nuzlocke day 2
Mar. 16th, 2025 07:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thedarlingoneI don't really know if anybody is actually interested in somewhat random nuzlocke notes, but my tumblr just had a post blow up to 4500+ notes so it's completely unusable, and anyway it's easier to edit here. I think I shall try to keep it to one post per day -- I didn't expect to get so far last night, so I kept posting and then doing more.
(Also my two roommates here at the shelter were at each other's throats all last night, almost literally, so I didn't get much sleep. No telling what tonight will be like.)
* When I left off last night, I had just caught a Buizel at the Valley Windworks. Next step is to go battle some dudes to get the Works Key, then go inside and clear the Windworks, ending by defeating Commander Mars, who has a level 16 Purugly. That's a Normal type, so it might be good to get my Machop up to its level to have a type advantage.
* I figure it makes the most sense to count all Honey Trees as a "region" since they have a common spawn pool, so I'll just slather the one in Floaroma Town with the free jar of honey I get from story progression and see what it spawns. You can't hurry up the spawn by changing the console clock though -- this game harshly punishes clock-changing, things won't spawn at all if you do -- so I'll have to wait six actual real-world hours.
* Experience curves sure are a thing. I leveled my Machop from 5 to 14 and my Magikarp, which started at like level 11 at the same time, is only level 13.
* I got impatient and went after Mars with my Machop only at level 15, but got lucky and he didn't quite die. Next stop: Eterna Forest, where you have a companion forcing Double Battles but also healing your pokemon to full between each one, so it can be a good spot to farm XP.
* Accidentally stopped A'Tuin from evolving because I forgot about the press B to stop evolution -- usually I'm spamming B to get through dialogue faster. Oh well, I'll get there next level. Or maybe I'll keep it from evolving for a while so it learns moves faster, I don't remember exactly how that works.
* Route 205: Shellos! That's really good, Gastrodon is a tanky water/ground type that's (I think) four times resistant to fire, and since this is one of the generations where your rival takes the starter that's supereffective against yours, Barry has Chimchar, so I need something good to resist Fire/Fighting. I named him Giorgio because I've run out of Discworld ideas so I'm just letting Leia pick names she likes.
* Eterna Forest: Because all the battles with Cheryl are Double Battles, I have my pick of a Silcoon or a Wurmple. While only Silcoon/Beautifly will spawn wild in Brilliant Diamond, Wurmple can evolve into either one at random in both Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl. Bug types aren't very good either way, but after some pondering I knocked out the Silcoon and caught the Wurmple because I feel like the RNG chance is slightly more interesting. (I'm disappointed I didn't get a Buneary here, but that might be a daytime-only spawn, and I'm playing in realtime because of the clock fuckery, so it's nearly midnight here.)
I named the Wurmple Janua, as a female form of Janus the two-faced god, because of the dual evolution possibilities.
* Janua evolved into Silcoon anyway. Oh well.
* On reaching Eterna City, you can get the Explorer Kit to access the Grand Underground. I'm not planning to catch any pokemon in the underground caverns yet -- that seems like postgame work for this purpose -- but I do want to dig a fossil out of the wall and revive it. (Honestly I could spend forever just playing the palaeontology minigame in the Grand Underground, because palaeontology minigame, but if I save most of it for the postgame, I can get more than one fossil type, and also the shard whosiwhatsits that you trade in for the chance to battle and catch past-game legendaries in Ramanas Park.) I think the only fossil I can get at this point in this game is Cranidos.
While running around in the Grand Underground, you have to speak to some certain number of unique named NPCs, I think it's 28 or 32 or 38, something like that, in order to eventually catch a Spiritomb. So I'm keeping notes from the start of which ones I've spoken to, because they don't spawn in fixed locations, and eventually I'm going to be running around this savefile in the postgame trying to track down the very last NPC down here.
(In my non-nuzlocke file I was trying to get Spiritomb before the Elite Four to flex on Cynthia, but it's really intended to be a postgame goal, because while the NPCs don't have fixed locations, they do have preferred sections of the Grand Underground to spawn in, and one of those sections is postgame exclusive.)
The main thing you dig up in the digging minigame is "spheres" of different colors and sizes, which act as a currency in the Grand Underground and also as something to be dug up that's not very valuable. Besides fossils and the postgame Ramanas shards, you can also get most evolution stones (except the Dawn Stone, for which the only renewable method is a pokemon such as Pachirisu with the Pickup ability), Heart Scales, and other vaguely rocklike items including Revives -- which are of course completely useless in a nuzlocke, except for selling -- and elemental shards and plates, which can be reasonably useful and also have lore significance.
I don't have a fossil yet, but I did dig up an Everstone and put it on A'Tuin, because if you keep a pokemon from evolving it will learn some of its moves quicker (but others not at all until you let it evolve). Specifically, an Everstoned Turtwig will learn Crunch at level 37, but an evolved Torterra not until level 45, which is a significant gap.
It's nearly 2am, so I think I'll pack up for now, hit the Eterna City Gym in the morning, and hunt for a Cranidos fossil some more another time.
(Also my two roommates here at the shelter were at each other's throats all last night, almost literally, so I didn't get much sleep. No telling what tonight will be like.)
* When I left off last night, I had just caught a Buizel at the Valley Windworks. Next step is to go battle some dudes to get the Works Key, then go inside and clear the Windworks, ending by defeating Commander Mars, who has a level 16 Purugly. That's a Normal type, so it might be good to get my Machop up to its level to have a type advantage.
* I figure it makes the most sense to count all Honey Trees as a "region" since they have a common spawn pool, so I'll just slather the one in Floaroma Town with the free jar of honey I get from story progression and see what it spawns. You can't hurry up the spawn by changing the console clock though -- this game harshly punishes clock-changing, things won't spawn at all if you do -- so I'll have to wait six actual real-world hours.
* Experience curves sure are a thing. I leveled my Machop from 5 to 14 and my Magikarp, which started at like level 11 at the same time, is only level 13.
* I got impatient and went after Mars with my Machop only at level 15, but got lucky and he didn't quite die. Next stop: Eterna Forest, where you have a companion forcing Double Battles but also healing your pokemon to full between each one, so it can be a good spot to farm XP.
* Accidentally stopped A'Tuin from evolving because I forgot about the press B to stop evolution -- usually I'm spamming B to get through dialogue faster. Oh well, I'll get there next level. Or maybe I'll keep it from evolving for a while so it learns moves faster, I don't remember exactly how that works.
* Route 205: Shellos! That's really good, Gastrodon is a tanky water/ground type that's (I think) four times resistant to fire, and since this is one of the generations where your rival takes the starter that's supereffective against yours, Barry has Chimchar, so I need something good to resist Fire/Fighting. I named him Giorgio because I've run out of Discworld ideas so I'm just letting Leia pick names she likes.
* Eterna Forest: Because all the battles with Cheryl are Double Battles, I have my pick of a Silcoon or a Wurmple. While only Silcoon/Beautifly will spawn wild in Brilliant Diamond, Wurmple can evolve into either one at random in both Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl. Bug types aren't very good either way, but after some pondering I knocked out the Silcoon and caught the Wurmple because I feel like the RNG chance is slightly more interesting. (I'm disappointed I didn't get a Buneary here, but that might be a daytime-only spawn, and I'm playing in realtime because of the clock fuckery, so it's nearly midnight here.)
I named the Wurmple Janua, as a female form of Janus the two-faced god, because of the dual evolution possibilities.
* Janua evolved into Silcoon anyway. Oh well.
* On reaching Eterna City, you can get the Explorer Kit to access the Grand Underground. I'm not planning to catch any pokemon in the underground caverns yet -- that seems like postgame work for this purpose -- but I do want to dig a fossil out of the wall and revive it. (Honestly I could spend forever just playing the palaeontology minigame in the Grand Underground, because palaeontology minigame, but if I save most of it for the postgame, I can get more than one fossil type, and also the shard whosiwhatsits that you trade in for the chance to battle and catch past-game legendaries in Ramanas Park.) I think the only fossil I can get at this point in this game is Cranidos.
While running around in the Grand Underground, you have to speak to some certain number of unique named NPCs, I think it's 28 or 32 or 38, something like that, in order to eventually catch a Spiritomb. So I'm keeping notes from the start of which ones I've spoken to, because they don't spawn in fixed locations, and eventually I'm going to be running around this savefile in the postgame trying to track down the very last NPC down here.
(In my non-nuzlocke file I was trying to get Spiritomb before the Elite Four to flex on Cynthia, but it's really intended to be a postgame goal, because while the NPCs don't have fixed locations, they do have preferred sections of the Grand Underground to spawn in, and one of those sections is postgame exclusive.)
The main thing you dig up in the digging minigame is "spheres" of different colors and sizes, which act as a currency in the Grand Underground and also as something to be dug up that's not very valuable. Besides fossils and the postgame Ramanas shards, you can also get most evolution stones (except the Dawn Stone, for which the only renewable method is a pokemon such as Pachirisu with the Pickup ability), Heart Scales, and other vaguely rocklike items including Revives -- which are of course completely useless in a nuzlocke, except for selling -- and elemental shards and plates, which can be reasonably useful and also have lore significance.
I don't have a fossil yet, but I did dig up an Everstone and put it on A'Tuin, because if you keep a pokemon from evolving it will learn some of its moves quicker (but others not at all until you let it evolve). Specifically, an Everstoned Turtwig will learn Crunch at level 37, but an evolved Torterra not until level 45, which is a significant gap.
It's nearly 2am, so I think I'll pack up for now, hit the Eterna City Gym in the morning, and hunt for a Cranidos fossil some more another time.
no subject
Date: 2025-03-18 01:31 am (UTC)The concept of nuzlocke is completely new to me, an I know very little about Pokemon, so at this point I'm reading with interest - I love learning anout hobbies I am never going to engage in!
no subject
Date: 2025-03-18 12:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-03-19 11:26 am (UTC)I'm learning lots of words! And the references to the Pokemon types is interesting too. One of my kids was very keen on Pokemon as a teen, and one partner played Pokemon Go, so I have a very basic understanding, but extra detail is great.