All the Pokemens

January 27, 2023

Before we move on, I want to catch up on some things we've missed. I've been getting a little bit sloppy with my updates recently and I apologize! In my haste to catch up on my sessions, I've failed to take note of some of the less significant areas. One of these details is Western Route 211 which has been accessible as soon as we arrived at Eterna, as well as the northern section of Mt. Coronet which we can partially explore.

Here are the sprites of the new pokemon available here! Of particular note, Machop and Bronzor can now be found out here in the grass at 15% and 10% respectively. They come at the cost of Ponyta (who is now available north of Oreburgh) and Geodude no longer being catchable here. Meditite is now more common during the day than before at 40%, but it's less common at night at only 20%. Bidoof was dropped to a static 20% rate, and Chingling now has a 15% rate.

Other than pokemon, the Poke Ball hidden in the grass here is now a Great Ball, a slightly more rewarding item!

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Northern Mt. Coronet

We can't explore much of Northern Mt. Coronet without Strength, but that doesn't mean there aren't pokemon available here!

There are a couple of new pokemon here! Cleffa is a bit rarer than it was in Diamond and Pearl, being only a 10% rarity in the morning and at night. It can no longer be found during the day at all. A lot of rarities have been shuffled around so it's kinda hard to make sense of it all, but it's a bunch of nuance anyway. The only other notable change is the addition of Nosepass who was previously unavailable! This is another of those Sinnoh evolution pokemon that were weirdly absent from Diamond and Pearl and required you to get the National Dex first despite fans of the pokemon likely wanting to use its new evolution on their teams. I will never forgive the criminal decision to make Elekid and Electabuzz completely unavailable in Diamond and Pearl when Electivire was one of the pokemon used to hype the gen up. Nosepass being available specifically in Mt. Coronet is especially interesting considering you can evolve it right away by leveling up here!

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Eterna City

One last difference I'd like to note is a major QoL improvement. In the previous game, once you got the bike, the Bug Catcher at the entrance of Eterna City wouldn't let you leave to the west solely because the game wants you to take Cycling Road so that you meet Dawn/Lucas at the end by entering Route 207 from the north. This was frustrating because, if you put the game down after getting the bike, you had to go all the way down Cycling Road before being able to go and check your honey trees and berries. Oh! And speaking of Honey Trees...

Here are the sprites of the pokemon available in the Honey Trees! Unfortunately, there are no major additions here in Platinum, but there are some notable omissions. Honey Trees still work the same with 4 special trees being generated for each playthrough which are the only trees you can encounter Munchlax in. Pokemon are still divided into three groups, with Group A being pulled from 70% of the time, Group B being pulled from 20% of the time, and nothing being found at all 10% of the time, but Group A and B are reversed for the Special Trees with an additional 1% chance of pulling from Group C which is specifically Munchlax.

Munchlax is still a major pain in the butt to track down here in Platinum, and I'm not really sure if it's easier or harder to track down. Silcoon and Cascoon have been removed entirely from Honey Trees, and Wurmple is no longer available from Group B. This means that instead of looking for Silcoon and Cascoon as proof that you're pulling from Group A, it's only Wurmple as hard proof that Group A was pulled from. Wurmple is also less common in Group A now, being dropped down to the 20% rate of Silcoon and Cascoon, so, functionally, it's not actually any easier to tell. And still, the only way to know for sure that Group B was pulled from is if you encounter a Heracross which is still only 5% rarity, by the way. Cherubi and Burmy are both twice as common in Group B as they are in Group A, so if you find yourself pulling from them twice as much you might be pulling from Group B, but that's not exactly infallible. And let's not forget the icing on the cake that every tree has a 20% chance of pulling a pokemon from the opposite group, so it's not like Crystal where finding a Heracross tells you you've found a special tree. You can never know for sure that you've found a special tree until you get that 1% chance of finding Munchlax.

If only that little rascal were as common as it was in Gale of Darkness.

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Route 206

With that out of the way, let's make our way down Route 206 with our new bike from the Cycle Shop! Cycling Road has been redesigned with a red border that really pops out a lot more than the blue one from before. There are also now street lights that turn on at night and glass overhangs along the narrow parts of the road! The road itself also has a cross-hatch pattern rather than the grid look the original had.

At the bottom of the Route, though, we can use Cut to make our way back up north along the underpass!

Down here, there's some new pokemon to find! Among them is Gligar who wasn't available in Diamond and Pearl, at least, not quite like this. Fun fact, I was actually anticipating on using Gligar on my team before I encountered Shine back in XD and decided to cram him on my team there. I might still use another in a future team, but it's much lower priority now. Still, Gligar is definitely a much more versatile pokemon here in Gen IV, especially with its new evolution. Shine really didn't do it any justice and I always thought it was a really cool pokemon! Gligar can be found here at 20% during the morning and day, and 10% at night.

Machop is also available down here now. To make room for some of these new pokemon, encounter rates were reduced for some others and there were some omissions. You can no longer find Kricketot or Bronzor down here, but by far the most felt omission here is Stunky. Yes, the ultimate utility pokemon from Diamond is nowhere to be seen here in Platinum. Thankfully, Gligar actually can use the exact same HMs as Skuntank without needing to evolve!

As for items, the Full Heal behind the Cut Tree is now a PP Up, the hidden Elixir near the Honey Tree has been downgraded to a mere Ether, and a TinyMushroom replaces the hidden potion near the berry patch.

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Wayward Cave [1F]

Wayward Cave is where things start to get really exciting for version differences! If you're eagle-eyed you might notice one major difference from this shot of Wayward Cave: There are no strength boulders blocking the way to the basement floor. So, we're gonna make a beeline straight to the secret entrance obscured by Cycling Road!

On the first floor, there are some notable differences. Namely, Geodude is a lot more common here and Zubat is much rarer, and Onix can now be found here at 15%. But, of course, I think you can see where we're going with this...

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Wayward Cave [B1F]

Down in the basement floor, we have our new teammate.

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Meteor (Gible M); Lv. 17

Item: None

Ability: Sand Veil | Moves: Sand-Attack, Dragon Rage, Sandstorm, Take Down

That's right, it's about time we get to using the classic Gible! He's available much earlier on in this game, making it far more appealing for a story team! Just be careful trying to catch it early on because its Dragon Rage is N-A-S-T-Y this early on.

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There are a handful of changes to the items down here as well. A hidden Dusk Stone has been added where the hidden Stardust was, the Stardust has been moved to the Northwest, replacing one of the Revives, and a Rare Candy replaces the revive in the Northeast area.

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I was genuinely shocked by this, but it turns out that the end of this maze still leads you to the TM26: Earthquake even though you no longer have to wait until you get Strength to reach here! My god, I'm pretty sure this is by far the earliest you've ever been able to get Earthquake, it is far too powerful of a move to just be handing out like this! You can bet I'm gonna be teaching it to my Gible ASAP!

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Anyway, back to the main entrance, this side is much less exciting to explore.

It's gonna be a pain to describe all the locations of the items, so I'm just gonna say that a Green, Yellow, Blue, and Red Shard as well as a Revive and Great Ball can now be found in here. In addition, the Super Potion has been moved. The Potion, Nugget, TinyMushroom, Burn Heal, and Rare Candy can no longer be found here.

Of course, we'll make our way back to the far end of the cave where we'll find Mira lost as our top priority. She's really helpful for keeping our pokemon healthy and that'll come in handy while training up Comet and Meteor.

Mira's Kadabra has been buffed up to Lv. 26 here and it feels a lot more aggressive than before! Which is more than welcome because those Bronzor can be a pain, especially when she decides to just waste her turns using Flash and Kinesis.

While exploring this dungeon, not only did Comet evolve into Togetic, but Meteor evolved into Gabite as well! They're growing up fast!

In the end, there really isn't much of a purpose for coming all the way out to this side other than plundering for items, Exp, and escorting Mira out of the cave. But with these evolutions, our team feels just that much stronger!

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Route 207

We finally come full circle back to Route 207! But we don't actually run into Lucas just yet. That event is relocated slightly to prevent complications with you arriving from the south end if you choose to approach from Oreburgh now that that's an option.

Now that we've connected back to Oreburgh, I want to note something about how the fossils work.

As you know, the Armor Fossil and Skull Fossil are exclusive to Diamond and Pearl respectively. Unfortunately, you can't just find them both like you might expect. So, what, does Platinum arbitrarily choose one and leave the other out? Well... yes and no. Your Trainer ID determines which fossil you can find in the Underground. If your Trainer ID is even, you'll find the Armor Fossil. If it's odd, you'll find the Skull Fossil instead.

Other than this one small change, the Underground is overall exactly the same in Platinum as it was in Diamond and Pearl, which is why I haven't addressed it at all.

Anyway, here are Shieldon and Cranidos' sprites now that we've established easy access to Oreburgh and can awaken these fossils!

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x2

There isn't too terribly much different here other than the wild pokemon which I've already noted previously. Items, however, are a bit of a different story. The Dire Hit is now replaced with a Revive and another Revive has been added near the stairs at the east end of the route. And finally, a hidden Great Ball is added near the entrance to Mt. Coronet, and this addition is likely because...

It's right here where you'll bump into Lucas and receive your Vs Seeker and Dowsing Machine app!

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Southern Mt. Coronet

It's more Mt. Coronet!

Clefairy can now be found in here at 10% in the morning and night if you just didn't want to raise baby Cleffa. Cleffa is nowhere to be seen here, though. And of course you can now find Nosepass here as well as Bronzor!

A hidden EnergyPowder and Revive are slipped into the western side of this section in order to reward you for trying out your new Poketch app!

Of course, we run into Cyrus as we pass through the tunnel and he goes off on his monologue about how he theorizes Mt. Coronet to be the origin of the Sinnoh Region. All cool, all cool.

Anyway, the Ether hidden on the rock just past Cyrus is replaced with a Stardust.

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Route 208

And we've now crossed over into Eastern Sinnoh on Route 208!

A Great Ball replaces the X Attack, and using ROck Smash to destroy the boulders opens the path to an Ether rather than a Poke Ball!

Of course, a new area means new pokemon are available! Here's some of their sprites! Budew and Roselia are new to the area making this the first place you can catch Roselia in the wild! Psyduck, Machop, and Meditite are no longer available, but in exchange we got Ralts! I'm gonna be honest, Ralts was incredibly close to becoming one of my teammates, too. I wasn't actually aware it was catchable here. Unfortunately, there's just so many pokemon I wanted to use here in Platinum. If I'm being totally honest, I wouldn't be against using it again! But we'll get plenty of chances to use Ralts and its new evolution, so I'm not hurting too much over this choice.

A hidden TinyMushroom is also snuck into the place of the jar of Honey near the Honey Tree.

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Hearthome City

And finally, we arrive at Hearthome City! The city looks very different from its Diamond and Pearl counterpart due to the color of the road being changed to make the whole city look more like a plaza to walk around on rather than a road to drive on.

Anyway, I think I'm gonna take a break here before going into exploring Hearthome City, there's a lot more to talk about here than you might think, so I think it's for the best to just take a breather and pick up next time!

January 28, 2023

Hearthome City

It is finally time to explore Hearthome City! Just like before, we're met by Keira and her Buneary at the entrance and invited to stop by the Super Contest Hall, the pride and joy of the city. But before we do that, there's a bit to talk about here.

For one, the Hiker who used to give you a Happiny egg no longer does. It's another odd omission but I suppose they figured Cynthia's Togepi Egg was more exciting.

And one major surprise is Eevee! Yes, Bebe will actually give you her Eevee right away rather than requiring you to get the National Dex for it. Up until very recently, I was actually planning to use Glaceon on my final team. However, I ultimately decided against it. Gen IV is the first time I'm not going to be using an Eevolution at all which is a bit disappointing, but I would certainly want to use one of the new Eevolutions. I'm not super interested in Leafeon and Glaceon just isn't worth the wait for. I could maybe use Flareon since it actually does benefit quite a lot from the Physical/Special split but that's not particularly new. Besides, there are a ton of pokemon that Platinum adds to the main story that weren't available during DP's main story, so I'm gonna put the blame there. Maybe I'll try to squeeze a gen IV Eevolution into a future team, but we'll have to see for that one.

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Amity Square

Woah! This place looks completely different! Yes, Amity Square was drastically redesigned from the really basic park it was in Diamond and Pearl. A large pond now exists in the center of the park which contains an island in the shape of the Sinnoh Region complete with a rocky plateau where Mt. Coronet should be and white flowers indicating the snowy north. It's a little change and not very significant gameplay-wise, but it does make walking around with your pokemon a bit more involved! And speaking of pokemon...

First of all, the selection of pokemon available here is the same as in the original Diamond and Pearl--It's come to my attention that I never actually came back here to detail the rest of the pokemon that I didn't note at the time, I suppose it just escaped my mind or I assumed I'd already talked about it. The additional pokemon that can be used here even in Diamond and Pearl which I didn't note before include Torchic, who shares items with Drifloon, Skitty who shares drops with Clefairy, Shroomish who shares drops with Pikachu, and Jigglypuff who provides her own set of accessories, though its only unique accessory is the Blue Feather, a common drop. All others can be obtained from the other pokemon. Sorry for not noting these earlier in the Diamond and Pearl lifestyle, it must've just slipped my mind when I decided not to thoroughly cover contests just yet.

In an effort to ensure anyone can get into Amity Square rather than only players who just happened to have caught a very specific selection of pokemon, you're now allowed to enter Amity Square with any of the three starters as well as their evolutions! In addition, while it's unlcear whether or not item drops work differently to me, Bulbapedia lists them differently so I'm under the impression that there is no longer differentiation between rarities of item drops in this game, and the item pools are changed up a bit to accomodate for the new pokemon. Now, rather than being grouped up in pairs of two and leaving Jigglypuff as a leftover, we now have pokemon split into groups of three or four so there are no stragglers.

The Turtwig line now drops the Brown Fluff, Round Pebble, Glitter Boulder, Snaggy Pebble, Jagged Boulder, Green Scale, Narrow Scale, Black Moustache, Shed Horn, and Thick Mushroom.

The Chimchar line now drops the White and Orange Fluffs, Round Pebble, Blue Scale, Big Scale, White Feather, White Beard, Small Leaf, Thin Mushroom, and Stump.

The Piplup line now provides the White and Pink fluffs, Purple and Narrow Scales, Red and Yellow Feathers, White Moustache, Black Beard, Narrow Leaf, and Shed Claw.

Psyduck, Drifloon, and Buneary provide the Glitter Boulder, Snaggy Pebble, Pink Fluff, Blue Scale, Blue and White Feathers, Black and White Beards, Big Leaf, and Thin Mushroom.

Pachirisu, Happiny, Clefairy, and Pikachu provide the Yellow, Brown, and Orange Fluffs, Mini Pebble, Purple and Big Scales, Red and Yellow Feathers, Black Moustache, and Small Leaf.

And lastly, Jigglypuff, Torchic, Shroomish, and Skitty provide the Pink and Black Fluffs, Jagged Boulder, Black Pebble, Pink and Green Scales, Yellow Feather, Big Leaf, and the Shed Claw and Shed Horn.

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Anyway, the same items are available here, but their locations are all different. TM43: Secret Power is now found on the Sinnoh-shaped island, TM45: Attract is located north of the lake, and the Amulet Coin is in the northern end of the east side. As for the Spooky Plate, it appears to be on an isolated cliffside with no way to get to it. And that's where the most bizarre change here comes into play.

If you enter the strange huts around the square, they're no longer just decorative! They'll warp you to another hut! If you step straight in, they'll take you to the hut closest to the exit on your side. But if you step in and to the east or west, they'll take you to a different hut. Using these huts, you can explore various cliffsides throughout the park. Play around with these and you'll eventually find your way to the Spooky Plate. It's a bit tricky and I'm not sure if there's any logic to how the warps actually work, but it seems as though each hut takes you to different huts. According to Bulbapedia, getting to the Spooky Plate involves going Left, Left, Right from the first hut on the east entrance.

In addition to seeking these items out, while playing around with the hut warps, you'll want to keep an eye out for an NPC who will give you five of a random berry or a random accessory once a day for free!

The man can give you 5 Cornn, Magost, Rabuta, Nomel, Spelon, Pamtre, Watmel, Durin, and Belue Berries and the accessories he can give you include the Glitter Boulder, Black and Mini Pebbles, Big Scale, Big Leaf, Thick Mushroom, and Stump. Of course, those berries and accessories can also be obtained by walking around with your pokemon--just be sure to talk to them every 200 steps!

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Pokemon Super Contest Hall

Unlike in Diamond and Pearl where we run into Fantina at the entrance to the Contest Hall, instead, we're required to actually step inside the hall to find her. I suppose the devs wanted to make sure you got your Dress or Tuxedo and were formally introduced to Pokemon Contests before letting you just run off and do your own thing, completely forgetting this... really... fun... minigame. I'm definitely not dreading the looming threat that this thing has over me, but I'll need to get over myself and just start working on it sooner or later.

Anyway, we find Fantina at the table in the lobby of the Contest Hall. Once we speak with her, she returns to her gym. But there's another surprise this time! She no longer insists that we're not ready to challenge her. That's right, one of the more baffling pacing decisions in the original Diamond and Pearl is reversed! Hearthome City Gym is available to challenge right now and is no longer arbitrarily blocked off until you clear the other two!

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Hearthome Gym

Hearthome Gym is dramatically redesigned! It's no longer some weird math puzzle but instead a large maze in the dark! At the entrance of the gym, you're given a flashlight to navigate the dark maze ahead. In each maze, you'll need to search for a blue panel on the ground that shows a symbol, then enter the door with the red panel below it that matches the blue panel. Enter the wrong door and you'll end up back at the start.

Of course, the mazes are populated with Pokemon Trainers who have their own flashlights. If you cross their paths, you'll have to be prepared to battle. But you can utilize their lights to sneak a peak at other areas of the maze as well without having to physically travel there yourself. In the first room, the flashlight is pretty unnecessary as the room isn't actually all that dark.

In the second room, however, the room is much darker so you'll be relying on your flashlight a lot more. And there's no memorizing the right door, either. The symbol on the blue panel is decided randomly every time you enter the maze, so seek out that exit!

And of course, at the end, you'll be facing off against Fantina herself.

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My Team:

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Moon (Prinplup F); Lv. 31

Item: Chesto Berry

Ability: Torrent | Moves: Metal Claw, Growl, BubbleBeam, Pluck

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Radio (Rotom); Lv. 28

Item: Pecha Berry

Ability: Levitate | Moves: Shock Wave, Confuse Ray, Uproar, Air Slash

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Comet (Togetic M); Lv. 27

Item: Quick Claw

Ability: Serene Grace | Moves: Yawn, Encore, Metronome, Sweet Kiss

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Meteor (Gabite M); Lv. 28

Item: Amulet Coin

Ability: Sand Veil | Moves: Dragon Rage, Sandstorm, Slash, Earthquake

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Vs. Hearthome Gym Leader Fantina

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Duskull, Lv. 24

I decided to lead off with Meteor since I figured he'd be the least helpful against Fantina's pokemon. Unfortunately, all of Fantina's pokemon have Levitate so they're all immune to Meteor's attacks. All I can really do is go for Dragon Rage which is fair. 40HP is still a decent chunk of damage at this level. With a couple of Dragon Rages, Duskull didn't hold up very well, but it still slipped in a Confuse Ray, Future Sight, and Pursuit before going down, leaving Meteor fairly hurt.

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Mismagius, Lv. 26

She sent out her ace prematurely! Uh-oh!

There was no hope in getting a Dragon Rage off against Mismagius. It's far too fast and far too strong, Meteor didn't stand a chance in his weakened state.

Comet came next. Comet can take special attacks decently well, so I figured this would be a really solid matchup. My strategy for Comet is generally to use Yawn to put the opponent to sleep, hit them with Sweet Kiss while I wait for Yawn to take effect, and then take advantage with all the turns I can buy myself by spamming Metronome and hoping for some major damage. Unfortunately, RNG was not on my side for this matchup because I wound up missing four Sweet Kiss in a row and, after I finally landed it, Mismagius woke up from sleep and snapped out of confusion the very same turn. So I was right back at square one. Not only that, Mismagius was able to get two critical hits with Psybeam. For fuck's sake, I don't even want to know what my luck with Metronome would've looked like. Maybe it's for the best because at this rate I probably would've just used Explosion.

I brought Moon out next and went for Pluck. I stole Mismagius' Sitrus Berry off of it and dealt a sizeable chunk of damage. Of course, this was where I was reminded she had Magical Leaf and she managed to get a crit on me, too. But Moon held on and toughed the fight out despite getting confused.

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Haunter, Lv. 24

Wait a minute, Haunter?? I was actually holding onto Radio expecting it to be a counter to her Drifblim, but in retrospect, the levels are a bit low to battle Drifblim, so I suppose in Platinum her Drifblim is exclusively a contest pokemon?

Regardless, I think I'm a bit overprepared for this matchup. I'm able to attack through confusion twice to take out Haunter with a couple of BubbleBeams. It did hit me with Hypnosis, so my Chesto Berry turned out to be the right choice!

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And with that, Fantina is defeated and the Relic Badge is mine!

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MVP: Moon

I was really anticipating Radio being the MVP for this battle, but it was Moon who wound up pulling most of the weight once again. Oh well, I'm sure the others will be of big help soon!

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Anyway, that's it for now! One funny detail is that, even though the gym order is shifted here in Platinum, the badge order on your trainer card isn't, so it looks like we've skipped Maylene and Crasher Wake, but of course, their time is coming soon enough! Speaking of, next time, I don't think we should have any issues reaching our next gym by the end of the post! Though I suppose I can't really say that with certainty. Time will tell! See you soon!

January 29, 2023

Hearthome City

Now that we've obtained the Relic Badge, I want to go over another change that includes not only Hearthome City but previous cities, too. I'm not entirely sure where the flag that initiates this, but either some of the info online is wrong or this event doesn't begin to occur until around this point in the game.

Remember those trainers who used to only appear in Jubilife TV depending on the day of the week in Diamond and Pearl? Well, they aren't missing! Instead, they're simply traveling around the world and appear in different locations on different days of the week. They can be found in the Pokemon Center. I wanted to note some of the locations these trainers can be found in that we've passed already, and going forward I'll try to note them as we pass their locations as well.

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On Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday, Reporter Kinsey and Cameraman Tevin can be found at Jubilife City. On Tuesday and Friday, they're instead found in Hearthome City. These are not to be confused with Interviewers Roxy & Oli who are battled together in a double battle, but you can easily mistake them for each other since they do appear side by side.

Reporter Kinsey will battle with a Shinx and Drifloon.

Cameraman Tevin uses a Machop and Mime Jr.

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Clown Lee can be found at Hearthome City on Saturday and Sunday. He battles you with a Mime Jr.

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Inverviewers Roxy & Oli can be found at Eterna City on Monday, Tuesday, Saturday, and Sunday. Unlike Kinsey and Tevin, they'll battle you together in a double battle where they'll use Ralts and Magnemite.

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Poke Kid Ariel can be found in Floaroma Town on Monday and Thursday and will battle you with a Pichu and two Pikachu

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And Idol Grace can be found in Oreburgh City on Tuesday and Thursday! She battles with Clefairy.

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That just leaves Guitarist Aruto who is currently unaccounted for. We'll see about him soon enough, I'm sure.

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You might've noticed that these teams are a bit less impressive than the Diamond and Pearl ones. That's because it's actually only their first teams. You can only battle each of these trainers once per day, but as you follow them around and battle them day after day, their teams will get higher level and some of their pokemon will even evolve! Ultimately, you'll end up getting more mileage out of these guys than you did in the original since their teams actually grow with you.

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With all that out of the way, let's prepare for our long journey to Veilstone City!

You might be wondering why I haven't mentioned battling Percy yet? Well, this encounter was relocated to a much friendlier place. Before, your rival would approach you on your way out of town, potentially catching you while you're off your guard. But now, you find him in the eastern gatehouse of Hearthome City, so not only will you only battle him when you're prepared to leave out that way, but you can also see him standing there ahead of time so that you can prepare.

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My Team:

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Moon (Prinplup F); Lv. 32

Item: Chesto Berry

Ability: Torrent | Moves: Metal Claw, Growl, BubbleBeam, Pluck

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Radio (Rotom); Lv. 29

Item: Amulet Coin

Ability: Levitate | Moves: Shock Wave, Confuse Ray, Ominous Wind, Air Slash

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Comet (Togetic M); Lv. 29

Item: Quick Claw

Ability: Serene Grace | Moves: Yawn, Encore, Metronome, Wish

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Meteor (Gabite M); Lv. 29

Item: Shell Bell

Ability: Sand Veil | Moves: Dragon Rage, Sandstorm, Slash, Earthquake

============

Vs. Rival #3

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Staravia, Lv. 25

Right away, Staravia couldn't do much to hold up against Meteor's Dragon Rage, so it was out in a flash.

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Buizel, Lv. 23

Buizel was up next and, obviously, couldn't hold up against an Earthquake, so it went down as well. Though it did get a Water Gun off!

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Grotle, Lv. 27

Grotle was up next but all I had to do was pick it off with a couple of Dragon Rages. Once again, there was nothing much he could do. He tried to set up with Withdraw but, obviously, that wasn't going to reduce damage from Dragon Rage.

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Ponyta, Lv. 23

And, of course, he'd sent his Grotle out prematurely knowing his last pokemon, Ponyta, was completely helpless against Meteor. An Earthquake tore through Ponyta like paper.

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And with that, our rival was defeated once again. Easy as can be.

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Route 209

Now we can explore Route 209 for the first time!

Here are the pokemon newly available here! Of note, Duskull can now be found in the grass here at 10% at night, replacing Gastly. Bonsly and Mime Jr. are sadly not available here in Platinum.

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In addition, we can also get the Good Rod which opens up the floodgates for a handful of other new pokemon to look into!

Right here, we can now find Goldeen with the Good Rod!

Barboach can be found in Eterna City and northern Route 205, but notably not on Route 208.

Finneon can be found by fishing on the southern part of Route 205.

Newly in Platinum, Lumineon is also available at 5% on Route 219 south of Sandgem Town using the Good Rod.

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x2

Now for items! A hidden Great Ball was added in the grass near the entrance to the route. Another Great Ball replaces the Honey, also near the entrance but this one isn't hidden.

A Hyper Potion replaces the X Accuracy across the river, the hidden awakening on the rock in the crater is replaced with Stardust, the hidden Super Potion is relocated and replaced with a Super Repel near the Twins, and an Ether is now found hidden in the pit where the TinyMushroom used to be.

Aside from items, there's also the Lost Tower, we can explore a bit, but I do recommend you hold off on doing so a bit, especially so here in Platinum. There's really not much reason to go there right now and it's not worth the hassle.

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Solaceon Town

And now we've arrived at Solaceon Town!

As soon as we enter the town, we're interrupted by Percy who tries to tell us about Ball Capsules and Stickers but then gets distracted and tells you excitedly about how he heard there's a Defog HM in the ruins! That's right, Defog is no longer found in Great Marsh, but the Solaceon Ruins! So, that's now a somewhat-required area to explore.

Aesthetically, this town is notably different. The houses are log cabins now and the Day Care now has little tents for tis pokemon to run through as well as a trough for them to drink from. Just some small, cute little details to point out.

The Pokemon News Press has greater incentive now by rewarding you with a Heart Scale alongside their pokeballs for bringing the requested pokemon.

Poke Kid Ariel can be found here on Tuesdays and Fridays!

Over by the steppes leading to the ruins, the Honey hidden in the northeastern corner is now a Big Mushroom. In addition, a PP Up can now be found among the Steppes, giving you further incentive to thoroughly explore them rather than just having several wrong paths.

============

Solaceon Ruins

Over at the Ruins, you can also see an item now found on the upper ledge that's currently inaccessible. That item wasn't in Diamond and Pearl and looks to be an extra incentive to seek out all the forms of Unown.

Solaceon Ruins isn't changed much at all, and it's not really something I'm gonna try and walk anyone through, either, since it's really not hard to brute force it to find all the hidden items and such. However, I can't say the items aren't changed much because they absolutely are, and they're far more exciting here!

Instead of a Repel, Escape Rope, and Big Mushroom, you'll find a Fire Stone, Water Stone, and ThunderStone throughout the ruins!

With these, you now have free access to Flareon, Vaporeon, and Jolteon! Of course, if you have a female Eevee, you can also breed it here in Solaceon Town to get all three of these pokemon for your pokedex!

And as promised, HM05: Defog is found at the depths of the ruins where the Rare Candy used to be. I haven't mentioned it yet, but the Relic Badge now allows you to use Defog outside of battle rather than Surf. So, we can actually use this HM right away! But what do we need it for? In Diamond and Pearl, there wasn't any fog until we started making our way toward Celestic Town! Well, that's not quite the same here in Platinum.

If you show this HM to the Ruin Maniac who was curious about it, he'll reward you with a Green Shard!

=============

Lost Tower

Remember how I said you're better off waiting a bit to explore Lost Tower, especially in Platinum? Well, now we can explore it and show why.

Lost Tower [1F]

Lost Tower is given a much spookier aesthetic with darker colors. Honestly, I'm not sure I like it like this. As a kid I thought it was more fitting, but I honestly think the bright, grassy environment of the original Lost Tower gives it a much more serene and peaceful appearance which in turn makes the spookiness of the area that much more surreal and memorable. Here, it's kinda just a generic ghost place. Anyway, there aren't any new pokemon that can be found here. Murkrow and Misdreavus aren't available in Platinum, so they're instead replaced by Duskull.

Lost Tower [2F]

The hidden Stardust on the second floor has been replaced with Honey here.

Lost Tower [3F]

Starting on the third floor, you'll finally see a big part of why I recommended ignoring this area: It's Foggy! You'll want Defog to avoid having to deal with decreased accuracy for the battles ahead of you here!

Lost Tower [4F]

The hidden Great Ball on the 4th floor was relocated to the southwest corner of the room instead, a decision that makes sense since it's definitely harder to get to this way and requires taking the long way around.

Lost Tower [5F]

So, what do we get at the top of Lost Tower? This was where we got the HM for Strength in the original, but this time it's...

...A Spell Tag. The old lady will only give you the item if you clear the fog up there, so this is definitely a major letdown lugging an HM user all the way up here just for a near-useless held item! There really isn't much reason at all to come up here, is there? There aren't even any unique pokemon! It's just that Duskull is more common here! What a ripoff! I suppose you do still get the Cleanse Tag as well which is a bit better of a consolation but still doesn't do a whole lot for me. Oh well, I suppose this area's just a big ol' waste of time. Let's just continue on our journey ahead.

============

Route 210

As we cross into Route 210, we reach one of the version differences in Platinum that had me the most excited as a kid!

Here are the new pokemon available here in the southern section of Route 210! Scyther and Noctowl are both completely new and weren't available in the wild before. Scyther can be found at 15% in the mornings but only 5% during the day or night. Noctowl can be found at 10% at night only. Other changes include Roselia and Staravia being encounterable here, but Kricketune, Bonsly, and Mime Jr. are no longer available and Ponyta is notably rarer here than in Diamond and Pearl.

Scyther has always been one of my favorite pokemon, so you can imagine how psyched I was to find out this guy was in Platinum so much earlier!

Anyway, a Super Repel and hidden Rare Candy replace the two Great Balls that were once found on this route. There are more differences here, but they mostly pertain to the northern section which is still blocked off by the Psyduck, so instead we'll just have to continue along the normal path.

=============

Route 215

Continuing right along, we've got the ever-drenched Route 215!

Here are the new pokemon available here! Lickitung and Marill can now be found here! Lickitung has a static 10% encounter rate while Marill has a 25% encounter rate during the morning and day and a 45% encounter rate at night. The rain here makes it a bit more powerful, but it's still just a Marill. Its Huge Power doesn't benefit its Water Gun. But it's not a bad pokemon to use for Physical moves! Ponyta, Geodude, and Kricketune can no longer be found on this route, but Scyther and Staravia can now. Kadabra is also slightly less common at 10% rather than 15%.

There's a bunch of new items, too! The Ether is replaced with a Max Ether, the hidden Honey is replaced with a Revive, the Hyper Potion has been relocated to where the Guard Spec originally was, the Zinc is now an HP Up, a hidden Ultra Ball has been placed in the patch of grass in the northwest, and a hidden Iron has been added near the end of the route.

============

Veilstone City

And we've now arrived at Veilstone City! This place is much grayer than it was in Diamond and Pearl, making it look a lot more like its namesake stone walls. Once again, the Galactic HQ has been dramatically redesigned to resemble a space center.

x2

The TinyMushroom hidden in front of the Galactic Warehouse is now a Calcium, much more worth your time, the PP Up is relocated to where the hidden Revive used to be, and its original location is replaced by a Rare Candy. A Star Piece is near the Galactic HQ and another is hidden in the crater in the southeast corner.

In the Pokemon Center, you can find Roxy & Oli here on Wednesdays and Fridays!

Anyway, the first thing we're going to want to do when we arrive in this town is make sure we have a free space in our team and make a beeline straight for the house behind the Pokemon Center!

In here is a man who will ask for you to take care of a Porygon he suspects fled from Team Galactic. Perhaps they were treating it poorly in their efforts to get it to evolve with the Upgrade we found in the Eterna Building? Anyway, you might've guessed it by now, but this Porygon is going to be our new party member!

===========

Satellite (Porygon); Lv. 25

Item: None

Ability: Download | Moves: Psybeam, Agility, Recover, Magnet Rise

Porygon is a very strange pokemon that I've been wanting to fit on a team for a while, but it's usually plagued by being a really late- or post-game pokemon or walled behind a massive paywall in the Celadon game corner. Or both! In addition to Porygon now getting a new signature ability, Download, which boosts either Porygon's Physical or Special attack depending on which is better against the opponent, Porygon also has a new evolution here in Gen IV! And that's easily accessible during the main story as well! All in all, I don't think there's a better game to fit Porygon on your single-player team than now.

============

Veilstone Deptartment Store

Platinum's Department store is slightly different than the one in Diamond and Pearl. The selection of items across the majority of the store are mostly the same, but the main differences begin on the first floor. You'll notice another escalator has been added leading down to a lower floor...

Veilstone Department Store [B1F]

The basement floor is actually a Food & Produce section!

The cashier in the southwestern corner sells Figy, Wiki, Mago, Aguav, and Iapapa Berries for really cheap! Thanks to this store, you'll never be completely SoL if you run out of berries of a specific flavor for Poffins and the like, though you're probably still going to want the rarer ones for making Poffins yourself.

But, if you're not so interested in making poffins yourself, this area also provides a quick fix!

Spicy-Dry, Spicy-Sweet, Spicy-Bitter, Spicy-Sour, Dry-Sweet, Dry-Bitter, Dry-Sower, Sweet-Bitter, Sweet-Sour, and Bitter-Sour Poffins can all be purchased from the cashier to the south. Looking at these colors, at first glance it might not seem like all the color combinations are covered. Why aren't there any yellow poffins? Well, even though not every type of Poffin is present here, every combination of flavors is, you just don't get the inverse ones. So even though there's no Sour-Spicy Poffin, the Spicy-Sour Poffin is functionally the same. I don't believe I've gone into depth about how these Poffins work exactly, but these Poffins do seem pretty solid! They're all Lv. 32 with a Smoothness of 20. I still dont' know too much about Poffins so don't take my word for it just yet, but from what I can tell this seems better than what you can reasonably manage while making Poffins on your own. With help from friends, you might be able to make poffins that are better than the ones you can buy here, but it's seeming to me like buying poffins is the way to go, and your wrist is probably going to thank you with glee.

x10

The next cashier over will sell you Lava Cookies! You can buy one, or 10 at a time.

And the Cashier north of him supposedly sells RageCandyBars from the Johto region, but they're always sold out. The item is apparently in high demand! And if you're curious, the cashier in the northwest doesn't actually sell anything. They just comment about how unfortunate it is to forget about berries you've planted and lose them.

===========

Veilstone Game Corner

It's the Game Corner! This place is functionally identical to the one in Diamond and Pearl, but that's not exactly the whole truth. It's true in my case because I'm playing the US version of Platinum. If you happen to be playing the European version, the movement to remove gambling references in Pokemon was starting to take hold there. As such, the slot machine minigame was completely removed in Platinum onward! European Platinum takes the same solution as the Korean version of Diamond and Pearl. You can get 5-20 coins by interacting with each machine every day. Needless to say, it takes a lot longer to earn enough coins to buy anything that way. After getting coins from the NPCs who give them to you, the only other way to get more coins in a day is to buy them from the receptionist. So Game Corner rewards are incredibly expensive again. That's incredibly unfortuante because I actually praised this Game Corner originally for being really well-designed in a way that ensures you make a profit as long as you stick around. At the same time, I suppose I can see how that approach to designing a slot machine can be a bit problematic if applied to the real-world.

Anyway, if you're playing the European version, TM64: Explosion is now obtained from the receptionist at the counter randomly rather than after getting a streak of 10 bonus rounds in the slots. But the latter is still the method used in versions that have the slots.

Anyway, one last change here is that you can find Looker playing the slots! He insists that he's only here to investigate because the slots have the Team Galactic logo and it's a popular location so he can receive intel by listening in on conversations around him. But, he's clearly still a bit distracted by his own game. I suppose we'll just leave him here and focus on our adventure for now.

============

With all that sightseeing out of the way, it's time to make our way to the gym.

As we approach, we'll run into Lucas who mentions he got distracted at the Game Corner while working on his pokedex. Apparently Dawn mentions getting distracted by the Department Store. Because, y'know, she's a girl and girls aren't gamers.

As we speak, Crasher Wake exits from the gym, singing his own theme song. I suppose he was sparring with Maylene. He gives us a heads up by warning us not to underestimate Maylene just because she's young. I don't plan to! Though, I still might be a bit overprepared for this battle...

Veilstone City Gym

The Veilstone Gym is another one that's been dramatically redesigned! That's 3 for 4! I'm impressed! Where the puzzle in this gym was originally to push sliding doors into place and open the path to the gym leader, this game's puzzle involves hitting punching bags along tracks to knock over stacks of tires. I like this puzzle a bit more because it does actually play with the 3D perspective a bit with some of the lines crossing over each other without actually interacting. That said, the gym is a bit of a clusterfuck when you're just looking at it, so it's not exactly the most fun puzzle to navigate. Still, I think it's a lot more distinctly Fighting themed. And it gets props for being a literal gym!

The whole objective of the gym's puzzle is more or less to knock out all the tires that are in your way so that you can get into position to hit the one punching bag at the northern end and knock over the one stack of tires blocking the way to Maylene. It's almost comical just how much is in the way of that one simple task.

The Karate Quads are all back here, so be prepared to fight through them! Though with some clever maneuvering, and remembering that you can step off the stairs to the sides, you can get around some of the trainer battles. But you know me, I like to take 'em all on anyway.

Once you've cleared the puzzle and made your way to the end, Maylene is waiting to accept your challenge!

==========

My Team:

----------------

Moon (Prinplup F); Lv. 33

Item: Chesto Berry

Ability: Torrent | Moves: Metal Claw, Growl, BubbleBeam, Pluck

---------------

Radio (Rotom); Lv. 33

Item: Amulet Coin

Ability: Levitate | Moves: Shock Wave, Confuse Ray, Ominous Wind, Air Slash

--------------

Comet (Togetic M); Lv. 33

Item: Quick Claw

Ability: Serene Grace | Moves: Yawn, Encore, AncientPower, Wish

Honestly, replacing Metronome with AncientPower was probably not the brightest move, but I wasn't thinking too terribly clearly when I made the decision and was getting frustrated with having to rely on Metronome for any sort of offensive presence. I probably should've gotten rid of Wish or Yawn first.

--------------

Meteor (Gabite M); Lv. 33

Item: Shell Bell

Ability: Sand Veil | Moves: Dragon Rage, Sandstorm, Slash, Earthquake

---------------

Satellite (Porygon); Lv. 27

Item: Mind Plate

Ability: Download | Moves: Psybeam, Agility, Recover, Magnet Rise

============

Vs. Veilstone Gym Leader Maylene

--------------

Medicham, Lv. 28

It might seem a bit questionable, but I led with Satellite in this battle. Despite its Normal type, Satellite does have Psybeam! And Download could give it a helpful Sp. Attack boost, too! I figured Satellite might be able to at least dish out some pain against Maylene's weaker pokemon. Unfortunately, she led with Medicham which means I got a physical attack boost instead. Not only that, but Medicham's Drain Punch nearly took Satellite out in a single hit! Ouch! Thankfully, Satellite managed to hold on with just 1 HP and took Medicham out with a Pysbeam!

----------------

Machoke, Lv. 29

Up next was Machoke and you'd better believe I'm switching out here!

Radio was by far my hardest counter against Maylene and, sure enough, Machoke couldn't do shit! Radio switched in on a Karate Chop and, thanks to the lack of type changing, was able to evade damage that way. Then proceeded to attack with Air Slash for the KO!

---------------

Lucario, Lv. 32

Up next was the real menace of Mayelene's team which I was genuinely a bit worried about. I opened up with Confuse Ray, but when Lucario hit me with a Metal Claw, I realized that everything was going to be more than okay. Thanks to Levitate protecting me from Bone Rush and my Ghost type protecting me from her Force Palm and Drain Punch, Metal Claw was all she could use and even that was resisted. I almost felt bad using Rotom at this point, but in my defense, this matchup would've played out almost the same even if I'd just used vanilla Rotom. I just might be dealing a bit less damage with my attacks and taking a bit more from her Metal Claw. In the end, all I needed to take out Lucario was a couple of Shock Waves. Since Air Slash is neutral anyway, I may as well go for the attack that gets me STAB! And before long, Lucario was unable to go on.

---------------

And with that, Maylene was defeated and I'd obtained the Cobble Badge!

---------------

MVP: Radio

I couldn't possibly give MVP to anyone but the pokemon that completely walled out Maylene's biggest threat, could I?

============

Well, that's it for today! Next time, we should be making our way to Pastoria City!

January 31, 2023

Veilstone City

Another day another adventure! Last time we defeated Maylene and claimed the Cobble Badge, so now it's time to continue on in our journey! But of course, just like in Diamond and Pearl, we're gonna get caught up in a bit of a skirmish.

Once again, Lucas complains to you that the Galactic Grunts took his pokedex and refuse to give it back, so he seeks our help in battling them to get it!

============

Vs. Team Galactic Grunt & Team Galactic Grunt

---------------

Zubat Lv. 24 & Zubat Lv. 24

These no longer use Dustox and Beautifly like they did before. Instead, they open up with two Zubats. With Psybeam, I could easily take care of one of them, though all Lucas' Clefairy did was use Gravity, so the other one was still able to confuse me.

----------------

Stunky, Lv. 26

And of course the next pokemon was Stunky which I didn't quite have an immediate out to. So for now I focused on taking out the other Zubat.

-------------

Croagunk, Lv. 26

While Satellite would normally be a great counter to Croagunk, Satellite's confusion made things a bit more awkward than I'd like.

So, I retreated into Meteor and used Earthquake to finish off the battle., taking out Lucas' Clefairy in the process, unfortunately, but it really wasn't very much help through the whole battle anyway.

-----------------

With that, the grunts were defeated and return Lucas' Pokedex. And once again, we're treated to the knowledge that they've already delivered the important contents of their warehouse to Pastoria City.

============

And who would approach at this point but Looker? He tells us he came to provide assistance after hearing that there was an incident involving Team Galactic and children, and he's surprised to hear that the cause of all the commotion was the grunts trying to steal from us, as it seems like a rather petty crime considering how much effort Galactic puts into their organization. So, he decides the warehouse warrants further investigation and drags you along to assist.

Galactic Warehouse

Inside, Looker is disappointed, of course, to find that the grunts had retreated behind a locked door, so they cannot be pursued. But, he points out HM02: Fly and insists you take it as it wouldn't do to allow Team Galactic to use it for their purposes. And since we just obtained the Cobble Badge, we can already use Fly as long as we have a pokemon that is capable of using it!

But for now, there are no further advancements with this plot thread, but we all know where it's going. So, let's start making our way toward Pastoria!

============

Route 214

Some more new encounters including some more really major new additions here in Platinum! Rhyhorn and Houndour are definitely the main attention grabbers as these were pokemon that previously weren't available until postgame. Rhyhorn in particular allows you access to another new Gen IV evolution before the postgame, though it'll be a little while before you can completely evolve him. Houndour used to be unavailable period without using the Poke Radar to find Houndoom or transferring it through Pal Park. It's an exciting addition! Houndour's always been a fan favorite of mine, so it's usually a pokemon that finds its way on my team. If I hadn't used Ally in XD, it'd most certainly had made the cut here. But a big emphasis of this thread is to use a variety of pokemon rather than just my favorites, so I've gotta give some cool pokemon a pass here and there for the sake of covering as much variety as I can. Anyway, Houndour is available at 15%, 25% at night, and Rhyhorn is available at 20%, 30% during the morning and day.

These exciting new additions do come at the cost of a few other encounters. It's probably not a surprise that you can't find Sudowoodo or Stunky here, but you also can't find Girafarig as well as Ponyta and Kricketune. Not that those latter two are particularly hurt for. Zubat can also now be found here at 10% at night.

Of course, there are a handful of items shuffled here. Some are a bit disappointing but others are far more exciting! The boring ones involve a Red Shard replacing the Max Potion at the south end of the route, a Carbos hidden in the circle of grass in the fence maze, a Big Mushroom replacing the Honey hidden in the trees along the east edge, and a Max Repel replacing the X Sp. Def. But the far more exciting changes include replacing the TinyMushroom in the southern patch of long grass with a Razor Fang! This item is important for allowing Gligar to evolve into Gliscor! And the Magmarizer can be found in the mountainous area as well, allowing you to evolve Magmar into Magmortar! This is especially major because there was actually no easy way to get a Magmarizer in Diamond and Pearl besides hunting for them off of Magby using the Dual Slot functionality with LeafGreen. (Seriously, why would they do this??) This game is likely many people's first experience using Magmortar for that reason.

------------

Maniac Tunnel

There isn't anything particularly exciting to talk about with Maniac Tunnel in Platinum. It's more or less the same as in Diamond and Pearl, so I'm not going to bother catching all the Unown forms again for this playthrough.

That said, there is a Rare Candy waiting for you at the end of the Tunnel alongside ! and ? Unown! So it is a nice little treat for going the extra mile if you choose to do it. But obviously the main reward is still the last two Unown forms.

=============

Valor Lakefront

It seems that Girafarig hasn't completely disappeared, it just made its way a bit further south! They can still be found at Valor Lakefront! With the exception of Geodude and Graveler being replaced with Houndoom, the encounters here are the same as in Diamond and Pearl.

An Ultra Ball has been added to the patch of grass here, and a Big Mushroom replaces the hidden Max Elixir nearby.

In the original, the path to the lake was obscured by two scientists who were tricked by Team Galactic into blocking off the area for "important scientific research". This time around, it's a camera crew trying to see if they can't catch a glimpse of the legendary pokemon of the lake. As a small nod to the original games, they mention that they're the same crew who shot a the TV special about the Red Gyarados from the Lake of Rage that the original Diamond and Pearl opened up with.

==============

Hotel Grand Lake

This confusing location hasn't really been reworked at all, it's still one large hotel that sits right on the border between Valor Lakefront and Route 213 making it difficult to cover the whole area.

Thankfully, the majority of this area is unchanged save for the reward from the lady for finding her Room Key is a White Flute which is an incredibly rare item here in Sinnoh! It was even really rare back in Hoenn! That's a far cry from the lame ol' Lava Cookie you'd get for helping her in the original game! There are some other small changes, but they all require Rock Climb, so there's no point in exploring them just yet.

Of course, we can't head out east toward Sunyshore City just yet, so that leaves only one way to go! Forward!

============

Route 213

x2 x3

Just outside the hotel, there used to be a Red Shard, but it's a Yellow Shard now! There's also a couple of Heart Scales and Big Pearls hidden around the beach, so tap, tap, tap on that Dowsing Machine App as you explore! It's a bit exciting to dig 'em up! The hidden Awakening near the Honey Tree has also been replaced with a much more worthwhile Hyper Potion.

As for pokemon, you can of course find East Sea Shellos here, but more significantly, Chatot! Though, steady reminder that Chatot has a shockingly low catch rate, so be prepared for a difficult catch! Chatot is available at 20% during the morning and daytime. Unfortunately, Floatzel can no longer be found here.

And it's easy to forget about fishing! Remoraid can be found here with the Good Rod, so here's its sprite!

===========

Pastoria City

We've now arrived at Pastoria City! Surprisingly, this place isn't changed much from its Diamond and Pearl counterpart, the most notable change is the addition of a cute little face cut-out stand for tourists!

On the surface, the only change here is that the hidden Full Heal int he puddle in the southwest corner has been replaced with a Zinc. While Pastoria city is a pretty big place with lots to see, almost all of it is untouched from the previous version. That is, almost.

One of the smaller differences is that the NPC who asked to see the three forms of Burmy in the original now asks to see the different genders of Combee. The reward is still the same, but if you ask me catching both genders of Combee isn't nearly as tall of an order.

--------------

Great Marsh

Of course, the biggest change here is Pastoria's main draw: The Great Marsh! It's been given a drastic visual overhaul and certainly looks a lot more swampy! By far the greatest QoL improvement is that there are now visual indicators for deep sections of the mud. You can see patches of darker mud, those are the sections that you'll sink into if you step on them. It's a bit harder to notice the darker patches obscured by grass, but they are notably different as well.

In addition to the visual overhaul, you'll notice the area is also heavily redesigned! Each area is now much more visually distinct from the others, so it's a lot easier to track down the areas you saw rare pokemon on the binoculars. Of course, speaking of rare pokemon, I'm sure you're dying to know what new pokemon you can find here, right?

Before we dive into the wild pokemon available, I think it's important to share this diagram from Bulbapedia that clearly defines the boundaries of the individual areas. Perhaps the least obvious here is the boundary for Area 4 since you can't... actually get there by taking the railway to Area 4. You actually have to go south from Area 2 to get there. That's definitely extremely misleading and I really can't fathom wy they would design it that way, but that's the choice they made so I suppose I should give you a heads' up because I was under the impression that the northern edge of Area 6 counted as part of Area 4.

So, let's begin with the common encounters that you can find on any day.

Tangela, Yanma, and Tropius can now all be found in the Great Marsh on any day! Yanma used to be available as a rotating pokemon and only after obtaining the National Dex, so this makes it available far earlier on! Meanwhile, Tangela and Tropius are completley new, previously they needed to be transferred in! Tangela and Yanma are yet more pokemon that are sad and head-scratching omissions as they're more Sinnoh evolutions that are completely left out of Sinnoh's main story. But they're fully accessible here now! Tropius is significant for a whole other reason, though. This is the best Utility pokemon you could ask for! Tropius is capable of learning Cut, Fly, Defog, Strength and Rock Smash making it the most versatile user of Defog in the entire game! Between it and Bibarrel's Cut, Strength, Rock Smash, Surf, Waterfall, and Rock Climb, all of your bases are covered! Let Bibarrel have Surf, Waterfall, Rock Climb, and Strength and give Tropius Cut, Fly, Defog, and Rock Smash. You should be golden! And you can feel free to use the move deleter to shuffle these moves around, to your heart's content! Since I have Empoleon on my team, though, it's likely Bibarrel won't need Surf, so I'll likely give it Rock Smash, too.

Anyway, enough tangents, Tangela is at its most common in Areas 3 and 4 where it's available at 25% during the morning and day, and 15% at night. Yanma is most common in Areas 5 and 6 at the same rates, and Tropius can be found in Areas 1 and 2 at 20% but only during the morning and day.

Psyduck is no longer found in the grass, instead only while Surfing. Marill, Azurill, Budew, Starly and Bidoof are no longer available at all. Hoothoot can now only be found every day in Areas 3-6.

As for rotating pokemon, there's no notable changes in terms of new pokemon, Croagunk, Skorupi, and Carnivine are still the only ones of interest. But, Yanma and Tangela are slipped in there to make them more common and Golduck, Roselia, and Staravia are all removed from the pool.

But let's not forget about items! The Ace Trainer who used to give you Defog in Diamond and Pearl now gives you a random shard every day! This is a much nicer incentive to get you to revisit the Great Marsh and hopefully discover some rare pokemon in case you found yourself forgetting about it before.

Area Six has a Red Shard and a hidden Max Repel.

Area Five has a Great Ball and hidden Big Mushroom.

Area Four has a Poke Ball, Green Shard, and hidden Hyper Potion.

Area Three has a Great Ball and a Leaf Stone hidden in the large central mud puddle.

Area Two has a Blue Shard with the Toxic Plate hidden in a northern corner near a fallen tree.

And Area One has a Poke Ball and Yellow Shard.

--------------

But if you thought we were done with the items available in here, you're wrong! Because there's yet one more surprise in store if you can catch 5 pokemon in a single Safari Game!

App #23: Matchup Checker

That's right, a brand new app that wasn't available in Diamond and Pearl! Well, the app did exist in Diamond and Pearl, but it could only be obtained through official events. But it is available here in Platinum! And it does exactly what it looks like it does! It shows the compatibility between your pokemon. Simply tap the boxes on the left or right to rotate through the pokemon in your party and tap the heart button to see how compatible the pokemon are. If they aren't compatible at all, the Luvdisc will turn away from each other. If they are compatible, the Luvdisc will kiss and the hearts at the top will light up at the top to show how interested they are in each other. If you don't know anything about breeding, this can be an incredibly useful tool for figuring out the basics of breeding!

==============

With all that out of the way, it's time to finally move on to the Pastoria Gym.

And just as we approach the gym, for fuck's sake, Percy approaches us to test the strength of our team! This guy has a really bad habit of interrupting you at annoying times. But yes, we've got another rival battle to get through first!

==============

My Team:

---------------

Moon (Prinplup F); Lv. 34

Item: Persim Berry

Ability: Torrent | Moves: Metal Claw, Growl, Brine, Pluck

---------------

Radio (Rotom); Lv. 34

Item: Amulet Coin

Ability: Levitate | Moves: Shock Wave, Confuse Ray, Ominous Wind, Leaf Storm

As you can see, I did take a stop back at Eterna City to swap Rotom's form again. This time, it's Mow Rotom!

--------------

Comet (Togetic M); Lv. 34

Item: Quick Claw

Ability: Serene Grace | Moves: Yawn, Encore, AncientPower, Wish

Honestly, replacing Metronome with AncientPower was probably not the brightest move, but I wasn't thinking too terribly clearly when I made the decision and was getting frustrated with having to rely on Metronome for any sort of offensive presence. I probably should've gotten rid of Wish or Yawn first.

--------------

Meteor (Gabite M); Lv. 34

Item: Shell Bell

Ability: Sand Veil | Moves: Dragon Claw, Aerial Ace, Slash, Earthquake

---------------

Satellite (Porygon); Lv. 34

Item: Mind Plate

Ability: Download | Moves: Psybeam, Agility, Recover, Signal Beam

============

Vs. Rival #4

------------

Staravia, Lv. 34

To open up, we had Moon against Percy's Staravia. I went for Brine to get a bit of damage on Staravia, but it switched suddenly before I could get the KO!

--------------

Grotle, Lv. 36

I'm gonna be honest, seeing this thing right here and now was a little bit scary. I felt pretty underprepared! There was no way I was staying in with Moon, so I took the best retreat option I could think of.

Comet switched in on a Razor Leaf which certainly would've dealt some pain on Moon. But with Comet out, I could hit Grotle with Yawn and lock him into Crunch with Encore.

Now, I could switch Moon back in against Grotle while he's asleep. Even if he wakes up, he's locked into a move that isn't super-effective against me! In hindsight, I think the better idea would've been to bring out Satellite for the Special Attack, but I was only thinking about type matchups in the moment and felt clever for utilizing this little trick. I suppose you can consider it a bit of a flex on Percy. Anyway, with Moon back out, I just had to go for Pluck a few times. Grotle got some hefty damage off with a few Crunches, but he ultimately succumbed.

---------------

Ponyta, Lv. 32

For some reason, Percy brought Ponyta out next. But it ultimately proved to be a good choice because it nearly KO'd me by flinching me with Stomp! But I was able to get a Brine off and OHKO Ponyta, possibly partially thanks to Torrent taking effect due to my low HP, though I'm pretty sure it would've been an OHKO anyway.

Next came Staravia again and while I would've been fine with this matchup, I knew I was just one Quick Attack away from getting KO'd, so the move here was obvious.

I switched Radio in on Staravia's Quick Attack to evade damage entirely and blasted back at him with a Shock Wave!

----------------

Buizel, Lv. 32

Last but not least was Buizel! A Leaf Storm took Buizel right out of the battle!

----------------

And with that, Percy was defeated, finally leaving me alone and ready for the gym. At least, after I go and heal now. Sigh.

=============

Pastoria City Gym

As a bit of a disappointment, the Pastoria City Gym is untouched just like Oreburgh Gym. Admittedly, I was kinda hoping it would've at least been reskinned with a more swampy atmosphere themed around Croagunk or something. Oh well, we have been on a pretty good track with modified gyms so I suppose I can let another unmodified one slide. In terms of gym puzzles, this game is still changing things up more than Emerald!

So, we navigate the gym, pushing the buttons to raise and lower the water levels, battle through the Fishermen, Sailors, and Tubers. We eventually arrive at Crasher Wake himself!

It's time to battle for our Fifth Gym Badge!

==============

My Team:

---------------

Moon (Prinplup F); Lv. 35

Item: Persim Berry

Ability: Torrent | Moves: Metal Claw, Growl, Brine, Pluck

---------------

Radio (Rotom); Lv. 36

Item: Amulet Coin

Ability: Levitate | Moves: Shock Wave, Confuse Ray, Ominous Wind, Leaf Storm

As you can see, I did take a stop back at Eterna City to swap Rotom's form again. This time, it's Mow Rotom!

--------------

Comet (Togetic M); Lv. 34

Item: Quick Claw

Ability: Serene Grace | Moves: Yawn, Encore, AncientPower, Wish

Honestly, replacing Metronome with AncientPower was probably not the brightest move, but I wasn't thinking too terribly clearly when I made the decision and was getting frustrated with having to rely on Metronome for any sort of offensive presence. I probably should've gotten rid of Wish or Yawn first.

--------------

Meteor (Gabite M); Lv. 34

Item: Shell Bell

Ability: Sand Veil | Moves: Dragon Claw, Aerial Ace, Slash, Earthquake

---------------

Satellite (Porygon); Lv. 34

Item: Mind Plate

Ability: Download | Moves: Psybeam, Agility, Recover, Signal Beam

============

Vs. Pastoria Gym Leader Wake

---------------

Gyarados, Lv. 33

In all honesty, I was more worried about the rival battle with Percy than this one. Radio here is once again a hard counter to Wake's entire team. So, I led with it. Since it's a special attacker, Gyarados' Intimidate is useless and it goes down to a Shock Wave right away!

---------------

Floatzel, Lv. 37

Now, I'm gonna be honest, I actually was a bit worried about this matchup since I knew Floatzel probably had Crunch. I figured this was a good time to retreat.

I brought Moon out to hit Floatzel with a Pluck and steal its Sitrus Berry, no free healing for you, sir! Unfortunately, after taking two Crunches, Moon wasn't doing much more fighting here.

This is where that same Yawn and Encore strat comes into play! Once again, I suspected that Floatzel would know Ice Fang, so I hit it with a Yawn, locked it into Ice Fang with Encore, thankfully I was able to survive two hits, and retreated.

Now that Floatzel woke up really quickly, so Yawn didn't help much, it just bought me the free switch. That said, Encore helped tremendously as even Ice Fang was doing a decent chunk of HP, but from here I was able to blast Floatzel away with Shock Wave!

-----------------

Quagsire, Lv. 34

I'm gonna be real with you, I have absolutely no clue what the hell is wrong with Quagsire's sprite here. It's a much darker Blue than it's ever been depicted even in Gen II and the shading is extremely flat. It looks like one of those unfinished beta sprites!

Anyway, I have more to say about Quagsire's sprite than this matchup. With Leaf Storm, this matchup went about as well for Quagsire as you'd expect.

----------------

And with that, we've defeated Crasher Wake and claimed the Fen Badge!

----------------

MVP: Comet

This one might warrant some explanation. Obviously, Radio got every KO, but I'd like to put a major emphasis on the fact that even with Floatzel using Ice Fang rather than Crunch, he still did a sizeable chunk of damage against Radio. Had I not had Comet come out and take two super-effective Ice Fangs just to reduce the damage Floatzel would do to Radio, there is no chance Radio would've won that matchup and then I'd have been down my greatest boon against Quagsire. With all that in mind, Comet played a vital support role in this battle so I don't think it's a stretch to give MVP to him!

=============

Anyway, that's it for now! Next time, we head out! In Diamond and Pearl, this is where we'd get wrapped up in chasing that Galactic Grunt out of town, so we'll just have to see how things play out this time.

February 3, 2023

Pastoria City

As soon as we step out of Pastoria Gym, we're met by Percy! He comes rushing in to ask you about how your gym battle went. His loud voice draws the attention of Wake who he insists is his master, but Wake corrects him stating that he knows Percy's father, but he's never accepted Percy as an apprentice. Percy just goes on to insist that he's already made Wake his master... what a mess this kid is. Anyway, he says that isn't important and tells about a Galactic goon near the great marsh who said something about a bomb! This enrages Wake who rushes to the Great Marsh to investigate.

We follow the two of them to the Great Marsh's entrance when suddenly we hear a loud explosion coming from the marsh! The grunt comes running out of the marsh and out of town. Wake tells us both to stay back because any remnants of the bomb could spell disaster. Since Wake is busy checking the marsh to see the damage, that leaves us to give chase to the grunt!

============

Route 213

Just like in Diamond and Pearl, we pursue the Galactic Grunt through Route 213.

Partway through, we run into Looker and catch him up on the fact that the parcel delivered to Pastoria was a bomb! Looker is shocked to hear this and we rush ahead to give chase to the criminal. In the lobby of Hotel Grand Lake, he stops to speaks with witnesses for further intel, but we run right on ahead.

It's here where we catch up to the Galactic Grunt and battle him. After defeating him, he gives up and admits he can't battle anymore, so he has to deliver his package to the commander instead...

After that, we're met by Cynthia who winds things down a bit by talking to us about the myth of Lake Valor.

Percy soon catches up tells us the damage from the bomb wasn't anything serious, and he then complains about how reckless Galactic was and then runs off.

In the end, we receive the Secret Potion from Cynthia to help cure the Psyducks on Route 210.

This whole event plays out a lot better in this game than in Diamond and Pearl! I complained originally that it was frustrating for your rival to just show up while you're in the middle of pursuing that grunt. Not only that, but the stakes feel a lot higher since it's shown rather than told to you that the parcel is a bomb!

That said, there are still some oddities that kinda take away from the hectic moment. Percy does this weird thing where after telling us about the bomb threat he goes and poses at the Croagunk stand and gets upset with you for not paying attention to him when there's a literal bomb threat that we're looking into. It's funny, especially with the circumstance, but it's an odd sense of almost dark humor that I wouldn't expect from a Pokemon game. Anyway, after that, Looker also comes along and slows you down in your pursuit, and then Cynthia of all people keeps you from continuing to pursue the Grunt further.

==============

Route 212

Anyway, we have the SecretPotion, so we can head back to Route 210 and start working our way toward Celestic Town, but I want to first take a stroll through Route 212 since we've yet to do that.

Just like in the Great Marsh, you can see that the swampy areas were redesigned with darker colors where the mud gets deep so tha tyou can easily avoid falling in while exploring.

Anyway, in the grass down here, we can find Quagsire replacing Wooper! Roselia, Bibarel, and Kricketune were all also replaced with Buizel, Shellos, and Croagunk, making this lower area's grass encounters completely reworked! And you might've also noticed that you can find Croagunk out here! You don't have to suffer through the Great Marsh's daily rotating pokemon just to find it!

While Fishing, you can also find Remoraid instead of Barboach here.

x2

The hidden TinyMushroom was replaced with a Big Mushroom. A Full Heal can be found in the southwestern corner of the route as well as a hidden one in the swamp near the honey tree, an Elixir is also found hidden in the same swamp. A Blue Shard has been added in the forested area on the west part of the route. A Hyper Potion is blocked by Cut Trees. The Dawn Stone and Ultra Ball can be found hidden in the northwesternmost swamp. And a Max Repel can be found in the swamp near the house.

And that house is of particular note here in Platinum. In Diamond and Pearl, you could come here and exchange Shards for weather TMs. It wasn't too terribly useful but it was a means of making these TMs renewable! You may have also noticed that we've received a large amount of Shards this time around, far more than in Diamond and Pearl. What's that about? Well, it's not just that this game wants you to get those Weather TMs a lot more. Rather, this building is now home to a special Move Tutor!

----------------

Remember how Move Tutors were scattered all over the world in FireRed, LeafGreen, and Emerald? Well, here in Platinum, they're all condensed neatly into some fairly designated areas. Granted, this isn't exactly the most convenient location for one of them to be found. Anyway, there are three of these Move Tutors scattered around Sinnoh and they'll all teach you various exclusive moves that TMs don't exist for. Some of these are moves that were TMs in previous gens but lost that status at some point, while others are simply moves that were previously limited to a very small subset of pokemon. Of course, just like TM compatibility, not just any pokemon can learn any Tutor move, but there are lots of pokemon that can learn moves exclusively through move tutors.

Each move has a specific cost of Shards, almost all of them require a combination of different shard colors. According to a sign in the room, Red Shards represent Power, Blue represent Special Effects, and Yellow represent Status Problems, but that doesn't really seem to hold true at all when you actually look at the costs of the moves. I'm not really sure what this means, maybe it was an odd translation. Green doesn't even seem to mean anything, it just says "and green is what I like!"

Anyway, as you can probably guess, the three tutors specialize in three different colors: Red, Blue, and Yellow. This guy is the Blue Move Tutor and all of the moves he teaches require more, or at least just as many, Blue Shards as other colors. He can teach you Air Cutter, Dive, Fire Punch, Ice Punch, ThunderPunch, Sucker Punch, Zen Headbutt, Fury Cutter, Icy Wind, Ominous Wind, Vacuum Wave, Knock Off, and Trick.

--------------

Of course, this route also has a Northern section of note! Let's go ahead and take a look now!

Kirlia can be found up here! It's 20% in the morning but still available at 10% at all other times. Ralts can still be found 10% of the time during the day. In addition, Marill is can also now be found up here at 45% at night but 25% at all other times. Roselia is boosted to 35% and Staravia is slightly more common at 20% during the morning and 10% at night, but slightly rarer with 20% during the day. Starly, Kricketune, and Budew can no longer be found.

The hidden Super Potion has been replaced with a Pearl, the hidden Great Ball has been upgraded to an Ultra Ball, and a Green Shard has been added near the Pokemon Mansion.

Pokemon Mansion

Inside the Pokemon Mansion are a couple of notable changes. First of all, the Burn Heal is now a Protein, much more worthwhile, and the Great Ball is now a Luxury Ball! Also much more interesting to find! I've always liked the aesthetic of the Luxury Ball, it's really pretty!

But beyond that, there is a maid at the far end of the left wing who will tell you about a special challenge: An endurance round where you'll battle against 5 maids in a row with the expectation that you clear them all in an exact amount of turns somewhere from 5-9 turns.

The Maid is a brand new trainer class introduced here in Platinum and is exclusive to this challenge. Each Maid only uses a single Clefairy, though the second of these might throw a wrench in your plans if your goal is to simply sweep them with powerful moves. It likes to use Endure! If you have a turn to spare, take a moment to set up a move like Toxic, Sandstorm, or Taunt to prevent this from being an issue. Otherwise, she might stall you out and make you fail your challenge. Thankfully, this particular Clefairy does not have Magic Guard which would protect her from all of those attacks. I'm not sure if there actually is any way to defeat her in one turn if she chooses to go for Endure because Endure has priority over all attacks that can possibly do damage. I suppose you can get really lucky by getting burn or poison in there?

The Maid's Clefairy start at Lv. 25 and go up by 2 each battle ending at Lv. 33.

The trick to this challenge is to take out the first four maids as quickly as possible, then stall out on the last one as much as you can. I was lucky enough that the Maid with the Endure Clefairy only stalled me for two additional turns and I was able to sweep the rest with Meteor's Earthquake to make it in the 7 turns I was assigned.

If you're successful in clearing the five maids in the given amount of turns, you'll be rewarded with a battle against either Rich Boy Liam or Lady Celeste. Both of whom have a Lv. 35 Blissey holding a Rare Candy. You can use Thief to steal the Rare Candy and take out the Blissey for a large boost of Exp. It's clear that the intent of this challenge is purely to help you grind Exp, but it kinda loses its luster when you realize that the levels don't increase, even in the postgame.

Other than the battle with Celeste or Liam, there is no other reward for completing the challenge, but it is a new feature introduced here in Platinum, so I suppose it was worth mentioning!

-------------

Trophy Garden

The Trophy Garden is almost completely untouched from Diamond and Pearl. After gaining access to pokemon like Porygon and Eevee early in this game, you might expect that the daily rare pokemon will appear here earlier, too, but that's not the case at all. You've still gotta wait for the national dex for that privilege.

Anyway, the only notable change is that Pichu's encounter rate is boosted to a static 30%.

===========

Well, as our journey brings us back to Hearthome City, I think that's a good stopping point for today. I thought I'd cover up to Celestic Town at least today, but Route 212 was a bit more dense than I'd considered while playing. In addition, once we get Surf, there's a bit more to cover before we progress to our next gym as well, so I'm anticipating one more post before we get going toward Canalave City. But there actually is a really good stopping point after we get to Celestic Town, so I think I'll be covering the Surf stuff in the Canalave City post. I think that makes the most sense since Canalave is one of the areas that opens up with Surf.

February 5, 2023

Route 210

With that small detour across Route 212 out of the way, and we have the SecretPotion from Cynthia, it's time to make our way North on Route 210!

Of course, we're going to want a Defog User to explore here, so here I can introduce Shuttle the Tropius!

x2

In the area just beyond the Psyduck, we'll find the Super Repel is upgraded to a Max Repel, the hidden Full Heal is moved to where the Ether once was with an Ultra Ball in its original location, the Burn Heal was also replaced with an Ultra Ball, and the original Ultra Ball location was replaced with a Nest Ball.

And across the entire foggy section, the only change we have access to at the moment is the addition of a Red Shard near an Ace Trainer.

The only new pokemon found here is Swablu at 20% during the morning and night but 30% during the day. Scyther can also be found here and Psyduck is no longer available.

Fishing with the Good Rod might also reveal a Whiscash! It's only 5% but, obviously, it'll be a lot more common if you come back with a Super Rod.

=============

Celestic Town

And now we arrive at Celestic Town which mostly looks the same save for the buildings and trees. And as we explore the town, there's certainly very little to actually talk about in terms of differences.

Clown Lee does visit this town on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, so check in for a battle if you're interested!

A Dragon Fang and King's Rock can be found now, though. The Dragon's Fang is on the ledge behind the Pokemon Center while the King's ROck is hidden on the ledge near the Celestic Ruins.

As we approach the center of town, though, we'll be stopped by Cynthia's grandmother who is complaining about the Grunt threatening to blow the town up with a bomb.

So, of course, we run up and battle him. But things do play out a little bit differently once again afterward. Like before, the elder insists we look inside the ruins.

===========

Celestic Ruins

She leads us to the inscription on the wall depicting the three lake spirits. She explains the myth of the three lake spirits whose power over the human spirit keeps the powers of time and space in check and maintaining the balance of the world.

This conversation is overheard by Cyrus who asks to know more, explaining that he desires the power to create an ideal world without strife and hostility. When the elder refuses to cooperate further with him, he threatens to destroy the mural, suggesting that he'll replace it with a new legend detailing the creation of his new world. And to so, we're left with no choice but to battle with him.

============

My Team:

-----------------

Moon (Empoleon F); Lv. 38

Item: Shell Bell

Ability: Torrent | Moves: Metal Claw, Aqua Jet, Brine, Pluck

Moon evolved while I was exploring Route 212!

------------------

Radio (Rotom); Lv. 38

Item: Amulet Coin

Ability: Levitate | Moves: Shock Wave, Confuse Ray, Ominous Wind, Hydro Pump

Once again, I decided to have Radio change forms!

--------------

Comet (Togetic M); Lv. 38

Item: Quick Claw

Ability: Serene Grace | Moves: Yawn, Encore, AncientPower, Wish

--------------

Meteor (Gabite M); Lv. 37

Item: Persim Berry

Ability: Sand Veil | Moves: Dragon Claw, Sandstorm, Aerial Ace, Earthquake

---------------

Satellite (Porygon); Lv. 38

Item: Mind Plate

Ability: Download | Moves: Psybeam, Agility, Recover, Signal Beam

============

Vs. Galactic Boss Cyrus #1

Surprise, it's our first battle with Cyrus already! This doesn't happen yet in Diamond and Pearl.

---------------

Sneasel, Lv. 34

I had Meteor at the front of my party and, obviously, this was a terrible matchup, so I didn't hesitate to switch.

Turns out I probably would've been fine because Sneasel wound up going for Ice Punch meaning I probably could've outsped with Meteor and taken it out with Earthquake. But, better safe than sorry! Sneasel was able to soften up Moon's defense a bit with Screech, but I was able to take it out in a couple turns with Metal Claw.

---------------

Golbat, Lv. 34

Moon was down in Torrent range shortly after Golbat came along due to the reduced defense. I got two hits with Brine off but just as I wen tot finish Golbat off with Aqua Jet, he healed with a Hyper Potion. One more Brine and Aqua Jet was enough to take Golbat out of commission.

--------------

Murkrow, Lv. 36

Murkrow is next! I wanted to switch out, but I expected I'd probably be hit by Pursuit, so I decided to stay in and try for an attack but was KO'd by Faint Attack instead. Not read works out the way you expect!

I tried to bring Comet out to put Murkrow to sleep but somehow completely forgot about Insomnia. Murkrow's Drill Peck also did a ton of damage to me! I waanted to lock him into it with Encore, but I figured if I was going to switch into Radio, I'd need to heal up even if he switched in on a Drill Peck, so I went for Wish instead before switching.

Radio did switch in on another Drill Peck, but it was also a critical hit! Needless to say, Wish healing me up immediately after was a huge boon! From here, could finish things off with a Shock Wave.

----------------

And with that, Cyrus was defeated!

===============

Upon his defeat, Cyrus is willing to commend your skill, but it seems he's gotten what he's come for. He now believes that bringing the beings of Time and Space together will make them unstoppable and allow him to create his ideal world free from the human spirit.

After this encounter, the event plays out the same as before, with you getting HM03: Surf from the elder!

Now then, originally, I was going to end here with the battle against Cyrus but Route 210 was actually a lot quicker to cover than I expected, so I'll also add in the exploration of all the areas that are open to us now that we have Surf! I suppose it makes sense to travel backwards to accomplish this?

And let me tell you, Surfing in this game is a lot faster than it was in Diamond and Pearl where it felt a lot slower than in Ruby and Sapphire. Now, Surfing feels even faster than Gen 3! I'm not sure if it actually is or if it just feels that way due to the slow pace of the original games, but it's definitely an immediately noticeable difference between Diamond and Pearl and Platinum.

================

Route 211 (East)

But before we do, let's take a peak into the east side of Route 211! There aren't any major changes here in terms of wild pokemon except that Ponyta can no longer be found here and Bronzor can.

A Carbos has been added to the tall grass for you to claim.

=============

Northern Mt. Coronet

The only notable change within the explorable part of Northern Mt. Coronet here is that the TinyMushroom has been replaced with a Star Piece!

===========

Celestic Town

With Surf, we can now find new pokemon! Celestic Town is the first place we can encounter this with Golduck here!

===========

Route 212

An Iron has been added to Northern Route 212 obtainable by surfing across the first pond. Y'know, that odd sliver of land that had absolutely nothing on it in the original? Yeah, they put something there now!

Down in the southern section, we now have our first taste of the sea! And with it comes the typical Sea pokemon! You can no longer find Wooper or Quagsire while Surfing here, though. Shellos and Gastrodon are now commonly found anywhere there's seawater! Obviously, Gastrodon being a lot rarer.

And in the southern section, the hidden Protein you needed Surf to reach has been replaced with a Max Elixir!

=============

Pastoria City

Pelipper can no longer be found in the water in Pastoria City.

=============

Great Marsh

The waters in the Great Marsh now exclusively hold Wooper and Quagsire when surfing, so no more Marill or Psyduck there. However, Surf can still be useful for navigating the Marsh even if you don't actually need it to reach anything significant.

============

Route 213

The Pearl hidden near the Max Revive has now been upgraded to a Big Pearl! Other than that and the typical changes to seawater (Shellos and Gastrodon being added and Pelipper being removed), nothing major going on here.

=============

Eterna City

The hidden PP Up you need Surf to reach in Eterna City has been replaced by a Moon Stone.

===========

Route 205

And as we make our way all the way back to Route 205, we finally reach a particularly interesting patch of water.

Of course, we can find Gastrodon's West Sea form in this water. But more importantly, you all know what lies further along this little river, right?

============

Fuego Ironworks

That's right, it's the Fuego Ironworks!

The pokemon found out here in the grass are far more exciting than the ones found in Diamond and Pearl! We've now got Magnemite and Magmar! Neither of whom were previously available before the postgame! Remember how I went on about how nice it was to get a Magmarizer? Well, now you can get the Magmar that can use it to evolve! Magnemite can also evolve into Magnezone if you just level its evolution, Magneton, in Mt. Coronet. Anyway, these awesome additions come at the cost of Luxray as well as Wingull, Shinx, Pachirisu, and Shellos all no longer being encounterable here, but since you can get all those pokemon elsewhere, I'd certainly say this is a great deal!

And before we slip into the building, the hidden Max Potion is replaced with a less exciting Big Mushroom.

============

Fuego Ironworks [Interior]

x2

Four shards are scattered throughout the Ironworks along with a Calcium. A Hidden Protein can also be found in the northern area near one of the Workers. The Hyper Potion on the barrel in the east is replaced with a Star Piece and you'll get one more Star Piece for talking to Mr. Fuego instead of a Fire Stone. That might seem a little underwhelming, but talk to Mr. Fuego again and you'll see the real purpose of this building is much more significant now!

In exchange for one Star Piece, Mr. Fuego will give you one of each color Shard! You can do this as many times as you want, so I strongly recommend saving your Star Pieces and not selling them as this can save you a lot of time hunting for these shards in the Underground.

============

Floaroma Meadow

x6

A bunch of items have been relocated throughout the Meadow and many of the less significant items have been replaced by Honey. One fo the revives has been upgraded to a Max Revive and there's also a PP Up and Rare Candy here.

============

Valley Windworks

An Electirizer can be found by following the river on Route 205 to its other end behind the Valley Windworks. That means a certain other pokemon will be available before the postgame is over as well!

============

Route 219

Of course, with Surf we can also explore Route 219 and beyond! Though we can't get into Pal Park, obviously, there's still some items and whatnot available to us down this way.

First of all, Shellos and Gastrodon can't be found here, but Pelipper can!

The Super Potion on the sandbar is now a Zinc.

==========

Route 220

The Ether here has been replaced with a Max Repel while the hidden Pearl has been upgraded to a Big Pearl.

===========

Route 221

It may come as a surprise that Sudowoodo can actually be found way out here! It's at a whopping 25%, too! Nice! Girafarig can be found here now, too, while Wingull, Shellos, Gastrodon, Stunky, and Skuntank are all unavailable.

The TinyMushroom was upgraded to a Big Mushroom and a Hyper Potion replaces the Honey hidden in the grass. The other Honey can no longer be found either, and the Ultra Ball was relocated, too. Of course, the main draw of this part of Sinnoh is Pal Park which we can't actually get to yet. So we'll likely be coming back here, at least briefly, to discuss differences here.

===========

Jubilife City

And that's it for all the areas that have been opened up with Surf! There's just one more and that leads us toward our next gym so I think it's best left for next time.

There are few more things I'd like to mention. One of them is that, though there's nothing new available specifically in Platinum, I did get the Water Pulse TM from Ravaged Pass and taught it to Comet! Water Pulse paired with Serene Grace has a 40% chance of confusing the target, so it's a highly desirable move for a Togetic!

The other is that I actually took a moment to trade Satellite over to Diamond holding the Up-Grade we got from the Galactic Building in Eterna! Since Porygon can evolve twice without leveling up at all, it's often pretty rare to see all three stages of its evolution used in a single playthrough. So, much like using all forms of Rotom, I wanted to go out of my way and give some screentime to all three stages of Porygon! So, for a little while, Satellite is going to be a Porygon2!

February 11, 2023

Route 218

Sorry for the delay in updates! Lots of things got in the way, but I haven't forgotten about good ol' All the Pokemens! Last time we battled Cyrus at Celestic Town and explored most of the new areas available to us now that we have the HM for Surf. This time, we're going to progress toward our next gym in Canalave City. To get there, we of course have to Surf through Route 218.

The Honey here is replaced with a Hyper Potion now.

In the Grass here, we can find Mr. Mime at 25%! Floatzel can also be finally be found here as well. It's dropped to 30% during the day and morning but boosted to 40% at night. Wingull and Glameow also can't be found here anymore, but Chatot can.

===========

Canalave City

We've now arrived at Canalave City! Home to our Sixth gym but, of course, there's a little bit to do before we get to that point. Once again, the color shceme of the city is altered from Diamond and Pearl to be brighter and the buildings are redesigned giving the city more of a "port town" look.

There isn't too much to talk about here, at least not on this side of town. But, as you might recall, trying to cross to the other side of town, we'll be met with none other than our rival, Percy!

============

My Team:

-----------------

Moon (Empoleon F); Lv. 42

Item: Shell Bell

Ability: Torrent | Moves: Metal Claw, Aqua Jet, Surf, Pluck

------------------

Radio (Rotom); Lv. 41

Item: Amulet Coin

Ability: Levitate | Moves: Shock Wave, Confuse Ray, Ominous Wind, Hydro Pump

--------------

Comet (Togetic M); Lv. 42

Item: Razor Fang

Ability: Serene Grace | Moves: Water Pulse, Encore, AncientPower, Baton Pass

--------------

Meteor (Gabite M); Lv. 41

Item: Persim Berry

Ability: Sand Veil | Moves: Dragon Claw, Sandstorm, Aerial Ace, Earthquake

---------------

Satellite (Porygon2); Lv. 42

Item: Mind Plate

Ability: Download | Moves: Psybeam, Discharge, Recover, Signal Beam

============

Vs. Rival #5

-------------

Staraptor, Lv. 36

Radio was in the front for this battle, which was unfortunate for Percy because that led to a really quick KO against his poor Staraptor.

---------------

Torterra, Lv. 38

His Grotle is evolved! But this level gap told me this fight was probably going to be a bit too easy... I went in with Confuse Ray. Of course, Torterra knew Bite which was a bit of a detriment, but Radio was able to hang in there and, thanks to some good luck with Confusion and a couple of solid hits with Hydro Pump, Torterra succumbed to its own confusion and went down.

---------------

Floatzel, Lv. 35

Floatzel also didn't stand a chance against Radio's Shock Wave.

---------------

Heracross, Lv. 37

His Heracross was an unxpected Nemesis in this battle. I confused it and completely forgot it had Night Slash! Radio didn't stand a chance to that blow, but I still had a pretty significant advantage here.

I brought out Moon to face off against Heracross since she had a Flying attack. I was anticipating he'd heal his Heracross since it was low on HP, so I went for Pluck rather than Aqua Jet which would've been the smarter move. As it turns out, Heracross not only outsped Moon, but critted her with a Brick Break for massive damage! That was definitely a scare, but Moon held on and Pluck took Heracross out of the picture.

----------------

Rapidash, Lv. 35

Beggars can't be choosers when it comes down to the last pokemon. Needless to say, there wasn't much Rapidash could say to object to getting washed out by Surf.

---------------

And that was it for that rival battle! Not so tough at all!

=============

On the west side of town, there also isn't much to talk about. I was actually under the impression that there were some new mythology books here, but from what I can tell they're all actually the same as in Diamond and Pearl and there's actually nothing new. Huh.

=============

Iron Island

Of course, let's not forget about Iron Island! There's a little bit of interest here. Just like before, you're probably going to want to come here with an empty slot in your party. Once again, no HMs are necessary to explore this area so you don't have to worry on that front.

The hidden Max Ether has been replaced with a Star Piece.

For one, you actually meat Riley at the entrance to the mine!

Riley greets you with a gift - HM04: Strength! So that's where that's been relocated... It's a bit of an odd place to get this HM, but I suppose it makes sense since it used to lead to confusion getting it so early and not being able to use it for so long. To this day, I still keep getting it confused when you actually get to use this HM. Anyway, don't get your hopes up too much, Riley's only met out here. He still heads deeper into the mine ahead of you, so you'll still have to catch up to him to team up with him.

-----------------

Iron Island [1F]

The interior of Iron Island is changed up like most caves, it's a lot darker in color. There aren't any notable changes to wild pokemon here on the first floor, so let's get exploring a bit deeper.

Iron Island [B1F, Left]

Once again, no major changes to encounters on B1F except for the fact that Geodude can no longer be found down here.

A Yellow Shard has been added down on the left side of B1F and the Iron Ball has been replaced with a Protector granting access to Rhyperior!

Iron Island [B1F, Right]

The right side of B1F shares the same encounter table as the left side.

A Max Repel replaces the Super Repel from the original, the hidden TinyMushroom is now a Star Piece, and a Revive has been added near the Lift. That Star Piece is actually pretty special as it'll actually return every day! If you recall, Star Pieces are useful for obtaining Shards, so if you're in need of a lot of shards but don't enjoy digging around int he Underground, you may find it worthwhile to add exploring Iron Island to your list of dailies! That's not the only renewable Star Piece down here, either.

Iron Island [B2F, Right]

A small change for this area is that it now shares an encounter table with the left side of B2F, whereas it used to share an encounter table with B1F.

That means that Steelix can actually be found here now, whereas you used to have to look for Steelix on the other side and deeper. Once again, Geodude can no longer be found here.

The Max Ether is now an Elixir, and the hidden Iron is now another daily Star Piece!

Iron Island [B2F, Left]

And this is where we reunite with Riley!

Riley's Lucario is now Lv. 41 and, unlike Mira, I really find myself butting heads with him a lot. He has no clue how to read the room and is constantly targeting the less optimal opponent with his attacks. It's so frustrating when an easy one turn win has to be stretched out because he decided to weaken your target for you. Oh well, I can get some degree of catharsis by taking out all three pokemon at once with Earthquake whenever Meteor hits the front.

x2

The Ultra Ball and Magnet have been relocated and in the original location of the Ultra Ball, a Dusk Ball can now be found. The Ultra Ball is now found in the Magnet's original location. The hidden Revive has now been replaced with a daily Star Piece, and another Daily Star Piece has been added in place of the now missing Full Restore. Lastly, a Red Shard has been added near a couple of Workers.

Of course, at the end, you'll have a Multi Battle against two Galactic Grunts. Between the two, they actually share a full team of 6 pokemon, so this battle can last a little while. A lot of them also aren't terrible matchups against Riley's Lucario, either, so be especially careful in that regard.

Of course, at the end of the day, you'll receive an Egg from Riley which will hatch into a Riolu. A pretty lame Riolu that doesn't even know Aura Sphere. Pfft, if I wanted a Riolu I'd just get it from Shadows of Almia, right? Jokes aside, there's absolutely no reason to turn down a free egg!

But the spoils don't end with this egg...

Iron Island [B3F]

First of all, down here, one notable change is that Onix can no longer be found and instead, Steelix is far more common at 30%. And, of course, Geodude can't be found either.

First and Foremost, there's a Shiny Stone here! And this is incredibly significant for me, because...

I can finally evolve Comet into the new Sinnoh Evolution Togekiss! I've always thought Togetic was an odd pokemon to be a final form so this was always a final stage I was quite fond of. This is where the fun of raising a Togepi really begins!

Aside from that, is that a new passage I see? Why yes, I do believe it is!

Iron Island [B3F, 2]

Don't get your hope sup too much, this isn't some crazy secret new event or anything. It's just a huge, mostly-empty square room. Bizarre to see, sure.

This area mainly just exists to house a Metal Coat and a hidden Nugget. It might be a bit disappointing, but it' sgood to have a Metal Coat earlier in the game! It makes Scizor accessible before the postgame! I wouldn't recommend using it to evolve an Onix since you can just catch Steelix in the wild.

Anyway, that's it for Iron Island! It's time to head back to Canalave and finally take on our next gym!

===============

Canalave Gym [1F - 4F]

Once again, we've got a gym that's completely unchanged from the original. A bit of a shame since I think there's a lot more that could've been done with this place. It's always been one of the more bland gyms to me even if it does have the visual element of watching the layers stack up as you climb to higher floors.

As we fight our way to the top of the gym, we finally come face to face with our next gym leader: Byron!

============

My Team:

-----------------

Moon (Empoleon F); Lv. 44

Item: Shell Bell

Ability: Torrent | Moves: Metal Claw, Aqua Jet, Surf, Pluck

------------------

Radio (Rotom); Lv. 44

Item: Chesto Berry

Ability: Levitate | Moves: Shock Wave, Confuse Ray, Ominous Wind, Hydro Pump

--------------

Comet (Togetic M); Lv. 45

Item: Razor Fang

Ability: Serene Grace | Moves: Water Pulse, Encore, AncientPower, Baton Pass

--------------

Meteor (Gabite M); Lv. 44

Item: Persim Berry

Ability: Sand Veil | Moves: Dragon Claw, Sandstorm, Aerial Ace, Earthquake

---------------

Satellite (Porygon2); Lv. 44

Item: Mind Plate

Ability: Download | Moves: Psybeam, Discharge, Recover, Signal Beam

============

Vs. Canalave Gym Leader Byron

-------------

Magneton, Lv. 37

I led with Moon mainly because I figured it would make Radio an easy switch-in on some of Byron's pokemon. The last thing I was expecting was for his lead pokemon to be a Magneton! Magneton's Magnet Pull traps Moon into battle, so I was forced to stand my ground where I was actually planning to switch out. Oh well, his funeral. With a Surf, Magneton didn't stand a chance.

---------------

Steelix, Lv. 38

And can you honestly say you expected Steelix to be able to survive, too? Surf took it out twofold!

--------------

Bastiodon, Lv. 41

Last but not least, we do have Bastiodon. He didn't actually go down to Surf! He went down to two Surfs. All he did with the extra time he'd bought himself was set up Iron Defense. You poor, poor soul.

---------------

Well, yeah, that was pretty anticlimactic. Unfortunate the way this battle went but that's just the way the cookie crumbles. With that, we now have the Mine Badge!

----------------

MVP: Moon

Can't get more MVP than a clean sweep! Nothing much else to say. I was a bit overprepared for this battle, I think just about anyone as my lead could've swept him, honestly.

============

And that's that! Next time, well, you know what happens next time. We're gonna have a small interruption in our adventure. See you soon!

February 17, 2023

Canalave City

Upon completing Canalave City Gym, Percy arrives to get us for a meeting with Prof. Rowan and Lucas at the library to request us to go and catch the legendary pokemon of the lakes and record their data in the pokedex. Things play out mostly the same as before, but instead of the explosion being reported to us by a random sailor, it's instead reported on the news on a TV at the top floor of the library! Footage of the explosion was obtained by the camera crew that was at the lake hoping to get footage of the legendary pokemon there. Of course, this leads us, Percy, and Lucas, to split up and investigate the three lakes.

==============

Valor Lakefront

So, we head out toward Valor Lakefront to find that the camera crew is no longer blocking the way to the lake proper.

============

Lake Valor

We arrive at Lake Valor to find the entire lake drained by a Galactic Bomb, exposing the Spirit's den at the bed of the lake.

Just like before, there is a missable HP Up hidden in the northwest corner you'll want to make sure to grab.

=============

Lake Valor Cavern

Inside, we run into none other than Commander Saturn who has already obtained the legendary pokemon of the lake. Of course, we're going to have to battle him.

==============

My Team:

-----------------

Moon (Empoleon F); Lv. 45

Item: Shell Bell

Ability: Torrent | Moves: Metal Claw, Aqua Jet, Surf, Pluck

------------------

Radio (Rotom); Lv. 45

Item: Kasib Berry

Ability: Levitate | Moves: Shock Wave, Thunder Wave, Ominous Wind, Overheat

--------------

Comet (Togetic M); Lv. 45

Item: Razor Fang

Ability: Serene Grace | Moves: Water Pulse, Air Slash, AncientPower, Baton Pass

--------------

Meteor (Gabite M); Lv. 44

Item: Persim Berry

Ability: Sand Veil | Moves: Dragon Claw, Sandstorm, Aerial Ace, Earthquake

---------------

Satellite (Porygon2); Lv. 44

Item: Mind Plate

Ability: Download | Moves: Psybeam, Discharge, Recover, Signal Beam

============

Vs. Commander Saturn

--------------

Golbat, Lv. 38

Satellite was a solid lead, though I was faced with a critical hit from Air Cutter. A Psybeam was all it took to wipe out Golbat.

-------------

Toxicroak, Lv. 40

While this matchup is a little bit concerning due to Toxicroak's Fighting type, it ulimately just went for Faint Attack, buying Satellite a chance to go for the one-shot with Psybeam again!

-------------

Bronzor, Lv. 38

All that was left now was Bronzor. A Signal Beam had Bronzor confused, walling it out of an attack allowing me to finish it off with Discharge without a hitch.

--------------

And with that, Saturn was defeated, but his main job has already been completed, we're a bit too late. But maybe it's not too late to stop the others!

============

Lake Verity

Just as before, our battle with Saturn leads us to stopping by Lake Verity near Twinleaf Town.

We run into Prof. Rowan here,

and Lucas dealing with Commander Mars. We'll of course have to offer up some extra help.

==============

My Team:

-----------------

Moon (Empoleon F); Lv. 45

Item: Shell Bell

Ability: Torrent | Moves: Metal Claw, Aqua Jet, Surf, Pluck

------------------

Radio (Rotom); Lv. 45

Item: Kasib Berry

Ability: Levitate | Moves: Shock Wave, Thunder Wave, Ominous Wind, Overheat

--------------

Comet (Togetic M); Lv. 45

Item: Razor Fang

Ability: Serene Grace | Moves: Water Pulse, Air Slash, AncientPower, Baton Pass

--------------

Meteor (Gabite M); Lv. 45

Item: Persim Berry

Ability: Sand Veil | Moves: Dragon Claw, Sandstorm, Aerial Ace, Earthquake

---------------

Satellite (Porygon2); Lv. 45

Item: Mind Plate

Ability: Download | Moves: Psybeam, Discharge, Recover, Signal Beam

============

Vs. Commander Mars

--------------

Golbat, Lv. 38

I had Meteor in the front this time around. I wasn't sure I could OHKO her, so I decided to set up Sandstorm and boost my evasion thanks to Sand Veil and to protect against SuperSonic. She managed to land SuperSonic anyway, but Meteor's Persim Berry made that point moot. Golbat soon went down to a couple of Aerial Ace.

---------------

Bronzor, Lv. 38

Bronzor came out next and I could've guessed that it probably had Levitate since she chose to send it out instead of Purugly, but I felt the need to test the waters and try Earthquake anyway just to be sure. Sure enough, Bronzor had Levitate. So this wasn't going to be a good matchup.

So, out came Radio. Since I knew Bronzor had Levitate, that means it can't have Heatproof! So, Overheat was the easy out to this poor guy.

-----------------

Purugly, Lv. 40

Next came Purugly who I knew Radio wasn't going to be a good matchup for, especially after dropping its Sp. Attack with Overheat. So, I went for a Thunder Wave to try and slow Purugly down before switching out.

In came Comet and this is where I was hoping to get some fun in with the main strategy I wanted to try out with this pokemon! You may have noticed that Comet now has Air Slash instead of Encore. That's because I went to the Move Maniac in Pastoria to learn this move in exchange for a Heart Scale! This is one of a few moves that Togekiss has access to with this method. Others include Magical Leaf and Aura Sphere, but Air Slash is the most interesting of these because it benefits greatly from Serene Grace. You see, Air Slash has a 30% chance of causing the opponent to flinch. With Serene Grace, that's boosted to a whopping 60%! On top of that, the Razor Fang also offers an additional 10% chance to flinch as well! As long as Togekiss is faster than its opponent, Air Slash will cause the opponent to flinch more times than not. In addition, I can also confuse really easily with Water Pulse and I can try to boost stats with AncientPower and Baton Pass out immediately after. This deceptively cute little angel is one scary motherfucker.

Unfortunately, Comet switched in on a Hypnosis, but he thankfully woke up pretty quickly and was able to get a couple of Air Slashes off to put Purugly down.

---------------

And with that, Commander Mars was defeated, but unfortunately it seems Lucas was also unable to protect the spirit of Lake Verity.

============

So, that just leaves us to check up at Lake Acuity in Northern Sinnoh, but that's quite a ways away. I know this is a rather small update, but next time we'll be making our way up north toward Snowpoint and that's a pretty big trek. Something I think I'd rather save for its own post since it'll likely end in a gym battle. I'm not going to say much more, but we also still only have a team of five and it's been a while since we've added a new team member...

February 27, 2023

I must once again apologize for the slow coverage of this game. I've done a little rant in a recent status about this subject, but a multitude of circumstances has led to coverage of this game not exactly flowing the most smoothly. Aside from classes getting a bit more involved, I have a few complaints about this game but, in this thread, I think that's better saved to discuss until after I've at least finished the story. But for now, I'll have to continue with the fact that I'm not actually having all that much fun covering this game like I would've expected. I don't think it's exclusively the game's fault, nor do I think it's burnout with this thread. It's a culmination of circumstances that I definitely don't think are going to last forever. But for now, I can definitely say that you can probably expect these updates to be coming less frequently than the typical bi-daily schedule we've been following.

In addition, I also think I'll be cutting back on detailing the items. I feel like most of it is pretty much irrelevant, I'm just going to note particularly significant items like the Magmarizer. If you really want to know what items are available where, all I'm really doing with that is regurgitating info directly off of Bulbapedia. So I recommend looking there for a more coherent list of anything and everything on every route.

Anyway, now that we've dealt with Saturn and Mars, we've gotta make our way to Lake Acuity in the north. That's going to require a Strength user! Our Tropius already knows four moves between Cut, Fly, Defog, and Rock Smash, so you'd think now would be a good time to turn our attention toward Bibarel. Except, you'd actually be wrong. I'm actually going with a second Tropius! This one I'm opting to teach Strength instead of Fly solely because there are a few areas where we'll need Defog inside of caves. I figured this would be a helpful utility.

Worth noting, Strength isn't quite as significant for opening up new areas as it was before. With Wayward Cave no longer being gated by Strength, the biggest optional areas to explore are the basement of Oreburgh Gate and, of course, Mt. Coronet which is on our path forward, so let's pick up from there!

=============

Mt. Coronet [B1F]

There isn't anything too terribly significant down here to note, most significant difference being that Nosepass can be found down here at 5%.

Of course, you can find Feebas down here, but it follows the same restrictions as Diamond and Pearl so you may want to hold out on hunting it down.

A Green Shard, Blue Shard, and Star Piece can now be found down here.

--------------

Mt. Coronet [Northern Exit]

In the back we arrive at the northern exit of Mt. Coronet. The encounter rates here are more or less the same as B1F.

A Yellow Shard can be found in here.

More interestingly, there's a new entrance found here as well...

Just like the one on Iron Island, it's simply an empty square room... very, very curious...

Inside here, we can find a NeverMeltIce and a hidden Nugget, paralleling the one on Iron Island.

===========

Route 216

And now we've reached Northern Sinnoh! And after making our way to the little lodge at the end of Route 216, I think it's high time we finally hook up with our next team member!

=============

Polaris (Snorunt F); Lv. 33

Item: None

Ability: Ice Body | Moves: Headbutt, Protect, Ice Fang, Crunch

This was actually a fairly last-minute addition to my team. Going into this project, I was planning on using Glaceon but when I actually got to Eevee in Hearthome, I realized I was going to have to hold onto a plain ol' Eevee for quite a while and I didn't think that seemed like very much fun, so I opted instead to go for another Ice type that's more accessible in Platinum version, and that's Snorunt who is now available here on Route 216 at 10% at night! I wanted to use Snorunt because it has another one of the many sinnoh evolutions that are oddly locked behind postgame in Diamond and Pearl.

Anyway, this is actually going to be our final team member! I originally said that Radio would be a temporary team member, but after thinking ahead a bit, I actually don't think I want to stick to those guns. I had another pokemon planned to replace him but I think that pokemon can be held off for a future game where I'll get much more use out of it. So, Radio is here to stay!

Worth noting, I can actually go ahead and evolve Polaris right now thanks to the Dawn Stone from Mt. Coronet, but I'm gonna let her stay around as a Snorunt for a little bit before evolving her.

============

Aside from Snorunt, Snover and Sneasel can of course be found here as well. So here are their sprites!

============

Route 217

As we approach Route 217, we'll actually get a surprise encounter with Maylene! Apparently she's traveling this route in light clothes for part of her training--I guess her training involves severe hypothermia! She insists she's fine, but she definitely seems bothered by the cold... Nothing much comes from this encounter, and she just heads off toward Snowpoint.

There's also not much else to talk about on Route 217, it's still just as obnoxious as it was before. Again, I'm not gonna bother going into too much detail about the items.

That said, do remember to pick up HM08: Rock Climb as you pass by. Even though they've relocated other required HMs to less missable locations, for whatever reason Rock Climb was left in its odd location just laying out in the open on this massive, annoying route. It's not hard to find or anything but it's definitely believable someone would overlook it if they have tunnel vision on just getting to Snowpoint.

As we approach Acuity Lakefront and arrive at the grass on the north end of Route 217, we'll start to find Swinub! This grants access to yet another Sinnoh evolution that was previously unavailable for the main story. Swinub's a cute little guy and it is another I was considering using, and probably would've had I not already been decided on Meteor for my Ground type.

The encounters up here are actually pretty significantly different, with Meditite and Medicham no longer being encounterable. And neither are Noctowl, Machoke, or Zubat. This time it's all in on the ice-types! Snorunt is more common up here, too, at 20% if you're looking for an easier time catching it. I just caught it on Route 216 because I wanted it on my team sooner rather than just now.

=============

Acuity Lakefront

As we arrive at Acuity Lakefront, we can see that this area is a lot more drastically redesigned! Before, the only thing stopping us from entering Lake Acuity right now were the two Galactic Grunts blocking our path which I specifically noted back in Diamond was an extremely silly and head-scratching decision. But now, we actually need Rock Climb to get up there which gives us a more believable excuse to have to go and take on the gym at Snowpoint first.

When we approach, Percy shouts down to us from the top of the cliff. Apparently he's already gotten the Icicle Badge and he tells us to hurry up and get ours so we can climb up there after him, too! So, looks like we've gotta get going!

The wild pokemon here are the same as on Route 217, by the way.

=============

Snowpoint City

We've now arrived at Snowpoint City! Things here are mostly the same as in Diamond and Pearl, once again. Though one cool aesthetic difference is that small icebergs in the icy waters and the ship at the harbor is equipped with powerful drills on the front to help break through the ice!

Anyway, you of course still have that infamous scam here where you can trade a Meditite for a Haunter that's holding an Everstone preventing its evolution. You can also find Maylene in the Pokemon Center who continues to insist that she's totally fine with the cold!

Idol Grace can be found here on the weekends.

There's not much else to do now besides jumping right into the gym!

===========

Snowpoint City Gym

On first glance, this gym looks identical to the one from Diamond and Pearl, but it is slightly redesigned! The snowballs and patches of snow have been relocated in a way that makes navigating the gym a bit easier and, consequently, simplifies the gym puzzle a lot. Normally I complain about changes like this, but for this gym, I actually quite enjoy the simplified version. The puzzle is a lot more satisfying when you can easily navigate it. Plus, there are now lines of snowballs that are really fun to slide right through!

The overall puzzle is still the same, build up momentum by sliding down the slopes in order to swing through and break the snowballs obscuring your path. You'll need to slide around the ice strategically in order to get into position to eliminate all the snowballs between the entrance and the gym leader.

This gym is filled to the brim with Ace Trainers, just as it was before.

And after crashing through all those Snowballs, we can finally make our way up to the gym leader herself: Candice!

==============

My Team:

-----------------

Moon (Empoleon F); Lv. 47

Item: Shell Bell

Ability: Torrent | Moves: Metal Claw, Aqua Jet, Surf, Pluck

------------------

Radio (Rotom); Lv. 46

Item: Kasib Berry

Ability: Levitate | Moves: Shock Wave, Thunder Wave, Ominous Wind, Overheat

--------------

Comet (Togetic M); Lv. 47

Item: Razor Fang

Ability: Serene Grace | Moves: Water Pulse, Air Slash, AncientPower, Baton Pass

--------------

Meteor (Gabite M); Lv. 46

Item: Persim Berry

Ability: Sand Veil | Moves: Dragon Claw, Sandstorm, Aerial Ace, Earthquake

Unfortunately, at the time of this battle I had yet to get a Yache Berry which definitely would've been an important held item for Meteor here.

---------------

Satellite (Porygon2); Lv. 46

Item: Mind Plate

Ability: Download | Moves: Psybeam, Discharge, Recover, Signal Beam

---------------

Polaris (Snorunt F); Lv. 38

Item: Chople Berry

Ability: Ice Body | Moves: Ice Shard, Protect, Ice Fang, Crunch

============

Vs. Snowpoint Gym Leader Candice

-----------------

Sneasel, Lv. 40

I opened up with Radio against probably the worst possible opponent here. Sneasel went for Faint Attack, but it didn't do quite enough to take out Radio, so I was able to take out Sneasel with an Overheat. A decent start!

-----------------

Froslass, Lv. 44

In a fairly questionable decision, Candice sent out her ace, Froslass! And yes, that's correct, this is her ace! Her strongest pokemon is no longer Abomasnow. I figured if she was going for a Ghost type against Radio, she was definitely planning to take Radio out with a ghost attack. Even though I did have a Kasib Berry, I probably wouldn't be able to survive the attack after that initial Faint Attack from Sneasel, so I decided to take my leave here. Besides, Radio had lowered stats from Overheat anyway.

The best switch-in here was undoubtedly Comet. My prediction was right and I wound up switching in on a Shadow Ball. I briefly considered switching again anticipating a strong Ice attack, but I decided to chance it. I figured I could take a hit or two, maybe I could set up some AncientPowers and Baton Pass some stats onto someone else. Froslass tried to spam double team which was a little bit scary, but I was able to hit two AncientPowers for the KO, both gaining me stat boosts! Serene Grace really is a blessing! With that, the rest of the battle should be a cinch.

---------------

Abomasnow, Lv. 42

Thanks to my stat boosts, I could confidently one-shat Abomasnow with Air Slash.

-----------------

Piloswine, Lv. 40

Last up was her Piloswine! Yup, her Medicham is nowhere to be seen here making her team a true monotype team.

Medicham or not, Piloswine wasn't going to be standing much of a chance. I went for Water Pulse, but it surprised me by barely holding on! It hit me with Stone Edge which was a little bit scary to see, but the attack only did about 1/4 of my health. The following turn, she healed up with a Full Restore, but it turns out Piloswine only survived on a range. This time, Water Pulse was able to get the expected OHKO.

----------------

And with that, Candice was defeated and the Icicle Badge was mine! This was one of the more drastically changed gym leaders. It's definitely a more satisfying team with the whole squad being Ice types, though the Medicham did add an interesting layer of surprise to her team in Diamond and Pearl that's a bit lacking here. It's also nice that she doesn't have a redundant Snover next to her Abomasnow, either. So in some areas, Candice is a bit weaker, and in others, she's a bit stronger. I could definitely see that Froslass being a major headache if it's able to get away with its evasion boosts. Aerial Ace might be the way to go for that one!

-----------------

MVP: Comet

This is another obvious one. Comet got a clean sweep after setting up two stat boosts from AncientPower and never even had to Baton Pass out. It definitely helped that I was a bit overleveled for this battle, though. I suppose that couldn't be helped much.

=============

Anyway, that's that for today's update! Next time, we'll be making our way to Lake Acuity to provide some much-needed assistance for Percy!

March 16, 2023

Once again, it's been a while since I've been able to update our little adventure here. Not only have I been heavily distracted with school, but as mentioned in statuses, I also had to replace my computer's charger because my old one started sparking, meaning I didn't have access to my computer for a while. Even now, I'm currently having issues with my mouse, but I'm hoping it isn't so bad that I won't be too terribly intrusive to my writing. There's still a bit of Spring Break left, so I do have a bit more free time than normal to write up these posts, so let's get down to business!

===========

Now that we've defeated Candice, we can use Rock Climb outside of battle!

Of course, since Tropius can't learn Rock Climb, this is going to be an HM for Bibarel!

Most of the items and areas available to you with Rock Climb are unchanged. A few are changed up slightly, or relocated, but for the most part there's nothing of particular importance to go over.

Most significantly, I got TM13: Ice Beam from Route 216 and taught it to Moon over Metal Claw. No more STAB, but Ice is a really strong offensive type regardless.

And from Route 210, there's also the TM for Shadow Ball which will be important, but not for Radio, Satellite, or even Comet...

Using the Dawn Stone obtained from Mt. Coronet, I was able to evolve Polaris into Froslass! And with this new form, it should be clear where this Shadow Ball TM is going. I'll be giving it to Polaris!

============

Acuity Lakefront

Of course, the most significant area we can use Rock Climb is at Acuity Lakefront! Once again, this is one of the small changes I really appreciate from a world-building perspective. Rather than having to wait for Galactic Grunts to arbitrarily get out of our way, we had a direct reason this time for not being able to get to Lake Acuity: We couldn't use Rock Climb! Well, here we are!

If we use Rock Climb on the western side of the plateau here, we'll also find a Reaper Cloth! This item makes the pokemon Dusknoir available during the main story! Just another major addition to your options!

==========

Lake Acuity

Just as before, we arrive just too late to find Percy was unable to stop Jupiter from stealing the legendary pokemon of the lake. Team Galactic now has all three, so whatever they're planning to do with the Lake Spirits, we've gotta stop!

===========

Veilstone City

It's time to storm the Galactic Building in Veilstone City! Just as before, we'll bump into a suspicious Galactic Grunt in the front of the Galactic HQ before he runs off. He doesn't leave the Storage Key behind like before.

This time, however, the Looker shows up on the scene, having swiped the key from the grunt as he left. Okay, that's a pretty cool moment!

Looker gives us the Storage Key and tells us to meet him at the Galactic Warehouse!

=============

Galactic Warehouse

With the Storage Key, we open up the gate inside the Galactic Warehouse and press onward!

Galactic Warehouse [B1F]

And we're now on our infiltration of the Galactic HQ!

Galactic HQ [B1F]

And the infiltration begins!

Galactic HQ [1F - 3F]

I don't recall much being too terribly noteworthy during the majority of the Galactic HQ aside from, obviously, the aesthetic of the area. Just like the Galactic Building in Eterna City, the HQ was redesigned to match with more stylized furniture. The first floor has a more pleasant front, more welcoming to guests. But the higher floors resemble the upper floors of the Eterna building. Navigating the building is pretty much all the same as before.

The most notable change here, though, is the addition of the Dubious Disc that's kind of just sitting there near the entrance. I probably don't need to explain to you just why this is significant, especially in this particular playthrough, but it'll become clear soon enough. For now, though, we'll need to keep on trekking.

Just like in Diamond and Pearl, we'll need to continue through the warehouse until we find our way to the Galactic Key, then circle our way back through the front entrance and storm the HQ from the front!

And upon stepping outside of the HQ, I went ahead and evolved Satellite using the Dubious Disc we've just obtained! Say hello to Porygon-Z! Porygon-Z is a lot more offensively powerful than Porygon2 but isn't necessarily an objective upgrade. It trades off by losing some of Porygon2's bulk. If you'd like a more defensive build, definitely focus on Porygon2. But for a more specially offensive Normal type, you can't get much better than Porygon-Z!

Near the end, you can find an open book with the extracted text from the two plates that were stolen from Eterna City describing the pokemon Dialga and Palkia. Still no information on a supposed third pokemon...

Eventually, we do stumble across a new room: An assembly hall where a whole unit of Galactic Grunts are gathered to listen to a speech from Cyrus!

We stand to the side and listen as Cyrus delivers a speech to the grunts about how their efforts will soon yield a new universe that will only be inhabited by Team Galactic. Everyone seems excited and cheers him on before dispersing toward Mt. Coronet for their final mission. Off to the side, Looker mulls over what he's just said and seems confused by it. None of it seems to make any sense, how could a new universe be created just like that? We know his plans, of course, from Diamond and Pearl... I wonder how it'll play out here?

Eventually, we do make our way to Cyrus' office and it's here that he reveals his entire speech was a fabrication. He has no interest in allowing even Team Galactic to inhabit the new universe he plans to create. He notes that the Galactic Grunts he sees as incompetent and perfect examples of why the human spirit is weak and incomplete. Just like before, he also explains his plan to capture the legendary pokemon at Mt. Coronet and make their power his in order to create this new universe, and, of course, we'll have to battle him as well.

==============

My Team:

-----------------

Moon (Empoleon F); Lv. 47

Item: Shell Bell

Ability: Torrent | Moves: Ice Beam, Aqua Jet, Surf, Pluck

------------------

Radio (Rotom); Lv. 47

Item: Colbur Berry

Ability: Levitate | Moves: Shock Wave, Thunder Wave, Ominous Wind, Overheat

--------------

Comet (Togetic M); Lv. 48

Item: Razor Fang

Ability: Serene Grace | Moves: Water Pulse, Air Slash, AncientPower, Baton Pass

--------------

Meteor (Gabite M); Lv. 47

Item: Yache Berry

Ability: Sand Veil | Moves: Dragon Claw, Sandstorm, Aerial Ace, Earthquake

---------------

Satellite (Porygon-Z); Lv. 47

Item: Mind Plate

Ability: Download | Moves: Psybeam, Discharge, Recover, Signal Beam

---------------

Polaris (Froslass F); Lv. 44

Item: Kasib Berry

Ability: Ice Body | Moves: Ice Shard, Protect, Ice Fang, Shadow Ball

============

Vs. Galactic Boss Cyrus #2

-----------------

Sneasel, Lv. 44

Polaris is still a bit underleveled, so she happened to be in the front here. It's an unfortunate matchup, though, so a switch was mandatory right away.

Moon was my safest switch-in, but all she was met with was a Screech. Sneasel continued to chip away at my defense with Screech while I flushed it out with a couple of Surfs.

----------------

Golbat, Lv. 44

Golbat was up next and its Bite was doing a bit more than normal damage thanks to Moon's decreased defense. But, it still wasn't quite enough and two Ice Beams was all it took to take Golbat out!

-----------------

Honchkrow, Lv. 46

Last but not least, we had Honchkrow! This thing was deceptively scary. Its Drill Peck did a lot more than I was expecting even without a crit! It would've taken me out had I not used Pluck at the steal its Sitrus Berry and heal off some of the damage from Golbat. Pluck also softened Honchkrow up enough that Ice Beam was able to take care of it!

----------------

And with that, Cyrus was defeated! But of course, we know there's still a bit more to our infiltration.

=============

Upon defeat, Cyrus invites us to go ahead and rescue the Lake Spirits before mocking us for the futility of our pity for them and taking his leave for Mt. Coronet where the final stages of his plan will take place.

Before we leave this room, however, there are a few new details added here in platinum. The most obvious being that there's a new warp panel behind Cyrus' desk. This one leads to the podium in the Assembly Hall where Cyrus gave his speech. There's nothing of note here, not even any minor items, so I'm willing to assume this area is only here as a means of world building to show how Cyrus got to the podium in the first place.

Other than that, there's also a hidden Razor Claw in the office you can find with the Dowsing Machine on your Poketch! You used to have to wait all the way until Victory Road to get one of these and evolve your Sneasel. Now you can get one a bit earlier and have Weavile going right into the climax of the Team Galactic Plot! Can't think of a more fitting time for your Sneasel to evolve! Just make sure you're playing at nighttime if that's your goal!

==============

Team Galactic HQ [Secret Lab]

The secre tlab is untouched from Diamond and Pearl, so that must mean the Lake Spirits are being held in the back!

And indeed, we'll find Commander Saturn down here along with Charon. Charon seems to be turning gears in his mind as he focuses on the legendary pokemon and wonders where they would go. Saturn questions him on what he means, but he quickly dismisses it. It's clear he's stirring up some sort of plan. He goes on to elaborate that the creation of a new world isn't all that interesting. Not until it's Team Galactic that is able to control that new world. But, he continues to insist that he hopes Cyrus' plan will work. Saturn meanwhile scolds him for his cynical "support."

When we approach Saturn, though, things play out as they did before, which means it's time to get ready for battle once again!

============

Vs. Commander Saturn #2

---------------

Golbat, Lv. 42

This time, it seems we've got a much better matchup for Polaris right out the gate! Unfortunately, Golbat doesn't hesitate to hit her with a Confuse Ray and, after two turns of hitting herself, she can no longer risk another Bite, so she was forced to retreat. That's just my luck.

If Polaris can't get a good debut battle, maybe it's time to show off the power of our other newly evolved friend: Satellite! Switching in on an Air Cutter, Satellite is able to make quick work of Golbat with a single Psybeam!

----------------

Toxicroak, Lv. 44

For some reason, I suppose just because it's a Fighting type against Satellite's Normal type, Saturn sent Toxicroak out to meet Satellite. Obviously, this is a terrible matchup for him and a single Psybeam could easily take him out thanks to the 4x weakness to Psychic.

---------------

Bronzor, Lv. 42

Last but not least, we have Bronzor who also went down. This time to a crit with Signal Beam. I couldn't tell you if the crit was significant, but either way, Bronzor also didn't stand a chance. I guess that's a decent demonstration of Porygon-Z's power!

----------------

With that, Saturn is defeated!

==============

After the battle, Charon comments about how both Saturn and Cyrus were defeated by a mere child and worries for the current state of Team Galactic. Will Cyrus' plan even work if he can't stop us? We're certainly not about to let him do as he pleases! The two take their leave, Saturn still confused by Cyrus' willingness to let us free the pokemon they worked so hard to capture. In pressing the button to release the pokemon, they all disappear. Now, all that's left is to make our way to Mt. Coronet after Cyrus and finish what we've started!

Next time, we'll see how events play out in Platinum's Spear Pillar! See you then!

March 18, 2023

Southern Mt. Coronet

It's time to climb Mt. Cornet! Last time we rescued the Lake Spirits from the Veilstone City, so now we've gotta go and put a stop to Cyrus' plans once again! But how exactly will things play out here in Platinum? Only one way to find out!

Mt. Coronet [2F]

I've actually been up here earlier, but I didn't feel there was anything of particular note to address. Encounters are more or less the same with slightly shuffled rarities, Nosepass is still available up here at 5%.

As you reach the back of the cave, you'll run into Looker! Looker will confess that he's no match for Team Galactic since he's not a pokemon trainer and acknowledges your skill as one. As such, he entrusts this task to you. But to assist you, he gives you an incredibly useful item: A Black Flute! This rare item is infinitely reusable and cuts the encounter rate of wild pokemon by half! If there is any change to Platinum I greatly appreciate, it's this one. I recommend sorting this to the very top of your items bag as soon as you get it because you'll probably want to use it a lot while exploring caves. The effect lasts until a new map is loaded, so you'll need to reuse it every time you go through a transition such as moving to another floor, entering a doorway, or moving between routes. This Black Flute greatly reduces the headache of traveling through caves, especially when trying to keep your pokemon healthy for upcoming important battles. That is to say, this is exactly the time of item I needed to fix a lot of my complaints about this part of the story.

I've done a lot of complaining about Platinum, perhaps unjustly so, but this small addition has a pretty major positive impact on my ability to enjoy the upcoming story beats. It's little things like this that do show that this game is certainly the definitive way to play through Sinnoh. And now, we continue our climb.

Mt. Coronet [3F]

Just a little bit further ahead, and we can exit to the summit!

Mt. Coronet [Summit]

The Summit is actually mostly unchanged from DP aesthetically, but the fact that the map from Bulbapedia is from Platinum led me to use the screenshots from Serebii instead. The small inconsistency in tilesets bothered me, perhaps more than it probably should've.

The biggest addition up here is Absol available at all times at 5%. I love the narrative implications of the pokemon that warns of disaster appearing up here and making itself available right at the peak of Cyrus' plan. We've gotta hurry! Nosepass is also added up here, with Bronzong and Clefairy no longer available.

Mt. Coronet [4F]

As we reach the higher floors of Mt. Coronet, you'll find the caves appear more like their Diamond and Pearl counterparts and the generic caves around Sinnoh. A little disappointing, but it does provide a sense of progression to differentiate the higher floors from the lower ones.

Mt. Coronet [1F]

I wanted to take a small detour to this room here just to show off what it looks like in Platinum, there aren't any significant differences here and the path to northern Mt. Coronet is blocked off by a lost grunt still, so this path is just a big red herring.

Mt. Coronet Peak [1F - 3F]

Here we have the last few floors of Mt. Coronet. Again, nothing much to say, they're all pretty much identical to their DP counterparts and have the typical changes of wild pokemon. Perhaps some extra scrutiny with this is necessary, but the bulbapedia page for Mt. Coronet is difficult to parse and a lot of it is incredibly redundant. Of course, this is where we'll be running through Team Galactic more frequently as we battle our way to Spear Pillar!

===========

Spear Pillar

And so we've arrived! Once again, Spear Pillar has been slightly redesigned. Between Diamond and Pearl, the pillars and arches were positioned to mirror the opposite game. In this version, the pillars and arches are positioned to mirror those on the opposite side in a similar manner.

As we approach Spear Pillar, we'll of course have to battle our way past the two grunts at the start.

It was actually after this battle that Meteor evolved into Garchomp! Just in time for an exciting climactic encounter!

And after, we'll continue forward to be stopped again, this time by Jupiter and Mars.

And, as before, Percy will come to our aid. So far, things are pretty much exactly as they were before.

==============

My Team:

-----------------

Moon (Empoleon F); Lv. 48

Item: Shell Bell

Ability: Torrent | Moves: Ice Beam, Aqua Jet, Surf, Pluck

------------------

Radio (Rotom); Lv. 48

Item: Colbur Berry

Ability: Levitate | Moves: Shock Wave, Thunder Wave, Ominous Wind, Overheat

--------------

Comet (Togetic M); Lv. 48*

Item: Razor Fang

Ability: Serene Grace | Moves: Water Pulse, Air Slash, AncientPower, Baton Pass

*Comet had to be left behind in the PC for an HM user.

--------------

Meteor (Garchomp M); Lv. 48

Item: Yache Berry

Ability: Sand Veil | Moves: Dragon Claw, Crunch, Aerial Ace, Earthquake

---------------

Satellite (Porygon-Z); Lv. 48

Item: Mind Plate

Ability: Download | Moves: Psybeam, Discharge, Recover, Signal Beam

---------------

Polaris (Froslass F); Lv. 47

Item: Kasib Berry

Ability: Snow Cloak | Moves: Ice Shard, Protect, Ice Fang, Shadow Ball

============

Vs. Commander Jupiter & Commander Mars

--------------

Bronzor, Lv. 44 & Bronzor, Lv. 44

We led off with Polaris and Munchlax against the Commanders' Bronzor. This started out as a battle of fruition with Percy's Munchlax using Stockpile and soaking up most of the attnetion from the Bronzors. Between Light Screen, Confusion, and Flinches from Extrasensory, this matchup lasted quite a while, but with thier offensive focus primarily on Munchlax, Polaris was able to get a sizeable chunk of damage off on Jupiter's Bronzor with Shadow Ball. That is, until they both suddenly decided to gang up on Polaris with Mirror Shot for an easy and sudden KO!

Satellite was my next option here. Faced with two Bronzor, Download upgraded its Special Attack! I figured since Munchlax had a lot of Stockpiles set up, it wouldn't be a bad idea to just let loose with a bunch of Discharge and milk that Special Attack boost as much as I could. This allowed me to KO Jupiter's Bronzor while also dealing some damage to Mars's, too.

----------------

Skuntank, Lv. 46

Skuntank was up next, but as long as that other Bronzor was out, my strategy would remain unchanged. I'd certainly be nice to get Meteor out here to make quick work of Skuntank, though. The hope was to take out Bronzor quickly so that I could take out both Skuntank and Purugly with one Earthquake. My next Discharge wound up paralyzing Percy's Munchlax (because of course the one time I get a random paralysis here it's gonna be on my ally.) One more Discharge was enough to take out Mars's Bronzor, but Skuntank managed to poison Porygon-Z with a Poison Jab.

---------------

Purugly, Lv. 46

With Bronzor out of the picture, Purugly was out on the field, now! But it was a bit too late to bring Meteor out as Skuntank was just one more Discharge away from KO, so my decision was more or less made for me, here!

-----------------

Golbat, Lv. 44

With Skuntank out of the picture, out came Golbat! I tried for another Discharge, hoping to KO Golbat, but between a Slash and Air Cutter from the two foes, both Satellite and Munchlax were out of commission! Woops! Might've gotten a little greedy there.

I brought out Moon to deal with Golbat, but Percy surprised me a bit by opting for Heracross, I suppose because it's strong against Purugly. Of course, it was a risk with Golbat there, so I needed to try and cover for Heracross' weakness by attacking Golbat with Ice Beam. Unfortunately, I wasn't quite able to KO Golbat with Ice Beam. Thankfully, Heracross only needed to survive an attack from Purugly. He took an Aerial Ace and dished out a Close Combat to take Purugly down! After that, though, it couldn't hold up to Golbat's Air Cutter and went down.

----------------

Golbat, Lv. 44

Up next, Percy brought out Floatzel. Perhaps he had the same idea as me, but we weren't quite as in synch as I'd like. I couldn't let myself trust the AI to go for the Aqua Jet to finish Jupiter's Golbat, so I went for it instead. Ultimately, we both went for Aqua Jet on the same target, leading to a suboptimal attack on Mars' Golbat from Moon. Oh well, not everything can be like clockwork.

Regardless, the battle was incredibly one-sided at this point. An Iron Tail from Floatzel and another Ice Beam from Moon was all it took to finish the job against Mars's Golbat. Though the combo was frustratingly delayed a bit due to confusion.

------------------

With that, the two commanders were defeated! But, of course, there's still Cyrus to worry about. What's he been up to while we were busy with this battle?

==============

After our battle, Percy heals up our pokemon, entrusting the final battle to us. As it turns out, Cyrus has made not one, but two Red Chains this time! One by extracting the crystals from the Lake Spirits, and another by replicating the crystals "by technological means," whatever that means. With these two Red Chains, he calls forth not just Dialga, but Palkia as well! I always thought it was a bit silly that Cyrus planned to create a new universe using only Dialga or Palkia, so while I feel like the explanation for the second Red Chain is a bit lacking, his plan to create a new universe using both the legendary pokemon of Time and of Space certainly makes a lot more sense here!

But as this happens, we're treated to a newly animated cutscene featuring the silhouetted 3D models of the Lake Spirits as they appear at Mt. Coronet to push back against the distortion of Time and Space. The three spirits circle overhead on the top screen. It's clear the devs were a bit more comfortable with the DS hardware this time around.

Cyrus merely mocks the three Lake Spirits, however. While they were enough to stop Cyrus' plans in Diamond and Pearl, it takes the combined efforts of the three Lake Spirits to stop either Dialga or Palkia, they can't possibly stop them both! But just as Cyrus is about to enact his plan, another pokemon appears, emerging from the ground as a terrifying shadow. The pokemon towers over Cyrus and is enraged by his actions. As the pokemon appears, the pillars seem to bend and morph as the world is distorted around them. It spreads its wings wide across the platform, seemingly ready to attack. Cyrus initially blows off Giratina, suggesting that the powers of Dialga and Palkia should be enough to overcome it, but he couldn't be more wrong as the shadow rears up, its spines moving to the ends of its wings. Time begins to distort as well as Cyrus's final words seem stuck in some sort of glitched state before the pokemon envelops the screen in darkness!

I have to say, this is definitely the most intense I think Pokemon has ever felt, the powerful sense of dread experienced in this cutscene alone is incredible. It's extremely evident just how badly Cyrus fucked up to make this pokemon appear before him, and just how much danger he's in. Perhaps, had he not stifled his emotions, he would've had enough fear to recognize how much danger he was in. It's a genuinely scary moment filled with a lot of anticipation. But, of course, this scene doesn't end here.

As light returns, we find Cyrus, as well as the mysterious shadowy pokemon, both appear to be missing. In their place, a bizarre portal has formed. Cynthia arrives on the scene and is alarmed to see the portal. The three Lake Spirits dive into the portal and seem to beckon us to follow. Cynthia apologizes for arriving late as she'd finally come across a breakthrough in her research. She's able to identify the mysterious monster we just encountered as a third deity known as Giratina with powers that rivaled Dialga and Palkia. In order to stop the distortion's spread from Spear Pillar, we'll need to dive into this portal just like the Lake Spirits to stop Cyrus and confront Giratina. And so, in we go!

=============

Distortion World [1F]

When you think of what sets Pokemon Platinum apart from Diamond and Pearl, this is probably one of the first locations that comes to mind, especially for players who don't really mess with the postgame too much. Welcome to the Distortion World, a bizarre, surreal place where the laws of time and space are nonexistant. There are no pokemon native here, this world exists as a byproduct of the creation of the world managed by Dialga, Palkia, and the Lake Spirits. It's another piece of the mysterious puzzle of the creation of the Pokemon World.

As you explore the Distortion World, bojects will manifest and disappear, you can walk over gaps that don't appear traversable, and the ground will shift beneath your feet to carry you to other areas. Without pokemon living here, there's nothing getting in the way of your ability to explore freely and just soak in the surreal and unsettling atmosphere of this place. The music here almost gives off a vibe similar to the Cave of the Past in Earthbound. The place definitely has an ominous aura about it. This is the sort of thing I'm always engaged by.

In this world, it's never clear what direction you're going. There's no real point of reference, no obvious "down," just when you think down is the direction gravity is pulling you, gravity twists as you approach what you thought was a wall. The camera sometimes follows you at odd angles, making movement a little confusing as it's not always obvious which way up will move you when you're looking at yourself from a diagonal angle, but I think that works really well for the atmosphere as it's just another layer of surrealism with this whole thing. The devs did an excellent job with this world.

Distortion World [2F - 4F]

As you navigate through this bizarre world, a few things will happen. You'll run into Cyrus who will begin to talk to you about the structure of DNA, comparing the relationship between this world and the "real" world to the double helix shape of DNA, where one strand contains the opposite of the other. If anything happens to one strand, it can be recreated from the opposite on the other side. But neither can exist without its opposite, so to is the relationship between our world and this distortion world. It's actually quite fascinating that there's genuine thought put into why this world exists rather than it simply existing to fill a niche for a bizarre, surreal environment.

You'll run into Cynthia several times and she'll help you figure out how to navigate the world, discovering that certain parts of the ground will cause changes in the environment, important information for traveling around.

Distortion World [5F]

Continuing further along, you'll be met with some of the most striking imagery in the area. You'll need to Surf across a body of water to get across (Yes, HMs are required to navigate this world, but nothing you aren't required to have to get here in the first place.)

Soon, you'll arrive at a seemingly upside-down waterfall flowing upwards into a pool of water. You might wonder how you're supposed to progress without the HM for Waterfall, but as you approach the waterfall, gravity will seem to shift and you'll begin surfing along the waterfall toward the "bottom".

Distortion World [7F]

We're getting deeper and deeper into the Distortion World. You might've noticed I'm labeling the floors 1-7 rather than 1-B6. I think this is more fitting as, the way I see the Distortion World, we're essentially "climbing" downward. The world is opposite of the natural world, so it just makes sense to me to label the floors as if we're going up. After all, there is no point of reference to say what direciton is up, anyway.

Mt. Coronet was designed after Mt. Fuji in Japan, and the Distortion World was designed based on the concept of the mirror image of Mt. Fuji projected on the water below. The distorted image and inverted positioning of the mountain on the lake's surface is what inspired the aesthetic of this whole world. If you were to "climb" that mountain, you would be "climbing upward" into the inverted image, therefore appearing to be moving downward, deeper into that mirror world. But from the perspective of the mirror world, climbing onto the real Mt. Fuji would appear to be moving in the downward direction. That's just the way I like to think about it. This area really is fascinating to me for my ability to even think about it in this way.

Anyway, as we arrive at the 7th floor, we'll find a puzzle before us. We'll need to thoroughly explore the world in order to find boulders and use Strength to push them downward with the guidance of the Lake Spirits. This will involve some moving back and forth across the floors in various ways. Without spoiling every little surprise, the best advice I can provide is to just keep moving forward. There are some areas where you might get turned around, but try to keep track of where you have and haven't been. The world may be bizarre, but it still follows a sense of logic. You'll know you're in the right direction when you see Giratina's shadow soar by.

After pushing the Strength Boulders into the correct holes, the way forward will be opened up to us to travel deeper toward Giratina.

Distortion World [8F]

It's down here that we'll finally catch up to Cyrus again. Cynthia scolds Cyrus for his actions, questioning why he must destroy the world because of his cynicism for the human spirit, but Cyrus is steadfast in his goal. He still holds true to his desire and will not allow us to stop his plan. By defeating Giratina, he believes he can make this world disappear and thus render it impossible for either of these worlds to be made again as they were, forcing his plan to create a whole new, complete universe, into fruition! And so, it's time to take him on once and for all, right here in the Distortion World!

=============

Galactic Boss Cyrus #3

-----------------

Houndoom, Lv. 45

Do not underestimate Cyrus! He's actually a genuinely tough battle with some really scary pokemon! He's also got some extra surprises in case you were expecting his team to be more or less the same as in Diamond and Pearl! To start with, he's got this Houndoom! I led off with Satellite, though it's not exactly the best matchup for this, it's not the worst, either. I was able to paralyze Houndoom with Discharge, but I took a pretty hefty hit from Houndoom's Flamethrower, so I retreated to avoid a KO.

This was a great opportunity to put Meteor's new evolution to the test! I brought Meteor Out anticipating a second Flamethrower. At the very least, I also could've had the cover of Paralysis. Unfortuantely, Meteor ended up switching in on a Dark Pulse and taking the full brunt of it. Not everything works out so smoothly. Regardless, the following turn Houndoom was an easy KO with Earthquake.

---------------

Weavile, Lv. 48

A strong Weavile! If Meteor was at full health, I could probably rely on my Yache Berry to take an Ice attack, but that's unfortunately not the case, I suspected an Ice attack from Weavile would spell Meteor's doom, so I immediately retreated.

Moon switched in on an Ice Punch which it could easily survive. From here, we had a bit of a stalemate. I'd soften Weavile up and he'd continue chipping away at Moon's HP. Cyrus would use a Full Restore when I was about to KO Weavile, so the stalemate lasted a bit longer until he eventually switched when his Weavile was weak again! Actually a really smart move.

----------------

Gyarados, Lv. 46

A Gyarados is certainly a scary sight to behold! I have to admit, I did have a bit of residual information about this fight to know ahead of time that Gyarados had Earthquake, mainly from overhearing my older brother complain about it during his first playthrough. So, I knew staying in certainly wasn't the right choice here as Earthquake would certainly spell doom for Moon. Luckily, I couldn't be more prepared to hard counter such a move!

Out came Radio! Levitate allowed it to dodge Earthquake and, from there, a simple Shock Wave was enough to finish Gyarados off!

Weavile rejoined the battle immediately after this, but an Overheat was all this one took. Might've been a bit overkill, but what'cha gonna do? Unfortuantely, I did have to take a Night Slash from Weavile which meant my Colbur Berry was eaten and I didn't actually have a second Colbur Berry to replace it with as the duplicates were all planted. So we'll have to go without it for a little while. Regardless, Weavile is probably Cyrus' most threatening pokemon.

----------------

Honchkrow, Lv. 47

This was a very tempting matchup, but one I wasn't planning on entertaining since I no longer had my Colbur Berry, so back to the drawing board!

I retreated back into Moon for the best odds against Honchkrow. Moon took a Night Slash on switch, which she resisted. The following turn, Honchkrow went for Heat Wave which was a major surprise! It wasn't actually able to land, though, so I was able to hit Honchkrow with a hard Ice Beam, nearly scoring an OHKO! Anticipating a Full Restore, I went for another Ice Beam, wasting his item and bringing him right back where we left off. I expected another Full Restore, so I didn't bother with Aqua Jet, but Cyrus seemed content with just taking the L here. Fair enoguh, I suppose.

----------------

Crobat, Lv. 46

At this point, Cyrus was on the ropes. He didn't really have anything else to lean on. There was nothing Crobat could do but try and stall me out with Confusion. All it took was an Ice Beam and Aqua Jet to finish the job.

----------------

And with that, Cyrus was defeated. He no longer has a chance of defeating Giratina.

=============

After defeat, Cyrus is merely amused and taunts us with the fact that his loss is meaningless. He even encourages us to go and capture Giratina. Doing so, he suggests, would cause this world to disappear and make his plan come to fruition anyway. But Cynthia insists that wouldn't be the case. She firmly believes that all people and pokemon are born for a reason and that it's our fate that brought us here. She believes that through a battle with Giratina, however it ends, our feelings will get through to Giratina and the Distortion World will not disappear.

Cynthia heals our pokemon before urging us to approach Giratina in spite of Cyrus' taunting.

And so, we take one more dramatic stroll up to the edge of the world where we stumble across Giratina, but Giratina looks strange compared to the form we saw in Diamond and Pearl... Regardless, we'd better be prepared!

=============

Vs. Giratina, Lv. 47

Now just listen to that incredible boss music! I praise boss battle music a lot, of course, but I absolutely love that the tempo and pitch of this song is all over the place to fit with the themes of distortion and confusion.

As mentioned before, this Giratina looks a lot different from the one we saw in Diamond and Pearl. This is Girtina's Origin Forme which it only assumes here in the Distortion World! There's an additional way to access its Origin Forme but that's to cover later on. In its Origin Forme, you might notice it doesn't have Pressure. Instead, it has Levitate. That's good news for me!

Anyway, my strategy for catching Giratina is actually quite simple. I'd open up with Moon to soften Giratina up with a couple of Ice Beams, hoping for a Freeze in the process for a high capture multiplier. If I'm lucky, I can start throwing Pokeballs right away! But more realistically, Giratina won't be frozen. In which case, it'll be low on HP and I won't have any more chances to freeze it.

This is where Radio comes in! Between battles, I gave Radio a Kasib Berry to be able to survive one of Giratina's Ghost attacks. Radio is actually faster than Giratina, so I can easily hit him with a Thunder Wave. Only reason I don't open up with this is the slim chance of getting a Freeze first. From here, it's all pokeball throws!

When Radio goes down, Satellite is next. Satellite can stall for quite a while. Its Normal type makes it immune to two of Giratina's attacks, Shadow Force and Ominous Wind. So half the time Giratina just wastes its turn. AncientPower also only has 5 PP, so the only attack I really have to watch out for is Dragon Claw which does a little less than half HP. Wouldn't you know it, that's conveniently slightly less than Recover heals! So, I can just use Recover whenever he uses Dragon Claw, or on the free turns when he Disappears for Shadow Force, and I've got a nearly fool-proof approach to throw almost as many pokeballs as I can. I say almost because, obviously, Recover is more limited in PP than Giratina's Dragon Claw, plus he also has AncientPower which can potentially boost his attack. Eventually, if I don't catch it, Giratina can brute force its way through Satellite.

It's at this point where Moon rejoins the battle. A large chunk of Giratina's PP is wasted by this point, but he's still got some power to dish out. Generally, Moon can wall him out until he pressures himself to death.

In a worst-case scenario, I do still have Polaris with another Kasib Berry to survive a Ghost Attack,

And once Giratina's out of Dragon Claw, it's a good time to bring out Meteor to soak up a hit or two.

----------------

It took me a few attempts, but I was eventually able to catch Giratina successfully!

===========

Inversion (Giratina); Lv. 47

Item: None

Ability: Pressure | Moves: Dragon Claw, AncientPower, Ominous Wind, Shadow Force

Once Giratina is captured, it reverts to its Altered Forme, this is the form seen in Diamond and Pearl, as it's sent to the PC. Though it'll stay in its Origin Forme for a little longer if you have room for it on your party.

===========

Once Giratina is captured, defeated, or even if you run away, Giratina will be pacified and Cyrus is deeply infuriated by this realization. With Giratina gone and this world still in tact, he quickly comes to understand that the universe can never be destroyed as long as this world persists, thus his plan is doomed for failure. As Cynthia preaches to him about the joys of people and pokemon living together, Cyrus again dismisses her claims, yelling more about the weakness of the human spirit and about how his own anger, hatred, and frustration is due to the incompleteness within him due to his own incomplete spirit. He thoroughly resents the Human Spirit, it seems. I can't help but wonder why that is? Oh, I really wish we could see more of Cyrus because it would be interesting to explore exactly why it is that the he's developed such a hatred of these things. There's gotta be a story to be told there but, sadly, I don't think it's a story that ever gets told.

Regardless, Cyrus insists that he won't give up and that he'll continue searching for a way to make his dream a reality, even going so far as to make a promise that one day we'll wake up in his new world devoid of human spirit. But when he tries, we'll almost certainly be there to stop him.

After this experience, we head back with Cynthia to the natural world again.

===========

Sendoff Spring

As we leave the Distortion World, Cynthia is shocked to find that we arrive at Sendoff Spring, just outside the entrance to Turnback Cave. Cynthia blocks the way to Turnback Cave, though, so we can't enter there and get our butts handed to us by super high-level wild pokemon or anything, and the wild pokemon in the area are also a lot weaker than in Diamond and Pearl to accomodate for the fact that this is no longer a postgame area. The music is also a lot less ominous now, instead using more generic route music as opposed to the music from the Old Chateau. Honestly, I really liked the atmosphere of this place with the Old Chateau music, but compared to the Distortion World, this is certainly a much more claming place, so I understand why they would change the music.

The Wild Pokemon here are also quite different from before, most notably, you can find Dusclops here now at 15% at night or 5% any other time. Golduck, Noctowl, and Chimecho can no longer be found here, with Graveler, Dusclops, and Chingling taking their places.

Cynthia urges us to return to Prof. Rowan because he was worried about us. I doubt he expects to find us in Sendoff Spring, so it definitely doesn't sound like a bad idea to go seek him out. But we've been at it for a while, so I think this is a good place to stop this update. Next time, we'll visit Prof. Rowan and catch him up on everything that's been going on. We'll also likely get moving toward Sunyshore City as we near the completion of the main story of Platinum! See you then!

March 19, 2023

Prof. Rowan's Laboratory

Last time was a really busy day, so, at Cynthia's suggestion, we return to Prof. Rowan's lab. He and Lucas are delighted to see that we're okay and congratulate us on our success in stopping Team Galactic! Essentially, it's all the same stuff they had to say when they came to Spear Pillar in Diamond and Pearl. They don't have anything to give us, so I'm honestly not quite sure why the game forces us to come out of our way to visit, but the path toward Sunyshore doesn't open until Prof. Rowan suggests you go there, so I suppose this is important closure for him.

And on that note, I want to actually make a small correction. This update isn't going to be focused on Sunyshore at all, but rather, the Lake Spirits! There isn't anything major to note here that's specific to Platinum, so this is likely to be a relatively short update which I'd say is only fair after going through the Distortion World last time.

Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf have all returned to their homes and await our arrival. So, we'll start a small journey taking a quick tour of the three lakes to collect 'em all!

============

Lake Valor

We'll begin with Lake Valor, which has returned to its normal state from before the Galactic Bombing, just like in Diamond and Pearl. Again, I suppose Dialga and Palkia undid the damage caused by Team Galactic just to spite Cyrus.

Lake Valor Cavern

Our main attraction here, though, is Azlef, the being of Willpower, within the cave located at the center of Lake Valor.

=============

Vs. Azelf, Lv. 50

---------------

The strategy here is very similar to the one I used against Giratina. Though one notable difference is my use of Polaris rather than Moon. The reason for this is twofold: One, Polaris's Ice Fang is physical, so it'll generally do more damage against Uxie and Azelf. More significantly is Polaris's type: Ice/Ghost. Being immune to Normal attacks means the only thing Azelf can use to damage Polaris is Future Sight. Unfortunately, Future Sight can't be blocked with Protect, so I do still have to take the damage every once in a while, but most of the time Azelf will just be wasting its turns going for Swift or Uproar. The most dangerous thing it can do, of course, is set up Nasty Plot which will increase the strength of Future Sight allowing it to KO Polaris a lot faster. Polaris doesn't have to stall out too long, though, it's generally only a couple of Ice Fangs that are needed. Hopefully I'll get a freeze somewhere in there. Otherwise, I think you know where this is going.

If Azelf gets weak and still isn't frozen, it's time to bring Radio in to paralyze it with Thunder Wave and start chucking pokeballs! Radio has the same story as Polaris, it's only vulnerable to Future Sight so 3 out of 4 times, it'll be completely safe from damage.

Of course, Radio will eventually go down, by which point Azelf typically has monstrous Sp. Attack thanks to Nasty Plot, so there's really not much I can do to withstand its attacks at this point other than continuing to chuck pokeballs and praying one of them works.

Satellite unfortunately isn't quite as good of a wall here as it was against Giratina, but we can't expect it to work well for everything!

Garchomp, of course, isn't going to be taking many hits, either.

And again, same for Comet. But if I'm at this point, I've likely run out of PokeBalls to throw.

--------------

It took a few attempts, but I eventually managed to catch Azelf! All it takes is perseverance! Though these Lake Spirits certainly aren't the toughest legendaries to catch since they can be walled so easily.

============

Inertia (Azelf); Lv. 50

Item: None

Ability: Levitate | Moves: Nasty Plot, Swift, Uproar, Future Sight

============

Lake Acuity

Our next destination is in the far north at Lake Acuity! This one brings to light a slight unfortunate factor I ahdn't considered with the decision to raise this lake to a plateau requiring Rock Climb. That is, of course, that you can't actually get to this cavern without a Rock Climb user. Then again, you don't really need a full team to do these captures. Ideally, Polaris, Radio, and maybe Moon should be all I need.

Lake Acuity Cavern

At the center of Lake Acuity lies Uxie, the being of Knowledge.

===========

Vs. Uxie, Lv. 50

The strategy here is all the same! Though it's a bit easier to apply to Uxie since it only has Amnesia rather than Nasty Plot, meaning it has no way to strengthen Future Sight. It takes Uxie a lot longer to overcome Froslass and Radio, by which point I've certainly starved most of my good pokeballs. With this one, I was actually lucky enough to get a Freeze early on in one of my attempts, so I managed to catch it fairly easily!

===========

Orbit (Uxie); Lv. 50

Item: None

Ability: Levitate | Moves: Amnesia, Swift, Uproar, Future Sight

==========

Lake Verity

Last but not least, we return to where it all began: Lake Verity!

Lake Verity Cavern

In the center of this cavern, Mesprit, the being of Emotion, lies in wait. Only, don't expect things to be any easier this time. Just like before, Mesprit will fly off when you approach and become a roaming pokemon. You're going to have to go through the extra steps to seek Mesprit out, but the same strategies as before work here to track it down. Just set aside an extra long session and get ready for a day of patience as you hunt for this thing over and over. Repels are always handy!

============

Vs. Mesprit, Lv. 50

When you finally do catch up to Mesprit, the general strategy is to use a trapping move like Mean Look. For this purpose, I'd recommend Umbreon or Crobat the most since they're likely to be able to outspeed Mesprit. Don't worry about using a Poison Type, keep in mind the only Psychic attack it has is Future Sight! In order to trap Mesprit against a slower pokemon like Dusknoir, you might want to paralyze it first. Though Thunder Wave is rather inaccessible in this gen, Rotom and Pachirisu are capable of accomplishing the task!

Personally, though it certainly makes the process last a lot longer, I hate myself enough to just do one thing at a time and let Mesprit run over and over again. It's suboptimal time-wise, and I'll be burning through lots of repels in the process, I do gain an additional layer of benefit.

During one of my many encounters with Mesprit, I was lucky enough to freeze it with Polaris' Ice Fang! The next time around, I could weaken it with a Shadow Ball to bring it into a comfortable catching range. Since Mesprit doesn't try to fight me, it won't ever defrost unless I try to trap it. Status conditions linger on roaming pokemon in this gen, if you recall. Freeze provides a massive bonus multiplier to Mesprit's catch rate. In addition, since Mesprit flees on the first turn every time, every pokeball I throw on it is on the first turn. You know what that means, Quick Balls are absolutely the way to go! They already gain a massive multiplier to compensate for usually being used to catch pokemon at full health. Now, I gain that massive multiplier on top of the multiplier from a frozen pokemon with low HP! Even still, it takes several attempts to catch Mesprit, so it's not free even with all these bonuses. You've still gotta have a lot of patience. That, or lots of long YouTube videos you need to catch up on but don't actually have to consciously focus on.

I did try switching Meteor to the front of my party hoping that maybe my fastest pokemon would be capable of causing Mesprit to fail its flee every once in a while, but I'm pretty sure I'd have to be quite a few levels higher for something like that to be possible. I think Mesprit would simply continue trying to flee every turn until it's successful, so I don't think that would put it at risk of thawing. Worst case scenario, I could always reload my save (save every step of the way when dealing with a roaming pokemon, of course! That way you don't lose any major progress in case something bad happens like a crit or suboptimal status like Burn or Poison is afflicted.)

----------------

It took several hours of on-and-off gameplay, I had to charge my DSi again at one point, but eventually I was able to overcome the task and catch Mesprit! But hey, there's only one more roaming legendary and I can use my Master Ball on it, right? ...right? Certainly Platinum wouldn't do something absolutely ridiculous like add a whole new roaming legendary trio to the game giving Sinnoh more roaming legendaries in one place than ever before... right...? Ah... we'll see you back in the postgame.

==============

Gravity (Mesprit), Lv. 50

Item: None

Ability: Levitate | Moves: Swift, Lucky Chant, Future Sight, Charm

============

And with that, the Lake Spirits of Sinnoh have been gathered up once again! I know it might seem a bit redundant to cover these legendary pokemon, and my coverage of them is pretty inconsistent with games like this, but I do consider them fairly important boss fights and my team composition does affect the way I approach them quite significantly sometimes.

Anyway, with the Lake Spirits out of the way, there's nothing else to stall with. So next time, it's off to Sunyshore City to see if we can get our final gym badge so that we're ready to proceed toward the Pokemon League! See you then!

March 30, 2023

Valor Lakefront

It's finally time to progress in the story! Last time we spoke with Prof. Rowan after capturing Giratina in the Distortion World and then tracked down to catch the three Lake Spirits. And now it's time to make our way toward Sunyshore City.

After you've met with Prof. Rowan, the guy blocking the way east of Valor Lakefront will be gone, allowing you to progress forward!

If you want, you can go back to Sendoff Spring, but Cynthia will still be blocking the entrance to Turnback Cave. There's no way around it, you're just gonna have to come back later.

Route 222

This route adds a couple of Heart Scales hidden along the beach to make dowsing a bit more exciting. More importantly, though, you've got some new encounters!

Since this route is so close to the Electric Gym, it's natural Electric-type pokemon would be drawn here! In Platinum, this is your first chance to catch Magneton, Electabuzz, and Luxio in the wild! I mentioned before that I planned for Rotom to be a temporary party member initially. A big part of my reasoning there was because I actually intended to use Electabuzz on my team. However, I felt like this is so late in the game that it would be a bit disappointing to add a new team member after the majority of the main story is already over. I also generally prefer to use pokemon at the start of their evolution chains and Elekid is simply unavailable in the wild. Normally, I'd use Electabuzz here anyway, but I figure a certain game in the next gen will provide us with a much better opportunity to use this guy, so I think Electabuzz can hold out just a bit longer.

Anyway, Luxio being first available here is also a bit new. In Diamond and Pearl you could find it outside of Fuego Ironworks, but that's simply not the case here. Though if you wanted to use Luxio, you'd probably have a Luxray you caught as a Shinx by this point. But if you opted not to raise a Shinx, this can save you some time evolving one!

Alongside those, you can also find Pelipper here where you couldn't before.

Anyway, these cool new additions to this route come at the expense of Mr. Mime, Glameow, and Purugly no longer being available. Even Gastrodon is missing, strangely enough.

============

Sunyshore City

As you probably expect, things play out much the same when you first arrive here, you'll run into Flint who will tell you about how disappointed the local gym leader, Volkner has been. He requests you go talk to him at the Lighthouse and show him a good battle at the gym to brighten up his enthusiasm!

As we explore around the city, we can see that, once again, Platinum has made the city visually distinct from others in Sinnoh. The houses all have more fort-like designs to match with the Sunyshore Market, and the solar panel roadways overhead look much darker in color with blue guardrails instead of orange ones. It gives the whole city a much more electric look I'd say. Of course, the typical amenities persist here from Diamond and Pearl. Julie still gives you ribbons, you can buy Seals from the Market, there's the scientist who gives you Poketch apps in exchange for showing him pokemon of specific natures, you can find Jasmine at the north end, you get the deal. We've been through Sinnoh three times now, so let's just get right down to business.

We want to meet with Volkner at the Vista Lighthouse so that we he can head to the gym and await our battle!

============

Sunyshore City Gym

In a minor disappointment and a sense of irony, despite this being the one gym that gets renovated in canon, this is one of the gyms that isn't changed at all from Diamond and Pearl to Platinum. So, there's not really much to say here. However, it is worth noting that, due to the addition of a larger variety of Electric type pokemon in Sinnoh's Regional Dex here in Platinum, the trainers in here consistently use Electric-type pokemon! Before some of them would surprise you with pokemon like Bibarel or Kadabra.

And at the back of the gym, we've got the strongest gym leader of Sinnoh: Volkner, the last obstacle standing between us and Victory Road!

==============

My Team:

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Moon (Empoleon F); Lv. 49

Item: Shell Bell

Ability: Torrent | Moves: Ice Beam, Aqua Jet, Surf, Pluck

------------------

Radio (Rotom); Lv. 49

Item: Colbur Berry

Ability: Levitate | Moves: Shock Wave, Thunder Wave, Ominous Wind, Overheat

--------------

Comet (Togetic M); Lv. 49

Item: Razor Fang

Ability: Serene Grace | Moves: Water Pulse, Air Slash, AncientPower, Baton Pass

--------------

Meteor (Garchomp M); Lv. 50

Item: Yache Berry

Ability: Sand Veil | Moves: Dragon Claw, Crunch, Aerial Ace, Earthquake

---------------

Satellite (Porygon-Z); Lv. 49

Item: Mind Plate

Ability: Download | Moves: Psychic, Discharge, Recover, Signal Beam

---------------

Polaris (Froslass F); Lv. 49

Item: Kasib Berry

Ability: Snow Cloak | Moves: Ice Shard, Protect, Ice Fang, Shadow Ball

============

Vs. Sunyshore Gym Leader Volkner

---------------

Jolteon, Lv. 46

The obvious lead here was Meteor. I figured Volkner would have some sort of out for this one like he did in Diamond and Pearl, so I just went for an Earthquake and took out his first pokemon right away. Now it's off to the real challenge!

---------------

Luxray, Lv. 48

Oh... oh dear. Well, Luxray went down as well... maybe it was a fluke?

--------------

Electivire, Lv. 50

Well, that's a cool touch, Volkner's strongest pokemon is changed up this time, being Electivire, in my opinion this is a much more iconic Electric type for the gen and it certainly feels a lot more powerful than a Luxray. So I'm down for this change! Except... it also went down to Earthquake... okay...

---------------

Raichu, Lv. 46

....Cool....

----------------

And yeah... that's our final gym battle. Alright, I can understand the decision to remake Volkner's team. After all, a Diamond and Pearl confused a lot of people by their gyms not necessarily being mono-type gyms. We've seen these changes in the last two gyms now. However, I feel like that comes at a major detriment in this case. Volkner's team used to be one of the toughest to beat in Diamond and Pearl due to its variety of types and type coverage. But here? I was just able to sweep his four generic Electric types with Earthquake. To be fair, his Luxray does know Ice Fang which helps it to counter Ground-type pokemon, but they couldn't have at least given it a Shuca Berry or something so it wouldn't go down immediately if outsped? I am admittedly a little overlevel than I'm probably expected to be, but our strongest pokemon still matched each others' levels! It really feels like it shouldn't have been this easy when I actually had to do some switching in Diamond!

I found this gym to be genuinely disappointing this time around, because I was expecting him to drop his Octillery and force me to switch. Instead, I never even felt pressured to try and use another pokemon. Maybe this is just further evidence that a move like Earthquake really should be found around Victory Road?

Regardless, something about this battle must've inspired Volkner, because he seems to have enjoyed himself a lot! Maybe nobody's ever tried to battle him with a Ground type before? It's good to know at least one of us was impressed by the battle. Maybe he'll go off to add an Octillery to his team next...

-----------------

MVP: Metor

We've got another uncontested MVP here, as Meteor did all the work well enough I didn't need anyone else!

===============

And that's that! We now have 8 badges under our belt! Once we grab the HM for Waterfall from Jasmine, we're free to travel to the world's end and start hiking up Victory Road! I'm honestly a little nervous about how my team will fare against the Elite Four, but I suppose we'll just have to take things one step at a time. I'm prepared to have to drop some items on Cynthia if I must.

See you soon!

April 1, 2023

Well, everyone, today's the day I finally jump ship. These posts take a lot of time to create, so I've decided my time is probably better spent elsewhere. Don't worry, though! Your regular All the Pokemens updates will resume more frequently than ever! But they might be a little bit different. I've decided to use Chat GPT to co-author these posts. From now on, these posts will be mostly AI-generated.

I decided to start things out by asking Chat GPT to describe the process of traveling through Victory Road and taking on the Elite 4:

Quote

Upon entering Victory Road, the first thing you notice is the dimly lit cavernous environment. The music is tense, and the sound of dripping water echoes throughout the cave. The path is full of rocky obstacles, narrow bridges, and boulder puzzles that you need to solve to progress. To avoid getting lost, you must pay close attention to the markings on the walls, which indicate the correct path.

As you travel deeper into Victory Road, you encounter many powerful trainers with high-level Pokemon. The trainers specialize in a variety of Pokemon types, so you must have a diverse team of Pokemon with different movesets to counter their strategies. The battles are intense and require you to be strategic with your Pokemon's moves, items, and abilities.

After successfully navigating through Victory Road, you reach the Pokemon League, where you face the Elite Four members one by one. Each member has a unique specialization in a particular type of Pokemon, and they will challenge you with powerful Pokemon that have diverse movesets.

To defeat the Elite Four, you must have a well-trained team of Pokemon that can counter their strategies. You need to pay attention to the type matchups and use your Pokemon's abilities and items effectively. After defeating all four members, you will face the Champion, Cynthia. Cynthia has a diverse team of powerful Pokemon, so you must be prepared for anything.

The battle with Cynthia is one of the most challenging battles in the game, but it is also the most rewarding. When you defeat Cynthia, you become the new champion of the Pokemon League, and your achievement is celebrated with a grand ceremony.

Overall, the experience of traveling through Victory Road and defeating the Elite Four in Pokemon Platinum is a challenging but rewarding one. It requires careful planning, strategy, and a well-trained team of Pokemon. But when you emerge victorious, the feeling of accomplishment is indescribable.

That's incredibly insightful! The Elite Four certainly sound tough and I'm a bit worried about how my team will do, do you think I'll be able to make it?

Quote

Your team looks very well-rounded and should be able to handle the challenges posed by the Elite Four in Pokemon Platinum. You have a diverse range of Pokemon types, which will be helpful in countering the different specialties of the Elite Four members.

Moon the Empoleon is a Water/Steel-type Pokemon that can take on Flint's Fire-type Pokemon, and Bertha's Ground-type Pokemon. Radio the Frost Rotom, with its Electric/Ice-type combination, can also be useful against Bertha and against Aaron's Bug-type Pokemon.

Comet the Togekiss, a Fairy/Flying-type Pokemon, is versatile and can be used against most Elite Four members. Meteor the Garchomp, with its Dragon/Ground-type combination, can be effective against most of the Elite Four, except for Aaron's Bug-type Pokemon. Satellite the Porygon-Z, a Normal-type Pokemon, has a range of special moves that can be useful in countering Lucian's Psychic-type Pokemon.

Lastly, Polaris the Froslass, with its Ghost/Ice-type combination, can be used against most Elite Four members, especially Aaron and Bertha.

Overall, your team has a good mix of offensive and defensive capabilities, and your movesets cover a wide range of type matchups, making it a solid choice for taking on the Elite Four. However, it's always a good idea to make sure that your team is at a high enough level and that you have plenty of healing items and revives on hand to make it through the challenging battles ahead.

That's wonderful to hear! I don't know if I can agree about the types of some of those pokemon, but I'll try to take your advice into account! My pokemon are all around level 50-51, I expect they'll be around 52-53 by the time I reach the Elite Four. Do you think I'm strong enough?

Quote

Level 50-51 is a good starting level for challenging the Elite Four, and with your well-rounded team and diverse movesets, you should be able to hold your own. However, it's always a good idea to level up your Pokemon a bit more before taking on the Elite Four, as they can be quite challenging.

I would recommend training your team to at least level 55-60 to increase your chances of success. Additionally, make sure you have plenty of healing items, such as potions and revives, as well as status healing items like Full Heals and Antidotes. It's also a good idea to stock up on PP restoring items like Elixirs and Max Ethers, as you'll need all the firepower you can get to take on the Elite Four.

Overall, with some more training and preparation, your team should be more than capable of taking on the Elite Four and emerging victorious!

I see, well, I do like a challenge, so I think I'll march on ahead anyway and see where it gets me! Only one more thing to ask: What pokemon do you think I should use when I get around to HeartGold and SoulSilver?

Quote

HeartGold and SoulSilver are great games with a lot of options for building a strong team. Here are a few suggestions for Pokemon you may want to consider using:

Typhlosion - A solid Fire-type Pokemon that can learn a variety of moves to help counter different types.

Ampharos - A powerful Electric-type Pokemon with a high Special Attack stat and a useful movepool.

Scizor - A Bug/Steel-type Pokemon that can dish out a lot of damage with its high Attack stat and access to powerful moves like Bullet Punch.

Gyarados - A Water/Flying-type Pokemon with a high Attack stat and a useful Intimidate ability that can lower the opponent's Attack stat.

Espeon - A Psychic-type Pokemon with high Special Attack and Speed stats, and useful moves like Psychic and Morning Sun.

Heracross - A Bug/Fighting-type Pokemon with high Attack and Defense stats, and access to powerful moves like Megahorn and Close Combat.

These are just a few suggestions, but there are many other great Pokemon to choose from in HeartGold and SoulSilver. The important thing is to build a well-rounded team with a variety of types and moves to counter different opponents. Good luck with your future Pokemon adventures!

I see, I see, looks like my next team is already planned out!

Without further ado, it's time to bid you all farewell! And a happy April Fool's as well!

Don't worry, in case it's not obvious, this is just a little April Fool's joke. Regular updates will continue as planned, but school is still pretty busy so there'll still be some waiting between updates. Sorry for all the waiting! Please be patient with me!

April 2, 2023

Sunyshore City

It's time for a day of real progress! Last time we defeated Volkner and claimed our final gym badge, so now it's off toward the Pokemon League! Well, I suppose there's also that little interview with an AI. I don't think I have any plans to let an AI write these posts for me anytime soon.

Of course, along the way we'll have to get HM08: Waterfall from Jasmine! Though this scene plays out a bit differently from how it did in Diamond and Pearl. Before, she would just notice your badge in passing and gift you with the HM a bit awkwardly.

This time, it isn't Jasmine who approaches first, but Percy! He envies us for having gotten all eight badges, it seems we've gotten ahead of him? I didn't actually think to check the statue in the gym to see if his name was on the plaque, but the dialogue here seems to imply he doesn't have this badge yet when he's usually been one step ahead of us when it comes to badge count. It seems he's taken training more seriously now, which is some interesting fairly subtle character development one step beyond just showing up with a much tougher team at the Pokemon League.

Anyway, he mentions how he started out wanting to be a strong trainer just like his dad, but that he's started to reconsider what being a pokemon trainer actually means. He decides this time not to challenge us to a battle, admitting he already knows we're stronger than him, but he insists he'll be able to catch up if he focuses seriously on his training. So, it sounds like we've got a serious battle up ahead!

It's after this scene plays out that Jasmine approaches you and asks if that was your friend. She comments about how she felt a warmth from your bond and then gives you the Waterfall HM. It's still a bit awkward, but they wrote a better excuse for it in this time!

Anyway, before we get moving onward, I suppose I should address some of the interesting things you can get with Waterfall. Only one thing of particular note stood out to me:

Mt. Coronet [4F]

All the way back up on Mt. Coronet 4F, yes, it's quite a bit out of the way, but the cavern you can access here has much more interesting items than what it had in Diamond and Pearl.

In the back, there's two items in addition to the rock holding the hidden Stone Plate.

These items are none other than the Adamant Orb and Lustrous Orb! Held items that power up the STAB attacks of Dialga and Palkia! Really powerful items that are a bit more significant this time around than in the previous games. We'll get around to why that is later on, and this might not be the most efficient time to pick these items up since we can't really get Dialga and Palkia right now... /cough. But, this is where I happened across them so I figured I should note this is where I got them from.

=============

Route 223

After a quick sweep of Sinnoh with our Waterfall HM, it's time to get moving on the last stretch of the main story across Route 223!

There aren't any particularly new additions here on Route 223, the only notable difference is that Octillery is actually available to catch here with the Good Rod, making it catchable before the Elite Four, though it doesn't change anything in terms of Octillery's availability since you could always just evolve Remoraid if you wanted to use one. Octillery is available at 5% with the Good Rod, but it'll be much more common if you wait for the Super Rod.

Other than that small change, there isn't much else to talk about aside from the typical fact that new items have been strewn across the route for your collecting pleasure. Get that Dowsing Machine App out and tap away!

At the end of the route, we'll reach the entrance to Victory Road where we can rest up at a Pokemon Center before taking on the daunting task ahead.

==============

Victory Road [1F]

It's Victory Road! With the Black Flute in our hands, this place actually isn't nearly as frustrating to navigate without repels.

The only completely new pokemon that can be found on the first floor here is Rhydon. But Gabite can also be found now. This comes at the cost of Meditite and Machoke no longer being available. Needless to say, there's a lot more Rock and Ground types in here.

Victory Road [B1F]

Down here in B1F, you can now find Azumarill! Not too terribly exciting since we could get Marill and Azuril earlier, but it's a new pokemon you can grab right up! Like 1F, you can also find Gabite here now but can no longer find Machoke or Medicham.

Victory Road [2F]

The second floor brings is own changes. Namely, Kadabra can't be found here and instead you can find Magneton. And Gabite replaces Medicham up here, as well.

=============

Pokemon League

After working our way through the winding paths of Victory Road and battling through many tough trainers, we arrive at the base of the Pokemon League. Only a Waterfall separates us from the Elite Four.

The interior of the Pokemon League gate has been drastically redesigned. It used to resemble and expanded Pokemon Center in Diamond and Pearl, but here it has a much sleeker design with the Pokemon Center and Mart having their own designated sections in a new tileset used for the main lobby area. The escalators to the left lead to where they would in a normal Pokemon Center.

Anyway, you're going to want to heal up at the Pokemon Center right away so you can fly back here whenever you want. But more importantly, if you remember how things played out in Diamond and Pearl, you'll know you probably want to prepare for battle as well.

Of course, as we approach the gate leading to the Elite Four, you already know we're gonna be stopped by Percy who wants one last battle with us to test his newfound strength. So, let's give it to him!

=============

My Team:

-----------------

Moon (Empoleon F); Lv. 52

Item: Shuca Berry

Ability: Torrent | Moves: Ice Beam, Aqua Jet, Surf, Drill Peck

------------------

Radio (Rotom); Lv. 52

Item: Colbur Berry

Ability: Levitate | Moves: Discharge, Thunder Wave, Ominous Wind, Blizzard

--------------

Comet (Togekiss M); Lv. 52

Item: Razor Fang

Ability: Serene Grace | Moves: Water Pulse, Air Slash, AncientPower, Baton Pass

--------------

Meteor (Garchomp M); Lv. 52

Item: Yache Berry

Ability: Sand Veil | Moves: Dragon Claw, Fire Fang, Aerial Ace, Earthquake

---------------

Satellite (Porygon-Z); Lv. 52

Item: Magnet

Ability: Download | Moves: Psychic, Charge Beam, Recover, Tri-Attack

---------------

Polaris (Froslass F); Lv. 52

Item: Kasib Berry

Ability: Snow Cloak | Moves: Ice Shard, Protect, Ice Fang, Shadow Ball

============

Vs. Percy #6

-------------

Staraptor, Lv. 48

And so begins our toughest battle yet against Percy! I led off with Polaris figuring he'd start with Staraptor and, indeed, it looks like I've got the upper hand! Unfortunately, I was taken by surprise by Steel Wing! Neither of us KO'd each other with our first attacks, and I was able to outspeed, so I decided to chance it again knowing Steel Wing wasn't perfectly accurate and Ice Fang had a solid chance of either freezing of flinching him. Unfortunately, neither wound up happening and Staraptor hung on with a little bit of HP left before taking Polaris out with Steel Wing. Unfortunate, but it was a risk I chose to take. Probably should've just swapped Radio in when I noticed he was going for Steel Wing.

The matchup was pretty straightforward here, though. I brought Empoleon out to deal with Staraptor. Anticipating a heal, I went for Ice Beam rather than Aqua Jet to finish him off. Unfortunately, he got his attack of first. Thankfully, it wasn't Close Combat I was hit with, but Aerial Ace which barely did anything. Naturally, with no healing, Ice Beam was more than overkill.

-----------------

Torterra, Lv. 51

This wasn't a smart move at all on his part. Once again, I'm sure the AI just saw a Grass type against a Water type and went for it, but he couldn't have chosen a worse out to my Empoleon. With a simple Ice Beam, Torterra was out of the game.

----------------

Heracross, Lv. 48

While I could likely hold my own against Heracross here thanks to Drill Peck, I didn't want to chance falling just short and getting Countered or Close Combat'd into oblivion, so I figured the safest bet here was to switch into someone who I was confident could take the Close Combat.

And that's where Comet comes in! Close Combat did a bit of a number on him, but he was equally ready to dish out some serious pain with Air Slash!

----------------

Floatzel, Lv. 47

Again, his move choice seemed obvious to me, so I decided to capitalize with an easy switch.

I had Moon switch in on an anticipated Ice Fang and then went for Drill Peck. It did decent enough damage, but I was really caught off guard by this thing having Brick Break! I immediately noped out of there again.

Radio was a safe switch this time, and with Discharge, Floatzel wasn't hanging around much longer! Unfortunately, Floatzel was able to get a Crunch off, but its damaged was heavily reduced thanks to my Colbur Berry!

-----------------

Snorlax, Lv. 49

Now this is always a scary matchup and Radio didn't quite have anything in particular to try and out Snorlax. The best I could hope for was to get some damage off and then either hit him hard with another pokemon before he thinks to go for Rest, or switch while he's asleep. For now, I opted to hang on and go for Discharge! I actually managed to paralyze Snorlax, but that didn't stop it from attacking at all and Radio went down to a couple of Crunches.

With Snorlax paralyzed at approximately half health, it was time to bring out the big guns and go for the kill! Meteor came out and hit 'em hard with an Earthquake!

------------------

Rapidash, Lv. 47

If there was any universe where this matchup would end well for him, it certainly isn't this one. Earthquake took Rapidash out with ease.

----------------

And with that, Percy was defeated once again! As much as I'd like to make fun of him, his team actually put up a pretty solid fight compared to most other times we've battled throughout the game. I said it before, but this battle can genuinely be challenging! But, of course, everybody at the Elite Four are even tougher than him, so we'd better be prepared.

===============

Next time, we're going to take on the Elite Four and conclude the main story of our third adventure through the Sinnoh region! I'll see you soon!

April 4, 2023

Pokemon League [Interior]

We've reached that point once again! We're standing at the gate of the Pokemon League, ready to have our 8 badges checked for permission to challenge the Elite Four!

Across our journey, we've overcome many gym leaders whose teams have been reworked from Diamond and Pearl. Some were notably easier, some were notably more difficult, even the order was slightly changed up! Because of the many hiccups this game's coverage has had, it feels like so long ago when I first started this playthrough, but I'll never forget the genuine difficulty I had with Gardenia early on, partially due to my lack of team options at the time. But we persevered and our team only got stronger as we continued!

Now, we stand ready to take on the Elite Four with our team at the strongest they've ever been! This guys have all proven to be quite powerful, so let's see just how they hold up against the strongest opponents this game has to offer!

===============

Elite Four

The elevator rooms between battles are unchanged between Diamond and Pearl in the Elite Four, so let's just march right on through!

==============

Elite Four [1F]

The Elite Four's rooms are visually redesigned to stronger correlate with the member's type specialty! Aaron's room is decorated like a forest scene, with a hollow log, some patches of grass, and rocks in the corner.

Platinum introduces an exciting new flare just like the Gym Leaders against the Elite Four members, but the one against Elite Four members is special as it shows the determined look on your player character's face, too!

Here's what our portrait would look like had we chosen the male protagonist at the start of the game.

=============

Vs. Elite Four #1: Aaron

One small touch I've noticed this time around during these Elite Four battles is that the backdrop of the touch screen during battle, which is usually an image of a pokeball on a predominantly white background, is given an overlay of different colors to match the opponent you're facing. In Aaron's case, the bottom screen appears a deep green. To my knowledge, this is something that hasn't changed at all the whole game and I, at the very least, didn't notice this change in Diamond and Pearl, either, though I'm not going to rule out that I missed it just because it's a small detail. I just thought I'd note it there because it's another small unnecessary change that helps make these Elite Four battles feel that much more special.

-------------------

Yanmega, Lv. 49

Right away, it's clear that the levels of the Elite Four have been significantly reduced from Diamond and Pearl. Aaron's lowest level pokemon in Diamond and Pearl was Lv. 53! That's a 4-level gap! This makes it obvious to me that the levels have been increased overall throughout the entire game in order to specifically make this final stretch a bit easier. But there's also a second reason for this change which you can probably already guess. More on that in a bit.

I led off with Togekiss against Yanmega which allowed for an easy KO with AncientPower early on, which is important because Yanmega loves to set up Double Team! If I'm lucky enough to get a boost from AncientPower, I can even pass it off with Baton Pass to help with other matchups!

------------------

Drapion, Lv. 53

Aaron sends his toughest pokemon, Drapion, out next. I took a few runs through the Elite Four to optimize my strategies and minimize my use of healing items between battles, so I knew from experience Drapion had Ice Fang. Naturally, I needed to retreat into something that could take the hit.

Who could take Ice Fang better than Moon? This is an easy choice for a switch-in. There's next to nothing Drapion can do against Moon but spam X-Scissor which isn't going to make much progress, so a couple of Surfs later and Drapion is done for.

----------------

Heracross, Lv. 51

Well this one rang some bells. I tried to stay in and go for Drill Peck in a previous run and it didn't end well for Moon due to getting outsped, so I knew this was a moment I'd have to switch.

I'd found that the safest switch was Radio. Comet wouldn't have any issues switching in on Close Combat, but problems would arise when Heracross would switch up to Stone Edge. Radio can take these hits a lot better and take Heracross out with two hits from Discharge. I was partially worried about the chance of paralyzing it and triggering Guts, but in retrospect, it turns out Aaron's Heracross only has Swarm, so I suppose that's a non-issue.

-----------------

Scizor, Lv. 49

The out to this one is pretty standard. I would intially go for a couple of Discharges to take Scizor out after noticing Night Slash wasn't actually doing all that much, even after the Colbur Berry was used up. I imagine Radio's probably built up a lot of normally undesireable defense IVs due to being used to fight a lot of defensive pokemon early on, but it seems to work out nicely here! The more consistent approach here is one that's a lot more straight-forward. I'd simply paralyze Scizor with Thunder Wave to try and cover for a switch.

And from there, bring out Meteor and take Scizor out with one shot using Fire Fang. Much easier!

-----------------

Vespiquen, Lv. 50

Though not his highest level, I've always found Vespiquen to be the toughest pokemon of Aaron's to get bast if you aren't properly equipped to take it out quickly. Which, Meteor unfortunately isn't. But there's still a fairly simple approach to take here. Vespiquen likes to lead with Defend Order, so I can keep using Fire Fang to try and get Flinches or even a Burn off. Of course, she also has Heal Order to heal up, so that Burn isn't going to do too much in terms of chipping away at her health. However, between buffing her defenses and healing, she rarely has time to actually attack. Once I pressure her to use Heal Order, I can take the opportunity to switch into somebody better suited for fighting.

And that would be Comet! While Vespiquen's defenses are usually pretty high at this point, Comet can go for a couple of AncientPower in hopes of boosting his stats further to overcome these defenses. The downside this approach is that Vespiquen happens to have a strong counter to flying types with the move Power Gem, so this isn't as clean of a wall as I'd like. Still, even after AncientPower runs out of PP, I do have Air Slash which has a really high chance of making her flinch.

In a worst case scenario, I can always baton pass stat boosts from AncientPower onto Radio, or simply switch in to use Ominous Wind to try for more stat boosts. These stat boosts can do wonders for Vespiquen's buffed defenses and she isn't nearly as well equipped to handle Radio.

------------------

And with that, Aaron of the Elite Four is defeated! There's three more to go! His team was indeed lower level, but certainly much scarier than its predecessor with the addition of Yanmega and Scizor. Ironically, though, I think had he been able to set up Light Screen with his Dustox from DP, I might've had a much tougher time with this battle.

MVP: Comet

While there was certainly some much needed support, AncientPower and Baton Pass played a critical role in overcoming some of the trickier pokemon here.

===============

Elite Four [2F]

The next room belongs to Bertha, whose chamber has been redesigned to appear as a canyon scene to reflect her ground-type specialty.

Let's not mince words here and get on with the battle!

================

Vs. Elite Four #2: Bertha

During Bertha's battle, the background of the bottom screen will be colored brown.

-----------------

Whiscash, Lv. 50

Initially, I tried leading with Radio, making this Whiscash a really unfortunate matchup. I experimented around with various leads but decided the best to minimize damage on my end was an all-out offensive using Satellite. If I'm lucky, I can even get a freeze with Tri-Attack! The attack is a two hit KO, so I'm pretty easily able to wipe out this awkward foe.

-----------------

Gliscor, Lv. 53

It's worth noting that this is the point where the Elite Four starts to surpass my team's levels.

The follow-up here is Gliscor, who is best dealt with some good ol' bait and switch.

Radio is naturally safe from Earthquake and can dish out some harsh pain with Blizzard! Gliscor's done for!

----------------

Hippowdon, Lv. 52

I know from experience that I have nothing to worry about at this point because Moon is capable of sweeping the rest of Bertha's team with Surf OHKOs.

I switched Moon in on a Crunch, since she's immune to sandstorm, she's certainly ideal for this sweep! With Surf, Hippowdon was washed away!

----------------

Golem, Lv. 52

Golem, too, was weathered to nothing before it could attack.

---------------

Rhyperior, Lv. 55

Even Rhyperior was simply too sluggish to get an attack off before being beached.

----------------

And with that, Bertha was defeated easily enough. I don't think I have any particular comments about her, though I think she's notably easier with Gliscor instead of Quagsire. But perhaps if I wasn't so readily prepared, that opinion might've shifted. Water/Ground was just an awkward type combo for me to deal with.

MVP: Moon

I can't argue with Moon being a dominant force here. Not only did she sweep three of these pokemon, she also could've shrugged off an Earthquake from Gliscor thanks to her Shuca Berry and dished out some pain there with Ice Beam, too. I don't think there's much contest for this MVP slot.

=============

Elite Four [3F]

Flint's chamber is looking hot with pits of fire underneath heating up the atmosphere! This... can't be comfortable in my jacket.

Let's end this battle quickly so we can cool off!

=============

Vs. Elite Four #3: Flint

And as it turns out, that might not be too difficult to do. Oh, and Flint's bottom screen is Red as you'd probably expect.

---------------

Houndoom, Lv. 52

With Meteor, I could outspeed his Houndoom which means it's down with a single Earthquake.

----------------

Rapidash, Lv. 53

Rapidash, too, couldn't stand a chance against Meteor, and dropped to Earthquake.

------------------

Magmortar, Lv. 57

The fact that he followed up with his strongest pokemon hinted to me he really had no out to a Garchomp. And that was a sad omen, indeed. Magmortar was also victim to being outsped by Garchomp and OHKO'd with Earthquake. I think you can see where this is going.

---------------

Flareon, Lv. 55

Flareon was able to get a Quick Attack off. Horray for him! Anyway, that's another Earthquake KO.

--------------

Infernape, Lv. 55

I honestly thought I'd be able to outspeed this thing since he sent it out last, but Infernape actually did surprise me by outspeeding Meteor! But it went for Earthquake and did an embarrassingly little amount of damage. I'm not sure why or how it managed to do so little because I didn't think Meteor was particularly defensive, yet here we are. Well, he tried his hardest, but Infernape also went down to another Earthquake.

-----------------

And that's Flint! Yeah, he was hurt really bad by the same government mandate to use a mono team, I guess Aaron just got away by tricking the government into believing Drapion is a bug type. Anyway, it's a bit disappointing how this battle went, but it's kinda poetic he had the exact same fate as Volkner, isn't it?

MVP: Meteor

A clean sweep leaves the MVP slot uncontested.

=============

Elite Four [4F]

Lucian's chamber appears to have some sort of occult theme to it to fit his Psychic type.

This is the final battle between us and our fight against the Champion! Bring it on!

==============

Vs. Elite Four #4: Lucian

Lucian's touch screen is a soft reddish, purple color.

-----------------

Mr. Mime, Lv. 53

I'd lead with Polaris for this battle! Anticipating a physical attack, Mr. Mime would set up Reflect only to be surprised by a Shadow Ball to the face! It takes two turns to KO Mr. Mime, but Polaris outspeeds him, so it's an easy KO.

----------------

Bronzong, Lv. 54

It's only natural to expect him to follow up with Bronzong to counteract Froslass. Its Gyro Ball is certainly a dangerous pressure!

This is an awkward matchup, especially with Reflect in play. The best switch-in I have for Gyro Ball is Empoleon who is the slowest pokemon on the team who resists Steel. Unfortunately, I can't just get around this matchup with some simple attacks. I can easily assume this thing has Levitate, so I wouldn't bother trying to bring Meteor in for Earthquake and Fire Fang isn't going to do much either. The best strat I had with my current team was just to keep Moon in and continuously use Surf. This would lead to a long stalemate where Bronzong would build his defenses with Calm Mind and attack with Earthquake which doesn't do much because of Bronzong's lacking attack stat. Eventually, I'd manage to take Bronzong out with a well-timed critical hit from Surf! It was a bit luck-based, I'll admit. My backup plan was to use Comet's AncientPower and Radio's Ominous Wind to build stats like I panned for Vespiquen. Then maybe Meteor's Fire Fang might be able to leave a mark. But as it stood, I was happy to take a lucky crit!

----------------

Gallade, Lv. 59

Yup, Bronzong is no longer Lucian's ace, but Gallade!

With Gallade's Fighting type, it's obvious what he was going to go for here, so it was time to switch out!

In came Radio to fight back with Ominous Wind! Unfortunately, I didn't do quite as much as I'd hoped, so I instead went to paralyze Gallade with Thunder Wave before getting KO'd with Psycho Cut.

And next came Comet. I was planning to use the Flinch strat to win this matchup, but I critted right away with Air Slash for a quick win. Once again, we take those!

-----------------

Alakazam, Lv. 56

There wasn't much to do against an Alakazam that could outspeed me, so I decided to instead go for AncientPower and hope for a boost to help me survive long enough to pass the boost along. Lo and behold, that's exactly what happened! Serene Grace really is fantastic. As it turned out, the speed boost from AncientPower also helped me outspeed Alakazam!

I had Polaris rejoin the battle here. It was a bit of a risk, but I thought the stat boosts might help her the most. The boosted Shadow Ball combined with the damage from Comet's AncientPower took Alakazam out. It's hard to say whether the boosted Shadow Ball was enough for an OHKO, but this was all I needed!

-----------------

Espeon, Lv. 55

I knew, and easily could've guessed, that Espeon had Shadow Ball from a previous attempt where everything went to shit due to horrendous RNG on my end (I got critted three times among other unfortunate happenings). Thankfully, the stat boost along with Polaris' Kasib Berry helped her survive a Shadow Ball, allowing for a 2HKO with my own Shadow Balls.

-----------------

And that's it for Lucian! I think Gallade is a lot more threatening than his Medicham he had before, but overall I think he's a lot tougher if his strongest pokemon is Bronzong. That thing is always a fortress if you're not properly prepared to deal with it.

MVP: Comet

I think I once again have to give MVP to Comet here. Clutched out some critical moments that helped the whole win go over much more smoothly. I'd have liked to put Polaris here, but unfortunately I think she relied heavily on the stat boosts from Comet to be useful.

==============

Elite Four [5F]

And so, the Elite Four have been defeated yet again! And things are only going to heat up more against Cynthia!

==============

My Team:

-----------------

Moon (Empoleon F); Lv. 53

Item: Shuca Berry

Ability: Torrent | Moves: Ice Beam, Aqua Jet, Surf, Drill Peck

------------------

Radio (Rotom); Lv. 52

Item: Colbur Berry

Ability: Levitate | Moves: Discharge, Thunder Wave, Ominous Wind, Blizzard

--------------

Comet (Togekiss M); Lv. 53

Item: Razor Fang

Ability: Serene Grace | Moves: Water Pulse, Air Slash, AncientPower, Baton Pass

--------------

Meteor (Garchomp M); Lv. 54

Item: Yache Berry

Ability: Sand Veil | Moves: Dragon Claw, Fire Fang, Aerial Ace, Earthquake

---------------

Satellite (Porygon-Z); Lv. 52

Item: Magnet

Ability: Download | Moves: Psychic, Charge Beam, Recover, Tri-Attack

---------------

Polaris (Froslass F); Lv. 52

Item: Kasib Berry

Ability: Snow Cloak | Moves: Ice Shard, Protect, Ice Fang, Shadow Ball

============

Elite Four [5F - Champion's Chamber]

Cynthia's room is dramatically redesigned with a similar aesthetic to the redesign of the Pokemon League lobby. This room is certainly a lot more foreboding than it was in DP.

I'm going to be honest, I was genuinely worried about how this fight would play out, so I decided ahead of time I was okay with using items here. Even with items, it took me a handful of tries, however, I will say right out the gate that this fight didn't feel nearly as hopeless as it did in Diamond and Pearl, mainly because her levels aren't nearly as monstrous as they were there.

=============

Vs. Champion Cynthia

The background of the lower screen for this battle is black!

---------------

Spiritomb, Lv. 58

Right out the gate, we have Cynthia's Spiritomb to worrya bout! Without being 10 levels below it like before, this matchup was much easier to digest without needing to rely on cheesing it out with luck. But it's not exactly a cakewalk of a matchup, either! This matchup opens the game up in a stalemate where I'm hitting Spiritomb with Water Pulse trying to confuse it, AncientPower trying to get stat boosts, and Air Slash trying to flinch it. All the while it's just spamming Dark Pulse and hitting me for a decent chunk each time. Ideally, I'd like to get a stat boost to Baton Pass away, but Pressure active, I only get three uses of AncientPower max, so that's not quite as likely as confusion from Water Pulse. If I'm really lucky, I can bait Cynthia into dropping a Full Restore or two on this thing. Eventually, I do overcome it thanks to a combination of the various special effects. Unfortunately, AncientPower doesn't contribute to this victory, so no stats to pass off.

----------------

Togekiss, Lv. 60

Let's not forget where our little Comet came from in the first place! Of course, Cynthia has a Togekiss of her own! A surprise addition to her team, but not one that wasn't foreshadowed! I really like this touch!

Unfortunately, Cynthia's Togekiss is much better suited for a mirror match than Comet, so I'm gonna have to switch here.

Radio is an easy switch-in on Togekiss's attacks! I switch because Togekiss sometimes uses Shock Wave, but it also sometimes uses Air Slash instead. I suppose sometimes my Togekiss is in the kill range of one or the other, but Radio resists them both really nicely! This matchup leads to a stalemate where we go back and forth, exchanging Discharge and Water Pulse. I pretty much exclusively get confused from this attack, she obviously has Serene Grace, right? Hahahaha! Side rant because this is something I only just found out while writing this post, as some sort of sick twisted joke this thing has Hustle and is afflicting the secondary effects of all of its attacks more than Comet throughout the game and never misses. It doesn't even have any physical attacks to take advantage of Hustle! Son of a bitch! Sigh Rant over. Anyway, I usually do persevere and take Togekiss out with Discharge, it's about a 3HKO, but Cynthia likes to drop Full Restores here, especially when it gets paralyzed, so it's often more like 5-7 turns of perseverance until it goes down. Unfortunately in this particular case, Radio wound up going down.

Polaris had to finish up where Radio left off, but between an Ice Fang and Ice Shard, Togekiss couldn't hold up much longer.

-----------------

Lucario, Lv. 60

Up next was one of Cynthia's scarier pokemon, her Lucario. It may not be as high level as it was in DP, but it's still got quite a bit of seniority over me! This Lucario has Stone Edge, so I figured that's what she was planning to use to out Polaris, so I switched in anticipation of the attack!

In came Meteor who didn't even need to tank the Stone Edge because it happened to miss! Excellent! I know from experience that Garchomp is capable of outspeeding this Lucario, so a simple Earthquake was all it took to get over it! This Lucario gave me a lot of headache in DP, so this was kind of cathartic!

-------------

Garchomp, Lv. 62

Now you can bet that if there's a single pokemon I have a plan for, it's Cynthia's Garchomp. This thing was the face of disaster in every initial battle against Cynthia. I'll be honest, a lot of my team building decisions have been designed entirely around countering this thing this time around. Even still, it's not as simple as all that! Even some of my toughest attacks aren't enough to one-shot this thing. Now, I know from experience that Meteor at full health can survive a Dragon Rush from Cynthia's Garchomp. My typical plan is to hit Garchomp with a Dragon Claw, let Meteor go down, then bring Radio in for the kill with Blizzard. Radio can also survive a Dragon Rush from full HP as well. That usually requires a Hyper Potion to be dropped on Radio, though. But this time, Radio was down and I wasn't quite ready to resort to Max Revives just yet. Thankfully, I still had a plan B and you could probably figure that out when you noticed I started putting Shuca Berries on Moon. But something unexpected happened while trying to execute this plan that made me adamant that I wasn't going to give up this particular attempt easily: Garchomp missed with Dragon Rush Twice! This bought me a huge opportunity to slam it with some Dragon Claws, bait her into dropping another Full Restore, and then chip her health back down with more Dragon Claws! Unfortunately, I couldn't quite go for the KO but this was a beautiful set up for my follow-up.

Garchomp was in a critical condition where it either had to fight it out as much as it can attempt to heal up. This is significant because Moon's Ice Beam isn't actually strong enough to KO Garchomp on its own. Because she has to spend this first turn healing, I get a free Ice Beam on her Garchomp at full HP. She doesn't have a problem with this because she seems to assume she can OHKO Moon with Earthquake, but that's where the Shuca Berry comes in! The berry helps Moon to survive the incoming Earthquake and then fire off another Ice Beam to finish Garchomp off! That was absolutely wild to see play out, but the party isn't over just yet! Cynthia's still got two more pokemon!

-----------------

Roserade, Lv. 58

I got a little bit greedy here and tried to go for an Ice Beam, but Roserade simply hit me with an Energy Ball and finished Moon off. Sorry, Moon!

I tried to bring Comet in for this one, but Roserade surprised me with a Sludge Bomb that was far stronger than I was prepared for! Comet couldn't take the hit and went down.

This was the point where my desperation started to become evident. I was so close to victory after taking out most of Cynthia's toughest pokemon, I wasn't about to let this Roserade show me up! Expecting an instant KO, I dropped a Max Revive on Comet to revive him to full HP so he'd be better prepared to deal with Roserade. Had I known Satellite would survive the coming Sludge Bomb, I definitely would've attacked first, but I wasn't exactly going to take any chances. Unfortunately, Satellite couldn't get another attack off and went down to an Energy Ball.

But Comet was back in action, as healthy as ever! I wound up missing my first Air Slash, but she only used Toxic, buying me another chance to attack and this Air Slash not only didn't miss, but KO'd Roserade in one shot!

---------------

Milotic, Lv. 58

Last but certainly not least was Milotic. Fittingly, this was the last of the trio of pokemon I was most afraid of. At this point, I was fully committed to keeping the run, so I wasn't against splurging a few more of my revives here. I knew Comet wasn't going to be much use, so I dropped one Max Revive on Radio before Comet went down to a Surf.

I brought Polaris out and used another Max Revive on Meteor. The plan I'd hatched was that I'd soften Milotic up with Meteor and hopefully take her out with a Discharge from Radio. This wouldn't be the first time a last-ditch all-out-attack had come into play, I'd lost a few attempts this way, but it was all or nothing at this point. Surprisingly, Polaris was able to survive a Surf from Milotic, so I went for a Shadow Ball and even got a Special Drop! Radio should be able to get the kill for sure now! Of course, Polaris went down here.

And, to help with further setting up, I brought Meteor in to soften Milotic up further only to be taken by surprise when my Earthquake took Milotic out with a critical hit!

We. Take. Those!!

-----------------

With that out of the way, we've finally defeated Cynthia and completed the main story of Pokemon Platinum!

MVP: Meteor

Everybody pulled their weight really hard for this final battle, and even though a large part of it was luck, Meteor absolutely made a lot of game-changing plays here. It's entirely possible that using Earthquake and not getting a crit there might've driven Cynthia to use a Full Restore. I had actually lost count and had no idea if she had already used all four of her Full Restores or not, but that was very much a fear on my mind. I was confident Radio wouldn't be able to take out Milotic at full HP even with the special defense drop and I didn't even know if a single Earthquake would be enough to make up the difference. As far as I know, critting with that Earthquake where I did completely saved the game. Let's not forget, though, that Meteor did still have a Yache Berry, so it probably would've gotten not one, but two Earthquakes in. And three if Cynthia spent the turn healing. Other MVP candidates here include Moon who didn't contribute for a lot of the battle, but was a key player in taking Cynthia's infamous Garchomp out of commission, and Comet who really helped rally the team together. Radio also served a key role in a lot of the failed attempts as he was usually the one to take out Garchomp using Blizzard in conjunction with Polaris' Ice Shard. Also, I'd like to note that Satellite might've been able to have some greater impact on Roserade, but I kinda blundered on that play in a sense of panic, so I'll have to apologize to him.

==============

Hall of Fame

With the battle completed, we're once again congratulated by Prof. Rowan and led into the Hall of Fame where our team will be immortalized.

==============

My Team:

-----------------

Moon (Empoleon F); Lv. 54

Item: Shuca Berry

Ability: Torrent | Moves: Ice Beam, Aqua Jet, Surf, Drill Peck

------------------

Radio (Rotom); Lv. 52

Item: Colbur Berry

Ability: Levitate | Moves: Discharge, Thunder Wave, Ominous Wind, Blizzard

--------------

Comet (Togekiss M); Lv. 54

Item: Razor Fang

Ability: Serene Grace | Moves: Water Pulse, Air Slash, AncientPower, Baton Pass

--------------

Meteor (Garchomp M); Lv. 55

Item: Yache Berry

Ability: Sand Veil | Moves: Dragon Claw, Fire Fang, Aerial Ace, Earthquake

---------------

Satellite (Porygon-Z); Lv. 52

Item: Magnet

Ability: Download | Moves: Psychic, Charge Beam, Recover, Tri-Attack

---------------

Polaris (Froslass F); Lv. 52

Item: Kasib Berry

Ability: Snow Cloak | Moves: Ice Shard, Protect, Ice Fang, Shadow Ball

----------------

================

And with that, we're treated to the credits! This time they're animated with some 3D geometry at play and a sprite of your character biking their way home as per usual. Various pokemon float overhead, too, as you reflect over your adventure.

So, what do I think of Pokemon Platinum? Well, as always it's a bit premature to give my full opinion, but I'd like to state that some people who have been listening to my ramblings, especially at some fairly low points during my coverage of this game might assume I didn't enjoy it because I've been complaining so much about how bored I was getting at certain points, moreso than other 3rd versions like Crystal or Emerald. But I don't think that's where my opinion lies at all. There's certianly no doubt that, in spite of my fairly niche criticisms here and there, this is objectively the best way to experience the Sinnoh Region. The sheer selection of pokemon that are available is a massive upgrade to the questionable and downright bizarre omissions from the regional dex in Diamond and Pearl. Where it felt like Diamond and Pearl were trying to call back to Gold and Silver in many ways, good and bad, with locking a lot of the most interesting pokemon to postgame, Platinum has by far the most exciting band of new pokemon options of any third version so far.

I think a big reason I felt less than impressed by it was the sheer fact that a lot of these pokemon aren't new to me having played through every region so far at least three times now. I've played Kanto 6 times, and 9 if you're counting Gold Silver and Crystal. So while the presence of pokemon like Scyther and Magnemite are genuinely a big deal for Platinum over Diamond and Pearl, it just wasn't a change I particularly felt here since they were all pokemon I've used before in the series. Yet even in spite of that, you've seen my many mentions of just how many different pokemon I've wanted to use on my team. Let that be a testament to just how incredible the sheer selection of pokemon is here! I really wanted to use Gallade, Yanmega, Glaceon, Electabuzz, even Magmar again. Not to mention pokemon like Scyther, Houndour, and Rhyhorn being additions I was nuts for as a kid when I first got my hands on this game, even if they don't really have a place on my team in a project like this one. I don't want to understate just how amazing the selection of pokemon in this game is! Especially compared to the massively disappointing regional pokedex of Diamond and Pearl. If you're only playing for the main story, this is the main selling point of Platinum over Diamond and Pearl. But the real selling point comes in postgame, of course, though a major chunk of the postgame in this game is actually shared with the next main-series games... we'll cross that bridge when we get there, don't you worry.

All that said, I do still have my disappointments with this game and this wouldn't be an honest reflection if I didn't address them. Changing wild pokemon available in the main story is a really easy thing to do. In fact, I'd argue there's a lot more that could've been done to improve it even more drastically. A lot of the changes in this game, though, were incredibly minor compared to changes made in Emerald, which is a similar feeling I remember having about Diamond and Pearl in comparison to Ruby and Sapphire. This game does provide a nice visual upgrade from Diamond and Pearl, but Emerald did, too. Emerald also rewrote major portions of the game and to incorporate both Team Aqua and Magma as villains and even wrote new scenarios to add a sense of intrigue in a playthrough even following the previous games. Platinum felt like it did the bare minimum in that regard. It introduces Charon but he literally contributes nothing to the main story other than some side commentary. It introduces Looker who also contributes barely anything to the main story other than regurgitating information you already know. Maybe these characters have a larger presence in the postgame, but right now I'm focusing on the main story. The only additional scenarios that are added in here are a handful of encounters with Cyrus that are wholly redundant because you don't actually learn anything new about him. I do appreciate the addition of the battle with him at Celestic Town, but it's a very minor addition overall and it also doesn't quite have any sort of high stakes like your first battles with Maxie and Archie in Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald, or even with Giovanni in Red and Blue. While it's nice to see Cyrus' team grow over the course of multiple battles, narratively speaking, I think your first battle with him being at the Galactic HQ is a lot more exciting. This almost feels like a spoiler of what's to come.

That said, the Distortion World is the main focus of additions and I already spoke my piece about how much I loved that bizarre place. I absolutely loved the battle with Cyrus there, it felt like a high-stakes battle as opposed to the one in Diamond and Pearl where he just kind of battles you out of rage after his plan fails. This is where Cyrus's character shines brightest, I think, and it's the moment where I can genuinely see why so many people claim he's their favorite main villain in the series.

Then there's the gyms. It's really cool that some of the gyms were redesigned like in Emerald! But why only some of them? I don't expect every gym to be massively overhauled like Eterna or Hearthome, but most gyms have the exact same floor plan as Diamond and Pearl. I suppose reshaping a 3D environment is tougher than moving tiles around in a 2D one, but this is just another area where I look at Emerald a lot more fondly than I do Platinum. I really like that Emerald reworked not just the gyms, but whole stretches of the overworld to really make it feel like a very different experience with a larger emphasis on double battles and such. There were some locations where NPCs were shuffled around, but compared to Emerald it was barely noticeable.

The last point I'd like to touch on is difficulty. While the levels are increased for the most part across the board, it wasn't lost on me that the bosses in this game overall tended to feel a lot easier than in Diamond and Pearl. There are some exceptions, Cyrus's battle in the Distortion World was far more difficult than the Spear Pillar battle in DP, but in general, there was a stronger push to make gyms and Elite Four members mono-type teams which, as you saw, enabled me to almost effortlessly sweep a lot of the leaders with pokemon that were strong against their signature type, even when they had movesets to attempt to counterplay me.

That said, you'd think I'd also complain about them lowering the levels of the Elite Four, but... no, actually. I like being able to march directly into the Elite Four from Victory Road and be faced with a tough challenge that I can reasonably overcome. And perhaps had I been a bit more patient, I would've found a way to beat Cynthia without dropping items. In fact, I have a feeling I'm going to regret dropping as many Max Revives as I did later on down the line, but I did what I felt I must in the moment. In Diamond and Pearl, the massive level jump between the 8th gym and the Elite Four was horrifying, and the struggle against Cynthia felt downright hopeless. But this time, I didn't get that same feeling of helplessness at all. My pokemon were consistently able to survive hits and dodge attacks, I didn't feel like my survival was entirely hinged on keeping one super tanky pokemon alive the whole time. I felt like it led to a much more exciting final battle where all of my pokemon got to be useful for more than just being meat shields while I used items on others.

The only other thing that led me to a fairly negative experience throughout this game was just its unfortunate timing in my life. A lot of crazy stuff has happened since I started this game. My friend and I were going through a lot of personal drama through a lot of it, I've been really bogged down with school work on my last semester of college, I've had all sorts of financial stressors all over the place related to student loans and graduation, I really don't have much of a post-graduation plan at all, I've hit some emotional lows, had some periods of panic, and am still struggling with encroaching deadlines that never seem to let up. But the funny thing is I am feeling a lot better right now. A lot has started to look up and God's looking out for me and my friends. So while this thread isn't exactly the top priority in my life, know that in the wait between posts I am still finding joy in life! It's all in the small things, and often not at all where you expect to find it. Sometimes wrenches are thrown into your life solely to humble you and make you realize your original plans aren't as important as you once thought. There is always something better life has for you, too.

I'm not sure where that little rambling came from, but that's that! Anyway, back on the subject of Pokemon, we're not at all done with Pokemon Platinum. Next time, we begin the postgame! There is still a lot to cover in this game. A lot more even than Diamond and Pearl, and yet more still we're going to have to return to at the end of the gen just like we did in Emerald. So stay tuned for all that! Platinum is a behemoth of a Pokemon game and we haven't seen the half of it yet.

April 5, 2023

Twinleaf Town

The end of the main story marks the beginning of the postgame! And as expected, when we load our save, we return to our home in Twinleaf Town to turn over a new leaf and begin our adventure anew.

The postgame of Platinum contains pretty much everything from Diamond and Pearl with little changed, but there's also some new details added here that I'm mainly going to be focusing on here while mostly skipping over stuff that's mostly the same.

Of course, just like any Pokemon game, the first thing anyone is excited about is the potential to obtain the National Pokedex! If you recall, you had to see every pokemon in the regional pokedex in order to obtain the National Pokedex, but you might also recall that Platinum expanded the regional pokedex with several new additions. So yes, you would be right if you guessed that you do, in fact, have to spend see every pokemon in this expanded pokedex. This time, Manaphy is included. Although it's pretty easy to get Manaphy's entry.

Thankfully, if you're like me and battle every trainer in the game, the majority of the pokedex should already be filled with pages from the various pokemon you've fought. You actually don't have to catch and evolve a single pokemon in order to meet this requirement, just like in Diamond and Pearl. And, aside from static encounters, the only wild pokemon you have to actively track down is Unown who can easily be found at the Solaceon Ruins, so you're pretty likely to have run into one. Aside from pokemon available by battling every trainer as well as the Lake Spirits and story events, yes, Dialga and Palkia are registered as seen in the pokedex despite not actually encountering them, the only entry that comes to mind you might be missing is that of Manaphy's.

Pokemon Mansion

In order to get this, you'll need to make your way to Mr. Backlot's Pokemon Mansion on Route 212 just south of Hearthome City. There's a book in Mr. Backlot's office that contains a picture of Manaphy.

Seeing this image of Manaphy is enough to have the pokemon registered as "seen" in your pokedex, much like registering Palkia and Dialga in Diamond and Pearl respectively. It's odd that this game suddenly requires this pokemon when Diamond and Pearl didn't, but whatever the case, it's here. If you're still missing some pokemon because you skipped or missed a trainer or two throughout the game, then I'd recommend skimming around Bulbapedia for various trainer data to see where you missed the trainers that have those pokemon, or simply seek out the pokemon in the wild and evolve them yourself.

Sandgem Town

With 210 different species of Pokemon seen, we return to Prof. Rowan to show our "complete" pokedex. After which the scene will play out much the same it did in Diamond and Pearl.

Prof. Oak arrives on the scene, upgrades our pokedex, and then heads off to Pal Park. We also receive the Poke Radar from Prof. Rowan as a congratulations gift.

Then we go through the whole rigamarole of following Prof. Oak to Pal Park just like in Diamond and Pearl so that he returns to Eterna City.

Eterna City

Finally, we continue stalking Prof. Oak to his place in Eterna City to receive an Up-Grade. Yes, he does still give you an Up-Grade despite getting a free one near the beginning of the game.

So, why am I telling you about all of this? It seems pretty redundant, right? Well, it is Redundant, but not without good reason! Because if we return to Prof. Oak's place after all of this, he notifies us that he's heard of three rare legendary pokemon being spotted around Sinnoh recently: Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres, the Legendary Birds from the Kanto Region! Yes, unfortunately, that allusion to new roaming pokemon back when I tracked down Mesprit wasn't just me pulling your leg.

Yes, in addition to Cresselia, who we can initiate roaming in the same way as Diamond and Pearl, the Legendary Birds can now be found roaming around Kanto as well. As always, we're gonna wanna nip this in the bud so we don't have to worry about overleveling and making our repels useless to find them. That's, unfortunately already the case with Cresselia, so that's gonna be our top priority. But I recommend getting all four of these pokemon out at once because you'll be dealing with the three legendary birds at the same time anyway, may as well up the odds of something heading your way every time you change maps.

Of course, since I'm tracking four pokemon at once rather than just one like before, the strategies get a bit muddied. I'm going to start by outlining the individual, idealistic plans for each pokemon, before addressing how I approached managing the whole group.

===============

Cresselia, Lv. 50

Strangely, Cresselia doesn't have any encounter music like the others. I'm pretty sure Mesprit did, but I could be misremembering. The legendary birds sure do! So it can be a bit awkward when looking specifically for Cresselia, especially when you're too high levels to use Repels to single it out.

-----------------

The strategy here is very similar to the one I used against Mesprit. I'd start with Polaris, attacking with Ice Fang and hoping for a Freeze. I'd cram as many Ice Fangs in as I can, saving after every hit to keep the progress toward lowering Cresselia's HP. If I'm lucky enough to freeze it, I can switch to Shadow Ball to get in some super-effective hits to chip away at its health faster. Once again, since it flees on the first turn every time I encounter it, I don't have to worry about it ever thawing.

In the event of Cresselia reaching low HP without getting frozen, I can instead use Radio's Thunder Wave to paralyze it instead. From there, it's nothing but spamming Quick Balls every encounter to try and catch Cresselia.

If you want to go the traditional Trapping route for catching these roaming legendaries, it's good to note that Cresselia is perhaps the easiest of these four pokemon to trap for reasons that I'll elaborate on with the others.

=============

Articuno, Lv. 60

You might be wondering what could possibly make the legendary birds any more difficult to catch via the traditional trapping method. Well, all three of them are Level 60 which means they have access to the move Roost, allowing them to heal! I'd argue this is even more annoying than the Legendary Beasts using Roar to flee in Gen 2! Though obviously not nearly as terrifying as the Legendary Beasts downright disappearing after using Roar in FireRed and LeafGreen, yikes! But still, one of the biggest reliefs about these roaming pokemon is that they don't regenerate health between capture attempts. You can let them go whenever you want and come back to them with the exact same low HP as before. But if they have healing moves like Roost, that point's kind of moot. You'll constantly find yourself having to battle with these birds to keep their HP low while you throw pokeballs, and they'll inevitably KO you along the way and flee anyway. For this reason, even though it's probably not very exciting, I strongly recommend my poke-and-go approach. That way it'll never heal because it'll always run on the first turn.

Articuno in particular is notably complicated because it's immune to freezing, so I can't hope for freezes with Polaris. Even worse, Polaris and Meteor are the only pokemon on my team that can outspeed Articuno, meaning Radio can't even get a Thunder Wave in! Catching Articuno is entirely down to lowering its health and hoping for the best when chucking pokeballs. Of course, this can easily be rectified in anyone else's case by simply training up any pokemon that are too slow. A Rotom should be able to outspeed Articuno if they're at a similar level, just make sure your pokemon is under Lv. 60!

==============

Zapdos, Lv. 60

Like Articuno, Zapdos, too, is too fast for Radio to paralyze. It's even too fast for Froslass to hit with Ice Fang! So, again, it looks like status problems aren't a possibility here. Instead, I have to resort to using Ice Shard to chip away at Zapdos' HP which, at least, is Super-Effective here, allowing for this to be a much less time consuming task. Once its HP is low, it's back to throwing pokeballs!

=============

Moltres, Lv. 60

Moltres is actually the easiest of the three Legendary Birds for me to catch. The biggest reason is it seems to be a lot slower than the others, allowing my pokemon to get in with a variety of attacks. It's also succeptible to freezing from Ice Fang.

If it doesn't get frozen, I can then paralyze it with Radio and get to throwing pokeballs.

===============

With the individual strategies established, now let's address the approach to handling them when the encounters are all scrambled up together! This process boils down to three "phases" across the whole group.

Phase 1 is the most straight-forward: Reduce everyone's HP. Polaris is the obvious lead since it's the only pokemon that can outspeed every one of these pokemon while also having the chance to afflict status conditions on two of them. Zapdos and Articuno are the biggest concerns here as this is pretty much all I can do to make them easier to catch. Once they're both low on HP, I can move on to phase 2.

Phase 2 is where things start to get a little more complicated: Inflicting status problems. We've already established that I can't afflict status conditions on Articuno and Zapdos, but that leaves Moltres and Cresselia. If I haven't been lucky enough by this point to freeze both of them, then I'm gonna need to leave Polaris out in the lead until they're both either frozen or low on HP. If they end up low on HP to where they can't take another Ice Fang, then it's time to put Radio in the lead until I can paralyze them. That brings us to phase 3.

By phase 3, the lead pokemon is arbitrary. All of the pokemon are as succeptible to capture as I can get them, so at this point it's all about throwing pokeballs. Because of this, I can actually put my HM user, Shuttle, at the front of the team! This is notable because Shuttle is, of course, under level 50. This allows me to use repels to speed up the process of encountering these pokemon and weed out all the shellos and buizel that I'm occasionally running into.

Once Cresselia is out of the picture, I no longer have to have Shuttle in the lead to be able to use Repels. I do think this is slightly significant because I believe the level gap between you and your opponent actually is factored into the catching process. Even if that's not true, it just feels better to have a member of my main team on the front lines instead.

Finally, once it's down to just one pokemon remaining, I can cut to the chase and just throw my Master Ball. I won't sugarcoat it, I really do hate tracking down roaming legendaries.

Without further ado, here are the spoils of my escapades this session:

=============

Halley (Cresselia F); Lv. 50

Item: None

Ability: Levitate | Moves: Mist, Aurora Beam, Future Sight, Slash

----------------

Neptune (Articuno); Lv. 60

Item: None

Ability: Pressure | Moves: Agility, Ice Beam, Reflect, Roost

-----------------

Venus (Zapdos); Lv. 60

Item: None

Ability: Pressure | Moves: Charge, Agility, Discharge, Roost

------------------

Mercury (Moltres); Lv. 60

Item: None

Ability: Pressure | Moves: Flamethrower, Safeguard, Air Slash, Roost

==============

All in all, I was actually dreading this a lot more than I probably needed to. These guys ultimately weren't all that bad to track. Certainly a much bigger headache than I'd prefer as just standard static encounters, but I'll take what I can get. Thankfully, this is the last of the roaming encounters in this game. With 5 different roaming encounters, Platinum is certainly the worst offender of this obnoxious mechanic, with a close second being a game we're going to be playing again very soon.

Also, another small detail I'd like to point out, driving yet another connection between the development of Sinnoh and Johto, I believe I mentioned back during my coverage of GSC that unused data in the game suggests the Legendary Birds were planned to be in those games, likely as roaming encounters, alongside the Legendary Beasts, likely to be roaming Kanto while the Beasts would be roaming Johto? Well, lo and behold, when it came time to add these pokemon into a region that parallels beta Johto so heavily, just look at how they ended up being brought over. Pretty fascinating touch, I'd say!

Anyway, that's gonna be it for this update. Next time, I'm gonna take a look around at some stuff. I don't have any particular plans at the moment, it depends on if I find anything new among the retreads of Diamond and Pearl content. I'm mainly suspect of altered Poke Radar encounters that might be significant enough to note. If I don't find anything, or enough, to that effect, then I think I do know what I'd like to do next. But we'll leave that be for now. See you soon!

April 7, 2023

It's Poke Radar Time!

As it turns out, there aren't many differences with Poke Radar pokemon availability. You may have noticed throughout the game that many pokemon that used to be Poke Radar exclusive are now simply available in the wild by default. As a result, most of these areas simply don't have any special Poke Radar encounters. They would be redundant anyway as the pokemon that are already available on the route are always encounterable by the Poke Radar regardless of whether or not they're in the special slot. Other consistent changes are areas with soft-version-exclusive counterparts like Nidoran M and F or Tauros and Miltank in Diamond and Pearl now have the encounters split evenly between the two rather than one being significantly rarer than the other. This makes it much less of a headache to track one down over the other, but the original games are still ideal to hunt them in.

Still, I feel like the changes are significant enough, and hidden, that I should probably touch on them real quick. So, that's gonna be the main focus of this post.

Route 201

Route 201 features Nidoran M and F at the same 11% encounter rate

Route 221

And likewise for Nidorina and Nidorino on Route 221. These two are also equally rare as each other at Valor Lakefront, but they're only 6% each there, while they're 11% here.

Route 207

Like in Pearl version, Stantler can be found on Route 207.

You might think that means its Diamond-exclusive counterpart, Larvitar, is absent, but Larvitar actually replaces the swarm of Nosepass on Route 206. It's not quite as on-demand as being available through the Poke Radar, but it's better than not being available at all!

Route 205 (North)

Northern Route 205 is home to the Pearl-exclusive Slowpoke!

Fuego Ironworks

Taking a quick trip to Fuego Ironworks, we can find Aron like in Diamond! With both Slowpoke and Aron being here, this means Skiploom can't be caught in the wild in this game, but you're really not missing out on much at all since you can still get Hoppip.

Route 210

The pearl-exclusive Bagon can be found on Northern Route 210, meaning Kecleon is nowhere to be found. In-turn, that means you're gonna have to either trade from Diamond or use Pal Park as intended to get the Color-Changing Poketch App.

Tauros and Miltank are both equally available on southern Route 210 at 11% each.

Route 209

On Route 209, you can now find Kirlia instead of Tauros and Miltank like in Diamond and Pearl. It's a bit of an odd decision considering you can find these things just out and about on Route 212, but I suppose you can look for them here, too.

Route 214

Poochyena can now be found on Route 214 rather than Mightyena like in Diamond version. I suppose this choice makes sense since Houndour is already available in the wild here. There are no special encounters at all on Route 215 which used to have Mightyena or Houndoom.

And that's all the notable changes to the Poke Radar. The only other change is that Ditto can no longer be found outside of Canalave City. Instead, it's added to the list of pokemon that can appear in Mr. Backlot's Trophy Garden. All other pokemon available through the Trophy Garden are the same as DP. Though Bonsly, Mime Jr., and Happiny are all a bit more relevant in this case as it's the only way to encounter them in the wild in Platinum, none of them can be found elsewhere.

=============

But that's all a little underwhelming, right? Not a very exciting post to just talk about pokemon we could get, so why don't we take a quick little mini-adventure?

Sendoff Spring

Remember how we couldn't enter Turnback Cave because Cynthia was blocking the way at Sendoff Spring before? Well, look who's not here now! That's right, we're gonna take a quick trip through Turnback Cave before we send this session off.

=============

Turnback Cave

This dungeon is almost identical to its counterpart in Diamond and Pearl, but the wild pokemon within are significantly lower level. Where they would reach as high as 66 in Diamond and Pearl, they never get higher than 38 in Platinum.

Chimecho, Duskull, Dusclops, and Chingling can all be found here in Platinum. Bronzong can only be found after the second pillar.

The reason for the reduced levels might become apparent if you failed to capture Giratina in the Distortion World previously. You'll now find Giratina here at the end of Turnback Cave! It'll still be Lv. 47 like before, but this time it'll be in its Altered Form like in Diamond and Pearl. You should be much better prepared to deal with it by now.

So, what's the point of coming all this way if you've already caught Giratina? Well, aside from the standard reward of reaching the end of Turnback Cave which varies based on how quickly you were able to reach the end, but is no different than in Diamond and Pearl, the additional change, you'll probably notice, is the addition of a portal where Giratina stands. That's right, we can venture back into the Distortion World from here!

==============

Distortion World

This is a miniature version of the Distortion World that's, frankly, a lot less visually breathtaking than the counterpart we explored during the main story, but it's still a small sample of the Distortion World we're familiar with if you're ever feeling nostalgic. It's just a single linear path that leads you to an item at the end.

This item is the Griseous Orb! This item is Giratina's counterpart to the Adamant and Lustrous Orbs, boosting the power of its Ghost and Dragon-type attacks by 20%. But it has an additional function unlike the other orbs for Dialga and Palkia...

If you recall, when we fought Inversion in the Distortion World, it was in its Origin Forme in which it had the Levitate Ability and it sacrificed some of its defenses in favor of a more offensive presence.

But as soon as we left the Distortion World, it reverted back to its Altered Forme where its stats were more defensive and it had the Pressure Ability instead of Levitate! Sure enough, Giratina can only maintain its Origin Forme within the Distortion World. What purpose does that serve then, if there are no pokemon in the Distortion World to battle against? Well, that's where the Griseous Orb, an artifact from the Distortion World, comes in!

If we give Inversion the Griseous Orb to hold, it will bring Giratina to its full power and allow it to take on its Origin Forme even outside of the Distortion World! Now you can battle with Giratina's true form!

Once you're ready to leave the Distortion World, you simply go out the way you came. Getting out of Turnback Cave is easier than getting in. Hence the name, I suppose.

With that, I think we're done with this update! Next time, I think we'll be taking a brief look at what lies deeper down Victory Road, though I don't quite expect anything significantly different in Platinum, so we'll probably also make our way to the Battle Zone! We'll just have to play things by ear. See you soon!

April 8, 2023

Victory Road [1F]

As I mentioned yesterday, we're going to start this session by exploring the newly available part of Victory Road! Although, as expected, there's not really all that much to talk about here.

Victory Road [B1F East]

The typical Victory Road changes are applied behind the newly available passageway: Machoke and Medicham can't be found, but Gabite and Floatzel can! Floatzel being a bit of a surprise.

Victory Road [B2F]

As we reach B2F, again, Medicham and Machoke can't be found down here, but neither can Steelix.

New additions include Dewgong and Azumarill as well as Graveler.

Of course, let's not forget that your first time through here, you'll be joined by Marley! Her Arcanine is a few levels higher at Lv. 59, but its moveset is the same as before: Fire Fang, ExtremeSpeed, Helping Hand, and Agility. She has a bit of a frustrating tendency to waste turns using Agility rather than supporting you with Helping Hand or attacking at times where it would certainly end the battle sooner, but she's still a huge help through here all the same! Even if she's not exactly well suited for the wild pokemon in the area.

But, Marley being with you means you can't quite explore the waters just yet. But take your time with Marley and explore for all the goodies to pick up! There aren't any particularly notable changes from DP, but make sure you get that Dusk Stone! And once you've escorted Marley to the end, you can come back for the Leftovers, too! Well, I meant the item Leftovers, but I guess it works as a figure of speech, too!

While surfing, the available pokemon have been expanded from DP. Golbat can no longer be found down here and instead you can find Floatzel, and Dewgong. Lapras is still the same as it's always been.

Victory Road [East Exit]

Of course, the exit staircase has the same wild pokemon as the east B1F.

==============

Route 224

Bafflingly enough, Bulbapedia doesn't have the layout of this map from Platinum at all. Still, by this point, you should probably already be able to picture the visual differences.

There are a handful of notable changes to the wild pokemon here. First of all, Oddish and Bellsprout have been added in addition to their evolutions Gloom and Weepinbel. Oddish is available at 20% at night while Bellsprout can be found instead during the morning and day. You can also now find both Beautifly and Dustox here at 5% each as opposed to only Beautifly. Pelipper can be found, too. This is all at the cost of Buizel, Chatot, and Shellos from Diamond and Pearl, so I'd say this is more than a fair trade!

Also, Duskull and Dusclops can no longer be found with the Poke Radar here, sadly.

And there is, for some reason, yet another Up-Grade given to you for free that was added here in Platinum. That's three Up-Grades now. I think that's a little overkill considering there's a handful of evolution items we haven't gotten for free.

Also, I've stopped mentioning most situations like this, but the PP-Max is an exceptionally important item and it was relocated to a really easily missable location. Make sure to use your Dowsing Machine to find it on your way to collecting those berries!

And yeah, just like before, this area is pretty disappointingly barren. Aside from the PP Max and a few new pokemon, there's no more reason to come here right now than in Diamond and Pearl. Still, there's that mysterious blank stone at the far end of the route...

==============

Snowpoint City

Anyway, with that disappointment out of the way, it's time to get into some new content again! Let's check out that Battle Zone by taking the boat from Snowpoint City!

As we approach the boat, we'll be met by Cynthia who seems to still be reflecting on the encounter with Cyrus in the Distortion World. She seems thankful for the world we're living in. She then tells us our world will expand if we can reach the Survival Area of the Battle Zone and hopes that our paths will cross again... that's... somewhat foreboding, isn't it? Well, that's neither here nor there. Let's get on with the trip!

=============

Fight Area

Right away, you'll notice the Fight Area looks dramatically different from its comparatively plain-looking DP counterpart. And indeed, consistently throughout the entire Battle Zone, you can expect a greatly overhauled aesthetic! This whole place really seems like a tropical resort!

When we first arrive, we bump into Percy who complains about how long it took us to get here. He complains to us that he was on his way to the Battle Frontier... the... Battle... what? Oh no... oooh no.

Ah, war flashbacks aside, Percy was complaining because two guys were blocking his way trying to test his ability. He was frustrated that he even has to, after all, he was able to get here in the first place! But he asks for your help in dealing with them and leads you right over to the two guys in question!

These guys turn out to be none other than Flint and Volkner! What are they doing here!? Apparently they're just raring to go, seeking tough trainers. Looks like we're gonna have to give them the battle they're looking for.

==============

My Team:

-----------------

Moon (Empoleon F); Lv. 55

Item: Shuca Berry

Ability: Torrent | Moves: Ice Beam, Aqua Jet, Surf, Drill Peck

------------------

Radio (Rotom); Lv. 56

Item: Colbur Berry

Ability: Levitate | Moves: Discharge, Thunder Wave, Ominous Wind, Blizzard

--------------

Comet (Togekiss M); Lv. 54

Item: Razor Fang

Ability: Serene Grace | Moves: Water Pulse, Air Slash, AncientPower, Baton Pass

--------------

Meteor (Garchomp M); Lv. 56

Item: Yache Berry

Ability: Sand Veil | Moves: Dragon Claw, Fire Fang, Aerial Ace, Earthquake

---------------

Satellite (Porygon-Z); Lv. 56

Item: Magnet

Ability: Download | Moves: Psychic, Charge Beam, Recover, Tri-Attack

---------------

Polaris (Froslass F); Lv. 56

Item: Kasib Berry

Ability: Snow Cloak | Moves: Ice Shard, Protect, Ice Fang, Shadow Ball

============

Vs. Elite Four Flint & Leader Volkner

This is certainly an unexpected turn of events! We have a multi-battle against the two buddies Flint and Volkner together at the same time! A really cool pairing, but... do their teams really have the best synergy? Something tells me they're both about to be served some deja vu....

-----------------

Houndoom, Lv. 56 & Luxray, Lv. 56

Leading right off the bat with Houndoom and Luxray, these guys aren't doing themselves any favors, are they? Well, for now, the obvious choice is to switch and give these guys a "healthy" dose of PTSD.

I switched Meteor in, it was a pretty safe switch all things considered, but the two foes wound up ganging up on Percy's Staraptor. I suppose they anticipated the switch. At least they learned something from our previous battle!

Unfortunately for them, Percy still has his Torterra! So he's not quite fearing Meteor's Earthquakes. That means it's time to let loose and mow 'em down!

-----------------

Flareon, Lv. 56 & Electivire, Lv. 58

They're really no more prepared for an Earthquake sweep are they? To be fair, Percy also went for Earthquake. Which did more damage to Meteor than Flint and Volkner combined. That Earthquake was redundant, though, because Meteor had just crushed both enemies with his own.

---------------

Magmortar, Lv. 58 & Jolteon, Lv. 56

And... one more for the road? One more for the road.

-----------------

And that's that! It's a really cool novelty battle for a number of reasons. As much as I've kinda been clowning on these two for being so easily swept, they are still pretty cool characters with a lot more depth than your typical gym leader or elite four member at the time. It's cool to see them battling together to show off the polarity of their teams and the simple concept of battling a Gym Leader and Elite together is also really cool, especially while teaming up with your rival. I kinda wish they both got to use full 6-pokemon teams, though, because even if they couldn't be effortlessly swept, this still has the same 12 v 6 problem that the battle with the Galactic Commanders at Mt. Coronet had.

Regardless, with these two defeated, they laugh over the fun battle we had and then step aside to allow us entry into the Battle Frontier... NOPE! We are not touching that thing with a 10-foot pole right now.

Ah, but of course, Palmer comes rushing out of the gate just as the two leave and bumps into Percy. The two have their little reunion from the first game and Palmer admits to being excited to seeing you and his son at the Battle Tower. But I'm with Percy's decision. He decides he wants to go off to the other areas of the Battle Zone to get tougher.

And after all that mess clears up, Buck then approaches us. We really can't catch a break, huh? But this is all the same as when he approaches you in DP. He was impressed by our skills with handling an Elite and Gym Leader. Of course, he's also probably particularly familiar with the skill of his older brother which is what likely impressed him the most. He encourages you to make your way to the Survival Area. By the time you make it there, you're sure to become a lot stronger! So, it sounds like we've got our heading for next time! See you soon!

April 10, 2023

Fight Area

After dealing with Flint and Volkner, we can now freely explore around the Battle Zone!

Exploring around here on the weekends, you'll run into Reporter Kinsey and Cameraman Tevin in the Pokemon Center! It seems these wandering trainers even make their way to these remote areas!

Our main goal, of course, is to make our way toward Stark Mountain just like in Diamond and Pearl, but before that, you might also recall that we can get access to the Super Rod now!

And of course, with the Super Rod, a whole new world of wild pokemon is available to us. Let's go over them real quick!

Most pokemon can be found where they were in DP, but a few, such as Lanturn and Sharpedo, were removed. Octillery replaces Sharpedo in the few instances it used to appear. The biggest loss, though, is Clamperl who isn't available at all. As far as I'm aware, there are no new additions to the pokemon available via Super Rod in Platinum specifically, so nothing in particular should stand out to you here.

With that out of the way, it's time to get moving toward Stark Mountain!

============

Route 225

As I mentioned before, the entirety of the Battle Zone has been drastically revamped. Comparing these areas side by side with their DP counterparts will make that clear as day. The trees are tropical palm trees and the cliffs are a really interesting volcanic black color!

There is less reason to change the pokemon available in the postgame, but of course Skuntank isn't available here, though a bit more curiously, Roselia isn't either. Instead, Graveler was added and Machoke is more common than before. One change you're likely to notice, though, is that the unevolved pokemon like Rattata and Spearow are no longer extremely underleveled like they were in DP. This should make them a bit easier to weaken without KOing for capture.

With the Poke Radar, you can find Mankey and Primeape! Strangely, Poliwhirl is no longer available in the water here.

The Razor Fang that used to be found in the Battle Park has now been relocated here to Route 225 as well. You'll need Rock Climb to get to it, though.

Survival Area

We now arrive at the Survival Area! There isn't too much to be said here, again, the area has a pretty drastic visual overhaul. Buck's place appears a bit more visually distinct as well... I wonder if it's gonna be more important this time? (hint, hint...)

Of course, you'll need to poke ahead onto the next route and use Rock Climb to reach the northernmost house. But here in Platinum, this house is much more significant as it's home to the last of the three special move tutors! You now have access to all three Move Tutors. There's one on Route 212, one in Snowpoint City, and one here in the Survival Area. The tutor here seems to favor Red Shards and generally teaches moves with high offensive power. Once again, a list of moves you can learn here and their costs can be found here.

Route 226

Moving right along, let's talk about Route 226!

Spearow and Golduck are no longer available here, strangley enough. In their place, you can now find Wingull and Graveler. Slightly less interesting encounters, but I suppose they fit the area a bit better.

The disappointments only continue as you reach the beach and realize that both Diamond's Seel and Dewgong and Pearl's Spheal and Sealeo are absent here. All you get are boring generic Sea route pokemon Tentacruel, Wingull, and Pelipper.

At least we still get the fishing encounters! Horsea with the Good Rod, Seadra and Relicanth with the Super Rod!

And if you're familiar with the infamous soft lock on this route, where you Surf to the island on a Finneon and trade that Finneon away for a Magikarp and no longer have a Surf user, then you're probably all too familiar with the pokemon available by fishing on this route, too. That soft lock hasn't been fixed in this game, by the way. You'd think they'd have added a check to where the man won't trade if Finneon's the only pokemon with Surf or Fly, but I suppose the devs didn't think it was that big of a deal. After all, you wouldn't realistically be in that situation without trying to soft lock your game. And under normal circumstances, you'd be able to simply use the Good Rod you used to catch Finneon and catch a Horsea or evolve the newly obtained Magikarp.

Once again, I urge you to seek out the PP Max hidden on this route! It's located in the isolated patch of Tall Grass at the edge of the coast that you access with Rock Climb.

================

Route 227

More wild pokemon! There aren't any significant new additions here, though Banette isn't available.

Ah, and of course Torkoal is available by Poke Radar, too.

Of course, like before, we'll run into Percy and Wake! It's kinda gone under my radar until now, but I've realized this version of the game hasn't created a rivalry between Percy and Buck which is, frankly, a notable disappointment as I really liked Percy being visibly offended and trying to reciprocate that against Buck who barely acknowledges him. In this game, Percy hasn't even met Buck since Buck only approached us after he'd left. That in turn means there's no mention of the treasure at Stark Mountain and no race there. Percy is merely out here looking to get stronger. That's respectable, too, but it's clearly nowhere near as personal. I guess the writers just wanted to emphasize that he's still your rival, but... welll... Anyway, his conversation with Wake is more revolved around their one-sided student-master relationship that Wake wants nothing to do with. However, Percy makes mention of an exclusive club he wants Wake to get him introduced into... that's interesting, perhaps we'll learn more about this club soon? For now, we've gotta head onward.

As we head further north, we'll run into Buck who will tell us he's been out here patrolling Stark Mountain. This is where we get the first mention of the Magma Stone and, this time around, he seems to be consciously aware of the Magma Stone's purpose in keeping Heatran asleep. He says there's been rumors of some "goons in space suits" causing trouble here and wants to make sure the Magma Stone is safe. But right now, he needs to run back to the Pokemon Center and asks us to continue his patrol. So, looks like we've got a task to do!

And as we can reach the small ponds, we can finally find Poliwag and Poliwhirl!

Stark Mountain [Exterior]

Of all the glowups in the Battle Zone, I have to say Stark Mountain is the most exciting to me! Just look at that lava! There was nothing like that in Diamond and Pearl!

The encounters here are more or less the same as before, so nothing really to talk about here in that department.

As we head further up the mountain, we'll find some Galactic Grunts heading into the cave. They certainly must be after that Magma Stone!

=============

Stark Mountain [1F]

In perhaps the meanest design decision I've noted in this game so far, the very moment you enter Stark Mountain, you're ambushed by Team Galactic! The two grunts we followed are accompanied by Commander Charon, who seems to be taking Cyrus's place as the new leader of Team Galactic, as well as Commanders Mars and Jupiter who both seem to have a vendetta against us. That's right, you're gonna be forced into battle! And be prepared because it's two moderately tough battles while you're already pretty likely low on HP due to all the high-level trainers you've battled on the way here. So make sure you're prepared! I certainly wasn't!

==============

My Team:

-----------------

Moon (Empoleon F); Lv. 57*

Item: Shuca Berry

Ability: Torrent | Moves: Ice Beam, Aqua Jet, Surf, Drill Peck

------------------

Radio (Rotom); Lv. 57

Item: Colbur Berry

Ability: Levitate | Moves: Discharge, Thunder Wave, Ominous Wind, Blizzard

--------------

Comet (Togekiss M); Lv. 58

Item: Razor Fang

Ability: Serene Grace | Moves: Water Pulse, Air Slash, AncientPower, Baton Pass

--------------

Meteor (Garchomp M); Lv. 57*

Item: Yache Berry

Ability: Sand Veil | Moves: Dragon Claw, Fire Fang, Aerial Ace, Earthquake

---------------

Satellite (Porygon-Z); Lv. 58

Item: Magnet

Ability: Download | Moves: Psychic, Charge Beam, Recover, Tri-Attack

---------------

Polaris (Froslass F); Lv. 57*

Item: Kasib Berry

Ability: Snow Cloak | Moves: Ice Shard, Protect, Ice Fang, Shadow Ball

----------------

*Moon was paralyzed with low HP while Meteor and Polaris were in the PC to make room for HM-users. Clearly, I was not at all prepared for this encounter.

============

Vs. Commander Mars

Yup, just when you thought you were done dealing with Team Galactic, they're back at it in the postgame!

----------------

Bronzong, Lv. 58

Since my options were fairly limited, I had to be a bit more desperate with my plays, and Bronzong was certainly a pokemon I was incredibly underprepared for as my usual outs were inaccessible. So, I just focused on the stalemate between Bronzong's Extrasensory and Radio's Ominous Wind. Unfortuantely, I had no luck with stat boosts and was eventually forced to switch.

Satellite was up next and, again, RNG didn't seem to be on my side, but at least I wasn't totally screwed over and was able to get a KO with Charge Beam, just no stat boosts during the stalemate.

-----------------

Purugly, Lv. 60

Satellite was low on HP, so he couldn't stay in for this matchup.

With few options, I felt I had no choice but to bring Moon to the front lines and spend a turn healing her up with a Full Restore. Begrudgingly, of course. But with Moon newly healed, a KO shouldn't be too tough. Unfortunately, this wound up being a stalemate because Surf didn't quite get the KO and I wound up getting put to sleep with Hypnosis and even critted with Slash! Ugh, how frustrating! But eventually i pushed through and took Purugly out.

----------------

Golbat, Lv. 58

And then you've got Golbat who simply went down to an Ice Beam and Aqua Jet. At least RNG was on my side for one of these matchups.

=============

Vs. Commander Jupiter

Of course, you better know Mars isn't going to fight alone. Even though they don't battle us at the same time in a Double Battle, Jupiter comes along to follow up after Mars' failure to take you down. I think this moment is even more of a slap in the face than the initial ambush!

-----------------

Bronzong, Lv. 58

One difference I noticed between these two is that Mars's Bronzong set up Light Screen while Jupiter's sets up Reflect. This meant Jupiter's Bronzong should be a bit easier for me to take out! With another Stalemate, Radio was able to persevere this time!

-----------------

Skuntank, Lv. 60

Expecting a Dark attack, I tried to tough it out against Skuntank but was instead met with a Flamethrower! Since Flamethrower got around my Colbur Berry, it was a KO!

In came Satellite next and, after using Recover to heal up, I was able to paralyze Skuntank with Tri-Attack and combo to KO by stopping it from attacking with said paralysis. Luck certainly seemed to be turning around, now!

----------------

Golbat, Lv. 58

And at this stage, you already know I couldn't get a better matchup against Golbat than Satellite. A Simple Psychic was all it took to finish the battle.

=============

After the battles, Charon shrugs off the ladies' failure to stop you. He confesses he has no intention to battle you himself after making the observation that everyone who battles you is simply stopped in their tracks. He's actually quite smart to make that decision. Instead, he simply continues along to retrieve the Magma Stone, leaving us with the task of pursuing him further.

With Charon and the grunts taking their leave, Commander Mars and Jupiter complain that Charon just isn't like Cyrus at all. Team Galactic under his management seems to be a drag to them, so they decide to resign and carry on life as "normal girls," whatever that's supposed to mean... are they aware they're still known criminals? Regardless, the commanders take their leave, leaving us to continue deeper into Stark Mountain.

With Galactic out of the way, we can turn our attention to the Wild Pokemon in here. Machoke, Geodude, Onix, and Camerupt can no longer be found. In their place, we can now find Rhyhorn, and Rhydon.

Stark Mountain [2F]

As soon as you arrive here, Buck will catch up with you! Once he's informted of Team Galactic's presence, he decides to travel with you, of course. Once again, no allusion to Percy at all.

Anyway, Buck's Claydol is, honestly, less than useful. In fact, I genuinely think he's more of a detriment than a help. There are some situations where he helps out with Light Screen or Reflect, but quite often his Claydol just gets KO'd leaving you in a 1v2 since he has no pokemon to follow up with. This actually caused me to white out at one point! Though I definitely seized the opportunity to shuffle some of my party around before returning. I think the last time I was KO'd by a random trainer in my life was back when X & Y were new and I was surprised by the strength of a particular trainer duo, but we'll talk about that when we get there.

Anyway, this area is just as annoying as it was in Diamond and Pearl, Stark Mountain really is just an all-around miserable experience, isn't it?

Koffing is newly available back here! Like on 1F, Rhydon is also available, though Rhyhorn is not. Also similar to 1F, Machoke, Geodude, Onix, and Camerupt are also not available in here. If you wanna catch Koffing, though, you'll probably have a better time after Buck is out of the picture. After all, Koffing is likely to just explode on you if Buck doesn't KO it with Psychic first. And if that wasn't enough of a joke, Koffing also knows Memento at the level he's available here. That's a move I didn't even know he was capable of learning, but it'll KO him all the same as Explosion. Oh, and be careful KO-ing it if it doesn't go down turn 1 because it also knows Destiny Bond. What a pain this thing is.

=============

Stark Mountain [3F]

As you reach the furthest point of the cave, you'll have Charon cornered with the Magma Stone! He explains his motivation for taking up Cyrus' mantle, stating that Cyrus' plans were foolish. That it was such a waste to organize such a large group as Team Galactic only to waste it on fulfilling some wild fantasy about creating a new world for himself, only to have his own plans blow up in his face. Charon explains his new goal is simple: To use Team Galactic as an organization to simply make money. His current plan is to use the Magma Stone to awaken and capture Heatran so that he can threaten the population of the island with an imminent volcanic eruption to extort money out of them... Okay, he had me in the first half, not gonna lie, but... shit, man, at least Cyrus' plan was thought through. Was this really the best get rich quick scheme the supposed genius Charon was able to come up with? Granted, I could absolutely see this story being a lot more interesting if he actually successfully went through with his plans and we had to stop him, but, well, what does happen?

While we're distracted, Charon has one of his grunts steal the Magma Stone and try to make a getaway! But suddenly...

A Croagunk appears from behind a definitely-not-out-of-place boulder and snatches the Magma Stone out from in front of them before the grunts could grab it!

Music: Looker's Theme

And with this, Looker reveals himself as having disguised himself as that boulder that was definitely inconspicuous! It was his Croagunk that snatched the Magma Stone away from Team Galactic. And after seizing Charon's confession, he places him under arrest. The two grunts panic at the sight of an international police officer and immediately run away.

==============

Stark Mountain [Exterior]

With that, we take our leave of Stark Mountain and Buck returns the Magma Stone to its rightful place, suggesting that Heatran shouldn't wake up. "Probably." That doesn't sound too promising, but I suppose we'll need to leave it be for now. After returning the Magma Stone, Buck takes his leave back to the Survival Area and invites us to meet with him there.

And that's the end of the Magma Stone story arch... that... that was an improvement? That was the ultimate justification for the inclusion of Looker and Charon in this game?? I'm gonna be honest here, I genuinely think this story arc was better in Diamond and Pearl. I thought it was really cool to see your rival feeling out of place in an area filled with trainers tougher than himself and to have those feelings of being out of reassured by another trainer who specifically eggs him on. It was really cool to see that motivate your rival to further grow and develop his talents even more than his friendly rivalry with you. It also added higher stakes to the pursuit of a valuable treasure in the depths of Stark Mountain only for this reckless race to be met with disaster when it's realized that the Magma Stone wasn't important because it was a treasure nobody was able to obtain, but because it was a relic that no one dared to take away.

Maybe the devs felt it was a bit mean-spirited to aid Buck in his quest to get the Magma Stone, or that players wanted to participate in this race and get the Magma Stone themselves, but I certainly found myself a lot more engaged in that storyline than this one.

Then we have this new storyline. Looker and Charon are fine in a vacuum, I suppose. It seems that Charon and Looker are narrative echoes of each other, both being adults who solve problems by intellectual means rather than through senseless battling, but have had those skills take them in different directions. One of a life of crime and another a life of crime fighting. I think the concept of a villain who solves problems by clever manipulation of people around him rather than through brute force is an interesting concept in the Pokemon World, but... this was just so poorly handled in a narrative where it really has no purpose. These two characters I've already complained didn't really contribute anything at all to the main story and Looker even arguably made some points of the narrative a little worse by spelling out details you should already have pieced together, or really hammering in points you literally already knew. I get that maybe those are intended as comedic moments, but it still comes off to me as the game needlessly repeating dialogue. All these characters did was provide some bonus dialogue here and there. Looker was at least funny, but Charon literally added nothing at all. Then the ultimate plan he had in mind, that the genius he'd been flaunting the whole game and looking down at Cyrus for, was to threaten a bunch of islanders for money... on an island known for attracting the toughest trainers from all of Sinnoh.

I really have to say that I'm genuinely disappointed by this story arc. I was expecting there to be something interesting here. But Charon seems far more inept than Cyrus who was actually really close to accomplishing his goal as "absurd" as it seemed. The additions to Cyrus's story, for the mostpart, were also superficial, but the Distortion World segment really did add a whole other layer to his character and plan that I thoroughly enjoyed. I didn't quite expect Charon to live up to that degree of storytelling for obvious reasons, but I certainly figured I could expect... something from this. This just felt like a desperate attempt to keep Team Galactic alive rather than some grandiose, sustainable plan for the future of the team. Even Mars and Jupiter agreed, Charon really didn't turn out to be a very interesting villain at all, which is a shame because I thought he was a character with a lot of really interesting potential when I first started this playthrough. Oh well, not everything can be a winner. At the very least, I can appreciate the attempt to try and make Stark Mountain a more high-stakes story, though I would certainly prefer the interior of Stark Mountain to be remodeled to be less... obnoxious to explore.

Regardless, that's pretty much it for the postgame's narrative. All that's left is to explore the rest of the Battle Zone and finish up a few more threads back in mainland Sinnoh. For next time, though, let's just take things one step at a time and see what's going on back in the Survival Area. Maybe we'll get a chance to fight Heatran?

April 11, 2023

Survival Area

We've made our way back to the Survival Area!

We find Percy and Buck standing outside of Buck's house. I thought maybe this might be where they start to interact but, nope, they're still completely indifferent toward each other. It's so bizarre to me. Buck will personally invite you inside his home, but Percy stays outside talking generically about how strong all the trainers are here.

Battleground

As it turns out, this house isn't just Buck's home, but it's also the exclusive club Percy alluded to before! This building was previously shut tight and only members were allowed. Normally, only gym leaders and those granted memberships by gym leaders are permitted entry here. But Buck makes a special exception for you since he owns the place. This is one of the more exciting additions to Platinum because, as you can probably guess, this is where you get to have rematches with gym leaders! In addition, you also get to battle against the companion trainers you've traveled with previously, now with fully developed teams! Gym Leader rematches are always an exciting feature to me because I think it's really cool to be able to battle the Gym Leaders at their peak rather than the having them exclusively exist as the lower-tier gyms earlier on.

Every day, you'll find up to four different trainers inside the building. You can talk to them and challenge them to a battle. Each trainer can only be battled once each day, so you'll want to make it count! This is essentially the next step up from the wandering trainers you'll battle all around Sinnoh.

Due to the random nature, I can't promise I'll be able to cover all of these trainers at once, but I'd certainly like to cover my experience battling them all. For now, though, I'm going to list each trainer and their full teams. Each trainer has five pokemon: two that are Lv. 61, one that is Lv. 62, one that is Lv. 63, and one that is Lv. 65. Because the levels are mostly consistent like this, with few exceptions, I'm going to list the teams in order of lowest level to highest level rather, but know this doesn't necessarily correlate the pokemon on the left with the first one that gets sent out.

Spoiler

Roark: Probopass Lv. 61, Golem Lv. 61, Aerodactyl Lv. 62, Rampardos Lv. 63, Tyrannitar Lv. 65; leads with Aerodactyl.

Gardenia: Jumpluff Lv. 61, Bellossom Lv. 61, Cherrim Lv. 62, Torterra Lv. 63, Roserade Lv. 65

Fantina: Banette Lv. 61, Drifblim Lv. 61, Dusknoir Lv. 62, Mismagius Lv. 63, Gengar Lv. 65

Maylene: Hitmontop Lv. 62, Breloom Lv. 62, Medicham Lv. 63, Machamp Lv. 64, Lucario Lv. 66

Crasher Wake: Sharpedo Lv. 61, Quagsire Lv. 61, Gyarados Lv. 62, Floatzel Lv. 63, Ludicolo Lv. 65

Byron: Skarmory Lv. 61, Steelix Lv. 61, Magnezone Lv. 62, Bastiodon Lv. 63, Aagron Lv. 65

Candice: Mamoswine Lv. 61, Abomasnow Lv. 61, Weavile Lv. 62, Froslass Lv. 63, Glaceon Lv. 65; Leads with Weavile

Volkner: Jolteon Lv. 61, Raichu Lv. 61, Luxray Lv. 62, Lanturn Lv. 63, Electivire Lv. 65

Cheryl: Wobbuffet Lv. 61, Drifblim Lv. 61, Hariyama Lv. 62, Wailord Lv. 63, Blissey Lv. 65

Mira: Porygon-Z Lv. 61, Gengar Lv. 61, Magnezone Lv. 62, Togekiss Lv. 63, Alakazam Lv. 65

Riley: Absol Lv. 61, Urasring Lv. 61, Metagross Lv. 62, Salamence Lv. 63, Lucario Lv. 65

Marley: Ninjask Lv. 61, Electrode Lv. 61, Crobat Lv. 62, Weavile Lv. 63, Arcanine Lv. 65

Buck: Shuckle Lv. 61, Torkoal Lv. 61, Umbreon Lv. 62, Dusknoir Lv. 63, Claydol Lv. 65

Check the spoiler tag above to see every possible trainer and the pokemon they'll be using! Going forward, this is going to be a somewhat daily thing depending on my availability to play, but I don't think it'll be realistic for me to cover my battle against every single one of them. But, if you're low level, this is a great place to come and get some battles in to earn some solid experience. And if the stat trainers are around, you'd better believe you're about to get a solid helping of EVs in their respectice stat, if you're trying to boost those, too! Though Buck isn't as useful in that regard since his pokemon grant EVs in both Defense and Sp. Defense. You might not want both of those like that.

Anyway, having a location where you can battle against the stat trainers I think is a really cool idea. It begs the question of where the hell were all these badass pokemon when you were teaming with them, especially Buck! But it's really fun to see that they've all been training on their own, too!

My first time around, I got to battle with Cheryl, Volkner, and Candice and I can certainly tell you that these battles are no pushovers! Cheryl and Candice both had me a bit worried at a few points! Though you can probably guess how Volkner's battle went.

On your first visit, Buck will introduce you to the area and explain what it's all about before taking his leave for the Battle Frontier.

===============

Stark Mountain

With all that out of the way, let's now make our trip back to Stark Mountain. Not only can we now freely explore the second floor, but you can probably guess the main attraction to coming back now.

===========

Stark Mountain [3F]

As you return to the depths of Stark Mountain, indeed, you'll run into the legendary pokemon Heatran!

==============

My Team:

-----------------

Moon (Empoleon F); Lv. 60

Item: Shuca Berry

Ability: Torrent | Moves: Ice Beam, Aqua Jet, Surf, Drill Peck

------------------

Radio (Rotom); Lv. 58

Item: Colbur Berry

Ability: Levitate | Moves: Discharge, Thunder Wave, Ominous Wind, Overheat

I went and switched Radio back to Heat Rotom for now because I figured Overheat was a generally more useful move than Blizzard since I already have two Ice types. I mainly leaned so hard into Frost Rotom due to my concerns with Cynthia's Garchomp.

--------------

Comet (Togekiss M); Lv. 61*

Item: Razor Fang

Ability: Serene Grace | Moves: Water Pulse, Air Slash, AncientPower, Baton Pass

--------------

Meteor (Garchomp M); Lv. 61*

Item: Yache Berry

Ability: Sand Veil | Moves: Dragon Claw, Fire Fang, Aerial Ace, Earthquake

---------------

Satellite (Porygon-Z); Lv. 59

Item: Magnet

Ability: Download | Moves: Psychic, Charge Beam, Recover, Tri-Attack

---------------

Polaris (Froslass F); Lv. 59

Item: Kasib Berry

Ability: Snow Cloak | Moves: Ice Shard, Protect, Ice Fang, Shadow Ball

----------------

*Meteor and Comet were in the PC to make room for HM users.

============

Vs. Heatran Lv. 50

Heatran is significantly weaker this time around, being only Lv. 50 instead of Lv. 70, that's weaker than Cresselia! I'm not sure why this massive decrease in level exists, but Heatran is pretty easy to catch due to its level being notably lower than even the wild pokemon of the area.

----------------

The strategy here is pretty standard fare for legendary battles. Even though it looks like it would have Magma Armor to protect itself from getting Frozen, Heatran actually just has Flash Fire. So, even though it's quad-resisted, I can still open up with Polaris and spam Ice Fang in hopes of freezing it. When it's frozen, I can either start chucking pokeballs at it or swtich to Shadow Ball for higher damage output.

I probably can't expect Polaris to be enough for this battle, though, so that's where Moon comes in. If I can freeze it with Ice Beam, I can switch up to Surf for better weakening.

If my options are exhausted and Heatran still isn't caught, I can bring Radio out to paralyze it with Thunder Wave, soften it up with Discharge if necessary, and then continue wacking it with pokeballs.

Satellite is my last line of defense, but he should be pretty good at taking some of these hits and healing them off with Recover while I continue throwing pokeballs until I eventually succeed.

============

Sun (Heatran); Lv. 50

Item: None

Ability: Flash Fire | Moves: Metal Sound, Crunch, Scary Face, Lava Plume

============

Heatran was actually an unexpectedly super easy capture. I froze it with Moon's Ice Beam and caught it with my very first Dusk Ball with absolutely no problems at all, it was great! Now we don't have to worry about anybody trying to steal that Magma Stone ever again!

And that's it for today's update. I know it was a bit short this time, but we still covered some new content! Next time, we'll be exploring more of the Battle Zone. We should be able to reach the Resort Area and I do know of at least one new feature to discuss there, but that'll be it for now! See you soon!

April 12, 2023

Fight Area

Now that we've explored up to Stark Mountain from the north exit of the Fight Area, I think the best course of action is to make our way east toward the Resort Area and continue down the path until we reach the crossroads at the base of Stark Mountain. There isn't too terribly much to cover between here and there, so let's get on with it!

===========

Route 230

Always loved the music of the routes along the eastern side of the Battle Zone.

Unlike the other sea routes, we can actually find Sealeo here while Surfing! No Spheal, Seel, or Dewgong can be found here, though. But, Sealeo is massively more common than in Pearl, so this is probably the best way to catch it!

As for the grass, Gastrodon, Golduck, Beautifly, and Dustox are all missing. Wingull, Pelipper, and Roselia have been added in their place.

And yes, you can find Togepi here with the Poke Radar even though it was available from the egg in the beginning.

Route 229

Route 229 contains a pretty heavily changed encounter table. Perhaps the biggest addition here is Pidgey who used to be a swarm pokemon but has now swapped places with Pinsir, while the biggest omission is that Pinsir and Scyther are replaced with Beautifly and Dustox, though Pinsir can still be encountered via swarm and Scyther was made available far earlier on Route 210. Volbeat and Illumise are equally available at 10% each while Purugly, Oddish, Gloom, Bellsrpout, and Weepinbell are all completely unaccounted for.

Surskit and Masquerain can now be found in the little pond as well.

============

Resort Area

Are you ready to see the biggest blunder in Platinum redesigns? Okay, visually-speaking, Resort Area looks like a fantastic upgrade compared to its DP counterpart, but if you compare them, you'll likely realize a major problem. For some ungodly reason, they fenced off the second northern exit. This forces you to trudge through all of that tall grass on Route 229 just to get to that patch of berries out there where it only took a quick walk through four tiles of grass to get to them by just walking north from the Resort Area.

Why they made this change is far beyond me, but even if you're willing to drop repels to go to remote berries, this asinine change makes that berry patch far, far less desirable than most in the game. The only one that's worse is the one on Route 224 that you have to pass through Victory Road to reach. I guess they extended the fence to make room for the new pool next to the Ribbon Syndicate, since it had to be pushed further north thanks to the addition of the villa, but could they not have just removed some of the trees so that you could get around and leave through the north??

For context, this is what the Resort Area looked like in Diamond and Pearl. They added trees to block the path! Oh well, it's not too terribly big a deal. You're only missing out on one berry patch. It's not like you can't easily get hundreds of a berries off of all the easily accessible ones around Sinnoh. It just confuses me why they bother adding berry patches in such remote locations that most people are never going to bother with?

Anyway, as you can see, the Resort Area has been pretty drastically redesigned, though most of the differences are just certain set pieces being moved around to make room for one large new villa on a small hill. We'll get to that in a bit. The Ribbon Syndicate is all the same as it was in Diamond and Pearl. You'll need 10 different ribbons across the pokemon in your party. That's unique ribbons, of course. So your ribbon from defeating Cynthia will only count for one even if it's on all six pokemon. Beyond the Sinnoh Champion Ribbon, other ribbons that can be obtained in Sinnoh include the Footprint Ribbon from Dr. Footstep on Route 213, the seven daily ribbons from Julia in Sunyshore City, the Effort Ribbon from the Slateport Market, and any ribbons earned from Pokemon Super Contests in Hearthome City.

As mentioned before, we'll cover ribbons in more detail as part of the generational cleanup, but there's really not much you're missing out on if you can't get inside. Just the opportunity to buy three extra vanity ribbons and a spa to groom pokemon.

Funny enough, there's an NPC in the pool outside the Ribbon Syndicate who tells you he saw a monster in the pond and tells you to use your Super Rod if you don't believe him. In Diamond and Pearl, this was likely intended to be in reference to Gyarados. But in Platinum, the intention is a bit different. If you follow his instructions, you'll be met with a 100% chance of finding Magikarp. What's so monstrous about a Magikarp? Well, these Magikarp can range anywhere from Lv. 1 to Lv. 100! Catching a Lv. 100 Magikarp is humorous in its own right, especially since it can't actually evolve anymore since it can no longer level up!

Stopping by the Pokemon Center on the way to the villa, you'll find Poke Kid Ariel on weekends and Wednesdays.

And as you approach the villa, you'll be stopped by its owner who seems suspiciously willing to just... give it to you? The whole villa? For free?? That's definitely sounds like a scam, but he assures you it's not and doesn't charge you for it at all. He explains somebody else gave it to him and he doesn't want it, so he wants to pay it forward by giving it to you. Apparently its previous owner is a man from Hoenn who collected all the rare stones in Sinnoh and then left. I suppose the implication is that this place likely belonged to Steven Stone for a little while. Cool throwback!

==============

Villa

The guy will lead you into the Villa, which is completely empty on the inside because the previous owner took all the furniture with him. He then places an order from a catalogue for a small table to place in the center of the room. Don't worry, he covers this order for you.

This Small Table gets placed in the center of the villa along with the catalogue. From this catalogue, you can order additional furniture to decorate your villa. This might sound really exciting, like an expansion on the secret base mechanic, but it's not nearly as cool as it sounds. These furniture items are automatically placed in static locations and don't even really have any functional use besides a little bit of flavor text when you check the furniture and some specific furniture items will cause certain guests to begin appearing randomly at your villa.

Guests will appear either already inside the villa, will enter after you, or will appear outside waiting to be invited inside. It's kinda cool that there are different mannerisms for different characters based on their personalities and specific relationship with you.

So, we're gonna wanna jump right in and start pimping this place out, right? Weeeelll... think again. Look at the prices of these items that are on the catalogue...

Big Sofa: 120,000P

Small Sofa: 90,000P

Bed: 187,000P

Night Table: 140,000P

TV: 220,000P

Audio System: 160,000P

Bookshelf: 150,000P

Rack: 127,000P

Houseplant: 120,000P

PC Desk: 168,000P

Altogether, all this furniture costs 1,482,000P. To put all this into perspective, after battling all the trainers in the game and selling all the treasures I've collected except for the Star Pieces, I was able to afford: The Small Sofa, the Bed, and the TV. Unfortunately, I have a bit more information that would've altered my choices a bit had I known them ahead of time. But specific furniture items allow for different guests to appear. The Bulbapedia article fails to mention this at all, but it is noted on the Serebii page.

If you're interested in attracting new guests, start with the Small Sofa, the Bookshelf, and the Houseplant. These will attract Lucas/Dawn, Prof. Rowan, and Gardenia respectively. All the other starting furniture contributes nothing but asthetics.

Oh, but did you think 1,482,000P was enough to fully deck out your house? Of course not! There's actually a whole lot more furniture here that you'll need to reach various milestones to unlock. This is clearly a very large long-term project and, while we likely won't be accomplishing everything, I think it's fitting to cover these long-term goals as part of generational cleanup alongside the Battle Frontier, as the Battle Frontier is tied directly into some of these furniture items (because of course it is.)

Anyway, aside from the previously listed characters, there's not much information on the guests that can arrive at your place. Every gym leader can appear along with your mother, rival, as well as, supposedly, Flint. Whether or not these individual guests require specific furniture items like Lucas, Rowan, and Gardenia, doesn't seem to be common knowledge. Though there is one more that is known: Cynthia requires a particular furniture item we don't quite have access to yet.

So, with generational cleanup, we'll get back on this subject and cover just what all needs to be done to complete the villa. But for now, let's just get going on our adventure.

==============

Route 228

Last but not least, we have Route 228 which is famous for its perpetual sandstorm. The wild pokemon are the same here, though Trapinch and Vibrava can no longer be found using the Poke Radar. And the buildings are the same, too.

A PP Max has been added to the southernmost patch of grass, so be sure to nab that! Other than that, there's a sneakily hidden cave entrance added in one of the craters on the northern end. It can be really hard to see due to the dark colors of the walls and the sandstorm going on, but you can see it much more easily in the static image above!

This leads to yet another strange, empty square room.

This one has a Hard Stone and, like the others, a Nugget hidden in the corner.

That's three mysterious, square rooms now each with an item that boosts a specific time: a Metal Coat that powers up Steel attacks, NeverMeltIce that powers up Ice attacks, and a Hard Stone that powers up Rock attacks... hmmm.... Anyway, for now, there's nothing else here.

Route 226

And as we continue along, we'll find ourselves back at Route 226 at the base of Stark Mountain. We've now come full circle! Or... half circle? Does this count as full circle? Whatever, the Battle Zone is now fully explored! Now there's just a handful of things I'd like to touch on before I do surface-level coverage of the Battle Frontier. See you soon!

April 14, 2023

Today's gonna be a bit of a hodge-podge of revisiting various locations we haven't touched on with postgame content just yet. There's nothing of particular note to do at these areas, I mostly just forgot to address them as there is some slight variation in these areas compared to their DP counterpart.

Great Marsh

Like in Diamond and Pearl, the Great Marsh is expanded once you obtain the national dex to make room for some new pokemon added to the list of rotating pokemon. Most of these pokemon are the same as in DP, but Kecleon is sprinkled into the mix! It looks like you don't have to transfer it in after all!

============

Trophy Garden

Of course, the Trophy Garden is a similar story. Just like in DP, you can have a new pokemon added to the Trophy Garden by speaking with Mr. Backlot in the Pokemon Mansion. Only two different species of these special pokemon can exist in the garden at the same time.

Like with the Great Marsh, most of the pokemon available by this method are the same as in DP, but the pokemon Ditto was added here rather than being available via the Poke Radar on Route 218. Casual reminder that the sprites I'm posting here are only the pokemon that are new in this current playthrough of Platinum. That is to say, it's not an exhaustive list of every pokemon available, it's just excluding pokemon like Clefairy and Cleffa who have been available elsewhere already.

============

The only remaining area that comes to mind which we haven't explored yet is Snowpoint Temple, but I think it'll be fitting to explore that location a little bit later. For now, there is one last little quest I'd like to explore. One that I've alluded to previously when we decided to explore Turnback Cave early.

Celestic Town

We return to Celestic Town to speak with the Elder, Cynthia's Grandmother. In Diamond and Pearl, she would show you a book entry on Palkia and Dialga respectively, and this was an important step in unlocking the National Pokedex if you couldn't simply trade for the opposite legendary. She'll tell you she's been doing some research since the happenings at Spear Pillar and recite some entires from an ancient book she came across.

Quote

The bearer of the shining Adamant Orb shall summon Dialga to the Spear Pillar. The guardian pokemon of Time shall answer the call.

The bearer of the shining Lustrous Orb shall summon Palkia to the Spear Pillar. The pokemon that binds special dimensions shall answer the call.

Remember how I said the Adamant and Lustrous Orbs were a bit more significant in this game than before? Well, if you weren't able to put 2 and 2 together just yet, it should be quite obvious now. Armed with this knowledge, we can bring the Adamant and Lustrous Orbs to Spear Pillar and be able to battle Dialga and Palkia!

Mt. Coronet [4F]

If you recall, the Adamant and Lustrous Orbs could be obtained from Mt. Coronet's 4th floor. You'll need to use Waterfall to access the secret chamber the orbs are inside. Since we have to take them to Spear Pillar now, this is why I suggested there would probably be a better time to get these. Now would be the best time since you're already on your way up the mountain toward Spear Pillar.

Spear Pillar

As we return to Spear Pillar after having heard the prophecy from Cynthia's grandmother and with the Adamant Orb in hand, we'll find a strange blue rift in the back where Dialga stood when dragged to the pillar by the Red Chain. Interacting with the rift will reveal that Dialga is on the other side! You can call it over to initiate the battle. Make sure you save, first!

===========

My Team:

-----------------

Moon (Empoleon F); Lv. 65

Item: Shuca Berry

Ability: Torrent | Moves: Ice Beam, Aqua Jet, Surf, Drill Peck

------------------

Radio (Rotom); Lv. 62

Item: Colbur Berry

Ability: Levitate | Moves: Discharge, Thunder Wave, Ominous Wind, Overheat

I went and switched Radio back to Heat Rotom for now because I figured Overheat was a generally more useful move than Blizzard since I already have two Ice types. I mainly leaned so hard into Frost Rotom due to my concerns with Cynthia's Garchomp.

--------------

Comet (Togekiss M); Lv. 62*

Item: Razor Fang

Ability: Serene Grace | Moves: Water Pulse, Air Slash, AncientPower, Baton Pass

--------------

Meteor (Garchomp M); Lv. 63*

Item: Yache Berry

Ability: Sand Veil | Moves: Dragon Claw, Fire Fang, Aerial Ace, Earthquake

---------------

Satellite (Porygon-Z); Lv. 62

Item: Magnet

Ability: Download | Moves: Psychic, Charge Beam, Recover, Tri-Attack

---------------

Polaris (Froslass F); Lv. 62

Item: Kasib Berry

Ability: Snow Cloak | Moves: Ice Shard, Destiny Bond, Ice Fang, Shadow Ball

----------------

*Meteor and Comet were in the PC to make room for HM users.

============

Vs. Dialga, Lv. 70

This is Platinum's counterpart to Diamond and Pearl's Giratina battle! While not quite as mysterious as Giratina, Dialga and Palkia can both be battled atop Spear Pillar at a much higher level than in Diamond and Pearl. Of course, this means they're a lot tougher, which is part of why I put them off for so long. Dialga now has Earth Power, Slash, and Heal Block alongside Roar of Time, so you're not getting off quite so easily in terms of damage and Heal Block might just keep you from stalling if you rely on healing to stay in the game. Interestingly, though, Slash and Earth Power don't get STAB like Dragon and Metal Claw, but a lot more types are covered for with this moveset.

Anyway, the strategy is all the same as always. In fact, Polaris is better equipped for this version of Dialga since both of Dialga's moves that useed to be super-effective against it are gone, and Slash doesn't even affect! I can slip in quite a bit of Ice Fangs in hopes of getting a lucky Freeze in there. Polaris can outspeed Dialga, too, so I can also get a handful of Flinches in as well!

If Dialga is low on HP and Polaris goes down, then it's time to bring out Radio and hit Dialga with Thunder Wave to start chucking pokeballs!

If Polaris goes down and Dialga still has health left, I can bring Moon out instead of Radio to soften it up further with Ice Beam to continue getting Freeze chances. Otherwise, Moon will come out after Radio and Dialga will be paralyzed. Moon's Steel type protects her from Roar of Time and Slash, and the Shuca Berry also helps guard against Earth Power! So Moon can typically hold in for quite a while against Dialga.

The last line of defense here is Satellite who can really only do so much, unfortunately. If it gets hit with Heal Block especially, there's not much stalling Satellite is capable of maintaining. If he comes out, it's usually not a good sign.

============

Legacy (Dialga); Lv. 70

Item: None

Ability: Pressure | Moves: Roar of Time, Heal Block, Earth Power, Slash

============

You might be a bit confused as to why I've only addressed Dialga so far. Well, aside from the fact that I battled Dialga first, the two rifts only appear one at a time. I believe if you have both orbs, Dialga's rift only appears first and Palkia's rift only appears after Dialga is battled. In order to get the other rift to appear, you'll need to leave Spear Pillar and come back, though. Which is fine because you'll likely need to heal up to deal with Palkia anyway. Of course, if you only pick up the Lustrous Orb and leave the Adamant Orb behind, you'll be able to battle Palkia first. And it's possible, though I have no way to verify, that picking up the Lustrous Orb first might cause Palkia to appear before Dialga. I've only ever seen the battle against Dialga first, though. I guess it's just human nature to pick items up from left to right?

Regardless, when we return to Spear Pillar again with the Lustrous Orb in hand, we'll find a pink rift through which we can call Palkia!

============

Vs. Palkia, Lv. 70

Palkia is far more aggressive than Dialga. It's notably faster allowing it to outspeed my team! Yikes! While I can get lucky and evade some attacks here and there, Palkia's Spacial Rend is as terrifying as you'd expect. The strategy is the same, but a lot harder to maintain against a pokemon that outspeeds us! Polaris often doesn't get any Ice Fangs in at all! Polaris is my fastest pokemon, so that's a bit scary. Still, it's best to lead with Polaris because I want to get that Freeze if I can!

If Palkia ends up low on HP without being frozen, it's of course time to (try and) paralyze it. Radio's slower than Polaris, though, so it's unlikely I'll actually get the chance to land Thunder Wave. If I do manage it, though, I'll be blessed with a much easier time softening up Palkia since I'll be able to outspeed it.

Of course, Moon is once again my main wall in this battle. Once the Shuca Berry is used up, though, there's really not much even she can do to stand up against Earth Power.

And finally, there's Satellite who's, again, more or less our last-ditch effort. If needed, I can try and go for Tri-Attack to hope for additional chances at status problems, but the odds of that actually working out in my favor is incredibly slim since it's unlikely Satellite will even survive the turn to be able to attack.

=============

Domain (Palkia); Lv. 70

Item: None

Ability: Pressure | Moves: Spacial Rend, Heal Block, Earth Power, Slash

=============

It was actually surprisingly painless to catch these two! I got them both on my first battle with them, though the battle with Palkia did bring me down to my HM users, making leaving Mt. Coronet a bit of an episode, but it wasn't too rough! You can't Fly off of Spear Pillar for some reason, but you can fly off of the exterior of Mt. Coronet. Anyway, I do believe that's it for exploring in-game content! There's still a little bit more to explore, though. Just like in Diamond and Pearl, we can rematch our rival on the weekends so I'll be sure to do that tomorrow. Other than that, we also have one final element I'd like to cover as a sendoff to this game before putting it down, but before we get into that, I also want to dedicate a post discussing various events that were distributed during Platinum's lifetime. So we've still got just a little bit longer to go! Next time, I think we'll begin exploring some special event distributions! See you then!

April 19, 2023

Hi everyone! It's been a hot minute since my last upload, between getting sick and having to catch up on school work, with finals rapidly approaching and all of my professors cramming last-minute projects down our throats, I haven't had much time for AtP, and updates are probably going to continue being slow for a little bit. But without further ado, let's get on with our coverage of Pokemon Platinum! Last time we've finished covering pretty much everything in the base game, so now we're going to start looking into event distributions!

In the process of doing so, I want to address a major mistake I'd made while trying to use an Action Replay to generate our first event here, similar to the way I genned the Pokemon Ranger Manaphy in Diamond and Pearl. Essentially, I mistakenly thought I was inputting a code that would cause the Mystery Gift man to appear with the pokemon in question when I pressed L+R. This particular pokemon did have a distribution like this in Platinum and I felt it was the most "legitimate" way to obtain the particular pokemon in question. But in trying to get the code to work, I couldn't get the messenger to spawn. Since my latest save was at the remote berry patch on Route 206. Since I kept failing to get the messenger to spawn, I decided to fly to Oreburgh and save the game outside the Poke Mart to make the resets faster. What I didn't realize was that, not only had I been putting the code wrong, the code I was putting in wasn't one to generate the pokemon I wanted as a Mystery Gift delivery, but rather replaced the first pokemon in my party!

The result of this was that poor Comet wound up getting completely overwritten! Not only did I lose Comet, but since the code was inputted incorrectly, I didn't even get the pokemon I wanted! Instead, I just got a glitch pokemon known as a "bad egg," which is essentially Gen 4's MissingNo. An error handler for when a pokemon's data is corrupted. Bad Egg can't easily be gotten rid of and I'd like to avoid interacting with it at all for fear of how it might affect the save file. Supposedly, I can get it to hatch into another pokemon by walking with it like a normal egg, but I'd rather keep it tucked away and pretend it doesn't exist. Unfortunately, since the game recognizes Bad Egg as an egg and not a pokemon, I can't release it or trade it away. It's seen as an illegal pokemon that can't be brought into the Union Room. So, Comet turned into a Bad Egg that is now just a dummied out pokemon.

The worst part is, because I didn't realize this had been done, I'd already saved thinking the code simply wasn't taking effect. A huge mistake. If you're playing with cheat codes, especially if they don't appear to work as expected, never save your game. I did so against my better judgment because of frustration with inputting a really large code into an Action Replay and I definitely should've deactivated the code, loaded up the game cleanly, then saved in front of the mart before trying to enter the code again. That way I would've avoided the risk of permanently losing one of my beloved party members. But I can't say I didn't make the decision to use AR codes without knowing I was risking stuff like this. So, I started looking into ways I could remedy this mistake.

Obviously, I don't have any backup saves. I'm playing on legitimate, unmodded hardware so that's not exactly something that can be done without external hardware. That's the reason I've been resorting to using Action Replay over any sort of much more convenient save editing software. But now that I've lost a party member, I need to go to a much greater extent. Thankfully, I did have an out: Pokemon Pearl.

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this yet, but I didn't actually play a hard copy of Pearl version. Instead, I found a rom of it on an R4 flash cart I'd purchased. Because of this, even though it's not Platinum, I did have access to an extractable save file thanks to the Micro SD card that came with it. So, I decided to use a popular Pokemon Save editing program, PKHeX, to gen a new Togekiss that's as similar as possible to Comet. There are some issues, though. For one, I don't know every detail about Comet. I got Comet from the egg given by Cynthia, so I can fill out all the encounter information by selecting that egg from PKHeX's encounter databases. I obviously know Comet's Moveset, ability, and held item, and I can set the Trainer ID and OT to match my save in Platinum. But things get muddy when we get into things like nature, EVs, and especially IVs. These are details I don't know at all. But considering I soft reset for a good nature and EVs are freely customizable, and I do plan to cover new additions to EV training here in Gen IV, I decided to just give this new Comet a Timid Nature and a perfect 250/250/4 IV spread in Speed, Sp. Def, and HP. Worth noting, this is not a competitive build. As it turns out, Smogon seems to recommend Togekiss be a slow Baton Pass user to get free switches over attempting to outspeed tanky pokemon and flinch hax them to death. I can't say I'm too terribly surprised by that, but this is the direction I was taking Comet's moveset and I figured I should stay true to that front. The IVs, however, I have no clue how accurate they are. PKHeX automatically rolls IVs for the pokemon and this one happened to have fairly high, but not perfect, IVs. I tried to adjust them toward what Comet's IV spread felt like, but I might be entirely off base. By adjust, I mean I put his highest roll in one stat, lowest roll in another, etc. By the looks of the rolls I got, they were good enough that I'm wondering if Cynthia's egg is just set to naturally have high IVs, but I really didn't want to overcorrect and make a Togekiss that didn't feel anything like Comet. Lastly, even though I can match the OT and Trainer ID to my Platinum save, I can't match the Secret ID, as I simply don't have that info. As a result, Platina behaves like a traded pokemon from another trainer, gaining boosted Exp. But, since the visible Trainer ID matches, it's still enough for some things like the Name Rater for what it's worth.

I was a bit worried about going through with this approach as I didn't want this Togekiss to be worse than the one I'd been raising, but I also didn't want it to be so good it overshadowed the rest of my team. Unfortunately, it's always going to be an outlier due to gaining boosted Exp like a traded pokemon, but hopefully that won't be too much of an issue.

Of course, the Cynthia encounter where you get Togepi doesn't exist in Pearl. But that's an easy fix as I can simply set it so that it was obtained in a trade. After genning this Togekiss, all I had to do was simply trade it over to Platinum in exchange for one of the junk pokemon I'd caught in the Great Marsh. While doing this, I also genned two other pokemon. One of which we'll discuss right in this very post, the other will come up later on during the Generational Cleanup.

Long story short, the Comet we all know and love has sadly passed away. Comet will continue to participate in our adventures, but the Comet you will be seeing going forward is simply a lookalike actor. There are going to be some inconsistencies with the way it handles, but hopefully this change won't be too intrusive on gameplay.

Anyway, without further ado, let's get on with our coverage of Platinum Events! Or, in this particular case, events in Platinum related to Event Distributions...

Snowpoint City

You may be wondering why we've yet to cover Snowpoint Temple. Is there nothing of interest there? Well, yes and no. But unlike Diamond and Pearl where the most obvious approach to battling Regigigas was to simply transfer the Legendary Golems in from Gen 3, this game provides an alternative way to obtain the Legendary Golems! But it requires... Regigigas. No, that's not a mistake on my part. Today we're going to be covering the single most baffling design decision and redundant legendary pokemon encounter in the game!

=============

Regigigas; Lv. 100 (OT: TRU)

Item: Custap Berry

Ability: Slow Start | Moves: Iron Head, Rock Slide, Icy Wind, Crush Grip

==============

Back in 2009, this Regigigas was distributed to players of Diamond and Pearl to promote the film Giratina and the Sky Warrior, a movie that in turn was created to promote the upcoming Pokemon Platinum. This Mystery Gift encouraged players to trade it to Platinum version to explore "a new area" and catch 3 Powerful Pokemon. The phrasing there seems to imply that perhaps the initial plan for this was that this would only open one new area that houses all three of these pokemon, but it in fact opens up three new areas.

Here in the US, this was a Toys R Us distribution and only worked with Diamond and Pearl (which might explain why I couldn't find a code for a Mystery Gift event for Regigigas in Platinum in hindsight). This event was also DP exclusive in Korea and Japan. In all other regions, however, Regigigas could be received directly in Platinum requiring no trade at all, though it was also available in Diamond and Pearl.

This Regigigas is level 100, holding a Custap Berry, an extremely rare berry that boosts your speed in a pinch, and comes in a Cherish Ball, a very special poke ball that is unobtainable in normal gameplay and only pokemon obtained through event distributions normally come in it.

The important part of this Regigigas is that it has to be an event distribution one. It must be a "Fateful Encounter" Regigigas to be relevant to the content we're about to be covering here. So simply catching Regigigas in Diamond or Pearl and trading it over won't work.

But if you bring your Fateful Encoutner Regigigas with you on your journey, you'll find certain areas to be a little different. It should probably be obvious which three areas I'm so ambiguously referring to. There were three very strange locations we stumbled across throughout our journey that weren't in Diamond and Pearl. Let's start our search there.

Route 228

Let's begin with the strange cave on Route 228.

Rock Peak Ruins

Inside, we'll find what was once a very strange, empty, perfectly square-shaped room now has its true form revealed in the presence of Regigigas. Sections of the wall have crumbled away to reveal stone bricks behind them. There's a mysterious-looking statue resting at the far end of the chamber and a familiar pattern of glowing dots on the ground. After walking over each of the dots, the chamber will rumble and you'll be able to feel a powerful presence emnating from the statue. Approach the statue, and...

===========

My Team:

-----------------

Moon (Empoleon F); Lv. 66

Item: Shuca Berry

Ability: Torrent | Moves: Ice Beam, Aqua Jet, Surf, Drill Peck

------------------

Radio (Rotom); Lv. 65

Item: Colbur Berry

Ability: Levitate | Moves: Discharge, Thunder Wave, Ominous Wind, Overheat

--------------

Comet (Togekiss M); Lv. 65

Item: Razor Fang

Ability: Serene Grace | Moves: Water Pulse, Air Slash, AncientPower, Baton Pass

--------------

Meteor (Garchomp M); Lv. 66

Item: Yache Berry

Ability: Sand Veil | Moves: Dragon Claw, Fire Fang, Aerial Ace, Earthquake

---------------

Satellite (Porygon-Z); Lv. 64

Item: Magnet

Ability: Download | Moves: Psychic, Charge Beam, Recover, Tri-Attack

---------------

Polaris (Froslass F); Lv. 63

Item: Kasib Berry

Ability: Snow Cloak | Moves: Ice Shard, Destiny Bond, Ice Fang, Shadow Ball

============

Vs. Regirock, Lv. 30

So powerful that it's Lv. 30, huh?? So yes, the Legendary Golems are acutally encounterable in Platinum and this is the first of the three: Regirock! They have a remix of their theme from Ruby and Sapphire which is pretty cool and unique to this special event, meaning a lot of players probably never got to hear this song. Just another reason I despise pointless Wifi distributions.

---------------

Due to Regirock's low level, I had to be very careful with weakening it. I can get an Ice Fang or two in with Polaris, but it isn't long at all before Regirock is nearly done.

At that point, it's off to Radio for the paralysis

And since its level is so low, I may as well switch to my Lv. 100 Regigigas, which I'm required to have for this battle, to wall it out forever while I chuck pokeballs at it. A very, very easy catch all things considered. I'd assume you're expected to do these battles earlier in the game since the distribution is meant to encourage people to buy Platinum version, but considering the Regigigas is Lv. 100 and all three of these caves are really late in the game, this one even being in the postgame, it's all the more head-scratching why their levels are so low.

==============

Crust (Regirock); Lv. 30

Item: None

Ability: Pressure | Moves: Stomp, Rock Throw, Curse, SuperPower

I didn't know this at the time of doing these battles, but Platinum actually specifically gave these pokemon the move Stomp at Lv. 1 so that you wouldn't have to deal with Explosion while battling them. Count your blessings, I suppose.

=============

Mt. Coronet [Northern Exit]

The next of these chambers is in Mt. Coronet. Specifically, the northern exit, or entrance in this case. It's a bit of a trek to get here. You'll either have to pass through the foggy B1F of Mt. Coronet or trudge through the long snowy path south from Snowpoint City. Did this thing really need to be here of all places? I guess it's better than the summit of Mt. Coronet.

Iceberg Ruins

Bringing Regigigas here will once again reveal the true nature of this mysterious chamber as the Iceberg Ruins! Once again, step over the dots on the ground and then examine the statue to initiate the encounter!

============

Vs. Regice, Lv. 30

It's the second of the Legendary Golems: Regice!

----------------

Due to its Ice type, it can't be frozen, but it also resists Ice Fang! Though it lacks in physical defense compared to Regirock, so it's still fairly difficult to weaken without KOing.

Of course, it's then time for paralysis...

And then it's catching time!

=============

Ozone (Regice); Lv. 30

Item: None

Ability: Pressure | Moves: Stomp, Icy Wind, Curse, SuperPower

=============

Iron Island [B3F]

Our final stop is at the depths of Iron Island. It takes a bit to get there since you can't enter from the exit. Along the way you should be able to find some star pieces that have regenerated since your last visit! Also don't forget to pick up your free Metal Coat from Byron in his house. That's still here!

Iron Ruins

And you know the drill, this time the chamber is made of iron! We step on the dots and approach the statue to initiate our next battle!

============

Vs. Registeel, Lv. 30

Thie last of the Legendary Golems: Registeel is here!

--------------

This is probably the most ideal opponent for me to battle since it resists Ice and can be frozen as well as having high defense. I can actually get a decent amount of Ice Fangs in to try and freeze this thing.

Once it's low on HP, it's time for Paralysis with Thunder Wave...

And then our classic standoff while I chuck Pokeballs at it.

============

Core (Registeel); Lv. 30

Item: None

Ability: Pressure | Moves: Stomp, Metal Claw, Curse, SuperPower

=============

With that, the three Legendary Golems are ours! And now that we've gathered the three together, you already know what that means!

============

Snowpoint City

We return to Snowpoint City so that we can finally explore Snowpoint Temple with our three new friends, finally ditching that Lv. 100 beast.

===========

Snowpoint Temple [1F]

We haven't talked about this area much, but there are some notable changes here in Platinum.

For one, you can find Smoochum on the 1st floor at 10%! Golbat is a lot more common now at 80%, eating up the encounters for Onix, Steelix, and Graveler. Sneasel is also dropped to fill the remaining 10%, making it a bit rarer here.

Snowpoint Temple [B1F - B4F]

Starting on the next floor down, you'll begin to find Jynx instead of Smoochum, another new addition! Where Smoochum was available to catch in a Swarm in Diamond and Pearl, Jynx wasn't available in the wild at all! Other than that, the encounters are the same as the 1st floor just with increasing levels the deeper you go into the temple.

Snowpoint Temple [B5F]

And it's at the depths of the temple that we once again come face to face with the mysterious statue we already know to be the dormant Regigigas!

Bringing the Legendary Golems here causes Regigigas to awaken! Prepare for battle!

===========

Vs. Regigigas, Lv. 1

"Haha, look at that, he typo'd and wrote Regigigas as only being Lv. 1, as if that would ever happen... right?"

Yes, believe it or not that is not a typo. As if this whole quest line wasn't head-scratching enough already, for some ungodly reason the devs decided to make the Regigigas down here in Platinum version only Lv. 1 as opposed to the Lv. 70 one in Diamond and Pearl. Why?? To be fair, this thing being Lv. 1 makes it fairly difficult to catch if you don't come prepared with False Swipe. Even the Lv. 30 Legendary Golems aren't weak enough to avoid KOing it in one hit. But being Lv. 1 makes this thing, perhaps the most remote Legendary Pokemon that's available without events, among the weakest wild pokemon encounters in the game, tied only with the Lv. 1 Magikarp obtainable in the Resort Area, the same place where you can find Lv. 100 Magikarp. And keep in mind that the only way to battle this thing without transferring the Legendary Golems from another game is to trade in a special Lv. 100 Regigigas from another game instead. I suppose you can use this thing as an opportunity to shiny hunt, but man, if this isn't the most anticlimactic legendary pokemon encounter. I have to admit, though, it's genuinely hilarious to see this towering behemoth and find out it's only Lv. 1.

Oh, and to make matters worse, this thing is still a Regigigas. So it's hindered even further with Slow Start.

--------------

There really is nothing for my team to do here except Thunder Wave with Radio and start throwing Nest Balls. Why wouldn't I use Nest Balls? There is literally nothing more practical to use them for. There's no way this Lv. 1 pokemon will be getting over any of my pokemon anytime soon, so it's just a matter of patience to catch it.

=============

Earth (Regigigas); Lv. 1

Item: None

Ability: Slow Start | Moves: Dizzy Punch, Knock Off, Foresight, Confuse Ray

=============

What a bizarre quest, right? You receive a Mystery Gift of a Regigigas, trade it to Platinum to get the Legendary Golems, then use those Legendary Golems to go and battle... another Regigigas. All of these legendaries are incredibly low level despite not being available until late- or post-game, and that's clearly an intentional decision since Regigigas is Lv. 1. Maybe the idea is that Regigigas's power was devided among the Legendary Golems and that its true power is at Lv. 91? Or perhaps it's meant to be some world-building element, like Regigigas has been dormant for so long it's grown incredibly weak. But just like its Slow Start ability, once you invest time in it, it'll become a lot more powerful.

It seems obvious this whole thing wasn't thought through very well. I think the devs already programmed in the Wonder Card for this Regigigas event with a better idea in mind for Platinum, but changes were clearly made during Platinum's development. As noted, the wonder card mentions "A new area," when the actual event opens up three new areas. Perhaps the idea was that, in Platinum, you would open up a secret passage on B5F with Regigigas instead of simply finding Regigigas again in the same spot. And in that B6F of Snowpoint Temple, you'd find the three Legendary Golems.

The final product of all this is clearly that I don't think you're expected to see these things as linked despite both events being directly linked to the Legendary Golems. One uses them as the reward and the other uses them as a key. And vice versa for Regigigas. The idea seems to be that, if you were able to get the Legendary Golems in Gen 3, you could transfer them forward into Gen 4 to get Regigigas through the battle. If you didn't have the Gen 3 games, or you couldn't find the Legendary Golems there, then you would rely on the event distribution to obtain Regigigas. From there, you could use Platinum to get the Legendary Golems you've been missing. It's worth noting that you can only find the Legendary Golems using the event Regigigas, implying to me that perhaps the devs recognized it was a bit redundant to be able to encounter the Legendary Golems using a Regigigas that needs the Legenedary Golems. But in that case, why not put a similar measure the other way around?

And if the intention is to help players without Gen 3 games to get the Legendary Golems, it only begs the question: Why did Regigigas need to be the key to all of this? Why could this not have simply been a key item distribution in Platinum which you would bring to the ruins to catch the Legendary Golems, making Regigigas available? Or better yet, why did the Legendary Golems have to be tied to an event at all? Could they not have been static encounters unlocked after you enter the Hall of Fame? Or perhaps you could add a new chamber in Snowpoint Temple with a puzzle that would open their ruins once solved? I think that would make this whole quest a lot more exciting, and it would remove the need to transfer the Legendary Golems forward from Gen 3!

All in all, this is a very strange thread of events and I really can't imagine what happened to make this whole thing so awkward, or what was originally planned. It's clear to me this wasn't the original idea of how all this was supposed to work out, especially with how the Legendary Golems were originally designed to be retroactively discovered in Ruby and Sapphire after playing FireRed and LeafGreen and seeing the visual braille key in the instruction manual. It would absolutely make sense to introduce a mysterious Regigigas statue in Diamond and Pearl which you'd have to wait until Platinum to actually figure out how to battle. Regardless, at the end of the day, this is what we're left with, so I suppose the idea is simply to have a chance to get one that's yours so you can nickname it, or trade your event Regigigas away to a friend so they could catch the Legendary Golems in their game.

Anyway, that's it for the Regigigas event! Next time we're starting on events that were only distributed in Platinum!

April 23, 2023

Canalave City

We're back for another update! Last time we covered the Legendary Golems and Regigigas. Today, we're going to be covering a much smaller event with only a small storyline attached to it. It's still a fan favorite for many, though! Today's even twill bring us to Canalave City. If you recall, even in Diamond and Pearl, there's a mysterious building called the Harbor Inn that seemed to have been abandoned long ago. We never did come back to that, and the very same building is here in Platinum, too. Well, we're finally going to be looking deeper into this little event

On December 1st, 2008, the Member Card was distributed in Japan. It would later be distributed on August 3rd, 2009 over here in America as well as in Europe over Wi-Fi. Curiously, this item was only distributed for Platinum despite the item and entire event existing and remaining unused within Diamond and Pearl (hence why I didn't cover it during my coverage of those games).

Anyway, the Member Card is distributed with a Wonder Card that suggests you go to the official website to find out how to obtain the mythical pitch-black pokemon, Darkrai. The item itself is described as a card needed to get into the inn at Canalave City, but it also notes that the last date marked on it was 50 years ago.

With the Member Card in our bag, we can make our way to Canalave City where we'll find that Harbor Inn is looking... surprisingly better! We can actually read the sign and it's not worn down anymore. It openly invites anyone to rest up inside! That's odd, it definitely seemed warn down before...

Music: Old Chateau

As we step inside the building, we're met by a strange man who supposedly runs the inn. Apparently, they had a reservation for us by name and invite us to rest up in the bed right nearby. The ominous music certainly doesn't assist with the creepy vibes, but we reluctantly play along and slowly drift away. But as you might expect, this is no ordinary rest like you'd might expect from a typical rest stop in a Pokemon game.

Newmoon Island

We soon find ourselves waking up in an ominous dream... we find ourselves at the dock of an island known as Newmoon Island. It bears a resemblance to Full Moon Island where we saw Cresselia. We can't get on the boat behind us and there's no sailor anyway... just how did we get here in the first place? Where did the sailor go? With no answers, we're forced to head deeper into the island.

Newmoon Island [Interior]

Inside the forest on the island, we find a scary-looking pokemon. We'd better prepare for battle!

===========

My Team:

-----------------

Moon (Empoleon F); Lv. 69

Item: Chesto Berry

Ability: Torrent | Moves: Ice Beam, Aqua Jet, Surf, Drill Peck

------------------

Radio (Rotom); Lv. 69

Item: Chesto Berry

Ability: Levitate | Moves: Discharge, Thunder Wave, Ominous Wind, Overheat

--------------

Comet (Togekiss M); Lv. 67

Item: Razor Fang

Ability: Serene Grace | Moves: Water Pulse, Air Slash, AncientPower, Baton Pass

--------------

Meteor (Garchomp M); Lv. 69

Item: Yache Berry

Ability: Sand Veil | Moves: Dragon Claw, Fire Fang, Aerial Ace, Earthquake

---------------

Satellite (Porygon-Z); Lv. 68

Item: Magnet

Ability: Download | Moves: Psychic, Charge Beam, Recover, Tri-Attack

---------------

Polaris (Froslass F); Lv. 66

Item: Kasib Berry

Ability: Snow Cloak | Moves: Ice Shard, Destiny Bond, Ice Fang, Shadow Ball

============

Vs. Darkrai, Lv. 50

It's the mythical pokemon Darkrai! We're going to have to approach this battle a little differently than those that came before it. It's a bit lower level than us due to our regular battles at the Battleground, and that's going to impact the pokemon we use, though the strategy is only going to be slightly different.

---------------

Since Polaris is strong enough to bring Darkrai to just below half health with one Ice Fang, she's not the most optimal choice to lead this time. If Polaris does more than half health, there's no reason to use her over Moon. If I can't hit Darkrai twice with an attack, I may as well hit it as hard as I can without killing it. That's where Moon's Ice Beam comes in! I still have a chance of freezing Darkrai, but it takes notably more damage. I can also slip in an Aqua Jet to top him off just a little more so that I can get his HP nicely in the read.

You might have noticed that I gave Moon a Chesto Berry in place of the usual Shuca Berry. This reason is twofold. One: Moon is slower than Darkrai, so if Darkrai's hypnosis lands, it can be a pain and I'll have to drop an Awakening. The second reason is that Darkrai's signature ability, Bad Dreams, is one that makes Sleep far more dangerous than it normally does. Any pokemon that's asleep around Darkrai suffers from Bad Dreams and loses 1/8 of its max HP every turn. This means you're always going down in a minimum of 8 turns if you're staying asleep because you're just throwing Pokeballs. I probably don't have to explain to you why that's not a good thing for catching a legendary pokemon. To make matters worse, Darkrai also knows the move Nightmare which will drain your HP further by 1/4 of your max HP, causing you to faint within three turns minimum regardless of how strong your defenses or how much HP you have.

Once it's low on HP, and if it's not frozen, it's time to bring out Radio. As long as Radio also has a Chesto Berry, I can switch into him pretty consistently. Sometimes I can switch in on Darkrai using Nightmare and buy an extra turn. Its Faint Attack doesn't do much at all even without a Colbur Berry, partially thanks to the level gap, so this is a pretty safe switch. Radio is capable of outspeeding Darkrai, of course, so I can take this opportunity to set up Thunder Wave. If I'm unlucky, though, I might miss if Darkrai has taken any turns to set up Double Team. But once Darkrai is low on HP and ready for capture, it's time to start throwing Pokeballs! This is where the sleep issue becomes dangerous because if Darkrai lands Hypnosis on any pokemon, their name may as well be written in the Death Note because it's only a matter of time before they succumb to Bad Dreams. This is the main complication that makes catching Darkrai a bit more difficult than many others. But as always, it only takes persistence and patience.

=============

Black Hole (Darkrai); Lv. 50

Item: None

Ability: Bad Dreams | Moves: Hypnosis, Faint Attack, Nightmare, Double Team

=============

After catching Darkrai, a mysterious disembodied voice speaks out to it, in a tone that reads to me as pity. It seems that Darkrai's ability to illicit bad dreams in those around it is not invoked on purpose. It was because of its perception of this curse that it hid itself at Newmoon Island, a location close to Fullmoon Island, where the pokemon Cresselia lives. Not only is Darkrai far from civilization on the island, but if anyone were to fall under its curse, Cresselia could help cure them. These two pokemon are often referred to by the fanbase as the Lunar Duo based on the names of the islands that they're found, but I think it's more fitting to call them the Dream duo, as Cresselia brings good dreams while Darkrai brings bad ones.

Perhaps it was Darkrai's realization that it had unintentionally cursed the boy from Canalave City with a permanent nightmare he couldn't wake up from, that drove Darkrai to flee from civilization and hide itself at Newmoon Island.

I mentioned earlier that this place exists in Diamond and Pearl where it remains unused in normal gameplay since the Member Card was never distributed there. Instead, the only intended means to get a Darkrai in Diamond and Pearl is through Pokemon Ranger: Shadows of Almia. While it is cool they put more importance on Shadows of Almia there, it's a shame this storyline is dropped as it leaves an interesting perspective on Darkrai's character that's otherwise mostly overlooked, even in Shadows of Almia.

That said, while I'm not aware of any means to obtain the Member Card without hacking in Diamond and Pearl, though I wouldn't doubt if there were some glitch allowing you to obtain it by unintended means, there is a known way to clip out of bounds and make your way to Newmoon Island. It involves a clever series of turns with precise timing to essentially "outrun" the game's ability to render future areas, then use the step counter to navigate the void until you arrive at your destination. This will also be relevant for our next encounter as well.

This is what Newmoon Island looks like in Diamodn and Pearl. It's probably something you could've imagined on your own, but I figured I'd share it here anyway.

============

Canalave City

Once you catch Darkrai, you'll wake up back inside the Harbor Inn, but the innkeeper will be missing. And when you step outside, a nearby sailor will be surprised to see you come out of the building, telling you nobody's lived there for 50 years! And if we check the sign just outside... it's back to being worn down like the building's been abandoned all this time... spooky...

I've actually developed some headcanon to explain away some of the mystery here, but I'll hold my tongue on that. Besides, not every mystery needs to be solved, right? But I am left wondering just whose voice was that that spoke to Darkrai? Was it the innkeeper? Cresselia? Maybe... something else entirely? Perhaps you can guess where I'm going with this, perhaps not. Stay tuned!

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