Hi there! It's been a while since my last update, but I've finally put in the work and finished Pokémon Sword!
How did it go? Well...
I realized very soon that Froslass alone would not really get me anywhere. So I had to pair her up with some other Pokémon that I had laying around, including Lucario, Gloom and... my Raboot! I really wanted to give my starter another chance to shine after dropping him off right after badge #1, so here he is! I was incredibly indecisive on who else to add to the team, so I just decided to power through all the way to Wyndon and figure things out there... except I soon learned that once you get there, you're immediately supposed to go to the Stadium!
I took a pause from the game for a bit (in fact all I did was buy new clothes) and think of how to get new Pokémon. I really didn't want to grind too much, but getting high-level Pokémon from the Wild Area and such required me to do so anyways - apparently it's very hard to catch Pokémon that are a higher level than yours, so... yeah. And so, with the help of Lucario and later, Cinderace, I decimated all the Pokémon in Route 10 (plus some wanderers in the Wild Area).
The Wild Area weather wasn't really on my side and it was hard to get all the Pokémon I wanted. The Raids were starting to get very difficult as well and the time was ticking, so I just kept grinding until I could get my hands on two more team members: a
level 60 Haxorus I found in the Eye of Axew (Wild Area), and a Hattrem I found near Balloonlea. I also evolved my Gloom into Vileplume at about this time.
With everyone trained up and at a very high level (I had to get my Lucario to level 60 to catch the level 60 Haxorus without too much trouble!) I easily won against most of the trainers in the first Tournament. The Gym leaders were a bit harder, but that was nothing that a few Power Herbs wouldn't solve - and yes, I still had that rule about not using actual potions in battle. All my Pokémon hate me now, but I became suddenly the richest person in Galar by selling all those Revives and Hyper Potions. Finally, Macro Cosmos would've been quite difficult if it wasn't for my friend Cinderace - in fact, I'm so glad I added him back to the team! Hatterene dealt with Oleana's Garbodor instead.
Rose was easy thanks to Cinderace (again) whereas Eternatus was mostly just watching Zacian do most of the work while Froslass hindered it with Icy Wind. Once that was caught, I finally went ahead and battled Leon, and
that was finally a hard battle. He left me with just two Pokémon after a very intense fight, and the levels were surely in his favor this time. But Haxorus, the last Pokémon in my team that could do something against his Charizard, eventually bested him with two Max Rockfall. And so, I became champion
for the first time in Pokémon Sword!
So, the team:
Cinderace, lv. 62, Blaze
Court Change, U-Turn, Flame Charge, Pyro Ball
Scorbunny is already one of my favorite starters, and is also based on my own Chinese Zodiac sign. So how could I not bring back this guy at the end of the game? I made this decision purely out of love for this Pokémon - I wanted to give him more screentime since he was my starter - but this turned out to be a great choice, especially against Macro Cosmos / Rose. Fire type moves and amazing Attack and Speed made many battles a breeze, and even if his moveset was not that amazing, all I needed to do was click on Pyro Ball to see things hide in fear! I'm definitely very happy with this Pokémon.
Lucario, lv. 66, Inner Focus
Aura Sphere, Dragon Pulse, Meteor Mash, Extreme Speed
This Pokémon is OP. I got lucky enough to find the right weather in the Wild Area for Riolu to spawn, and used her during my date with Hugh, but I knew I had to bring her back for this final segment. (By the way, I caught her in a Luxury Ball to make her super happy). She has amazing coverage, is just fast enough to go first most of the time, and has very strong mixed Attacking stats. Another Pokémon I'm very happy with, though it's probably not that big of a surprise to know she did well.
Froslass, lv. 58, Snow Cloak
Ice Beam, Icy Wind, Will-o-Wisp, Hex
Didn't use her too much but she was the only Pokémon that I could use from Karin's team. Still, she didn't do too bad and was even able to take some hits when needed! I also can't blame her too much because of her level being lower than Lucario's, for example.
Haxorus, lv. 64, Rivalry
Dragon Dance, Dragon Claw, Rock Slide, Giga Impact
Already caught at level 60, she was a force to be reckoned with from the start. Just click on things and it's done... especially after one or two Dragon Dances! She took hits quite well too... well, usually (I totally misjudged her defensive abilities against Eternatus for example), but was the one Pokémon that defeated Leon's Charizard - that alone is a great accomplishment. Haxorus is a Pokémon I never used, since it's really not that easy to even find, but I'm very happy I gave her a try this time! She did very well.
Vileplume, lv. 60, Chlorophyll
Giga Drain, Toxic, Venoshock, Moonblast
Didn't use her too much, but she was surely helpful against trainers like Nessa or Bea. She's not really that strong but she did what she had to do so no complaints here! I already had a high level Gloom from a previous date and picked her up again because her Giga Drain would have allowed me to save a bit on healing items, and that was precisely the case!
Hatterene, lv. 55, Forewarn
Calm Mind, Psychic, Shadow Ball, Dazzling Gleam
Due to her low level, her usefulness started to decrease by the end, but she still did a marvelous job during the beginning of this date! She hit very hard, this time from the Special side of things, and much like Haxorus, could even boost herself up. Being a new Pokémon and all, I really wanted to try her out and once again, I'm happy with how she did!
So that gives me one point for that Froslass and one point for the rule! 2 total! That leaves me with a not-so-nice total if compared with the points that some other people got, but I'm still happy with how the challenge went. I think I did pretty well considering the trainers I
found (yep, random mode hehe) and the rules they gave me - especially later on I tried to use all the Pokémon they wanted and really make them happy, and that made for a very interesting and varied adventure!
Considering what my own objectives were when creating this challenge, though, I'm still a bit torn!
On one hand, I'm very happy that you all seem to enjoy the challenge, and that it has given you some interesting situations to work with. Both myself and other people have used Pokémon that they had never tried out and worked on new strategies to continue - and yes, I'm overall quite happy with this mix of individual decisions and random effects.
On the other, the execution was, as it is with most challenges that are at their first iteration, a bit lacking! The trainers were probably a bit too many given the number of players - even if I never even introduced them all... and yes, me being so late with adding trainers was also something that should not have happened (although this means they could be easily recycled for future challenges... stay tuned, hehe). The challenge wasn't really that balanced across different games, and - I have to admit this - was probably harder to update than I expected! In short, this is another example of Eleanor taking steps longer than the leg, but making it
kinda work ;)
That said... the challenge still isn't over! You still have about one full day to post your last updates and get as far as you can! You got this, Challengers~
