Pokemon X: The Florges Solo Run

 

 

This run has been a long time coming, ooh yes precious. I’ve wanted to cruise with that most delicate of Fairy ‘Mons since my very first run of X&Y; yet mysteriously, I never managed to do so — until now. I wanted to cruise with a White Flower Florges for fickle reasons understood only by my gaming instinct; this meant that I had to recruit a white Flabébé after the first Gym. Given its 1% appearance rate, I feared I would spend one hour running around before getting a glimpse of the creature — cue my Skitty run of Sapphire; but low and behold, a white Flabébé was kind enough to appear and join the crew after a mere five encounters.

My pretty Moonlight boasted a Bashful Nature, which allowed me to experience the purest version of Florges. And well, that purest version didn’t exactly dazzle me at first. The thing is, both Flabébé and Floette are painfully weak and fragile, making them very much unfit for a solo setting and forcing me to have healing items at hand at all times. Not only that, but their learnset sucks: Disarming Voice, Fairy Wind, Razor Leaf, Magical Leaf and Vine Whip don’t amount to much in the hands of Flabébé and Floette, let me tell you. And pray tell, why on earth does a Fairy ‘Mon know so many Grass Moves? Heck, the Florges line actually learn more Grass Moves than Fairy Moves while being pure Fairy — which means no STAB, which sucks. If I wanted to wield a crap ton of Grass Moves, I’d cruise with a Grass ‘Mon, thank you very much. 

 

 

Anyway; I needed a killer Move pool for the late stages, and I proceeded to assemble it as soon as I could. A visit to the Move reminder allowed me to learn Moonblast, and I got my paws on Energy Ball and Psychic right before and after the 8^th Gym. Very late indeed; but still better than never, and right on time for the ultimate showdown. With Florges being much stronger than its pre-evos, things went pretty smoothly, with only the Steel arena requiring a bunch of Battle Items to be conquered. 

 

 

Long story short: the Florges line is kinda mismatched, and takes an awful lot of time to reveal its full potential; but that the end of the day — and the run — it’s still perfectly decent solo run material. My revisitation of X&Y is over for now; but not my Pokemon endeavours, as I still have to unveil my ultimate run report of the summer. Until then, take care, dear fellow gamers!

 

Pokemon Y: The Diggersby Solo Run

 

  

Follow me in my annual summer revisitation of X&Y, dear fellow gamers! I've not gone overboard this year: just a pair of runs, one in each game. Opening this 2021 Pokemon Summer Season is none other than Diggersby, a ‘Mon that piqued my curiosity lately. Not only does the Kalos rabbit belong to a type I’ve never cruised with, but its very, erm, special cry and its metamorphosis from cute little critter to old fart with a beer gut is the stuff hilarious moments are made off. This is the Purugly story all over again, and that called for a special narrative: I decided to rename my Bunnelby ‘Burpee’ as soon as it crossed the evolutionary rubicon — or she, as it turned out. Yup, my Bunnelby was a female, which made the whole situation even more impossibly hilarious. Let me tell you, I had some serious fun in Pokemon Amie. 

 

My Burpee was fun to cruise with indeed; but how did she fare performance-wise? Let’s say things were interesting. She was very much a tank, which is not surprising given her Ground Type; however, her Lonely Nature shook things up a bit, making her more fitting solo run material. She was not a one-shooter by any means, mind you; however, she revealed her true potential in the Elite Four showdown by taking down all five Trainers without breaking a sweat nor Battle Items. 

 

 

Of course, such a sweetly epic conclusion wasn’t much of a surprise — because indeed, who wouldn’t bulldoze the Elite Four with that Move pool you see above? It took some time to reach such Move awesomeness, but it was totally worth the wait. Diggersby’s learnset beyond these fab four is nothing extraordinary indeed: Bounce has potential but is too fiddly to use, Grass Knot doesn’t get to shine much in Kalos, Dig has too little PP and Rock Tomb can miss. 

 

Long story short: Kalos is still as lovely to cruise as ever, my run was a smooth affair that clocked at exactly 12 hours, and Ground Type can shine in a solo setting. I still have to try a pure Ground ‘Mon, mind you; but that first foray was encouraging, and makes me wanna explore the Type more. I’ll see you soon with my second Kalos revisitation of the summer, dear fellow gamers; until then, take care and keep gaming! 

 

The New Classics

 

 

Let’s face it, dear fellow gamers: I own way too many games.

 

I knew it already, mind you; but that knowledge was kinda abstract, and didn’t compute with its real-life consequences. Said consequences being that there is no way in hell I can manage to play and enjoy all the games I own in the rest of my lifetime.

 

Mind you again, I probably could if I wanted to: by following the OWOG system to a T, six-or-so years would be enough to play all the games in my precious collection. But the thing is, I’m curious about a million things besides gaming, and I’m a serial game replayer to boot. This means that those six years are a totally unrealistic estimate; twenty to twenty-five years seem much closer to the mark.

 

Not only is such a time requirement stupidly enormous, but I might actually end up spending an uncanny amount of time playing games I only marginally enjoy, instead of replaying games I adore. That is a glaring issue because a) I tend to only want the best as a rule, and b) I don’t know how much time I have left, and I’d rather spend it playing my own cult classics over and over rather than plod through barely likeable games.   

 

  

Something’s obviously got to give; and that something is none other than the very size of my precious collection — that decrease in size being directly correlated to an increase in quality. The master plan is pretty simple, dear fellow gamers: to shear my collection until only my very own cult classics are left standing — hence this post’s title.   

 

I have to balance that grand undertaking with my gaming curiosity, as well as with my limited gaming time; but lucky me, I have devised the perfect system to do so. That system is a variation of the ‘One-Hour-Review’ system created by my fellow gamer and blogger Kina — mighty shout-out to her! See, I’ve noticed one crucial thing over the years: the games I like the most are always games I like immediately. With that axiom firmly in tow, I’m going to sift through my entire collection and sort things out.

 

   

Practically, I’ll take a two-hour bite of every single game in my collection starting now. If that bite dazzles me, the game will be granted the cult classic status and remain in my Unikeep binders, for all eternity. If that bite leaves me cold, the game will be pawned to my favourite video game shop, to be rightfully enjoyed by another fellow gamer — take a piece and pass it on, to quote the Red Hot Chili Peppers. 

 

Of course, there will be a short and sweet review of each and every two-hour session, for your enjoyment as well as mine. I’ll relish that change of pace, and it will inject some welcome bounce into my gaming routine. I’ll see ya soon with my very first ‘New Classics’ post, dear fellow gamers; keep gaming like the wind, and take care!