Blue IV

A lot of things have happened, and I didn't want to include an update until things turned around so that I could end on a happy note.

Unfortunately, it appears that happy note will have to be with my child, as I no longer have a tale to tell.

I traveled through Mt. Moon with my team of powerhouses, wiping Team Rocket, largely through a combination of Mortimer (who managed to evolve into Ivysaur), and Uve. Until the final Team Rocket mook who was guarding the exit. He only had a single Raticate, and he was more than willing to sacrifice that Raticate to cripple the terror of organized crime: Siege.

So I sent out Mortimer, who was most qualified to deal with the threat. And a single critical hit Hyper Fang destroyed my oldest friend.

Through the tears, I sent out Petrokolos, my dedicated glass cannon, which destroyed his evolved form while he reveled in his victory. The entire affair was dry, though - I didn't even feel like getting back at the individual mook who took Mortimer away from me. This organization needed to fall, and I would be the one to make them.

Leaving the ruins of a hastily-crafted cave system behind, I made my way to Cerulean City, where Misty was waiting for me. I found Clarice - a second Pidgey - and she died to another member of the hated organization at the end of a racket known as Nugget Bridge. I made my way to Bill's and found some strange science fiction experiment was ongoing, but I cared naught.

Instead, I went to all the locales I could to find more of a team to help me on my quest. The only ones willing to answer the call, however, were Pidgeys. Npheara joined the team proper, while Scout, Bermuda, and Nother waited in the - excuse the pun - wings. I hoped that I'd never have to call on them. That their well-meaning sacrifice would never have to be used.

But I needed to defeat the next gym leader. Not for any particular hatred for the tomboy mermaid - or even the gym system as a whole - but because I needed to become stronger. I needed my team to become beef muffins to take on the Rocket.

And that was where I made my mistake. I was too eager.

I made my way to Misty and took care of her Staryu without much of an issue. But then her Starmie, with it's disgusing Bubble Beam, destroyed my team.

Amanda, the first to evolve into a Pigeotto, had the best chance at taking it head-on, but she failed. Uve's trump card - Confusion - did nothing to the psychic mon, but he thought a bit out the box and managed to throw a poison on the beast before he fell as well. The only other members of my team to do anything worthwhile were Npheara, who put enough Sand Attack on the overwhelming force that accuracy became an issue, and Petrokolos who whittled her strength down to, but not quite all the way, null.

And that is how I died.

Not literally, of course. But my time as a trainer is over. My team has lost, and even if I could find the motivation to return to the Storage System and grab the plethora of Pidgeys I have waiting, I know that they would just die in my unskilled hands.

Also, I'm sure I have PTSD. Watching 8 of your friends die on your orders kinda has an effect on a guy.

Blue III

So there I was, in the middle of Pewter City, unable to train against anyone other than the gym leader, Brock himself. Poor Uve had evolved into a Butterfree, but was still unable to do anything but harden his body against attacks. Which, admittedly, had been very useful against Fido and his Charmander, but I had my doubts that I could likewise get out of a battle with a fully-fledged gym leader with the same strategy unscathed.

So I sat in the grass for a long while, attracting all the critters I could to sacrifice them for Uve's growth. After countless hours (if by countless, I mean one), Uve finally grew frustrated enough at not knowing what was going on that he channeled his confusion externally (as in, you know, the move Confusion). Finally ready to face Brock, I moved in to the gym.

(Un)fortunately, during that time, Mortimer also grew strong (I had to have someone actually defeat the critters that pounded on Uve) and one-shot both Brock's Geodude and Onyx with a single Vine Whip a piece.

So much for the challenge of a gym, I suppose.

The brat that forced me to stick in the city indefinitely had vanished - probably running scared knowing what I would do to him, and I finally ran into all the trainers that were just beyond the pale. If only they would have walked the few steps to challenge me beforehand, I could have actually had a challenge...

Now on Route 3, I was finally able to capture the next member of my team. I walked into the grass and was greeted with a Spearow, which I promptly caught and named Bernadotte. There was a Pokemon Center immediately following the area, which was incredibly fortunate placement as there's a dark cave immediately beside it.

As I was healing my new friend, I heard several rumors of bandits stealing Pokemon in between avoiding this one schemer trying to sale me some useless fish named Magikarp. I figured that I couldn't very well avoid them if I needed to get to Cerulean City anyway, especially if they were intent on stopping everyone to get into Mt Moon, so I paid little heed and moved on in.

Where I found a Zubat, caught him, and named him Zakanien.

I'm in the process of making my way through Mt Moon now and have met my first member of the bandits - what I presume to be a lowly grunt. At least he let me know their name: Team Rocket.

Blue II

Rules Updates

Figured the list of rules are going to expand as I run into new situations and remember what I like about actually doing Nuzlockes, and what I absolutely hate.

1. No looking online for anything.
2. No using special event pokemon.

Rules Explanations

Also should actually explain some of the rules that I have in place so they're not just arbitrary.

1. Pokemon dies when it faints: This is kinda the whole point of Nuzlocke. It's Ruby Hard Mode, and it's not hard if your skimp on the death.
2. No Revives: So I have played a few Nuzlockes where I could use Revives that I found in the wild (non-purchased) as a bit of a crutch if I mess up somewhere along the way. And it worked out okay. Until I played Sun, where that game wanted to throw 20 revives at me before I even left the first island. It ruined any actual difficulty, and is against the spirit of the challenge, so it's gone.
3. Catch the first Pokemon in a new area: This is also inherent to the challenge. I'm specifically forgoing any kind of leniency that makes sense. Mostly because it conflicts with some of the other rules (if I make each memeber of the team an individual, then why do I immediately exclude duplicates), and because I want to see what happens when I have an entire team full of nothing but Pidgeys.
4. Except for Legendaries: This is also a pretty common rule in Nuzlockes. Because you can cheat the system to grab them pretty easily (use the No Wild Pokemon poison until you see them), and it ruins a bit of the challenge of having to figure out a way to play with what you get. Instead of going through the entire game with a Dustox, you just sweep with a Zapdos.
5. Challenge starts when I have Pokeballs: I am not counting the 5ish pokemon I see before the game even lets me catch them as "first" pokemon.
6. Starter is based on Trainer ID: I've seen this rule around a bit, and I like it. Mostly because I have my favorite for every generation and part of this challenge is specifically for me to experience new pokemon that I don't do all that often.
7. Nickname my team: Why not? It's supposed to get me attached to all my Pokemon more than just throwing out "Bulbasaur," and I still fondly remember some of the best pokemon from previous challenges (Fido the Mightyena and Rygel the Dustox being the only two to survive the finale of Alpha Sapphire).
8. No EXP share: I don't like this item when I'm normally playing, for the same reason that I don't like skipping to high levels on RPGs. I skip the hard parts to get to the powerful parts. Gaming is nothing without the struggle, and EXP share is training wheels.
9. Use Set mode: If opponents have to use Set mode, why should I be any different. It's also easy to game the system otherwise, from swapping to another Pokemon after using Hyperbeam to training up my scrubs by constantly starting with them on every Pokemon and immediately swapping them out.
10. Use HMs on my actual team, not on slaves: Slavery is wrong (don't think too hard about it, specifically in connection to Pokemon). Also, it's just a toll to have to play the game - you have to give up some of your move slots to be able to progress.
11. Pokemon enter the team in the order I get them: I haven't seen this anywhere else, but I like the rule. Mostly because it makes me stick with the same team forever and whenever someone dies, I'm going to have to get used to a brand new person and I'm not going to like them as much as my normal team and they'll be bullied or neglected a bit until they show that they love me despite everything and we'll have this heartwarming moment when I'll acknowledge that I was displacing some of my own guilt onto the newest member of the team and that, while they'll never be able to replace the one that I lost, they're still a valuable person in their own right. And it makes me feel powerful when I'm defeating the Elite Four with a Butterfree I originally caught in Viridian Forest.
12. No Online Resources: Pragmatically, it takes a long time to do this and makes me even more reliant a computer than I already am in calculating various powerlevels for my pokemon. Less pragmatically, if I see someone evolves or learns a move at a certain level, I'm more likely to grind up there before progressing, which is just mind-numbing.
13. No event/special Pokemon: This includes Snorlax in the original games. Or Sudowoodo in gold/silver. Or lucario from X/Y (or was that black/white?) It's similar to the Legendary reason - they're generally powerful pokemon. And I specifically want to have as unique an experience as I can, and getting whatever random luck gives me, instead of gaming the system to always end up with a Snorlax and just Resting my way to victory.

Clarifications

And finally, a few things that I noticed may have been a bit ambiguous from my last post.

First, my eventual Trainer ID ended in 0, so I would have been fine choosing anyone. I think I would have rather gone with a Charmander if I'd known about that now, but Bulbasaur is basically as close as you can get to Easy Mode, so it's fine.

Petrokolos did not actually die in the fight against Fido, though it was very close. His Pidgey crit him down to 1 HP, but he survived and managed to Quick Attack the Pidgey's death before he could be hit again. He's a glass cannon - very strong when attacking, but almost no defenses to speak of.

Uve did evolve into Butterfree at the end of last session, but still only knows Harden. Catching Metapod is the worse; at least evolving into Metapod gives him Tackle so he's not just sitting there forever.

Up Next Time

I've actually beaten Brock and I'm making my way through Mt Moon (with two new members of the team as well - spoilers: I'm basically a Flying Gym Leader now). Writing up justifications for everything took way too much of my time, so I will have to tell the tale another time.

Blue I

Time to start off a Nuzlocke, boys and girls. And of course, the best way to start is to show off the rules and keep myself to them.

1. When a Pokemon faints, it dies. Full stop.
2. No Revives. Ever. Not even ones that I found on the side of the road.
3. I have to catch the first Pokemon in an area, even if I already have one of those Pokemon. If I don't catch it, I don't get a Pokemon from that area.
4. Except for Legendaries. I can't catch legendaries.
5. I have to actually be at a point in the game to have Pokeballs. All those Pokemon in the game before I can even catch them don't count.
6. My starter is chosen based on my User ID. If the last digit is 1-3, I choose the grass starter. 4-6, the fire starter. 7-9, the water starter. 0, my choice.
7. I have to nickname every Pokemon.
8. I cannot use the EXP share item (or any of its equivalents).
9. I have to use Set mode, which means no swapping of Pokemon between killing other Pokemon.
10. I have to use HMs on my Pokemon team whenever possible. This is the only exception to catching/using any Pokemon. I cannot use these "HM slaves," if I must use them, in battle.
11. Pokemon enter my team the order I catch them, and they stay there until they die. Which means to use a Pokemon that I caught on Legendary Road, I have to have had every Pokemon up to that point (within 5) die first.

And those are the ground rules.

So let's go all the way back to Blue version, the original game I had when I started, and live in the town called Pallet.

My name is Siege and I am a boy. Not that I have a lot of choice in this version. I have no idea what my Trainer ID is and can't actually find it until I have a Pokemon, which ruins one of my first rules. But I don't care about that yet, I need to find Oak, the Pokemon Professor. My mom tells me to check the house beside ours - one of only two houses and three buildings in the entire town - and I see this cool older chick who tells me that her younger brother is in the research facility below. I go into the facility, meet my old stomping ground rival Fido, who is also a boy, by the way, and he tells me that his gramps is nowhere to be found. I run around the town a bit before I get bored and head up into the tall grass.

Professor Oak must have been hiding in a bush because he immediately jumps out and tells me I'm about to be killed. He takes my hand like some kind of Toriel and leads me to his shop, where he throws a bunch of (read: three) Pokemon at me. He must like me more because his grandson gets second choice. Still having no idea what my Trainer ID is, I roll a random number and get 2, so Bulbasaur is my man. And a man he actually is, as Mortimer is his name.

And then Fido gets his choice of Pokemon and chooses Charmander, the little bitch. It turns out that his gramps didn't choose me as a favorite, but decided that letting me choose first would allow his grandson to always have the advantage over me. And I take only a few steps before I'm challenged to my first battle. And what a battle it is, with both of us ordering our Pokemon to use the bare bones it knows.

It was actually fairly frightening, as he occasionally ordered a growl, which destroyed my attacking strength, and he got lucky with his critical strikes. In the end, though, Mortimer came out of it, barely on his feet but still there. Fido complains enough that Oak hands him another Charmander and he runs off with the words "Smell ya later" fading in the distance. I sneak a peek at the professor's email and it's sorta pathetic. Someone's going on and on about this Pokemon Championship and beating gyms, and his response is a small whimper of "research, too."

So I go off on my own, get a package, and turn it back into the professor. Not because I particularly care - not that I even know what's in it or why it's important - but because there's an old man that won't let me pass and the store is apparently out of Pokeballs. So I either do this one errand so everyone will get off their ass and let me progress, or I end my journey here. Finally on my own, I go to Route 1 and catch myself a cute little Pidgey (named Amanda, after my close and personal friend Tums). Head on to Route 2 and catch myself a little rat, which I name Petrokolos. And into Viridian Forest where I find... well, a bit of a difficult case: a Metapod named Uve.

I circle back to Viridian City and find who else but Fido sitting there waiting for me. I decide eh, let's see what he has to say and he immediately throws his new Charmander at me along with his own Pidgey. Both of which are much stronger than I expected. This might be the time that one of my little stars has to bite the big one. I just hope that I can keep Mortimer and Amanda safe.

Petrokolos, having just learned Quick Attack, proves that glass canons are useful as he takes down the enemy Pidgey just before he died himself. Amanda couldn't do much against the Charmander, though, and I had to throw out my heavy hitter: Mortimer. Yeah, it was a risk - throwing him against someone that could conceivably turn him into a pile of ash - but the only other choice I had was Uve who's going to be stuck using nothing but Harden levels after he's finally evolved into Butterfree.

Fortunately, Mortimer knew Leech Seed and I threw that out the first chance I got. There must be something wrong with this move, though, or you have to seed the area first or something, because the first time I use the move it always fails. Which put Mortimer in some very dangerous territory by the time I actually seeded the lizard. I'd run through all my potions at this point and had nothing left. So, in a desperate attempt to save my more valuable teammates, I threw out Uve and Hardened to stall as long as possible. Maybe the Charmander would only have Struggle left and someone would survive.

And, it turns out, that Harden plus Leech Seed is a winning combo. By the end of the battle, Uve looked none the worse for ware and he'd been out there for the vast majority of the battle. I swear I saw some tears in his eyes as Fido ran away, leaving the corpses of both his Pokemon just sitting there. Presumably to go back to the cheat, his grandfather, Professor Oak.

Of course, I can't just sit here consoling a rival. I checked out the route to the Elite Four before heading through Viridian Forest and going into Pewter City. I checked out the Museum and saw a bunch of old bones and was about ready to move on when some loser decided that I absolutely NEED to fight Brock, the rock gym leader, before I move forward. So that's next on the list, I supposed.