The Intro
At first I was attempting to just regular attack even the bosses in Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky, but it soon became apparent, if it already wasn't, that just the regular A button attack is not going to cut it against enemies that love to spam their moves. This challenge was inspired by a comment someone made on Youtube after Youtuber PokeTips posted a video on only using status moves to beat HeartGold. I hadn't played Explorers of Sky in some time, and it is probably my favorite Pokemon game to play, so I was up to the idea of trying to beat the game using only regular attacks (and items).
In the 3DS games, regular attacks do a constant 5 damage, but in the Rescue and Explorers series, the damage your regular attack does is based on your Attack versus the enemy's Defense. Your regular attack gets stronger as your Attack goes up, even if just boosted for a short time, and it can crit like regular moves (though you wouldn't notice this happen a lot unless you had the Sharpshooter IQ ability). So, for this challenge, a Pokemon with naturally high Attack is ideal. For the regular starters, Munchlax and Turtwig have the highest starting Attack values, though many of your other favorites have the second highest starting Attack.
In an attempt to see if this would actually be possible, though, I opted instead to use a tool called SkyEditor in order to make a slight change to the starters so that I could play as a Pokemon that could do very well in this kind of challenge. It has made some of the cutscenes in the game look a bit weird as the game defaults to a Pokemon walking in place for animation that does not exist, but gameplay-wise I haven't come across any issues so far. By issues I mean the game plays fine, but I happened to have picked a Pokemon that, while levels up quickly, has poor stat increases per level up. This log is my on-going attempt at this challenge.
The Chosen Duo
The only thing I changed was who I would play as, and in keeping with the game's theme of picking relatively young unevolved Pokemon to save the world, I chose Marill. Marill gets both Thick Fat and Huge Power (Hidden abilities are not implemented, so no Sap Sipper). I chose Marill because of Huge Power, although it only occasionally increases attack damage as opposed to all the time, but this slight nerf does still make it valuable as this applies to regular attacks as well. It levels up quickly, but most level ups just increase HP, Attack, and Special Attack by 1 (Sp. Atk. is useless for me). The partner I chose was Munchlax, since it gets very good level up stats and has excellent starting stats even if it is one of the slowest at leveling up. With the duo chosen, it was time to begin the challenge.
The Challenge
At this point I will spoiler the rest of the thread as to allow people to quickly find the parts of the game they want to see how I fared.I'll edit this post as I complete more parts of the game. (Seeing as the challenge is completed, this post will no longer be edited.) I leave out the stuff that happens at Treasure Town and Missions unless I find something notable with them.
Part 1 (Beach Cave to Mt. Bristle's First Attempt)
Part 2 (Mt. Bristle's Second Attempt to Apple Woods)
Part 3 (Guild Expedition to Amp Plains)
Part 4 (Northern Desert to Crystal Cave)
Part 5 (Chasm Cave to Deep Dusk Forest)
Part 6 (Treeshroud Forest to Temporal Tower)
Part 7 (Mystifying Forest to Miracle Sea)
Final Part (Aegis Cave to Dark Crater)
The post below details my thoughts about this challenge and serves as my conclusion to the run.
At first I was attempting to just regular attack even the bosses in Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky, but it soon became apparent, if it already wasn't, that just the regular A button attack is not going to cut it against enemies that love to spam their moves. This challenge was inspired by a comment someone made on Youtube after Youtuber PokeTips posted a video on only using status moves to beat HeartGold. I hadn't played Explorers of Sky in some time, and it is probably my favorite Pokemon game to play, so I was up to the idea of trying to beat the game using only regular attacks (and items).
In the 3DS games, regular attacks do a constant 5 damage, but in the Rescue and Explorers series, the damage your regular attack does is based on your Attack versus the enemy's Defense. Your regular attack gets stronger as your Attack goes up, even if just boosted for a short time, and it can crit like regular moves (though you wouldn't notice this happen a lot unless you had the Sharpshooter IQ ability). So, for this challenge, a Pokemon with naturally high Attack is ideal. For the regular starters, Munchlax and Turtwig have the highest starting Attack values, though many of your other favorites have the second highest starting Attack.
In an attempt to see if this would actually be possible, though, I opted instead to use a tool called SkyEditor in order to make a slight change to the starters so that I could play as a Pokemon that could do very well in this kind of challenge. It has made some of the cutscenes in the game look a bit weird as the game defaults to a Pokemon walking in place for animation that does not exist, but gameplay-wise I haven't come across any issues so far. By issues I mean the game plays fine, but I happened to have picked a Pokemon that, while levels up quickly, has poor stat increases per level up. This log is my on-going attempt at this challenge.
The Chosen Duo
The only thing I changed was who I would play as, and in keeping with the game's theme of picking relatively young unevolved Pokemon to save the world, I chose Marill. Marill gets both Thick Fat and Huge Power (Hidden abilities are not implemented, so no Sap Sipper). I chose Marill because of Huge Power, although it only occasionally increases attack damage as opposed to all the time, but this slight nerf does still make it valuable as this applies to regular attacks as well. It levels up quickly, but most level ups just increase HP, Attack, and Special Attack by 1 (Sp. Atk. is useless for me). The partner I chose was Munchlax, since it gets very good level up stats and has excellent starting stats even if it is one of the slowest at leveling up. With the duo chosen, it was time to begin the challenge.
The Challenge
At this point I will spoiler the rest of the thread as to allow people to quickly find the parts of the game they want to see how I fared.
Part 1 (Beach Cave to Mt. Bristle's First Attempt)
Spoiler:
Beach Cave: Not using moves means the Pokemon in this dungeon were usually taken out in two regular attacks, but this otherwise was not much different from the usual start of a game. Koffing and Zubat were also not too tough, although Marill did run into health trouble early on as Koffing's Tackle actually did quite a bit of damage. I should have taken out Koffing first since all Zubat did was Leech Life off my partner, who at this point was tanky. Either way, those two retreated and we got back Munchlax's personal treasure.
Drenched Bluff: Not much harder than Beach Cave, still explored every room whenever I came here. Being a Water-type definitely helps with some of the rescues, where the Pokemon is walking on the water somewhere on the map.
Mt. Bristle: As you may recall, the game's difficulty spikes quite a bit. In the past two areas, the Pokemon were using non-STAB attacking moves. Here, the STAB moves come into play, and they HURT, and we can't counter with our own moves. To make a long story short, the furthest I ever got after many resets was the seventh floor, where I proceeded a few steps later to be knocked out by a crit Quick Attack from a Starly. At this point in the game, you are forced to do a specific outlaw mission and cannot do other missions or visit other places until you first attempt Mt. Bristle. In the end, I decided that I would take the loss and focus on my best attempt at both training and item collecting before I lose. There would be less painful ways to try to get better for my second attempt, but those resources are unlocked AFTER Mt. Bristle, so my only action was to do a couple more days worth of missions and training before I try again.
Drenched Bluff: Not much harder than Beach Cave, still explored every room whenever I came here. Being a Water-type definitely helps with some of the rescues, where the Pokemon is walking on the water somewhere on the map.
Mt. Bristle: As you may recall, the game's difficulty spikes quite a bit. In the past two areas, the Pokemon were using non-STAB attacking moves. Here, the STAB moves come into play, and they HURT, and we can't counter with our own moves. To make a long story short, the furthest I ever got after many resets was the seventh floor, where I proceeded a few steps later to be knocked out by a crit Quick Attack from a Starly. At this point in the game, you are forced to do a specific outlaw mission and cannot do other missions or visit other places until you first attempt Mt. Bristle. In the end, I decided that I would take the loss and focus on my best attempt at both training and item collecting before I lose. There would be less painful ways to try to get better for my second attempt, but those resources are unlocked AFTER Mt. Bristle, so my only action was to do a couple more days worth of missions and training before I try again.
Part 2 (Mt. Bristle's Second Attempt to Apple Woods)
Spoiler:
Mt. Bristle: Marill now is able to take a crit Quick Attack and survive. I produced an attempt within a few tries that got me to the summit, where Drowzee and Azurill were. Since Drowzee was the outlaw, we battled in order to rescue Azurill. It was here that I realized that regular attacks alone was not going to be enough, so I had Drowzee wail on Munchlax while I tossed sticks and stones from two spaces away, while feeding Oran Berries to Munchlax about every four or five turns. Drowzee surprisingly did not use its STAB move, and I managed a narrow victory to clear the region.
Prior to Waterfall Cave, Maraowak's Dojo opened. This would prove to be a very invaluable resource...
Waterfall Cave: Now the moves of note are Water and Ground for STAB, and Marill resists the first and the second tends to not be powerful. That being said, crit attacks can still turn deadly, and it did for a few of my attempts. I finally managed to make it to the end, though, on my fourth try, I think.
Once Team Skull arrives (the Explorers team, not the Sun/Moon team), Spinda's Cafe is open, providing us with yet another invaluable resource...the ability to turn those Gummis and extra seeds I was hoarding into stat-boosting juices. Marill desperately needed these drinks...the Recycle Shop isn't useful at first, but eventually they stock on Reviver Seeds, which are always handy to have.
Apple Woods: Despite this being the longest dungeon so far, it felt like a step back in difficulty. My first attempt was successful, and I didn't have issues when I returned here later for a set of missions. I did come to really hate the move Bug Bite, though, as not only did it do a lot of damage, but it also ate something in my bag, usually one of the Gummis I picked up. Sadly, no Fairy typing in Gen 4, or Marill would have had resistance to this move.
At this point, the guild is preparing for its big expedition, and means we're locked out of missions for a while, though at least the Dojo is still open until we leave.
Prior to Waterfall Cave, Maraowak's Dojo opened. This would prove to be a very invaluable resource...
Waterfall Cave: Now the moves of note are Water and Ground for STAB, and Marill resists the first and the second tends to not be powerful. That being said, crit attacks can still turn deadly, and it did for a few of my attempts. I finally managed to make it to the end, though, on my fourth try, I think.
Once Team Skull arrives (the Explorers team, not the Sun/Moon team), Spinda's Cafe is open, providing us with yet another invaluable resource...the ability to turn those Gummis and extra seeds I was hoarding into stat-boosting juices. Marill desperately needed these drinks...the Recycle Shop isn't useful at first, but eventually they stock on Reviver Seeds, which are always handy to have.
Apple Woods: Despite this being the longest dungeon so far, it felt like a step back in difficulty. My first attempt was successful, and I didn't have issues when I returned here later for a set of missions. I did come to really hate the move Bug Bite, though, as not only did it do a lot of damage, but it also ate something in my bag, usually one of the Gummis I picked up. Sadly, no Fairy typing in Gen 4, or Marill would have had resistance to this move.
At this point, the guild is preparing for its big expedition, and means we're locked out of missions for a while, though at least the Dojo is still open until we leave.
Part 3 (Guild Expedition to Amp Plains)
Spoiler:
Side Path: I took the Side Path first to get some more items and some more experience. Nothing much of note here other than Bidoof got low on health at the end. I wonder what he's thinking whenever he spams Defense Curl instead of an attacking move...btw, I have no control over guest characters, so I don't count kills made by guest attacking moves as breaking the challenge.
Craggy Coast: Got through this one fairly quickly. I would make a return trip here at a later time where things got interesting with a Gastrodon at one point, but no one fainted.
Rock Path: Took once to get more items and experience. Munchlax took a beating along the way, but was not lost.
Mt. Horn: My first attempt ended in the starting room of floor 11 where a Venemoth pulled off a Silver Wind and proceeded to pound Munchlax into the ground. Made it on the second attempt after several Bug Bites.
Foggy Forest: Rather uneventful, even when I returned here later on an escort mission. Marill appreciated the fog, I bet, even though I think an electric move was used only once.
Steam Cave: I was nervous throughout this one since I knew a boss fight was coming. The dungeon itself turned out to be relatively quiet except for the numerous Snubbull and Kricketunes I fought (at one point I fought three Kricketunes in a row). The fight with Groudon came down to me tossing seeds and iron thorns at it, not wanting to risk going physical with it. Not bad for making it to Fogbound Lake itself on the first try, though.
At this point I was provided with Xatu's Appraisal services. While not much was produced so far, I am hopeful in a few potential swap items that will make the game easier.
Amp Plains: Remember when NPC Marill said he tried going through this place several times? I'm a Marill going through this place, too. I was nervous going through this area, since I knew a few more dungeon features come into play: traps, and the dreaded monster house. Guess what ended my first run as I entered floor 3? Yep...
The next attempt got me all the way to the fight with Manetric and his clan. I was wiped out quickly after trying to keep Manetric himself from attacking. On the third attempt I decided to bring all of the Stun Seeds I had, since an idea came into my head: stunned enemies won't attack or move. This idea turned out to be just what I needed to do: stun as many of the enemies as possible and take them out one at a time. Your partner doesn't attack stunned enemies, so this plan turned things around, although Manetric needed more than just a Stun Seed since it took 7 or 8 Iron Thorns to finish off, and some of those Thorns were boosted by Huge Power. I was tempted to recruit an Electrike to make this battle easier, but I opted instead that I will do this challenge without recruiting other Pokemon.
Craggy Coast: Got through this one fairly quickly. I would make a return trip here at a later time where things got interesting with a Gastrodon at one point, but no one fainted.
Rock Path: Took once to get more items and experience. Munchlax took a beating along the way, but was not lost.
Mt. Horn: My first attempt ended in the starting room of floor 11 where a Venemoth pulled off a Silver Wind and proceeded to pound Munchlax into the ground. Made it on the second attempt after several Bug Bites.
Foggy Forest: Rather uneventful, even when I returned here later on an escort mission. Marill appreciated the fog, I bet, even though I think an electric move was used only once.
Steam Cave: I was nervous throughout this one since I knew a boss fight was coming. The dungeon itself turned out to be relatively quiet except for the numerous Snubbull and Kricketunes I fought (at one point I fought three Kricketunes in a row). The fight with Groudon came down to me tossing seeds and iron thorns at it, not wanting to risk going physical with it. Not bad for making it to Fogbound Lake itself on the first try, though.
At this point I was provided with Xatu's Appraisal services. While not much was produced so far, I am hopeful in a few potential swap items that will make the game easier.
Amp Plains: Remember when NPC Marill said he tried going through this place several times? I'm a Marill going through this place, too. I was nervous going through this area, since I knew a few more dungeon features come into play: traps, and the dreaded monster house. Guess what ended my first run as I entered floor 3? Yep...
The next attempt got me all the way to the fight with Manetric and his clan. I was wiped out quickly after trying to keep Manetric himself from attacking. On the third attempt I decided to bring all of the Stun Seeds I had, since an idea came into my head: stunned enemies won't attack or move. This idea turned out to be just what I needed to do: stun as many of the enemies as possible and take them out one at a time. Your partner doesn't attack stunned enemies, so this plan turned things around, although Manetric needed more than just a Stun Seed since it took 7 or 8 Iron Thorns to finish off, and some of those Thorns were boosted by Huge Power. I was tempted to recruit an Electrike to make this battle easier, but I opted instead that I will do this challenge without recruiting other Pokemon.
Part 4 (Northern Desert to Crystal Cave)
Spoiler:
After a lot of training, stats-grinding, and IQ-grinding for both Marill and Munchlax, I felt ready to continue.
Northern Desert: Not much to note except on the 14th floor a Cacturne had the idea of spamming Pin Missile (which did 8 to 9 damage per hit on Marill), then tried Revenge once I got to it. Defeated it before it did a lot more damage, though.
Quicksand Cave: Most floors went without issues, though Deep Quicksand Cave presented a little difficulty, namely due to the power of the enemy moves. On the final floor prior to Mesprit, and spawning just a few spaces away from the stairs, I triggered a trap that attracted four wild Pokemon to the space around me, and that led to a very interesting situation where I had to carefully make each move. My health was already somewhat low, and the evade rate of the Pokemon was boosted by the sandstorm, so Munchlax ended up stepping back in about 1 out of every 3 attacks he tried to make. It was finally down to 3 Pokemon and I opted to use one of the Oran Berries I brought with me. That turn, all three Pokemon attacked me, including a Sand Tomb move that crit for around 50 damage, returning me to about the same amount of health I was at prior to the Oran Berry. I consumed another berry and the two of us finally took down the Pokemon and advanced to the stairs. Compared to that floor encounter, Mesprit was a walk in the park, although the only move it tried to use was Rest at the very end, but its health was too low to withstand two more regular attacks.
Crystal Cave: Both the Cave and Crossing ended up being fairly uneventful except for an early Poison trap at the start of Crossing. Whenever I saw Gummis or a bunch of items in a room, though, I expected a Monster House. None of that happened, though, and I made it to the end. The boss here is optional to win against, and being a type that the boss was strong against, I expected to lose. However, my Quick Striker IQ came in a couple of times and the boss kept regular attacking. In the end, I ended up in no danger of losing, which was surprising to me since Leaf Blade would have done major damage to me if it was used. Maybe the boss didn't really try...
Northern Desert: Not much to note except on the 14th floor a Cacturne had the idea of spamming Pin Missile (which did 8 to 9 damage per hit on Marill), then tried Revenge once I got to it. Defeated it before it did a lot more damage, though.
Quicksand Cave: Most floors went without issues, though Deep Quicksand Cave presented a little difficulty, namely due to the power of the enemy moves. On the final floor prior to Mesprit, and spawning just a few spaces away from the stairs, I triggered a trap that attracted four wild Pokemon to the space around me, and that led to a very interesting situation where I had to carefully make each move. My health was already somewhat low, and the evade rate of the Pokemon was boosted by the sandstorm, so Munchlax ended up stepping back in about 1 out of every 3 attacks he tried to make. It was finally down to 3 Pokemon and I opted to use one of the Oran Berries I brought with me. That turn, all three Pokemon attacked me, including a Sand Tomb move that crit for around 50 damage, returning me to about the same amount of health I was at prior to the Oran Berry. I consumed another berry and the two of us finally took down the Pokemon and advanced to the stairs. Compared to that floor encounter, Mesprit was a walk in the park, although the only move it tried to use was Rest at the very end, but its health was too low to withstand two more regular attacks.
Crystal Cave: Both the Cave and Crossing ended up being fairly uneventful except for an early Poison trap at the start of Crossing. Whenever I saw Gummis or a bunch of items in a room, though, I expected a Monster House. None of that happened, though, and I made it to the end. The boss here is optional to win against, and being a type that the boss was strong against, I expected to lose. However, my Quick Striker IQ came in a couple of times and the boss kept regular attacking. In the end, I ended up in no danger of losing, which was surprising to me since Leaf Blade would have done major damage to me if it was used. Maybe the boss didn't really try...
Part 5 (Chasm Cave to Deep Dusk Forest)
Spoiler:
Chasm Cave: Psywave can be a nasty attack, but otherwise the only notable thing came from landing on a whirlwind tile on floor 7...I ended up getting blown over the large pit going from the top-left corner of the map to the bottom-left. Fortunately I respawned back at the start and so did Munchlax, as the stairs were actually in the other direction from where the tile was.
Dark Hill: Most of the time, the stairs spawned either in the same room as me or one room over. The enemies are doing more damage now, but otherwise nothing I cannot handle. Was glad to make quick work of this dungeon, though, as I easily could have spent twice the time it took me to finish it compared to this successful attempt.
Sealed Ruin: The enemies per floor seem to be pretty high here, so there was a lot of fighting. But none of the fighting in both areas was hard, not even the fight with Spiritomb. I went on the side of caution and had the two of us run while the boss put on the counter status, but it otherwise fell down quickly. What is nice about this run is that I don't have to worry about Pressure, though.
Dusk Forest: The only enemy here that presented a tiny challenge was Mismagius, for it traveling through walls and for the Psywave attack that always seems to deal random damage. At this point, 8 floors can be traveled in about two minutes, especially with how small each floor is.
Deep Dusk Forest: Psywave is for Dusk Forest where Rock Blast was for Deep Dusk Forest. Munchlax had to get involved at one point as a bodyguard, although the one hit that was blocked I would have survived. A handful of moves just seem a little bit too powerful at this point in the game, along with enemies now needing either crits or three regular attacks to defeat. Got through all 12 floors eventually, though.
Dark Hill: Most of the time, the stairs spawned either in the same room as me or one room over. The enemies are doing more damage now, but otherwise nothing I cannot handle. Was glad to make quick work of this dungeon, though, as I easily could have spent twice the time it took me to finish it compared to this successful attempt.
Sealed Ruin: The enemies per floor seem to be pretty high here, so there was a lot of fighting. But none of the fighting in both areas was hard, not even the fight with Spiritomb. I went on the side of caution and had the two of us run while the boss put on the counter status, but it otherwise fell down quickly. What is nice about this run is that I don't have to worry about Pressure, though.
Dusk Forest: The only enemy here that presented a tiny challenge was Mismagius, for it traveling through walls and for the Psywave attack that always seems to deal random damage. At this point, 8 floors can be traveled in about two minutes, especially with how small each floor is.
Deep Dusk Forest: Psywave is for Dusk Forest where Rock Blast was for Deep Dusk Forest. Munchlax had to get involved at one point as a bodyguard, although the one hit that was blocked I would have survived. A handful of moves just seem a little bit too powerful at this point in the game, along with enemies now needing either crits or three regular attacks to defeat. Got through all 12 floors eventually, though.
Part 6 (Treeshroud Forest to Temporal Tower)
Spoiler:
Treeshroud Forest: Not too much in terms of enemy difficulty, but the trap rate is increasing. It is the longest dungeon so far at 20 floors in a row, though.
Brine Cave: Enemies sometimes take more than two hits, but otherwise much like before, not much happens during my time here. The boss ended up being much easier than I had anticipated, only using a Geo Pebble once since the enemies started out of regular attack range.
Hidden Land: Wood Hammer...why does this move exist? It was interesting to explore most of a dungeon while at less than half health. It was somewhat rough here, but didn't need to go into my items. I did use an Oran Berry just in case against the boss, though, since I was at critical health and a curse hadn't yet gone off on me, but my partners finished off the boss before it went off. It definitely helps to have built Marill as a tank for battles like these.
Temporal Tower: I did my training thinking about this area. The first attempt failed due to Porygons spamming Discharge, which is my big problem in this area. The floors in general didn't present much challenge, but the Pokemon were tough. Even so, I was trying to conserve as much of the inventory I had brought with me as much as possible. Temporal Spire went well except for one of the floors where I spawned in a room with four Porygons. I had to hightail it out of the room, or else I would fall to Discharge spam. As for Dialga...think the same problems you experience with this boss on a regular run, but our attack power is greatly reduced (and Intimidator even cancels out regular attacks!). I needed all 4 of the Reviver Seeds I brought with me, and the Vile and Sleep seeds I also brought (plus 1 more Sleep Seed I obtained in the dungeon), were needed, especially when Dialga increased its stats with AncientPower. The stuff I brought with me "just in case", was absolutely necessary on beating this battle. For the curious, I was level 40 and had almost 110 Attack and 90 in both Defense stats. If Marill was part-Fairy, I think Roar of Time would have been greatly resisted, but this is Gen 4, after all...oh, I guess I didn't mention that Dialga kept using moves when the bosses previously were content with regular attack spam. I managed to pull it off, though.
Brine Cave: Enemies sometimes take more than two hits, but otherwise much like before, not much happens during my time here. The boss ended up being much easier than I had anticipated, only using a Geo Pebble once since the enemies started out of regular attack range.
Hidden Land: Wood Hammer...why does this move exist? It was interesting to explore most of a dungeon while at less than half health. It was somewhat rough here, but didn't need to go into my items. I did use an Oran Berry just in case against the boss, though, since I was at critical health and a curse hadn't yet gone off on me, but my partners finished off the boss before it went off. It definitely helps to have built Marill as a tank for battles like these.
Temporal Tower: I did my training thinking about this area. The first attempt failed due to Porygons spamming Discharge, which is my big problem in this area. The floors in general didn't present much challenge, but the Pokemon were tough. Even so, I was trying to conserve as much of the inventory I had brought with me as much as possible. Temporal Spire went well except for one of the floors where I spawned in a room with four Porygons. I had to hightail it out of the room, or else I would fall to Discharge spam. As for Dialga...think the same problems you experience with this boss on a regular run, but our attack power is greatly reduced (and Intimidator even cancels out regular attacks!). I needed all 4 of the Reviver Seeds I brought with me, and the Vile and Sleep seeds I also brought (plus 1 more Sleep Seed I obtained in the dungeon), were needed, especially when Dialga increased its stats with AncientPower. The stuff I brought with me "just in case", was absolutely necessary on beating this battle. For the curious, I was level 40 and had almost 110 Attack and 90 in both Defense stats. If Marill was part-Fairy, I think Roar of Time would have been greatly resisted, but this is Gen 4, after all...oh, I guess I didn't mention that Dialga kept using moves when the bosses previously were content with regular attack spam. I managed to pull it off, though.
Part 7 (Mystifying Forest to Miracle Sea)
Spoiler:
Mystifying Forest: Had to attempt this place a few times, but the dungeon itself, though annoying with the frequency of traps and Pokemon that are probably illegal in competitions, isn't too bad. It's the boss that I greatly underestimated. No matter what the Pokemon are, being swarmed is one of the worst things that can happen in a "No Moves" run, especially if you can't clear out a single target in a single turn. Ultimately, the usage of Stun Seeds is probably required to beat this boss. At the end, it was just the boss, who couldn't do much since they decided not to use their most powerful move but to instead try to put everyone to sleep. I never had problems with this boss in regular playing, but in this run, the "minions" are more threatening than the boss itself, especially with the ability to confuse or put people to sleep.
Shaymin Village/Sky Peak: I won't talk much about this dungeon...but I'll just say that this one was my hardest yet. Usually one trap going off about every two floors, and I started encountering Monster Houses a little more often. The midway boss battle wasn't tough, but man was I unprepared for the Muk and Grimer battle. This battle made the guild graduation battle look like a tutorial battle. Stun Seeds are a must, and the enemies are capable of defeating Shaymin in one attack, so you must act quickly to keep Shaymin safe. It also goes without saying that you should not only get poisoned, but be overwhelmed by the stench so you cannot heal or attack either. Good thing Team Frontier was here...this battle made Roar of Time from Dialga look like not a bad issue to deal with.
Blizzard Island: This can be a rough place, with its numerous traps and lack of food, plus on some floors the Ice types get fast. Things went well for me until floor 19 where Munchlax was taken out in a small group of enemies. However, this was not an instant loss for me and I decided to just high tail out of the room. Found the stairs shortly afterwards, and I found the floor 20 stairs in the room next to the one I spawn in.
Crevice Cave: More of the same like at Blizzard Island, but this time an Altaria spammed Pluck and ate all of the Oran Berries I brought with me. I suppose that is something worth restarting a run for, since it happened on floor 2, but I chose to continue. Other than a Piloswine using Endure and then spamming Earthquake, the rest of the dungeon was uneventful. As for the boss...I did fling a Doom Seed at the boss since I had one, but I think even if the boss had stayed at level 41, it could not have done much, since Marill resists Ice. Easiest post-credits boss by far
Surrounded Sea: Was uneventful except for floor 19 where twice the Pokemon countered me for the full damage I did to them, so Marill quickly was in the critical health area. Fortunately the next floor was the floor with the end of dungeon prizes, including the Wonder Egg. This, of course, sets up some events leading to the next dungeon...
Miracle Sea: The enemies are getting harder and it becomes more annoying to see enemies having enough IQ to occasionally counter the damage you do to them. Miracle Sea doesn't help matters by having you do 18 floors before you encounter a checkpoint. As for the boss...it counters, too, but it didn't trigger a lot, and it went down fairly quickly. Still, at this point you can tell the game is getting much harder (though really it has since you set out for the Hidden Land...).
Shaymin Village/Sky Peak: I won't talk much about this dungeon...but I'll just say that this one was my hardest yet. Usually one trap going off about every two floors, and I started encountering Monster Houses a little more often. The midway boss battle wasn't tough, but man was I unprepared for the Muk and Grimer battle. This battle made the guild graduation battle look like a tutorial battle. Stun Seeds are a must, and the enemies are capable of defeating Shaymin in one attack, so you must act quickly to keep Shaymin safe. It also goes without saying that you should not only get poisoned, but be overwhelmed by the stench so you cannot heal or attack either. Good thing Team Frontier was here...this battle made Roar of Time from Dialga look like not a bad issue to deal with.
Blizzard Island: This can be a rough place, with its numerous traps and lack of food, plus on some floors the Ice types get fast. Things went well for me until floor 19 where Munchlax was taken out in a small group of enemies. However, this was not an instant loss for me and I decided to just high tail out of the room. Found the stairs shortly afterwards, and I found the floor 20 stairs in the room next to the one I spawn in.
Crevice Cave: More of the same like at Blizzard Island, but this time an Altaria spammed Pluck and ate all of the Oran Berries I brought with me. I suppose that is something worth restarting a run for, since it happened on floor 2, but I chose to continue. Other than a Piloswine using Endure and then spamming Earthquake, the rest of the dungeon was uneventful. As for the boss...I did fling a Doom Seed at the boss since I had one, but I think even if the boss had stayed at level 41, it could not have done much, since Marill resists Ice. Easiest post-credits boss by far
Surrounded Sea: Was uneventful except for floor 19 where twice the Pokemon countered me for the full damage I did to them, so Marill quickly was in the critical health area. Fortunately the next floor was the floor with the end of dungeon prizes, including the Wonder Egg. This, of course, sets up some events leading to the next dungeon...
Miracle Sea: The enemies are getting harder and it becomes more annoying to see enemies having enough IQ to occasionally counter the damage you do to them. Miracle Sea doesn't help matters by having you do 18 floors before you encounter a checkpoint. As for the boss...it counters, too, but it didn't trigger a lot, and it went down fairly quickly. Still, at this point you can tell the game is getting much harder (though really it has since you set out for the Hidden Land...).
Final Part (Aegis Cave to Dark Crater)
Spoiler:
Aegis Cave: The dungeon itself is actually very easy, but you have a very time-consuming quest this dungeon of getting certain Unown stones in order to progress. I found it was easier to get certain Unown to appear more often by proceeding, or else you will constantly get C, E, and I Unowns since the game wants to make sure you do not not miss out on the first few stones you need to progress. The Regitrio bosses were easy, and Regigigas also was somewhat easy since Team Charm actually is quite the support with Healing Wish. At the end Regigigas did unleash a very souped up Revenge, which Munchlax, acting as the Bodyguard, took...and it was 999 damage due to how much Regigigas got attacked. Yeah...but good thing I didn't need to have him around to finish this.
Mt. Travail: Whenever I enter this area, I always feel disgusted entering here, and it's that way for a reason: this area has a fairly high trap encounter rate and some enemies that will cause you trouble, not to mention the enemies do have some decent IQ. Be wary about entering rooms with enemies that have room clearing moves. As for my attempts...
First Attempt: Encountered a Monster House on 15F, proceeded to get Baton Passed into the room and have a Fearow spamming Agility, allowing the enemies in the room to take an EXTRA turn each time that Fearow moved. Munchlax bit the dust while defending me, and that was it for that attempt.
Second Attempt: Ledian spammed Silver Wind in a room I spawned in on 17F. I got knocked out after Ledian got buffed as much as the ability could give it (4x speed and all those other buffs).
Third Attempt: Cleared the dungeon.
The Nightmare: 17 long floors...only interesting thing that happened was spawning in a room with five enemies already in it, two of them being Wynaut and Wobbufet. Destiny Bond is pretty much a counter move, so that was interesting to get out of, but I managed. A little easier than Mt. Travail.
Spacial Rift: For numerous reasons, this is actually my favorite area in the game. The trap density is a little low, and the enemies, at least to my knowledge, don't have the IQ stats that the previous dungeons did. Even though this dungeon does take a while, and some floors can be long, I didn't have too much trouble in this area. The boss ended up being much easier than I expected, opting to eat an Oran Berry at the end just in case, but the boss went down the turn after. Dialga proved much more of a challenge than Palkia...
Dark Crater: What a finale this was. I encountered a Monster House on my first attempt, which ended horribly as soon as Yawn was used on me. The second attempt brought me all the way to Darkrai, after completing all 29 floors of the dungeon. The traps in the dungeon were a tad more plentiful, but not the worst story map for them. The enemies ranged from being easy to making me nervous about fighting them due to their IQ skills, which have been raised or restored compared to the ones from Spacial Rift. Again, Stun Seeds were a big help against Darkrai and his allies, although an important thing to note is that Darkrai is immune to the effects of a Hunger Seed. I brought along two Reviver Seeds, although only one was needed after Cresselia was OHKOED by Darkrai prior to the both of them spamming Double Team. The other times we got close on health, I had Oran Berries to help out. What made this battle tricky was that almost every turn someone went to sleep, they lost health due to Darkrai. Darkrai itself actually didn't have a lot of health, but it was not uncommon to see regular attacks blocked by Intimidator. In the end, Munchlax was the one to deal the final blow.
Mt. Travail: Whenever I enter this area, I always feel disgusted entering here, and it's that way for a reason: this area has a fairly high trap encounter rate and some enemies that will cause you trouble, not to mention the enemies do have some decent IQ. Be wary about entering rooms with enemies that have room clearing moves. As for my attempts...
First Attempt: Encountered a Monster House on 15F, proceeded to get Baton Passed into the room and have a Fearow spamming Agility, allowing the enemies in the room to take an EXTRA turn each time that Fearow moved. Munchlax bit the dust while defending me, and that was it for that attempt.
Second Attempt: Ledian spammed Silver Wind in a room I spawned in on 17F. I got knocked out after Ledian got buffed as much as the ability could give it (4x speed and all those other buffs).
Third Attempt: Cleared the dungeon.
The Nightmare: 17 long floors...only interesting thing that happened was spawning in a room with five enemies already in it, two of them being Wynaut and Wobbufet. Destiny Bond is pretty much a counter move, so that was interesting to get out of, but I managed. A little easier than Mt. Travail.
Spacial Rift: For numerous reasons, this is actually my favorite area in the game. The trap density is a little low, and the enemies, at least to my knowledge, don't have the IQ stats that the previous dungeons did. Even though this dungeon does take a while, and some floors can be long, I didn't have too much trouble in this area. The boss ended up being much easier than I expected, opting to eat an Oran Berry at the end just in case, but the boss went down the turn after. Dialga proved much more of a challenge than Palkia...
Dark Crater: What a finale this was. I encountered a Monster House on my first attempt, which ended horribly as soon as Yawn was used on me. The second attempt brought me all the way to Darkrai, after completing all 29 floors of the dungeon. The traps in the dungeon were a tad more plentiful, but not the worst story map for them. The enemies ranged from being easy to making me nervous about fighting them due to their IQ skills, which have been raised or restored compared to the ones from Spacial Rift. Again, Stun Seeds were a big help against Darkrai and his allies, although an important thing to note is that Darkrai is immune to the effects of a Hunger Seed. I brought along two Reviver Seeds, although only one was needed after Cresselia was OHKOED by Darkrai prior to the both of them spamming Double Team. The other times we got close on health, I had Oran Berries to help out. What made this battle tricky was that almost every turn someone went to sleep, they lost health due to Darkrai. Darkrai itself actually didn't have a lot of health, but it was not uncommon to see regular attacks blocked by Intimidator. In the end, Munchlax was the one to deal the final blow.
The post below details my thoughts about this challenge and serves as my conclusion to the run.
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