[Gen 8] POKÉMON ESCUDO: A Spanish Nuzlocke(ish?) Adventure!

Chalifoux · Dec 4, 2019

POKÉMON ESCUDO: A Spanish Nuzlocke(ish?) Adventure!

INTRO

Hello, hello, welcome all! I've never been one for challenges, truth be told. Started a few in the past but never completed any in their entirety. However, I decided to venture into challenge territory once more, with a spin of an all-time classic: the Nuzlocke challenge. The most noteworthy spin is that I'll be playing Pokémon Shield in Spanish, when I've otherwise played every other main installment in English. This is for a few reasons, first of which is the fact that I've never experienced Pokémon in Spanish despite the fact that I'm a native Spanish speaker myself. I figured it had to happen eventually. This, of course, comes with the hurdle of having to learn what each move and item is called in Spanish (they're usually not 1:1 translations). Heck, even the NPC names can change quite drastically from the few instances of Spanish Pokémon I've been exposed to (Steven Stone? Nah lad, that's Máximo Peñas you're talking about). The second most important reason is the fact that I need a foreign Ditto for my main save (lol), and I figured I might as well challenge myself while grinding my way towards a Spanish Ditto in a second save file. That's not where the challenge will end, obviously. In fact, let's go over the rules for this... thing. Spoiler tags because it's a long wall of text.

RULES

Spoiler:

If a Pokémon faints, it is considered dead, and must be released.
One Pokémon per new area.

While usually you'd catch the first random encounter and be done with it, Sword and Shield blurry this rule a bit by having both overworld AND random encounters in most areas. You could, of course, restrict yourself to random encounters, but there's Pokémon that will never appear outside of overworld encounters. Restrict yourself to overworld encounters? Well, there's also Pokémon that will never appear outside of random encounters. Then you take into consideration things like Berry Trees and Fishing Spots, and plainly, it gives me a bit of a headache. The compromise I reached here is that I will choose how I tackle each new area (some will be random, some others overworld, maybe a few berry tree and fishing encounters here and there), but I will only catch the first encounter of the chosen method per area. So first thing that I fish, first thing that randomly appears, etc. If it faints, or if an overworld encounter dissipates from existance before battle starts, it's gone, no do-overs. This rule goes into motion as soon as we get Poké Balls. So places like the Slumbering Weald will still grant a new Pokémon even after visiting it in the early game. Also, no duplicates, if the first encounter is something we already own, and that is also currently alive, we ignore it as if it never showed up. Lastly, see Appendix A at the end of this section for how the Wild Area will be handled.
No trading or any sort of interaction with another game is allowed, unless it's for a trade evolution.
Trading with NPCs is allowed, as long as the requested Pokémon has been previously caught and is currently 'alive'.

While this opens up the possibility of intentionally catching trade fodder and never letting it leave the box, I honestly can't be bothered to plan ahead to that degree.
Gift Pokémon can be obtained as long as they come from an NPC and are not Mystery Gifts.

However, receiving a Gift Pokémon counts as if we 'caught' the first encounter of the respective route/area, and as such, we cannot get anything else there. G-Max Eevee and G-Max Pikachu may not be received at all, as they're conditional gifts based on save data for the Let's Go games, and I consider that to be the same as a Mystery Gift.
Legendary Pokémon are not allowed.

Eternatus can single-handledly obliterate the Pokémon League, and Zamazenta is no slouch, either. In the interest of a fair game, both are restricted from ever being used. Eternatus is a mandatory catch and so he will forever rot in the PC boxes. Zamazenta will be caught as trade fodder for my main save, but otherwise cannot be used either.
The challenge ends after beating Hop for the last time.

If I'm not mistaken, the final battle happens in the Slumbering Weald after Hop catches Zacian. If we win this fight, we successfully complete the challenge.

Appendix A: The Wild Area

Another personal headache. The Wild Area is split into 17 areas. That's 17 new Pokémon in total if you treat each of these as a new 'route', which will no doubt bloat the PC with disposable creatures and can potentially upset the already crumbling game balance if we get something too strong out of it. So there's a few additional points that will attempt to counter the overall Wild Area Experience (patent pending). Namely:

No Max Raid Battles. My main save managed to explode the Pokémon League by catching a Lv.70 G-Max Dreadnaw after the 8th Badge. Needless to say, we don't want that to happen here. Thus, no raids, period. This indirectly also nerfs the amount of Exp. Candy and Rare Candies we can obtain, which should help us stay at least a little bit closer to the intended level curve (forced Exp. Share may or may not prevent this from happening, however).
One Pokémon per area, and no more than three new Pokémon per visit. This is to further mitigate the effects of the Wild Area on the overall experience. Only one visit per gym badge is allowed for a total of eight visits overall. The mandatory visit at the start of the game counts as the visit for the first badge. Furthermore, on each visit, no more than three new Pokémon can be obtained. When a battle starts, if the level cap would prevent us from catching the respective Pokémon, it's considered gone and no more Pokémon can be obtained from that area. I can still choose whether I obtain a Pokémon from fishing, overworld, etc.

These appendixes are thus reserved for any other special instances that need to be addressed further by the rules, if any more happen to show up.

OUTRO

That probably covers the nitty-gritty of this Nuzlocke. Hopefully I can see it through to the end. Anything not discussed in the rules is fair game (healing items, camping, etc) and I will report progress in a (hopefully) weekly fashion, or perhaps in a per-badge-basis? I haven't really decided yet, so we shall see. Also, if you ever see text with a dotted underline, like this one, make sure to hover over it, if possible.

Parte Uno: Espaniola

We choose our Trainer and give her the name Espaniola (I forgot that the letter ñ was available on the keyboard, she was supposed to be Española, but it is what it is. Right away we're thrown into Galarian Youtube where we see Rose giving his intro speech (he retains his English name here, not everyone gets to be this lucky). We slowly transition into an exhibition match between Lionel and Roy. The crowd gets excited at the sight of one very big Charizard, as everyone should because we absolutely love Gen I and will never, ever, get tired of seeing it in the spotlight. Ahem. Title screen show up, and we're promptly thrown into our new journey.

Pueblo Yarda

While the English games have ditched the Town/City bit from all locations in Galar, it seems the Spanish games are still sticking with the respective denomination (Pueblo/Ciudad). In any case, we cut to Espaniola sitting in her house with her head stuck on her phone (tsk, kids these days). Our ~~rival~~ ~~neighbor~~ ~~friend~~ best friend forever Paul walks inside to greet her, telling her to go to his house in order to receive a gift from Chapion Lionel himself. She quickly approaches a sleeping Munchlax to disturb its peace before grabbing her hat and bag. Espaniola does a bit of posing and then heads outside.

Outside her home Espaniola meets with Paul again, who immediately questions her choice of bag. Espaniola will remember this, and her vengeance will be legendary. A nearby Wooloo desperately yearns for its freedom and the duo watch it bang its entire body against a fence for a bit, before Paul remarks that Bosque Oniria is full of dangerous Pokémon. He then implies that the size of our bag won't let us catch up with him in time as he runs off to his home. One of these days, Paul, one of these days...

Espaniola begins to plot her revenge against Paul, and takes a leisurely stroll towards her target's house. Lots of windows, Striking here would expose her actions to numerous witnesses, no doubt. She will have to wait. As Espaniola walks inside Paul's house, the latter asks if his brother has arrived yet. We're told that Lionel is going to arrive at the station in Pueblo Par. Paul expresses his concern by stating that Lionel is bad with directions. Espaniola has no idea how he managed to find his way to the Pokémon League in the first place. Paul decides to make his way to Pueblo Par, and we follow along. "Arreando que es gerundio", he says, forcibly pulling Espaniola around until they reach the next town.

Pueblo Par

Lionel strikes a pose of his own as a crowd cheers for him. Wow, he's such a cool and unbeatable guy with a Charizard who has never been beat before. Did i mention he owns a Charizard? Because, as it turns out, the unbeatable champion who has yet to be beat owns an equally unbeatable Charizard. He's such a cool and unbeatable guy. I want to be like him when I grow up, unbeatable and with a Charizard. Who also happens to be unbeatable. Just like the unbeatable champion's unbeatable Charizard.

... I'll stop now.

Lionel notices Paul in the crowd and approaches us. We make a note or seven of how unbeatable he is before Paul dashes back home. Lionel tells us that champions are made, not born, and we cut back to their house in Pueblo Yarda. Paul reminds Lionel to keep his promise of gifting us some Pokémon, and we're promptly shown a selection of three starter Pokémon. One cutscene, later, we're told to choose one of the pequeñajos. Espaniola obtains her first partner, Wonejo, the male Scorbunny (nicknames on this run are also in Spanish, this one is a translation of 'Wabbit'). Paul takes Grookey and Sobble joins Lionel. One more cutscene plays as the gang takes a break.

Al día siguiente...

Pueblo Yarda

Cut back to Paul's house, and he has now declared Espaniola as his rival. Lionel suggests the two test their mettle with a Pokémon battle. Espaniola declines, as she doesn't think she likes either of these two people. Of course, the game won't allow her to run away and she's pulled back into the story rails. Lionel reminds Espaniola to save her progress, whatever that means, and Paul wastes no time to brag about how he's totally going to win their first battle.

He lost.

As Espaniola establishes herself as la caña, Lionel restores her party's health. She's asked to accept Paul's offer of becoming rivals. And she probably doesn't have a choice on the matter. Since Paul wants to take on the Gym Challenge right away, Lionel suggests the two first get a Pokédex. Paul then suggests they make their way to the nearby Pokémon Lab. As Espaniola makes her way back home to escape from his story rails, she and Paul hear a loud bang. The Wooloo that was trying to force their way into freedom has succeded, so the pair heads into Bosque Oniria to retrieve it with no regards to their own safety.

Bosque Oniria

As was mentioned before, the challenge doesn't properly begin until we get some Poké Balls. As a result, the first encounter of Slumbering Weald isn't tallied yet, so the only thing Espaniola can do is grind some exp. and walk along the woods. Two forced encounters go by and Paul heals her Pokémon. Listo, Calisto. Espaniola keeps going forward. Paul is beyond worried for the poor Wooloo and runs ahead. He was never seen again.

Or so she'd like to think, but Espaniola knows getting rid of him won't be so simple.

As she ventures further into the mist, another cutscene plays, and to the surprise of the duo, a Pokémon appears within the mist and challenges Espaniola to a battle. However, her Pokémon is unable to do any damage. This mysterious Pokémon turns the mist progressively more dense until both trainers pass out. They were never heard of again.

For a few moments, anyway. To their surprise, Lionel managed to find the duo and the missing Wooloo, despite being terrible with directions, a fact Paul reminds him of. Lionel is not amused, but Paul remarks that everything turned out okay in the end, and Espaniola contains the urge to punch him in the face as the gang makes their way back to Pueblo Yarda. Espaniola is told to inform mother dearest that she's leaving home and never coming back, so she does just that.

Ruta 1

Espaniola obtains a total of five Poké Balls, which is more than enough to obtain her first new friend. She opts for a random encounter and finds a Blipbug shortly after stepping into the tall grass. One Tackle and one Poké Ball later, and Mhoni the female Blipbug joins the team (this one is named after a mexican astrologist, who I'm not a huge fan of, but it was one of the first names that came to mind).

Pueblo Par

With her newest team member in tow, Espaniola makes way for the nearby Pokémon Lab. Lionel joins her as they enter inside and meet Professor Magnolia's grandaughter, Sonia (both keep their names intact, it seems). She makes a note of Espaniola's fantastic SmartRotom (to be honest I prefer this name to Rotom Phone in the English games) and grants her the Pokédex. Espaniola is told to visit Professor Magnolia on Route 2 to thank her for the dex, and so, she exits the lab. Before heading into Route 2, however, she's kidnapped by resident story rail Paul, who forces her inside the Pokémon Center before dashing off. Rude. The distressed Espaniola then heads to the nearby shop to buy herself a new getup. As she gets ready to leave town, she is once again stopped by Paul who eagerly explains the gym challenge before disappearing again. It's almost like he's intentionally slowing her down.

Ruta 2

Espaniola is yet again stopped by Paul, who now wants to tell her all about catching Pokémon, but he's stopped by Lionel who apparently wants to fight over the spot of resident tutorial NPC. That is, until he realizes Espaniola already caught something, so he hands her some more Poké Balls and scurries away. Once we finally regain control, Espaniola approaches the tall grass. She spots a Rookidee in the overworld and attempts to approach, but is caught midway by a random encounter that... is also a Rookidee. Ortiz Pulido, the male Rookidee, thus joins her roster (named after a mexican ornitologist of considerable renown). After engaging a few Trainers in battle, Mhoni the Blipbug is nearly lost to a random Tackle crit (thanks Chica Carolina, very cool). Eventually, Espaniola makes it to Professor Magnolia before suffering any casualties. The Professor laments to Lionel how she has yet to uncover all the mysteries of Dynamaxing before noticing Espaniola and Paul. The latter asks the Professor to convince Lionel of endorsing both young trainers for the Gym Challenge. Lionel decides to endorse the pair under the condition they show him an exciting battle. And they do just that. Lionel tells Paul that he can't always win every battle. And, to be fair, he's fought two battles so far and lost both of them. But who's counting? Lionel congrats both trainers on the battle they displayed and grants them his endorsement. Afterwards, a pair of Wishing Stars fall near the duo. Paul takes one for himself, and grants Espaniola the other. He shall be spared for another day as a display of her gratitude. Lionel states that wishing stars tend to fall near people who strongly wish for something, and it seems Paul fits the bill. Since she is the expert in regards to the Dynamax phenomenon, the duo then give their wishing stars to Professor Magnolia and decide to call it a day.

Al día siguiente...

Ruta 2

Espaniola and Paul visit Professor Magnolia as she asks about the mysterious Pokémon the duo encountered at Bosque Oniria. She's curious about what happened after the battle Espaniola had with the creature, but Paul can't seem to remember a thing. The two are then granted the Maximuñequera and they promptly make their way to the station in Pueblo Par.

Pueblo Par

Paul stops Espaniola on her way no less than three times before criticizing her for barely catching any Pokémon in her journey thus far. Espaniola now regrets sparing him the day prior. As the duo heads inside the train station, they're given a few words of encouragement from their respective mothers as well as a Kit de Acampada. Espaniola then rides a train to Ciudad Pistón.

Punto de Encuentro

Unfortunately, a rowdy bunch of Wooloo forces the train to stop at the Punto de Encuentro. The pair disembarks as Paul remarks this is the perfect opportunity to build a team with the Pokémon of the Área Silvestre. After exiting from the station, Paul lets Espaniola know where Ciudad Pistón is located, and Sonia meets up with the pair after her grandmother questioned what her grandaughter was doing with her life. Paul quickly dashes off into the Área Silvestre and Sonia gives Espaniola the Caja de Pokémon[/assit] to access her PC boxes on the go. Espaniola is then granted access to what the Área Silvestre has to offer.

But that's a story for another update. I'll see you in the next one!

[Gen 8] POKÉMON ESCUDO: A Spanish Nuzlocke(ish?) Adventure!

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Chalifoux

:: Certified Granblue Fantasy Nerd ::

INTRO

RULES

Appendix A: The Wild Area

OUTRO

CONTENTS

Chalifoux

:: Certified Granblue Fantasy Nerd ::

Parte Uno: Espaniola

Pueblo Yarda

Pueblo Par

Pueblo Yarda

Bosque Oniria

Ruta 1

Pueblo Par

Ruta 2

Ruta 2

Pueblo Par

Punto de Encuentro