Pokemon FireRed Journey - Part 6
There's a reason I said "part" instead of "day." I knew I'd have a bit of a break since I had a lot going on IRL coming up. This part covers from the arrival in Lavender Town until the arrival in Fuchsia City - where I am right now, I've just obtained a Kangaskhan for my team. Before that, I cleared my way through the routes and Rocket events until I got the Poke Flute, cheated at slots until I had enough for a Shadow Ball TM, forgot about Erika (I'll fight her next), and headed down Cycling Road so I can get Kangaskhan.
Next I'll be taking on Erika and then Koga before making a detour to the Power Plant for my next team member.
This part's stats and comparisons:
Route 10 South stats and comparisons
FireRed
Team Levels at start of route: 30, 29, 30
NPCs: 4 with 8 total Pokemon
NPC levels: Low of 19, High of 21, Median of 20.5
Low-health heals: 1
Team Levels at end of route: 30, 30, 30
Let's Go, Pikachu
Team Levels at start of route: 26, 27, 24, 22
NPCs: 4 with 7 total Pokemon
NPC levels: Low of 24, High of 25, Median of 24
Low-health heals: 0
Team Levels at end of route: 27, 28, 25, 23
Despite the FireRed team's towering in power over the opponents vs the Let's Go, Pikachu team, I actually needed to heal in FireRed and didn't in Let's Go, Pikachu.
In LGP I also did Route 10 South at this stage, but I did not in FR. I think I wanted to take on the routes as much of in order as possible in LGP, while in FR I'm trying to minimize the routes entered before I have my full team. I also fought my Pokemon Tower Rival here since I needed to do so for the plot to advance, but I'll report on that when I get to my Rival in FR.
Route 8 stats and comparisons
FireRed
Team Levels at start of route: 30, 30, 30
NPCs: 12 with 32 total Pokemon
NPC levels: Low of 19, High of 26, Median of 22
Low-health heals: 1
Status heals: 1
Team Levels at end of route: 32, 32, 31
Let's Go, Pikachu
Team Levels at start of route: 28, 29, 25, 24
NPCs: 9 with 12 total Pokemon
NPC levels: Low of 25, High of 35, Median of 27
Low-health heals: 2
Team Levels at end of route: 29, 29, 26, 26
Healed twice both times, but between the fewer NPCs, higher NPC levels and my lower levels, and the fact that one of the FR heals was a status heal, I'm definitely giving the difficulty point to LGP. Also, gotta love those spikes in data that the Gamer class gives in LGP.
LGP also had one regular trainer and a coach on Route 7, while none exist in FR. I had to heal after the regular trainer, and heal in battle against the coach, so bonus points. (not that I'm keeping track of points. I haven't fully decided how difficulty is determined, but it's an aggregate of the entire game.)
Celadon Rocket Hideout stats and comparisons
FireRed
Team Levels at start of route: 32, 32, 31
NPCs: 12 with 33 total Pokemon
NPC levels: Low of 17, High of 23, Median of 20
Low-health heals: 2
Status heals: 2
Team Levels at end of route: 33, 34, 33
Let's Go, Pikachu
Team Levels at start of route: 30, 30, 27, 27
NPCs: 10 with 15 total Pokemon
NPC levels: Low of 29, High of 29, Median of 29
Low-health heals: 6
Team Levels at end of route: 32, 32, 29, 29
What even is FR thinking, making hardened criminals have weaker Pokemon than a bunch of schoolkids that you need to get past to get here? I guess the schoolkids are battling for fun and the criminals aren't necessarily battling as much and you surprise them?
Also at this point in FR, I'm definitely having some moments where I'm running low on PP and needing to use weaker moves to preserve them, often ending up with a low-health heal just because I'm using weaker moves. The low-health heals in LGP on the other hand are all natural from the fights.
LGP also has a couple of extra bosses here: Jessie and James at the entrance (which is a regular grunt that I counted as part of the hideout in FR) and Archer guarding the elevator key. These are not fights to sneeze at, and I needed to heal three times fighting Jessie and James.
Giovanni 1 stats and comparisons
FireRed Team Levels: 33, 34, 33
Opponent Levels: 25, 24, 29
Healing items used: 0
Let's Go, Pikachu
Team Levels: 32, 32, 29, 29
Opponent Levels: 35, 35
Healing items used: 0
I didn't have too much trouble with Giovanni himself in either game. Though I outleveled him in FR and he outleveled me in LGP.
Rival 5 stats and comparisons
FireRed Team Levels: 33, 34, 33
Opponent Levels: 25, 22, 25, 20, 23
Healing items used: 0
Let's Go, Pikachu
Team Levels: 30, 30, 27, 26
Opponent Levels: 27, 27, 28
Healing items used: 0
Neither game had much problem with the Pokemon Tower rival, even with the difference in time of fighting him. As usual, though, the level discrepancy is a lot more in FR's favor.
Pokemon Tower stats and comparisons
FireRed
Team Levels at start of route: 33, 34, 33
NPCs: 17 with 26 total Pokemon
NPC levels: Low of 22, High of 30, Median of 23
Low-health heals: 3
Team Levels at end of route: 35, 35, 35
Let's Go, Pikachu
Team Levels at start of route: 32, 32, 29, 29
NPCs: 13 with 26 total Pokemon
NPC levels: Low of 25, High of 32, Median of 25
Low-health heals: 2
Status heals: 1
Team Levels at end of route: 33, 33, 31, 31
Wow, same number of NPC Pokemon. That's rare!
Pokemon Tower can technically be cleared (aside from the Rockets up top) as soon as you get to Lavender Town, so it's a bit easier in general. LGPE actually has some unique gameplay if you decide to clear it early, since touching any of the ghosts will warp you back to start of the floor, making for an optional minigame with no reward since you can't get past Marowak of course.
Still had PP troubles in FR, especially since a lot of my team's moves can't hit Ghost-types.
LGP has two additional bosses with a coach and Jessie and James rematch. The coach I handled well, but J&J I needed an in-battle heal.
In LGP I fought Erika after this, but I'll be putting that comparison when I do it in FR.
Route 16 stats and comparisons
FireRed
Team Levels at start of route: 35, 35, 35
NPCs: 7 with 15 total Pokemon
NPC levels: Low of 28, High of 33, Median of 29
Low-health heals: 1
Status heals: 1
Team Levels at end of route: 36, 36, 35
Let's Go, Pikachu
Team Levels at start of route: 34, 34, 31, 32, 36, 35
NPCs: 4 with 9 total Pokemon
NPC levels: Low of 35, High of 36, Median of 36
Low-health heals: 1
Status heals: 1
Team Levels at end of route: 35, 35, 33, 32, 36, 35
Got my last two team member in LGP. Still a little bit before I can say the same of FR. Seems I had the same amount of heals with fewer trainers, so LGP wins the difficulty point.
Route 17 stats and comparisons
FireRed
Team Levels at start of route: 36, 36, 35
NPCs: 10 with 24 total Pokemon
NPC levels: Low of 25, High of 33, Median of 28.5
Low-health heals: 1
Team Levels at end of route: 38, 37, 38
Let's Go, Pikachu
Team Levels at start of route: 36, 35, 33, 33, 37, 35
NPCs: 9 with 16 total Pokemon
NPC levels: Low of 36, High of 40, Median of 38
Low-health heals: 5
In-battle heals: 2
Team Levels at end of route: 37, 37, 35, 35, 38, 37
Cycling Road! Or Pokemon Road in LGPE. I recall this section being very difficult in this LGP playthrough, and the numbers tell the same story. The route low was almost as high as the highest-leveled member of my team, and I had a pretty big gap in my team's levels due to the forced full-party Exp Share.
On top of that, I counted Snorlax as a boss in LGP since you get Exp for capturing it and you actually fight it/have to defeat it, but I only fought one Snorlax. There's also a coach trainer on Pokemon Road with high levels, but I beat them without healing.
But in FR, it's more of the same. Easy fights, a lot of them, PP management vital.
Route 18 stats and comparisons
FireRed
Team Levels at start of route: 38, 37, 38
NPCs: 3 with 7 total Pokemon
NPC levels: Low of 26, High of 34, Median of 26
Low-health heals: 1
Team Levels at end of route: 38, 38, 38
Let's Go, Pikachu
Team Levels at start of route: 37, 37, 35, 35, 38, 37
NPCs: 3 with 6 total Pokemon
NPC levels: Low of 39, High of 39, Median of 39
Low-health heals: 1
Team Levels at end of route: 38, 38, 35, 35, 38, 37
My LGP levels have caught up to my FR levels at last! But the NPC levels keep increasing in LGP while they're kinda getting up there now in FR but not really. Still had the same amount of healing.