Sep's a gottdang Pokemon nerd and will now show that off in an ill-advised manner.

[Seperallis]

Anyway, I'm going to do this thing for myself, regardless of interest from other people, but if anyone is interested in following along with my folly, then I'll put in the additional effort

I've been having a weird Pokemon itch the past few weeks for some reason, such that my Youtube feed is full of the stuff, and I've begun digging for many of my old games and also looking into ones that I never played. Or knew about. It's been a weird and dangerous mix of both discovery and nostalgia as I look back on things I never saw before, mixed with the very familiar virtual stomping grounds of my limited personal childhood games library, a plurality of which happened to be various Pokemon games: Red, Yellow, Silver, Gold, Ruby, Leaf Green...and even Black or White (I don't remember which) that I picked up with my own adultish disposable income, back when it was in stores and I needed something to pass the time in airports and on plane rides across the continent.

Anyway, the point is that I'm going to jump back into the games, but because Pokemon is a Time-wasting Baby Game for Babies, I really wanted to do something that was a bit more of a challenge than just blasting through with my usual choice teams. Instead, I'm going to go do a N U Z L O C K E challenge, with many additional rules (if you're not familiar with a nuzlocke challenge, go ahead and click in that there link).

The rules are below, and I may tighten the noose at any time if I feel things are going too smoothly:

Show ContentDEM RULEZ:

Base Rules:
- Only catch the first Pokemon encountered in any area.
- Any KO'd pokemon must be released or permanently stored in PC.

Clarifications:
- No resets.
- No trading. Period.
- Nickname all caught pokemon.
- The First Encounter rule:
- - also applies to surfing/fishing in an area; the first encounter is either on land OR on/in water.
- - also applies if the first encounter escapes or is KO'd; there is no second attempt.
- - For the sake of variety, the Duplicates rule applies: if the first encounter has been caught before, I may choose to either catch it OR try again...up to three times, at which point I'm S.O.L.
- - also applies to any static area encounters (such as Snorlax in Red/Blue, or Sudowoodo in Silver/Gold); they may only be caught if they are the first wild encounter if the area.
- - the Shiny rule does NOT apply; any shiny that's not the first encounter is forfeit, and I will cry about it.

Difficulty Rules:
- No Legendary Pokemon. Duh.
- Any Daycare use is verbotten.
- Pokemon that enter my party may only leave by being KO'd; I cannot store party pokemon, or swap them with reserves.
- I may not use more pokemon than the gym leader/elite four I am battling, regardless of the size of my party.
- - Losing them counts as a total party wipe, even if I still have pokemon remaining and able to battle.
- No pokemon in the party may be a higher level than the next Gym Leader/Elite Four pokemon; any pokemon that goes over this limit must sit out all battles until they are no longer over-leveled.
- Only Set battles are allowed; I cannot automatically swap pokemon when an opponent is KO'd.
- "Destiny Bond" and "Second Chance" rules are for cowardly bitch-babies; any KO from any source is a legal KO.
- Any total party wipe is "game over" and ends the run.

Which game are you going to play?

Well, that's the thing, I'll let you decide. I may do some others after this one either succeeds or fails, but I've narrowed down the options to four games:

Crystal ver. (Gen. 2)
This is my favorite pokemon generation, but it's been so long that I don't remember too many specifics about the game, just vague generalities. This is as far back as I really want to go: the overworld is dated and the battle system is still basic (being before the Special split and the addition of abilities), but it introduced a ton of great new gameplay and quality of life features that players of the more modern games probably couldn't think to live without.
- I chose Crystal over Gold/Silver so that I wouldn't be forced to choose between the latter.

Ruby ver. (Gen. 3)
While unable to beat the nostalgia goggles off Gen 2 for my favorite pokemon generation, Ruby/Sapphire is still my overall favorite pokemon game. This generation introduced so much stuff that I absolutely loved, such as Contests (which are like dog shows), much improved graphics that indie devs today still emulate, core changes to stats and the addition of abilities that made battles more complex...and of course, most of my favorite pokemon in the entire series. To me, Gen. 3 was when the series hit its peak.
- I chose Ruby over Sapphire or Emerald because I own it and not the others.

LeafGreen ver. (Gen. 3)
FireRed and LeafGreen are the updated and far superior remakes of the Gen 1 Red and Blue (Blue was called Green in Japan). They retain all of the series improvements to design, gameplay and graphics, taking place in the same region (Kanto) and effectively being the superior, definitive versions of these games through its objectively better battle systems. Yes yes, we will always lament the loss of slot machines in a children's game, and it loses many features of the later games (no day/night, no contests). However, I have effectively played through these games so many times that they're burned into my memory, so I added it to the list because beating the Kanto region one more time with my Nuzlocke restrictions could be a true test of my mastery...but then again, I might be a little tired of seeing so much of Kanto. Who knows. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
- I chose LeafGreen over FireRed because, again, I own it and not the others.

Platinum ver. (Gen. 4)
I have never played this generation of games. However it was a huge leap forward in gameplay, completely re-jumbling how move typing is handled to make much more intuitive sense. I also selected it because it has the most powerful Champion in the series, and I've heard reported that it is the most difficult game in the series to Nuzlocke. This is the one game that I would be flying into blind, which might be more fun for me and also more interesting to watch because I'd not know what lies ahead.
- I chose Platinum over Diamond and Pearl because I have neither of the latter, and think it's the more definitive version.

So yeah, those are my options.


What about playing Red, Blue, or Yellow?

Let's be real for a second: the Gen 1 games are objectively the worst in the series, and anyone who says otherwise is looking back on their childhood with rose-tinted cosmic-fucking-telescopes. I love them for what they are and appreciate them as such, but they were broken, buggy, unbalanced and just generally badly designed. I have even heard some make the argument for them being incomplete in some aspects, such as the move sets. They look, feel, and play like a game from 1996 much more so than the modern games (*insert rimshot*). They really aren't good to look at...and I should know, because I'm testing the waters a bit by chipping away at nuzlocke of Pokemon Red (let me tell you about how scary fighting the Rocket Grunt's Raticate in Mt. Moon is). While Yellow version was an improvement in the quality of the pokemon designs, these first games really have not aged well at all.

Don't get me wrong, I feel anyone who got into Pokemon with the later generations should pick up BGB and a rom of Red/Blue/Yellow and experience these games as a rite of passage...but they really don't stand the test of time next to objectively better remakes like FireRed/LeafGreen.

And that's why I'm not recording it.


But Sep, what about your 50 other projects?

Shush, you. Really though, don't worry, this won't really get in the way of the nothing I'm already getting accomplished.


Anyway, that's about all. If you're interested in seeing my failure, give the poll a bosh. If not, just ignore all this nonsense.

[Seperallis]

A short note, I did decide to post a summary of my continuation of my Red version trial, which I guess is technically becoming my first nuzlocke challenge run.

It's just a bunch of words and I'm still not recording it, but if you care about a little something extra, well, there you go.

http://board.eternityrpc.com/thread-990.html