4th Gen Recent Happenings Thread

[CyberBlaziken]

Midterms ended, so back to Platinum.

Entered Floaroma Town. Got a few berries from the Berry Shop, and then went back to the previous route to find and capture Budew and Wurmple. Which I did. Caught 2-3 Wurmples, since I wanted both branches of evolution, ad it might be possible I'd get Cascoon/Silcoon twice. I left town through the East exit, found a few more berries and then was stopped by a little girl who was worried about her father in Valley Windworks. I proceeded to deal with it, saving progress in front of it and calling it a day.

 

[Kalosian]

Finally a new post! Thanks, CyberBlaziken.

It has been quite a while since my last post in this thread, and I have done a lot of things in the games. Not going to write down everything in extreme detail but I will not leave anything out either.

SoulSilver: To start with, I continued training Shelgon until it evolved into Salamence at level 50. It was the final Pokemon I needed from the Hoenn part of the Pokedex, so that was now done. I could move on to the one region I had left to complete, which was Sinnoh.

The first thing I did was to do some trades with D/P/P. I traded over Drifloon, Glameow and Riolu from Pearl, Stunky from Diamond and then Piplup, Snover, Finneon and Shieldon from Platinum. I also added Spiritomb and Gabite to my Pokedex through trading with the Sinnoh games, Gabite was the last one I needed from the Land Shark line so that was now complete as I had Gible and Garchomp since earlier.

Then I got started on evolving Pokemon from Sinnoh. I started with training Turtwig into Grotle, then Torterra. I already had all members of the Chimchar line since some time in the distant past, so I didn't need to get them now. Instead, I continued with Piplup and trained it into Prinplup, then Empoleon. And with that, I had obtained all of the Sinnoh starters, as well as all starters from all regions. Now, it was just the rest of the Sinnoh Pokemon left.

I evolved all the Pokemon from Sinnoh that evolve through level-up and got these to the Pokedex: Luxio, Luxray, Rampardos, Bastiodon, Gastrodon, Lucario, Bronzong, Floatzel, Drifblim, Purugly, Skuntank, Hippowdon, Drapion, Toxicroak, Lumineon, Abomasnow and Gliscor. Those were all the level-up evolutions I needed as I had some since earlier. Now I don't have anything left in the Day-Care either since I don't need to use that place for level grinding anymore.

Continued with some breeding. I hatched a Mime Jr., several Ralts and several Snorunt. Those were all the ones I had to breed, it wasn't many at all, I had thought it would be more. I trained one of the Ralts I hatched to level 20 so it evolved into Kirlia. After that, I connected to PBR and downloaded the free Electivire and Magmortar from there, decided to just get them the easiest way.

After that, I did a few trades with HeartGold. This added Rhyperior and Dusknoir to my Pokedex. Finally, I just had the stone evolutions from Sinnoh left. And there were only two in total. I used two Dawn Stones to evolve my Kirlia into Gallade, and one of my Snorunt into Froslass.

And with that... my Pokedex on this game was complete. 493 Pokemon seen and caught. I am very happy about that. It happened today, on December 10th. Which is also when I get to make another post in this thread. This must be fate. Or maybe not. But it's still cool. For completing the Pokedex, I got a few rewards. First of all was an upgrade to my Trainer Card, adding another star and coloring it green, which looks neat. I went to Pallet Town and spoke to Professor Oak who evaluated my Pokedex for the last time and congratulated me. Then I spoke to one of the Game Freak members in Celadon and got a Diploma which looked rather cool. I also spoke to Professor Elm in Old Bark Town but got nothing from him as expected.

So I am now done with the Pokedex here. But I am not done with the game yet. While working on the Pokedex, I decided that I want to try some of the other things these games has to offer as well. So I will do that. I have decided that the Shiny Leaves will be first out, so I will get started on them here tomorrow.

HeartGold: Like on SoulSilver, I have done a lot here and gotten quite a bit done on the Pokedex. To start with, I continued on the Hoenn part of the Pokedex and added these Pokemon to it: Claydol, Armaldo, Cradily, Banette, Glalie, Sealeo and Walrein. Those were most of the regular evolutions I needed from Hoenn so I took a break with them and did a few other things.

Did a bit of breeding and hatched these Pokemon: Azurill, Trapinch, Barboach, Wynaut and Bonsly. Those were all the ones I needed from Hoenn and one bonus that I would need later on but decided to get now instead as I needed it for something special. After that, I did some trades. First I traded with SoulSilver which added Giratina, Latios and Jirachi to the Pokedex. Then I traded with Platinum and added Gabite, Cresselia, Heatran, Regice and Registeel. I also traded over a Turtwig which I would need for the Pokedex later on. With those trades, I had all Hoenn legendaries added to the Pokedex as well as some more Sinnoh legendaries and some more regular Sinnoh Pokemon.

Now, the Hoenn part of my Pokedex was almost done, I just had to train a certain Pokemon. Withdrew the Beldum I received from Steven and trained it into Metang, then Metagross. With that, the Hoenn part of my Pokedex was complete here as well. Just Sinnoh left now. But before that, I did another thing. I wanted to complete all in-game trades on this game. I had three left so it wasn't that many. Started by going out to Viridian Forest where I caught a Pikachu. Went to Diglett's Cave and traded with Brock, gave him my Bonsly and got his Rhyhorn. Continued to Saffron where I traded with Lt. Surge, gave him my Pikachu and got his French Pikachu in return. After that, I went to the Dragon's Den and caught a Female Dratini which I evolved into Dragonair. I traded it for a Dodrio with a girl in Blackthorn. And so, I had completed all in-game trades in this game as well, which is great.

Now, it was time to start on the Sinnoh part of the Pokedex. The last part of the last Pokedex... The first thing I did was to do some trades with the Sinnoh games. I traded over Drifloon, Riolu and Purugly from Pearl, Stunky from Diamond and Chimchar, Snover, Lumineon and Croagunk from Platinum. I also did several touch trades which added the following Pokemon to my Pokedex: Spiritomb, Magnezone, Probopass, Rotom, Glaceon and Leafeon. I find it really unnecessary that the area-based evolutions can't be obtained in HG/SS, they had absolutely zero reason to be left out. Unacceptable in every way. Anyway, these were all the D/P/P exclusives I needed except for four legendaries which I would get later on. All of those trades also gave me exactly 450 Pokemon registered in my Pokedex, which was the last milestone on this game, so that was great. Less than 50 Pokemon left in total, and all of them are from Sinnoh.

With the trades done, I started on the regular evolutions from Sinnoh. Started by training a Turtwig into Grotle, then Torterra. Then I trained a Chimchar into Monferno. Didn't need to train it any further as I already had Infernape. Continued by training Piplup into Prinplup, then Empoleon. And so, I had all of the Sinnoh starters, and all starters from all regions on this game as well. Continued by doing most other regular evolutions, added the following to the Pokedex: Staravia, Staraptor, Luxio, Luxray, Bastiodon, Mothim, Wormadam, Vespiquen, Floatzel, Lucario, Gastrodon, Cherrim, Drifblim, Skuntank, Bronzong, Hippowdon, Drapion, Toxicroak and Abomasnow. Like on SoulSilver, I have nothing left in the Day-Care here either as I am pretty much done with the level-up evolutions here as well.

After all of this, I connected to PBR and downloaded the free Electivire from that game, wanted to get it the easiest possible way here as well. Didn't need Magmortar as I already had it. Then I did some more trades. First I traded with SoulSilver which added Rhyperior, Dusknoir and Palkia to the Pokedex. Then I traded with Platinum which added Uxie, Mesprit and Azelf. So with that, I had all the Sinnoh legendaries as well as all trade evolutions. But I still have a little bit left on the Pokedex. I went out to Route 45 where I caught a Gligar. Withdrew a Sneasel which I will train next.

 

[Magiclapras]

Been doing a casual playthrough of Platinum for a little bit now, current team:

Luxray Lv31
Prinplup Lv31
Kadabra lv29
Porygon Lv28
Gabite Lv28
Staravia Lv28

A couple of noteworthy things happened too, but I'm not sure if Twitter links are allowed in this thread...

EDIT: I also toyed around with the idea of having Gligar and Bronzor on my team, but dropped them for the current team. Beautifly was part of the team as well as Bibarel, who I'm only using as a HM slave anyway.

 

[Kalosian]

SoulSilver: Got started on the Shiny Leaves here. I decided that the Pokemon I would use them on should be Priscilla, my Mismagius. Managed to find three Shiny Leaves with her today. I found two of them very quickly while the third took a little longer to find but it still went relatively quickly. I have two more to get and I will try to get them tomorrow.

HeartGold: Gave a Razor Claw to Sneasel, then I started training it after 8 PM as the game then considered it to be night. It grew a level and evolved into Weavile. Deposited it and withdrew the Gligar I caught yesterday, gave it a Razor Fang. Trained it until it gained a level and it evolved into Gliscor. With that, I had obtained all of the Pokemon that evolve through level-up from all regions. So now I only have other things left on the Pokedex. Going to continue tomorrow, starting with all the remaining breeding I have to do, and hopefully I'll do a few other things then as well.

 

[Magiclapras]

Considering how close the last 2 gym battles have been (both ended with just Prinplup in red health), I decided to do some serious level grinding. Prinplup and Starravia are now fully evolved. Also trade evolved Porygon and Kadabra to their final evolutions as well. About to cross over to Canalave City. Current team:

Alakazam Lv34
Luxray Lv35
Staraptor Lv34
Gabite Lv33
Empoleon Lv36
Porygon-Z Lv33

 

[Kalosian]

SoulSilver: Continued on the Shiny Leaves here, and got the last two ones very quickly. With all five of them obtained, I went to Lyra in Bark Town and she turned them into a Leaf Crown. I also got a Diploma about how great the following Pokemon feature is... yeah, no. If it had been accurate, it would have been saying how much I dislike it. Anyway, I am now done with the Shiny Leaves. Getting the Leaf Crown gave me another Trainer Card upgrade, giving me the third star and coloring it purple. I liked the blue and green better to be honest, but this is still okay since this is hopefully not the last upgrade I am getting. I have to say that this is one of the easiest Trainer Card upgrades I have ever gotten, though I'm not sure if that is a good or bad thing. Probably a little bit of both.

Next up, I am going to give the Pokeathlon a try. It is one of my least played minigames so I don't have a lot of experience with it. I don't have very high expectations on it either as my memories from it aren't that positive. But I will give it a try at least. I think I know what I need to do in order to get the Trainer Card upgrade from it, now I just have to try and actually do it as well. Will start tomorrow.

HeartGold: Started today by doing a bit of breeding. Hatched the following Pokemon: Glameow, Happiny, Chansey, Mime Jr., Munchlax, Mantyke, Finneon and three Snorunt. Those were the last ones I needed for the Pokedex that I had to obtain through breeding. Except Chansey, which I didn't need for the Pokedex but for something else. With Chansey in my party, I went out to Route 14 and spoke to a girl there, she gave me a Lucky Punch. A somewhat unnecessary thing to do but I have had it marked on the map in the game forever and really wanted do get it done. And now I am done with it.

After that, I withdrew a Ralts and trained it until it evolved into Kirlia. Now it was time for the final part of the Pokedex, which was the stone evolutions from Sinnoh. I evolved the Kirlia I just trained into Gallade, one of the Snorunt I previously hatched into Froslass, and a Misdreavus into Mismagius. Then I needed Honchkrow as well, but couldn't find a Murkrow anywhere in my PC. So I waited until the night had fallen and went out to Route 7 where I caught a dark bird. Used a Dusk Stone to evolve it into Honchkrow.

With that, I had obtained the last Pokemon I needed, so my Pokedex was complete here as well. 493 Pokemon seen and caught. It happened today, on December 12th. I got the Trainer Card upgrade as well as a second star on the card, a big congratulations from Professor Oak and a Diploma from the Game Freak guy. I never thought I would say this but... completing the Pokedex on these games turned out to be quite fun and in the end, I am glad that I did it. Still, it was considerably less fun than what it has been on any other games in the series, but whatever. I have now done it and I can consider myself a Pokemon fan again. With the Pokedex done, I can move on to something else here as well. Going to start with the Shiny Leaves like on SoulSilver, the start for that will be tomorrow.

 

[Magiclapras]

Big update this time. After more level grinding than I really needed to do on Iron Island, I defeated Byron, Team Galactic at Lake Valor, and then made my way to Snowpoint and defeated Candice. I then breezed through Veilstone Galactic HQ. I am now in Hearthome, about to make my way to Spear Pillar.

Alakazam (Sabrina) Lv48
Garchomp (Cynthia) Lv48
Empoleon (Lani) Lv49
Porygon-Z (Y2K) Lv49
Staraptor (Seppuku) Lv49
Luxray (Simba) Lv49

 

[Kalosian]

SoulSilver: With the Shiny Leaves done, I moved on to the Pokeathlon here. I'm not sure if I have ever played it before on this game. Maybe I have, but I did at least not win then. Now I am going to try it for real though.

I think I know what I need to do in order to get the Trainer Card upgrade from here, but to start with, I wanted to win all five courses and get medals from them. So I started with that. Picked some suitable Pokemon for the Speed and Power courses and won them on my first try. Then I tried the Skill course but didn't win it. Instead, I tried the Stamina and Jump courses and won them on my first tries. Then I tried the Skill Course again and won it. With that, I had beaten all five courses and got all five medals, I also unlocked the second room in the basement of the Pokeathlon building.

But I didn't get the Trainer Card upgrade. That's okay though, because I hadn't expected to get it quite yet. I believe I will need to beat the records at all ten events so I decided that I should get started on that. Started by trying to beat the records at the events in the Speed Course. I managed to beat the records for Hurdle Dash and Relay Run with ease, but it took me a while to beat the record for Pennant Capture, and I'm not even sure if I actually managed to beat it in the end. Decided to quit there for now though and move on to another course. Tried the Power course and managed to beat the record for Block Smash at least, but not the two others. So I have 6-7 or maybe less event records left to beat (chances are I beat some while I completed all of the courses, not sure about it though). Will try my best to beat all of them.

HeartGold: Here, I got started on the Shiny Leaves. I decided to get all of them on Flaresmash, my Infernape. I managed to get all five of them very quickly as expected. Went to Lyra in New Bark Town afterwards, she turned them into a Leaf Crown. And I got a Diploma as well as a Trainer Card upgrade, which was the thing I was really after. With this, I am probably done forever with the Shiny Leaves, can't see myself ever bothering with them again. My opinion on them is a bit mixed, I like how they are easy and simple to get but at the same time, they felt a bit too simple for a Trainer Card upgrade.

Now, I will start on the Pokeathlon on this game as well. I went to the medal room and saw that I had already beaten and obtained medals for the Speed, Power and Stamina courses at some point in the past. I believe this must have been when I was playing through the game five years ago and needed a Leaf Stone to evolve my Gloom into Vileplume. I believe I actually attempted to beat all five courses then, but failed and gave up. Time to make up for that now. I picked some useful Pokemon. tried the Jump and Skill courses and I managed to beat both of them on my first try, so that was great. With that, I had all medals and got access to the second room here as well. I also managed to beat the records for five of the six events while winning the courses, which is great as that means I only have five events left to beat records at. Will work on that next.

 

[Mega Altaria]

In Platinum, traded a Groudon for a event Regigigas with my HeartGold. Then in my party, went to the Rock Peak Ruins in Route 228 to step on dots and to find Regirock. And haven't caught it yet because it kept on escaping from Dusk Balls to the point it used Struggle.

 

[Kalosian]

SoulSilver: To start with, I took a small break from the Pokeathlon and went to Vermilion City. Went aboard the SS. Aqua as it was sailing today and I wanted to see if I had battled all trainers on it. I went aboard and as I had expected, I had battled all the trainers here so that was complete. I also received a Plate from the captain but I have no desire to obtain more of them. After the boat had arrived in Olivine, I left it and went back to the Pokeathlon. Tried the Jump Course today and managed to beat the event record for the Lamp Jump, so that was at least something. Decided to quit there for the day. I have now 5-6 event records left to beat, maybe less, so I will continue until I have beaten them all.

HeartGold: Like on SoulSilver, I started by going to the SS Aqua. Here, I had not beaten any of the trainers aboard it on this cruise. So I did that now. All of the trainers had pathetically weak Pokemon at below average levels, like pretty much everythingin HG/SS, but I expected nothing more. I beat them with my training squad and they got a little bit of training at least, so that was good. I got a Plate from the captain here too, but I don't feel like getting more of them here either.

Left the boat as it arrived in Olivine and went back to the Pokeathlon. I tried the Power Course today and beat the event records for Block Smash and Circle Push, so that was great. Now I have 3 or less event records left to beat so I hope to be done with this rather soon, though I know at least one of them will be tricky to beat. And then there is also the risk that I have misunderstood what exactly I am supposed to do in order to earn the Trainer Card upgrade...

 

[Aquarelle]

Played my Pearl today and decided to go over to the Battle Tower. I gave some items to my Gallade and Togekiss and then entered them into the Multi Battle challenge, where I already had an active streak of 28 wins going. My partner was Mira, who had a Magnezone and Roserade. We did pretty well in the first couple of battles and won with ease. Some of the next few battles were pretty challenging, though, since our Pokemon got hit with status effects like paralysis a lot. Plus, Mira's Magnezone used Thunder 99% of the time, even when its Flash Cannon would've been better, and it missed a lot...
Somehow though, we managed to defeat all seven trainers and I received 5 BP.

 

[Kalosian]

SoulSilver: Yesterday, I continued with the Pokeathlon. I checked all the remaining events and beat the records for the ones I hadn't beaten them for already as well as confirmed some records I had previously beaten. When I had beaten the records for all the events, I got the Trainer Card upgrade that I was after. It gave me a fourth star on the card, likely the last one I am getting as I doubt I will try the Battle Frontier here. It also colored the card grey, which looks amazing. So I am now forever done with the Pokeathlon on this game. I have almost 9000 Athlete Points but I don't think I'll ever use them on anything now that I am almost done with the things I have planned to do in this game now.

Today, I continued by doing another thing I had been thinking about doing for a while now. I went to Olivine City and boarded the SS. Aqua once more, going from Johto to Kanto this time around. I thought I had battled all the trainers on this cruise, but it turned out that it wasn't the case. I had expected the trainers to be the same as when I went to Kanto the first time, but there were new ones instead. I hadn't battled any of them before, so I did now. As I should have expected, they had weak Pokemon at below average levels but it did still give a little bit of experience for my training squad, so that was better than nothing. I also got another Plate from the Captain, but I still have zero desire to get all of them. And that was it for now. More later on.

HeartGold: Like on SoulSilver, I started with going to the Pokeathlon yesterday and beat all the event records I had left. But I did not the Trainer Card upgrade here. How come? I was unsure why, but I had a theory. Maybe I not only had to beat all the event records, but also beat each event record in each course? I thought that was what I had to do and left it there then.

Today, I went to the SS. Aqua, just like on SoulSilver. I had not battled the trainers on this cruise here either, so I did that now. It gave a little bit of training for my training squad and I got another Plate from the Captain, but I am not going to get the rest of them here either. I am now completely done with the SS. Aqua on both games as the trainers on it can't be rebattled again after you have beaten them once which is a bit of a shame as I would have loved to be able to rebattle them an infinite amount of times like in the originals.

With that over, I went back to the Pokeathlon one last time. Since there were five events that were exclusive to certain courses and I knew for sure I had beaten them, I had five events left to confirm that I had beaten... two times each. Decided to start with the Jump Course to make sure I had beaten my record on the Hurdle Dash there. I did that, and afterwards, I got the Trainer Card upgrade. How in the world did this happen? My guess is that in order to beat the record, you need to get a score above the target, not just the exact target score. I believe this is the case because my previous score on Disc Catch was exactly 40, which is what was said to be required to beat it. But now I got over 40 this time and got the Trainer Card upgrade afterwards, so that must have been it. Anyway, I got the Trainer Card upgrade I wanted. Got the fourth star and it became grey which is such a cool color, much better than purple. I am now also done with the Pokeathlon forever (to quote the guy who is doing the announcements), really don't think I'll play it again. I also have over 4500 Athlete Points that I can spend on something... but I don't think I will.

Overall, I am not a big fan of the Pokeathlon. A big part of this is that I am not a fan of the Touch Screen controls used in HG/SS and I think the Pokeathlon is just as terrible with them as the rest of the games. A game based solely on Touch Screen controls with said controls being pretty bad is not a good combination. In several minigames, the screen gets cluttered with Pokemon everywhere which makes it hard to see and control what you are supposed to do, which is another negative. It also feels obvious that the opponents are ganging up on you in several minigames instead of playing fair, the game isn't even trying to hide it. And finally, this minigame is the very reason I have to deal with the annoying and useless following Pokemon throughout the entire game, which I would have liked to live without. The Pokeathlon is definitely my least favorite minigame in the series and it gets a mark of disapproval in my book. That said, it isn't all bad as a few of the events were a little fun sometimes.

Anyway, I am now completely and permanently forever done with the Pokeathlon but I am not completely done with HG/SS yet as I have a few small things left to do in them. But I will wait a little with doing them as I need to take a hopefully short break and do some other things in other games for the time being.

 

[Mega Altaria]

In Platinum, checked for if Beldum will appear in a swarm, but didn't. So I went to catch Regirock instead and caught it. Saved in Iceberg Ruins to catch Regice and saved there.

UPDATE: Caught Regice today. Also went to the Iron Ruins and caught Registeel. And checked for if Beldum will appear in a swarm but it didn't. And rebattled Mira and defeated her.

 

[Drummerdude]

Been a bit. So after beating Gardenia I took care of Team Galactic somehow I headed down the small Cycling Road and headed to Hearthome City. I completely forgot you don't fight Fantina this early in the game since I do not believe I have played D/P since Platinum came out. I basically ran right through the city towards Solaceon Town and then continued from there to Veilstone City. I explored a bit and then headed to the Veilstone Gym where I solved the rather simple puzzle and then challenged Maylene. Misdreavus took down her Machoke and Meditite with Psybeam and Astonish respectively and Maylene sent out her Lucario. I swapped out to Gyarados hoping a couple Dragon Rage's would knock out the Steel/Fighting Pokemon. It brought Lucario down to red health but Force Palm paralyzed Gyarados and for some reason the RNG refused to let Gyarados finish it off. I switched to Chingling who won the fight with Confusion. I got the Cobble Badge and helped Dawn get her Pokedex back from Team Galactic before taking a break.

 

[Kalosian]

I have completed all I had to do on other games that required another break from HG/SS, so I can now return to them one very last time.

SoulSilver: I have one thing left that I want to do here, and that is to train my training squad a bit. I want to get the three members of it to level 90, and as they were at levels 85-86 when I started today, this should go rather fast. I trained them a bit today and got them to levels 87-88, so I only have a little bit left now.

HeartGold: Unlike on SoulSilver, I have two things left to do here. Before I train my training squad, I want to get a complete Unown collection. I did it earlier this year on LeafGreen and Platinum, so I thought I should do it here as well. I am also going to do it on Omega Ruby at some point in the future, but that will have to wait for now. For now, it is to be done here. I started by checking through my boxes after a relatively strong Pokemon that can learn False Swipe. I didn't have to look long as I found a Zangoose I had caught, which already knew False Swipe. Put it as the lead in my party and went to the Ruins of Alph.

I remember completing all of the puzzles in the ruins on this game many years ago when I first played through it, so I didn't have to do that now. Since completing the puzzles should have unlocked all of the Unown forms, I should be able to find all of them now. Started catching a bunch of Unown and I managed to catch a total of 16 different letters today. That feels like a good start and I decided to stop there, hoping the remaining letters won't take too long to find.

 

[Mega Altaria]

Back on Platinum. Went looking for a Beldum swarm but none appeared. So I went to look for Bagon instead. I Poké Radar chained in Route 210 and chained wild Swablu until a Bagon appeared. One appeared and I caught it in an Ultra Ball. At last, saved in Sandgem City Pokémon Center.

 

[Drummerdude]

After helping Dawn and discovering the Fly HM I ran south and battled some trainers on my way to Pastoria City. After stopping at a small resort area I continued on into the smallish town of Pastoria. First things first, I spent a ridiculous amount of time stuck in the mud searching for my 5th team member, a Croagunk. Then I headed to the gym where my Croagunk and newly evolved Torterra pretty much swept everything. Even Crasher Wake wasn't too difficult. After the victory I saw a Galactic goon plotting something and gave chase only for freaking Barry to intervene with a battle. Chingling and Misdreavus crushed his pre-evolved Pokemon and continued the hunt for the runaway Galactic Grunt. I found him, we battled, Cynthia showed up and gave me some SecretPotion to give to some Psyduck, and so I returned back to Pastoria City and headed west towards Hearthome City.

CHINGLING PLEASE EVOLVE YOU ARE MAKING ME SO MAD JUST LOVE ME GAH!!!!!!

 

[Kalosian]

SoulSilver: Continued with the training and completed what I had planned to do. I got all three members of my training squad to level 90, so I consider them done now. Afterwards, I did a small number of minor things. And with that, I consider myself done with this game in total as I have done everything I had planned to do in it.

HeartGold: To start with, I continued with catching the remaining Unown letters. I managed to find and catch all of the regular ones, decided to try the trick with the PokeGear to get the very two last ones and it worked perfectly as I found them immediately by doing that. As I now had caught all the regular Unown forms, I went to the research center and spoke to the people there. One of the scientists told me a lot about more things that now had been found and I got a lot of updates for my Unown Report. Read through it but found nothing of interest.

Went back to the main entrance of the actual ruins and something had changed. The scientist appeared again and told me to come with him to the Research Center. There, he told me a bit more. I went back one more time and found that I could now encounter the last two Unown letters, the ! and ? Unown, in the upper part of the ruins. Caught them, then I spoke to the scientist again and received the final part of the Unown Report. Unlike what I had expected, this actually contained some interesting lore. Really hadn't expected that. I think this is literally the only interesting lore in HG/SS I have seen that isn't from an event, so that is, surprisingly enough, a small plus.

With the Unown collection done, I could get started on training my training squad here as well. But I didn't have much to do. Two of the members had already reached level 90 and the third was at level 89, so I let it grow a level and it was done. With that, I consider myself done with my training squad on this game too. Afterwards, I did a few minor things on here, just like on SS. And so, this ends.

I consider myself done with HG/SS now. I have done pretty much everything there is to do in them. They don't have that much content after all, so this went faster than I had expected. Playing through what I had left to do in them didn't really change my opinion of them, it only confirmed the opinion I already had regarding them. They remain among my least favorite games in the series. The only things I really have left to do in the games is to catch Entei (which I might do at some point in the future if I should feel like it) as well as do everything in the Battle Frontier. But I doubt I will do it as I have already gone through it once in Platinum already, and I don't feel like going through it one, let alone two more times. Though I might consider it if the D/P remakes doesn't have a Frontier or anything else that's new and innovative in terms of Battle Facilities. Or it might happen earlier, I never thought I would complete the Pokedex after all...

Now that I was done with HG/SS, I played D/P/P a little again. Did a few small things in them. I went to the Game Freak director at Valor Lakefront to check if I had received the Diploma from him. Not sure if I had before in either of the three games, but now I have at least. I also spoke to Professor Oak in Eterna and let him evaluate my Pokedex. But I believe I have spoken to him before on each game as well. Then I did a few other minor things such as visiting various places in Sinnoh and polishing my badges so that they were sparkling once more. Today is it also exactly 8 years since I started playing Diamond, so I played it a little on its anniversary date just like I did with Pearl earlier this summer.

Now I have no reason to keep playing D/P or HG/SS, but I suppose I should get back to trying to beat the Battle Factory in Platinum... Not sure when that is going to happen though, will likely just be playing sporadically and once in a while like in the past. We'll see.

 

[Mega Altaria]

Played more Platinum and checked for if a Beldum swarm would appear, but one didn't. Flew to the Battle Frontier and rode the Bike randomly around and not bothered to participate in battles in my current state. And I saved there, so hopefully, the swarm will reappear.

 

[isaacswolf2112]

I was soft resetting for a shiny starter in my heart gold and I got a chikorita with timid nature! it only took a few hours too. Next I'll painfully EV train it then move on to more hunting. This chikorita is a re-claim because my last soul silver file, which got lost in a move, had a shiny gentle chikorita and a shiny modest eevee from bill on it. So, I'm happy to have my chikorita back and with a better nature! don't know if I'll get as good of a re-claim with eevee though. plus, that shiny modest eevee i got only took 4 SRs! don't think i'll be getting that lucky again... but! you never know.