By the Book Challenge! (Ruby/Sapphire Only)

ColourCodedGB · May 14, 2015

[FONT=&quot]If you're a stickler for what's considered "fair" in the story mode of Pokemon, Ruby and Sapphire are likely your ideal games. The way the initial Hoenn games are structured allow for a pretty great set of rules that would seem fair in the Pokemon universe. It's how I always play Ruby and Sapphire, and I hope you too can now enjoy a more strict, more challenging, but ultimately fair set of rules to make Ruby and Sapphire a more enjoyable experience. We're following League rules here, so welcome to "The [FONT=&quot]By the Book[/FONT] Challenge!"

This set of rules applies only to the GBA games Pokemon Ruby, and Pokemon Sapphire. Due to various differences in Gym Leader teams, movesets, and abilities, Pokemon Emerald, Omega Ruby, and Alpha Sapphire are not permitted for this challenge.

Rules and Restrictions

Rules About Gym Battles and Elites[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Gym battles must be fought with the same number of Pokemon as the Gym Leader. Furthermore, any Pokemon used in a victorious Gym Battle becomes a permanent member of your team. This requires the player to think ahead, and not have an easy win with a temporary team member. In addition, none of the player's Pokemon can be higher leveled than the strongest Pokemon of the Gym leader you are about to fight. For example, none of your Pokemon can be above level 15 when you fight Roxanne since her strongest Pokemon Nosepass is at Level 15. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The Elite Four require you to bring six Pokemon with you, since the Champion has six Pokemon. During the fights against the initial Elite Four, you are permitted to use all six of your Pokemon despite them only having five. Upon entering the Elite Four, none of the player's Pokemon can be above level 58, the level of Steven's Metagross.[/FONT][FONT=&quot] Unless you're certain you can defeat the Elite 4 and Champion, avoid saving in-between elite fights in-case you cannot defeat them, and have to re-enter the fights with a level 59 Pokemon. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Before fighting a Gym Leader, you must fully heal your team at the Pokemon Center, and deposit the Pokemon you are not using for the fight in the PC. The latter prevents the temptation to bend the rules, and the former prevents early advantages from abilities like Guts and moves like endeavor. Only bring the Pokemon you intend to use in battle! Once you have defeated the gym leader, you may take the rest of your party back out of the PC. Making an extra trip to the Pokemon Center to switch your Pokemon around if your original strategy didn't work is considered the "League Walk of Shame" There are no penalties for this other than your own personal torment.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Every Gym Battle and Elite Four Trainer has two healing items in Ruby/Sapphire. League Rules state that you are not allowed to have more than two healing items either. The challenger (you) is permitted to use status healing items such as berries, and PP restoring items such as ethers in addition to healing items, but even with all of your options, you are only allowed two items. Each of your Pokemon can also have a hold item going into the battle.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]General Rules[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]The game MUST be played on the "Set" Battle Mode![/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Hoenn Region Pokemon Only! [/FONT][FONT=&quot]You are not permitted to take Pokemon that originated from the Kanto or Johto regions. The rule is set in place for balancing the challenge's difficulty.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Regular trainer battles, Rival battles, (May, Brenden, Wally) and team Aqua/Magma battles have no specific rules other than that revives are banned, and must be played on the "Set" battle mode.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]HM slaves are permitted, but are never allowed to battle for any reason. Should one ever get sent out via Roar/Whirlwind etc, you should try to get it knocked out. Should it get roared back out of battle again there's no real need for concern and we can let it slide, but just don't let it happen again young man![/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Things That are Banned![/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Trading is banned[FONT=&quot] with the exception of evolving Clamperl. Don't do any funny stuff while trading though. Don't trade any items to your game, do not spread Pokerus from ano[FONT=&quot]ther save file[FONT=&quot], [FONT=&quot]or[/FONT] any other thing you can think of to gain some sort of sn[FONT=&quot]ea[/FONT]ky advantage[FONT=&quot].[/FONT][/FONT][/FONT]
[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Record Mixing is banned! I'm still not sure if there are any real benefits to it, but I'll just say it's banned to be safe.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Abusing the ability Pick Up is 100% forbidden. If you use a Zigzagoon as an HM Slave, you must toss every item they pick up, no exceptions. This is to prevent Game Corner abuse and King's Rock abuse early on. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]X-items/stat enhancing berries are banned in all battles throughout the game. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Revives of any kind are banned in-battle at all times! They ARE permitted outside of battle, including in-between Elite battles.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Shroomish and Breloom are banned if you pick Treecko as your starter Pokemon. (More info below in the difficulty settings)[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Legendary Pokemon are banned for obvious reasons.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The move "attract" is banned[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Evasion moves are banned.
[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]There are two modes of play for this challenge. Regular Mode, and Hard Mode. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Regular Mode: [/FONT][FONT=&quot]This mode is all the rules stated above, and your Starter Pokemon is either Mudkip or Torchic. This is the easier way of playing the game, and is a good starting point for those new to this set of rules.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]HARD MODE!:[/FONT][FONT=&quot] This mode is selected when you pick Treecko as your starter. All of the above rules are still in place, with the additional rule that the Pokemon Shroomish and Breloom are banned for balancing reasons. This is a very difficult way to play the game, and will probably require several attempts to get past the first three gyms. Stats matter, natures matter, items matter, and by the time you get to the elite four EVs will probably matter too. This mode is the thinking man's way to play Ruby/Sapphire, and is more suited to those very familiar with the games. I have completed it multiple times, so be assured it's consistently winnable should you do the right things. Think of this mode as a Pokemon RPG Puzzle Mode. There isn't a ton of wiggle room until you get past Flannery. (Though she's the least of your concerns)[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Sign up forms should look like what is seen below! I will be signing up straight away, so use my sign up as an example.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Username: ColourCodedGB[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Game: Ruby[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Difficulty: HARD MODE![/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Winners of the two modes will be listed in this post![/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Champions: Normal Mode:[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]

Spoiler:

[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Masters: HARD MODE![/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]

Spoiler:

[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]I hope you'll join me in this challenge! I assure you it's been very well play-tested over the years I've been doing it. :)[/FONT]

ColourCodedGB · May 14, 2015

I've been playing this without many breaks since I submitted the thread to be accepted, so I've already made quite a bit of progress. I figured I'd post an early update to give you a bit of an idea of how the game can be exciting in this mode of play.

The Journey so far!

Spoiler:

EDIT! Update #2! Now that the hardest parts of the game are over, I'm free to explore, teach some much needed moves to my Pokemon, and work towards catching some new Pokemon. I'm always trying to test new combinations when I do this challenge, so I decided to wait until after Flannery to add any new party members. I often capture a spoink at this point, but I'm trying something different this time. The journey continues in the spoilers below!

Spoiler:

Obtained the Secret Power TM and taught it to Grovyle. At long last Grovyle knows a somewhat decent move!

Obtained the Strength HM and taught it to Vigoroth. He now has a much needed stronger physical attack.

Did some leveling up and defeated Team Magma at Mt. Chimney.

Fought Flannery with Vigoroth, Mawile and Grovyle. Thankfully Vigototh is now awesome enough with strength that he can carry this whole battle by himself. Heat Badge Obtained!

Got the GO-Goggles from May and head towards the desert to capture a Baltoy. Capturing Baltoy was actually a lot tougher than I thought due to it knowing selfdestruct. Any time I used yawn on Baltoy it would just selfdestruct, so I had to encounter it with Mawile out front to trick it into using a different move, immediately switch to Vigoroth and use encore to prevent it selfdestructing, use yawn, switch back to mawile, have it fall asleep, damage it with Mawile and then toss the great ball. It was a fun fight, and it kind of makes me wish capturing Pokemon was a little more strategic like this in general than tossing a ball and hoping it works. Thankfully it had godly stats, so I didn't have to capture another one and kill the buzz of the battle.

Grovyle FINALLY learns Leaf Blade!

I then went to fight Norman with Grovyle, Mawile, and Vigoroth. This was probably my favourite gym battle so far as it still required quite a bit of strategy, but went very smoothly. Vigoroth's support moves were less useful here than you'd think, so it came down to Mawile's bulk and the use of fake tears, plus the use of Vigoroth's massive power to win the day. Grovyle even got to help quite a bit with a couple of powerful leaf blades to the Slakoth family's crippling special defense stat. Of course he still can't take a hit, so he was knocked out pretty quickly.

Surf is obtained, and now a whole bunch of chores pop up. collecting rare candies, vitamins, and TMs obtainable only after getting surf takes a while, but is well worth it. Unfortunately I can only level up my four Pokemon twice each before the next gym, so managing experience and dodging trainers is a big concern at this point. I picked up the Ice Beam TM from the abandoned ship, the Focus Punch TM near the Kelpsey berries, the Sludge Bomb TM in Dewford, and finally had enough money to buy the Psychic TM from the Game Corner. Mawile learns Focus Punch and Sludge Bomb, and Baltoy learns Ice Beam and Psychic.

After beating up Team Magma at the Weather institute and beating up May's Pokemon again, I can go get the stupid goggles or whatever from steven and fight winona.

Winona was a pretty close fight, but only because it was my first attempt and didn't have a great battle plan. Baltoy's Ice Beam took out Altraia, Mawile's Rock Tomb took out Swellow, and Grovyle and Vigoroth had to take out Pelipper and Skarmory. Skarmory was pretty tough, but Grovyle's Leaf Blade managed to land a really lucky critical hit thanks to its high critical hit ratio. Feather Badge Obtained!

Current Team:

Grovyle/Astroturf: Level 32 (Female)
Pursuit, Rock Smash, Leaf Blade, Secret Power

Vigoroth/Bearsloth: Level 32 (Female)
Strength, Yawn, Encore, Slack Off

Mawile/Haircut: Level 32 (Female)
Rock Smash, Focus Punch, Rock Tomb, Sludge Bomb

Baltoy/Spinny: Level 33
Ice Beam, Psychic, Ancientpower, Selfdestruct

Kieran_90 · May 15, 2015

[FONT=&quot]Username: Kieran[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Game: [FONT=&quot]Sapphire[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Difficulty: [FONT=&quot]Normal, then I'll run hard afterward.
[/FONT][/FONT]

DyingWillFlareon · May 16, 2015

Treecko really isn't that useless that it makes choosing it harder.... In fact most people reccomend it....
Edit: Wait nevermind your playing Ruby, not Sapphire, so you'd be fighting Team Magma's Fire Types not Team Aqua's Water Types, huh?

Name: DyingWillFlareon
Game: Sapphire
Mode: Normal with Torchic

ColourCodedGB · May 16, 2015

DyingWillFlareon said:
Treecko really isn't that useless that it makes choosing it harder.... In fact most people reccomend it....
Edit: Wait nevermind your playing Ruby, not Sapphire, so you'd be fighting Team Magma's Fire Types not Team Aqua's Water Types, huh?

Admittedly the "hard mode" portion of the game really ends after Flannery, but she's the least of your concerns. This is a quote from a conversation I had with someone about why Treecko is so bad early on while following these rules.

Treecko and Sceptile aren't really the problems here. The problem is that Grovyle is a giant pile of garbage. He can't learn any decent attacks until you get the Secret Power TM, and he can't take many hits at all. Flannery isn't really a big issue since you can get better Pokemon at that point to help you out. Your biggest concern with Treecko is managing to get past Wattson. Wattson is a really unpredictable and difficult battle, and if you don't have Combusken's double kick or Marshtomp's mud shot, there really aren't any great options for fighting his Magneton. Grovyle's resistance to electricity doesn't even really matter since Magneton can very quickly immobilize you with thunder wave and supersonic, and his Shock Wave still hits pretty dang hard. Being resistant also doesn't matter since Magneton can just use Sonic Boom which at that point in the game will knock about 1/3 of Grovyle's health off. In the originals all you really have to work with are support moves from vigoroth, the very slow and frail Makuhita, and the fact that Grovyle can learn screech at level 23 and get the rock smash HM. If you take Treecko, I think you'll be in for a shock at Wattson. Brawly is quite a bit harder than you'd expect too, as Grovyle and his terrible physical defense gets horribly messed up without proper support from a teammate. Don't forget too that you'll have to fight May's Combusken before you get to mauville. Pretty much the "hard mode" portion is just managing to follow the rules and get past Wattson. The challenge becomes quite a bit easier after that, but it really is that difficult early on.

I don't think anyone who attempts hard mode will quite understand how useless Grovyle is until they try it for themselves. Sceptile eventually really pays off once you can get the Sunny day and Solarbeam TMs, but until then he's pretty bad.

I've also completed my hard mode challenge! I'll admit I haven't played these games in a fair while, so I totally forgot that the champion has FOUR Full Restores. I'll probably have to adjust the rules for that, but I still beat him with only two healing items. I'll post the final update in detail in a little while.

Final end of game update!

Spoiler:

Final Team Hall of Fame!

Sceptile/Astroturf [Level 47] (F)
Moveset: Sunny Day, Leaf Blade, Dragon Claw, Solarbeam

Slaking/Bearsloth [Level 45] (F)
Moveset: Strength, Brick Break, Shadow Ball, Aerial Ace

Mawile/Haircut [Level 44] (F)
Moveset: Focus Punch, Sludge Bomb, Return, Crunch

Claydol/Spinny [Level 46]
Moveset: Ice Beam, Psychic, Toxic, Selfdestruct

Glalie/Vulcanammo (He looks like the vulanammo robots from Descent) [Level 47] (M)
Moveset: Ice Beam, Water Pulse, Crunch, Facade

Salamence/Endgame [Level 51] (M)
Moveset: Flamethrower, Earthquake, Iron Tail, Dragonbreath.

It was a really fun run, and I intend to go through the normal mode next. Now that I have my Adamant Beldum, I'm going to EV train it and evolve it to Metagross. In order to make the most of it though, I'll have to play through Sapphire to get some of the TMs I wasted during this run, which gives me a great excuse to take Mudkip on my next run so I don't need to use some of those powerful TMs.

By the Book Challenge! (Ruby/Sapphire Only)

More options

ColourCodedGB

ColourCodedGB

Kieran_90

That guy that you think you remember

DyingWillFlareon

Burning Candle

ColourCodedGB