The Pika Club Forums

Yes it's back and bigger than last time... which to be fair wont be hard.

I'll actually work on this tomorrow when I work out what I did on Day's 1-5... they include beating 4 gyms, catching a whole bunch of Pokémon, and a couple of Wi-Fi trades with Pikachu3828 and some random people on the Global Trading System... all mixed in with my attempt at humour and pointing out some nice little features you may or may not know about.

No pictures this time though...

I Know, I Know... I've still got to do the catch up on everything i've done so far. But i had to post this before i forgot

So there's this newspaper in Solaceon Town that gives you the task to bring him a certian pokemon by midnight (the time the date rolls over is the way he phrases it). Anyway, he challenged me to show him a Skuntank. Now I only have a Stunky so I thought I'd go level up in Iron Island... figured that was the most EXP place I have accessible right now...
Anyway, the point of this is while training I ran across a Shiny Graveler. This is a special thing anyway, but made more special by the fact that in all the hours I've played in all the Pokémon games... I have never once seen a shiny pokemon... well apart from the Red Gyarados at Lake Rage in Gold/Silver/Crystal but that doesnt count. So I finally find a Shiny Pokémon and it goes and Self Distructs itself before I could even attempt to catch it....

And I thought I was having great luck in Diamond what with all the Female Pokémon I'm catching (including my starter being female)

I did it, it took me 78 hours and 4 minutes, but I've finally gotten my pokedex upgraded to the National Mode... Took me over 76 hours to beat the Elite 4, and another couple of hours to capture Azelf (seriously, that battle took a life time and used up nearly every pokeball I had)

Now just to complete the national dex...

Yeah, I know I didn't do anything about my american journey... well I did a bit - the national dex thing and the shiny (which is still annoying me). So I didnt really do the whole thing, big deal. I'll put a few things in this post that I can remember, but from the next post on I'll (try to) cover my whole journey in my European version of Diamond, from the start all the way to beating the league... and maybe even beyond. Then again, i could do the first post and forget to update the whole thing after that... so who knows.

In the US....
Meprit was almost as annoying as Azelf. Trying to catch up to it was a pain, although with it not renewing it's health (like I thought it did originally) did help, as did my False Swiping Syther (My main catching Pokémon... who doesnt love a move that guarrantees the Pokémon you're trying to catch will have at least 1HP). Also Mean Look on my Crobat helped too (that's actually Japanese since I got it of the GTS). Still, Paralyzed, left with 1HP and unable to run until i either switched my Crobat out or it got KO'd by Mesprit, that blasted Psychic Pokémon wouldn't stay in the ball. any ball... I used pretty much every type there was (except the master ball, I really didnt want to use that... no idea what I will use it on, but still). Anyway, I finally caught the thing after about 20 encounters (that's after i'd done all the damage to it and it was primed for capture).

Breeding. You may have noticed in the Trading Center, I've opened up a breeding shop. Well i've had a couple of nasty orders... well for me anyway. There's a reason I charge more for Specific Genders with Less than a 50% chance of happening. A female Combee, Eevee and Munchlax all have a 12.5% chance. The Eevee was all right, only took about 4 Eggs to get an Eevee, about 8 to get a Combee. I've done over 100 Eggs to get a Munchlax... STILL NO FEMALE. I've shipped most of them off onto the GTS to get anything I've seen and not owned (GTS golddust, I can get almost anything i want with one of those). I've still got a few of them... maybe I'll do a special offer on Munchlax. Anyway, the quest for a female goes on.

I've still got the post elite 4 Legendaries to hunt down and capture, and there's a few Pokémon I want to either captuer, like Magby (with whatever that item is to evolve to Magmortor) or evolve, like Elekid. Actually that Elekid was annoying... not only is it rare to find, but to find one with an electrilizer is just a pain. All I can say is my new Stantler is brilliant. Frisk is a new Ability that will identify if the opponent is holding an item (and what that item is). Using that, it was easy to tell when the Elekid had the Electrilizer, then I just switched to my Syther and False Swipe, Pokéball away and it was mine. Ok, so maybe the false swipe wasnt all that neccessary with Elekid's low level and an ultra ball... but I just wanted to make sure.... after you hunt around for about 6 hours trying to find an Elekid with an Electrilizer, you'll want to make sure you get it as well.

hmm... yup, that's pretty much everything major i can think of that's happened... either its been really boring or my memory isnt good (or both). Anyway, lets try to do a full Journey Journal.

Ok, So after buying the game on the European release date (27th July), I finally took off the plastic wrapping and started the game today (nearly 2 weeks after buying it). Anyway, lets try to do this properly.

Day 1: August 9th 2007.
Journey's Start.

Well it started after the whole Naming process and that Red Gyarados TV thing (nice little nod to the G/S/C games... there's a few other Johto References around too). Because I like to know which game's my Pokémon's come from, I use different names on different games, only re-using old names on a Different Generation. However my rival's name has stayed the same, Roy (in fact, it was Roy in all three versions I have... no idea what I have against him, but I was too lazy to think anything else up).

So I did the whole boring walk to the lake in order to get my first Pokémon. So who to chose. Well I chose Piplup in the Japanese version, Piplup in the American version so it's very obvious which one I'd chose for the European version... Turtwig. While chimchar may have been more helpful in the longer run, Gym 1 would have been more difficult than with Turtwig (or Piplup, but i really didnt want to start with him for a 3rd time). And since I know how easy Gym 2 (the grass gym) is with a Starly/Staravia at the right levels, the early part of the game was more advantages with Turtwig than Chimchar

But Ace, I hear you cry, why dont you just do a whole trade of all the starters like you probably have done in previous generations of the games? Well because today was the first day of my holiday and i didnt have enough room in the luggage for 2 DS consoles. So no trading (at least not yet).

Right, so I now have a Turtwig and I'm told to head to Rowan's Lab... of to Sandgem. I do, beating a Starly along the way. After getting a Pokédex and a tour of the town, I grab some Pokéballs from the mart, heal up at the Pokécenter and head back home... for some reason I need permision from my mother to do this Pokédex thing... and I'm not alowed to use a phone or send an e-mail. Anyway back I went, catching a level 2 Starly and a level 3 Bidoof in between sandgem, twinleaf and back to sandgem again.

Heading onto the next route, out comes the prof's little aid to teach me about catching Pokémon... Just like the Roy thing this is the 3rd version where I've already caught both a Starly and a Bidoof before i get this little turorial and I really wished I could skiped it. Still the 5 free pokéballs were nice. Traveling on i got myself another starly, this one level 4 which is slightly more useful (it also has a better nature than the level 2 one, if you think level is all that i care about). The first trainer i meet almost kills me though... after he destroyed my turtwig (although to be fair, it started the match of with about a 3rd of its health), my bidoof and the level 2 starly, i had about 2 hit points left on my level 4 starly when it finally managed to win... it grew to level 5 and I ran back to the pokemon center to heal. I caught a level 3 shinx on my return to the route, and delt with the other 2 trainers with no problems. I also got another level on my Turtwig and my bidoof. Arriving at Jubilife City, I head straight for the Pokécenter, put that level 2 Starly in a box (could come in handy) and saved. Try for more tomorow.

Today's Playing Time: 35 minutes. Total Playing Time: 35 Minutes
Current team: (Lv6) (Lv5) (Lv4) (Lv3)
Tasks to do: Find Roy (in the school) and give him the parcel (Map)
Get Pokétech
Get Old Rod, possibly battle some magikarp for cheep and easy exp
Head to Oreburgh and the first Gym
Book Turtwig in for an Eye Test... Seriously the amount of times that turtle missed a Tackle attack was just insane. I wouldnt have minded as much if he'd been hit with accuracy reducing moves, but he'd never been hit with any status moves most of the times, and the other times it was just Growl, which lowers attack. It's accuracy better improve or it wont find iteself in my squad much...

Wow... Can't believe I've actually done this two days in a row... Anyway, on with the show

Day 2: August 10th, 2007
The First Badge

Ok, so I had to do a bit of travelling and leveling up first. Anyway, first thing I did was head to the school to hand over that parcel for Roy, and got a map for my troubles. I then went and fought the 2 little kids, getting the TM hidden power for beating them both. Then I headed for the man who hands out the Pokétech and did his little challenge of finding the clowns to get those coupons. I put it on the step counter once I got it, mainly because that's the one I used the most in Pearl these days and I want to add a 'distance traveled' in that whole section at the bottom of each day's update (assuming I actually DO continue this).

I head to route 218. This is the route that heads to Canalave and although I can't Surf yet, I can get the old rod from the fisherman inside the hut. Outside on 218, I did some fishing for some Magikarp. I'm not interested in capturing one, but its Cheep exp. May not be much, but you never have to be worried about losing helth while doing it. I got a couple of levels on my Bidoof and my Shinx before I moved on. I actually headed off much earlier than I intended when I noticed my Shinx's Nature increased it's Special Defence at the cost of Special Attack, not usually good for an electric type. I'd just defeated the first trainer on route 204 (heading north from Jubilife) when I'd looked at Shinx (and evolutions) move pool and realized I could build a decent Physical move set for Shinx, so the loss of Special Attack stat wasnt a problem. I'd decided to beat all the other trainers on route 204 anyway to try and build my Turtwig's level up for the gym, then headed out for Oreburgh.

Steping onto route 203 (between Jubilife and Oreburgh), Roy shows his face and challenges me... I mop the floor with him, and my Turtwig got another level during the match too. I focused training on Turtwig via the trainers on route 203 and in Oreburgh gate, where I was given the HM Rock smash (just need something to use it on). A quick trip through the mine leveled up Turtwig enough to learn Razor Leaf, which is what I wanted to take on the leader. So after the leader broke out of the mine, I head to the gym and destroy him... seriously I was level 13 when I started, and after 2 trainers and the leader, I walked out at 16.

I headed up to the bottom of route 207 (just north of Oreburgh) not that you can get there due to that mud slide neading a bike to get up. There's still a patch of grass, so I used that to catch a Machop. There's a woman (called Hilary) in one of the houses near the Oreburgh gate who trades an Abra for a Machop, So I figured I'd get one of those. It's called Kazza and it's got a Nature that boosts its Special Attack at the cost of speed... a little annoying since Abra/Kadabra/Alakazam are renowned for their speed, but at least I wont loose too much and I'm getting a boosted Special Attack, something any Psychic type needs.

On the way back to Jubilife I caught a Geodude that I plan to use the HM on, and it could be the only thing I uses it for, as with it's Timid Nature it's got a boosted speed and a Lower attack... and a Geodude needs attack.

I saved in Jubilife City, figured I'd done enough today.

Today's Playing Time: 2 hours, 3 Minutes. Total Playing Time: 2 hours, 38 Minutes
Distance Traveled: 2,368 steps (from getting the Pokétech)
Current Team: (Lv6) (Lv7) (Lv16) (Lv8) (Lv8) (Lv6)
Tasks To Do: Teach Rock Smash to Geodue
Head up to Eternia City (Via Floaroma and Eternia Forest), Beating Team Galactic along the way.
Level up the rest of my squad... Turtwig makes it a bit too unbalanced at the moment.
Think up something semi-funny to put at the end of these to do lists