Shado
Not-So-New Trainer
- Join Date
- Oct 2, 2019
- Posts
- 13
- Gender
- Male
- Time Zone
- EST
Hey there, I'm Shado and this is a corner of the internet I haven't been active in for a long, long time. I joined the old Marriland forums nearly 6 years ago specifically to play and discuss Pokemon challenges. I hung around for a few years but eventually my interest in Pokemon faded and I just sorta disappeared.
However, like many of you, I've been extremely bored during quarantine. I actually started playing Pokemon again out of sheer boredom! I did a few normal runs, some randomizers, but recently realized that I hadn't done a challenge run in a pretty long time. Then, I realized that I actually knew a place where I could share a challenge run with other people! I'm gonna be honest, it's really weird being back here, but I think it'll be a good time.
Initially I was gonna do some sort of Nuzlocke, but I've done plenty of those and I'd like something a little less stressful. I was looking for a challenge that would allow for a more casual, strategy-based playthrough, and one that would force me to craft my team carefully rather than leaving it up to chance. Basically, I wanted something that would test my team building rather than just battling skills. Eventually I came across a pretty fun-looking challenge where the main restriction is that your Pokemon cannot learn any moves other than the ones you catch them with. I decided this challenge would be relatively laid-back, but it would also require a lot of strategy for taking on different areas and boss battles, especially in the late-game. I'll be playing on Platinum, just because it's the game I know the best (plus I know the story well enough that I'll always know where to go, so I can just focus on the challenge). Here's my ruleset:
That's about it! I went ahead and played through the first gym, so here's my progress so far:
Thanks for making it this far, if you have! Feels good to be back.
However, like many of you, I've been extremely bored during quarantine. I actually started playing Pokemon again out of sheer boredom! I did a few normal runs, some randomizers, but recently realized that I hadn't done a challenge run in a pretty long time. Then, I realized that I actually knew a place where I could share a challenge run with other people! I'm gonna be honest, it's really weird being back here, but I think it'll be a good time.
Initially I was gonna do some sort of Nuzlocke, but I've done plenty of those and I'd like something a little less stressful. I was looking for a challenge that would allow for a more casual, strategy-based playthrough, and one that would force me to craft my team carefully rather than leaving it up to chance. Basically, I wanted something that would test my team building rather than just battling skills. Eventually I came across a pretty fun-looking challenge where the main restriction is that your Pokemon cannot learn any moves other than the ones you catch them with. I decided this challenge would be relatively laid-back, but it would also require a lot of strategy for taking on different areas and boss battles, especially in the late-game. I'll be playing on Platinum, just because it's the game I know the best (plus I know the story well enough that I'll always know where to go, so I can just focus on the challenge). Here's my ruleset:
1. Pokemon I use can never learn any moves other than the ones that I catch them with. This means no level-up moves, no TMs or HMs, nothing except the first four moves I end up with.
2. The one exception to Rule 1 is that if a Pokemon has less than 4 moves when I catch it, it'll be allowed to learn moves until it has 4, and I'll be able to use them. Once it gets 4 moves though, its moveset will be locked forever like with any other Pokemon.
3. I can only grind to the level under the highest level of the next boss battle before I fight it.
4. No healing items in battle, at least for now. I unfortunately think there may be some situations where my choices will be a) grind for an eternity or b) just use a couple of healing items, and in that case I'm gonna go with the latter. However, I'll try my best to use as few items as possible. Definitely no revives in battle, ever.
5. Obviously I have to teach HM moves at some point, especially because Sinnoh specifically needs a TON of them. I actually need TWO HM buddies, because Victory Road requires 5 HMs in this gen. I'll allow myself a Bibarel
for Rock Smash, Surf, Waterfall, and Rock Climb, and a Tropius 
for Cut, Fly, and Defog. Yeesh. Neither of these two Pokemon will be used in battle.
2. The one exception to Rule 1 is that if a Pokemon has less than 4 moves when I catch it, it'll be allowed to learn moves until it has 4, and I'll be able to use them. Once it gets 4 moves though, its moveset will be locked forever like with any other Pokemon.
3. I can only grind to the level under the highest level of the next boss battle before I fight it.
4. No healing items in battle, at least for now. I unfortunately think there may be some situations where my choices will be a) grind for an eternity or b) just use a couple of healing items, and in that case I'm gonna go with the latter. However, I'll try my best to use as few items as possible. Definitely no revives in battle, ever.
5. Obviously I have to teach HM moves at some point, especially because Sinnoh specifically needs a TON of them. I actually need TWO HM buddies, because Victory Road requires 5 HMs in this gen. I'll allow myself a Bibarel
for Rock Smash, Surf, Waterfall, and Rock Climb, and a Tropius for Cut, Fly, and Defog. Yeesh. Neither of these two Pokemon will be used in battle.That's about it! I went ahead and played through the first gym, so here's my progress so far:
- I do all the boring tutorial stuff, and then have the chance to choose a starter. This is gonna be an important decision. I expect my starter to get replaced by a stronger team member at some point, but I'd rather keep using it for as long as possible.
- Piplup
would be stuck with Bubble and Pound as its only attacking moves, so that's a definite no. Chimchar 
has it a little better (it gets Ember), but I don't think fire coverage is gonna be particularly important early on cause I'll have other options to deal with the grass/bug types that will be coming up. Chimchar does get Taunt, which could be useful, but I still think I would rather have...
- Turtwig
! This little guy is actually my least-used Sinnoh starter, so that works out well. Tackle, Withdraw, and Absorb are gonna be pretty bad, but my final learned move will be Razor Leaf, which has a respectable 55 base power and Same-Type Attack Bonus. It's a great move to get past the first gym and it should hopefully be dealing a good amount of damage for the first part of the game.
- I give my Turtwig the nickname Yertle (cause turtle), dispatch the rival by spamming tackle, and head over to Sandgem town for more boring tutorial stuff. I soon get the ability to catch Pokemon and head out to grab my first new team member.
- There's a few options here but to me, the obvious one is Starly
. It knows Tackle and Growl right now, but its next two moves (the last ones I can use) are gonna be Quick Attack and Wing Attack, which are great. A priority move is really nice to have, and it even gets STAB. Wing Attack has 60 base power, which is really good in the early-game. I can see this being useful for the second gym especially, and it'll be nice to have as a second team member.
- It takes me a weirdly long amount of time to find a Starly, but I finally do and I name her Gail (cause gale).
- I battle some trainers on the way to Jubilife City, do a stupid clown thing to get the Poketch, and go fight my rival.
- I take out the rival's Starly with Yertle , then Quick Attack the Chimchar with Gail until it goes down. I learn Wing Attack, and that mean's Gail's moveset is locked at Tackle, Growl, Quick Attack, and Wing Attack.
- I make my way over to Oreburgh City, and on the Route above there I go to grab another team member. I catch a Machop
and name him Floyd, after the boxer Floyd Mayweather.
- The reason I picked this guy up is because he starts off with the move Low Kick, which I could see being useful at a bunch of random points throughout the adventure. The damage of Low Kick scales with the weight of the opponent. This means against super heavy opponents, it could be really useful, meaning I may swap Floyd in and out of the party for fights like Byron.
- Right now Floyd has Low Kick, Leer, and Focus Energy. It'll get Karate Chop as its next move for a more consistent option than Low Kick. He also has the ability Guts, which is a good thing in this case because he'll only have 100 accuracy moves so No Guard would have mostly just been a downside.
- I use Floyd against trainers in the Oreburgh Mine, and he learns Karate Chop, meaning Floyd's moveset is locked at Low Kick, Leer, Focus Energy, and Karate Chop.
- I find Roark and beat up the trainers in his gym to get Yertle to level 13. He learns Razor Leaf, meaning that Yertle's moveset is locked at Tackle, Growl, Absorb, and Razor Leaf.
- Finally, it's time for the Roark Fight.
- I take out Roark's Geodude
in one hit with Yertle's Razor Leaf.
- For Onix
, I decide to try using Floyd for fun. This turns out to be a mistake, as Onix actually outspeeds me and sets up Stealth Rock. I know Low Kick will have 120 base power against this thing, so I hope for it to OHKO, but it barely doesn't. Roark doesn't use a potion though, Onix gets some minimal damage on Floyd with a Rock Throw, and he takes it out with a Karate Chop.
- Because of the Stealth Rock, I decide to leave Floyd in to try and take on Cranidos 
. I figure Floyd can tank a Headbutt and get at least one hit off before fainting, and he does in fact survive with a little under half HP... except that he flinches. Welp. There's not much I can do here, so I let Floyd faint.
- I throw out Yertle and pray that he can live a Headbutt, even after taking Stealth Rock damage. He does, with 5 HP! And doesn't flinch! One Razor Leaf takes Cranidos out, and I have the Coal Badge.
- So far, this challenge has basically just been a normal Pokemon run. However, that's gonna change for the next segment. My Pokemon are gonna start trying to learn cool moves soon and unfortunately I'm just gonna have to say no to all of it. I'll be back once I've beaten Gardenia!
- Piplup
would be stuck with Bubble and Pound as its only attacking moves, so that's a definite no. Chimchar has it a little better (it gets Ember), but I don't think fire coverage is gonna be particularly important early on cause I'll have other options to deal with the grass/bug types that will be coming up. Chimchar does get Taunt, which could be useful, but I still think I would rather have...- Turtwig
! This little guy is actually my least-used Sinnoh starter, so that works out well. Tackle, Withdraw, and Absorb are gonna be pretty bad, but my final learned move will be Razor Leaf, which has a respectable 55 base power and Same-Type Attack Bonus. It's a great move to get past the first gym and it should hopefully be dealing a good amount of damage for the first part of the game.- I give my Turtwig
the nickname Yertle (cause turtle), dispatch the rival by spamming tackle, and head over to Sandgem town for more boring tutorial stuff. I soon get the ability to catch Pokemon and head out to grab my first new team member.- There's a few options here but to me, the obvious one is Starly
. It knows Tackle and Growl right now, but its next two moves (the last ones I can use) are gonna be Quick Attack and Wing Attack, which are great. A priority move is really nice to have, and it even gets STAB. Wing Attack has 60 base power, which is really good in the early-game. I can see this being useful for the second gym especially, and it'll be nice to have as a second team member.- It takes me a weirdly long amount of time to find a Starly
, but I finally do and I name her Gail (cause gale).- I battle some trainers on the way to Jubilife City, do a stupid clown thing to get the Poketch, and go fight my rival.
- I take out the rival's Starly
with Yertle , then Quick Attack the Chimchar with Gail until it goes down. I learn Wing Attack, and that mean's Gail's moveset is locked at Tackle, Growl, Quick Attack, and Wing Attack.- I make my way over to Oreburgh City, and on the Route above there I go to grab another team member. I catch a Machop
and name him Floyd, after the boxer Floyd Mayweather.- The reason I picked this guy up is because he starts off with the move Low Kick, which I could see being useful at a bunch of random points throughout the adventure. The damage of Low Kick scales with the weight of the opponent. This means against super heavy opponents, it could be really useful, meaning I may swap Floyd
in and out of the party for fights like Byron.- Right now Floyd
has Low Kick, Leer, and Focus Energy. It'll get Karate Chop as its next move for a more consistent option than Low Kick. He also has the ability Guts, which is a good thing in this case because he'll only have 100 accuracy moves so No Guard would have mostly just been a downside.- I use Floyd
against trainers in the Oreburgh Mine, and he learns Karate Chop, meaning Floyd's moveset is locked at Low Kick, Leer, Focus Energy, and Karate Chop.- I find Roark and beat up the trainers in his gym to get Yertle
to level 13. He learns Razor Leaf, meaning that Yertle's moveset is locked at Tackle, Growl, Absorb, and Razor Leaf.- Finally, it's time for the Roark Fight.
- I take out Roark's Geodude
in one hit with Yertle's Razor Leaf.- For Onix
, I decide to try using Floyd for fun. This turns out to be a mistake, as Onix actually outspeeds me and sets up Stealth Rock. I know Low Kick will have 120 base power against this thing, so I hope for it to OHKO, but it barely doesn't. Roark doesn't use a potion though, Onix gets some minimal damage on Floyd with a Rock Throw, and he takes it out with a Karate Chop.- Because of the Stealth Rock, I decide to leave Floyd
in to try and take on Cranidos . I figure Floyd can tank a Headbutt and get at least one hit off before fainting, and he does in fact survive with a little under half HP... except that he flinches. Welp. There's not much I can do here, so I let Floyd faint.- I throw out Yertle
and pray that he can live a Headbutt, even after taking Stealth Rock damage. He does, with 5 HP! And doesn't flinch! One Razor Leaf takes Cranidos out, and I have the Coal Badge.- So far, this challenge has basically just been a normal Pokemon run. However, that's gonna change for the next segment. My Pokemon are gonna start trying to learn cool moves soon and unfortunately I'm just gonna have to say no to all of it. I'll be back once I've beaten Gardenia!
Yertle, Lv. 14 Turtwig
Overgrow
Sassy Nature
Moveset (LOCKED)
- Tackle
- Withdraw
- Absorb
- Razor Leaf
Gail, Lv. 11 Starly
Keen Eye
Quiet Nature
Moveset (LOCKED)
- Tackle
- Growl
- Quick Attack
- Wing Attack
Floyd, Lv. 13 Machop
Guts
Careful Nature
Moveset (LOCKED)
- Low Kick
- Leer
- Focus Energy
- Karate Chop
Overgrow
Sassy Nature
Moveset (LOCKED)
- Tackle
- Withdraw
- Absorb
- Razor Leaf
Gail, Lv. 11 Starly
Keen Eye
Quiet Nature
Moveset (LOCKED)
- Tackle
- Growl
- Quick Attack
- Wing Attack
Floyd, Lv. 13 Machop
Guts
Careful Nature
Moveset (LOCKED)
- Low Kick
- Leer
- Focus Energy
- Karate Chop
Thanks for making it this far, if you have! Feels good to be back.
for HM purposes. I name it Doof and teach it Rock Smash.
!
. It won't have very good moves but those stats are pretty great for this early in the game. I'm just gonna check the honey trees every now and then just in case, but I'm not gonna focus too much on getting one.
used Toxic on her, but that didn't happen. Wing Attack killed the Zubat in two hits, and it dealt only minimal damage from a Bite.
, the reason being that I don't want Floyd 
. I'll unfortunately barely miss out on Mud Bomb, but the respectably powerful Water Pulse is good enough reason to catch this and use it right now.
early on. That's annoying.
! I catch it and name it Markoth, after the super annoying miniboss from Hollow Knight who also happens to be a moth.
and level it up. However, that means it would be stuck with Harden forever, and I'd really rather that wasn't the case. Because of that, I had to run around for a while to find this thing in its evolved state.
, but I think I can still make this work.
!
. Unfortunately he barely does any damage with Gust, and then gets Leech Seeded. I really overestimated Markoth's firepower. This could be really bad.
, and I don't have access to healing items. Because of that, Markoth 
which I have to fight really soon, so I'm definitely going to grind at least a little bit so I'm not going into the fight with Pokemon 5 levels below it.
has even less attack than Dustox, it does have both Hypnosis and Confuse Ray in its starting moveset, and STAB for its own Confusion. I think those statuses could be really useful for fighting Jupiter's terrifying Skuntank.
, which is quite frankly terrifying. Luckily, the scientist using it is dumb and uses an X Special on its first turn, and a Wing Attack brings it to red health. One Quick Attack takes it out. EZ.
! I promptly dump it in the box forever. Togepi's 
starting moves leave a lot to be desired. Metronome would be the only "attacking move" it would ever get.
or Cranidos 
and name him Ishmael. I asked a friend for name ideas and he suggested a biblical name, cause "Gible" is only one letter off from "Bible". I'm no expert on Christianity, but apparently Ishmael spent a long time living in the desert, so I think the name works pretty well.
, who I grab at level 19 on the Route between Mt. Coronet and Hearthome City. I name him Aster, because it's the name of a flower but also sounds a bit more masculine than most flower names.
, so that's where I'll stop for now.
. I know this thing has Will-O'-Wisp, so I want to use a special attacker against it. I don't plan on using Gershwin anywhere in the rest of the fight, so I might as well use him here.
. I was hoping for Haunter, but because I have a water type out and this Mismagius has Magical Leaf, Fantina decides to send it out instead.
, and while I could just Dragon Rage it, I'm worried about the fact that it knows Hypnosis and Confuse Ray. In response, I send out Aldous 
, so I send out Aster 
, so I switch to Gershwin 
to sleep with Aldous 
, which marks the third AI switchout in the last two battles. I've had entire Pokemon playthroughs with less than 3 AI switchouts!
which inflicts para-fusion on Aldous 
, so I don't plan on using this great power that the game has graciously decided to bestow upon me.
has great stats, but its moves aren't anything to write home about. Kadabra 
at level 23, 25, and 27, aka the three levels that I thought Floyd 
from levels 19-25. This one is only level 19 which is unfortunate, but I'll take it.
or an Octillery 
. I decided on the latter for a few reasons. While Octillery is less bulky than Gastrodon, it's a tiny bit faster and it hits a lot harder. It can't deal with electric types, but I already have an electric immunity on my team (