25/03/2017

Pokemon Sun: A Nuzlocke solo run ( a.k.a. the Toucannon Solo Run )


A.k.a. The Run That Opened Even More Avenues For Future Solo Runs. It all started with Sieg's innocent question in a comment: "Will you ever try out a Nuzlocke Challenge?" My first impulse was to answer that there was no way I'd ever go back to playing party runs in Pokemon and that as a result, the probability of me ever tackling a Nuzlocke challenge was virtually inexistent. But then I paused and asked myself: could there be a way to tweak Nuzlocke rules in order to make them work for a solo run? My interest was seriously piqued; and before I knew it, I had devised my own solo run version of the Nuzlocke Challenge, which goes as such:

  • The solo run must be attempted with the first 'Mon captured in the very first patch of grass on Route 1. If recruitment fail during the first encounter, it has to be performed during the second encounter and so on until it succeeds, without moving from the first patch of grass. 
  • The whole run must be 100% solo, with no other 'Mon in the team. A 'Mon can be recruited only for mandatory Double Battles and must be released immediately after. 
  • As a consequence of the aforementioned rule, the use of Revives is strictly forbidden. 
  • No healing in Pokemon Centres. 

I was seriously pondering if I should treat fainting as death, but I decided to shelve that rule for another Nuzlocke solo run (because indeed, there will be more of these). What I wanted to achieve with that very first attempt was what I would dub a "Route 1 Crappy 'Mon Solo Run". Let's face it, dear fellow gamers: none of us has any sort of respect or even consideration for Route 1 'Mons. They are used as convenient training fodder to level up our Starter before the first Gym, and we capture them solely to fill up our Pokedex. And when we keep them in our team for more than five minutes instead of sending them straight to the PC, it's usually for the sole purpose of padding said team before better and cooler 'Mons become available. In a nutshell, Route 1 'Mons are universally viewed as the very embodiment of genericness and mediocrity  in fact, I wouldn't be surprised if dictionaries featured a picture of Rattata along the definitions of these two words. And because they are so widely sniffed at, I was curious to see for myself if they could be decent solo run material.

Let me tell you: the Pikipek Solo Run that ensued single-handedly changed my opinion of Route 1 'Mons forever. I now have the uttermost respect for these often overlooked creatures, and never again will I look down on them and discard them as mere training fodder and Pokedex fillers.

That being said, it took some time to get there. I was none too happy with my new recrue at first: Pikipek looks like your generic Flying 'Mon, the kind you've seen a million times before in Pokemon games. His middle form left me even more unimpressed: not only is it just as generic as his initial form, but it's quite ungracious to boot. But when Pikipek's ultimate form appeared before my hopeful eyes, I had a total change of heart and fell in love with that form on the spot. Mean-looking Toucannon is just positively hilarious, with his giant colourful beak and evil eye; and I couldn't help but run to the Name Rater and change his name to "Big B". I had to! Toucannon is hands down one of my favourite final evolutions in Sun and Moon so far, and cruising Alola with him was an absolute delight.

Looks are all well and good, but how did Pikipek & evolutions fare when it comes to fighting? Well, that was the biggest surprise there and the reason for my newfound respect for his kind: this banal, innocuous Route 1 'Mon absolutely rocks on the battlefield. He's an absolute powerhouse, with perfectly balanced overall stats and an Attack Stat as high as the Everest. Interestingly, while Pikipek and middle evolution Trumbeak also boast really high Speed, the Speed Stat takes a dive when the ultimate evolutionary threshold is crossed, leaving Toucannon with a surprisingly poor Speed Stat. (This was not a hindrance in my solo run, though; by the time Toucannon took center stage, he was so ovelevelled that he still got to act first in 95% of fights.) Unlike his avian cousin Oricorio, Toucannon boasts a really neat and varied offensive Move pool brimming with Physical Moves that take full advantage of his sky-high Attack. Normal, Fighting, Flying, Grass, Fire, Steel, Bug, Rock Moves: you name them, the big-beaked bird can learn them and unleash them on the battlefield with style. For the record, my final Move pool comprised Toucannon's signature Move Beak Blast (Flying), Bullet Seed (Grass), Thief (Dark) and Brick Break (Fighting), and that Move quartet had me covered in pretty much all battle situations. Cherry on the cake, my Toucannon had the Keen Eye Ability, which meant no Accuracy reduction on the battlefield; and gosh, did this come in handy more than once.

So indeed, this was a great run that pulverized all my expectations regarding Route 1 'Mons. The next step is to tackle a Nuzlocke solo run that includes the rule "Fainting = Death & Release", because such a run could be wildly interesting as well: it could involve recruiting and training several 'Mons over the course of the run, which would allow me to cruise solo with unlikely solo run candidates. Now that I think of it, I don't even need to wait for my 'Mon to faint: I can decide beforehand to release my 'Mon at some point and continue my run with a freshly recuited 'Mon. Gosh, now I have even more ideas for potential Nuzlockey solo runs. A brand-new world of Pokemon goodness opened right in front of my eyes, and I'm going to enjoy it to the fullest. Not right now, though: after six Pokemon solo runs in a row, I need to take a break from the series in general and from Sun and Moon in particular. But I'll be back, and probably sooner than later: I still have to tackle a Popplio solo run, and I love Alola so much that I'll be drawn back to it eventually. Thanks for reading, and be my guest anytime!

12 comments:

  1. I had never even heard of such solo runs! That's dedication my friend. I was wondering though at the rules: no revive, and no healing in the pokécenter. Does this mean you heal him solely by means of potions and such?

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    1. Yes, it means exactly that. Although playing that way may seem rough,it is actually piece of cake in Sun and Moon thanks to all those NPCs that heal your team on a regular basis. Not using Pokemon Centers at all helped me save a lot of time and allowed me to progress faster, which was a nice experience.

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  2. Well, I've certainly learned something new, had no idea this was a way to play it. Your Pikipek looks nice, but I understand that is not the criterium lol.

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    1. Well, it sure didn't hurt that Pikipek's final form Toucannon looked so nice... ^^

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  3. Fletchling from X and Y is actually a fantastic pokemon, widely regarded to be one of the best of its generation, and it's a route 1 bird. But having had one myself in my own personal wedlocke, I can attest to its battle prowess (a wedlocke is a variant of nuzlockes where you "marry" two pokemon and only have them fight together, AKA you can't switch in battle to a third pokemon, meaning you effectively have three teams of 2 instead of one of six). If you ever do a "true" solo nuzlocke where it's game over once your one mon faints, that's the route 1 pokemon to go for. You just gotta sacrifice a few goats so you have the luck to get it in your first encounter and not, say, Bunnelby. Who is weak and has one of the ugliest evolutions ever whose cry is a huge burp. Ugh. Whereas Fletchling's final form is one of the most handsome birds in Pokemon that you'd adore to take care of in Amie.

    Your idea for the next nuzlocke with the fainting rule is a fine one, albeit I can see how frustrating it would be to have to start training a new mon over and over again. Trying out a "mini" wedlocke with only one pair of pokemon could also be nice and help you start training more than one pokemon without going overboard. Oh, and when you do try your next nuzlocke with the fainting rule, trust me, do yourself a favour and use the dupes clause (where if your first encounter on a route is of a pokemon you have caught already it doesn't count). Otherwise you could get really unlucky and have to train the same pokemon species over and over again, and that doesn't seem to be what you want to do.

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    1. Guess what? I'm totally planning to tackle a Fletchling solo run of X/Y at some point. In fact, I would already have polished off a Fletchling solo run of Sun or Moon if not for the fact that Fletchling appears so very late in those games. I absolutely adore the looks of this 'Mon, and to learn that he rocks on the battlefield makes me want to cruise with him even more.

      In my mind, a Nuzlocke solo run with a fainting rule would be the opportunity to play with 'Mons that appear too late to be viable candidates for classic solo runs. For instance, I've been wanting to tackle a Vaporeon solo run forever, but I never could because of how late this 'Mon becomes available in most entries. Now of course, that would force me to choose the next 'Mon in line instead of relying on pure chance... But hey, those are Nuzlocke runs after all, and one can tweak rules as they please!

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    2. I can totally see why Fletchling would appear so late in Sun and Moon. Its base speed is amazing even in X and Y so in Sun and Moon he would be able to outspeed almost everything while being 10 levels bellow its opponent; nevermind when it's 30 levels above everyone else.

      Dupes clause is almost unanimous among Nuzlocke players, it's just boring to play a nuzlocke otherwise. People end up with 6 Geodudes, Tentacools and Zubats otherwise. I'm also a fan of tweaking the rules myself. In my last 2 nuzlockes I disregarded the "first encounter catch" rule entirely. One, because I was doing a yellow run without catching any pokemon, that is, I could only use the game's freebie gift pokemon. In another I wanted to use pokemon from gen 4 that I had never used before, so that limited my platinum catches a lot but I found out how fun Turwig, Drifblim and Shellos were.

      If you ever want to do a complete Eeevee only solo run (or a Riolu one), that pokemon is obtainable in the wild in Black and White 2 before the third gym, which is way earlier than in X and Y despite you also being able to find one in the wild before the third gym. B&W2 gym's pace is just way better than X and Y. You only need to have your other mon at level 19 for the second gym, so while I haven' played Sun and Moon, I believe that's lower than what your Popplio was in your Oricorio run. For Riolu, you can find it before the first gym in B&W2.

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    3. Thanks a lot for the suggestion regarding a potential Eevee solo run! This is quite perfect, because it gives me an excellent incentive to play Black and White 2. I've been avoiding these two games because after playing Black and White, I had no potential candidates in mind for a solo run of Black and White 2: I'm not too fond of the starters, and the Unova fauna was really not to my liking. But knowing that Eevee can be obtained so early in these games certainly renews my interest in them, so thank you for that! ^^

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  4. I knew it was more a question of "when" and not "if" you would do it, considering your overall "gaming caliber". :p
    But you should really give the Nuzlocke Challenge another try Isleif, but this time with a full low leveled party. The best thing about a Nuz Challenge is that you probably end up using Pokémons you would never use if you played the game "normally". Heck, that was how I found out several of the Pokémons in the first routes of Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald are viable until the end of the game.

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    1. I'd like to humour you, my friend; but I really, really can't promise I will ever be able to tackle a true blue Nuzlocke Challenge. I mean, just reading the words "low-leveled party" gives me the shivers... :P But regardless, I can tell you one thing already: if I ever tackle a Nuzlocke Challenge, it will be with Pokemon X or Y, the easiest entries in the franchise. Given that they were a trifle too unchallenging with a single 'Mon, the difficulty level might be just right for a Nuzlockey full party-run. ^^

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  5. I was wondering when you were gonna say screw it and go for a Nuzlocke run!

    I'm still planning on a solo run but I don't know if I can stomach those rules.. even with your modifications! I'd feel so burned if I lost all my 'mon and had to start over..

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    1. Treating fainting as death is definitely too extreme a rule for a solo run, especially your first one. Just pick up a 'Mon you like, take it easy and enjoy the ride! ^____^

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