Summer is the ideal time to play
Pokemon as far as I'm concerned. Never mind the fact that I spent two months glued to
Sun and
Moon just a couple of weeks ago; the gaming instinct wants what it wants, and it wanted some furry action. And so I dug up my still unplayed cartridge of
White 2 from my precious collection and started yet another solo run. My initial plan involved an Flareon solo run, since both Eevee and the Fire Stone can be obtained quite early on in
White 2; but destiny and my ever- dependable gaming instinct had other plans in store for me. See, I chose Tepig as my starter as a half-joke, naming him "Bacon" to understrike the humorous charge of that move; but as I played the game, I became unexpectedly attached to the piglet. He doesn't look half as bad as rumour has it, and he certainly packs a punch and rocks on the battlefield. When time came to recruit an Eevee and get the Fire Stone, I was so enamoured with the porcine starter that I couldn't bear the though of dropping him; and that's how my Eevee solo run was shelved and became a
de facto Tepig solo run.
And my, what a great run it was. The pacing was amazing, brisk and sharp without feeling rushed; and the leveling-up speed was out of this world. I reached Lv. 30 after barely
3 hours of play, folks! Now that's how I love my
Pokemon solo runs to be: fast-paced and with lightning-fast leveling-up. Clocking at 14:30 hours, my Tepig solo run was probably one of my shortest
Pokemon solo runs ever; but there was still plenty to do during that time. I loved the fact that I got to tackle Unova in a completely different order from the one that was imposed in
Black and
White; that gave me a totally new and fresh vision of the region and make me feel like I was playing a different game that still felt pleasantly familiar. It was also a great idea to leave some towns out of the mandatory path, to be explored at leisure during postgame; it made the game more compact and the pacing swifter. All in all, I felt like I was cruising a brand-new Unova, glossier and shinier than the original, like a fresh doughnut covered with glaze. (Look at me, trying to sneak in an all-American metaphor to square with the Unova setting. This has totally nothing to do with the fact that I've been introduced to the heavenly Original Glazed Doughnut by Krispy Kreme lately and have been obsessed with it ever since, oh no.)
My lovely little Bacon did a great job in all things fighting, one-shooting his way to the Elite Four and generally treating all other 'Mons like insignificant obstructions. He was Lv. 91 when I finally reached the Champion; and suffice it to say that the whole Elite Four showdown was a mere formality. Bacon managed to one-shot most of his opponents, including the Champion's six 'Mons. Poor girl didn't even get to use a Max Potion or a Full Restore! But hey, my Tepig-turned-Emboar was just too formidable. For the record, my move pool during the second half of the game was Arm Thrust (Fighting), Return (Normal), Bulldoze (Ground) and Flamethrower (Fire); an efficient and varied quartet that allowed me to take care of pretty much all battle situations. I didn't bother taking Nature into account this time around — heck, I didn't even bother
checking my Tepig's Nature. Experience has taught me that as far as Starters in older generations are concerned, Nature doesn't matter that much; these guys will always get an overwhelming edge in solo runs regardless of their Nature.
Only one thing rubbed me the wrong way in that otherwise delightful and fulfilling run, and that thing can be summed up in one sentence: my Trainer is a total PUSHOVER. Absolutely
everybody in that game is bossing me around: Hugh, Alder, Professor Juniper, Colress, Cheren, and even airhead Bianca. Heck, even my own
mum is sending me on the road after a couple of expeditive questions with the words "your course of action has been set" as an goodbye. Wait, set by whom? Don't I have a say in the matter? But that's only the beginning: Hugh, my supposed rival, treats me like a mere tool to serve
his own purpose. He doesn't even see me as a genuine rival: sure, he fights me, but to quote his own words, that's only to make sure that I'm 'strong enough to back him up'.
Back. Him. Up. Huh,
excuse me?! Am I not supposed to be the bloody
hero here? Is that game not supposed to be about me and my epic quest to Catch 'Em All and become the strongest Trainer that ever lived?
And the infamy doesn't stop here, oh nooo. Professor Juniper doesn't even have the decency to invite me to her lab and treat me to pats on the back and words of encouragement like basically every other
Pokemon professor since the dawn of the series; instead, she sends her assistant Bianca to boss me around. Erm, could you actually care less about my endeavours? I met Professor Juniper
once throughout the whole game, only to have her throw a few vague words of praise at my face and then run away like she couldn't bear the thought of being seen with me. Then Hugh bossed me around some more, always sending me on the front line while he stayed safely on the rear, only to pop up as I was about to polish off a dungeon and claim all the glory for himself. Oh, and don't even think of tackling the Elite Four before Hugh allows you to do so: never mind the fact that you have reaped all eight Badges, you have to help him reach
his goal first. Because, you know,
he's apparently the bloody Hero here, not you. Cherry on the humiliation cake, people routinely compare you to 'that great Trainer from two years ago', who is none other that the
Black/
White Trainer. A Trainer who got the privilege to be the Hero of their own game, unlike you. Looks like the '2' in the game's title refers to my Trainer's station in life
just as much as to the fact that this game is a sequel, indeed! Seriously, I felt more like a bellboy than like a
Pokemon Trainer in
White 2, and I didn't like it one bit. That game didn't revolve around my heroic personal quest like all other
Pokemon entries; it revolved entirely around the stories and endeavours of NPCs, with me at their beck and call, slaving away to serve their objectives. Sheesh, I guess I should be glad this bunch of bullies even allowed me to tackle the Gyms and the Elite Four at all instead of keeping me on a leash or something.
Playing second fiddle aside, this was a jolly good solo run that helped me reassess the fifth generation as a whole and its Starters in particular. I dismissed them as first glance; but as time goes on, I find them more and more interesting. I was already quite fond of Oshawott, and Tepig has become a new favourite over the course of that solo run; and I have to admit that I'm now genuinely interested in tackling a Snivy solo run. Oh, and my initially planned Eevee solo run is not forsaken, obviously. I still crave some
Pokemon action after this delectable Tepig solo run and I have yet to play
Black 2, so expect at least one more run report very soon. Thanks for reading, and be my guest anytime!
Maybe that's just me, but the fifth generation (both Black/White and Black 2/White 2) quickly rose to the top of my favorite Pokémon generations. A shame I didn't much any of the starters in them, otherwise I'd give another shot at soloing or maybe running a Nuzlocke challenge.
ReplyDelete>Arm Thrust (Fighting), Return (Normal), Bulldoze (Ground) and Flamethrower (Fire)
Hot diggity damn. That's some great movepool you got there. Although, couldn't you fit some Grass/Electric move instead of Return, for some Water coverage? Not that it matters when you're, literally, bulldozing Pokémons 30 or something levels lower than you.
>"I didn't bother taking Nature into account this time around"
And you shouldn't. Unless you're focusing on the online meta, the Nature of the pokémon only gives a minimal effect, negligible in 90% of the cases. The Ability, on the other hand, is really important for some Pokémon, in some cases it's a difference between making the Pokémon OP or useless. Like those with Technician or Super Luck.
The more I play the fifth generation, the more I like it. I have to admit that I'm getting seriously fond of the starters as well: I love the fact that their designs are so definite, with a French, Chinese and Japanese influence for Serperior, Emboar and Samurott respectively. Heck, I think Snivy is actually my favourite Grass starter when it comes to looks.
DeleteReturn was doing a great deal of damage from very early on, so I stuck with it. And to be honest, I'm not sure I could have replaced it even if I had wanted to, because TMs are so damn hard to find in games from that generation.
I'm a bigger fan of Samurott, personally, despite hating both the base and first evolution's designs. In the opposite side, I like Snivy's (or Smugleaf for those who remember the original pre-showcase rumors) base form, but I don't like the "evolutions" it got. I mean, you have a Pokémon with arms and then it "evolves" into an armless Pokémon? That doesn't make sense.
DeleteYeah, forget I said anything about Return. I was thinking in a more standard fashion, but soloing in Pokémon games it's all about raw damage and elemental advantage takes the back sit. Well, technically, you COULD probably fit in some Electric move (Thunder Punch?) since it covers your Bacon's main weakness and has a chance of paralyzing the target, but does anything survive an attack anyway?
I'm quite fond of the final forms of all the 5th generation starters, to be honest. As far as anthropomorphic 'Mons go, Emboar is ten times better than goofy Incineroar or shabby Delphox, and I already expressed my love for Samurott's design in my post about Pokemon White. ^^ As for Serperior, like I said before, he's my favourite Grass starter of all the Grass starters created since the dawn of the series. Too bad he sucks big time on the battlefield... But more on that very soon, he he. ^^
Delete"But does anything survive an attack anyway": Indeed. I can safely claim that Tepig is the best of the three starters for a solo run of the 5th generation games. He hits harder than Samurott, has a wider move pool and great stats. My run with him a really a blast, and I can't recommend him renough for solo endeavours. ^^
>Emboar is ten times better than goofy Incineroar or shabby Delphox
DeleteOh, definitely. The 6th and 7th starters look terrible in my book. Maybe I give a pass on the Froakie's line though, since I do like Frogadier but Greninja is kinda meh.
>Grass starters created since the dawn of the series. Too bad he sucks big time on the battlefield...
With the exception of the Treecko line, all Grass starters are Defense/Special Defense focused and are meant to act as a wall. Treecko is the sole, radical exception, with a very high focus on Attack and Speed and with several offensive options instead of defensive/healing ones.
Oh, by the way, may I point out a small typo I found? In your second paragraph you have "with (speed-lighting) leveling-up", shouldn't it be "with (lightning-speed) leveling-up"?
Holy moly, you're right! That's definitely a typo, and a big fat one at that. Thanks for pointing this out, I corrected it! ^^
DeleteI know Grass starters are supposed to be all about Defense and Sp. Defense; but to be honest, I don't think they perform honorably at all in that department. Even with the benefit of over-levelling, they usually take much more damage than I would expect from defense-focused 'Mons, and their pitifully low HP makes matters worse. Also, they seem to have very limited move pools by default, which is just unfair given that they're no real compensation for said limited move pools. The more I think about it, the more I'm convinced that Grass starters act like a "hard mode" of sort in Pokemon games.
The value of a defensive Pokémon, be it Grass type or not, is only appreciated in the online meta. Take Venusaur for instance. It's more or less like Serperior in terms of stats but just having an extra Poison typing makes it one of the best walls in the online meta yet Venusar is kinda meh in the normal single player game. The same thing can be said of Weezing for instance. It's on one of the top defensive walls and always used when applying stalling strategies but outside of the online it's a very underwhelming Pokémon.
DeleteOne exception I can think of is Skarmory. Again, it's one of the best defensive Pokémons around but it's also a very viable Pokémon if you only want to play the regular game. The move pool and typing really helps out in this case, though.
Wait... The "online meta"? What is that? I googled it and couldn't find any satisfying data. Would you mind explaining it for me? :)
DeleteSheesh, Skarmory can be a complete pain in the behind. I remember being confronted to him repeatedly in a recent solo run and struggling like crazy to get rid of him. Now THAT's what I call a good Defensive 'Mon.
Online meta is the usual way to say "Pokémon online metagame", basically the highest of the high in terms of online competitive scene. It's more or less a set of different rules (like forbidden to use Pokémon) and Pokémon with specific sets and stuff like that. Sorry for not being clearer, I wrongly assumed you knew what it meant. :p
DeleteIn your typical playthrough, Skarmorys and Flygons are gigantic pains in the ass in general, unless you know their specific weaknesses, something you don't know the first time you play.
I don't know if it's just me but I've had excellent luck using grass types, even underleveled. Sure, they still take more damage than what you'd like, BUT, they also have access to the some of the best healing moves in the game. Leech seed is awesome, and the "drain" moves restore your health and damage the enemy. And they do this without having awful side effects like falling asleep (amnesia) or removing your type (Roost), or having a pathetic PP amount. Look at all the other heal moves, if they're not double sided like amnesia they have 5 PP at most. Recover, milk drink, slack off and soft-boiled are good exceptions, but they're restricted to a small pool of pokemon and don't have the side effect of damaging the enemy. Whereas most grass types get giga drain and leech seed.
DeleteSeriously, try playing without using any items at all and see how much of a lifeboat those grass moves will become. Couple that with being able to status effect the enemy to hell and back so they have less opportunities to damage you, and I find the lack of HP to be a fair trade-off. Aromatherapy should really be more a stapple to grass pokemon too, it's a miracle for a no item runs but it's sadly limited to a few pokemon (in case you don't know, Aromatherapy heals every status effect of every pokemon in your team). Serperior has it BTW.
So, despite the fact that grass types are sadly weak to a lot of types, they'll still reliable and are easy to get. Just don't put it against something it's outright weak to and it'll surprise you a lot of the times. They are the "hard mode" of pokemon no doubt, since they require a lot more patience and startegy, but they are by no means a bad type.
That and I've also had awful luck in getting other typically defensive types like ground and steel in my nuzlockes. I can't even get a darn geodude! So you know, you learn to love what you have.
Sieg: Gen 5 is also one of my favourites. As a bug trainer, I adored the variety of bug types that were added in this generation and a lot of them are very viable pokemon as well. Also, Amoonguss is a fairly good replacement for Venusaur. Its stats aren't nearly as good, but it makes up for it by actually being a pokemon you can catch. And even in a nuzlocke it's easy to get, since you can use a repel and catch one of the Foongus masquerading as a pokeball instead of getting yet another Tranquill. Good stuff.
Also, shout out to Garbodor who is a really unfairly hated Pokemon just because of his appearance, which is unfair in a world where Muk and Electrode have existed since gen 1. He's another really good defensive pokemon with excellent poison moves that grass types can only dream of. I had the good fortune of catching one carrying black sludge during my nuzlocke, and it single handedly saved me against Ghetsy. His Hydreigon would have ended my run otherwise; a no items in battle + level limit nuzlocke can be brutal.
Oops, two seconds after posting that I realized I confused Amnesia with Rest. Rest is the move that heals you but makes the user fall asleep, Amnesia is just a typical stat boosting move.
DeleteI made the confusion because I associate both moves with Slowpoke, who can use both. This leads me to mixing them up sometimes. Not shocking conserding how many moves the game has.
Exactly what Kumiko said about Grass types. They're not bad per se, they just need a little more attention and strategy other than bumrushing your way through, unless you're using a clear offensive Grass type like Treecko. Basically, Grass types are far from being a decent choice when it comes to soling Pokémon. I remember failing to complete the Elite 4 on Pokémon Crystal with Chikorita while with Cyndaquil and Totodile it wasn't much of a problem.
DeleteAnd I also agree with you on the bug types, Kumiko. I got myself a Venipede at the beginning of Black and it lasted me until the post-game. Surpassed my expectations, for sure.
>(in case you don't know, Aromatherapy heals every status effect of every pokemon in your team)
What the hell? You serious? I assumed it worked only on the Pokémon you have battling, which means it would only be more useful in a double battle for instance. Thanks for this heads-up!
Eh, I'm probably one of the few who liked the more dubious designs in Gen 5. For instance, I loved Klink and its evolution line despite just being cute floating gears. But then again, as a Steel type lover, I guess that a rather impartial opinion, right? :p But yeah, the hate on Garbodor is absurd.
Sieg: Nope, I thought it that worked that way too, but I was pleasantly surprised. My whole party in Ruby was suffering from burns and were about to die if they got one random encounter; this was a no items run. I had the move on my Roselia to counter paralyse if I ever needed it, so I used aromatherapy on a whim and bam, whole party was healed and my playthrough was saved.
DeleteHeal bell does the same thing BTW, but it's restricted to even more pokemon than aromatherapy is. Only Chimecho, Skitty, Milktank and Celebi can learn it by level up. Yeah, putting it on Celebi sure helps making the move more visible GF...still, it makes Milktank into even more of a monster coupled with milk drink, and coupled with wish it can make Delcatty into an appealing pokemon for a no item run. Especially now that it's a normal/fairy type.
Bug types are awesome. They just get a really bad rep because the Bug types we mostly think of are the early games one that evolve really early and get bad stats as a result. We all reach a point where Butterfree just falls behind the rest of the team. And that's like judging all bird types by Farfetch'd stats. But even back in gen 1 there were still awesome pokemon like Scyther and Pinsir. Personally, I've always loved Venomoth myself, it was him who got me started with using status effects. Venipede is one of my favourite bug types introduced in gen 5, tied with Galvantula and Volcarona.
People were so unfair to gen 5! I for one appreaciated that the original Black and White were games that gave us a completely new dex, instead of having the same old staples like tentacool and geodude. But I guess people just get attached to certain pokemon and really hate not being able to get it in one single game. Oh well, at least Pokepark 2 and Gates to infinity were able to get away with it.
And I don't think any of its designs were bad, especially if we compare them to gen 1. How is Klinklang worse than Magneton again? How is Garbodor worse than Muk? And what's wrong with the Vanillite line? It's cute, who cares if it's based on ice cream? And it's not the worst designed ice pokemon by far. That tittle goes to gen 1's Seal, who literally is just an albino seal. The only pokemon I couldn't stand were the elemental monkeys, but that's just because I really have a bias against monkeys and I think pokemon has enough of them already. Plus, given that gen 5 pokemon were meant to fufill the same roles as the original 150 pokemon, one must admit that the monkeys were a terrible replacement for Eevee.
As usual, it all boils down to what you want to achieve in a given run. As far as my way of playing Pokemon games go, i.e. one-shooting my way to the Elite 4 through the use of brute force generated by overleveling, the average Grass starter doesn't do the job. On the other hand, I can totally believe that they are perform really well in other settings; heck, nobody would ever choose them if they were good-for-nothing.
DeleteKumiko: Both the Bug types and Gen 5 in general are severely underappreciated, yeah. Funnily because, if you played the original Red/Blue Kumiko, Butterfree and its Confusion move were very strong during the whole game. Not because the mechanics allowed them but because Psychic moves and Confusion and the confuse status were unusually strong given the bug-ridden engine at the time.
Delete>How is Klinklang worse than Magneton again? How is Garbodor worse than Muk? And what's wrong with the Vanillite line?
Eh, I actually enjoy those daily-objects designs (Vanillite not so much, but its nowhere as bad as people make them out to be). My only gripe with the whole Pokémon design debacle is the very humanoid-like Pokémon. For the life of me, I can't like the Machop line or Throh and Sawk, for instance. But in the end, all generations have some really bad designs and some great designs. It's just a matter of taste and preferences.
Isleif: Exactly. It's not a matter of the Grass types in particular. If you want to do a solo run, it's simply better to choose a fast and strong Pokémon over a slow but defensive-oriented one.
However, if you ever solo Pokémon BW/BW2 with Roggenrola, I have to admit you have some top-quality gaming caliber! :p
"However, if you ever solo Pokémon BW/BW2 with Roggenrola, I have to admit you have some top-quality gaming caliber!": Now don't rile me up, Sieg... I might well take up the gauntlet! :p It's not like I need but the slightest excuse to tackle new Pokemon solo runs, oh no... ^^
DeleteSieg: Psychic types and psychic moves were horrible in gen 1. Even with the nerfing the typing got in gen 2, I still don't think that that issue with the games was ever truly fixed until they did the Special stat split in gen 4. This is the major reason it's so hard for me to even return to FireRed and LeafGreen, I play Romhacks that add those features instead. I can go back to the days of single use TMs just fine, but I can't live without my precious special split due to the trauma of gen 1.
DeleteI am a bit more forgiving with human-like pokemon such as Gardevoir and Lucario, but I have a pet peeve with pokemon wearing clothes. So Throh and Sawk definitly pushed my buttons, but you know. Gen 1 had Jynx, Hitmonchan and Machoke with its horrible speedo and belt, so I wasn't shocked about it. Makes me wonder what those pokemon look like underneath...ugh. And I tend to forgive gen 5 on that since they were trying to give these 150 new pokemon the same feel as the 150 original, so that sin is gen 1's fault more than anything. It's the same reason I wouldn't complain about Klinklang anf Foongus even if I hated them, those designs are not truly gen 5's fault.
At least we didn't get a pokemon that copied Mr Mime's shtick, thank goodness. People can unfairly complain about Amoonguss being a stupid pokemon all they want as long as they don't remind GF that Mr Mime exists. There's no real Jynx or Lickitung copies as well, and nothing as stupidly lazy as Dugtrio either, so I can forgive GF for repeating the sins they did with Voltorb and Muk (even though I actually like Muk). Considering Seal's existence, I even forgive Cryogonal.
Isleif: Good luck with that, but I have a feeling it will end up like the Snivy run :p
Well, you never know...^^ It all boils down to Stats, really. Give me an Attack stat high enough to one-shoot opponents, combined with high Speed and/or high Defense to avoid taking too much damage and I can pretty much work my way around any obstacle. And my Lycanroc solo run has proved that Rock 'Mons can be great solo run material, so I'm definitely inclined to give Roggenrola a chance. Not to mention that I can never resist a good challenge. :p
DeleteI have to admit that I'm quite fond of Cryogonal's design. In fact, I have a soft spot for all Ice 'Mons, and I would have tackled a solo run with an Ice 'Mon a long time ago if not for the fact that these beasts are so rare and have a way of appearing extremely late in most entries.
Kumiko: The Special/Physical split was single handedly the best thing to ever happen in the Pokémon franchise in terms of gameplay. It finally made some Pokémon actually useful or being useful like they were intended to (like Absol and its absurdly high Attack when Dark moves were classified as Special pre-Ge IV).
DeleteAnd Cryogonal's design is great. I'd easily put Seal/Dewgong, Grimer/Muk and several others worse than it. But alas, I already said that I'm a big fan of daily objects like Magnemite, Klink or Klefki so my opinion is biased as hell.
Isleif: Oh, god, Isleif, don't do it. I said Roggenrola because it may be the worse exercise in frustration I can imagine (second only to a Magikarp run). First, it's a Rock type so it has several weaknesses and a limited movepool; second, it only evolves into his third rank through trading; lastly, Roggenrola is very very slow so you'll always be getting hit first, although it packs some really high Attack stat.
If anything, try making a solo run with your favorite starter WITHOUT evolving it. What can be cuter than become champion with a cute little burning pig or a small blue otter? Give it some thought.
I'm afraid it's too late, Sieg... You might have created a monster. :P
DeleteA non-evolution starter run is a neat idea, although I would be more inclined to tackle a solo run with a 'Mon that doesn't evolve in the first place. I mean, spamming the B-button to cancel the evolution process every time your 'Mon gains a level is a royal pain in the butt, especially in solo runs where 'Mons level up every 15 minutes.
Well, Isleif, I hope you're happy! I've finally read so many of your solo run posts that I decided to do one of my own.
ReplyDeleteMore specifically, hearing all about these Black/White runs has made me want to go back and play the mainline games I never played. Well, maybe that's a pretty big commitment (and right after my backlog post nonetheless) especially considering I don't own any of them.
So I went on eBay and got a killer deal. Great condition DSi, and a CIB copy of Pokemon Pearl. Looking to add Black and Black 2 to the collection after completing Pearl. Paid $38 with shipping for both the DSi and the game! Awesome price, looks like I sniped it before anyone else saw it.
For now though, it should be getting here Friday and I can't wait to check out Pearl. There has always been a huge gap in the mainline games I _did_ play, as I missed everything between R/Y/B and X/Y, so I'm going to try to fix that!
Anyway, you have inspired me, now I just need to figure out who to solo with! I figure I can steamroll through all the games I missed, as these games aren't too long if you rush through them. Just needing an old-school Pokemon fix since finishing SuMo many months ago...
Well, I'm glad I managed to inspire you! ^^ I sure hope you'll lap up Pokemon solo runs just as much as me. It's such a different way to play these games that it will certainly feel like a completely new and fresh experience, especially after playing party runs for years. (As for me, I played only a measle three party runs of Pokemon entries before switching to solo runs forever. They are such a delight that I cannot think of going back to the classic party setting.)
DeleteI cannot recommend Water starter Piplup enough for a solo run of Pearl. He has great stats, a good array of resistances and a varied move pool, and you shouldn't have any problem one-shooting your way to the Elite 4 with him. But as far as solo runs are concerned, the heart must decide! You'd better be really fond of the 'Mon you pick up, because you'll be staring at him during the whole game. :p
Please keep me posted about this! I'm really curious to know how this Pearl solo run will turn out for you. ^^