[Gen 4] Janp's chilling at the Lake Acuity

[Janp]

CHILLING WITH POKÉMON PLATINUM​

Over the years I went to Sinnoh countless times. I did various 'lockes and challenges there, but never played through it just chilling, exploring and enjoying myself. There were always stakes, always something that pushed me to be the very best, always some rules that affected the way I choose my team.

But it's over now, I'm going on vacation to Sinnoh this time. Just me, my Pokémon and a whole new world to explore. So, without further ado, let's dive in!



I start the game and after creating my character Janp, I met with Barry and decided to go to Sandgem Town to get our starter from Professor Rowan. But the fate wanted us to meet the Professor on Route 201. He's angry at first, since Barry probably wants to die and wants to go into the tall grass. Everyone knows that Bidoof are carnivorous predators. And so he let's us both have out own Pokémon so we can eradicate all Biddof from the world.

So, let's pick our starter. I've used all of them so many times that they all grew to me. I like them all, but I can only choose one. Hmmm... Turtwig is great, but I have another Grass-type on mind for this run. Chimchar is my least favourite out of the trio and probably my least favourite Fire/Fighting Starter. I know there aren't that many Fire-types in Sinnoh, but I don't think I'll need one. Which leave us with the only choice - Piplup. To be honest, I also had another Water-type on mind for this run, but I already used it few times (unlike that Grass-type Pokémon), so I decided to go with Piplup. Welcome to the team, Seid. If you wonder what kind of nickname is that, let me just say poSEIDon.

Me and Seid easily beat Barry in our first battle, even after his Turtwig maxed out his Defense with Withdraw.

After meeting with Cyrus at Lake Verity and realizing that we don't have Poké Balls, I finally got to Sandgem Town and officially nicknamed Seid. And I also got Pokédex, but I won't be filling that.

And that's all for now.

Seid, Impish Male Piplup
lvl 6, Torrent
- Pound
- Growl​

Oh, I should also probably mention that I play with a slightly changed game. I used randomizer to update some moves and make trade evolution possible without trading, in case I decided to use Pokémon that need trade to evolve.​

 

[Janp]

I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT TO PUT HERE NOW​

Let's continue with this journey.

I left Sandgem Town, returned back home and back to Sandgem again. Dawn shown me how to catch Pokémon. But I didn't show my awesome catching skills until later on Route 204. I first had to get to Jubilife City, where I got Pokétch. I never really paid attention to this tool and only ever used it to see the time. But I know there are more apps I can get throughout the game, so I'll try to find and try some of them.

Anyway, I got to Route 204 and got brand new Pokémon

Rosy, Timid Female Budew
lvl 4, Poison Point
- Absorb
- Growth​

Roserade was one of the first Pokémon I saw from Gen IV and I always thought it was just so cool. I never really cared for Roselia back during Gen III, but this evolution skyrocketed its popularity for me.

I didn't want to overlevel Rosy, since I caught in during night and I wanted her to evolve to Roselia on level 16 or earlier. Why on level 16? Because she can learn Leech Seed at that level. And while I say I didn't want her to get to level 16, I left Route 203 with her on level 10.

Anyway, Barry had no chance against Seid and after beating more trainers, I got to Oreburgh City. There, I once again met Barry and local Gym Leader Roark. I challenged Roark for 2 vs 3 battle. Rosy overpowered Roark's Geodude with few Absorbs and Seid took care of his Onix and Cranidos.

Roark had no chance and I got my very first badge

I never stopped and looked at the design of Sinnoh badges before and never realized Coal Badge looks like treasure chest. It's cool nod to Roark digging "treasures".

And with that the Sinnoh chilling continues. Next time I'll be able to add more Pokémon on my team thanks to Honey and Cut.

​

 

[professor plum]

platinum is the best game in the franchise
i support that you went with piplup, too. she's a stellar starter. i'm excited to see how this goes

 

[Janp]

THEY GROW UP SO FAST​

With new shiny badge in my case, I once again have an update.

I returned to Jubilife and saved Rowan from Galactic grunts. This was pretty easy battle with Seid teaming up with Dawn's Chimchar to beat Stunky and Glameow. I also got notebook app for Pokétch. I have no idea how to use it (in a sense of "I don't think I'll ever find a situation, where to use it"), but at least I got something.

When entering Ravaged Path, I found out none of my Pokémon can learn Rock Smash, so I caught Bidoof on Route 204 as HM Slave. I didn't plan on using them, but it will probably be better to use them so I have bigger freedom to form perfect movesets of my main team.

Back on Route 204, Seid and Rosy were challenged to a Tag Battle against twins with Pachirisu. Even thought EleSquirrel Pokémon were faster, Seid's Bubble and Rosy's Mega Drain were able to overpower the electric duo. Seid was so excited from the battle that he evolved

Seid, Impish Male Prinplup
lvl 16, Torrent
- Bubble
- Metal Claw
- Peck
- Water Sport​

Newly learned Metal Claw proved useful in few following battles to take care of Pokémon resisting Bubble and Peck.

There wasn't much to do in Floraoma Town now, so I quickly got to Valley Windworks and beat Galactic grunt there. Returning to Floaroma I beat more grunts and got Honey. I immediately put it on a tree in Floaroma and went back to Valley Windworks to beat Mars. Right before facing Mars, Rosy evolved

Rosy, Timid Female Roselia
lvl 16, Poison Point
- Mega Drain
- Growth
- Leech Seed
- Stun Spore​

Now I'm ready for Mars. Seid took care of her Zubat with couple of Bubbles and Metal Claws. Rosy was able to put Leech Seed on her Purugly, but Tiger Cat Pokémon was able to overpower Rosy with her claws. But even when fainting, Rosy's ability kicked in and poisoned Purugly. Seid then came in and finished her quickly with Metal Claw.

I didn't want to move too far from the honey tree, but after few moments of considering everything, I went on Route 205 and in Eterna Forest. I leveled a little bit there with Cheryl and then returned to the tree. This little guy was waiting for me

Lews, Bashful Male Burmy
lvl 15, Shed Skin
- Protect
- Tackle
- Bug Bite​

I was aiming to get Burmy, Cherubi or Combee, so that worked well. I'm sucker for butterfly/moth Pokémon like Butterfree and Dustox, so I'm glad I got male Burmy. But I would be okay with female one, since it looks like a fun Pokémon to use with all the type changing base on where it battled last.

And that's all for now. Next time, I'll train Lews and he will most likely evolve to Mothim. And then I can challenge Gardenia to 3v3 battle.
​

 

[Janp]

VS GARDENIA​

After a small training session with Cheryl, Lews evolved into Mothim

Lews, Bashful Male Mothim
lvl 20, Swarm
- Protect
- Tackle
- Bug Bite
- Hidden Power​

Now it's time for a night show - Gardenia. Even though it's dark outside, her Gym has artificial sun above it. The crowd was cheering when Gardenia sent out Turtwig and I sent out Seid. Seid attacks quickly with Peck, while Turtwig goes into defense with Reflect. The barrier proves to be critical component in the battle, because Seid's next Peck barely scratched Turtwig. He on the other hand took advantage of this and sent a Razor Leaf Seid's way. It hits him just in the right spot to make the damage critical and Seid is out just after one hit.

I then sent out Lews, who is eager to battle. Lews bit through Reflect and beat weakened Turtwig with Bug Bite. Gardenia's next Pokémon is Cherrim. It quickly attacked Lews with Magical Leaf, but it barely did any damage. Lews' Bug Bite was more effective. After another round of those same attacks, Cherrim falls down.

Gardenia's final Pokémon is Roserade. I didn't want Rosy to get hurt, so I commanded Lews to stay on the battlefield. It seems like Magical Leaf is Gardenia's favourite move, since Roserade keeps spamming it. Lews eats Roserade's Sitrus Berry with Bug Bite and ends the battle with critical hit.

And so another badge is mine!

It looks pretty nice. I can definitively see trees forming there.

So with Gardenia beaten, I decided to explore Eterna a little bit, but Barry found me and dragged me to see the statue of legendary Pokémon. We meet Cyrus there again and after his mambo jumbo, I can finally get to exploring... Nope, there is another trainer there that wants to talk to me. Cynthia gives me Cut, which is so much better than the trauma she will give me later.

With Cut, I can go back to Eterna Forest, to Old Chateau to be more specific, to get another Pokémon

Totty, Lax - Rotom
lvl 20, Levitate
- ThunderShock
- Confuse Ray
- Uproar
- Double Team​

Rotom is such a cool Pokémon. I've used one in my Renegade Platinum run and I decided to use it again, because I love it's versatility. Sadly, I won't be able to change it's form in regular Platinum. But I'm still sure it will be useful in several battles.

Totty will be last Pokémon I catch in a while. To be honest, I don't really have a plan for my last 2 team members. I was considering Garchomp, but I'm currently using one in my Dragon Monotype on X, so I'll skip it here. I think I'll catch something in a Great Marsh. We'll see.

​

 

[Janp]

WEEKLY UPDATE​

Well, it has been a whole week since the last update and to be honest I've been focusing on finishing my Dragon Monotype on X and being wiped in Ultra Moon Wonderlocke. I play those two runs on 3DS, while doing this one on emulator, and since I've been travelling a lot these days...

Anyway, let's do some battles. With Cut, I was able to invade Team Galactic and save the bike shop owner. Battle with Jupiter was pretty okay. Her Zubat had no chance against Totty, who singlehandedly cleared the whole building before that. Her Skuntank on the other hand beat Lews with critical Night Slash and then took down Totty, but Seid came in to finish the Skunk Pokémon. I kinda want to use one soon. Sadly it's not in Platinum.

I got Togepi egg from Cynthia, but I don't think I'll be hatching it any time soon. And I said I won't catch any new Pokémon for now last time.

Speaking of not catching any new Pokémon... I found out there is Gligar on Route 206, so say hello to Genrai

Genrai, Hasty Male Gligar
lvl 16, Sand Veil
- Sand-Attack
- Harden
- Knock Off
- Quick Attack​

I never really cared for Gligar back in Gen II. I enjoyed its spotlight episode in Johto anime, but I don't think I even caught one back in Silver. But it all changed with Sinnoh anime and Ash's Gligar/Gliscor. I loved it so much, especially Gliscor. Most of its episodes were so wholesome. Then I tried using Gliscor in Gen VI competitive battles and I fall in love with it even more. It was fine attacker and staller. So now I'm using it again!

After that I quite quickly got to Hearthome City, where I met with Fantina in Contest Hall and went straight to her Gym to challenge her. It's time for another night show!

I start with Genrai, since he's the only one with super-effective move. Her Duskull did nothing and was quickly beaten with Knock Off. Fantina next sent her ace - Mismagius. I decided to switch in Seid and it was a mistake. Her Mismagius had Magical Leaf, which meant Seid didn't stay long. Back to Genrai. Even though Mismagius was faster and landed Confuse Ray, Genrai smashed the ghost with powerful Knock Off and knocked it off. No pun intended. Since Genrai had such a great win streak, I decided to let it battle Fantina's last Pokémon - Haunter. Genrai was once again able to hit through confusion and easily tanked Haunter's Sucker Punch. Fantina healed her Pokémon, but it had no effect, since the next Knock Off was critical hit.

And so Genrai swept Fantina's whole team in his very first serious battle. That's something. If this was the anime, Genrai would evolve right now. So 3rd badge is mine.

It looks interesting. I'm not sure what it's supposed to resemble. It looks like the spirit orbs or something like that.

And to close this update, I had a battle with Barry. He had no chance. Totty countered good half of his team and Lews and Seid took care of the rest. And that's all for now...

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[Janp]

WEEKLY UPDATE​

Let's continue...

I was really looking forward next Gym, so I rolled through the Routes 209, 210 and 215. My journey in Lost Tower was cut short because of fog, so I went to Solaceon Town, checked some cute little baby Pokémon and went to Veilstone City. There wasn't much to do, since I didn't want to spend eternity gambling.

And so the time for another Gym battle came. I challenged Maylene severally underleveled, with Lews being my stronger Pokémon at level 30. I started with him and Maylene sent out Meditite. It was faster and destroyed Lews with one Rock Tomb, but Lews was able to bite it with Bug Bite. I sent out Totty out and it put Meditite into confusion with Confuse Ray. Thanks to meditating, Meditite hit Totty with another Rock Tomb at first, but then hit itself so far it fainted. Totty then duplicate itself through Double Team and confused Maylene's next Pokémon - Machoke. This trickery is enough for Machoke to hit itself. Totty keeps multiplying for few turns, but then finish Machoke off. Maylene's Lucario had no more luck than her previous Pokémon and didn't even touched Totty, but instead was hitting its ghostly images. It didn't took long and her Lucario was shocked to defeat.

So here's my new badge

To be honest, I have no idea what is it supposed to be. It reminds me of two people lying next to each other. But who knows?


​

 

[Janp]

PASTORIA UPDATE​

Phew... That Gym Battle was something I think even now, few days after I won it.

After helping Dawn with getting her Dex back from few Galactic Grunts, I set up on a new Route. And you know the saying... new Route, new adventure!

First, Genrai found Razor Fang just lying on the ground. While staying in a cave over the night, I was attacked by lonely wild Hippopotas that I ended up catching

Poppo, Lonely Male Hipopotas
lvl 22, Sand Stream
- Sand-Attack
- Bite
- Yawn
- Take Down​

I first saw Hippowdon on TCG artwork and it looked so cool. Hippos are in my opinion really interesting animals, so when I found out one can be caught at this point, I decided to put it on team.

And not only that, but Genrai evolved basically right after that

Genrai, Hasty Male Gliscor
lvl 29, Sand Veil
- Sand-Attack
- Harden
- Knock Off
- Quick Attack​

Now it's time to go to Pastoria City and challenge Crasher Wake. Wake is the Gym Leader that comes to mind when I think about Sinnoh Gym Leaders. I think it's because of his appearance in the anime.

But then... I got challenged by Barry and while I won, his team had so much higher levels than my team with Lews being my stronger Pokémon on level 31. So back to the beach and Route 214.

After short training, I should be now able to take on Crasher Wake. He sent out Gyarados and I counter it with Totty. Totty, being fast trickster, easily shocked Gyarados down. Wake then sent out his ace Pokémon Floatzel and it crunches down Totty, who counterattacks with Shock Wave. Both Pokémon gets up again, but Wake's Floatzel is faster and finally takes down Totty. I sent out Seid and one powerful Brine sent Floatzel deep down in the pool. Wake's last Pokémon was Quagsire and my next Pokémon was Rosy, who was put on a bench for last few Gyms and battles. Quagsire didn't even moved and Rosy drained all of his energy with Giga Drain.

And so here's next Badge

And to be honest, it looks more like an Ice-type Badge. But it also might be underground lake. Which would make sense, since Pastoria is near of the the big lakes.

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[Janp]

CANALAVE UPDATE​

Okay, this part of the game is in my opinion pretty annoying and boring, so let's just skip the fog routes to Canalave.

But before that, I trained a little bit at Fuego Ironworks. This is area that I usually skips completely, because it's not on the main path. But this time, I decided to check it out and got another Pokémon for my team

Volco, Bold Male Magmar
lvl 22, Flame Body
- Fire Spin
- Faint Attack
- Confuse Ray
- Fire Punch​

Let's talk about Magmar and Magmortar. Magmar is one of those Pokémon that I always loved the design of, but rarely used it since it was Blue exclusive or was really late in the game, which is also a point here, but since I'm not rushing anywhere, I can afford to train one. Magmortar on the other hand... I'm constantly switching between "wow, this is great upgrade from Magmar" and "wow, this is horrible upgrade from Magmar". Right now I'm on the positive side. Let's see how long I'll stay here.

And not only that, but after extreme training Seid, Poppo and newly caught Volco evolved.

Seid, Impish Male Empoleon
lvl 36, Torrent
- Surf
- Metal Claw
- Aqua Jet
- Peck

Poppo, Lonely Male Hippowdon
lvl 34, Sand Stream
- Sand Tomb
- Crunch
- Yawn
- Take Down

Volco, Bold Male Magmortar
lvl 22, Flame Body
- Fire Spin
- Faint Attack
- Confuse Ray
- Fire Punch​

Now let's talk Canalave and Byron. Byron is that one Gym Leader that is just so forgettable. Like I remember from anime that he's Roark's dad, but in the games, he's just there, staying at his Gym and doing nothing.

He started with Magneton and I sent out Poppo. Magneton is quickly put into sleep with Yawn, but is able to harshly lower Special Defense. Poppo almost took Magneton down with Sand Tomb, but Magneton survived and Poppo missed next few attacks, which gave Magneton enough time to wake up and fire destroying Flash Cannon. I sent out Volco, who got close to Magneton and unleashed pair of Fire Punches that took down Magneton. Weakened by Thunderbolt, Volco stood against Steelix. Before Steelix could do anything, Volco attacked with Lava Plume and that's enough to take Steelix down. Byron's Bastiodon easily tanked another Lava Plume and effortlessly beat Volco with Stone Edge. My next Pokémon was Seid. Both steel Pokémon clashed, but it was Seid who surfed to the victory in the end.

Mine Badge is... mine

Am I the only one who sees Duskull with wide open eyes and mouth in it?

​

 

[Janp]

GALACTIC UPDATE​

Well, it has been a while since the last update. I played quite a huge part of the game, so let's do a little bit faster over everything this time.

Last time I beat Byron and started the whole Galactic side quest. This part isn't really my favourite, since I don't usually use Flying-type, so this means I can't use my whole team if I want to use flyer to get to Lakes quickly. I think I put Poppo in box and caught Swablu as HM slave to get everywhere quickly.

Battles with Galactic Commanders were easy, Seid and Totty took out most of their Pokémon.

Now, to get to the last Lake, I had to get to Snowpoint and beat the Candice. I always forget about her. I don't know why, but she was always so forgettable to me. Maybe because she's just filler in the whole Galactic side quest. Battle with her wasn't as epic as the other Gym Battles. Volco basically took down her whole team without a sweat.

I think this Badge looks cool. Not as cool as Iceberg Badge from Kalos, but still cool.

Not much happened for the rest of this side quest. What I really hate about his part is how it limits my team with mandatory HM slaves. I only had Seid, Totty, Poppo and Volco on my team for the whole Mt. Coronet part, which made things a little bit harder. And my team was pretty underleveled at this point too, which only adds to the difficulty. And me being me, I didn't take any healing items with me except for like Revive, 2 Max Revives and Full Restore that I picked on my way to the top.

At the time I got to Cyrus, only Seid and Volco were in a condition to fight, so this fight was harsh. Seid took down Houndoom and somehow beaten Weavile, but was KO'd by Gyarados. I revived Totty while losing Volco and got another few wins against Gyarados and Honchkrow. I revived Seid just to be sure and after Cyrus' Crobat beat Totty, I quickly finish the whole fight with Seid.

After this part was over, I could finally get to the last Gym. Volkner is one Gym Leader, that I find really interesting and would love to see more of him. Well, I would love to see more of the whole Sunyshore City. It looks so bare in the game, while also interesting lore-wise.

As you might have noticed, I kinda sped through Routes leading to Sunyshore, because I kinda wanted to finish this playthrough as fast as possible. While I enjoyed it, I also find it kinda boring at some places. I think that I'm so used to Nuzlockes or other rules, that it's really hard to play this game in "normal" matters. Especially when I know the whole story, notable trainers teams and where to find some useful items. There isn't really much to explore beyond that. So I think I'll go back to Nuzlockes with my next run.

Anyway, let's fight Volkner! I decided to go with Rosy, Poppo, Totty and Seid. Poppo took down Jolteon and Raichu, but Volkner's Luxray was fast and cold deadly with his Ice Fangs. Seid then came out and beat Luxray with Aqua Jet. Volkner's last Pokémon was Electivire, about 4 levels above Seid and Rosy and more than 5 levels above Totty. Seid somehow survived Thunder Punch and I switched to Rosy. Before she could even move, Electivire beat her with Fire Punch, but got poisoned in the process. I put in Totty, who tanked two Thunder/Fire Punches, while I heal Seid with that one Full Restore, since I still didn't buy healing items at this point. Switching Seid back, he was able to once again survive Electivire's attack. Seid used Aqua Jet and put Electivire to red HP, almost beating it. He lived at about 1 HP. It couldn't be more. Electivire attacked with Thunder Punch and KO'd Seid. I was sure I lost this fight and will have to train a little bit. But then the poison from Rosy's Effect Spore activated and it was over for Electivire. The match ended in unexpected double KO.

And so the final Sinnoh badge is mine

So this badge is called Beacon Badge and can we all take a moment how cleverly this badge fits the whole gym, city and game? It's based on a lighthouse, which is Sunyshore thing and a light, which is Electric-type Pokémon thing. Great!

Next update will be up in few hours I think, since I want to wrap this run up before July. I'll have to grind a little bit, optimize my movesets and I'm set to challenge E4. See you soon.


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[Janp]

FINAL UPDATE​

Time to end this.

First I had to pick my 6 Pokémon. I decided to go with Seid, Totty, Poppo, Volco, Rosy and Genrai, putting Lews in the box. Then I leveled them to level 60 and optimized movesets. I was ready to take on Cynthia. And I finally evolved Rosy!

But Barry is first! Since my team is finally on good levels and have good movesets, he's just some noise in the background. Totty and Rosy toom down his team with no problem.

Now, let's start with Aaron. Once again, my team is now on Cynthia's level, so this pesky bug is no match for Volco, who sweep his team. Bertha is next and I start with Rosy. She took down Whiscash, but was beaten my Bertha Gliscor's Fire Fang. But thankfully, I had Seid at my side and it made rest of this fight easy. Seid was my Pokémon of choice against Flint. Seid was slower than Flint's Pokémon, so he only took down Houndoom and Infernape, before being taken down by Magmortar's Thunderbolt. Poppy's next. He Earthquake his way through Rapidash and Magmortar to Flint's last Pokémon - Flareon. But I still had enough Pokémon to quickly beat it. Finally Lucian, the most forgettable E4 member. But he was the hardest. Totty beat Mr. Mime, but was quickly beaten by Espeon. Poppo barely beat Espeon, so I switched for Genrai to fight against Alakazam. Genrai beat it with X-Scissors paired with sandstorm. I switched to Volco to deal with Bronzong. But Lucian's Gallade was something else. It took down Volco, Genrai and Seid before being beaten by Rosy.

And so I can finally challenge Cynthia. I started with Poppo and beat Spiritomb pretty quickly with Earthquake. Cynthia then sent out Milotic and I sent Rosy. Milotic somehow lived with 1 HP and destroyed Totty with Mirror Coat. I sent out Totty, who finished the job. Her next Pokémon was Lucario and I sent out Volco. Her Lucario miss its attack, so it was fast battle. She then sent out her ace, so I decided to do the same. Garchomp vs Seid! The ultimate showdo... And it's over after one Earthquake. That was unexpected. So I sent out Genrai and tried to set up Swords Dance. Garchomp missed Dragon Rush twice, so that went well. It hit on third try, but Genrai survived with about half HP and beat Garchomp with critical Earthquake. Togekiss is next and I only could use Aerial Ace, which took down about half of Togekiss HP, before being taken down with Togekiss Air Slash. After one Totty's Thunderbolt, Cynthia is to her last Pokémon. And it just so happened that I had Volco to counter it. I won't bother you with details, it was quickly over.

So I beat Cynthia without any problems. Overall, it was pretty fine run. I was really looking to finish it at the end, since I was looking forward starting new run. Also, here's Hall of Fame:

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