Hello, and first of all, congratulations. I was seeking a challenging Pokémon playthrough, having thoroughly enjoyed ShinyGold X way back in the day. This is, well, quite a bit over that, but what I was seeking nonetheless. I'm not a fan of Nuzlockes or anything that reduces my freedom; I much rather have inherent difficulty, and be given freedom to tackle it.
That said, I do have some criticisms related to just that. I have just finished a playthrough of Long War, an XCOM: Enemy Within mod that adds an enormous amount of depth to the game, beyond its difficulty and, obviously, length. Someone I entirely agree summarized the mod as such, comparing the base game to "living your whole life with just one leg": "Similarly, Long War brings to you all of the shiny toys, fits you with a brand new, top of the line, prosthetic leg and tells you that you must now run a 100m dash. As you turn to leave, it shoots your good leg with a Plasma Pistol, crits for 7, and you die."
Playing both at the same time, I couldn't help but make some comparisons on how both handle increased difficulty.
And what I feel from it is Crystal Kaizo is much a rawer experience, increasing the difficulty massively but not giving the player many tools to tackle it in return. It's a valid approach, but I'm just not sure it's the best. Granted, there are some significant ones, most notably purchasable stones and trade evos. And there are more Pokémon available early on, but... frankly, not enough, or at least not as good in my opinion. Granted, I am VERY picky when it comes to my team and won't train Pokémon I don't feel will stick with me for long - which is the reason I am currently in Goldenrod with a highly unbalanced team of a Ty, Amphy, Ursaring, Pupitar, and Scyther (and even then, I don't think I'll retain all of them). But one could do with a little more quality, if not variety, still. For example, been unsuccessfully checking every pond for a Staryu or Horsea, despite the unlikeliness of them being available with an Old Rod.
Personally, if one is to tackle a challenge like the one presented by Crystal Kaizo, I would equally add tools to allow the player to make their team the best it could possibly be. Allow them to bring a big gun to a big fight. I would thus add a plethora of purchasable TMs, in order to allow the player the same deep customization options available to the AI team. Similarly, I highly reduce the price of Vitamins, since EV allocation is important in a challenge like this.
Another issue deals with the route rearrangement: while it succeeds in its attempt to make it more challenging, it sometimes feels far too artificial. It makes me feel fenced in (sometimes literally, notably around Goldenrod). This is as much a gameplay issue as it is an aesthetic one: the Union Cave feels completely fine, as do forested areas or the Sprout Tower, given its based on the Tin Tower. However, Routes 34 and 35, as well as the National Park, just feel like they weave about for no reason. Just my two cents.
I am also rather weary about Kanto. I rate discovering Kanto was playable in the original Gold the single best moment in my gaming career, all that post game goodness. But with levels reaching 100 within Johto, I have to wonder how much will Kanto bring to the table in comparison.
Regardless, I congratulate you, it's been a blast. I'll just leave a few questions:
1- Is there a location Dex for the game somewhere? Couldn't find one myself.
2- Are the movepools themselves the same as vanilla?
3- Would move buffs implemented in latter generations be possible? I imagine not considering you kept a "pure" GSC experience, but, say, something like Fury Cutter's buff from 10 to 40 base damage would be fair even in that environment, I believe.