag aka P-Bag (Fighting Wheezing), lv12, Sludge Bomb/Crush Claw/Substitute/Horn Drill

National Pokedex stats: 47 seen, 16 caught

* Now for one of the most slog-worthy parts of the game...Mount M--no, Mount Zu--wait, what should I call this place now that Zubat's been relocated?! (On that note, Zubat seems to have been exclusively located to Rock Tunnel) Only one way to find out. I must delve into the belly of the beast...And no, I will not look at the log file! That would be cheating. =P
* Oh no...Not this thing...It can't be, it's...!!

> TO BE CONTINUED

[Yatakarasu]

2- Really? Huh. They didn't have genders back in Sapphire/Ruby from what I recall. Odd.

Yes they did. They were the first legendaries to have them. But! They still cannot breed.

[Sparen]

...I can't randomize my games because the java file doesn't want to work. Why....~~~

[Third Eye Lem]

Yes they did. They were the first legendaries to have them. But! They still cannot breed.

Of course, otherwise we'd have little baby Latis runnin' around. Actually, that sounds pretty adorable...

...I can't randomize my games because the java file doesn't want to work. Why....~~~

Awww, I'm sorry to hear that. Have you tried contacting the developer?

WARNING! A HUGE POST IS APPROACHING FAST!

===

MOUNT ZUBAT SLAKING



* WELCOME TO MOUNT SLAKING, LUCKY! That said, let's see what this monstrocity (and the rest of the mountain) has to offer.
-- Slaking (nick: Kerchak) - Dragon/Grass - Sassy Nature - Forecast Ability - Mist Ball/Thrast/Cross Chop/Trick @Retro Mail - I did some scouting of this area to see what the most common Pokemon was, sometimes they have Intimidate instead. Forecast makes me nervous though, I don't know what'll happen if the weather changes, so I'll just box this beast for now. That being said, its stats seem to be defensively oriented, with high HP and Sp.Def.
-- Ledyba (nick: Mud) - Normal - Timid Nature - Huge Power Ability - Dragonbreath/Memento - I'm sorry, but Ledyba is probably one of my least favorite Pokemon (its evo isn't much better either). Stats are decent, but there's not much this thing has to offer right now.
-- Pikachu (nick: Iku) - Dark/Fire - Timid Nature - Trace Ability - Leaf Blade/Rock Slide/Aeroblast/Rock Tomb - Wow, Pikachu's not that bad. Good stats save for Attack, and some good Rock-type attacks. I hesitate to call this Youki 2.0, but I suppose she'll serve as a good pupil.

Spoiler:

She doesn't. Double digits can be mislearing :S

* I change my party slightly; I box Helios and take out P-Bag, because I already have Grass and Flying attacks out the wazoo. and as powerful Tri-Attack is, if I meet a lot of Ghost, Steel or Rock-types, I might be in a little trouble.
* I haven't seen the fourth Pokemon for this area yet, but it may be on one of the tunnels connecting the upper and lower floors. That and I'm out of Pokeballs :< Ah well, I'll buy more later. The good news is that nothing has Shadow Tag/Arena Trap, so I should be good for saving PP. I don't plan on doing the entire dungeon in one go, obviously, but I will be keeping track of all the Zubats Slakings while I'm inside the mountain. That said, I also did some Calculations about how much time you'd actually spend in Mount Moon if the "Zubat Rule" is applied.

THE JOURNEY OF A THOUSAND ZUBATS SLAKINGS BEGINS WITH A SINGLE STEP.

1 Slaking...
* > TM07 contains LUSTER PURGE. Nice.

TRAINER BATTLE 15: VS BUG CATCHER KENT
== Kent, what're you doing here not helping Lyn protect Caelin? :V Pyro KOs his Voltorb with a critical Wing Attack and gains a couple levels.
== Mightyena comes out, Wing Attack does about 40% damage, and it uses Signal Beam. Fudge. Youki switches in and gets hit by an Air Cutter, then retaliates with--what else--Leaf Blade. It doesn't work that well, and makes Mighty use Water Gun. It doesn't work as well either despite being effective. Yeesh. Bounce finishes the job.
== Pokemon Center Visits: 1

TRAINER BATTLE 16: VS LASS IRIS
== Iris, what're you fighting foooooooooooooor?! She's not packing any power armor, but she does have a (rather fast) Corsola. Its Doubleslap scores all of two hits before Pyro's Eruption goes off, but it's sadly not weak to that. It is weak to Megahorn, though! Pyro kills it, then noms my only Oran Berry to get back up to full health.

2 Slaking...
* Augh, Jolteon spawns in the tunnels and I have no Pokeballs. What's annoying is that it's not only durable, it's also fast, and that makes it difficult to run from. If it uses Clamp, you pretty much have to fight it.

VS ROCKET GRUNT 1 (Star Piece room)
== Doduo's up first. It knows Encore, but it only serves to accelerate its defeat via Wing Attack...That is, if it didn't survive by 1 HP. =P It then wounds Pyro with Fury Swipes, but it's nothing that can't be healed, and 'Duo soon falls.
== Spheal's next. I forgot what type it was, but it obviously isn't weak to Flying. It hits Pyro with Reversal and Quick Attack to little effect, and soon dies.
== Finally, we have a Hariyama. Pyro tries Megahorn (which misses, sadly), while 'Yama smacks me with Blizzard. The second Megahorn hits home, however, and drops Hariyama like a house of cards!

* While in the bottom floor, I run into Parasect! I thought there were only four Pokemon in Mt. Moon...Oh well, just another one to catch later.

4 Slaking...
* Pokemon Center Visits: 2
6 Slaking...

TRAINER BATTLE 17: VS SUPER NERD JOVAN
== I was sneaking around to avoid the Slakings. Shush you. Jovan sends out Pupitar and Kabuto, both die to Megahorn. Geeze, this attack is OP, even against resistant types (like Hariyama, lol). Pyro learns Magnitude after this fight, so that's awesome!

8 Slaking...
* Politoed finds a Persim Berry.
10 Slaking...

TRAINER BATTLE 18: VS BUG CATCHER ROBBY
== Hey, you don't need too tell me where to gooooOOOOOOOH CRAP IT'S AN ARCANINE. A very fragile Arcanine. His Rapidash, less fragile. It must be part Flying too, Magnitude doesn't work. Also, I witness Sharpen's attack animation for the first time, I was expecting it to be different. I wear it down after several attacks. Swinub is last, it dies to Wing Attack. Poor thing.

13 Slaking...
TRAINER BATTLE 19: VS LASS MIRIAM
== Cl-l-l-l-loyster! Pyro's Wing Attack knocks off 40% of its health, Cloyster uses Growth, Megahorn annihilates it. Maybe I should use this as my main attack now? :V Pyro learns Body Slam, so I delete Magnitude for it (as much as it pains me). Mareep is next. Body Slam kills it.

* I realize I got Pyro to level 18 at this point, it's amazing how trainer fights can affect late-game Pokemon and their EXP. I also find TM 46, DRAGONBREATH. Not bad.
* Volbeat spawns here too?! I guess each floor has its own Pokemon...So much for racking up a high Slaking total.

VS ROCKET GRUNT 2 (TM46 room)
= Sharpedo and Blissey (!!!!) die to Pyro's awesomeness. He cares not for your type resistances!

15 Slaking...
* Pokemon Center Visits: 3
* I should probably level up my team a bit here, not sure how good the EXP on the other side will be, and I heard Slakings are worth a lot. I also go back to Pewter and grab some Pokeballs to catch the Pokemon I missed, as well as a few Escape Ropes.
-- Volbeat (nick: Romeo) - Ice/Grass - Hasty Nature - Shed Skin ability - Extremespeed/Rock Tomb/Perish Song - @HP UP(!) - Good Attack and Sp.Atk, very good Sp.Def and Speed, but kinda eh on the movelist. The chance at HP UP farming is nice, though unnecessary for this playthrough.
-- Silcoon (nick: Fynn) - Ice - Modest Nature - Inner Focus ability - Silver Wind/Thief - Decent stats (minus Attack and Sp.Def), but the Thief skill is what'll really make Fynn useful.
-- Parasect (nick: Masha) - Water - Modest Nature - Pressure Ability - Dragon Rage/Water Sport(...)/Hydro Cannon/Body Slam - @Repeat Ball - Finally, a Pokemon with a STAB move and the stats to back it up! This thing actually KO'd Politoed while I was trying to catch one. XD I'll have to come back with Surf for this 'mon later.

17 Slaking...
* Pokemon Center Visits: 4
-- Jolteon (nick: Spike Lee) - Poison/Elec - Lonely Nature - Oblivious - Clamp/Rolling Kick/Mega Draining - @Qualot Berry - All that work for THIS? The typing just screams "Please hurt me badly with Earthquake onii-chan". The stats aren't even that good either. Boxed.

TRAINING SESSION 2 GO!
22 Slaking...
* Pokemon Center Visits: 6
-- Iku learned Moonlight at level 11, deleted Rock Tomb
* Iku's not pulling her weight, so I box her and take out Helios. Welcome back, buddy.
43 Slaking...
* Pokemon Center Visits: 8
-- P-Bag learned Pay Day at level 17, deleted Horn Drill

=== CURRENT TEAM ===
Politoed lv13, Oliver lv15, Youki lv16, Pyro lv19, P-Bag lv17, Helios lv18
47 Slaking...

TRAINER BATTLE 20: VS YOUNGSTER JOSH
Josh sends out Dusclops, and Politoed takes off half its health with Megahorn. Dusclops uses Camoflauge, so I bring in Youki to Leaf Blade it. Nidorino is next, so I have Youki Bounce and kill it (at least I know what it's weak to now). Finally, we have Mr. Mime. I pick Bounce again by accident, which proves to be a poor decision; Mime uses Dig. It doesn't hurt much, but I'll have to watch for that. Leaf Blade and Fury Cutter don't do much, so I switch out for someone who can: Politoed! Megahorn: The Nuclear Phallus Option.

48 Slaking...

TRAINER BATTLE 21: VS HICKER MARCOS
Koffing is out, so I bring out Youki...Only to get Hydro Cannon'd. Thankfully, Youki survives, and cuts Koffing down. Youki levels up to learn Perish song, but I stop him from learning it. Next up is Diglett, whom survives the Leaf Blade treatment and counters with Poison Fang (it doesn't do much damage), which poisons me. I switch Youki for Oliver (who fails to connect with blizzard), who gets Paralyzed by Dragonbreath. Ugh. Good thing I have Heal Bell! Crunch finishes off Diglett. Finally, we have Oddish, whom falls quickly.

49 Slaking...
* Politoed found a Watmel Berry at some point. I use an escape rope to return to the entrance and heal.
* Pokemon Center Visits: 9
50 Slaking...
* A Lotad?! This must be the Clefairy replacement. It knows Hydro Cannon too. It hurts
-- Lotad (nick: Lily) - Ground - Lax nature - Pickup ability - Hydro Cannon/Leech Life/Hyper Fang - @Aspear Berry - Not-terrible stats, plus Pickup? Good catch. Attack stats look a bit low, tho.
* Pokemon Center Visits: 10 (can I have a frequent customer award now?)
* I'M GONNA RUN PAST YOU PUNKS RAAAAAAAH

54 Slaking! AH AH AH!

VS ROCKET GRUNT 3 (Near the Double Staircases)
Phanphy knows Sacred Fire(!!) but misses with it. Unfortunately, it also knows Spider Web. Spider Phan, Spider Phan...Argh, Sacred Fire burned me. No biggie, Politoed KOs it. Next is Golbat. Heat Wave is weak and Tri-Attack Hurts, so out comes Youki again! Leaf Blade does the job, as always. :3c Sadly, I have no burn heal items, so Politoed will have to sit out for a bit (heck if I'm going all the way back to the PC when I'm so close to the end).

VS ROCKET GRUNT 4 (Near the Super Nerd)
Another Golbat...I guess some things never change in Team Rocket. Oliver takes over for Politoed; Blizzard doesn't work that well, but it crits and I'm able to finish it off with Crunch. Next up is Sandslash (another Team Rocket favorite). Oliver uses Heal Bell, Sandlash uses Agility...Which is kinda pointless since it apparently has Speed Boost too. Lovely. After trading blows with various moves, I get in a lucky freeze! I use this chance to heal Oliver with Milk Drink and finish off Sandslash.

TRAINER BATTLE 22: VS SUPER NERD MIGUEL
The end is in sight! Just gotta get past Tangela...Oliver 2-hits it with Crunch, but gets afflicted with a Screeh attack. Next up is Farfetch'D with Intimidate, who doesn't last past a single Blizzard. Lastly is Doduo; Crunch nearly kills it but it counters with...Lovely Kiss...Good gravy, if I didn't know this was a randomized run, I'd think I was going crazy due to being tired right now. Anyways, Oliver's put to sleep, but comes back quickly to Crunch Doduo to death. Stupid bird.

* I grab the Helix Fossil and the Antidote, get a Rawst Berry from Politoed (why didn't i get this sooner?), and run the hell out of this damn cave! FREEEEEEEEEEEDOOOOOOOOOOM!!

(Fwumps) This took way too long for me...But I'm done for now. I hope you enjoyed me slogging through this dungeon. Until next time...

> TO BE CONTINUED

CURRENT TEAM: Oliver lv18, Politoed lv16, Youki lv17, Pyro lv19, P-Bag lv17, Helios lv.18
NATIONAL DEX: Seen 78, Owned 24

_{inconsistency is the spice of life}

[BT]

Holy hell is this a good randomizer. I'm gonna play along with an Emerald ROM because I can play the game blindfolded and it is literally the best game to play with an emulator.

[Third Eye Lem]

Holy hell is this a good randomizer. I'm gonna play along with an Emerald ROM because I can play the game blindfolded and it is literally the best game to play with an emulator.

I was actually thinking about that myself...Do you plan on doing the Battle Frontier too? I can see plenty of frustration and shenanigans from that.

[BT]

Probably? If I'll get there. I'm also doing a Catch Everything project so it may take a while, plus I'm generally busy.

edit: teehee. This is the recurring grunt from Petalburg Woods, too.

[Third Eye Lem]

edit: teehee. This is the recurring grunt from Petalburg Woods, too.

Hahaha, I avoided using the trainer class/name randomizer, but that's pretty amusing. XD

[Hinacle]

This randomizer is way better than the one I had.

Am I horrible person for hoping that Misty will have a Suicune or Gyrados when you go against her?  :V

[Sparen]

This randomizer is way better than the one I had.

Am I horrible person for hoping that Misty will have a Suicune or Gyrados when you go against her?  :V

The chances... seem pretty slim. Same chance as her miraculously having a Nosepass and an Electrode. *Nosepass with Misty*

Maybe if we're lucky, she'll have a Psyduck. It'll be an electric type with levitate.

[Third Eye Lem]

Am I horrible person for hoping that Misty will have a Suicune or Gyrados when you go against her?  :V

Not really.

Spoiler:

She uses water-types against me too. Whether or not they are actually water-element remains to be seen.

Maybe if we're lucky, she'll have a Psyduck. It'll be an electric type with levitate.

Oh gogs, that's worse than Emolga. XD

=====

Hello, allergy season, I did not miss you. Oh well, I'm feeling good right now, so let's get down to it!

ROUTE 4 PART 2 + CERULEAN CITY
* Picking up from last time, we find TM05: COMET PUNCH. Eh. As for the Move Tutors here, the left one teaches SKY UPPERCUT and the right teaches WING ATTACK. Decent moves, but I'm not going to use any tutors/TMs unless I'm in desperate need of a specific move.
* Now...I need to rant for a bit. I understand that what is coming up is a "Point of No Return" for a while in this game. I of course speak of this:



I must ask, whose bright idea was it at Game Freak was it to put this damnable ledge here in the first place? There's no reason for it other than to inconvenience you! Barring the obvious real-world solution of climbing up this ledge much like one would climb over a fence, there's no way to get back to Mt. Moon and beyond except through the following:
- You skip the Pokemon Center in Cerulean, catch a Pokemon with Teleport, and use that to go back to Mt. Moon's Pokemon Center. Of course, that means you'd have to slog through Mt. Moon again...
- You be a good little trainer and follow the intended path, eventually reaching Diglett's Cave and you can follow that back to Pewter. Even this has its problems, Digletts are very fast and hard to run from, and in 3rd gen they added their Arena Trap ability, so that's a bit of time wasted fighting them off.
- You use FLY, but that doesn't happen until you beat the Vermillion Gym and get the HM from the hidden house near Celadon much later. Of course, you could use cheats to get the badge and the HM, but where's the honor in that?
At any rate, Game Freak has designed this next portion to waste your time and drag out the length of the game. You're supposed to go to Cerulean and Bill's House, then head south to Vermillion, get CUT from the St. Anne, go through Diglett's Cave to Route 2 to get FLASH (if you're a sensible person and want to get through Rock Tunnel without stumbling around like an idiot), then go back to Cerulean, and continue the game from there. Unfortunately, going back to Cerulean requires you to either go through Mt. Moon again, or backtrack through Diglett's Cave and basically go back the way you came. You did all this before. Diglett's Cave is boring aside from the Pokemon there, and Underground Tunnel is about as bland as you can get (aside from a few hidden items you'd never know where there unless you come back with the Itemfinder, or mashed A in every space obsessively). I feel this portion of the game drags down the overall experience a bit, and could have been done a lot better, or even completely differently.

This all happened because of one ledge...One ledge that doesn't deserve to be there. We can move and crush boulders, scale cliffs and waterfalls, ride the high seas and fly through the sky, but a simple waist-high ledge stymies even the greatest trainers and their Pokemon. It's a sad world, isn't it? :ohdear:

* Okay, rant over, ALLEZ-OOP! (THUD) Off to the Pokemon Center to heal, then we go monster hunting!
-- Lickitung (nick: PinkieDIE) - Fighting - Bold nature - Battle Armor ability - Revenge/Slack Off - @Red Shard - I think I found the Cacturne of this game: Good offensive stats, but poor defenses and speed. STAB Revenge is quite powerful (it 2HKO'd poor Politoed), but the inability to take hits is not. That's a shame, Licki would have made a good... (puts on sunglasses) Revenge Killer.
-- Voltorb (nick: Gordo) - Grass/Ice - Naive nature - Clear Body ability - Tail Glow/Pin Missile/Spikes - Looks like I was right to name this thing "Gordo," it's got a bunch of spiky moves! Its defenses and Sp.Attack are decent, but its Speed is awful. Maybe if I could slap Ice Beam on it...Boost it with Tail Glow and wreck the enemy's shit with with it. That is, as long as I don't get hit by any Fire moves... >_>
-- Pinsir (nick: Krusha) - Steel/Rock - Quirky nature - Insomnia ability - Comet Punch/Mist Ball/Bullet Seed - Hello there, physical tank! I like what I see here, despite the 4x weakness to Fighting and Ground (and of course the only physical move being freaking Comet Punch). I'm willing to give this guy a chance when it's appropriate.
-- Grumpig (nick: Miss Piggy) - Flying/Fire - Lax nature - Stench ability - Sludge/Spark/Hyper Voice/Pay Day - @Iapapa Berry (she ate it before I caught it :V) - Another physical tank, with higher speed and HP. 4x Rock weakness is a problem, but I think she's got potential. Now if only she had high Sp.Atk too, I could take advantage of Spark...
* I think that's all of them...I wish the Pokedex had a feature that showed you what Pokemon were in an area--oh wait, that's Black 2/White 2. :V Oh well, onto the gym!

TRAINER BATTLE 23: VS SWIMMER LUIS
Poli's Heat Wave burns Ekans to death, though it slows Poli with Scary Face. Carvanha dies to Megahorn.

TRAINER BATTLE 24: VS PICNICKER DIANA
Wheezing, huh? I have a solution for that, and its name is Youki...Oh wait, Shadow Tag. Damn. Megahorn takes off a lot of health, but not enough, and Wheezing makes a Substitute. Megahorn destroys it, but Sludge Bomb poisons Poli before finishing off Wheezing. Thankfully, I have Antidotes.

GYM LEADER BATTLE 2: VS MISTY
== SO MISTY, I HERD U LIEK MUDKIPZ. I LIEK TOEDS. I switch in for Youki, while Mudkip uses Assist (and charges up Razor Wind). Bad move there, buddy. A Leaf Blade knocks it down to half health, and Mudkip...Does nothing! It has Truant! XD The next Assist makes it use Spark, but it's pretty weaksauce. Misty heals (which is actually timed pretty well, the next turn would have been Truant) as I continue my Leaf Blade assault and eventually destroy it. At least I know what the next opponent will have.
== Speaking of which, it's a doggone LUVDISC! XD Geeze, and I thought Brock had some lame Pokemon. Just to be safe, Youki uses Bounce, but it doesn't do much damage. It does paralyze it, however. It's also weak to Leaf Blade, but it doesn't do much damage thanks to a possibly high Sp.Def stat. And to think, I thought of Luvdisc as a weak Pokemon! Well, it still is, Youki has the defenses to outlast it, and Leaf Blades the poor thing to death.
== TM03 is MAGICAL LEAF. Finally, something not useless! _{barring luster purge and dragonbreath}
== That was another surprisingly easy battle...Oh well, it's the whim of the RNG. Hopefully Doofus will not disappoint. Speaking of which, let's go fight him now (after healing of course)!

RIVAL BATTLE 3
Oh boy, Nidoqueen. It knows Silver Wind, and it does a bit of damage. Sadly, Megahorn doesn't seem to work that well on it. Nido Charms Oliver in response, but dies to Heat Wave. Next is Psyduck, whom Giga Drains me (I forgot wat type it was...), so I break out Yo--I meah Helios. Dude could use some EXP (and Liquid Ooze stops Psyduck's Giga Drain). Helios flattens Psyduck with Aerial Ace. Next up is Shellder, whom also dies to Aerial ace. Azurill evolved into Marill, which is good, but it dies to Tri Attack. Better luck next time, Doofus!

ROUTE 24

TRAINER BATTLE 25: VS BUG CATCHER CALE
Beautifly dies to Heat Wave (I looked up Silcoon's type this time!); Glalie, Pidgeotto and Wailord all die to Megahorn (Pidgeotto only survived because I unexpectedly triggered its Flash Fire ability with Heat Wave).

TRAINER BATTLE 26: VS LASS ALI
Gardevoir dies to Megahorn. Machamp doesn't, and counters with Bullet Seed (doesn't hurt that much though). Heat Wave finishes it off. Spinarak gets Megahorned.

TRAINER BATTLE 27: VS YOUNGSTER TIMMY
I started with P-Bag this time (Poli finds another Rawst Berry), who gets Headbutted by Starmie. Sludge Bomb doesn't work that well, but it poisons Starmie, which eventually leads to its end after a Crush Claw critical. Timmy gets serious and sends out MOLTRES (that's the third legendary I encounted in a trainer battle), and KOs P-Bag with Sludge Bomb. Oliver picks up the slack with Blizzard and Crunch. Poli finds an Oran Berry after the fight.

TRAINER BATTLE 28: VS LASS RELI
P-Bag redeems itself by sweeping the enemy team with Sludge Bomb and Pay-Day. His low defense is a problem, but I haven't lost faith in him yet! Poli finds an Aspear Berry.

TRAINER BATTLE 29: VS CAMPER ETHAN
P-Bag gets into a brawl with Victrebell and wins.

VS ROCKET GRUNT 5 (Goodbye and Thanks For The Nugget)
Clamperl is critted by Sludge Bomb, Lair on is dropped to half health before poking P-Bag with Needle Arm and Shockwave (doing a grand total of 6 damage). Crush Claw finishes it off.

* TM45 contains THIEF! That's literally one number off from the canon TM it normally comes on. As for the wild Pokemon, I'll clear them out once I get the SS Ticket.

TRAINER BATTLE 30: VS CAMPER SHANE
Grovyle gets critted by Sludge Bomb, Flaafy survives it thanks to type resistance. It then tries and fails to kill P-Bag with Blast Burn (what is with these Pokemon having the Hyper Element attacks?) before getting Pay Day'd.

ROUTE 25

TRAINER BATTLE 31: VS HIKER FRANKLIN
Oh balls, Kadabra. I counter with my own Kadabra and smash it with Body Slam. Eruption kills off Butterfree Beautifly.

TRAINER BATTLE 32: VS HIKER WAYNE
Sludge Bomb, Torment, Pay Day, Encore...Fuck. P-Bag Struggles and kills Marowak, and learns Meteor Mash at level 21! Yay! I delete Substitute for it.

TRAINER BATTLE 33: VS YOUNGSTER JOEY
Oh, there you are dude! How's the Rattata train--whaddya mean you didn't catch one yet?! Oh, I see you have a Magneton. Okay, okay. Say hello to my CHARIZARD! Aerial Ace is resisted, and Helios gets Poison Point'd. Damn. Thankfully, it keeps Magneton from Sleep Powdering him. Unfortunately, Mega Drain doesn't work, which leads me suspect it's a Steel Type. Pyro takes over (only to get poisoned too by Sludge Bomb), and what's worse, Eruption misses. Not good. I take a few turns to heal, and eventually Erupt it into scrap metal. Good gravy, that was messed up! Wailord is next, and gets oneshotted by Wing Attack. Looks like Joey is hunting for Magneton now. Pryo Learns...Rock Throw, but it is not worth keeping at all, so I don't learn it.

TRAINER BATTLE 34: VS YOUNGSTER DAN
Sharpedo hurts Helios a bit with Steel Wing (Fin?), but Tri Attack destroys it (thanks for the timely paralysis). Helios learns Softboiled at level 20, so I delete Mimic to learn it.

TRAINER BATTLE 35: VS PICNICKER KELSEY
Aerial Ace kills Hoppip and Sableye.

TRAINER BATTLE 36: VS HIKER NOB
At least he's using a Pokemon he's used to using: Graveler! Unfortunately, it's weak to Aerial Ace :V So is Wingull. Venomoth is not, but it dies all the same. Aerodactyl returns with a vengance, but gets the same treatment.

TRAINER BATTLE 37: VS CAMPER FLINT
Aka Mr. Cool. He's so awesome, he has a Hitmonchan! I send out Youki this time, and Leaf Blade it to death. What else you got, Mr. Cool?
...
... ...
Is...Is that a...RAYQUAZA? Damn son, no wonder your girlfriend loves you! Leaf Blade doesn't work much, so Youki Bounces on it and paralyzes it. Fury Cutter chips it down to nothing.

* TM43 contains IMPRISON. Not that useful.

TRAINER BATTLE 38: VS YOUNGSTER (the kid walking up and down near Bill's house)
I forgot to get this kid's namePineco resists Leaf Blade, and splashes Youki with Water Gun. Bounce is resisted too, but it paralyzes. Youki misses with Sand Tomb, so I switch out for Oliver and Crunch it to pieces. Salamence is next, and it shrugs off Blizzard. Yikes. Pyro jumps in now, and gets killed with Megahorn and Body Slam. Salamence has a lot of HP...Could this be the next Snorlax?

TRAINER BATTLE 39: VS LASS HALEY
I only send out Youki to soak up some EXP, and switch in for Oliver. Kangaskhan uses Blaze Kick, but misses, though it lands with a Glare attack. Oliver clears it up with Heal Bell and Crunches Kanga to death. Slowbro is up, but it dies to Blizzard. Quagsire is an odd one, it has Color Change and Fire Blast. It doesn't survive Blizzard, however. Poli finds a Cheri Berry.

* Whew, what a journey. I speak to Bill, collect a few hidden items, and run back to heal. Next time, we'll collect all the Pokemon on these two routes, and head onto Vermillion! Until next time...

> TO BE CONTINUED

CURRENT TEAM: Youki (lv19), P-Bag/Helios/Oliver/Pyro/Poli (lv21 each)
NATIONAL DEX: Seen 116, Caught 28
LEGENDARIES HELD BY TRAINERS: 4

[Keegster2]

At least Misty had (Originally) Water-Types.

Also, what is this "Luster Purge", anyway?

Also also, I also hate that stupid ledge. (How many times have I said "also"?)

[Third Eye Lem]

Also, what is this "Luster Purge", anyway?

Also also, I also hate that stupid ledge. (How many times have I said "also"?)

This is Luster Purge. It's Latios' signature move, Mist Ball is Latias'.

Four alsos, five if you count the last one :V

[Bio]

Luster Purge is pretty bad all things considered.

[Keegster2]

It's Latios' signature move.

So that's why I don't remember it, I thought it was a Hacked Move from the name alone.

[BT]

How balanced are your mons' randomized stats? I get bizarre unbalanced crappapo pretty much all the time.

Just take the Dratini line for example. I found a Dragonite on Route 102 and literally squealed b-but then
147|DRATINI   |POISON           |  40|  48|  16|  19|  12| 164|Serene Grace|N/A         |
148|DRAGONAIR |POISON           |  56|  67|  22|  27|  17| 230|Shed Skin   |Synchronize |TM33 (common)
149|DRAGONITE |POISON           |  80|  96|  32|  39|  24| 255|Truant      |N/A         |

 :fail:

(That's HP/ATK/DEF/SPE/SPA/SPD!)

[trancehime]

How balanced are your mons' randomized stats? I get bizarre unbalanced crappapo pretty much all the time.

Just take the Dratini line for example. I found a Dragonite on Route 102 and literally squealed b-but then
147|DRATINI   |POISON           |  40|  48|  16|  19|  12| 164|Serene Grace|N/A         |
148|DRAGONAIR |POISON           |  56|  67|  22|  27|  17| 230|Shed Skin   |Synchronize |TM33 (common)
149|DRAGONITE |POISON           |  80|  96|  32|  39|  24| 255|Truant      |N/A         |

 :fail:

(That's HP/ATK/DEF/SPE/SPA/SPD!)

NUM|NAME      |TYPE             |  HP| ATK| DEF| SPE|SATK|SDEF|ITEM
147|Dratini   |WATER            |  85|  57|  47|  29|  44|  39|Dragon Scale (rare)
148|Dragonair |GRASS/GROUND     |  31| 112|  25|  77|  82|  92|Dragon Scale (rare)
149|Dragonite |ELECTRIC/FLYING  |  21| 210| 116|  88|  37| 129|Dragon Scale (rare)

:fail:

[Jq1790]

NUM|NAME      |TYPE             |  HP| ATK| DEF| SPE|SATK|SDEF|ITEM
147|Dratini   |WATER            |  85|  57|  47|  29|  44|  39|Dragon Scale (rare)
148|Dragonair |GRASS/GROUND     |  31| 112|  25|  77|  82|  92|Dragon Scale (rare)
149|Dragonite |ELECTRIC/FLYING  |  21| 210| 116|  88|  37| 129|Dragon Scale (rare)

:fail:

Wait, this thing can even make stats go DOWN with evolutions?  Geez. OR did you randomize something further than what the above person had...?

[Serela]

I'm pretty sure some of the settings listed in the OP about making evo stats scale properly is a toggleable option. So, if you turned it off... then, as Trance shows, evolving a pokemon will turn it into something completely different.

At least Trance's last Dragonite form has the ATK and SPD to try and just kill everything before it moves :V

I like watching the Randomized Pokemon speedruns on SRL sometimes. (They don't randomize stats or typings, though, so that you can at least know what pokemon's weaknesses and stat layouts are, rather then a -complete- luckfest)

[BT]

At least Trance's last Dragonite form has the ATK and SPD to try and just kill everything before it moves :V

SPD = Special Defense, though its speed is actually pretty alright.

I mean, my Dragonite has better overall SpD (considering HP) than a Shuckle in post-3th gen Sandstorm. Too bad it has 32 Defense and 39 speed. And Traunt. And is a Poison-type. I can go on.

[Third Eye Lem]

I like watching the Randomized Pokemon speedruns on SRL sometimes. (They don't randomize stats or typings, though, so that you can at least know what pokemon's weaknesses and stat layouts are, rather then a -complete- luckfest)

I considered doing that, mixing up the typings while keeping similar moves, but that wouldn't be nearly as much fun for me :V

I mean, my Dragonite has better overall SpD (considering HP) than a Shuckle in post-3th gen Sandstorm. Too bad it has 32 Defense and 39 speed. And Traunt. And is a Poison-type. I can go on.

Ouch, bad luck there.

How balanced are your mons' randomized stats?

Here's my current party (stats show may or may not have been affected a lot by EVs). I may post a collection of all the Pokemon I caught so far at a later date.



Dude hits like a truck, what can I say? I need to replace Mega Drain sometime though, it's been nothing but a liability every time I used it. :/



Very well-rounded, though the skew towards special attacks kind of hurts his damage potential...Unless it's Blizzard.



I was afraid that Sludge Bomb would be P-Bag's only go-to move for a while, then Meteor Mash happened. The high Sp.Def is also a plus, and I'm willing to keep him around in spite of a physical weakness.



Almost as strong as Helios; if I could just get Earthquake on her...



Talk about a jack of all trades, master of none. Pyro's got a unique typing that begs for some Psychic or Elec moves, that'd really put his usefulness over the top.



Now that I look at Youki, his stats aren't that amazing, but he's been one of my most reliable battlers in this run so far.

=====

On the subject of EVs, I have a question: are EV values hard-coded into Pokemon, or do they change given their highest base stat?

[BT]

I'm a bit rusty, but I think they do change, by just a bit. It doesn't change much because the change is minor -- 2's show up more often, 0's show up less often. (2's and 0's refer to 4 EVs's worth at LV100)

Nope, always 63 bonus points total. I did some experimenting to make sure and I guess I'm high on shrooms.

[Third Eye Lem]

...I should probably rephrase that: in the original game, defeating a Kakuna in FireRed would give you 2 EV points towards Defense, would that still apply in a randomized game, or would it give you EV points in a different stat because of the now-mixed up base stats?

[BT]

Oh! I don't know, actually. My guess is they're hard-coded, because of how evolutions seem to get more points than their predecessors just for being an evolution.

Check out the Happiny line. 1->2->3 HP EVs, 100->250->255 HP. If it were up to the size of the stat, that doesn't make much sense at all.

[trancehime]

Wait, this thing can even make stats go DOWN with evolutions?  Geez. OR did you randomize something further than what the above person had...?

I randomized everything that could possibly be randomized.

NUM|NAME      |TYPE             |  HP| ATK| DEF| SPE|SATK|SDEF|ITEM
 37|Vulpix    |GROUND/WATER     |  57|  80|  31|  12|  80|  37|Burnt Berry (common), Burnt Berry (rare)
 38|Ninetales |GROUND           | 132|  25|  71|  87| 122|  68|Burnt Berry (common), Burnt Berry (rare)

118|Goldeen   |WATER            |  70|  16|  44|  64|  75|  51|
119|Seaking   |POISON/NORMAL    | 114|  15| 156| 108|  20|  37|

207|Gligar    |PSYCHIC/NORMAL   | 237|  44|  15|  72|  15|  47|

244|Entei     |DRAGON/GHOST     | 145| 160|  58| 125|  25|  67|


See I don't even know.

On the subject of EVs, I have a question: are EV values hard-coded into Pokemon, or do they change given their highest base stat?

They're hard-coded. Kind of irrelevant for 1st and 2nd gen randomized games, though!