4th Gen Recent Happenings Thread

[zolios]

I decided to restart my Pearl version and play through this game again. But before I could reset my Pearl save file I had to trade a lot of Pokemon and Items over to my Heart Gold since Pearl has been my "main" Gen 4 game and I kept most of my Pokemon and Items on this Pearl save. I traded everything that I wanted to keep to my Heart Gold over the last couple of days so today I was finally able to delete the old save and start my new Pearl playthrough.

I chose Turtwig as my starter and made my way towards Oreburgh City. Before reaching Oreburgh, I had to stop in Jubilife City and do a few thing there first like obtaining a Poketch for example. I also battled my rival Barry right outside of Jubilife and I won despite only having a Turtwig on my team. I skipped a few Trainers on my way to Oreburgh because I wanted to save that experience for the second member of my team that I ended up catching on Route 207 above Oreburgh City. That Pokemon was a Machop. I also decided to add the third Pokemon to my team right after catching Machop so I went to the Pokemon Center and traded myself (a Diamond exclusive) Murkrow Egg (with some Egg Moves) from my Heart Gold. With three members on my team I went back and battled all of the Trainers that I skipped so far. And now I'm about to go to the Oreburgh Mine and find Roark so I can challenge him to a battle and hopefully win my first Gym badge.

The Team:

Galapagos Lv. 12 (M)
Nature: Quirky
Moves: Tackle, Absorb and Withdraw

Khabib Lv. 9 (M)
Nature: Adamant
Moves: Low Kick, Leer and Focus Energy

Bonnie Lv. 8 (F)
Nature: Jolly
Moves: Drill Peck, Pursuit, Peck and Astonish

 

[zolios]

So a few things happened since the last post... I now have two Gym Badges and a Team of four Pokemon but I'll recap everything that happened from the beginning.

Last time I was getting ready to go into Oreburgh Mine to find Roark. I found him quickly and he returned to the Gym so I could finally challenge him. After battling all of the trainers in Oreburgh Mine and also the two trainers in the Gym I felt ready to challenge Roark. My plan was to use Turtwig (Lv. 13) and Machop (Lv. 12). I started with Machop and defeated Roark's Geodude easily with Low Kick. Roark then sent out Cranidos but Machop managed to win again with two Karate Chops since Cranidos used Leer on the first turn and Machop barely survived the Headbutt on the second turn. Roark only had Onix left so I switched to Turtwig and won with one Razor Leaf.

The next big battle was at Valley Windworks but despite being a little bit underleveled I still beat Mars thanks to her Purugly only going for the Dark type attacks against my Machop. At this point I wanted to add a fourth member to the team but after considering a Shellos for a few minutes I decided against it since a Water type is still not that necessary at this point of the game especially with a Grass type Gym being my next challenge. So since I didn't want to catch a Water type right now I decided to get a Fire type instead and use the upcoming Eterna Forest as a great way to train up the new Fire type and help it catch up in levels with the rest of the team. Since my only Fire type option in Pearl is a Ponyta line I decided to trade in another Egg from my Heart Gold and this time it was a Magby Egg. It hatched and we got through the Eterna Forest easily.

With a Magby and a Murkrow on my team the Eterna Gym was very easy to beat and even with both of them being four levels lower than Gardenia's ace we still won the Badge without any issues. I then cleared the Team Galactic building and saved the Bicycle shop owner. My payment for saving him was a brand new Bicycle so I now can go through the Cycling Road on Route 206. I battled everyone I could on this Route and I even got through the Mt. Coronet and Route 208 before saving at the gates of Hearthome City.

The Team:

Galapagos Lv. 24 (M)
Nature: Quirky
Moves: Razor Leaf, Bite, Tackle and Curse

Khabib Lv. 22 (M)
Nature: Adamant
Moves: Karate Chop, Revenge, Foresight and Focus Energy

Bonnie Lv. 22 (F)
Nature: Jolly
Moves: Drill Peck, Pursuit, Wing Attack and Haze

Joker Lv. 22 (M)
Nature: Modest
Moves: Ember, Faint Attack, Fire Spin and Smoke Screen

 

[SubtleVVeirdoh]

Well after getting mercilessly curb stomped by Cynthia i reset Platinum; I kept changing around my team before the e4 and ultimate only 3 Pokémon were somewhat strong enough to make a dent in the several battles I had, with her. Also decided to reset HG.

Haven’t done a mono run in forever, and from what I can remember I’ve never completed one in HGSS. Wanted to use Slowbro/King so I’m doing a Water Mono in HG. I’m hoping to use a few (water) Pokémon I haven’t beaten a Pokémon game with or HGSS with (namely Gyarados, Poliwrath, Slowbro).

Over in Platinum, I’m leaning towards Ground just so I can use Nidoqueen, a favorite of mine. I could do a poison run, to use ‘Queen, but I’ve used most the poison types available in Gen 4 on Platinum.

My only other option would be Normal on Platinum, so if someone wants to talk me into using some Normies go ahead.

Anyway, my “recent happening” was that I made it to Azalea Town. Met Kurt whom ran off to confront the thought to be debunked Team Rocket. Omw to catch the second member of my team in the Slowpoke Well, will then trade over my Prinplup from Platinum and continue on.

 

[SubtleVVeirdoh]

So I defeated Team Rocket a couple days ago and emerged, from the Slowpoke Well, with a female ‘poke as the second member to my Mono Water Team.

Also traded over Prinplup, as I said I would. The gang and I proceeded to destroy Bugsy’s gym. Prinplup was borderline useless, he was a couple levels to high and in turn barely listened; got off a SR when it came time actually battle Bugsy. He showed up when needed, and that’s what really matters.

I traversed Ilex Forest afterwards, but not before encountering my “rival”. Croconaw swept him as Slowpoke was still too fragile to handle his Bayleef or Gastly.

Did what I needed to in Ilex and discovered Goldenrod promptly. After several battles, some dialogue in the Daycare, and a quiz to obtain a Radio Card, I challenged the city’s gym. Whitney’s trainers weren’t problematic and really neither was she. Slowpoke and Croc are females so Attract was useless. Yawn + Slowpoke has made much of the game a breeze, for the moment.

I continued my journey all the way to Ecruteak, catching a horribly natured Sudowoodo along the way. Acquired Surf after dealing with TR once more, slapped it onto Prinplup. I explored the city’s Burned Tower, meeting new faces within and battling my rival and curb stomping in the process once more. After an encounter with the legendary beasts I saved and concluded, as I previously found a suitable Nidoran that can be transferred to Platinum. I’ll be challenging Morty next, should be fun.

Over on Platinum, I’m just getting started with my mono Ground Team. My Turtwig is Naughty, just like Croconaw. I’ve made it to Jubilife, where I’m currently tracking down my rival.

Teams:
HG

• Croconaw/CHompa
• Slowpoke/Slow Gyal
• Prinplup/big Cuz

Platinum

• Turtwig/BIG PA-PI

 

[SubtleVVeirdoh]

Caught Rotom the other day. Good nature, too bad I’m restricting myself to Ground types. Currently in Wayward Cave. The “main section” you could call it. Caught an Impish Gligar, also obtained EQ. I’ll most likely use it on Nidoqueen, she needs the fire power. My team of three have been going pretty solid, I honestly don’t expect much problems from gyms outside of Crasher Wake and Candice. I’m probably going to switch back to HG after Veilstone and acquiring a Water Stone.

Team:

• Grotle/BIG PA-PI
• Nidorina/KillaKween
• Gligar/Lil sCorpi

 

[zolios]

I got another two Gym Badges since the last time I posted and my team also changed a lot thanks to some evolutions and a new Pokemon that I caught.

I explored Hearthome City since that's where I stopped in the last update and I talked to everyone in the City and even obtained an Egg before I continued my journey towards Solaceon Town. I battled every trainer on the Route 209 before finally reaching Solaceon. I explored the town and everything it had to offer for now, the Egg from Hearthome also hatched into a Happiny but I didn't add it to my team. I did consider adding a different baby Pokemon to my team before leaving Solaceon but then after catching a Bonsly just outside of town, I somehow changed my mind and decided that I don't want to use a Sudowoodo on this team so Bonsly was stored in my PC Box. I continued my travels and after battling many trainer I finally reached Veilstone City.

I made my way towards the Veilstone Gym and battled all of the trainers inside and on the last trainer before I reach a Gym Leader my Machop had an "anime moment" because he managed to defeat three Machoke in a row so he leveled up and evolved into a Machoke after that battle. With my newly evolved Machoke the Veilstone Gym wasn't hard to beat and I won my third Gym Badge. After winning the Badge and dealing with some Team Galactic stuff I continued my journey towards Pastoria City. Before I reached Pastoria my Magby finally evolved into a Magmar after defeating a few trainer we ran into along the way. I also encountered a Girafarig and decided to catch it for my team since I never used a Girafarig before and I thought that it would be fun to use one.

I reached Pastoria City and explored it a little until I reached the Pastoria Gym. I battled all of the trainers inside the Gym with my newly caught Girafarig and that helped it catch up in levels to the rest of the team. I healed and challenged Crasher Wake. His Gyarados was tough so my Girafarig wasn't able to beat it before fainting, especially after Wake healed it with a Super Potion. I sent out Grotle next and used Curse before beating Gyrardos with Razor Leaf. Floatzel was next but Grotle won again with a couple of Razor Leaf attacks. Crasher Wake's last Pokemon was Quagsire so the battle was over on the next turn and I won my fourth Gym Badge. After the battle my Grotle evolved into a Torterra.

After the Gym battle I had to chase and battle a Team Galactic Grunt before returning to Pastoria City and then going left to try and make my way back to Hearthome.

The Team:

Galapagos Lv. 32 (M)
Nature: Quirky
Moves: Razor Leaf, Bite, Earthquake and Curse

Khabib Lv. 31 (M)
Nature: Adamant
Moves: Vital Throw, Revenge, Foresight and Focus Energy

Bonnie Lv. 30 (F)
Nature: Jolly
Moves: Drill Peck, Pursuit, Fly and Haze

Joker Lv. 30 (M)
Nature: Modest
Moves: Ember, Faint Attack, Fire Punch and Confuse Ray

Two-Face Lv. 31 (M)
Nature: Serious
Moves: Psybeam, Stomp, Agility and Baton Pass

 

[zolios]

I didn't have a lot of free time to play Pearl since the last update but I still managed to get another two Badges so I'll just quickly recap everything since there weren't any team changes this time around.

After doing some sidequest with Cynthia and her grandma, I was finally able to challenge Fantina in Hearthome City. The battle wasn't hard since I had Dark type moves on a few of my Pokemon and I also have a Murkrow on top of that. I beat her Pokemon with my Magmar, Murkrow and Torterra and won my fifth Gym Badge.

Before challenging the sixth Gym I decided to go to the Iron Island first and train my team a little more by battling all of the trainers I find there. I also got an Egg before leaving the Iron Island. I felt ready so I challenged Byron and won my sixth Gym Badge easily because my Magmar and Machoke were to strong for Byron's Steel types.

The Team:

Galapagos Lv. 38 (M)
Nature: Quirky
Moves: Razor Leaf, Bite, Earthquake and Curse

Khabib Lv. 36 (M)
Nature: Adamant
Moves: Wake-Up Slap, Revenge, Submission and Foresight

Bonnie Lv. 36 (F)
Nature: Jolly
Moves: Drill Peck, Faint Attack, Fly and Haze

Joker Lv. 36 (M)
Nature: Modest
Moves: Lava Plume, Faint Attack, Fire Punch and Confuse Ray

Two-Face Lv. 36 (M)
Nature: Serious
Moves: Psybeam, Stomp, Agility and Baton Pass

 

[SubtleVVeirdoh]

I’ve continued a fair bit on both HG and Platinum; HG, I’ve been playing the most recent of so I’ll post on that.

I continued my file by challenging Morty. His trainers were easy, however, Morty’s RNG was not. Gengar landed just about every Hypnosis it fired off and to add icing to the cake. All it’s Shadow Ball’s were OHKOs thanks to crit hits. It was disgusting, to put it simply.

Instead of rage quitting or anything, I took my L like a champ. Decided to give my then Croconaw a chesto berry and Prinplup too. Wasn’t even needed the second battle, Bc this time around Morty’s RNG wasn’t as bad. And I secured the W.

After gaining the ability to Surf the seas even though I have a team of Water Pokémon, I went to Slowpoke Well and got the King’s Rock and Rain Dance. It was Friday so I caught a Lapras whose qualities secured it a spot on the team. Also added a Poliwag.

Made it to Chuck’s town, today, I forget the town/city’s name. Just encountered Suicune and battled Eugene. Jeeeeeeezus, that Electrode hit me with me Thunder every time. CHomped was able to tank one, before getting a crit Shadow Claw and fainting, with Lapras cleaning up with Ice Shard.

Team:

• Lapras
• Poliwhirl
• CHomped/Feraligatr
• Slow Gyal/Slowpoke
• big Cuz/Prinplup

 

[Shiny Venusaur]

Years ago, I had the hankering to replay Platinum again (my favorite game in the series) and I stupidly reset over my initial playthrough game instead of just buying a new cart. I made a big list though of everything that I needed to do in the game and have really enjoyed slowly chipping away at it while constantly evolving my team and what not. Anyway that's a long winded way to get to why I have things to still do in the game.

The other day I tackled Regigigas, which proved to be one of the more challenging Legendary Pokemon I've caught simply because it just would not stay in the ball. Went through 62 Ultra balls and 25 Luxury balls before I finally could got it in a Timer Ball. Got really lucky with Paralysis to keep extending the battle. The frustrating things is I had Synchronize fail on me (or rather I lost the 50/50) 3 times prior; all of which were an easy and quick catch (go figure).

Gonna do some chaining now as it's my favorite way to shiny hunt and just kind of relax. Not sure what my target will be though yet.

 

[Shiny Venusaur]

I hope double posting in an older forum doesn't break the rules, I checked the rules thread but the link errors. Mod's I do apologize if this isn't appropriate. Please feel free to merge with the above if needed.

That out of the way, been an interesting day of chaining. Couldn't really settle on what I wanted and had a lot of chains break randomly. After looking at the list of everything I finally settled on Pachirisu; which has a beautiful shiny. I figured this wouldn't be a huge issue as it's an electric type (so static works) and is found in an area that makes chaining easy (Valley Windworks). It took a long time to even get the chain started; was flooded with Shinx and Mareep. I finally got the chain going and on number 35, it broke to a random Shellos. Unfortunate but it happens. I believe even at 4 away and using the catch trick, your odds are still only about 98% to have it continue (it's been a while but I believe if you catch, the immediate next grass shakes add an extra 10% and I believe that you normally max out at 88% to continue.) I started the next chain and it broke at 37 again to a Shellos.

Now I like Shellos and Gastrodon, don't get me wrong. Some of my favorites actually, but this wasn't too cool. Decided then that I'd 'revenge' radar Shellos. Got to 40 easy enough. Was a bit time consuming as I had a stretch from 18-23 where I couldn't get patches I liked but that's part of the game.

Ended up with three shiny Shellos before I chose to end my chain at 43. Two of them are Quiet natured (no syncro fwiw) and the other is Quirky. Always fun to hunt something that doesn't have a bonus of sorts (static for example).

The radar in GenIV is my favorite method to shiny hunt, and while I'm not a shiny hunter myself, I find it relaxing to do from time to time. I like it more than other methods because it's involved and feels earned due to the skill require to execute a long chain. I'll probably give it a bit before I go back to hunting Pachirisu.

 

[SubtleVVeirdoh]

I battled Chuck yesterday and narrowly won. I don’t go in these gyms prepared. It’s also been so long idk what strategies they use either. His Primeape almost demolished me with Double Team/Focus Punch. After +2 Evasion I was already missing more than I’d like and having neutral Focus Punch Damage was hell. But DragnSlaya revenged KO’d Primeape and his Poliwrath couldn’t best mine.

Jasmine wasn’t even remotely hard, none of my team fainted. Saved after trading Shock Wave to HG and some Star Pieces over to Platinum; continued my journey, on Platinum.

Currently have Platinum next to me, I haven’t done anything significant. Revived a Helix Fossil I acquired on HG, though I’m opting not to use the Omanyte, Bc I don’t wanna part with anyone of my established team. I do love me some Omastar though.

I’m at the Battle Cafe? if that’s what it’s called, restaurant at that resort area midway to Pastoria. Training this fresh Rhyhorn.

Teams:
HG

• M I T C H/Poliwrath
• DragnSlaya/Lapras
• Slow Gyal/Slowpoke
• big Cuz/Prinplup
• CHomped/Feraligatr

Platinum

• KillaKween/Nidorina
• BIG PA-PI/Torterra
• Lil sCorpi/Gliscor
• EartHa/Rhyhorn

 

[Shiny Venusaur]

Did a handful of things today in Platinum. Went and caught Regirock and Regice (I already had caught Registeel from earlier when I was completing the 100 battle tower wins) and it was quite a pain. I lost the 50/50 on synchronize more that I would have cared too. With all of the regi's out of the way, I did some leveling of a few team members to also pad my money - every time I max out I buy a bunch of vitamins, so I stocked up handsomely.

Figured it would be a good time to take a more detailed look at my three new shiny Shellos. Picked the best of the three IV wise and went to work EV training it. I have a few more levels to go and it will be a Gastrodon.

 

[Shiny Venusaur]

Oh man, it has been a doozy of a day in Platinum. Set out to gather the Lake Trio finally (thanks to other games I was able to register Dex credit without having to catch them for the National Dex). Azelf hits like a truck at +6 from Nasty plot but I caught it easy enough (went Ultraballs for all 3). Next up was Uxie and while it wasn't a big fight, I lost the 50/50 synchronize coin flip 3 times. Normally it would be whenver but when you have a catch rate of 3, it does get tedious. Mesprit though, let me tell you. 12 attempts to get one. 12!

Turns out, Mesprit can't be synchronized even though you start/set the roaming event. I learned that after the 3rd time of failing the synchronize. But oh man, it got rough. I crit-killed it multiple times in trying to weaken it before I went with my False Swipe user just so it didn't take forever. On three other attempts, I put a poison status on it accidently while trying to weaken in, etc, etc. I finally got a nature I can deal with, though not ideal. Ah well, it's not leave the GenIV cart and there is a Smogon set that uses the nature. But what chore that was.

 

[SubtleVVeirdoh]

KillaKween learned Toxic Spikes, so I evolved her. I defeated Crasher Wake yesterday. As predicted is was close. He gave me major problems, compared to any other gym leader. It was his Floatzel tbh. Torterra somehow tanked his Gyarados’ Ice Fangs but couldn’t survive against Floatzel. Gliscor fainted after 1 Ice Fang, yet has higher defense than Torterra so idk what’s going on with the damage calcs.

Didn’t matter. Rhyhorn got lucky with its Quick Claw and Secret Powered Floatzel into a KO. Grabbed my badge and left Pastoria. Watched on as TG detonated a bomb in the Marsh. Defeated the grunt that I trailed and Cynthia sent me to Celestic Town.

At Solaceon, where I decided to pick up the seal case, since I’m also using it in HG I decided to spruce up my Platinum team. This should’ve been a recurring feature. Maybe even permanent.

Team:
BIG PA-PI/Torterra
Shellos
EartHa/Rhyhorn
Lil sCorpi/Gliscor
KillaKween/Nidoqueen

 

[SubtleVVeirdoh]

Haven’t done TOO much since my last post. After acquiring Surf, I revisited areas I couldn’t access before. Afterwards, I went to Canalave where I battled my rival, once again beating him. Trained on Iron Island, where my Rhyhorn finally evolved. Keen to evolve it further, I headed back to the PC in Canalave. Now I need Swinub to finish off the team. Decided to give myself Thunderbolt, on HG, I’m sure Lapras will appreciate it.

Since I have HG open and my team is not nearly completed/evolved, I’m going to continue.

Platinum:

• EartHa/Rhyperior
• BIG PA-PI/Torterra
• Lil sCorpi/Gliscor
• KillaKween/Nidoqueen
• Gastrodon

HG:

• DragnSlaya/Lapras
• M I T C H/Poliwrath
• Slow Gyal/Slowpoke
• CHomped/Feraligatr
• big Cuz/Prinplup

 

[Shiny Venusaur]

I took the time and got the Kanto birds that I wanted. Was a very tedious process and while I'm not the biggest fan of the Master ball, it was what I went with since otherwise I'd still probably be there trying to get them. At the very least, the Master ball send out animation isn't too bad. I also got my post game team to level 100. It was fun using a team for the in game and then mixing it up for the post game.

For anyone curious, my in game team was:

Empoleon​

Staraptor​

Roserade​

Spiritomb​

Espeon​

Gliscor​

​

Post game team was:

Empoleon​

Starpator​

Electivire​

Heatran​

Abomasnow​

Claydol​

Been doing a lot of EV training of some of the things I've caught; Shiny Magnemite, Shiny Buizel, and then one of my shiny Shellos, along with Azelf, Mesprit, Uxie, and Zapdos. I know these are never leaving GenIV but the competitive battler in me has a hard time not letting stuff that I'm not just using on the initial ingame team be random EVs. Plus, these will be able to help out in the Battle Frontier.

Speaking of Battle Frontier, I had to grind for some more BP for Frontier TMs so I could complete some of the above Pokemon's move sets. Also got my third silver print. Which is nice as I haven't really started doing anything with the Battle Frontier yet. Leveled up Magemite > Magnezone, Buizel > Floatzel, and Shellos > Gastrodon to 45+ and then have been adding levels to the three Lake Guardians and Zapdos, and have been reclaiming a lot of the money I've lost in vitamins and coins from the Game Corner.

Been spending a lot of time underground too. I wish I would have known about Gem/Sphere gardens much earlier into DPPs life. It makes the underground experience so much better. Easily spending an hour down their because the wall pings just feel endless. Been nabbing a lot of useful items and evolutions stones. I will say that I'm really bummed even after all of these years that the new stones introduced are not available in the Battle Frontier or found in the underground. It makes them a really limiting resource.

Also decided to randomly throw Magneton (before I evolved) into some contest, so I was able to get the first two ribbons in the Cool contest on it. Need to start farming berries for poffins but I'm not excited to do that just yet. I did it a few years ago with a different berry and it was such a time synch amassing the amount of berries I wanted. We'll see how that goes, but I will need the trainer star at some point.

I /think/ that covers everything.

 

[Drummerdude]

Not sure if I am just inept with computers or what because I can't figure out how to upload the picture but....

AFTER NINE MONTHS OF MISERY I FINALLY GOT SHINY LUGIA!!!!!!

I ended up chucking the Master Ball at it because I was too terrified to attempt to attack it. Naive nature which isn't that big of a concern to me. I had to get used to this team again since it had been so long but I made my way into Kanto and through Victory Road to challenge the Pokemon League. I trained everyone up to Lvl 44 because I wasn't feeling confident.....mostly because of Ledian. But I did manage to defeat the Elite 4 and Ledian defeated Will's Exeggutor and Karen's Vileplume! Really the only Pokemon that gave me issues were Karen's Houndoom and Lance's many Dragonites. Feels good to finally finish this one even though I do plan on going through Kanto and beating Red with a freaking Ledian to assert my dominance over this game.

Lv46

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