The Ones That Got Away Challenge

[Sammuthegreat]

Oh that's a shame :/ I was really hoping for Dewgong to shape up... I guess I will keep it as the defense on my team (not sure what moves it should learn though). Looking at the SATK and ATK make me cringe. Sucks they don't ever really get better...

How is Dewgong in R/B/Y though? My team variety in the first or second gen has never been interesting lol. Maybe I'll do this challenge in R/B/Y next...

[ontopic]Currently reached Mauvile, beat rival, got everyone to lvl 20 (maybe one is 19)[/ontopic]

Dewgong's Special Base Stat in Gen.I was 95, which is what its Sp.Def is now. It was a bit better, but still not great.

On-topic: my run is still going, but I've realised the downside to doing the Challenge on SoulSilver. It's taking ages to get my team ready to take on Red! My team's all at Lv.65 now and I've been distracted by the Battle Frontier - Dragonite's got a bit of a streak going in the Battle Hall. I'll get back to levelling them up before too long though, hopefully...

 

[-Cygnus-]

Can't believe this is taking so long. Only three badges as of writing this :( Oh well, maybe I will get faster one of these days haha. I only have like 7.5 hours on it I think...

Spoiler:

Last I checked, I left off beating Team Aqua at the museum and headed north. This is a pretty standard playthrough, I guess. Just going along, fighting trainers, doing some grinding, maybe not a sidequest here or there... Good times :)

Mauville gym was actually quite easy. I'm so thankful for the introduction of steel types, else I think Wattson may have been a bit harder for my Magby. Luckily, this is not the case, and Magby easily destroyed every trainer in the gym with its fire punch. Wally was as pointless as ever. I think the battle went: Magby used ember! Ralts used double team! Magby used ember! Wally is defeated! His presence in this game is really a drawback -_- Maybe I'm the only one that thinks so...

Nothing remarkable happened on the route north of Mauville, I beat the Winstrates, all the trainers, and the endless hordes of Spinda in that ashy route 0_o I think the second time I saw a Spinda in a game ever, I was like "OMG it looks different than before! Must be a shiny!!" Good touch on that Pokemon by the developers, though. I grinded everyone to level 25, and then saved in front of the Fallabor Pokecenter (as is my custom when finishing a sesssion).

-----

Natu- Lvl 25 (Female)
Adamant Nature
Peck, Leer, Night Shade, Teleport
- Poor movepool, that's all I have to say. She has two attacking moves, and one of them doesn't affect half the Pokemon in this game -_- Not a bad Pokemon, don't get me wrong... I just wish there was greater variety in her movepool this early. Natu currently has an everstone equiped to her at the moment until level 30- I want her to have another move so bad that I'm delaying her evolution :P

Seel- Lvl 25(Female)
Careful Nature
Headbutt, Growl, Icy Wind, Aurora Beam
- :( That's pretty much all I have to say about this Pokemon... It still can't hit worth crap, and I recently discovered it learns NO water type level up moves, so Flannery is going to be a helluva lot harder than I originally thought. At least it learned Aurora Beam for another attack... But if things keep going this way, I can safely say this will be the first and last time I use Seel in my party.

Tauros- Level 25 (Male)
Careful Nature
Tackle, Tail Whip, Rage, Horn Atttack
- I think it's pretty obvious what I'm going to say about this guy... Still, by far, top dog. I am starting to see it falter a bit, though... Why there was this one trainer with a normal type that Tauros actually took TWO HITS to kill! Two! That's more than one! 1+1=2! I'm actually a bit glad at this though, because I know that I won't really be able to rely on this guy in a pinch for much longer (Yes, you read that right. I want a harder challenge when playing with Tauros!).

Magby- Level 25 (Male)
Rash Nature
Ember, Sunny Day, Fire Punch, Smog
- Five more levels to go :) :) :) Magby is more or less the MVP, even though it plays second bannana to Tauros. It's SPATK hasn't really let me down thus far; it's kind of a powerhouse. I can't wait to see what Magmar will be like... My main issue is that it only knows good fire-type moves, which means it won't be a good counter for Flannery. I'm not sure what other good moves are out there for it either. Maybe I should browse my TM catalouge again and see what might work (TM'age at this point in the game kinda sucks).

I'm currently debating on whether or not to add Seviper to my team on the next route... I want to try it out, but a fifth Pokemon (and a Poison type at that) seems kinda like too much to handle right now. Thoughts?

 

[Eeveé]

dont go for serviper its part of the Fluctuating group


The equation for the Fluctuating experience group. At levels 15 and 36, both formulas return equal values.
The second experience group introduced in Generation III, and a direct opposite to the Erratic group, the Fluctuating experience group contains the Pokémon which grow the slowest of all, reaching level 100 with a whopping 1,640,000 experience points. It is also, unsurprisingly, the smallest of the experience groups, containing only 14 species. Pokémon within this group require the least amount of experience to grow from level 1, needing only 540 points to reach level 10, as compared to 560 for Medium Slow, the next lowest requirement. They also require the most experience points to go from level 90 to 100 - 517340 as compared to 338750 for Slow, the next highest. Like the Erratic function, the Fluctuating group's level-up equation is calculated in a piecewise fashion.
Also like the Erratic experience group, the Fluctuating group gets its name from the wildly fluctuating requirement for each level to go to the next level, from Level 36 to Level 100.
Fluctuating


The equation for the Fluctuating experience group. At levels 15 and 36, both formulas return equal values.
The second experience group introduced in Generation III, and a direct opposite to the Erratic group, the Fluctuating experience group contains the Pokémon which grow the slowest of all, reaching level 100 with a whopping 1,640,000 experience points. It is also, unsurprisingly, the smallest of the experience groups, containing only 14 species. Pokémon within this group require the least amount of experience to grow from level 1, needing only 540 points to reach level 10, as compared to 560 for Medium Slow, the next lowest requirement. They also require the most experience points to go from level 90 to 100 - 517340 as compared to 338750 for Slow, the next highest. Like the Erratic function, the Fluctuating group's level-up equation is calculated in a piecewise fashion.
Also like the Erratic experience group, the Fluctuating group gets its name from the wildly fluctuating requirement for each level to go to the next level, from Level 36 to Level 100.
For a list of all Pokémon in this group, see Pokémon in the Fluctuating experience group on bulbapedia experiance

 

[brodioh]

I can't seem to find my metagross so I will need a different pokemon instead.
I really wanted to use one but I can't now because it was probably my friend who took it.
Also thanks for being so kind and I will be willing to use Kabutops as a surfer.

 

[-Cygnus-]

dont go for serviper its part of the Fluctuating group


The equation for the Fluctuating experience group. At levels 15 and 36, both formulas return equal values.
The second experience group introduced in Generation III, and a direct opposite to the Erratic group, the Fluctuating experience group contains the Pokémon which grow the slowest of all, reaching level 100 with a whopping 1,640,000 experience points. It is also, unsurprisingly, the smallest of the experience groups, containing only 14 species. Pokémon within this group require the least amount of experience to grow from level 1, needing only 540 points to reach level 10, as compared to 560 for Medium Slow, the next lowest requirement. They also require the most experience points to go from level 90 to 100 - 517340 as compared to 338750 for Slow, the next highest. Like the Erratic function, the Fluctuating group's level-up equation is calculated in a piecewise fashion.
Also like the Erratic experience group, the Fluctuating group gets its name from the wildly fluctuating requirement for each level to go to the next level, from Level 36 to Level 100.
Fluctuating


The equation for the Fluctuating experience group. At levels 15 and 36, both formulas return equal values.
The second experience group introduced in Generation III, and a direct opposite to the Erratic group, the Fluctuating experience group contains the Pokémon which grow the slowest of all, reaching level 100 with a whopping 1,640,000 experience points. It is also, unsurprisingly, the smallest of the experience groups, containing only 14 species. Pokémon within this group require the least amount of experience to grow from level 1, needing only 540 points to reach level 10, as compared to 560 for Medium Slow, the next lowest requirement. They also require the most experience points to go from level 90 to 100 - 517340 as compared to 338750 for Slow, the next highest. Like the Erratic function, the Fluctuating group's level-up equation is calculated in a piecewise fashion.
Also like the Erratic experience group, the Fluctuating group gets its name from the wildly fluctuating requirement for each level to go to the next level, from Level 36 to Level 100.
For a list of all Pokémon in this group, see Pokémon in the Fluctuating experience group on bulbapedia experiance

0_o I arz failz in maths!! Haha jk, thank you for that though. I had no idea a "fluctuating" exp group existed. I am definately that guy that hates grinding, so this will be helpful for me in this playthrough lol... Thanks again.

 

[Sammuthegreat]

I can't seem to find my metagross so I will need a different pokemon instead.
I really wanted to use one but I can't now because it was probably my friend who took it.
Also thanks for being so kind and I will be willing to use Kabutops as a surfer.

Use Absol instead then. Enjoy!

 

[Hacki101]

0_o I arz failz in maths!! Haha jk, thank you for that though. I had no idea a "fluctuating" exp group existed. I am definately that guy that hates grinding, so this will be helpful for me in this playthrough lol... Thanks again.

The fluctuating group is really quick to level up for the majority of the game so Seviper may be worth a punt seeing as you may another Pokemon atm because of the underperformance of Seel and Natu.

My Drifloon is also in the Fluctuating group and is so easy to train - Hard Gold requires a lot of grinding. Talking of which I am trianing for Bugsy and Rival battle (both of which I have already lost) and will update after those battles.

 

[-Cygnus-]

The fluctuating group is really quick to level up for the majority of the game so Seviper may be worth a punt seeing as you may another Pokemon atm because of the underperformance of Seel and Natu.

My Drifloon is also in the Fluctuating group and is so easy to train - Hard Gold requires a lot of grinding. Talking of which I am trianing for Bugsy and Rival battle (both of which I have already lost) and will update after those battles.

Hmm... Well I know one thing for sure is that I'm not bailing on any of my team in this playthrough yes, even freakin' seel haha, but I guess I can train the one I have in my box for the Flannery fight. If I get Seviper, though, I may as well just go for a full team of six :P

In the game... Just need to train Natu up to level 28 (then everyone will be equal!! and head over to Lavaridge again for my fourth badge. I think I shall update after Norman.

 

[BlissyMKW]

Name: KoboraX
Game: Silver
List of Pokemon that got away: Gastly, Haunter, Eevee, Flareon, Chikorita, Bayleef, Meganium, Furret, Mareep, Flaaffy, Hoppip, Aipom, Yanma, Pineco, Forretress, Gligar, Donphan, Shuckle, Slugma, Phanpy, Miltank
Number required: 6
Special Requirements: None that I know of.

 

[Mistyblu]

KoboraX take a

Donphan
Slugma
Furret
Yanma
Meganium
Flaaffy

 

[Sammuthegreat]

Added KoboraX to the Challengers list.

I have a question to those of you who update/come on this thread regularly. It's with regard to the end point of the Challenge in the Johto games, particularly in HG/SS. At the moment I've got it set to finish when you beat Red. The trouble is, when you get through Kanto and beat the Elite Four the second time, your Pokemon will reasonably be around Lv.60-65 or so. Red's Pokemon are all above Lv.80 in HG/SS, and are pretty much impossible to beat until your own team's levels are around 70 or more.

The trouble is, once the E4 are beaten a second time, there's not much left to do, especially considering you need to add another 10-15 levels for each of your Pokemon to face Red with a reasonable chance of success. So, my question is, do we think the Challenge should end when we beat the E4 the second time, rather than forcing us to grind for hours to take on Red?

I ask this for two reasons. Firstly, I'm at that stage in my Challenge now. All my team are Lv.65, which would be comfortably high enough to beat this Challenge in any other region. I'm struggling to find enough opponents (outside re-doing the E4 over and over again) to increase my team's levels, and there's no wild Pokemon anywhere above the high 40s. I'm looking at a massive time investment to be able to take on Red with any chance of any outcome other than a total wipe.

That brings me to the second reason I ask this; this Challenge is supposed to be fun. Grinding a total of 60-90 more levels (across all 6 of my team) does not sounds like much fun to me, as I'm sure it doesn't to any other Johto Challengers out there.

So, what do you reckon? Shall I tone down the requirements for a successful Johto Challenge, so that you only need to beat the E4 a second time instead of taking on Red? Of course beating Red would still be an optional extra, but not compulsory.

I'm genuinely interested in any thoughts or contributions on the idea, so please let me know, in this thread or by PM (I seem to be one of the few Challenge leaders who doesn't care about people spamming the thread with vaguely-off-topic nonsense :))

Thanks!

 

[Zeffy]

I'd like to renew my "application" for this challenge. I wanted to start a new challenge since I haven't been on the challenges scene for quite a while now.

Name: Zeffy
Game: Emerald
List of Pokemon that got away: All Pokemon in this list are final evolutions and can only be gotten on Emerald:

Spoiler:

Shiftry
Mightyena
Tropius
Dustox
Beautifly
Swalot
Wailord
Illumise
Volbeat
Milotic
Huntail
Gorebyss
Relicanth
Hariyama
Glalie
Golbat/Crobat (just pick one)
Skarmory
Linoone
Alakazam (yes, I haven't used an Alakazam yet. weird, huh?)
Weezing
Seviper
Magcargo
Donphan

Wow, this list has gotten much bigger than the last time. xD
Number required: 6
Any specific requirements: Nothing specific. Just keep in mind the HMs. ;)

 

[Hacki101]

Sammu, I would say beat all the gym leaders in the rematch again on HG/SS and the Lance/Clair double battle and forget about Red because I will be in the same boat (when I ever get there- he is all Lv.100 on my game). I agree that grinding 20+ levels per Pokemon is too much of a grind as I personally hate grinding myself- I get my girlfriend to do it XD. Also, I am looking forward to seeing your final update :).

I'd like to renew my "application" for this challenge. I wanted to start a new challenge since I haven't been on the challenges scene for quite a while now.

Name: Zeffy
Game: Emerald
List of Pokemon that got away: All Pokemon in this list are final evolutions and can only be gotten on Emerald:
Spoiler:
Shiftry
Mightyena
Tropius
Dustox
Beautifly
Swalot
Wailord
Illumise
Volbeat
Milotic
Huntail
Gorebyss
Relicanth
Hariyama
Glalie
Golbat/Crobat (just pick one)
Skarmory
Linoone
Alakazam (yes, I haven't used an Alakazam yet. weird, huh?)
Weezing
Seviper
Magcargo
Donphan


Wow, this list has gotten much bigger than the last time. xD
Number required: 6
Any specific requirements: Nothing specific. Just keep in mind the HMs. ;)

Zeffy, take a:

Tropius (HMs sorted) ;)
Milotic (if you cant find Feebas then Huntail)
Glalie
Mightyena
Beautifly
Magcargo

Have fun!!

 

[BlissyMKW]

1st update...short, but meh, it's progress.

Started a new game and named my character Kobora.
Got my Pokegear.
Went and got my Chikorita.
Nicknamed my Chikorita "Petal".
Later today, I'll head over to Mr. Pokemon's house, then catch a Sentret and a Phanpy.

 

[Zeffy]

Sammu, I would say beat all the gym leaders in the rematch again on HG/SS and the Lance/Clair double battle and forget about Red because I will be in the same boat (when I ever get there- he is all Lv.100 on my game). I agree that grinding 20+ levels per Pokemon is too much of a grind as I personally hate grinding myself- I get my girlfriend to do it XD. Also, I am looking forward to seeing your final update :).



Zeffy, take a:

Tropius (HMs sorted) ;)
Milotic (if you cant find Feebas then Huntail)
Glalie
Mightyena
Beautifly
Magcargo

Have fun!!

Thank you! Finally I can start playing Emerald again. xD

 

[Mistyblu]

I agree with Hacki, especially since we are using the pokemon that we haven't used before- a fair portion of them is because they are just to weak stat-wise/are outclassed. Grinding all the way to Red (i think for some weaker pokemon, they need to be even above Red's levels to fair well) can be a hassle.

 

[brodioh]

Great, more problems,
I could have swore that I traded my donphan over from HeartGold but it appears that I didn't. Sorry to be a pain but I will again need another pokemon.
SORRY

 

[Hacki101]

Great, more problems,
I could have swore that I traded my donphan over from HeartGold but it appears that I didn't. Sorry to be a pain but I will again need another pokemon.
SORRY

If I'm allowed to give you a Pokemon (Samuu gave your Pokemon to you) take a Dusknoir :)

 

[Sammuthegreat]

Thanks for all the feedback guys. I'll change the rules so that Johto Challengers only need to beat the E4 a second time. I'm not sure about the Lance/Clair rematch, because it's actually a lot easier than the E4 rematches, level-wise. I think it's simplest just to make the requirement for completion to beat the E4 twice, and leave everything else as an optional extra.

Zeffy, I've moved you to the RSE part of the Challengers list (you were on HG/SS before). Hacki101, of course it's fine for you to give brodioh his last Pokemon, makes my life much easier if people help with assigning people teams :)

Cheers all. Last update coming soon (I've already beaten the E4 twice - three times actually - it was in my last update, but I'll post my full impressions and team member reviews in their own update).

 

[Hacki101]

The Ones That Got Away Update #2

Quite a long update (well it was play time)
- Defeated the Sage at the top of Bellsprout Tower easily
- Battled my way through the Violet Gym Trainers
- After many attempts and much grinding, defeated Falkner: Teddiursa soloing the Pidgey, Numel finishing off Pidgeotto with Rock Slide(s) after weakening from Teddiursa and Cubone's Defense dropping and Hoothoot eventually dying from Roost stalling :)
- Route 32 and Union Cave pass like a breeze, easily defeating the hard trainer on the route.
- Lost to Hiker Anthony's team of 6 Pokemon all levelled higher than me.
- Beat Anthony and beat Slowpoke Well
- Lost to Bugsy and Rival before grinding
- Beat Rival on second attempt after Croconaw spammed Dragon Dance for too long :D
- Defeated Bugsy with the help of a X Defend on Numel, taking out Scyther and then PInsir before running out of Super Potions and fainting to Beedrill. Drifloon took over and took out a weakened Butterfree (they all know U-Turn) on the switch then outsped with 2 Gusts. After a few turns of Gust vs. U Turn and Roost I switch in Teddiursa for the fake tears to no avail as U Turn takes him out in 2. Remoird comes in for an Aurora Beam (I thought it was super effective) and also dies to 2 hits. I switch Drifloon back in and out stall Beedrill for a hard fought victory.
- Saved in the Pokecenter.

Current Team and Impressions:

Spoiler:

Teddiursa Lv. 15
Rock Tomb
Faint Attack
Fury Swipes
Fake Tears​

Fake Tears comes in useful sometimes and Teddiursa can out power some strong opponents like Falkner's Pidgey, which makes him a handy team member. His strong attack stat is bound to come in useful later. 7/10​

Cubone Lv. 15

Headbutt
False Swipe
Tail Whip
Bone Club​

A very high Defense stat (highest stat of all my Pokemon) can be useful to get off a Tail Whip or two for my stronger attackers to defeat. Bone Club is OK, as is Cubone himself, best used as a support Pokemon. 4/10​

Drifloon Lv.18

Payback
Minimize
Astonish
Gust​

I love Aftermath :D, unexpected kills are awesome. Immune to a lot of attacks at the moment and has much more HP than anyone else, so is able to take many hits and excelled in the battle against Bugsy. Probably my favourite as he levels up quickly and his typing is something I have never used before. Expecting him to be the ace in my pack one day. 8/10​

Spoink Lv.17

Psybeam
Psywave
Psych Up
Flash​

Suddenly became a hard hitter with Psybeam although it wasnt useful against Bugsy. Spoink can be quite frail physically and his nature has boosted his defense as well. I would hate to see how frail he would be with a neutral nature. His nature hinders what I thought he would orginally used for (-Sp.Att) but yeah another OK Pokemon. 5/10​

Remoraid Lv.16

Water Gun
Aurora Beam
Psybeam
Bullet Seed​

High attack, sp.att and speed= my best sweeper, constantly being overleveled before grinding. Extremely frail so pretty much useless in harder battles, although type coverage is very good at this stage in the game. 7/10​

Numel Lv.17

Ember
Magnitude
Rock Slide
Earthquake​

Still the MVP, best performer, star of the team whatever you want to call him. Used the most in both gym battles, he is my dependable Pokemon to pull out the win. Average stats mean others will catch up as they learn better moves and his speed is the only thing that annoys me, even if the nature is Timid (+Speed -Att) 9/10​

This challenge on this game is time consuming but very rewarding, hence the long update, although this may require a lot of patience to complete.​

PS. any thoughts on the update style, I am open to constructive criticism.​