4th Gen Recent Happenings Thread

[SubtleVVeirdoh]

Made it to Blackthorn City on SS. Haven’t challenged the gym, though, I’m assuming my Pokémon are not up to par with Claire’s. Tangela is still fresh on the team and though I may not need it to beat the Gym, I’d like a Tangrowth before I enter.

So, currently I’m exploring Dark Cave and the outlying routes, hopefully I’ll have the willpower to grind my team and get my last and latest memeber to evolve.

 

[KyogreThunder]

Today, I finally got to battle Arcade Star Dahlia for the Golden Print in HeartGold. She started by sending out Blaziken, who outsped and took out Gyarados with Thunder Punch. I sent out Latias, who easily defeated it with Psychic. Dahlia then switched in Zapdos, and Latias was faster and hit it hard with Draco Meteor. Zapdos was still able to fight and used Signal Beam, but Latias finished it off with Psychic. Dahlia's last Pokemon was Togekiss, who easily took a Thunderbolt and knocked out Latias with Air Slash. I sent out Jolteon, who took out Togekiss with Discharge. I got the Golden Print and 20 Battle Points, and then I saved the game.

 

[SubtleVVeirdoh]

Clair was a chump. Combo of Mamoswine and Pikachu took her down. Caught a Jolly Lugia and a Quiet Seadra. Scaled Mt. Mortar, found the Karate King whom I beat. After his defeat, and quite a few resets o acquired an Adamant Tyrogue, didn’t get the Nature I was hoping for. As the Hitmontop I’m planning to evolve it into will have Technician and not Intimidate. Decided to save after that.

On Platinum I took down Team Galactic for the last time, ascending Mt. Coronet; caught Giratina who’s stats and Nature I haven’t checked yet. Afterwards I visited a concerned Rowan in Sandgem; made it to the route just outside Sunnyshore. Decided to catch a couple of Electabuzz, before passing out. Planning on switching Pikachu with an Electivire. Saved the game when I woke up; went to work.

Edit:
Team (SS): Feraligatr, Electivire, Mamoswine, Tangrowth, Gallade, Honchkrow

Team (Pt): Infernape, Mismagius, Nidoqueen, Kingdra, Togekiss, Scizor

Beat the League in SS; only needed to use 1/2 Pokémon per member, until I faced Lance. Was 0-2 victory for me. This team was definitely, more, balanced than others. The grinding in Victory paid off too. Currently beat Surge and Sabrina in Kanto. Going to the Power Plant when I play next.

 

[RedJirachi]

I have returned to my Heart Gold playthrough. Erika's Bellossom was complete agony to deal with because of Chlorophyll, Sunny Day, Solar Beam and Giga Drain. Brock was so ridiculously easy I felt bad for him. Misty and Lt Surge were decent challenge. I'm going to go after Janine next. All my Pokemon have reached Level 50.

When I don't have much to do, I might consider searching for a white Eevee in the Celadon Game Corner. Because I must get one of each shiny Eeveultion if I can SR for it

 

[JohnLynch]

I've resumed my HeartGold playthrough. I'll be concentrating on this game to the exclusion of all others (except occassional forrays into Hoenn under Sapphire) until I finish it and catch the legendaries. Sapphire has left me at post game with no idea what legendaries even exist (other than latios) and I don't want to have the same problem in HeartGold.

When I resumed my HeartGold game my initial lineup was: Totodile, Flaffy, Butterfree, Bellsprout, Furret, Wooper (with two gym badges). I had to remove Wooper from the lineup as I'm using him in Platinum and I don't want my lineup always looking the same from gen to gen, so I limit which pokemon I can use. After a thorough analysis of the available pokemon (which precluded spinarak and parasect) and the possible combinations I can be put up against, I have made the lineup: Totodile, Flaffy, Butterfree, Bellsprout, Furret, Drowzee.

Bellsprout is not going to make the final cut in my lineup. The only pokemon it can attack that my other pokemon can't attack is a rock/grass pokemon (which I'm highly unlikely to face). Furret is also completely superfluous although I do enjoy trying to get a normal pokemon into the Elite 4 (I came closest with Raticate in FireRed). I'll get rid of Bellsprout before I get rid of Furret. And if I manage to teach Furret some interesting moves via TM then I could end up justifying keeping it permanently.

Speaking of teaching pokemon moves, in my Sapphire run I was severely hampered by not having any ice pokemon. With how ice pokemon are so often restricted to late/post game, I decided to take the initiative and teach Totodile an ice move. It's only got 5 PP. I'll be looking to get a more powerful ice move at a later date.

I'm just about to get my radio and then (hopefully) face the third gym leader. Knowing my luck I don't have a super-effective pokemon against it, but I haven't been able to get any better additions to my lineup yet.

 

[WishIhadaManafi5]

Been working on soft resetting for a shiny Turtwig in my copy of Platinum. It's being very stubborn, but I'm not giving up. Hoping to do more of it tonight.

 

[KyogreThunder]

Yesterday, I learned that a Beldum swarm had appeared on Route 228. I decided to try catching a shiny one and put a Magnet Pull Magnezone in the first slot of my party. I took down 40 Beldum, and then I saw a grassy patch glowing white. I walked into it, and a shiny one appeared! I sent out my Haunter, who weakened the critter, and then I started throwing Ultra Balls and Timer Balls. Sadly, the Beldum kept breaking out and eventually knocked itself out with Struggle. Then, a Rhydon ended up breaking my chain. Hopefully, I'll reclaim the critter one day.

 

[PikaSnap]

I am working on trying to get that illusive 5th star on my trainer card on my SoulSilver version. I am having difficulty getting past a streak of 35 or so in the Battle Tower, and a streak of 100 is required to earn a star. Does anyone on here have any good tips on building a good team? The AI is insane here. I have had the most luck with an EV trained team of Infernape (Focus Sash), Starmie (Expert Belt), and Togekiss (Kings Rock), but the AI always seems to knock me out pretty soon after beating Palmer. Any suggestions on how to master the Gen IV Battle Tower??

 

[Shiny Venusaur]

I am working on trying to get that illusive 5th star on my trainer card on my SoulSilver version. I am having difficulty getting past a streak of 35 or so in the Battle Tower, and a streak of 100 is required to earn a star. Does anyone on here have any good tips on building a good team? The AI is insane here. I have had the most luck with an EV trained team of Infernape (Focus Sash), Starmie (Expert Belt), and Togekiss (Kings Rock), but the AI always seems to knock me out pretty soon after beating Palmer. Any suggestions on how to master the Gen IV Battle Tower??

The last post on page 42 (by me) details out the 100 streak. But as a general suggestion, you need to do two things. The first is you need to make the AI predictable and the second is you need to design a way to take as much abuse as possible. If you can do both of those, you wont be guaranteed to win, but it will give you the best odds at pulling off so many games in a row.

Also, there exist a hub that will give you a breakdown of all possible pokemon and move sets for each person. That can help you determine how you want to potentially play around with some threats you may experience. I would not rely on it too heavily though as it is easy to stop thinking your moves out.

edit:

Forum post: 4th Gen Recent Happenings Thread

Battle tower team website: http://www.psypokes.com/dp/battletower_teams.php

 

[Vahnstad]

Started over again... Now heading towards Veilstone gym. Because i'm planning to do one last playthrough in gen iv and move to the next games (maybe replay heart gold), i will train 10 pokemon to compensate for using 3 starters.

Monferno lvl 27 (original starter)
Prinplup lvl 28 (traded)
Grotle lvl 27 (traded)
Alakazam lvl 26
Luxio lvl 25
Staravia lvl 25
XXX (probably Toxicroak?)
XXX (probably Floatzel)
XXX (Garchimp)
Bibarel lvl 18 (HM slave)

Wanted to use Lucario and Gengar as well, but i'll save them for other games.

 

[KyogreThunder]

A few days ago, I finally got to battle Palmer for the Gold Print in HeartGold. His first Pokemon was Cresselia, and I sent out Gyarados, who set up a Dragon Dance and eventually took out the Lunar Pokemon with Waterfall. Next, he sent out Regigigas, who took a hit and knocked Gyarados out with Stone Edge. Next, I used Jolteon, who survived Earthquake once thanks to Slow Start, but went down after using Discharge. Latias took the golem out with Psychic, then hit Heatran with Surf, took a Flash Cannon and finished Heatran with another Surf. I got the Gold Print and 20 Battle Points, as well as the Great Ability Ribbons for my team, and saved.

 

[nel3]

i put some time on my HG file, did a few elite 4 runs the get my newest Gardevoir set (run in gen 6->7) to get it from lvl 57-85. had a previous gardevoir set from back in the day but it was a bit of a weird mix of EVS and move sets like back in the day when i started the save file. growing berries is hard work in the game, leppa berries have a max yield of 5 and im hitting 2 per plant. the newer gens certainly raised the yield numbers.

 

[SleepyMismagius]

Currently trying to get Hayley's Mew and PokéRadar chain for a shiny Budew or Roselia.

 

[Ishiftyounot]

Me and my friends (the same one who's playing USUM with me plus another) have decided to relive our nostalgia and play through Gen 4 together! We all bought Diamond or Pearl, started up our games, and went on to defeat the first gym! Teams were planned, with some overlap particularly between me and friend #01 (the downsides to a pretty **** Pokedex). I wanted my OGs on my team - Staraptor and Luxray - and since my friends picked the other two starters I got Chimchar instead (would've picked Turtwig otherwise).

Barry has been pretty easy to beat so far, and so far the team is pretty good! Shinx kind of sucks due to lack of STAB or decent moves, but Bite comes next level and both Starly and it evolves in the next 2-3 levels anyway. Roark got wrecked by everyone in 1-2 hits each per Pokemon. All's well so far, not much more to say.

Pokemon Diamond & Pearl Teams:
My team:

Monferno, Level 16 [Scratch, Mach Punch, Ember, Taunt]

Starly, Level 12 [Tackle, Growl, Quick Attack, Wing Attack]

Shinx, Level 12 [Tackle, Leer, Charge]

Friend #01 Team:

Piplup, Level 15

Starly, Level 11

Budew, Level 14

Friend #02 Team:

Turtwig, Level 17

Magikarp, Level 10

 

[Mega Altaria]

Got a copy of Diamond and so I started a new save on it! Chose the girl and named her Dawn as usual. Picked Piplup as the starter after getting attacked by a couple of Starly. Didn't do much outside of that.

 

[Ishiftyounot]

So me and my friends have continued playing through Diamond and Pearl, and hopefully by now will have completed all the routes between Veilstone and Pastoria, and Pastoria and Hearthome. Since I last posted we defeated Mars and Jupiter, obtained our second badges and bulked up our teams quite significantly, with me adding Roselia and my friends adding pretty much the entirety of their teams by this point (I have to wait a while before I can get a Gible, my chosen 6th member). Some minor annoyances about team overlaps, but we're playing for nostalgia reasons so it doesn't matter an awful lot.

Nobody was that difficult to beat, say compared to USUM wrecking my team in anything resembling an important battle (and even some unimportant ones). Could be because of our well-built teams, or being over-levelled given the size of our teams, but generally we've experienced little loss outside of the odd critical hit. In regards to our teams, it seems pretty solid! Shinx not having Spark before Level 18 was annoying as ****, but now it's a Luxray and super strong. Staravia and Monferno have been super reliable, and Floatzel feels weaker than expected due to terrible STAB options (Surf will be a godsend). Roselia is the newest member and largely untested, but I'm liking using it. Hidden Power Fire is super neat for the odd Bronzor you fight. My friends are all also enjoying their own teams, at least there's been no major complaints as of yet (except maybe for Bronzor, but it's pulling its weight apparently). So all is good!

Pokemon Diamond & Pearl Teams:
My team:

Monferno, Level 30 [Grass Knot, Mach Punch, Flame Wheel, Taunt]

Staravia, Level 30 [Steel Wing, Return, Thief, Aerial Ace]

Luxray, Level 30 [Strength, Spark, Charge, Bite]

Floatzel, Level 30 [Crunch, Swift, Water Gun, Aqua Jet]

Roselia, Level 30 [Giga Drain, Leech Seed, Hidden Power (Fire), Magical Leaf]

Friend #01 Team:

Prinplup, Level 30

Staravia, Level 30

Roselia, Level 30

Misdreavous, Level 30

Bronzor, Level 30

Skorupi, Level 30

Friend #02 Team:

Grotle, Level 30

Gyarados, Level 30

Noctowl, Level 30

Ponyta, Level 30

Gengar, Level 30

Pikachu, Level 30

General note about the teams: I assume my friends will have reached Level 30 by now, we did agree to manage that before tomorrow. I also assume my friend is keeping her Pikachu unevolved, but it could just as easily be a Raichu at this point (she has a Thunder Stone). I also assume my friends caught their Skorupi and Pikachu at all, since again we agreed to have it done by tomorrow.

 

[Ignition]

So me and my friends have continued playing through Diamond and Pearl, and hopefully by now will have completed all the routes between Veilstone and Pastoria, and Pastoria and Hearthome. Since I last posted we defeated Mars and Jupiter, obtained our second badges and bulked up our teams quite significantly, with me adding Roselia and my friends adding pretty much the entirety of their teams by this point (I have to wait a while before I can get a Gible, my chosen 6th member). Some minor annoyances about team overlaps, but we're playing for nostalgia reasons so it doesn't matter an awful lot.

Nobody was that difficult to beat, say compared to USUM wrecking my team in anything resembling an important battle (and even some unimportant ones). Could be because of our well-built teams, or being over-levelled given the size of our teams, but generally we've experienced little loss outside of the odd critical hit. In regards to our teams, it seems pretty solid! Shinx not having Spark before Level 18 was annoying as ****, but now it's a Luxray and super strong. Staravia and Monferno have been super reliable, and Floatzel feels weaker than expected due to terrible STAB options (Surf will be a godsend). Roselia is the newest member and largely untested, but I'm liking using it. Hidden Power Fire is super neat for the odd Bronzor you fight. My friends are all also enjoying their own teams, at least there's been no major complaints as of yet (except maybe for Bronzor, but it's pulling its weight apparently). So all is good!

Pokemon Diamond & Pearl Teams:
My team:

Monferno, Level 30 [Grass Knot, Mach Punch, Flame Wheel, Taunt]

Staravia, Level 30 [Steel Wing, Return, Thief, Aerial Ace]

Luxray, Level 30 [Strength, Spark, Charge, Bite]

Floatzel, Level 30 [Crunch, Swift, Water Gun, Aqua Jet]

Roselia, Level 30 [Giga Drain, Leech Seed, Hidden Power (Fire), Magical Leaf]

Friend #01 Team:

Prinplup, Level 30

Staravia, Level 30

Roselia, Level 30

Misdreavous, Level 30

Bronzor, Level 30

Skorupi, Level 30

Friend #02 Team:

Grotle, Level 30

Gyarados, Level 30

Noctowl, Level 30

Ponyta, Level 30

Gengar, Level 30

Pikachu, Level 30

General note about the teams: I assume my friends will have reached Level 30 by now, we did agree to manage that before tomorrow. I also assume my friend is keeping her Pikachu unevolved, but it could just as easily be a Raichu at this point (she has a Thunder Stone). I also assume my friends caught their Skorupi and Pikachu at all, since again we agreed to have it done by tomorrow.

Your eventual final team is the exact same as my Diamond team. It’s far from unique but I still like seeing people who have a similar taste in Pokèmon

 

[KyogreThunder]

Today, I finally got to battle Hall Matron Argenta for the Gold Print in Platinum. I sent out Garchomp, and she sent out Torterra. Garchomp hit the tortoise with Outrage, but Torterra used Wood Hammer. Garchomp was still able to fight and used Outrage again, taking Torterra out. I got the Gold Print and 20 Battle Points, then saved the game.

 

[Ishiftyounot]

Your eventual final team is the exact same as my Diamond team. It’s far from unique but I still like seeing people who have a similar taste in Pokèmon

Oh, what a coincidence! I feel like Staraptor, Luxray, Garchomp and the starters at the very least are the most "standard" Pokemon from this region, akin to the likes of Gardevoir in Hoenn or Ampharos in Johto. Lots of people use them because they're good, heck I did almost a decade ago (bar Garchomp). Nice to see someone who also likes these Pokemon.

Well this isn't a major update, except that now Maylene and Crasher Wake have been defeated and we're at Celestic Town (albeit having not spoken to the Galactic Grunt yet). Maylene was a breeze for my team, having Staravia and Monferno take out all of her Pokemon. My friend similarly used their Noctowl and Gengar to achieve success, although the third friend in this did struggle a bit despite having Misdreavous and Staravia at their disposal. Wake was also pretty much just one-shots from Luxray and Roselia, and nobody else seemed to struggle either.

We did notice that despite the ease of which we were beating the gyms, Sinnoh has quite high levels compared to other regions - the third gym in Gen 5 for example has the ace at Level 23, and in Gen 3 it's about the same. Only Gen 6 is really near those levels, but who remembers X and Y?

Anyway, now we're camped at Celestic Town and the teams are shaping up nicely. I have Staraptor now, and I'm sure the next time we all meet my friend will have one as well. They are finding Skorupi to be rather... underwhelming, unfortunately. They are committed though! Their new Bronzong is also super solid. My other friend finally evolved their starter into Torterra, and the rest of their team seems solid as well (although they lament the lack of a Water STAB on Gyarados last I checked). Now the goal is to be around 33-34 for Celestic Town, then move on to conquer Fantina and possibly even Byron.

Pokemon Diamond & Pearl Teams:
My team:

Monferno, Level 33 [Grass Knot, Mach Punch, Flame Wheel, Taunt]

Staraptor, Level 34 [Close Combat, Return, Fly, Aerial Ace]

Luxray, Level 33 [Strength, Spark, Charge, Bite]

Floatzel, Level 33 [Crunch, Swift, Brine, Aqua Jet]

Roselia, Level 33 [Giga Drain, Leech Seed, Hidden Power (Fire), Shadow Ball]

Friend #01 Team:

Prinplup, Level 33

Staraptor, Level 34

Roselia, Level 33

Misdreavous, Level 33

Bronzong, Level 33

Skorupi, Level 33

Friend #02 Team:

Torterra, Level 33

Gyarados, Level 33

Noctowl, Level 33

Ponyta, Level 33

Gengar, Level 33

Raichu, Level 33

NOTE: I'm not 100% sure on my friends' teams levels, but assume they are between level 32 and 34.

 

[Ishiftyounot]

Well as it turns out, nobody grinded for Fantina, so after destroying the Team Galactic Grunt in Celestic Town (Platinum did it better with the Cyrus battle) we made our way to Hearthome City to take on the Ghost gym. Fantina was not that difficult - Luxray, Floatzel and Roselia all KOed something which was awesome, and we had our 5th gym badges! Then we did some surfing shenanigans, realised the memes over how slow surfing was were true, and made our way to Canalave City. Wrecked Barry, did the Iron Islands (which were much smaller than how I remembered them) and came back to wreck Byron. Infernape one-shot everything for me, and... that was that. Did some dialogue with Rowan and the rivals, and finally got to go to Wayward Cave for Gible and Earthquake TM! Which I caught, slapped an Exp. Share on, and continued onwards. Clashed with Saturn at Lake Valor, then Mars at Lake Verity. Neither were too challenging. We then saved.

Bit of a brief post I guess, but I'm tired and not a lot actually happens in the games. Starting to wish I was playing Black and White for story... Levels may not be completely accurate, I'm not sure what my friends' teams are like and I barely remember my own. Our teams are all pretty much fully evolved now though! Huzzah.

EDIT: So we played some more today, and a lot has occurred! Cleared the 7th gym with absolute ease (seriously though why does Candice's team suck so bad) and then repeated the process with Cyrus and Saturn in the Galactic HQ. Cyrus in particular was a joke, despite being higher levelled than us. We cleared Mount Coronet (barely, the wild Pokemon were higher levelled than us so repels sucked) and took on Mars and Jupiter with minor difficulty. Going straight into battle with Cyrus again was annoying though, like Infernape vs. Honchkrow is not a great start. Still beat him though! Caught Dialga and saved. Now everyone's team is pretty much fully evolved (bar Gabite) and my GOD are we under-levelled. Grinding before the Elite 4? Likely, Level 66 Garchomp terrifies us all.

Pokemon Diamond & Pearl Teams:
My team:

Infernape, Level 40 [Grass Knot, Close Combat, Flamethrower, Shadow Claw]

Staraptor, Level 40 [Close Combat, Return, Fly, Aerial Ace]

Luxray, Level 40 [Strength, Thunderbolt, Charge, Crunch]

Floatzel, Level 40 [Crunch, Ice Beam, Surf, Aqua Jet]

Roserade, Level 40 [Giga Drain, Sludge Bomb, Hidden Power (Fire), Shadow Ball]

Gabite, Level 41 [Earthquake, Dragon Claw, Rock Slide, Rock Climb]

Friend #01 Team:

Empoleon, Level 40

Staraptor, Level 40

Roserade, Level 40

Mismagius, Level 40

Bronzong, Level 40

Drapion, Level 40

Friend #02 Team:

Torterra, Level 40

Gyarados, Level 40

Noctowl, Level 40

Rapidash, Level 40

Gengar, Level 40

Raichu, Level 40