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By the Book Challenge! (Ruby/Sapphire Only)
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 By the Book 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
There are two modes of play for this challenge. Regular Mode, and Hard Mode. Regular Mode: 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. HARD MODE!: 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) 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. Username: ColourCodedGB Game: Ruby Difficulty: HARD MODE! Winners of the two modes will be listed in this post! Champions: Normal Mode: Spoiler:
Masters: HARD MODE! Spoiler:
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. :) |
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:
Current Team: http://img.pokemondb.net/sprites/ruby-sapphire/back-normal/grovyle.png Grovyle/Astroturf: Level 32 (Female) Pursuit, Rock Smash, Leaf Blade, Secret Power http://img.pokemondb.net/sprites/ruby-sapphire/back-normal/vigoroth.pngVigoroth/Bearsloth: Level 32 (Female) Strength, Yawn, Encore, Slack Off http://img.pokemondb.net/sprites/ruby-sapphire/back-normal/mawile.png Mawile/Haircut: Level 32 (Female) Rock Smash, Focus Punch, Rock Tomb, Sludge Bomb http://img.pokemondb.net/sprites/ruby-sapphire/back-normal/baltoy.pngBaltoy/Spinny: Level 33 Ice Beam, Psychic, Ancientpower, Selfdestruct |
Username: Kieran
Game: Sapphire Difficulty: Normal, then I'll run hard afterward. |
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 |
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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! http://img.pokemondb.net/sprites/ruby-sapphire/back-normal/sceptile.png Sceptile/Astroturf [Level 47] (F) Moveset: Sunny Day, Leaf Blade, Dragon Claw, Solarbeam http://img.pokemondb.net/sprites/ruby-sapphire/back-normal/slaking.png Slaking/Bearsloth [Level 45] (F) Moveset: Strength, Brick Break, Shadow Ball, Aerial Ace http://img.pokemondb.net/sprites/ruby-sapphire/back-normal/mawile.png Mawile/Haircut [Level 44] (F) Moveset: Focus Punch, Sludge Bomb, Return, Crunch http://img.pokemondb.net/sprites/ruby-sapphire/back-normal/claydol.png Claydol/Spinny [Level 46] Moveset: Ice Beam, Psychic, Toxic, Selfdestruct http://img.pokemondb.net/sprites/ruby-sapphire/back-normal/glalie.png Glalie/Vulcanammo (He looks like the vulanammo robots from Descent) [Level 47] (M) Moveset: Ice Beam, Water Pulse, Crunch, Facade http://img.pokemondb.net/sprites/ruby-sapphire/back-normal/salamence.png 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. |
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