FactoriesFarAway
Youngster
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- Posts
- 5
- Years
- Age 27
- UK
- Seen Feb 2, 2024
Ruby Bug Monotype – Introduction/Analysis
Ruby Bug Monotype – Part 1 – Badge 1/8
Ruby Bug Monotype – Part 2 – Badge 2/8
Ruby Bug Monotype – Part 3 – Badge 3/8
I went back to Slateport to head for Mauville Town. I had a feeling the rival fight would be really difficult, but Beautifly had a pretty easy job dealing with all his mons due to Combusken being half Fighting type and having a weakness to Flying.
I reached Mauville, and it was now time to search for Volbeat. Oh boy! I found Illumise and caught it for the sake of having it, but do not intend to actually use it. I taught Morning Sun to Beautifly over Harden, and Mega Drain over Absorb.
After lots and lots of encounter grinding, I finally found Volbeat, who I named Louie. Since I named the Illumise Louise. Now that I had him, I was ready to grind levels on the other trainers. Volbeat having Moonlight and Beautifly having Morning Sun saved a lot of potions. Volbeat seemed to hit incredibly hard for its level and for this point in the game too. I taught him Quick Attack over Tackle.
I grinded Nincada to level 20 on wild mons. I really wanted it to evolve before Wattson. It also learnt a bunch of new moves, so I just decided to post a screenshot.
This little guy is the main reason I wanted to get Nincada to level 20. I might be able to deal with Wattson via stalling him with Shedinja, assuming he can't hit me.
Wally in front of the gym was obviously a total joke, and the gym trainers were fairly easy but Wattson… I needed to grind before fighting him. Again. Or devise a strategy.
And the only strategy I could come up with was to Double Team 6 times, Screech Magnemite 3 times and then spam Fury Cutter with Shedinja. And it worked surprisingly well. I didn't even have to use any items. What should've been an infuriatingly difficult battle was not that bad with evasion hax. I get the feeling this may be a recurring theme… Whilst I thought Wattson was difficult, I completely forgot what was next… Flannery.
TEAM SO FAR
Sk8r Grl (Masquerain) ♀ Lv 25
Nature: Jolly (bad nature lol)
Moves:
-Bubble
-Quick Attack
-Sweet Scent
-Water Sport
Monarch (Beautifly) ♂ Lv 24
Nature: Calm
Moves:
-Gust
-Mega Drain
-Morning Sun
-Stun Spore
Sakura (Nincada) ♀ Lv 20
Nature: Lax
Moves:
-Scratch
-Double Team
-Fury Cutter
-Screech
Shedinja Lv 21
Nature: Lax
-Scratch
-Double Team
-Fury Cutter
-Screech
Louie (Volbeat) ♂ Lv 17
Nature: Quiet
Moves:
-Quick Attack
-Confuse Ray
-Double Team
-Moonlight
Zigzagoon (to be HM Slave) ♀ Lv 6
Nature: Rash
Moves:
-Tackle
-Growl
-Tail Whip
-Cut
Ruby Bug Monotype – Part 4 – Badge 4/8
Ruby Bug Monotype – Part 5 – Badge 5/8
Ruby Bug Monotype – Part 6 – Badge 6/8
Ruby Bug Monotype – Part 7 – Badge 7/8
Ruby Bug Monotype – Part 8 – Badge 8/8 + Elite 4 (END)
Ruby Bug Monotype FIN!
Spoiler:
For the first part of this challenge, I'm actually going to discuss potential party members, as unlike Kanto, Hoenn presents us with a decent array of Bug types to choose from. I'll talk through them one at a time, then say which ones I'll be using at the end. I'm not including ones from other generations (such as Heracross) which are in this region's dex, as I want to stick strictly to Pokemon introduced in generation III. There's 8 Pokemon that fit my criteria overall, and I can obviously only choose 6 for my party.
Armaldo is one that I definitely want to pick up. It's the strongest of the bunch statistically, and its good typing makes it durable against a lot of bugs common weaknesses. Its only real let downs in this generation is its lack of decent STAB until fairly late, as well as evolving late.
Beautifly is honestly pretty mediocre. Its stats are poor and it doesn't have a particularly strong level up moveset, although it not too bad. It has potential to decent if taught TMs, however.
Dustox has an even worse stat distribution than Beautifly, being on the tanky side and slow. It's not bulky enough to be a tank, nor is its type particularly great for the job. It has a similar learnset to Beautifly with worse stats to back it up. I personally do not think Dustox is worth using.
Ninjask has pretty good attack and is incredibly fast. Unfortunately, it doesn't learn any useful STAB moves in this generation, with the exception of Aerial Ace. Still, it has access to some decent physical TMs such as Dig, Shadow Ball and Return. It also learns Baton Pass, as well as Double Team and Swords Dance, and has the ability Speed Boost, meaning it can give some amazing stat boosts to its team mates.
Shedinja is really difficult to talk about. Its stats are downright terrible except for its attack, but it has the niche of not taking damage from anything but Super-Effective moves due to its ability, Wonder Guard. It learns STAB Shadow Ball through level up but otherwise, its movepool is a worse version of Ninjask's. I'm unsure whether or not Shedinja would be more of a nuisance than it's worth, or an interesting trump card to pull in certain situations given its ability.
It's hard not to see Masquerain as just a better Beautifly. Its stats are superior across the board except for in Attack and a tie in Special Attack. They have similar learnsets via TM, except Masquerain has access to Ice Beam and Water Pulse, which I think gives it a slight edge there too. Its level up movepool is far worse than Beautifly's however, and Beautifly's isn't particularly good to begin with.
Illumise is an all-rounder. Her stats are all fairly average with her attack being her only really bad stat, but none are very good either. Pokemon distributed like this tend to not be too good at anything. Illumise is the special attacking oriented one of the two fireflies. Its level up move pool is absolutely pitiable, and its only real niche against the other special attacking bugs is its access to Thunderbolt.
Volbeat has a similar stat distribution to Illumise, only more physical attack oriented. I think its physical orientation makes it by far the better of the two. It has access to STAB Signal Beam, which in this generation, is both physical and the strongest bug type move in the game aside from Megahorn. Its access to this makes up for a lot of its weaknesses in my opinion. Unfortunately, it's got a 1% encounter rate in the version I chose to play. Yippee.
In the end, after weighing up the good and bad, my choices were:
-Armaldo (fossil)
-Ninjask (Route 116)
-Volbeat (Route 117) (1% encounter rate)
-Masquerain (Route 102) (1% encounter rate)
-Beautifly (Route 101 with good enough luck, and if not, Petalburg as a Silcoon)
-Shedinja (Evolve Nincada with Pokeball in bag, has to be a Pokeball)
As you can see, this one will be much more grindy and RNG heavy than Leaf Green. Bless me with good RNG, game!
Armaldo is one that I definitely want to pick up. It's the strongest of the bunch statistically, and its good typing makes it durable against a lot of bugs common weaknesses. Its only real let downs in this generation is its lack of decent STAB until fairly late, as well as evolving late.
Beautifly is honestly pretty mediocre. Its stats are poor and it doesn't have a particularly strong level up moveset, although it not too bad. It has potential to decent if taught TMs, however.
Dustox has an even worse stat distribution than Beautifly, being on the tanky side and slow. It's not bulky enough to be a tank, nor is its type particularly great for the job. It has a similar learnset to Beautifly with worse stats to back it up. I personally do not think Dustox is worth using.
Ninjask has pretty good attack and is incredibly fast. Unfortunately, it doesn't learn any useful STAB moves in this generation, with the exception of Aerial Ace. Still, it has access to some decent physical TMs such as Dig, Shadow Ball and Return. It also learns Baton Pass, as well as Double Team and Swords Dance, and has the ability Speed Boost, meaning it can give some amazing stat boosts to its team mates.
Shedinja is really difficult to talk about. Its stats are downright terrible except for its attack, but it has the niche of not taking damage from anything but Super-Effective moves due to its ability, Wonder Guard. It learns STAB Shadow Ball through level up but otherwise, its movepool is a worse version of Ninjask's. I'm unsure whether or not Shedinja would be more of a nuisance than it's worth, or an interesting trump card to pull in certain situations given its ability.
It's hard not to see Masquerain as just a better Beautifly. Its stats are superior across the board except for in Attack and a tie in Special Attack. They have similar learnsets via TM, except Masquerain has access to Ice Beam and Water Pulse, which I think gives it a slight edge there too. Its level up movepool is far worse than Beautifly's however, and Beautifly's isn't particularly good to begin with.
Illumise is an all-rounder. Her stats are all fairly average with her attack being her only really bad stat, but none are very good either. Pokemon distributed like this tend to not be too good at anything. Illumise is the special attacking oriented one of the two fireflies. Its level up move pool is absolutely pitiable, and its only real niche against the other special attacking bugs is its access to Thunderbolt.
Volbeat has a similar stat distribution to Illumise, only more physical attack oriented. I think its physical orientation makes it by far the better of the two. It has access to STAB Signal Beam, which in this generation, is both physical and the strongest bug type move in the game aside from Megahorn. Its access to this makes up for a lot of its weaknesses in my opinion. Unfortunately, it's got a 1% encounter rate in the version I chose to play. Yippee.
In the end, after weighing up the good and bad, my choices were:
-Armaldo (fossil)
-Ninjask (Route 116)
-Volbeat (Route 117) (1% encounter rate)
-Masquerain (Route 102) (1% encounter rate)
-Beautifly (Route 101 with good enough luck, and if not, Petalburg as a Silcoon)
-Shedinja (Evolve Nincada with Pokeball in bag, has to be a Pokeball)
As you can see, this one will be much more grindy and RNG heavy than Leaf Green. Bless me with good RNG, game!
Ruby Bug Monotype – Part 1 – Badge 1/8
Spoiler:
Once again, I named my character Beetlia. I cannot name my rival in this game unfortunately, so Buggly will not appear here. I went through all the early game stuff, such as setting clock, talking to rival, etc, before picking my "starter".
Once again, I went with the grass starter, in this case Treecko, to make the rival harder. The rival in this game is nowhere near as present as in other Pokemon games and you barely fight him throughout most of the game. This will only make the early game more difficult.
The first rival battle, I had to get through with Treecko due to not having balls yet. Once this is done, I'll be able to catch my first bug, who, knowing my luck, will not evolve into the mon I want. Whether or not Wurmple evolves into Silcoon or Cascoon may as well be random.
Here's BlessRNG. He's named as such as we're hoping he evolves into a Silcoon. I boxed Treeko immediately upon catching him and stocked up on potions, as I knew grinding would be difficult given how low my level was. We're also looking for Surskit whilst grinding. Just an FYI before we continue, I'll be referring to Pokemon by their species name this time around, as I found it was confusing to refer to them by their nickname. I will continue this habit throughout my subsequent playthroughs.
Unfortunately, we did get a Cascoon. So I caught another Wurmple. I'm not screenshotting that, as it will basically be identical to my other catching Wurmple screenshot
I eventually did find Surskit, who I gave a completely obnoxious name. It has an awful ability, but I wasn't willing to grind for another with that 1% encounter rate. With this, I decided to abandon levelling up Wurmple, as the 50-50 chance is not worth the risk. I'd rather catch it as a Silcoon in Petalburg Woods instead.
I made my way through the trainers in Route 102, mostly using Surskit with a little help from Cascoon every so often. Surskit hit level 6 after this, and now it's time for Wally to teach us how to catch Pokemon, which in this game, is bizarrely late.
I finally get my Silcoon. He'll be fairly useless for a while as he'll only have Harden until level 10, unfortunately. Our third main party member will be coming up soon though, so I'll need more money for balls. Time to fight those trainers!
After fighting all of the trainers in Route 104, Surskit reached level 10, and I had enough money to shop for various healing items and half a dozen Pokeballs.
Nincada gets a weeb name because she's a ninja. I cleared out the trainers on route 116 and Roxanne's gym, and realised Surskit really was not high enough level to be dealing with Roxanne yet. So I grinded on route 116, and caught a Zigzagoon whilst doing so, as Pick-up is useful and Zig is a good early game HM slave.
I figured the only way to actually beat Roxanne would be to grind Surskit until it became Masquerain, as its Sp. Atk is doubled after evolution. Bubble just does not hit hard enough in itself. Luckily Zigzagoon picked up a rare candy making the process not quite as bad.
Even with the massive stat boost, Masquerain really struggled against Roxanne. I tried to fight her, saving before her, but reset when I realised it wasn't going to go well. I had Masquerain help grind Silcoon into Beautifly as well, giving my access to 2 super effective moves.
Even with all the grinding, Roxanne was still extremely difficult. Her Geodude was a total pushover, but her Nosepass seemed to take no damage and deal a lot back. She also kept healing it a ton. I managed to get it down to very low health with the help of both Masquerain and Beautifly, and Nincada finished it off.
After I finished off Roxanne, I deposited both Cascoon and Wurmple as they're not necessary anymore, and I need a spare slot on my party for later.
TEAM SO FAR
Sk8r Grl (Masquerain) ♀ Lv 22
Nature: Jolly (bad nature lol)
Moves:
-Bubble
-Quick Attack
-Sweet Scent
-Water Sport
Monarch (Beautifly) ♂ Lv 10
Nature: Calm
Moves:
-Harden
-Absorb
Sakura (Nincada) ♀ Lv 9
Nature: Lax
Moves:
-Scratch
-Harden
-Leech Life
-Sand-Attack
Zigzagoon (to be HM Slave) ♀ Lv 6
Nature: Rash
Moves:
-Tackle
-Growl
-Tail Whip
Once again, I went with the grass starter, in this case Treecko, to make the rival harder. The rival in this game is nowhere near as present as in other Pokemon games and you barely fight him throughout most of the game. This will only make the early game more difficult.
The first rival battle, I had to get through with Treecko due to not having balls yet. Once this is done, I'll be able to catch my first bug, who, knowing my luck, will not evolve into the mon I want. Whether or not Wurmple evolves into Silcoon or Cascoon may as well be random.
Here's BlessRNG. He's named as such as we're hoping he evolves into a Silcoon. I boxed Treeko immediately upon catching him and stocked up on potions, as I knew grinding would be difficult given how low my level was. We're also looking for Surskit whilst grinding. Just an FYI before we continue, I'll be referring to Pokemon by their species name this time around, as I found it was confusing to refer to them by their nickname. I will continue this habit throughout my subsequent playthroughs.
Unfortunately, we did get a Cascoon. So I caught another Wurmple. I'm not screenshotting that, as it will basically be identical to my other catching Wurmple screenshot
I eventually did find Surskit, who I gave a completely obnoxious name. It has an awful ability, but I wasn't willing to grind for another with that 1% encounter rate. With this, I decided to abandon levelling up Wurmple, as the 50-50 chance is not worth the risk. I'd rather catch it as a Silcoon in Petalburg Woods instead.
I made my way through the trainers in Route 102, mostly using Surskit with a little help from Cascoon every so often. Surskit hit level 6 after this, and now it's time for Wally to teach us how to catch Pokemon, which in this game, is bizarrely late.
I finally get my Silcoon. He'll be fairly useless for a while as he'll only have Harden until level 10, unfortunately. Our third main party member will be coming up soon though, so I'll need more money for balls. Time to fight those trainers!
After fighting all of the trainers in Route 104, Surskit reached level 10, and I had enough money to shop for various healing items and half a dozen Pokeballs.
Nincada gets a weeb name because she's a ninja. I cleared out the trainers on route 116 and Roxanne's gym, and realised Surskit really was not high enough level to be dealing with Roxanne yet. So I grinded on route 116, and caught a Zigzagoon whilst doing so, as Pick-up is useful and Zig is a good early game HM slave.
I figured the only way to actually beat Roxanne would be to grind Surskit until it became Masquerain, as its Sp. Atk is doubled after evolution. Bubble just does not hit hard enough in itself. Luckily Zigzagoon picked up a rare candy making the process not quite as bad.
Even with the massive stat boost, Masquerain really struggled against Roxanne. I tried to fight her, saving before her, but reset when I realised it wasn't going to go well. I had Masquerain help grind Silcoon into Beautifly as well, giving my access to 2 super effective moves.
Even with all the grinding, Roxanne was still extremely difficult. Her Geodude was a total pushover, but her Nosepass seemed to take no damage and deal a lot back. She also kept healing it a ton. I managed to get it down to very low health with the help of both Masquerain and Beautifly, and Nincada finished it off.
After I finished off Roxanne, I deposited both Cascoon and Wurmple as they're not necessary anymore, and I need a spare slot on my party for later.
TEAM SO FAR
Sk8r Grl (Masquerain) ♀ Lv 22
Nature: Jolly (bad nature lol)
Moves:
-Bubble
-Quick Attack
-Sweet Scent
-Water Sport
Monarch (Beautifly) ♂ Lv 10
Nature: Calm
Moves:
-Harden
-Absorb
Sakura (Nincada) ♀ Lv 9
Nature: Lax
Moves:
-Scratch
-Harden
-Leech Life
-Sand-Attack
Zigzagoon (to be HM Slave) ♀ Lv 6
Nature: Rash
Moves:
-Tackle
-Growl
-Tail Whip
Ruby Bug Monotype – Part 2 – Badge 2/8
Spoiler:
It was now time to get Peeko back from the Magma grunt, which was pretty easy with Nincada's Leech Life tackling it fairly well. I received the letter from the President of Devon Corp, and picked up Cut from the Cutmaster. I taught this to Zigzagoon, of course, and proceeded to go fight the trainers behind the cuttable tree on route 116. After that, I headed back down to Petalburg Woods, picking up a few items beyond the cuttable trees there, and then took the boat to Dewford Town.
I was in a position where beating Brawly wasn't really possible or a viable option at the moment due to how weak most of my moves were, despite the type resistance, so I went through Dewford Cave and gave the letter to Steven, giving me access to Slateport City instead.
I defeated the trainers on the beach of Slateport, and Beautifly learnt Gust which would be massively helpful for Brawly's gym. I also picked up the Soda Pops from the beach house, which are pretty good healing items for this point in the game.
I then spoke to Dock and entered the museum, where the Magma grunts weren't a problem at all, and picked up Thief.
I fought the trainers on Route 110 and the Trick House. After this, I felt I was high enough level to deal with Brawly's gym.
With Gust at my disposal now, both Brawly's gym trainers and Brawly were an absolute cakewalk. The next gym is the one that I'm worried about, however.
TEAM SO FAR
Sk8r Grl (Masquerain) ♀ Lv 23
Nature: Jolly (bad nature lol)
Moves:
-Bubble
-Quick Attack
-Sweet Scent
-Water Sport
Monarch (Beautifly) ♂ Lv 18
Nature: Calm
Moves:
-Gust
-Harden
-Absorb
-Stun Spore
Sakura (Nincada) ♀ Lv 15
Nature: Lax
Moves:
-Scratch
-Harden
-Leech Life
-Sand-Attack
Zigzagoon (to be HM Slave) ♀ Lv 6
Nature: Rash
Moves:
-Tackle
-Growl
-Tail Whip
-Cut
I was in a position where beating Brawly wasn't really possible or a viable option at the moment due to how weak most of my moves were, despite the type resistance, so I went through Dewford Cave and gave the letter to Steven, giving me access to Slateport City instead.
I defeated the trainers on the beach of Slateport, and Beautifly learnt Gust which would be massively helpful for Brawly's gym. I also picked up the Soda Pops from the beach house, which are pretty good healing items for this point in the game.
I then spoke to Dock and entered the museum, where the Magma grunts weren't a problem at all, and picked up Thief.
I fought the trainers on Route 110 and the Trick House. After this, I felt I was high enough level to deal with Brawly's gym.
With Gust at my disposal now, both Brawly's gym trainers and Brawly were an absolute cakewalk. The next gym is the one that I'm worried about, however.
TEAM SO FAR
Sk8r Grl (Masquerain) ♀ Lv 23
Nature: Jolly (bad nature lol)
Moves:
-Bubble
-Quick Attack
-Sweet Scent
-Water Sport
Monarch (Beautifly) ♂ Lv 18
Nature: Calm
Moves:
-Gust
-Harden
-Absorb
-Stun Spore
Sakura (Nincada) ♀ Lv 15
Nature: Lax
Moves:
-Scratch
-Harden
-Leech Life
-Sand-Attack
Zigzagoon (to be HM Slave) ♀ Lv 6
Nature: Rash
Moves:
-Tackle
-Growl
-Tail Whip
-Cut
Ruby Bug Monotype – Part 3 – Badge 3/8
Spoiler:
I went back to Slateport to head for Mauville Town. I had a feeling the rival fight would be really difficult, but Beautifly had a pretty easy job dealing with all his mons due to Combusken being half Fighting type and having a weakness to Flying.
I reached Mauville, and it was now time to search for Volbeat. Oh boy! I found Illumise and caught it for the sake of having it, but do not intend to actually use it. I taught Morning Sun to Beautifly over Harden, and Mega Drain over Absorb.
After lots and lots of encounter grinding, I finally found Volbeat, who I named Louie. Since I named the Illumise Louise. Now that I had him, I was ready to grind levels on the other trainers. Volbeat having Moonlight and Beautifly having Morning Sun saved a lot of potions. Volbeat seemed to hit incredibly hard for its level and for this point in the game too. I taught him Quick Attack over Tackle.
I grinded Nincada to level 20 on wild mons. I really wanted it to evolve before Wattson. It also learnt a bunch of new moves, so I just decided to post a screenshot.
This little guy is the main reason I wanted to get Nincada to level 20. I might be able to deal with Wattson via stalling him with Shedinja, assuming he can't hit me.
Wally in front of the gym was obviously a total joke, and the gym trainers were fairly easy but Wattson… I needed to grind before fighting him. Again. Or devise a strategy.
And the only strategy I could come up with was to Double Team 6 times, Screech Magnemite 3 times and then spam Fury Cutter with Shedinja. And it worked surprisingly well. I didn't even have to use any items. What should've been an infuriatingly difficult battle was not that bad with evasion hax. I get the feeling this may be a recurring theme… Whilst I thought Wattson was difficult, I completely forgot what was next… Flannery.
TEAM SO FAR
Sk8r Grl (Masquerain) ♀ Lv 25
Nature: Jolly (bad nature lol)
Moves:
-Bubble
-Quick Attack
-Sweet Scent
-Water Sport
Monarch (Beautifly) ♂ Lv 24
Nature: Calm
Moves:
-Gust
-Mega Drain
-Morning Sun
-Stun Spore
Sakura (Nincada) ♀ Lv 20
Nature: Lax
Moves:
-Scratch
-Double Team
-Fury Cutter
-Screech
Shedinja Lv 21
Nature: Lax
-Scratch
-Double Team
-Fury Cutter
-Screech
Louie (Volbeat) ♂ Lv 17
Nature: Quiet
Moves:
-Quick Attack
-Confuse Ray
-Double Team
-Moonlight
Zigzagoon (to be HM Slave) ♀ Lv 6
Nature: Rash
Moves:
-Tackle
-Growl
-Tail Whip
-Cut
Ruby Bug Monotype – Part 4 – Badge 4/8
Spoiler:
I picked up Rock Smash from the man in Mauville City, teaching it to Zigzagoon. I also taught Shock Wave to Volbeat over Confuse Ray. I intend to switch that for Thunderbolt later. I taught Ninjask Thief over Scratch. I bought a few healing items before heading up north.
I grinded on all of the trainers going up to Fallarbor town and Volbeat learnt Tail Glow over Double Team in the process. This will be useful later on (it actually wasn't, lol). I picked up Dig after exiting Fallarbor Town to the left, teaching it to Sakura over Double Team. Masquerain learnt Gust over Water Sport, but it got me thinking that maybe I should've kept it and taught Gust over something else.
After clearing out every trainer currently accessible to the left of Fallarbor Town and speaking with Team Aqua, I headed for Mt Chimney, and made sure to stock up on Repels for this trip back down. As it turns out, I was really not ready to fight Maxie yet, and needed to grind.
In the meantime:
-Volbeat learnt Signal Beam over Quick Attack
-Sakura learnt Swords Dance over Screech
And after lots of grinding, Maxie was still challenging. With Swords Dance + Fury Cutter on Ninjask, his Mightyena was no big deal, but his other Pokemon… He kept healing his Camerupt. I mostly dealt with it with my Masquerain, but had to finish it off with my Beautifly. His Golbat, I used Volbeat's Shock Wave against, but I still barely survived against it, as you can see.
My bag was full, so I gave my Miracle Seed to Beautifly, whilst heading down to Lavaridge Town. I knew Flannery was going to be tough, so I sold a bunch of items I didn't need and bought 11 revives before fighting her.
The Flannery fight was pretty tough but nowhere near as bad as I was expecting it to be. I had to juggle reviving mons until she had used a few Overheats and crippled her Sp. Atk on all her mons, and otherwise used Dig on Ninjask to deal with them. Her spamming of Overheat makes her overwhelming at first but fairly forgiving after a while. I expected her to be more difficult. Well, maybe she would be if she had better moves.
I forgot to do the Team So Far summary. That or I couldn't be bothered. I don't remember.
I grinded on all of the trainers going up to Fallarbor town and Volbeat learnt Tail Glow over Double Team in the process. This will be useful later on (it actually wasn't, lol). I picked up Dig after exiting Fallarbor Town to the left, teaching it to Sakura over Double Team. Masquerain learnt Gust over Water Sport, but it got me thinking that maybe I should've kept it and taught Gust over something else.
After clearing out every trainer currently accessible to the left of Fallarbor Town and speaking with Team Aqua, I headed for Mt Chimney, and made sure to stock up on Repels for this trip back down. As it turns out, I was really not ready to fight Maxie yet, and needed to grind.
In the meantime:
-Volbeat learnt Signal Beam over Quick Attack
-Sakura learnt Swords Dance over Screech
And after lots of grinding, Maxie was still challenging. With Swords Dance + Fury Cutter on Ninjask, his Mightyena was no big deal, but his other Pokemon… He kept healing his Camerupt. I mostly dealt with it with my Masquerain, but had to finish it off with my Beautifly. His Golbat, I used Volbeat's Shock Wave against, but I still barely survived against it, as you can see.
My bag was full, so I gave my Miracle Seed to Beautifly, whilst heading down to Lavaridge Town. I knew Flannery was going to be tough, so I sold a bunch of items I didn't need and bought 11 revives before fighting her.
The Flannery fight was pretty tough but nowhere near as bad as I was expecting it to be. I had to juggle reviving mons until she had used a few Overheats and crippled her Sp. Atk on all her mons, and otherwise used Dig on Ninjask to deal with them. Her spamming of Overheat makes her overwhelming at first but fairly forgiving after a while. I expected her to be more difficult. Well, maybe she would be if she had better moves.
I forgot to do the Team So Far summary. That or I couldn't be bothered. I don't remember.
Ruby Bug Monotype – Part 5 – Badge 5/8
Spoiler:
When I left the gym, Brendan came out and gave me the Go-Goggles, giving me access to my last party member. Well, kind of.
I picked up the Claw Fossil, fought the trainers in the surrounding area, and then headed back to Mauville and picked up the bike. I went down the cycling road and did the Trick House a couple of times before heading back to Petalburg. I was going to rename Shedinja, but I forgot. After reaching the dock, I headed to Rustboro and boxed Zigzagoon for now, albeit I will need him again later.
I revived the fossil to get my last party member. He's pretty underleveled and moreover, I'm not in any position to be fighting Norman right now. The level curves in this game probably didn't expect you to have a party full of a 6 mons at this point, nevermind 6 bugs. Even with that said, I still think the level curves in this game are much more drastic than other games in the series, which is why I've always considered Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald the hardest of all of them. With that said, it was once again time to conceive a way of cheesing the gym leader. And I did.
I had a Double Team TM which I taught to Volbeat over Moonlight. Why Volbeat? It has my strongest STAB move right now, Signal Beam. I spammed Double Team until full evasion and then spammed Signal Beam. Unfortunately, Volbeat was taken down by his last Slaking, which at this point had lost most of its PP, so I switched in Anorith who slowly whittled it down. These fights are turning out to be much more difficult and much more needed to be cheesed than Leaf Green's so far, and it's likely because LeafGreen is more open world, and therefore I could get more experience from trainers easily.
From this point on, I decided to take a break from the challenge for a bit as I had other things to do. I also needed to prepare myself for tackling the second half of game, as I despise it. RSE are probably my least favourite in the series because I hate everything after Fortree City, in all honesty, and the remakes are only slightly better in my opinion.
TEAM SO FAR
Sk8r Grl (Masquerain) ♀ Lv 30
Nature: Jolly
Moves:
-Bubble
-Quick Attack
-Sweet Scent
-Gust
(Please learn some new moves)
Monarch (Beautifly) ♂ Lv 30
Nature: Calm
Moves:
-Gust
-Mega Drain
-Morning Sun
-Stun Spore
Sakura (Nincada) ♀ Lv 20
Nature: Lax
Moves:
-Thief
-Dig
-Fury Cutter
-Swords Dance
Shedinja Lv 29
Nature: Lax
-Scratch
-Double Team
-Fury Cutter
-Screech
Louie (Volbeat) ♂ Lv 30
Nature: Quiet
Moves:
-Signal Beam
-Shock Wave
-Double Team
-Tail Glow
Arnold (Anorith) ♂ Lv 21
Nature: Bashful
Moves:
-Scratch
-Harden
-Mud Sport
-Water Gun
I picked up the Claw Fossil, fought the trainers in the surrounding area, and then headed back to Mauville and picked up the bike. I went down the cycling road and did the Trick House a couple of times before heading back to Petalburg. I was going to rename Shedinja, but I forgot. After reaching the dock, I headed to Rustboro and boxed Zigzagoon for now, albeit I will need him again later.
I revived the fossil to get my last party member. He's pretty underleveled and moreover, I'm not in any position to be fighting Norman right now. The level curves in this game probably didn't expect you to have a party full of a 6 mons at this point, nevermind 6 bugs. Even with that said, I still think the level curves in this game are much more drastic than other games in the series, which is why I've always considered Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald the hardest of all of them. With that said, it was once again time to conceive a way of cheesing the gym leader. And I did.
I had a Double Team TM which I taught to Volbeat over Moonlight. Why Volbeat? It has my strongest STAB move right now, Signal Beam. I spammed Double Team until full evasion and then spammed Signal Beam. Unfortunately, Volbeat was taken down by his last Slaking, which at this point had lost most of its PP, so I switched in Anorith who slowly whittled it down. These fights are turning out to be much more difficult and much more needed to be cheesed than Leaf Green's so far, and it's likely because LeafGreen is more open world, and therefore I could get more experience from trainers easily.
From this point on, I decided to take a break from the challenge for a bit as I had other things to do. I also needed to prepare myself for tackling the second half of game, as I despise it. RSE are probably my least favourite in the series because I hate everything after Fortree City, in all honesty, and the remakes are only slightly better in my opinion.
TEAM SO FAR
Sk8r Grl (Masquerain) ♀ Lv 30
Nature: Jolly
Moves:
-Bubble
-Quick Attack
-Sweet Scent
-Gust
(Please learn some new moves)
Monarch (Beautifly) ♂ Lv 30
Nature: Calm
Moves:
-Gust
-Mega Drain
-Morning Sun
-Stun Spore
Sakura (Nincada) ♀ Lv 20
Nature: Lax
Moves:
-Thief
-Dig
-Fury Cutter
-Swords Dance
Shedinja Lv 29
Nature: Lax
-Scratch
-Double Team
-Fury Cutter
-Screech
Louie (Volbeat) ♂ Lv 30
Nature: Quiet
Moves:
-Signal Beam
-Shock Wave
-Double Team
-Tail Glow
Arnold (Anorith) ♂ Lv 21
Nature: Bashful
Moves:
-Scratch
-Harden
-Mud Sport
-Water Gun
Ruby Bug Monotype – Part 6 – Badge 6/8
Spoiler:
I picked up Surf from Wally's parents, but none of my Pokemon can learn it. I had to take Zigzagoon out of the PC and teach Surf to it. I boxed Beautifly for now, and taught Surf over Tail Whip to Ziggy. I surfed back to Slateport using the shortcut on Route 103 and renamed Shedinja to be called Yato.
I decided to do the New Mauville side quest when I reached Mauville, as I needed Thunderbolt. Once I was done with that, I boxed a bunch of items I didn't need at the moment, but still wanted to keep. I also taught Thunderbolt to Volbeat over Shockwave, Rock Tomb to Anorith over Mud Sport and Façade to Shedinja over Scratch.
It was time to head to Fortree City, but before doing so, I took down all the trainers on the way there, and there was a certain HM Slave I needed to pick up. Anorith learnt Metal Claw over Harden.
And here she is, the HM slave I was looking for!
And through the Weather Institute I went. Magma Admin Courtney was a total joke. I could barely even call this trainer a boss, honestly. Before leaving, I switched Zigzagoon out for Beautifly again using the PC in the corner.
Rival on the bridge was almost as much of a joke. As I said, he falls off later in the game pretty hard, never gains a full party or a fully evolved starter.
Before fighting Winona (this region has some really unkind gyms for bugs, wow), I needed to get the Silph Scope (?? I don't know what it's called) from Steven. So I did so, fighting all the trainers on route 120 in the process. The camera crew there were legitimately more difficult than both Courtney and Rival, by the way. There may be some in the south of the route that I missed, but I went back to fight them later.
Before entering Winona's gym, I stocked up on some healing items and repels. Honestly, I thought this gym was fairly easy… Until Winona brought out Skarmory. It was time to grind again. Luckily, there was lots of trainers left to grind on, and I made my way towards Lillycove, fighting every trainer in between including Mt Pyre.
In the mean time:
-Ninjask learnt Slash over Thief
-Shedinja learnt Confuse Ray over Screech
-Switched Shedinja for Zigzagoon temporarily to get across the water
-Beautifly learned Silver Wind over Stun Spore
I believe in the end I fought more or less every trainer currently available to fight in the game. I then replaced Zigzagoon with Tropius, and taught it Fly over Growth, before realising I couldn't Fly without Winona's gym badge, and had to trek back. I picked up the HM for Strength on the way there. I boxed Zigzagoon again so I could get all my party members together. I'd picked up several TMs, so I taught them as such:
-Ice Beam over Sweet Scent on Masquerain
-Focus Punch over Tail Glow on Volbeat for Double Team + Focus Punch abuse
-Shadow Ball over Fury Cutter on Ninjask as Shedinja will be learning it in 3 levels anyway
In the end, Winona wasn't easy, but was also the first gym leader in quite a while I didn't have to cheese. Masquerain's Ice Beam dealt with both Swellow and Altaria, and Volbeat's Thunderbolt with Pelliper and Skarmory. I had to revive a few times, but overall much easier than Wattson, Norman and Flannery. It was also worth noting that my play time had already nearly surpassed that of Leaf Green's, as proof of how much more difficult and grindy this one is.
TEAM SO FAR
Sk8r Grl (Masquerain) ♀ Lv 34
Nature: Jolly
Moves:
-Bubble
-Quick Attack
-Ice Beam
-Gust
Monarch (Beautifly) ♂ Lv 35
Nature: Calm
Moves:
-Gust
-Mega Drain
-Morning Sun
-Silver Wind
Sakura (Nincada) ♀ Lv 35
Nature: Lax
Moves:
-Slash
-Dig
-Shadow Ball
-Swords Dance
Yato (Shedinja) Lv 35
Nature: Lax
-Facade
-Double Team
-Fury Cutter
-Confuse Ray
Louie (Volbeat) ♂ Lv 34
Nature: Quiet
Moves:
-Signal Beam
-Thunderbolt
-Double Team
-Focus Punch
Arnold (Anorith) ♂ Lv 35
Nature: Bashful
Moves:
-Scratch
-Metal Claw
-Rock Tomb
-Water Gun
I decided to do the New Mauville side quest when I reached Mauville, as I needed Thunderbolt. Once I was done with that, I boxed a bunch of items I didn't need at the moment, but still wanted to keep. I also taught Thunderbolt to Volbeat over Shockwave, Rock Tomb to Anorith over Mud Sport and Façade to Shedinja over Scratch.
It was time to head to Fortree City, but before doing so, I took down all the trainers on the way there, and there was a certain HM Slave I needed to pick up. Anorith learnt Metal Claw over Harden.
And here she is, the HM slave I was looking for!
And through the Weather Institute I went. Magma Admin Courtney was a total joke. I could barely even call this trainer a boss, honestly. Before leaving, I switched Zigzagoon out for Beautifly again using the PC in the corner.
Rival on the bridge was almost as much of a joke. As I said, he falls off later in the game pretty hard, never gains a full party or a fully evolved starter.
Before fighting Winona (this region has some really unkind gyms for bugs, wow), I needed to get the Silph Scope (?? I don't know what it's called) from Steven. So I did so, fighting all the trainers on route 120 in the process. The camera crew there were legitimately more difficult than both Courtney and Rival, by the way. There may be some in the south of the route that I missed, but I went back to fight them later.
Before entering Winona's gym, I stocked up on some healing items and repels. Honestly, I thought this gym was fairly easy… Until Winona brought out Skarmory. It was time to grind again. Luckily, there was lots of trainers left to grind on, and I made my way towards Lillycove, fighting every trainer in between including Mt Pyre.
In the mean time:
-Ninjask learnt Slash over Thief
-Shedinja learnt Confuse Ray over Screech
-Switched Shedinja for Zigzagoon temporarily to get across the water
-Beautifly learned Silver Wind over Stun Spore
I believe in the end I fought more or less every trainer currently available to fight in the game. I then replaced Zigzagoon with Tropius, and taught it Fly over Growth, before realising I couldn't Fly without Winona's gym badge, and had to trek back. I picked up the HM for Strength on the way there. I boxed Zigzagoon again so I could get all my party members together. I'd picked up several TMs, so I taught them as such:
-Ice Beam over Sweet Scent on Masquerain
-Focus Punch over Tail Glow on Volbeat for Double Team + Focus Punch abuse
-Shadow Ball over Fury Cutter on Ninjask as Shedinja will be learning it in 3 levels anyway
In the end, Winona wasn't easy, but was also the first gym leader in quite a while I didn't have to cheese. Masquerain's Ice Beam dealt with both Swellow and Altaria, and Volbeat's Thunderbolt with Pelliper and Skarmory. I had to revive a few times, but overall much easier than Wattson, Norman and Flannery. It was also worth noting that my play time had already nearly surpassed that of Leaf Green's, as proof of how much more difficult and grindy this one is.
TEAM SO FAR
Sk8r Grl (Masquerain) ♀ Lv 34
Nature: Jolly
Moves:
-Bubble
-Quick Attack
-Ice Beam
-Gust
Monarch (Beautifly) ♂ Lv 35
Nature: Calm
Moves:
-Gust
-Mega Drain
-Morning Sun
-Silver Wind
Sakura (Nincada) ♀ Lv 35
Nature: Lax
Moves:
-Slash
-Dig
-Shadow Ball
-Swords Dance
Yato (Shedinja) Lv 35
Nature: Lax
-Facade
-Double Team
-Fury Cutter
-Confuse Ray
Louie (Volbeat) ♂ Lv 34
Nature: Quiet
Moves:
-Signal Beam
-Thunderbolt
-Double Team
-Focus Punch
Arnold (Anorith) ♂ Lv 35
Nature: Bashful
Moves:
-Scratch
-Metal Claw
-Rock Tomb
-Water Gun
Ruby Bug Monotype – Part 7 – Badge 7/8
Spoiler:
I sold a bunch of items, bought more healing items, and taught the Aerial Ace TM Winona gave me to Ninjask over Slash, due to it being the Pokemon with the highest attack stat that can make use of its STAB.
I headed to Lillycove to end our rival's legacy. I seriously can't believe this is the last fight against him. It's a total joke. Half of his Pokemon aren't even fully evolved.
It was now time to tackle the Team Magma Hideout. I hate this part, but the worst is yet to come. I had to box Ninjask before doing it, as it of course requires Surf.
And here we have another total joke of a Magma Admin.
I headed towards Mossdeep, fighting all the trainers along the way, and I caught a Tentacool as it will be needed later on as a slave.
I grinded on all of the trainers in the water, or as many as I could find at least. In the meantime:
-Armaldo learnt AncientPower over Rock Tomb
-Shedinja learnt Shadow Ball over Confuse Ray
-Beautifly learnt Giga Drain over Mega Drain
-Learnt that it's very easy to get lost at sea.
I went to fight Liza and Tate, who were a total joke, which is funny as I always remember finding them incredibly difficult as a kid. I'm taking a break until tomorrow now, as I am not even close to mentally prepared to deal with the rest of the game. I absolutely cannot stand the next part of the game, to say the least.
TEAM SO FAR
Sk8r Grl (Masquerain) ♀ Lv 38
Nature: Jolly
Moves:
-Bubble
-Quick Attack
-Ice Beam
-Gust
Monarch (Beautifly) ♂ Lv 38
Nature: Calm
Moves:
-Gust
-Mega Drain
-Morning Sun
-Silver Wind
Sakura (Nincada) ♀ Lv 38
Nature: Lax
Moves:
-Aerial Ace
-Dig
-Shadow Ball
-Swords Dance
Yato (Shedinja) Lv 39
Nature: Lax
-Facade
-Double Team
-Fury Cutter
-Shadow Ball
Louie (Volbeat) ♂ Lv 39
Nature: Quiet
Moves:
-Signal Beam
-Thunderbolt
-Double Team
-Focus Punch
Arnold (Anorith) ♂ Lv 38
Nature: Bashful
Moves:
-Scratch
-Metal Claw
-AncientPower
-Water Gun
I headed to Lillycove to end our rival's legacy. I seriously can't believe this is the last fight against him. It's a total joke. Half of his Pokemon aren't even fully evolved.
It was now time to tackle the Team Magma Hideout. I hate this part, but the worst is yet to come. I had to box Ninjask before doing it, as it of course requires Surf.
And here we have another total joke of a Magma Admin.
I headed towards Mossdeep, fighting all the trainers along the way, and I caught a Tentacool as it will be needed later on as a slave.
I grinded on all of the trainers in the water, or as many as I could find at least. In the meantime:
-Armaldo learnt AncientPower over Rock Tomb
-Shedinja learnt Shadow Ball over Confuse Ray
-Beautifly learnt Giga Drain over Mega Drain
-Learnt that it's very easy to get lost at sea.
I went to fight Liza and Tate, who were a total joke, which is funny as I always remember finding them incredibly difficult as a kid. I'm taking a break until tomorrow now, as I am not even close to mentally prepared to deal with the rest of the game. I absolutely cannot stand the next part of the game, to say the least.
TEAM SO FAR
Sk8r Grl (Masquerain) ♀ Lv 38
Nature: Jolly
Moves:
-Bubble
-Quick Attack
-Ice Beam
-Gust
Monarch (Beautifly) ♂ Lv 38
Nature: Calm
Moves:
-Gust
-Mega Drain
-Morning Sun
-Silver Wind
Sakura (Nincada) ♀ Lv 38
Nature: Lax
Moves:
-Aerial Ace
-Dig
-Shadow Ball
-Swords Dance
Yato (Shedinja) Lv 39
Nature: Lax
-Facade
-Double Team
-Fury Cutter
-Shadow Ball
Louie (Volbeat) ♂ Lv 39
Nature: Quiet
Moves:
-Signal Beam
-Thunderbolt
-Double Team
-Focus Punch
Arnold (Anorith) ♂ Lv 38
Nature: Bashful
Moves:
-Scratch
-Metal Claw
-AncientPower
-Water Gun
Ruby Bug Monotype – Part 8 – Badge 8/8 + Elite 4 (END)
Spoiler:
After a some strategizing and a decent night's sleep, I was ready to come back to this. The reason I caught Tropius and Tentacool was because those two Pokemon can learn every HM between them, but this means I have to box two Pokemon for the Underwater Cavern dungeon. These two Pokemon are going to be Shedinja and Beautifly, as neither will be particularly useful against Maxie, who is our main concern here.
I taught them the HMs as such, remembering to pick up Dive in the middle of it all. It was now time to head to Sootopolis. But first, I picked up a bunch more repels. Once I reached Sootopolis, I picked up the Brick Break TM from the man in the house there, and taught it to Anorith over Scratch. I then headed to the Seafloor Cavern.
I don't know my way around this place to say the least, but I found Courtney and figured I was going in the right direction. She was honestly no harder than the other grunts.
Maxie honestly wasn't as bad as I was expecting him to be, though his Camerupt was fairly difficult to deal with. I ended up taking it out with AncientPower. Crobat went down with a Thunderbolt and an Ice Beam and Mightyena couldn't really do much so I digged it to death with Ninjask.
Once I got back to Sootopolis, and went through the Cave of Origins, I defeated Groudon for the experienced. I didn't need to catch him so I figured I may as well. He wasn't too hard to defeat.
Funnily enough, I remember this whole part of the game being a lot longer, harder and more gruelling. It wasn't that bad in actuality, but I'm still not a fan of it. It was now time to deal with Sootopolis gym, either way. Despite being one party member down due to needing access to Surf, I knew Wallace wasn't going to be particularly difficult.
His Milotic was an absolute pain, but otherwise he was fairly simple with Beautifly's Giga Drain and Volbeat's Thunderbolt.
It was now time to head to Ever Grande City to do Victory Road. I obviously had to teach Waterfall to Tentacool in the process. Unfortunately, once again, it meant boxing 2 party members.
I evidently was not ready to deal with Victory Road as I whited out to the first trainer. It was time to grind again. I was massively underleveled for some reason. I temporarily boxed my HM Slaves and grinded in the beginning of Victory Road.
Whilst grinding, Anorith evolved into Armaldo.
In the meantime:
-Taught Water Pulse to Masquerain over Bubble
-Taught Earthquake to Armaldo over Water Gun
What I decided to do was take the first 4 that reached level 45 along with me, which may seem counterproductive, but I have Rare Candies.
Making my way through Victory Road wasn't too bad, and neither was Wally. I was prepared for a really difficult fight but… No. It wasn't. He was one of the easiest so far, honestly.
Once I hit the Pokemon League, I decided to go back and pick up all the TMs I missed. I'm not as confident about the Elite 4 as I was in Leaf Green, frankly, due to my lack of funds. I may not be able to learn all of these, but it's primarily for money's sake anyway. This included:
-Dragon Claw in Meteor Falls
-Roar on Route 114
-Toxic in Fiery Path
-Bullet Seed on Route 104
-Sunny Day in Scorched Slab
-Return in Pacifidlog Town
-Sludge Bomb in Dewford Town
-Attract from Verdanturf Town
-Rest from Lillycove City
There were more, but the rest were a bit too out of my way to bother with. And out of what was in my bag, I taught the following moves:
-Iron Tail over Metal Claw to Armaldo
-Psychic over Gust to Beautifly
-Toxic over Quick Attack to Masquerain
-Return over Gust to Masquerain
I headed back to the Pokemon League, sold the rest of my TMs either because I couldn't learn them or they weren't good, sold all items I didn't need including my minor healing items as they took up bag space, took all of my items from the PC and used PP Ups on Giga Drain and AncientPower. I then bought a LOT of healing items, and gave 3 Rare Candies to Beautifly and 4 to Shedinja.
Sydney was disgustingly easy with Signal Beam. I needed to use an ether on it afterwards though.
Phoebe was fairly simple too, mostly using Ninjask's Shadow Ball to deal with her Ghosts. He fainted at the end, so I used Thunderbolt on Volbeat to deal with the last bit of health on her Banette
Glacia was pretty difficult. Her Walrein was actually kind of a pain. Whilst most of her other Pokemon were easily taken down with AncientPower/Brick Break on Armaldo, Walrein defeated Armaldo in one shot, and barely took damage from Volbeat's Thunderbolt. I slowly whittled it down to secure victory, however.
Drake was the hardest trainer in the game so far, and I'm not exaggerating. My only real ways of dealing with him were Armaldo's AncientPower and Masquerain's Ice Beam, and all of his Pokemon had moves capable of one shotting a lot of my Pokemon. I used most of my absurd amount of healing items on Drake. I did not expect what was coming up next, I'll say that much.
I take back anything I've ever said throughout this challenge. THIS was the single most difficult fight in any RPG I've ever played. I had to PP stall the majority of his Pokemon with the few remaining healing items I had as they hit way too hard until he sent out Metagross/Aggron, who couldn't hit Shedinja because of Wonder Guard. It was by pure luck that Skarmory didn't use Spikes too. You have no idea how many times I reset on this fight. It is the worst thing I've ever done and I'm so glad it's over
And here we are. The end. I love the credits in this game, showing what Pokemon you've caught throughout your journey. Shedinja was MVP. He wasn't very useful throughout most of the run but he made what should've been an impossible fight totally possible, and his gimmick was game-changing at times. In seriousness though, Volbeat or Armaldo were probably the most helpful, but this was a game where I felt all party members contributed at least a little, but the least useful of the bunch by end game was Beautifly.
I cannot get over how much harder this was than Leaf Green, and it terrifies me for the upcoming games.
FINAL TEAM
Sk8r Grl (Masquerain) ♀ Lv 47
Nature: Jolly
Moves:
-Water Pulse
-Return
-Ice Beam
-Silver Wind
Monarch (Beautifly) ♂ Lv 45
Nature: Calm
Moves:
-Psychic
-Giga Drain
-Morning Sun
-Silver Wind
Sakura (Nincada) ♀ Lv 48
Nature: Lax
Moves:
-Aerial Ace
-Dig
-Shadow Ball
-Swords Dance
Yato (Shedinja) Lv 44
Nature: Lax
-Facade
-Double Team
-Fury Cutter
-Shadow Ball
Louie (Volbeat) ♂ Lv 50
Nature: Quiet
Moves:
-Signal Beam
-Thunderbolt
-Double Team
-Focus Punch
Arnold (Armaldo) ♂ Lv 51
Nature: Bashful
Moves:
-Brick Break
-Iron Tail
-AncientPower
-Earthquake
I taught them the HMs as such, remembering to pick up Dive in the middle of it all. It was now time to head to Sootopolis. But first, I picked up a bunch more repels. Once I reached Sootopolis, I picked up the Brick Break TM from the man in the house there, and taught it to Anorith over Scratch. I then headed to the Seafloor Cavern.
I don't know my way around this place to say the least, but I found Courtney and figured I was going in the right direction. She was honestly no harder than the other grunts.
Maxie honestly wasn't as bad as I was expecting him to be, though his Camerupt was fairly difficult to deal with. I ended up taking it out with AncientPower. Crobat went down with a Thunderbolt and an Ice Beam and Mightyena couldn't really do much so I digged it to death with Ninjask.
Once I got back to Sootopolis, and went through the Cave of Origins, I defeated Groudon for the experienced. I didn't need to catch him so I figured I may as well. He wasn't too hard to defeat.
Funnily enough, I remember this whole part of the game being a lot longer, harder and more gruelling. It wasn't that bad in actuality, but I'm still not a fan of it. It was now time to deal with Sootopolis gym, either way. Despite being one party member down due to needing access to Surf, I knew Wallace wasn't going to be particularly difficult.
His Milotic was an absolute pain, but otherwise he was fairly simple with Beautifly's Giga Drain and Volbeat's Thunderbolt.
It was now time to head to Ever Grande City to do Victory Road. I obviously had to teach Waterfall to Tentacool in the process. Unfortunately, once again, it meant boxing 2 party members.
I evidently was not ready to deal with Victory Road as I whited out to the first trainer. It was time to grind again. I was massively underleveled for some reason. I temporarily boxed my HM Slaves and grinded in the beginning of Victory Road.
Whilst grinding, Anorith evolved into Armaldo.
In the meantime:
-Taught Water Pulse to Masquerain over Bubble
-Taught Earthquake to Armaldo over Water Gun
What I decided to do was take the first 4 that reached level 45 along with me, which may seem counterproductive, but I have Rare Candies.
Making my way through Victory Road wasn't too bad, and neither was Wally. I was prepared for a really difficult fight but… No. It wasn't. He was one of the easiest so far, honestly.
Once I hit the Pokemon League, I decided to go back and pick up all the TMs I missed. I'm not as confident about the Elite 4 as I was in Leaf Green, frankly, due to my lack of funds. I may not be able to learn all of these, but it's primarily for money's sake anyway. This included:
-Dragon Claw in Meteor Falls
-Roar on Route 114
-Toxic in Fiery Path
-Bullet Seed on Route 104
-Sunny Day in Scorched Slab
-Return in Pacifidlog Town
-Sludge Bomb in Dewford Town
-Attract from Verdanturf Town
-Rest from Lillycove City
There were more, but the rest were a bit too out of my way to bother with. And out of what was in my bag, I taught the following moves:
-Iron Tail over Metal Claw to Armaldo
-Psychic over Gust to Beautifly
-Toxic over Quick Attack to Masquerain
-Return over Gust to Masquerain
I headed back to the Pokemon League, sold the rest of my TMs either because I couldn't learn them or they weren't good, sold all items I didn't need including my minor healing items as they took up bag space, took all of my items from the PC and used PP Ups on Giga Drain and AncientPower. I then bought a LOT of healing items, and gave 3 Rare Candies to Beautifly and 4 to Shedinja.
Sydney was disgustingly easy with Signal Beam. I needed to use an ether on it afterwards though.
Phoebe was fairly simple too, mostly using Ninjask's Shadow Ball to deal with her Ghosts. He fainted at the end, so I used Thunderbolt on Volbeat to deal with the last bit of health on her Banette
Glacia was pretty difficult. Her Walrein was actually kind of a pain. Whilst most of her other Pokemon were easily taken down with AncientPower/Brick Break on Armaldo, Walrein defeated Armaldo in one shot, and barely took damage from Volbeat's Thunderbolt. I slowly whittled it down to secure victory, however.
Drake was the hardest trainer in the game so far, and I'm not exaggerating. My only real ways of dealing with him were Armaldo's AncientPower and Masquerain's Ice Beam, and all of his Pokemon had moves capable of one shotting a lot of my Pokemon. I used most of my absurd amount of healing items on Drake. I did not expect what was coming up next, I'll say that much.
I take back anything I've ever said throughout this challenge. THIS was the single most difficult fight in any RPG I've ever played. I had to PP stall the majority of his Pokemon with the few remaining healing items I had as they hit way too hard until he sent out Metagross/Aggron, who couldn't hit Shedinja because of Wonder Guard. It was by pure luck that Skarmory didn't use Spikes too. You have no idea how many times I reset on this fight. It is the worst thing I've ever done and I'm so glad it's over
And here we are. The end. I love the credits in this game, showing what Pokemon you've caught throughout your journey. Shedinja was MVP. He wasn't very useful throughout most of the run but he made what should've been an impossible fight totally possible, and his gimmick was game-changing at times. In seriousness though, Volbeat or Armaldo were probably the most helpful, but this was a game where I felt all party members contributed at least a little, but the least useful of the bunch by end game was Beautifly.
I cannot get over how much harder this was than Leaf Green, and it terrifies me for the upcoming games.
FINAL TEAM
Sk8r Grl (Masquerain) ♀ Lv 47
Nature: Jolly
Moves:
-Water Pulse
-Return
-Ice Beam
-Silver Wind
Monarch (Beautifly) ♂ Lv 45
Nature: Calm
Moves:
-Psychic
-Giga Drain
-Morning Sun
-Silver Wind
Sakura (Nincada) ♀ Lv 48
Nature: Lax
Moves:
-Aerial Ace
-Dig
-Shadow Ball
-Swords Dance
Yato (Shedinja) Lv 44
Nature: Lax
-Facade
-Double Team
-Fury Cutter
-Shadow Ball
Louie (Volbeat) ♂ Lv 50
Nature: Quiet
Moves:
-Signal Beam
-Thunderbolt
-Double Team
-Focus Punch
Arnold (Armaldo) ♂ Lv 51
Nature: Bashful
Moves:
-Brick Break
-Iron Tail
-AncientPower
-Earthquake
Ruby Bug Monotype FIN!
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