6th Gen Pokemon X Rediscovery: A Quest Log with thoughts...

[Melody]

Recently I decided that I would replay Pokemon X; after hearing a mountain of criticisms of it. While it is true that I do agree with some criticisms; I wanted to spend some time exploring Kalos myself once again to see if I could capture the magic of it as I did once before when it was once new. These are the re-tellings of my exploits thus far.

This run through of Pokemon X is not intended to be strictly a Challenge run. However I may make choices and introduce or subtract challenge elements of play if I find the game too easy or hard accordingly.
Challenge elements may not always be hard and fast rules, and I may bend them some if the difficulty rises above a level where I stop having fun. These moments will be documented as Reversions, as in Reverting to Normal Play.

As of this point the following challenge guidelines are in play:

I'm playing with the intention of avoiding making too many team switch outs. I define this as, after reaching a point where I have a full party of 6, visiting the PC and benching a party member in exchange for another Pokemon I have captured with the intention of Using it in an 'Official' Battle.

Official Battles are usually Gym Battles, Gym Trainer Battles or Storyline battles required to progress through the game. Switching team members to clear terrain (HM Slaves) or overpowered trainers preventing progress is allowed, but discouraged if grinding is not going to be considered excessive. Not all "Official Battles" are predictable however for the sake of this playthrough but 'Unofficial' Pokemon such as 'Trainees' 'HM Slaves' or 'Capture Aides' won't be counted in the Total. Wins acquired with these unofficial members will instead count towards the 'Unofficial Win' total, and Gym Leader battles shouldn't be conducted if we know we can switch team to be official. It is OK to switch the team lineup to train a potential new member as a 'Trainee'

It is considered OK to make a substitution if a newly captured Pokemon has double the level of the team member it's replacing. It may be trained up to this level as an unofficial 'trainee' if it's only a few levels shy of this. But try not to add too much training to the load. Unnecessary Grinding is dull, should be within an achievable 5 or 10 levels ideally.

We start our Journey a little later than normal; I have Pre-played through the opening of the game to skip some of the more dull parts. I may skip some parts that are dull. Logs are mostly going to be in "Trainer's Voice" with a diary sort of vibe. Battles in this first update aren't counted or scored; they're the "Preface"

My Name is Melody and I'm a newly minted Pokemon trainer. Fennekin seemed cute and bold, so I chose him, his name is 'Fina'. I easily defeated Shauna, my friend in our first battle and progressed through the Forest where I captured a cute little Panpour who I named Squirt. He's a little lax, but after a little training he seems dependable :3

I proceeded to Route 3 where a little walk netted me a Gentle little Fletchling; I named him 'Flutterguy'. He'll be a dependable little Flier when he grows up, I just know it~ :3

We proceeded through Route 3; training up the team so far and Squirt really shined. I didn't think Fina needed much training at this point; so we proceeded to Santalune City and rested up at the Pokemon Center. Then I explored the city a little and went shopping a little ehe. I now have a cute new hat and pin~ :3 I hope I didn't spend too much

I returned through Route 3 through the forest where I met a cute and modest little Pansear, who I had to have! I named him Flare. We proceeded through the forest training up Flare and Flutterguy, on our way to Aquacorde and Route 2, for gentler opponents for Flutterguy, who is a little weaker than Route 3 offers in opponents. I don't want him to struggle too much. We train up Flutterguy a bit on Route 2, I think he can handle some encounters in the forest now~

I return to Santalune City and explore some more. I defeat this skater girl to earn some skates and entry into the gym. I expected this would be easy with Fina and being a Bug type Gym...the Gym Trainer I challenged seemed easy enough. Upon challenging the Leader however I discover her Surskit is a water type. Oops. Ehehe. Poor Fina. ;~;

The leader wipes my team out 1-0 She had 2 and I had 4 in my team. Embarrassing. X3
I guess that means I need to do some more training, her team was a tad stronger than I anticipated. Oh well, such as is the life of a new trainer. sigh. Now that I know what she has got; I can train better and come back prepared for the worst.

• L11: Fina (Fennekin) [progress-green=73]Training Progress to Level 15:[/progress-green]
• L8: Squirt (Panpour) [progress-yellow=53]Training Progress to Level 15:[/progress-yellow]
• L5: Flutterguy (Fletchling) [progress-red=33]Training Progress to Level 15:[/progress-red]
• L5: Flare (Pansear) [progress-red=33]Training Progress to Level 15:[/progress-red]

[progress-yellow=48]Overall Training Progress[/progress-yellow]

Next update will happen when I've completed my goal or perhaps in the next few days. Current Playtime 1:37

 

[Desert Stream~]

This sounds like a fun playthrough! Can't wait to see more. It's much more interesting when it has RP aspects.
Also I like those progress bars!

 

[Melody]

I continued my journey, training my Pokemon on Route 3 but then I realized that the team needed a better challenge. They weren't growing as fast as I thought! I did catch a cute little Azumarill, who I named 'Zuzie'. She's a bit rash though, so I'll put her away for now. Anyways I set off for greener grasses, and tried out Route 22! That worked out pretty well actually! Fina grew a bit more! Flare had a bit of trouble, I didn't think it but he was a little weaker than the rest. Whoops! I forgot he was caught later! Such a sweet little guy he is! :3 Nothing a quick trip back to Route 3 won't fix though, to get him up to speed with the rest of the group~

After a bit of training I decided to check out the gym further, thinking I'd walk in...no problem and challenge a few gym trainers and walk out and rest up before tackling Viola again! Oops. I forgot you drop into the web. Crap. Only way out is through I guess! ;~; I bet I can manage it though! I did what I was intending to do first anyways; clear out the other trainers! That'll prepare me for it!

Whew! Talk about a rough Gym! Viola wasn't holding back! But Fina and Squirt actually pulled through pretty respectibly! I love them! <3 But man, her Pokemon had some really annoying attributes! x3 Glad I was able to pull through that! :D

So I'm off to Lumiose now to show off my shiny new badge to the Professor!~ Alexa gave me the Exp Share! :D Yay! That'll make matters a little bit easier; especially with respect to levelling my team a bit more evenly!~ Route 4 was nice~ Well trimmed, cute, beautiful and even had some neat hedge mazes with some prizes~! I trained a little bit too~! :3 Got to Lumiose and met Sina and Dexio, they showed me to the lab, and I even caught up to the rest of my friends at the lab~ :3

So the Professor actually challenged me to a battle! :O Shocking right?! I thought he was a strict research nerd! But I did alright, I beat him without a problem!~ Surprised that he wasn't a better trainer, but maybe he was going easy on me. :3 He gave me a Sassy Bulbasaur! I'll name him 'Sauron'! :3 I definitely needed a grass type!~ Them water types would eat me alive otherwise ;~; Luckily he's Level 10, so I won't have to struggle to hard to train him up~ I also got a few things as well from the lab, and I taught the entire party Return. This move will hopefully be way better than their current Tackle/Scratch moves as I befriend them more! <3

So as I leave the lab, I run into this Lysandre fellow...he's kind of scary and imposing. I wonder what he wanted with the Professor? Oh well, probably just some Boring Adult Stuff, so none of my beeswax right now. So anyways I leave the lab and Calem invites me to a nearby Cafe!~ So I go along, probably just wants to talk about battling, but I don't mind~

Oh wow! Diantha! She's at the Cafe! Hah! Now I don't care how boring Calem's chat is~ It was so worth it~! But I ran into that strange Lysandre guy again. Man he seems so strange...but I guess he was just flirting with Diantha. Tch! Typical Guy. What a tool. After chatting with Diantha (<3) I decided I'd best continue onward.

I met with Korrina while leaving the City, she seemed nice~ :3 Then I met with Tierno and Trevor on Route 5, and they yammered on about hoardes of Pokemon and the Pokemon Daycare. Yay. Well I had better things to do so I continued on.

Tierno got itchy for a Battle, so I bopped him in battle easily. :3 YAY! Sauron evolved into an Ivysaur! <3 Well at least that wasn't a total waste! :D Onward to Camphrier Town! Got to Town and got an annoying Holo-Spam message. Ugh. That Lysandre really thinks he's someone special doesn't he? >_<. Moving on, I rested there and shopped for supplies. Gotta keep my cuties happy and healthy~! :3

Then I visited the castle, because this girl blocking the path insisted. Ugh, why is there always someone who thinks they can dictate how I explore Kalos? >_< I'm a good trainer, you don't need to block the path! Anyways, I visit the castle and find it's missing it's main feature. Oh boy. Come to find out, Snorlax decided to take a nap on the Bridge on Route 7. Great. Another roadblock. Well at least we can go to Parfum Palace and borrow that flute~!

Parfum Palace was a dull place though. After chasing this guy's Furfrou around the courtyard, we caught him! I even found the HM for Cut! But awwww! Shauna is such a sweetie~ :3 A little bonding with a girlfriend never hurt anything <3 :3 She's definitely a much more fun person than Calem. N-not that I hate Calem...J-just that he's got his own priorities.

So we take the flute to the bridge on Route 7, and we wake up Snorlax. It attacks me as per usual, and I try to catch it. Damn Luxury Balls are freaking worthless. Next time I'll not worry about them. They were absolutely useless. So I saunter by disappointed by the miss; but I did at least visit the Battle Chateau~ <3 I'm now a Baroness~ :3 I like it. Maybe later I'll visit there again and train a while, but I've got other things to do, so I proceed on.

Run into the whole gang of friends again, on the way to the caves. Tierno and Trevor are spoiling for a match so Calem (;3) and I actually team up and we thump them solidly. I double back and rest in Camphrier Town again, before going through the tunnels to Ambrette Town. I get stopped by Sina and Dexio, and they upgrade my Pokedex! Neat! Proceed down Route 8 and Flutterguy Evolved into Fletchinder~! YAY!~ <3

I arrive in Ambrette, and we take a rest, and I pick up a Rock Smash TM. Ugh. As usual Calem is going full tilt, so onward to the Lab we go, only to find the Assistant is off in Glittering Cave. Great. So we go to fetch him back. Typical Scientists. I find out however that the cave is inaccessible. Ugh! I can't walk on these jagged rocks in these cute shoes! But at least there's a Ryhorn to ride~ <3 I love riding Ryhorn, it's so comforting! Well...not as much as Mom does...but it is comforting and familiar. It reminds me of home. :3 So I sit back and let the Ryhorn plow it's way through several boulders for me and get me to smoother ground where my cute shoes won't be ruined! (I don't have any spare shoes right now, and I doubt any shoes would keep those shards from cutting my delicate feet to ribbons x3)

I get to the cave and stumble around inside, the tunnels are labrynthian, and I even see a Mawile! But darn, I hit it too hard. Poor thing. x3 It was cute though! Sadly I also happen across this goon dressed in a goofy red Jumpsuit. Ugh. Ugly. And he even thinks he's fashionable. Gross. Worse, he's trying to keep me from doing my job, so I thump him soundly and continue on, happening across a woman in a similar jumpsuit. Oh Ugh. They're in a team. Stupid thugs thinking they can tell me what to do! Thumped this one too, and then finally Calem catches up and we double team another pair of thugs and find the researcher digging cluelessly around the bend. UGH! He didn't even realize he was about to be mugged by those Flare Goons. What A total Space Case! >_<

At least he was nice enough to give us some Fossils, and offered to revive them! So I ditched the cave with an Escape Rope and settled in for a relaxing ryhorn ride back to town. A stop off at the Lab and the Sail Fossil turns into a cute Amaura! I'll name him Borealis! :3

Party is Full. Finally reached my goal! All party Members are now at least Level 15! :D (4:50) Fina, Borealis, Sauron, Flutterguy, Squirt and Flare are now my current team. The Adjustment Guideline now kicks into full swing!

[progress-yellow=61]Progress to Full Level 30 Party:[/progress-yellow]

 

[Melody]

So, after obtaining Borealis and all, I hit the gym in Cyllage City. Hard. Climbing the walls and clearing out trainers has never been so easy before; but I managed to do it! Oh! by the way, the boutique in Cyllage had this really cute halter top and short shorts! <3 I'm wearing those now and I feel like a trainer. Like seriously. I'm rocking my cute body in all the right places and I'm ready to get down and train with my cute team~! :3

But of course, after beating the pants and skirts off of the entire gym full of trainers; it just wasn't enough. Grant's team was significantly more powerful than I thought. So...I backed out gracefully. [Soft reset to save before challenging Leader] There was no way I was going to beat him with my team as it was then. So I hit the routes for training. I was ready! Route 10 was a godsend for the early part of the grind; as I gently caught up the sweet little ones who were weaker than the rest. I did catch two Eevee, Vee-chan and Vee-kun as well as a Snubbull that I named Snubbie~ I'll drop the Eevee pair off at the day care; I want some eggs I can trade later~ :3

Of course as time goes on, training on one route becomes pretty, you know...boring. So I traveled. Back. All the way to Camphrier. I figured the variety would not only help the training; but I decided that the Battle Maison might be a good way to sharpen my skills a bit easier. Of course, I'm a trainer, so no change of clothes needed. I want to still feel that connection while I train them. So I'll keep this sporty look for now, I kind of feel attached to it. I've never quite felt this happy with my body before and I'm enjoying the confidence it brings~ :3

So as I'm battling through the many trainers at the Maison; I'm climbing the ranks pretty rapidly, first to Viscountess, then Countess! :D The opponents are also growing stronger too; and that's a blessing. It's speeding my training up quite a bit! That's good; because I really need to beef up before taking on Grant. Urk. Not looking forward to that battle actually...he's got some team. But as my cuties start to grow and gain confidence in their own abilities, so too do I! <3 I'm hoping that everything will be all well. I've been at the Maison for several days now and it hasn't been that much easier than training in the grasses of route 10. But at least the money payouts are amazing! I'm gonna go shopping after I get that badge! Yay! :3

I finally reach a point that I feel confident in my training, and so I pack up my bags and leave for Camphrier to rest up before running all the way back back to Cyllage. Finally, I feel ready! Fina and the team are all positively brimming with energy and excitement! I love them so much! I can feel it; they're ready to take on the Gym Leader now! So am I! So we travel back, resting in a few spots along the way before finally arriving at the gym. The wall climbs to the Gym Leader's ring are exhausting, yet invigorating! I'm certainly better dressed for this than I was before, I almost ripped my skirt several times then! ;~; So I climb. And climb and climb. Finally I reach him. He stands there, looking perfect and unruffled. God. I wonder how he does his hair like that. Probably cheats and uses an elevator to get up here.

But I'm ready now. I challenge him and my training has paid off admirably! Sauron and Fina finish it pretty easily; of course he did put up a good fight though. So now the Cliff Badge is all mine! <3 Yay! <3 Squees and dancing around like a little girl can't even describe how happy I am. So I climb and slide down, and we all retire finally to the center. Bright and early next morning though I strike out onto route 10, nothing too new, it's a really pretty route with lots of strange stones everywhere~

Oh ugh. Great. Who invited those Team Flare Goons here? Fine. I thump the grunts blocking my path soundly in battle and continue on. The nerve of this team! I'm trying to have an adventure here! Bug heck off! Of course I arrive in Geosenge town and they're still up to shenanigans. I thump a few more goons and meet with Calem (<3) who seems to think they've slipped away. Oh well; I guess I'll move on. I bump into Korrina on the way out of Geosenge; and this time she wants a battle. So I oblige; and win. Not surprising; those Lucario are no more powerful than Grant's pokemon were, and Fina is Fire type.

At least Reflection Cave is neat; if a bit labyrinthine. So I break out the Repels and wander around until I make it through. Several trainers thought it was smart to hinder me, hint; it really isn't, and got their just deserts for it. I soon arrive in Shalour City, home of Korrina's Gym and the Tower of Mastery. Apparently the Professor wants me to talk to this guru about Mega Evolution, so I guess I'll just take care of that right quick. Of course on the way in, I meet the rest of the gang and soon we're assembled before this Guru, who dutifully explains what Mega Evolution is.

Of course; only one of us gets to study this phenomenon. What a bummer. I'd give it over to Calem; but apparently Shauna, Tierno and Trevor have also all bowed out themselves, having their own reasons for not wishing to pursue this line of research. This leaves only me and Calem, and it looks like only a battle will resolve it. I...can see eagerness in his eyes. He's certainly competitive; but I can't pass this up either. Forgive me sweetie; but this time I'm not holding back. I make short work of Calem's team with Fina and Sauron. I feel bad sort of, I knew I sort of overleveled myself but not that much. Ah well, regardless I win and Calem sportingly cedes the honor to me. Thank goodness he didn't take it so badly x3. Of course they still aren't just going to hand me that stone. I apparently have to beat Korrina in her own Gym first. Go figure. I guess I'll go try to find the gym and take her on...Wish me luck guys~

I make my way to her Gym and skate around a while, knocking out the trainers which builds a path to her center ring. Since this gym is fighting type, I have no problems at all; and Fina evolves into a beautiful Delphox! <3 <3 <3

A few elegant wand waves later and Korrina is defeated and the Rumble Badge now mine. She asks me to return to the Tower of Mastery, and so I do just that. I was a bit baffled at first...but she was apologetic enough. Seems she wears more than just the hat of Gym Leader. So I climb up the tower of Mastery and she straps on the Mega Ring. I take a moment to admire it, and that other Lucario of hers that likes me now stands by my side. Aww. I want to just hug it so much~ <3 Seems it respects me quite a bit more than it does her. I can feel his power and his Aura resonating with mine strongly, He wants to battle with the other Lucario. So we battle one on one, just Lucario vs Lucario. Of course by a quirk of luck we lose. But he doesn't seem upset by this. At the conclusion of the battle, Caro just looks me in the eyes and I can't say no. I will take him with me now. [Storyline Substitution; exempt from guidelines. Flare is now Benched.] We retire finally to the Pokemon center for a well deserved rest. I'm looking forward to experimenting with this Mega Evolution. :3

Updates from here on in will be from time to time; depending on how long it takes for me to complete enough to write about.

[progress-red=38]Progress to the Pokemon League (3/8 Badges)[/progress-red]

 

[UltimateUmbreon]

I'm quite enjoying reading your entries, I think this is a great way to go through the games. Really fun, immersive, and engaged in the game. Based on your initial impressions, do you think you might do this as you go through sun/moon as well?

 

[Melody]

A small update: I have progressed more quickly through the game than I can write. I have also been busy in taking care of a family member recently; I will aim to get another entry out soon to bring things to speed.