Tripping Through Vega - A Joint Playthrough

[seaturtle]

Tripping Through Vega
A Joint Playthrough​

Hey everyone! A couple nights ago, @Varhii and I kinda spontaneously decided to play through Pokemon Vega together. For those of you who might not know, Vega is a romhack of Pokemon FireRed, and is a sequel to Pokemon Altair and Sirius. I've never played either of those games personally, but I read through the plot summary and remember some of it so that's good enough for me In Vega you play as the champion of Hoenn, who's gone to explore the Tohoak region.

I'll just be playing the game casually as it's my first time and is supposed to be pretty difficult, but since SG's got experience with it he's going to be running a Nuzlocke on it. We'll be posting our updates together, in a way where they hopefully compliment each other lol. I'll put a link to the updates in the spoiler below for anyone who wants to find our posts quickly.

Spoiler: links for ez reference

Update 1: Bubba | SG

 

[seaturtle]

Update 1:
sup gamers

since i'm playing through for the first time and kinda just enjoying the ride, my posts are gonna be more casual in nature compared to SG's. his should have a more in-depth analysis on the game itself, especially from a nuzlocke standpoint. mine's more like "oh hey thet's a cute pokemon also what the **** is up with the level curve". so uh enjoy i guess? hopefully this more casual approach works, if not i might make it more structured. we'll see.

anyways, here's my first update! i'm a little past the first gym right now but i've cut off the update there to make it easy to decide where SG and i stop each update.

Spoiler: CLICK

the game starts out basically like any pokemon game does, the professor talks to ya and you choose your name. the prof for this region is named holly which is cool

im not sure what SG is naming his rival but i went with kolton since that seemed cool for the joint playthrough.

the game jumps right in, giving you **** like the running shoes and town map, and then you just go get your starter. this is the grass starter, definitely the cutest of the bunch. using a giant leaf as a weapon is pretty chill too

the water starter honestly really weirded me out lol. this is what SG chose i think, as it's apparently the safest choice for a nuzlocke.

the fire starter looks cool overall, but the game mentioned it being defensive (i think?) so i decided against choosing it. slow and sturdy pokemon are hard for me to have fun with in a game.

in the end i decided to go with Nimbleaf, partially cuz it's a cutie and partially cuz i objectively like its design best lol. grass is also an overall safe choice for teambuilding too! and i learned that Nimbleaf gets the ability Thick Fat, which is SUPER nice on a grass type since it neutralizes both fire and ice types.

and just like every other pokemon game, gotta have the standard rival battle

i named the cutie Dorothy since it sounded nice at the time! unfortunately my game decided to **** me over and froze in the battle. looks like the moves were corrupted? anyways, when i ended up fixing the issue, somehow Dorothy's gender ended up getting switched. i'm debating about if i should give him a new nickname, but at the same time i dont really mind it so Dorothy is probs just going to be the most fabulous Nimbleaf he can be <:J

shoutout to @Kaori's luster purge togekiss during the nuzlocke hunger games lol. togepi being available early in the game is nice, but at the same time i do not want to train it up from a low level. even this early on it's pretty easy to tell that there is going to be a lot of grinding in this game, and i dont want to make it any worse. maybe i'll come back and get one later? togekiss is a favorite of mine but i honestly don't know if it's worth it.

found the HM for flash early on which is cool i guess. sucks as a move though so i hope i dont have to use it and can just keep it in my bag forever instead lol.

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

also insert the youngster making a shorts reference

ended up blacking out after getting poisoned. i was under the impression that the poison would wear off at 1 HP but i guess i was wrong. good thing i'm not doing a nuzlocke loool

i got through the first two routes pretty easy and reached the second town. i caught a new ice-type pokemon called Glachild (or as SG refers to it, the ice waifu) and named her Aurora but forgot to take a screenshot so whoops. the game has rly comfy and cozy music overall, and i've enjoyed it a lot so far.

i went to challenge the gym but got told that i'd have to beat three other trainers first, so i went off to find them on route 502.

right here is where the game got really hard all of a sudden. in the first battle, each pokemon was holding either an oran or a sitrus berry, which was super annoying to fight against. sitrus berries heal all of the pokemon's HP right now apparently? not sure if it's a flat HP value or if they just do that, but it's super annoying. oran berries suck too, just not as much as sitrus berries.

turns out, you need to battle the three trainers consecutively, with no time to heal in between them. that'd normally be ok, except literally every pokemon had berries, and all i had were a few potions to spam.

i ended up dying here. a lot. normally i'd give up and go to grind on wild pokemon, but all the wild pokemon are level 3, so it was more efficient to just go and battle against the three trainers again and get EXP that way even if i'd lose. each time i blacked out, i'd have to rebattle all three of the trainers again.

in the end i made it through all the battles (barely) and went to go challenge the gym leader.

can i just saye Annette is the cutest name for a bug type gym leader

i thought the three trainers before were rough, but the gym was something else. she's got three pokemon total, a pineco, a new bug/rock type pokemon, and then a shuckle. each of them sucked in unique ways.

pineco had spikes, signal beam, and self destruct. early on it could OHKO Dorothy with just one signal beam, and Aurora didn't last long either. after enough attempts though, my team got strong enough to tank its attacks and push through.

the new rock/bug pokemon is named Rollder, and it also sucked ass. that's mostly just because my entire team up until that point was weak to it, though. it wrecked Dorothy with steamroller, and shredded apart Aurora with rollout. eventually my strategy just ended up being getting two growths on Dorothy vs Pineco and then just using razor leaf to beat Rollder in one hit.

at the end of the battle was shuckle. which sucked. even after freezing the damn thing TWICE in one battle, i still couldn't get past it. not only did every pokemon have a berry of some sorts, the gym leader had three potions to use during the battle, meaning I had to beat each pokemon nearly three times since the berries and potions almost fully healed them every goddamn time

in the end, i just kept re-challenging the gym until i had grinded enough to win lol. i guessed that Dorothy would probably evolve around level 16 like most starters do, so i went and leveled him up outside of the gym since your pokemon don't evolve if you wipe out.

spamming razor leaf and getting lucky with crits is what got me through in the end. honestly i wonder how much SG had to grind on those level 3 taillows to safely beat the gym leader, although a water type pokemon would have definitely helped in the gym.

despite my rants about grinding, i'm really enjoying the game so far! it's definitely more difficult than any other pokemon game i've played, so i'm excited to see where it goes from here. i just hope the level curve evens out a bit later in the game, because grinding on super low level pokemon is rough.

the new pokemon have been really cool so far, and seeing things for the first time is definitely really fun, too. exploring this new region that i know nothing about also is exciting hahah. haven't really had this sort of experience since BW since every other game i've played i've known stuff about beforehand.

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand here's my team right now:

 

[Moxie]

Okay this is awesome. Seeing playthroughs of ROM hacks is so much fun after so many different nuzlockes of the same games multiple times x.x

And still not a fan of the designs, but Aurora's evolutions having a frolass feel to it is probably one of my favourites.

Hope you guys have fun with it!

 

[Varhii]

Spoiler: Welcome To Hell Bubba, I'll Be Your Guide (After The Fact)

So my screenshots are gonna look like garbage this update. They'll look better for the next one.

Anyway, I just picked a random name out of my hat o' names and got Emmy.

And I just went the default name for Nathan cause who cares about him.

And here are my settings if anyone cares.

Anyway, I made sure to grab a potion for my PC before the Rival fight cause I don't want to be ROFL Stomped and lose immediately.

And I picked this as my starter for reasons that will become important later.

He was also given the best nickname.

Bashful Nature is pretty solid. Anything neutral is always super nice. Torrent is also pretty great. The other option is Liquid Ooze which in a hack where Everything is out to one shot you and vice versa, it isn't the most helpful.

Anywho, rival time.

As is customary, he has the starter. No ******** yet.

And down for the easy level. Somehow I didn't even have to use my potion.

Anyway, onto the first Route we get our Pokeballs from this house. Let's see what we get.

Anyway, we get a Tailow. While Swellow is a solid mon, it just isn't meant to brave the harsh conditions of this run for much longer than the 2nd gym. It doesn't get any nifty tools handed to it that aren't given to a better mon. I'll definitely hold onto it for now.

Anyway, Stage 1 of Grinding before the first gym. Draino picks up Bubble while Dart nabs Quick attack.

The trainers here and for the rest of the game aren't scary at all. This game acts like there are two balance curves. This normal curve that you'd somewhat expect out of a game and the frightening one you see out of every important trainer. There is one exception and we'll see it this update.

Also, nabbed the potion in the rock.

On the next route I nab up MustGoBoom. Forretress is still fairly solid in this game like in the base games, nature aside, but there is a mon I'm looking forward to that I'm near guaranteed to get at some point that pretty much outclasses this thing. Still a solid tank that will compliment my starter well.

MustGoBoom lives up to her namesake. The other move you see is one of the new moves in this hack and is one of the more tame ones. Double Spin is a 35 BP move with 95% Acc that hits twice and has a chance to raise Attack that seems decently common. While not a reliable STAB move, it is definitely better than the other options.

Teamshot.

I also pick up Flash while I'm at it as it will be useful later on down the line.

Anyway, this is the ******** I was talking about. BOTH of these Nidoran have Poison Point so I spent my time having Dart twiddle her thumbs using Growl while Draino safely used Bubble. Since I didn't get the Ice Waifu, this battle becomes a bit harder.

I also nabbed up a Rare Candy I will save for later. MUCH later.

And here's the first city with the crucial Nugget. This Nugget will be the key to staying alive and helping us not have to grind like crazy to beat the gym.

Here comes the money...

Here we go, money talks.

Anyway, we trigger this event flag so we can fight the siblings...

After grinding of course. Glide is the key to beating these siblings as one of them has a Tailow that loves to spam Double Team.

Anyway, onto the pesky siblings.

+ Level 7 Peyero
The first trainer is fairly easy. The only issue here is if Pichu Statics you and even then it's not hard to heal it up like I did.

Traienr 2 also isn't too hard. Diglett can't touch Tailow really and Liquiput isn't at all threatening.

Trainer 3 is a real ***** though. First I have to navigate my way around Poison Point and a Houndour that wants to bite me till I die. Thankfully I'm able to nab up enough Accuracy boosts to deal with the demon.\

It just spammed Double Team, Died, and gave me a level.

After that, Nimbleaf is a piece of cake.

After the battle, if you talk to the siblings, they will give you a Big Mushroom. I will be holding onto this for things related to move tutors later.

Afterwards, we have another grindfest. I might as well use this time to talk about the two better Pokemon on this route.

First we have Ice Waifu Glachild. This thing pretty much turns into an Ice type version of Gardevoir in terms of both stats and looks. It's stats are very similar to Gardevoir with its Special Defense and Speed being swapped. This is its layout: 80/70/75/120/85/100. It picks up some really solid Ice moves as it levels, but you have to do some evolution canceling befor ethe final form if you don't want to miss out on Ice Beam. (Aurostice never learns Ice Beam while Frozaiden gets it at level 35 and you don't miss out on any moves by waiting.) It also picks up some really good coverage like pretty much everything else in this hack. It gets Hydro Pump and Bug Noise (think Bug Buzz on steroids) through tutor and Signal Beam, Energy Ball, Aqua Bolt (Paralyzing version of scald with higher triggering rate but 10 less accuracy and power), Psychic, Shadow Ball, and Focus Blast. Overall it is a VERY solid mon and I'm sad I missed it.

The other good one I missed out on Togepi. While significantly more rare, it is probably one of the best Pokemon in this game if you get a Serene Grace variant. Togekiss (yes, it's in this hack and you get it with a Sun Stone) has a field day with all the expanded coverage and special effects this game gets it. Not only can it run Air Slash, Aura Sphere, Shadow Ball, Psychic, and Heat Wave like in the base games, but it also gets the aforementioned Aqua Bolt meaning that if you have Serene Grace, whenever you use it, you have a 72% chance of Paralyzing the opponent. Not to mention it's pretty good coverage. Also, you can get Nasty Plot and Hydro Pump by move tutor if you so desire. It is just ridiculously good.

Anyway, back to your scheduled programming. I'm going to solo this gym with my starter at Level 15 and it will work out.

But first I have to get to the Gym Leader.

Let's take her down.
Pineco@Oran Berry, Level 13: Signal Beam, Double Spin, Spikes, Self Destruct
Rollder@Oran Berry, Level 14: Rollout, Rock Throw, Steamroller, Defense Curl
Shuckle@Sitrus Berry, Level 15: Curse, Rock Tomb, Bulldoze, Big Yawn

Pineco isn't that bad. All it wants to do is set up Spikes and try to go boom in your face. It's definitely not a Pokemon you want to try and set up on with the Grass starter though due to Signal Beam.

For both the fire and water starter, this gym isn't too hard at this point. Peyero gains the steel typing upon evolving into Infiris. Draino was able to two shot this thing, but once again, the Grass Starter is really bad in this gym.

This guy is the real pain in the ass of this gym. You guys should know what Bulldoze (why the fire starter is bad for this gym), Rock tomb, and Curse do, but what does Big Yawn do?
It is a 100% accurate Sleep move.
This is Vega's first case of ******** as there is no Sleep Clause to save you as this thing starts setting up Curses. While I went in at level 15 on Draino and while level 14 (the level where the water starter evolves) is possible, you do risk being haxxed badly here and being very unlucky with your sleep patterns. Thankfully the AI isn't that great and spent half the turns showering me in +1 Rock Tombs rather than putting me though hell.
It is possible to beat this gym with just the Grass Starter and the Ice Waifu, but it is a giant pain as you have to grind up to about 20 and spam Charm with Ice Waifu so you can set up Growths with the Grass Starter.I decided to just say no to that **** and picked the Water starter. I'll still have to grind up later, but at least I don't have to grind up a bunch so early on.

Anyway, we beat the gym and get the badge and the TM for Signal Beam. while half my team can get it, I won't give it to them for now as there is only one mon on my team that I'm planning on keeping around and he picks up Poison STAB later.

I'll see you next time as I navigate past Perfect Coverage Hitmonchan.

 

[Kaori]

I'm really enjoying the grass starter's design! (Although the Water one isn't bad either. Not a big fan of the Fire one though)

Also early Togepi is a big plus in my book! Especially if this hack added later evolutions so Togekiss is available. Might have to consider this hack for one of my future challenge runs.