[Challenge] The "No Evolution" Challenge

[Reginald Cosmic]

Yeah, I still haven't really resumed progress in my "No Evolution" run of Pokémon Sapphire. I don't want to get into every single thing that's come up since I started this, but a lot of it boils down to "depression makes things I used to enjoy seem like they're not fun." I apologize if this is "off-topic" from the mods' point of view, but it feels like I need to explain myself a bit.

The last two times I tried to continue the run, I played for 30 minutes or so and stopped. No, I haven't gotten the 1st badge yet. It's almost kind of become a positive feedback loop where I feel like I'm not doing any good / having fun, and that causes me to do less and less each time. The "No Evolution" challenge in Pokémon Leaf Green was fine. It was a good time, and I got it done reasonably quickly. I'm not sure why RS is different because in my head, Sapphire and Leaf Green are my kind of some of my top 5 favorite games ever made.

There have been some IRL things that take time away from playing video games. I wanted to start exercising more now that it's spring time. I know in places like New York State, March has been pretty cold, but it's been nice here in Kentucky. Ergo, I've been going for walks uphill. Also, I started a new medication that includes "drowsiness" as a side effect, so sometimes it would be 8:30 at night, and I would say, "Dang, I'm too sleepy to do anything." (I had to start taking it at a different time of day, so I'm hoping this problem is over now.)

There's actually a lot of goals I want to do better on (eg, exercising more, writing more, reading manga/comics again). There's also been more chores around the house because my parents and I should be moving soon. I don't know when. There's a lot to do before we can sell the house.

Also, since you, Stenir, were the someone who expressed interested in this (even if you were just being polite), I don't think I can do Monotype Mastery as a YouTube series. It would be three years worth of uploads every two months, and I don't have time to dedicate to it right now, plus it would take time away from writing fan fics and original stories. (That's another thing: I'd like to write and publish a novel in the next two years. This one would be published under my real name, so I'm not going to go into it on this forum, even if this was the right thread for it, which it isn't.)

I gotta improve myself in a lot of ways. I'm making progress, but not as much or as quickly as I would hope.

"I ain't reading all of dat, but sorry to hear" version: I got a lot going on.

 

[StenirRPG]

We all become friends due to our love of Pokemon, but I definitely feel ya - I also got put on some "drowzee" meds recently. Last few weeks, I just haven't had the time to really focus on multiple things other than work.

Monotype Mastery would be a great youtube series, but it's one of those things where it's a big boost to a way we like to play it, but many people won't get out of it what we do. If you ever get back to it, I'm still interested in watching it. I know how some things can definitely start out as enjoyment and turn into a job. Pokemon is Pokemon. It's a passion.

Besides, I've been doing monotypes for four or five years, off and on...and I'm only halfway through the ultimates lol - it's sure not easy and gotta take a break every so often. Too bad life doesn't have a save state for when we're ready.

 

[StenirRPG]

No Evolution Run: The Pain, Oh The Pain
Version: Emerald

This was very painful. I'm used to 30 hour runs, usually with some good portion of the time being devoted to the post-gym part of the game. This was ridiculous, though. It kinda felt like the AI was being retooled, and just wasn't exactly certain how it wanted to work.

This time, I tried something where I picked Pokemon based on ensuring I would get a lot of levels faster, because the benefit there are the stat points. That is the most certain way to get points in stats - level. So the more levels I can get, the better. This sort of worked.

Gym 1:
Team:
- Nincada L13, Compound Eyes, Scratch, Leech Life, Harden, Sand Attack
- Skitty L17, Cute Charm, Tackle, Sing, Double Slap, Attract
Time: 3h43m

Wasn't too bad. Sand Attack, Sing, Attract, etc. Do stuff to mess with the AI, and then work on the damage output. It's nice that Skitty gets STAB on Double Slap and Tackle, and that Nincada gets STAB on Leech Life. Just about when I thought it would be timing-wise.

Gym 2:
Team:
- Nincada, L15, Fury Swipes, Haden, Leech Life, Sand Attack
- Skitty, L20, Tackle, Double Slap, Sing, Attract
Time: 4h56m

Blow through everything with Nincada. Sand Attack, Fury Swipes, rinse, repeat. Feel free to hit me with Fighting moves, because Nincada takes 50% damage.

Gym 3:
Team:
- Nincada L21, no change in moves
- Skitty, L27, Tackle -> Feint Attack
Time: 7h20m

Okay, I just spammed Feint Attack after Nincada goes down. I wish I had a ground type move at this point, but it is what it is.

Gym 4:
Team:
- Nincada L26, Fury Swipes -> False Swipe
- Skitty L33, Attract -> Charm
- Swablu L27, Peck, Fury Attack, Safeguard, Sing
- Spoink L29, Psybeam, Odor Sleuth, Psywave, Psych Up
Time: 15h20m

Yeah, my two favorite 'mons from the run show up. Swablu is awesome, and Spoink is just a powerhouse. Still wish I had a Ground type move in my arsenal. Quite a bit of time spent gaining some levels on Swablu and Spoink to get it up to the others.

Gym 5:
Team:
- Nincada, no change
- Skitty, no change
- Swablu, no change
- Spoink, L33, no move changes
- Lileep, L21, Astonish, Constrict, and Acid
Time: 17h27m

I just spammed Psybeam to get through. Gave Lileep the Exp Share. Still doing the single battle, go back and heal as the tried and true method. This is a quick turnaround gym battle since you can just make a beeline for it.

Gym 6:
Team:
- Nincada, L28, False Swipe -> Facade
- Skitty, L35, no move changes
- Swablu, L29, no move changes
- Spoink, L38, Psybeam, Shock Wave, Psychic, Psych Up
- Lileep, L24, Astonish, Constrict, Acid, Ingrain
- Mudkip, L30, Bide, Surf, Mud Slap, Water Gun
Time: 21h38m

Decided to go ahead and bring Mudkip in. I was gonna go for Azurill or something like Clamperl, but one look at the Clamperl level up move and I went back to the drawing board. I chose just to bring Mudkip in, even though it's not one of the Growth Rates I was mainly using (Fast and Erratic, just as an FYI). Shock Wave was super nice for the sixth gym, and I know it'll have some use in Gym 8.

Gym 7:
Team:
- Nincada, L38, Facade, Mud Slap, Leech Life, Metal Claw
- Skitty, L39, no move changes
- Swablu, L37, Aerial Ace, Fly, Steel Wing, Sing
- Spoink, L46, Psybeam, Shock Wave, Psychic, Shadow Ball
- Lileep, L40, Bullet Seed, Giga Drain, Amnesia, Ingrain
- Mukdip, L38, Blizzard, Surf, Mud Slap, Strength
Time: 32h30m

I hate Tate and Liza. I feel like even with defeating all the trainers in the gym, this is one that we all hate. Spoink having Shadow Ball is helpful, but it wasn't until the E4 that I remembered something very important: Shadow Ball is Ghost, and in Gen 3, was Physical. Spoink is more special oriented. Time to use Face Palm on myself, and lo, it's super effective!

Gym 8:
Team:
- Nincada, L39, no move changes
- Skitty, L40, no move changes
- Swablu, L40, Sing -> Mirror Move
- Spoink, L47, no move changes
- Lileep, L43, Amnesia -> Ancient Power
- Mukdip, L39, Blizzard to Rock Smash, Mud Slap to Dive
Time: 36h01m

Nothing really to report here, Lileep basically just powered through the whole thing with Bullet Seed and Giga Drain. It's a Water type gym, what else can I say about it?

Elite Four:
Final Team:
- Nincada, L63 (Compound Eyes), Dig, Mud Slap, Leech Life, Metal Claw
- Skitty, L67 (Cute Charm), Feint Attack, Sing, Return, Charm
- Swablu, L69 (Natural Cure), Aerial Ace, Fly, Steel Wing, Thief
- Spoink, L65 (Thick Fat), Psybeam, Shock Wave, Psychic, Shadow Ball
- Lileep, L67 (Suction Cups), Bullet Seed, Giga Drain, Ancient Power, Ingrain
- Mudkip, L65 (Torrent), Strength, Surf, Ice Beam, HP Electric
Time: 63h43m...yes, almost 30 hours later than gym 8

I wanted to speed through everything else, because this is where the mess is. I spent a bunch of time grinding to get through Victory Road, since I knew I would have to be high-50s to even stand a change of getting through the E4. Of course, that took a while, cause I had to be selective about what each of my team fought.

But then I get to the E4, and Sidney wasn't too bad. Return (Skitty) does a lot of damage, so I'm able to get through Mightyena and Absol with it, the two Grass types (Cacturne and Shiftry) go down to a mix of Aerial Ace and Fly (Fly to start with, then use Aerial Ace if they raise their evasion). Crawdaunt goes down to Shock Wave.

Phoebe becomes the problem. Shadow Ball is on the wrong Pokemon for it to be powerful enough, and that's proven by Psychic doing much more damage. But it's super hard to plow through, so I lose repeatedly. I try at L55, no luck. L58, a little better, but no consistency. Same at L60...then at L63 I start to figure out a pattern. Sing to be able to Feint Attack, then when the two Banette come out, Surf them since they don't have very good Special Defense. After that, just kinda power through with whatever I can.

Glacia I reach consistently around L65ish, by which point I am having a really good attempt so I'm actually trying it (I've also built up 20 Revives and 20 Hyper Potions, which is the right amount for covering yourself during an actual attempt, I've found - just assume you'll always be down to one team member after each, and have enough to Revive the whole team after each battle). I can use Giga Drain to do some pretty good damage (good job, Lileep) and cut through three of the team. The two Glalie are just using Strength, Ancient Power, or Steel Wing.

Drake...lol, what an easy final E4 member. Ice Beam gets me through. First try. Easy peasy.

Wallace wasn't not a problem at all. Shock Wave, Giga Drain, Aerial Ace, pretty straightforward to get through.

Some things my son and I came up with while trying to figure out Phoebe was breeding Pursuit onto Swablu (but it turned out I wanted to keep Aerial Ace and Steel Wing, so I just taught Thief instead). Spent like three hours of game time breeding and trying different combinations. I was going to breed Silver Wing onto Nincada, but I would have needed a final stage 'mon to breed it, which isn't allowed to grind to, and I couldn't catch it, either.

Since I've also planned to be working on my Poison monotype, I think what I'm going to be doing is going back and doing those first 3 Gens for that, and then play the rest of the Gens for No Evo and Poison at the same time. Just to give myself a second option if I start getting burnt out.