PHEW
Current rules:
-Your Pokémon cannot evolve during this segment.
-If you used Water-type Pokémon in any of the previous segments, you can only use Pokémon caught during this segment. Otherwise, you can't use TMs for the rest of the game.
-You can only use Grass and Normal-types for the next segment (global rule).
-You can only use Fighting and Fairy-types for the next segment, or in alternative, only Normal-types (global rule).
-You have to put at least one Flying-type Pokémon on your team for this segment.
- You must use Explosion or its variations at least once during each segment's final battle (if you have no way to have a Pokémon of yours learn these moves, you can ignore this rule).
- You have to put a Fairy-type Pokémon (or Pokémon that turns into a Fairy-type in later gens) on your team until the end of the game. It has to use Explosion or any of its variants (or if it can't learn any, then it has to use the strongest attack it currently knows) in each Gym Battle. It's not affected by any other rule.
- As long as you have a Grass-type Pokémon on your team, all Sinnoh Pokémon are unaffected by Global Rules.
-You have to put at least one Dark-type Pokémon on your team for this segment.
- At the end of your next segment, you can permanently box / release up to 4 Pokémon who battled against the last Gym leader / Kahuna / Captain you faced and obtain 10 Challenge Points for each.
-You can only use White and Black Pokémon during this segment. If you can't, you have to use Gray Pokémon during this segment.
- Consider the number of badges you own: subtract 3 from that number, then consider all the areas of the game that are accessible to you if you still were at that number of badges. You can only use Pokémon you can find in those areas, or their evolutions.
- As long as you have at least 100 000 Poké Dollars, any Pokémon that knows HP-draining moves is unaffected by any of your rules.
I DID IT I finished the run unlike last year :)
It turns out I assembled a pretty meh team to go into this final segment, but I managed, mostly because of some Pokémon just being very good on their own right. Oops. Team plasma was mostly fine, Colress didn't give me any particular issue, but some luck was needed to get past Kyurem-White with no problems. And here's the thing - if things go right, Lucario destroys it easily. If things go wrong, your whole team dies. Guess that's what happens when you're trying to finish a challenge and you're so massively underleveled
Ghetsis was yet another instance of this, but Lucario pulled through once again. This led me through a relatively uneventful Route 23 and Victory Road (never thought I'd say that, but that's what happens when you speedrun stuff I guess). Once I got to the league I did some basic shard hunting to give my Pokémon some semi-decent moves from tutors (can't use TMs...) and just went for it with a lot of healing items. Nothing says I can't use them right? Well my conscience does but... I'll be fine this time.
I started with Marshal, who was kind enough to let my Claydol (the new bomb) set up a bunch of Cosmic Powers. With some decent potion spam, it got to a point where there was nothing he could do, as Claydol (slowly) proceeded to Extrasensory everything in sight. First Elite 4 down and possibly the only good moment for Claydol!
Caitlin was swept in similarly unfair ways by Zoroark, who can still trick the AI just like that time I did the Ultra Moon challenge thing... I mean of course, that game is more recent than White 2 anyways. Only at the end I had Eelektross (yess) come in to finish off Gothitelle, who managed to survive a Night Slash in the red.
Shauntal was fun. That was another Zoroark sweep if not for the last Pokémon, Chandelure, which was just fast enough and bulky enough to stop the threat and run through the rest of my team. I should've played it better and just paralyzed it with Whimsicott but I made a bunch of rushed decisions and by the end of it, my team was completely wiped out if not for the fact that I revived Zoroark just in time. It came in, was fast enough, and finished off Chandelure.
Grimsley wasn't that bad. Lucario did most of the work, with Swanna and Whimsicott sort of handling Krookodile. It's always fun to have Inner Focus because the AI just does not think about it and so was the case with the lead Liepard. :)
Iris... well. She starts with Hydreigon, against which I have to try and fulfill my rules. Things go well because I lead Whimsicott, use Stun Spore immediately, then proceed to hit two Hurricanes (now my strongest move) before fainting. I think I've done enough damage for Claydol to come in and use Self-Destruct for the KO... which happens, fulfilling another rule, but no KO. Actually, that's the perfect Full Restore range. I scramble around with my team until I can paralyze Hydreigon again and use Lucario to finish her off. Druddigon comes in and I'm kind of lost again. I try to read a switch but nope, Swanna gets decimated by Rock Slide. I once again have to use Lucario, who now knows Ice Punch, to deal with Iris's Pokémon. Third is Aggron, against which I have a decent check in Eelektross. With some healing and Drain Punch spam (another tutor move), Aggron goes down. Haxorus is next actually, and I have to be careful around Dragon Dance, but I am able to get off a Stun Spore from Whimsicott, who I revived in the meantime, as well as another Hurricane for good measure. Then it's time for Lucario to use tutored Ice Punch and hope for the best - finally Haxorus is down. Lapras only takes one Close Combat, but that left me vulnerable to Archeops's Acrobatics, and Lucario goes down too. At that point I only had like, Zoroark alive, which I sent in just as sacrifice so that I can try to revive Lucario. I should've probably tried to paralyze Archeops with Whimsicott instead, because Lucario is still kinda frail, but... the stars align, because Lucario survives an Acrobatics on 6 HP and hits back with Ice Punch right into Defeatist range. Iris is apparently without any more healing items, so I can heal Lucario and attack again to ensure victory.
I have to say, Lucario was really what got me this far. It's a great, versatile Pokémon that you can get at the start of the game and with some very useful typing, especially for this game. It's unsurprising that in my first playthrough of this game when I was still a pre-teen I had Terrakion carry me through most of the League and beyond - and Lucario is just a less powerful version of that in a way or another. Zoroark was also pretty good but without TMs it really turns more one-dimensional, like a buffed Mightyena I guess.
Whimsicott was pretty nice, I generally like having Grass-types around, but once again it felt a bit one-dimensional as a Pokémon (especially if I think about this Pokémon now). It's that I had to use it as my "Fairy" Pokémon for the challenge, but otherwise I could've probably swapped it for a different Grass-type. Swanna was more useful before the League and almost never appeared in the Elite 4 and Champion fights but I think the reason is more like... stats aren't that good by themselves - this Pokémon just doesn't work well at a level disadvantage.
Claydol and Eelektross were just painfully slow and, being new recruits, didn't really have the EVs that make your Pokémon (usually) hit pretty hard during a normal run. Those are Pokémon I'm kind of interested in because I never really used themand also for roleplay reasons, Hikaru will likely use them - if you know you know but they're just not great in game... and Eelektross especially really suffered from the no TMs rule. I'm also negatively surprised by their bulk... maybe it's another EV or level problem but they were just not taking attacks that well. This meant my strategy eventually turned into slowing the opponent down with paralysis or using Tailwind with Swanna... and then using glass cannons to hopefully get through battles quickly, something that I think I could've done MUCH better with a different set of Pokémon. But oh well, we gave these Pokémon a try :catlove:
I sacrifice everyone but Lucario and Zoroark since they were good bois and get some more points for team klinks
My team now:
-Swanna, lv. 41 - from driftveil drawbridge
-- Fly, Surf, Tailwind, Rain Dance
-Claydol, lv. 26 - from volcarona's room in relic castle
-- Cosmic Power, Self-Destruct, Earth Power, Extrasensory
-Whimsicott, lv. 53 - from route 4 (trade)
-- Hurricane, Stun Spore, Giga Drain, Energy Ball
-Eelektross, lv. 55! - from chargestone cave, lowest floor (so you need badge 5 but 8-3=5)
-- Drain Punch, Thunderbolt, Crunch, Thunder Wave
- Zoroark, lv. 48 - N's Pokémon from Driftveil
-- Night Slash, Foul Play, Taunt, U-Turn
- Lucario, lv. 42 - from floccesy ranch
-- Ice Punch, Close Combat, Aura Sphere, Swords Dance
Here's the hall of fame records (from the in game PC):
Current rules:
-
-
-
-
-
- You must use Explosion or its variations at least once during each segment's final battle (if you have no way to have a Pokémon of yours learn these moves, you can ignore this rule).
- You have to put a Fairy-type Pokémon (or Pokémon that turns into a Fairy-type in later gens) on your team until the end of the game. It has to use Explosion or any of its variants (or if it can't learn any, then it has to use the strongest attack it currently knows) in each Gym Battle. It's not affected by any other rule.
- As long as you have a Grass-type Pokémon on your team, all Sinnoh Pokémon are unaffected by Global Rules.
-
- At the end of your next segment, you can permanently box / release up to 4 Pokémon who battled against the last Gym leader / Kahuna / Captain you faced and obtain 10 Challenge Points for each.
-
- Consider the number of badges you own: subtract 3 from that number, then consider all the areas of the game that are accessible to you if you still were at that number of badges. You can only use Pokémon you can find in those areas, or their evolutions.
- As long as you have at least 100 000 Poké Dollars, any Pokémon that knows HP-draining moves is unaffected by any of your rules.
I DID IT I finished the run unlike last year :)
It turns out I assembled a pretty meh team to go into this final segment, but I managed, mostly because of some Pokémon just being very good on their own right. Oops. Team plasma was mostly fine, Colress didn't give me any particular issue, but some luck was needed to get past Kyurem-White with no problems. And here's the thing - if things go right, Lucario destroys it easily. If things go wrong, your whole team dies. Guess that's what happens when you're trying to finish a challenge and you're so massively underleveled
Ghetsis was yet another instance of this, but Lucario pulled through once again. This led me through a relatively uneventful Route 23 and Victory Road (never thought I'd say that, but that's what happens when you speedrun stuff I guess). Once I got to the league I did some basic shard hunting to give my Pokémon some semi-decent moves from tutors (can't use TMs...) and just went for it with a lot of healing items. Nothing says I can't use them right? Well my conscience does but... I'll be fine this time.
I started with Marshal, who was kind enough to let my Claydol (the new bomb) set up a bunch of Cosmic Powers. With some decent potion spam, it got to a point where there was nothing he could do, as Claydol (slowly) proceeded to Extrasensory everything in sight. First Elite 4 down and possibly the only good moment for Claydol!
Caitlin was swept in similarly unfair ways by Zoroark, who can still trick the AI just like that time I did the Ultra Moon challenge thing... I mean of course, that game is more recent than White 2 anyways. Only at the end I had Eelektross (yess) come in to finish off Gothitelle, who managed to survive a Night Slash in the red.
Shauntal was fun. That was another Zoroark sweep if not for the last Pokémon, Chandelure, which was just fast enough and bulky enough to stop the threat and run through the rest of my team. I should've played it better and just paralyzed it with Whimsicott but I made a bunch of rushed decisions and by the end of it, my team was completely wiped out if not for the fact that I revived Zoroark just in time. It came in, was fast enough, and finished off Chandelure.
Grimsley wasn't that bad. Lucario did most of the work, with Swanna and Whimsicott sort of handling Krookodile. It's always fun to have Inner Focus because the AI just does not think about it and so was the case with the lead Liepard. :)
Iris... well. She starts with Hydreigon, against which I have to try and fulfill my rules. Things go well because I lead Whimsicott, use Stun Spore immediately, then proceed to hit two Hurricanes (now my strongest move) before fainting. I think I've done enough damage for Claydol to come in and use Self-Destruct for the KO... which happens, fulfilling another rule, but no KO. Actually, that's the perfect Full Restore range. I scramble around with my team until I can paralyze Hydreigon again and use Lucario to finish her off. Druddigon comes in and I'm kind of lost again. I try to read a switch but nope, Swanna gets decimated by Rock Slide. I once again have to use Lucario, who now knows Ice Punch, to deal with Iris's Pokémon. Third is Aggron, against which I have a decent check in Eelektross. With some healing and Drain Punch spam (another tutor move), Aggron goes down. Haxorus is next actually, and I have to be careful around Dragon Dance, but I am able to get off a Stun Spore from Whimsicott, who I revived in the meantime, as well as another Hurricane for good measure. Then it's time for Lucario to use tutored Ice Punch and hope for the best - finally Haxorus is down. Lapras only takes one Close Combat, but that left me vulnerable to Archeops's Acrobatics, and Lucario goes down too. At that point I only had like, Zoroark alive, which I sent in just as sacrifice so that I can try to revive Lucario. I should've probably tried to paralyze Archeops with Whimsicott instead, because Lucario is still kinda frail, but... the stars align, because Lucario survives an Acrobatics on 6 HP and hits back with Ice Punch right into Defeatist range. Iris is apparently without any more healing items, so I can heal Lucario and attack again to ensure victory.
I have to say, Lucario was really what got me this far. It's a great, versatile Pokémon that you can get at the start of the game and with some very useful typing, especially for this game. It's unsurprising that in my first playthrough of this game when I was still a pre-teen I had Terrakion carry me through most of the League and beyond - and Lucario is just a less powerful version of that in a way or another. Zoroark was also pretty good but without TMs it really turns more one-dimensional, like a buffed Mightyena I guess.
Whimsicott was pretty nice, I generally like having Grass-types around, but once again it felt a bit one-dimensional as a Pokémon (especially if I think about this Pokémon now). It's that I had to use it as my "Fairy" Pokémon for the challenge, but otherwise I could've probably swapped it for a different Grass-type. Swanna was more useful before the League and almost never appeared in the Elite 4 and Champion fights but I think the reason is more like... stats aren't that good by themselves - this Pokémon just doesn't work well at a level disadvantage.
Claydol and Eelektross were just painfully slow and, being new recruits, didn't really have the EVs that make your Pokémon (usually) hit pretty hard during a normal run. Those are Pokémon I'm kind of interested in because I never really used them
I sacrifice everyone but Lucario and Zoroark since they were good bois and get some more points for team klinks
My team now:
-
-- Fly, Surf, Tailwind, Rain Dance
-
-- Cosmic Power, Self-Destruct, Earth Power, Extrasensory
-
-- Hurricane, Stun Spore, Giga Drain, Energy Ball
-
-- Drain Punch, Thunderbolt, Crunch, Thunder Wave
- Zoroark, lv. 48 - N's Pokémon from Driftveil
-- Night Slash, Foul Play, Taunt, U-Turn
- Lucario, lv. 42 - from floccesy ranch
-- Ice Punch, Close Combat, Aura Sphere, Swords Dance
Here's the hall of fame records (from the in game PC):
