Dan's Gen V Nuzlocke

[dannuzlockev]

Entry #12 Moving On & Away

Been a while, argued over what to write in the wake of what’s happened. Here’s the basic truth. Got fed up with losing team members in freak accidents, got fed up with waiting for Max Revives that never come, got fed up with not being able to use the team that was so lovingly assembled. Gave everyone a return pass, cleared the last gym, beat Victory Road or whatever the route is called, beat Ghetsis, beat the Elite Four after much grinding, beat the Champion, but any sense of integrity for this Nuzlocke has basically been thrown out the window.

Already moving on to a new Nuzlocke with Platinum, but blogging about Nuzlocke’s never seems to help or assist, only hinder and stress. So, for the follower out there:

I’m sorry

Hopefully some fun was had during this temporary little project. Nuzlocking will remain a staple of my video game lifestyle, but more of a personal project/journey than a public journal. Night all.

[dannuzlockev]

Entry #11 Drayden Aftermath

Lost Cuddles? on the way to Drayden. Not that surprised really. For being such a big pile of seemingly tough garbage, he was really just, well, garbage. Won’t be missed. Losing DestinyHrn will be a big loss however.

It figures I’d just spent 2 PP Ups on him prior to the battle with Drayden. Also, now that the battle is over, how does that guy eat with that mustache on his face? You can’t even see his chin, much less his mouth. Weird.

Down to LightMaxy and The Cure, with Viz This and SmashyMcGe as backup. Grabbed Sparkplug (Tynamo) from the box, gave him the Exp Share, maybe we can get him in shape in time for the final gym leader, who I believe is a Water-Type user.

As an aside, props to the team of Black 2 & White 2 for finally assembling a game with a gym leader that breaks the lvl 50 tier (and not just with one pokemon). Hasn’t happened since Giovanni in Red & Blue. I wonder why?

RIP

Cuddles? (what kind of ability is Weak Armor anyway?)

DestinyHrn (you don’t hold back against a Haxorus, even if it means two Close Combats)

[dannuzlockev]

Entry #10 This is Farfetch’d

This ends now. Screw the rules, we kill ‘em all. SmashyMcGe andViz This are coming out and we are going to wipe that gym out. And then the next gym. And then the Elite Four. And everyone who stands in our way.

This is for Zoroark, and DeepC, and FurryFire, and everyone we’ve lost during this Nuzlocke from stupid sh*t.

Death is coming.

[dannuzlockev]

Entry #9 Opelucid Disaster

The unthinkable has happened. Zoroark is dead. An encounter with a lvl 41 Minccino, with our soon-to-fight-gym lvl 48 Zoroark. Snarl missed twice, which is already two more times than its missed in the other 15 battles this training session; a hit from Slam that did a little damage, followed by a Wake-UpSlap crit that killed Zoroark.

It seems unthinkable because it should be unthinkable. Even super-effective, Minccino has garbage stats, Wake-Up Slap isn’t STAB, Zoroark clearly out-leveled it, and Slam did less than 30 damage with STAB. Not to mention, either Snarl should have instantly dropped that thing. This was an absolute worse-case scenario that happened completely by chance. Which makes it even worse.

3 more battles, maybe less, one more level, and we would have taken on the rest of the dragon gym. Live or die, we would have gone for it. This.... I keep reitterating this is earth-shattering because THIS SHOULDN’T HAPPEN!

RIP

Zoroark (the universe was against us, it will pay)(will be revived!)

[dannuzlockev]

Entry #9 Duldrums

I’m not happy. Well, maybe that’s the wrong word. I’m not excited. Another 3-4 hour session on Black 2, and it’s starting to feel like just going through the motions. New route, new patch of grass, find something, try to catch it. Raise something to fill the gap in the team, make progress, then lose it just as everything begins to pay off. Search for Max Revives to bring back DeepC or FurryFire, find nothing. Seriously, with the amount of items lying around and hidden around, you’d think after 4-5 towns and 10 or so routes there’d be at least one.... Welcome, BOOORRRder. Welcome, Shiny. Welcome, Floater. Welcome, DestinyHrn. Welcome, Cuddles?.

Highlights were the sudden appearance of two legendaries; Cobalion and Virizion. With no pokemon able to cause status ailments to aide in their capture. And these things are offensive beasts. Not sure how, but we caught ‘em both. Seriously. Cobalion in a regular POKEBALL. It’s bizarre. Well, into the box they go, probably never use them. Welcome, SmashyMcGe. Welcome, Viz This.

For game commentary, I have to admit I kinda like having all sorts of Triple, Double, and Rotation Battles cropping up all over the place. In hindsight, that is. Upon realizing any battle is one of those, the natural response is a grown, often followed by “ohshitohshitohshit”. Lot of fragile guys in the team, lot of bad ends that could come about if they take too many bad hits getting switched in. But it’s a good improvement to gameplay. Props to Game Freak and Co.

There was one interesting development. Sometime near the end of last entry, either TheWayOfOw or SkyCaptain contracted the Pokerus. Naturally. The whole team has caught it. This, for people who don’t know, is awesome. Pokerus is like a virus that spreads from pokemon to pokemon, and makes them STRONGER. It’s completely random and almost impossible in a Nuzlocke. This is good, because a lot of the team’s stats are still not particularly stellar. LightMaxy is fast, but at lvl 44, only her Speed stat is above 100, 108. And it isn’t even close to Zoroark, who at lvl 46 has a Speed of 135, an Attack of 124, and a Sp Attack of 133. The Cure has Attack 110 and Speed 100, but little else that’s notable. Not sure if that over-hyped ability Serene Grace has done anything, period.

Even with all the new routes, battles, trainers, and grinding, the levels haven’t gone up much since leaving Bianca and losing FurryFire in Reversal Mountain. A lot went into CountSqurt to get him to Lampent, which took significantly longer than expected, but still, only this much growth for the rest? Thinking that maybe the problem is, strangely enough, too many pokemon in the party. Have always seemed to have best results with a shorter party, if only because it takes away from the sense of surefire victory in any situation. Two new members have joined up and are going through their paces to get battle-ready, because as the first gym trainer at Opelucid Gym showed, we are seriously underleveled. And Haxorus is a friggin’ beast. Thinking lvl 45 should be the lowest level of anyone going into that gym.

Catches:

Reversal Mountain: Boldore, aka BOOORRRder

Village Bridge; East Side: Golduck, aka Shiny

Village Bridge; West Side: Marill, aka Floater

Route 12: Heracross, aka DestinyHrn

Route 9: Garbador, aka Cuddles?

Route 13 (Event): Cobalion, aka SmashyMcGe

Route 11 (Event): Virizion, aka Viz This

RIP

CountSqurt (Crunched by Krookodile)

Shiny (sacrificed against dragon gym trainer to allow victory/survival)

SkyCaptain (she’ll be fine! *carnage* ....oops)

[dannuzlockev]

Entry #9 Undella

Yeah, another busy morning. Celestial Tower, which produced a Team Sweep in White, proved laughably easy this time around. Maybe it’s the lack of plot events? Or the lack of that one guy’s Swoobat? Either way, Zoroark carved through every wild pokemon and trainer like a hot knife through butter. Adding insult to injury, he did all of this in the form of HellBlisz, our sad little Ducklett. Dear Psychics and Ghost People, what is more embarrassing than losing to a duck? Losing without getting in a hit. None of them ever learned the truth. From this day on, stories will be told of that one guy with the Ducklett that knew Snarl. Also, nabbed a Litwick again. Welcome, CountSqurt!

Great training for Zoroark shared with LightMaxy as prep for Skyla. Her gym proved easy to sweep, and kinda fun running from wind shield to wind shield. Skyla herself proved ill-equipped for our fast little Electric/Flying striker. Swanna really needs to watch out for that quadruple weakness to Electricity. Zoroark, yes, as Ducklett, took down her Swoobat, and she never knew. Perfect. Last but not least, our newly evolved GirlOnFire, now without Moxie to reduce her accuracy, finished Skarmory with a flaming fist.

Got on a plane. Reversal Mountain.... was kinda expecting, I dunno. Some sort of reversal? Of stuff? Caught a Driftblim, which may be helpful someday. Next encounter was a Skorupi, which I have been DYING for since seeing Drapion in every Nuzlocke, without luck. Then came a new house that appeared promising! First encounter, Raticate. Really? Killed it, didn’t even try for a catch. The Cure has come into her own as Sawsbuck, and the tour through Reversal Mountain with Bianca gave us enough battles to get almost everyone to lvl 40. I can just imagine everyone inside wondering about the strange sounds of GirlOnFire Fire Punching Spoink all over the place. The last to hit lvl 40 was FurryFire, who has unfortunately suffered from a lack of strong moves. Is this just a trend I always have? Right near the end of the mountain, after maybe an hour inside there grinding, a lone crit from Power Gem KOd FurryFire just before the opponent died. That hurt.

The hurt only got worse. A triple battle near Undella City took out the unstoppable GirlOnFire. Basculin, damn. Also lost a new catch, Mienfoo, in his first attempt at battle against a Scrafty. Bugger. Gonna call a time out and pause. Get myself together for the next push.

Catches:

Celestial Tower: Litwick, aka CountSqurt

Reversal Mountain: Driftblim, aka ManOfWar

Reversal Mountain House of Stuff: Raticate; murdered for being a useless first encounter

Route 14: Mienfoo, aka TheWayOfOW

RIP

TheWayOfOw

FurryFire (second in line for revival)

GirlOnFire

[dannuzlockev]

Entry #8 Beyond Driftveil

Lot to cover, lot has happened, lot may happen again, or not at all. Needed to do some training, wild pokemon weren’t doing the job, went after the gym. Got some good experience for team, particularly Tornado and DeepC, accidentally found ourselves in front of Clay, the gym leader. My.... dunno what it is, but I couldn’t walk away once I got there, so challenge him we did! We were under-leveled. It mattered rather little in the end. The only pokemon that gave us trouble was the Excadrill. Faster thing, tough thing. Took a beating and gave it back worse. Killed Tornado, took a big chunk out of DeepC. Sent in PuriPrison to buy time to heal, PuriPrison went down in one hit. That was the part that really blew me away. Audino is a tank, overflowing with HP and focused on all manner of defense. One hit, even a crit? That’s scary. Hope came in the form of Zoroark, our lovely Zorua who evolved during the gym training. Evolved into a BEAST.

*Note: I tried, I checked, Zorua is unable to be given a nickname. Can’t be done.

His stats are higher than even DeepC’s, mostly Sp Atk and Speed and Attack. Snarl is rather helpful against a multitude of tough Defense pokemon, but really need to find some new moves for him to learn. All that really matters is that he was fast enough to hit Excadrill, tough enough to survive getting hit back, and strong enough to finish him on the second blow.

We made our way to Chargestone Cave, caught a Tynamo, unique in that it is the only pokemon to have 0 weaknesses. Electric-types are now only weak to Ground, not Ground and Rock anymore, and with Levitate, Tynamo is immune to Ground. But Emolga is cuter, so into the box he goes! Kept reaching a “bridge out” thing with Bianca and people, so kept going back into town to find stuff to do. A scientist gave me a “unique” Deerling with Serene Grace ability. It’s still not that great a pokemon though, so he’s been in & out of the party. Welcome, The Cure!

Was really dreading having to do the World Tournament thing. These kind of Battle events are always high risk, no reward, but this one was apparently plot required to MOVE ON WITH THE FRIGGIN’ GAME. Won the whole thing, but each member of the party died at some point so it feels really hollow. I’m bending a rule here and calling it a pass because again, these dumb things are high risk and NO reward, thus serving no place in a Nuzlocke.

The cave underground, however, proved interesting. Encountered a Gurdurr, who was successfully caught! But is probably going into the box. Caught Krokorok in the next area, also probably staying in the box. Near the end, we encountered an event VOLCARONA. This is one of the most amazing and powerful pokemon in any game, but exceedingly rare. One must train a Larvesta to lvl 59 for it to evolve into Volcarona. No Nuzlocker has time for that. This thing did not want to go in the ball. Used up all but one Ultra Ball, most of the Timer Balls, and a more potions, full heals, and moomoo milks than I can count. For having Gust as its most powerful move, this thing was dangerous. Literally, its move set was Gust, String Shot, Fire Spin, and Leech Life. 4 of the weakest moves in the game and it nearly killed DeepC. Out-leveled us too. But now it is on our side! Welcome, ClownMastr! Welcome, QuickDraw! Welcome, FurryFire!

Good, because DeepC went down near the end of Chargestone Cave against, *sigh*, another Excadrill. Still way too friggin’ fast and tough and strong. Praise Arceus for Snarl. I want to change things up this time, but honestly I’m realizing the One Punch Man theme isn’t lending itself to much challenge, so have a new idea. The Max Revives I find, those are the number of revives I have. And there’s a very good chance I’ve already sold one. Well, the next one goes to DeepC because she’s a level away from evolving. The Cure has evolved however, so hopefully now will become useful. Also caught a Tranquil, so have a backup flyer. Welcome, SkyCaptain!

Also missed a chance at a catch. An Axew in that cave north of Driftveil. Took a little too much damage and refused the ball. Burned itself, passed out from injury. Bugger.

Catches:

Chargestone Cave: Tynamo, aka SparkPlug

Relic Passage: Gurdurr, aka ClownMastr

Relic Castle: Krokorok, aka QuickDraw

Relic Castle (Event): Volcarona, aka FurryFire

Route 6 (Event): Deerling, aka The Cure

Route 7: Tranquil, aka SkyCaptain

RIP Tornado (Excadrill too strong) DeepC King (Excadrill too strong)(waiting on Max Revive)

[dannuzlockev]

Entry #7 Driftveil

At least I think that’s the name of the town. Less familiar with this region and writing posts hours or sometimes days after events have transpired is less than optimal. I am the flawed human being, yes.

Moving on! Crossed the bridge, collected some feathers, and a bird (Ducklett, one of those “we gave up on an original idea” pokemon), and made it to Driftveil! The city has.... dramatically changed since Pokemon White. Bigger, it seems, without the Cold Storage area. Despite having only been there once, and without hanging around after the plot event was done, I really liked Cold Storage. I miss it. Anywho, checked out the buildings, got a few more items including a Big Root and some incense(s), and prepared for the long span of grass and grass-type pokemon.

But first, a detour to some Ex-Team Plasma members who I genuinely feel a little sad for. And to cement those feelings in my heart, they offered me a Zorua. I friggin’ LOVE Zorua. Unfortunately, didn’t come with a nickname option, so will have to find the Name Rater. Somewhere. I’d argue “Zorua” is a good enough nickname, but I know that argument will never be won. Nuzlocke rules are firm on this topic. Ah well, at least the otherwise useless Ducklett is good for flying.

Did some prep work, ran around a lot, and waited for a patch of rustling grass. Going after something rare and interesting. Plus, don’t really need a Grass-type. Tornado is doing the job just fine. Hit the jackpot with an Emolga! Still a nasty bugger, so ended up bringing PuriPrison into the mix to Secret Power it to sleep and catch it. Taught her Volt Switch, and that’s how she trains! Hit ‘em and switch. Working quite nicely. Very, VERY careful with Zorua, because this pokemon is already an orphan. I will not allow him to die. Ever. So long Loki II, your moves suck anyway. Also putting away GirlOnFire temporarily, since Driftveil’s gym is Ground-Type.... and nothing good will come of sending her into that mess. DeepC and Tornado will probably suffice.

We are now reaching the point where my overpowered starters are just like any other pokemon. Can no longer just rely on them if things get sticky. This is where things start getting harder, more drawn-out, and also a little more dull.

Catches:

Charizard Bridge: Ducklett, aka HellBlisz (should have saved the name, Giradamnit)

Route 6: Emolga, aka LightMaxy

Ex-Plasma Base: Zorua, aka TBD

[dannuzlockev]

Entry #6 Nimbasa

Lot to cover. Lay down roots in Nimbasa, started a family, gave up on pokemon and the Nuzlocke, released everything and became a goat herder. Now living a happy life with my wife, kids, goats, and pickup truck.

And while you were distracted reading that, caught a Cottonee in Lostlorn Forest (Tornado), and a Liepard on Route 16 (Loki II). Now catching a Liepard sounds like a failure, considering at this point Lokina could have been a Liepard without the useless ability Unburden. But Lokina is dead and released, so we’re moving passed that. Secondly, Liepard proved the key to defeating Nimbasa’s Eleesa in my White Nuzlocke, using a combination of Hone Claws, Pursuit, and lots of items. Her Emolga is a friggin’ pain, more than any of the other pokemon. The only moves it seemingly had were Volt Switch and Double Team. By the time the rest of her team was dealt with, and only Emolga remained, it had Double Team-ed about as much as it possibly could. Hone Claws raises Attack and Accuracy, which is a rare combination and proved the key to beating her.

That did not happen this time around. After training the team, grinding, exploring, finding stuff, battling people, etc, I thought having everyone at lvl 26 would be enough. Unfortunately, in one of the last battles, Genos went down from a critical hit Scald attack. More on that later. Upon making my way to Eleesa with a team of four lvl 27+ pokemon, I learned we were quite outmatched. Her team started at 28 and went up to 30. It started with Emolga which for the entirety of our battle, used nothing but Volt Switch. Even with Hone Claws, Fake Out, and Snarl, Loki II was utterly outmatched. Eleesa’s strategy consisted of Volt Switch-ing Emolga into Flaafy, then using Thunder Wave to paralyze and Volt Switch back into Emolga for more fast damage. The only pokemon with a chance was PuriPrison, our new Audino. Sometimes to beat a cheap piece of crap, you have to become a cheap piece of crap. What could possibly be worse than a Volt Switch/Thunder Wave combo? Attract.

The most broken status condition in the game. Can’t be healed, makes the pokemon useless more than 50% of the time, and easy to prepare. Eleesa is a girl, meaning so will all of her pokemon. PuriPrison is a boy. Check. Still involved a lot of healing and Refresh-ing, as every time a Volt Switch got through, the Attract would go away. But given how easy it was to predict her next move, eventually we got through and whittled her down. Secret Power did the rest.

Moving on, the plan for fallen pokemon has a new idea in development. Since the idea behind naming Magnemite after Genos was that he could keep getting wrecked and coming back, I want him to make a return. That said, just healing him and bringing him back is unfair. It may be that he must wait until the next gym or until the next gym is beaten to return. Having him make an appearance at every gym would be a fun idea, even if he gets crushed.

Catches:

Lostlorn Forest: Cottonee, aka Tornado

Route 16: Liepard, aka Loki II

RIP

Genos (temporarily out of commission, but awaiting new upgrades from Dr. Kuseno)

[dannuzlockev]

Entry #5 Hidden Grotto

Made it into the next town, disposed of the dead, pondered a couple ideas for rules inspired by One Punch Man. Go looking for a new friend that won’t die this time, find Bianca. She brings me to a “special” Minccino, which is kinda like having a “special” Spinda. Basically worthless. Caught it anyway, named him WatchDogMn, doubt he’ll live up to the name. Also decided to cross Audino off the catch list so that some of the rarer, more interesting Rustling Grass pokemon can become available. Who knows, PuriPrison may become part of the main team if he shows enough promise. Having a tank against the upcoming Emolga gym could be quite useful.

Catches:

Hidden Grotto: Minccino, aka WatchDogMn

Route The Grass Outside Nimbasa: Audino, aka PuriPrison

Time for some grinding.

[dannuzlockev]

Entry #4 Desert Resort

Caught.... a Sandshrew. Who died from nearly every battle he took a hit in. That high Def stat must just be for show. Same with that Sand Veil ability, because no one, not even the Darumaka with famously bad accuracy, missed the mark.

Then came the crossroads. The psychic trainer with the Sigilyph that swept my whole party on my first Black 2 Nuzlocke. Went in smart this time with Genos. Electric/Steel resists Psychic/Flying at every turn, and Spark should do plenty of damage!

The battle was still a lot closer than I would have liked. Even not very effective, Psybeam hurt a lot. And when it forced in Subterraen (Sandshrew), while still paralyzed with only a little health left, I took a chance. Even with Tailwind, even with not-great speed, paralysis means Subterraen goes first.

“Go Subterraen! Use Swift!”

“Sniv!”

*Does a sliver of damage*

*Pause*

“Sigilyph used Psybeam!”

“It friggin’ killed him!”

Well, so much for the Subterranean King.

Rest of the building went pretty well. DeepC is at lvl 27, while GirlOnFire and Genos are back at lvl 23, so tried to give them some exercise. Nearly killed Genos when that little green Psychic embryo pokemon used Hidden Power. Must have been Fire. Or Ground. Thank Arceus for small favors, Genos survived and it died. Welp, on to the next town. But first, burying the dead.

Desert Resort: Sandshrew, aka Subterraen

RIP Subterraen

He will not be missed.

[dannuzlockev]

Entry #3 Castelia

Roxie went down easy! Genos and Sonicboom, nothing much to it. Fought some Plasma, made a movie, got on a boat, hit the big city! Cleared the buildings, fought some professional fight clerks, scored neat items, and trained. Found, as with every Nuzlocke in this Gen before it....a Darumaka in the first patch of desert. A Darumaka that nearly killed my starter going into the ball. Next wild area was the Castelia Sewers! Have to be careful that your rival (who joins you until you find Team Plasma, heals your pokemon, and fights alongside you in every encounter) doesn’t kill the pokemon you *want* to catch.

Maybe “want” is too strong a word. Actually had to stop playing in the middle of an encounter and shut the game down. Some may cry foul, but I do have a life and this game is slow to save. Regardless, when booted up again, had the same encounter.

Apparently, the sewers beneath this city are just worthless. Encountered a Rattata and a Zubat. I know, who to pick, right? Went for the Zubat, caught it, and moving on. In the second chamber, the Relic Whatever, found an old friend in first encounter, Timburr! Another successful catch!

Zubat died against that stupid Drilbur the Breeder outside the city (who fights you every time you pass) uses, wasting any chance of using him against Burgh. Turns out, didn’t need him. DeepC and GirlOnFire (Darumaka) made short work of his bugs. Next stop, into the desert!

Note: Also decided on a new system for pokemon storage. Organizing by Class, like in One Punch Man, which I’m borrowing a lot of elements from. Releasing dead pokemon, so going to be very careful to not let important ones die. Anymore. Lokina died against a Herdier because apparently Tackle is enough to one-shot her. Damnit.

Catches:

Castelia Sewers: Zubat, aka Sonic

Construction Site Place: Darumaka, aka GirlOnFire

Relic Tunnel Place: Timburr, aka TT ClownBB (Tank Top Clown Baby)

RIP Sonic Lokina

They will not be missed.

[dannuzlockev]

Entry #2 Virbank

First double pokemon encounter, hoping for a Venipede. Instead, two Sunkern. What a waste. Accidentally killed them both and you know what? Not even sorry. Fortunately, caught a great break in the Virbank Complex. First pokemon; Magnemite. Immune to poison, in a town with a poison type gym. Little training, get Lokina and DeepC leveled up, evolve DeepC, boost lots of experience with Audino and double battles, and next time; Roxie!

Note: Audino are perhaps the best pokemon for leveling up against, but they should not be the only thing you face. Thing is, the only EVs they give I believe are HP and maybe Def. Always make sure to include regular wild pokemon in training.

Route 20: Sunkern, murdered by accident, sorry not sorry

Virbank Complex: Magnemite, aka Genos

[dannuzlockev]

Entry #1

Had a ton of fun with Pokemon White Nuzlocke, but kinda miss blogging and keeping entries of progress. Furthermore, due in part to the great success of my special rules and ideas for the White Nuzlocke (a Norse Mythology-theme), interested in creating other themes for future Nuzlockes, starting with Black 2.

This Nuzlocke has already begun, but only to assist with White. Have to get passed the first gym leader to get to the Union Room, which was used to evolve trade-evolution pokemon from White. Pokemon which proved instrumental and, in the end, the only survivors of the final battle with Ghetsis.

May consider starting over new, but so far nothing has happened that wasn’t under Nuzlocke terms and rules, so probably will keep this one going and see how far we go.

Now for introductions to the Team:

Character: Boros

Trainer ID: 28488

Starter: Oshawott, aka DeepC King

Route 4: Purrloin, aka Lokina (in party)

Route 5: Psyduck, aka KombuInf

Route 19: Patrat, aka Twip