Welcome to another Pokémon nuzlocke episode, where my bad decisions continue to get my Pokémon killed and nothing ever really goes my way...
It's been a while since the last time I posted anything about my nuzlocke run, this because I've been progressing a little bit more through the game and taking less screenshots. I feel like doing this is better since these posts are about the Nuzlocke run itself and not about the story in Pokémon Black.
For those that are new to this nuzlocke thing, this is a way to play the Pokémon games where you add some extra rules to make it more difficult... Or maybe you're like me and find that these rules make the game more "fun".
The three most important rules in any nuzlocke (and the only ones i'm using) are these:
- If a Pokémon faints then it's dead, and you either put it in the Box or release it.
- You can only catch the first Pokémon that pops out in every route.
- When all of your guys are dead it's Game Over.
Some people decide to use additional rules in their runs, for example: some guys choose to not catch any legendary pokemans, others may choose to release their starter Pokémon after catching their first in the wild and so on.
As for me... I think I'll stick with the main three.
Continuing right where I left last time, I find myself in the middle of a museum heist performed by Team Plasma, the most confusing group of Pokémon villains in my opinion.
Their goal is Pokémon liberation and here they are, stealing a skull from a Pokémon's skeleton in a museum, for... reasons.
Come on, I can't be the only one that thinks "What even IS their plan here?"
The plot then demands that I move to Pinwheel Forest to apprehend these criminals, because this is the Pokémon world and it is the job of children to fight against evil adults.
Sadly, I've already been around Pinwheel Forest so I can't catch another Pokémon from that area. This, because the game has two areas named "Pinwheel Forest".
I talked about this a little in the last "episode", when there are two places in a Pokémon game that share the same name, there's a special rule you can use to be able to catch Pokémon in this case, provided that the Pokémon that can appear in both places aren't exactly the same.
Instead of just doing that on my run I decided to ask my friend, the resident nuzlocke expert, if he uses this rule at all:
"No, that's just stupid." -Friend.
And so I followed on his wise words and decided not to catch another Pokémon in this forest. Instead, I decided to Burn the whole thing down! train Baconator a little.
Grass/Bug type Pokémon burn down really well...
Realizing the futility of training only one of my Pokémon creatures I decided to instead put the weaker ones in front and then change them with Baconator so that they leveled up.
It was a long and arduous process, but it improved the stats of my Pokémon a little. Wotr can actually take a hit now!
The Team Plasma members scattered through the forest proved to be good cannon fodder for my team.
My source of leveling was cut short however, as I soon kicked the ass defeated the last Plasma member. Turns out they didn't even steal the right thing in the end.
I'm starting to think that Team Plasma is really bad at this whole evil Pokémon team business.
I continued to grind here for a while but there's only so much exp to be earned from these Pokémon. Eventually the forest burned down thanks to Baconator's constant use of Fire Charge, so I had to leave before this whole disaster could be traced back to me.
Remember that you can prevent forest fires. And by that I mean, don't train fire type Pokémon in a forest.
The next stop in the map is Castelia City, the Pokémon world's version of Manhattan, where there are no new Pokémon for me to catch but where I can find a bunch of people to fight!
In order to get to this city I have to pass through this bridge that was specifically made so that Gamefreak could show off how cool their game looks. It works, because this thing looks beautiful at night:
Oh god the pixels.
Once I enter Castelia City my first order of business was to find some place I could use to level up my team.
The gym in this place is a bug type one, so that means that Baconator will most likely end up carrying the team... Which lets me focus on the others, as it's likely that Baconator will end up eating all of the exp points in the gym.
My first stop is the Battle Company.
This place is an office building where everyone fights the first person to come out of the door. How do they get any work done?
The people here let me level up Lil'Doge and Wotr enough to the point where Lil'Doge is a reliable fighter and Wotr can actually get hit and do something in response.
Thunderhorse on the other hand is still struggling. She only really shines when she has an advantage over her opponent, so i'll have to put her on reserve until I fight a flying/water type.
In the end I have to fight the CEO of the company, a man who is disguised as a janitor for some reason, and after the fight he gives me an Exp Share... Which is not getting any use in this run.
...Could I get some money for Custom Robo instead?
There's some other fights here and there but nothing too significant, so I end up making my way towards Castelia's Gym.
...I also never realized how small this city was when I first played the game. There's the illusion that it's really big but compare it to other towns in Pokémon games and i'm pretty sure you'll find a bigger one.
Once I make my way to the gym however the plot demands I go do something else for now, because the plot wants some attention.
Turns out that Bianca, you'll remember her as one of the rivals in this game, got one of her Pokémon stolen from her by Team Plasma no less!
The plot demands I solve this debacle before challenging the gym leader, so I end up looking high and low for Bianca's poor Pokémon.
It takes me several days to pinpoint the location of the thieves in this giant city- I'm just kidding, they're hiding right in front of the gym.
Ladies and Gentlemen. Evil masterminds right here.
Plot happens. The important characters talk about how important Pokémon friendship is, Bianca gets her Pokémon back and I can challenge the gym. Yay!
Which leads me to the gym in question.
It's a bug type one and this gym's theme is...
OH GOD NOT THE BEES!
...Bees?
It's a giant beehive-looking place. This time you have to walk around and press the giant yellow buttons in the floor to open the gates that don't let you move forward. Then you have to walk through the giant wall of honey and hope you don't asphyxiate as you push your way through.
I'm a little dissapointed that they didn't use or make a new bee Pokémon for this gym. It's a wasted opportunity not to, if you ask me.
Remember when I said that Baconator was supposed to carry us through this gym? Yeah, that didn't happen.
Turns out that the gods blessed ThunderHorse and let her 1Hit K.O Pokémon above his level. She learned Flame Charge before entering the gym so I thought I would give it a try and see how effective she could be.
She ended up carrying us through the whole gym! I didn't have to switch her once.
She also got a million critical hits on her opponents, so yes, she was definitely blessed.
Here we go. ThunderHorse don't fail me now!
All good things must come to an end though.
I eventually decided to use ThunderHorse as my first Pokémon when challenging the Gym Leader, to see how far she would get. This proved to be another one of my terrible decisions.
She did well enough. For about two turns, and then she died.
Hoisted by her own petard. You were finally doing something... sob.
Seriously, can't I do one episode. ONE. Without getting my creatures killed?
I was really temped to reset here, but I decided against it. Remember that you have to respect your own rules! Otherwise the victory comes out as cheap...
In the end, it was Baconator's duty to finish off the rest of the gym leader's Pokémon.
She had to switch once with Wotr, but she was the one to put down the leader's final Pokémon.
This victory was really bitter though. I was really happy with ThunderHorse's development and now... Welp, can't win them all I guess.
There's not much else to do in Castelia after the gym, I went to the Pokémon Center to heal my guys and then put ThunderHorse on the deathbox, then continued my journey.
Eventually I met Bianca again and she challenged me to a Pokémon fight, like rivals always do. These fights aren't really complicated.
Defeating Bianca lets me go on to Route 4, the desert route. It's in this route where I meet with the other rival...
Again, there's not a lot to this fight. Defeating Cheren lets me actually walk through Route 4 and find my next Pokémon.
I really hope it's a Sandile, I need an earth type for the next gym.
Heh. She looks like an egg on this one.
...Son of a biscuit.
I named this catch Sandile because I want - no, NEED - one for the next gym. Then I started training Wotr a little, taking advantage of the fact that this area is filled with Ground type Pokémon, something that Wotr has an advantage against.
I then remembered that there's another place I can go to, the Desert Resort which is a different route so that gives me another chance at catching a Sandile.
I found some more Sandiles in this route.
...I can feel them mocking me.
I take a break in the middle of this sandstorm to sip some Lemonade.
I looked this up and there's no chance I'm not going to get a Sandile in this next place, it's the Pokémon with the biggest encounter rate there (40%).
There's just no way I'm not finding a Sandile now.
Eugh... The sand is getting on my eyes...
Here we are, Desert Resort.
I just have to make my way to the deep sand and find a wild Sandile and the--
Excuse me. WHAT.
--Okay, what? I-I mean, I guess it's okay? I needed some coverage for ground and water types?
Okay, no, I looked this up and let me tell you, this is stupid.
Maractus has a 10% chance of showing up. TEN. PERCENT. What the hell game!?
He doesn't even evolve! Come on! Where was this chance when I wanted to get a Drilbur!?
...
I still caught it though...
I shall name him... Cacti. Because he's a cactus and my mom loves those plants.
Hey look! It's my recently deceased partner! Now you're just being an ass game...
I'm just... I'm just going to go take a break now okay? I'm still pissed about ThunderHorse and now this...
Thanks for reading everyone! Remember to stay safe!
- The ones that are dead: (In memory of...)
- The ones that are alive: (Team Cool Guys)
