Screenshot Sinnoh General Platinum, but without the 'E'.

[Wenitzb]

Spoiler: Reply

Barr-E is also greatly inconvenient, but anyone that's ever played a Sinnoh game can tell you that. I, too, would have been tempted to attack him, perhaps even to wipe him out once Galactic were down to a single golbat. Then I could laugh even more heartily when he claims his pokémon are tough, despite us all knowing better.

Missing out on abomasnow is a real pity, and I feel your pain. Absol is objectively good, but subjectively less so in this run and that is to its detriment. Instant hail would be absol-utely better, but clearly the RNG feels strongly about upsetting you.

I do wonder which run has the rival be the least inconvenient in. I did start out wanting to strategise the fight while also taking down Barr-E, but the more calcs I did, the more I realised I should probably focus on even just surviving.

Absol is a Pokémon I'd be happy with under normal conditions. These are not normal conditions. Finding it was sadly a bomb, as now I need to restrategise for later.

Chapter 27: _ʁřȺͳѤѦӶᶫ ¥ is now available and features the spoilery Platinum-specific skewed section of the game.

This update also contains the most images yet (360 of them, a nice round number), with almost double the previous number in the last update, and will hopefully remain the largest number of images I need to insert in an update.

 

[Black Viper]

That's a lot of stalling. I know you're patient, but that is some serious dedication to the cause. I would certainly have grown bored at some point in it and started attacking, accepting the risks of an unfortunate critical hit as being worth it for the sake of my own sanity. I commend you on your perseverance.

Also, it's important to be cost-effective with your healing. Especially in this economy.

 

[Wenitzb]

Spoiler: Reply

That's a lot of stalling. I know you're patient, but that is some serious dedication to the cause. I would certainly have grown bored at some point in it and started attacking, accepting the risks of an unfortunate critical hit as being worth it for the sake of my own sanity. I commend you on your perseverance.

Also, it's important to be cost-effective with your healing. Especially in this economy.

Perhaps I'm taking your previous advice to 'slow things down' a bit too much? Considering the game-ending result that could have occurred had I not waited (especially since my Pokémon did get hit by quite a few crits during the fight), playing patiently and not losing means that it would be faster than losing the battle and having to spend the ~300 hours for me to make my way back to the fight (from having to restart from the beginning).

Avocado Toast is a permitted healing alternative that I'm afraid I have had to cut down on in my pursuit of cost-effectiveness.

Chapter 28: _xasp_rat_d is now available and features the trip to Sunnyshore (and some Legendaries).

Now that I've finished posting the 6th of the 3 promised updates, I will again need to spend a bit of time working on the gameplay so I won't be able to next week (or a number of weeks after that). Also, I definitely mean it this time. There won't be another surprise continuation.

 

[Black Viper]

It's good of you to let A*ron have a kill, she certainly deserves it.

Fling is a move I overlook, mostly because I have better options. It would be interesting to see if, thanks to your rules, it formed a crucial part of a plan.

Good for you on not chasing Mespirt. Don't give in to peer pressure from the professor, that's not cool. He should have told you to track it, instead.

 

[Wenitzb]

Spoiler: Reply

It's good of you to let A*ron have a kill, she certainly deserves it.

Fling is a move I overlook, mostly because I have better options. It would be interesting to see if, thanks to your rules, it formed a crucial part of a plan.

Good for you on not chasing Mespirt. Don't give in to peer pressure from the professor, that's not cool. He should have told you to track it, instead.

It would be easy to just have someone better suited take that KO, but it's nice to spread the love around whenever possible.

Since Fling is a one-time-use-only TM, I would prefer to not use 'just in case I need it later', but it is an option for me consider if I have no other options.

I may not have chased after Mespirit, but that hasn't stopped it randomly appearing for me, haha. That's easy advice to follow, peer pressure is forbidden. Or hunt, or follow, or obtain, or...

Also thank you for nominating me for the Hidden Gems Showcase. Sorry for being too slow to nominate you before someone else did (and good luck to you).

Chapter 29: _l_ctrifi_d is now available and features the eighth and final gym of the run assuming I don't lose everyone and have to restart.

 

[Black Viper]

Oh, luxray. It's a great-looking pokémon, with a reliable typing and good overall BST, yet somehow they're lacklustre. Pachirisu are cute, and anything with pickup is alright in my book, but they are not fighters. If you can be outclassed by one then you know you're doing something wrong and gym leaders are clearly no exception.

Evasion/accuracy statistics are a lie. I swear that the more the opponent lowers my accuracy, the more likely I am to hit with inaccurate moves, as if they scale inversely. A reliable attack like thunderbolt will miss, but zap cannon always strikes true after a few sand attacks. There's a conspiracy here.

Good work with Volkner. That electivire is tough, but the rest of the battle seemed quite controlled, despite the best efforts of the RNG. There were no major shocks to catch you out.

 

[Wenitzb]

Spoiler: Reply

Oh, luxray. It's a great-looking pokémon, with a reliable typing and good overall BST, yet somehow they're lacklustre. Pachirisu are cute, and anything with pickup is alright in my book, but they are not fighters. If you can be outclassed by one then you know you're doing something wrong and gym leaders are clearly no exception.

Evasion/accuracy statistics are a lie. I swear that the more the opponent lowers my accuracy, the more likely I am to hit with inaccurate moves, as if they scale inversely. A reliable attack like thunderbolt will miss, but zap cannon always strikes true after a few sand attacks. There's a conspiracy here.

Good work with Volkner. That electivire is tough, but the rest of the battle seemed quite controlled, despite the best efforts of the RNG. There were no major shocks to catch you out.

Luxray sorely needs a rework as most of its BST is going into its two offensive stats making it not fast enough and not bulky enough. Not giving it reliable STAB for its great Atk stat doesn't do it any favours either... (Wild Charge is not reliable STAB as it cuts into its already poor bulk.)

If Volkner did have a Pachirisu and it had Super Fang, Grass, Knot, and Charm (+ obligatory electric STAB), that would cause my team far more problems that his Luxray ever could.

Your claim that evasion/accuracy statistics being a lie does seem accurate. Wait...

Thanks. Wire most of Volkner's 'mons not too problematic I wonder? I'm sure I'll be c-able to find the answer eventually.

Chapter 30: _xp_dition is now available and features Victory Road, the final one-way trip in the game.

 

[Black Viper]

Wow. Logy's really doing everything possible to earn the title of "Worse than pachirisu", isn't he? Every time he has a shot at redemption, he refuses to take it. Is it wrong for me to blame him for getting burned? No. Being "burned" is forbidden and Logy should know better.

I am impressed once more by your dedication. This time, to the pokédex and its completion, so that you can endure the Platinum post-game. To have to backtrack all that way for an almost-meaningless breeder is a thing most people wouldn't even consider contemplate ponder think about.

Clinton is especially underwhelming. The final trainer on a route should (in my opinion, anyway) be the most challenging, as a sort of mini-boss between gym leaders. He's like Logy, but human.

 

[Wenitzb]

Spoiler: Reply

Wow. Logy's really doing everything possible to earn the title of "Worse than pachirisu", isn't he? Every time he has a shot at redemption, he refuses to take it. Is it wrong for me to blame him for getting burned? No. Being "burned" is forbidden and Logy should know better.

I am impressed once more by your dedication. This time, to the pokédex and its completion, so that you can endure the Platinum post-game. To have to backtrack all that way for an almost-meaningless breeder is a thing most people wouldn't even consider contemplate ponder think about.

Clinton is especially underwhelming. The final trainer on a route should (in my opinion, anyway) be the most challenging, as a sort of mini-boss between gym leaders. He's like Logy, but human.

If Logy had Rivalry instead of Intimidate, that title would've been awarded the moment he was caught. Instead he had the opportunity to display his inferiority throughout the course of this journey and earn it.

To be fair, I also did not consider needing to fight that Breeder when I first passed through the Route. If I hadn't checked the 'dex now, I just would've had to do it later.

If only Clinton's and Edgar's positions were swapped, Victory Road could've had its challenging final trainer. Comparing Clinton to a Luxray is indeed a very harsh insult.

Chapter 31: _n_rg_tic is now available and features the final very inconvenient obstacle before I challenge the Pokémon League, not counting the grinding I will need to do.

Speaking of, since I there is a lot of grinding to be done (and IRL stuff decided to intervene), this will be the last update for quite some time. I am doubtful I'll be able to finish my grinding before Scarlet/Violet. But even if I'm wrong on that point, I won't be able to do weekly releases after I finish grinding before that distraction occurs (coming up with a strategy and then forgetting what it is weeks/months later for something that's taken as long as this run doesn't exactly seem like a good idea for some reason).

 

[Black Viper]

Of course your Barr-E strategy involves PP stalling. Why would it not? Giulio more than rewarded your strategy (and patience) by decimating Barr-E's team. It's a good job you kept calm, mind that you don't lose sight of the classic strategies.

It's also good to see Barr-E getting up to his inconvenient best by not picking the obvious attack each time. I've never really thought about abusing the AI in regards to U-Turn before, baiting it into picking the SE bug attack, just to swap out one 'mon for another. That could be fun.

As for the rest of the run, yes, I wholly appreciate that the grinding is bad enough and the strategising could be every bit as tough. Good luck with scurvy when the time comes, we'll wait patiently calmly for the updates when they're available.

 

[Wenitzb]

There is (unsurprisingly) still no update, but I thought it may be best to reply now rather than in ? months.

Spoiler: Reply

Of course your Barr-E strategy involves PP stalling. Why would it not? Giulio more than rewarded your strategy (and patience) by decimating Barr-E's team. It's a good job you kept calm, mind that you don't lose sight of the classic strategies.

It's also good to see Barr-E getting up to his inconvenient best by not picking the obvious attack each time. I've never really thought about abusing the AI in regards to U-Turn before, baiting it into picking the SE bug attack, just to swap out one 'mon for another. That could be fun.

As for the rest of the run, yes, I wholly appreciate that the grinding is bad enough and the strategising could be every bit as tough. Good luck with scurvy when the time comes, we'll wait patiently calmly for the updates when they're available.

At least I only had to PP stall 1 'mon this time, hopefully there won't be any future fights where I need to PP stall all of the opponent's 'mons (again).

Don't worry, I have recently remembered a future battle inolving Barr-E where I fully expect him to utulise his very inconvenient battling style to maximum inconvenience for your enjoyment. Having just done so, I can confirm that abusing the AI's U-Turn was indeed fun.

I think I have some ideas on how to take on the upcoming fights, but I'll need to wait until everyone's trained up before I start my number crunching. Thanks! I'll 'try' not to delay wait too long.

 

[Wenitzb]

It's been a little while, but hello again!

I have finally found the time to put together a strategy to take on the Pokémon League and then enact it, so now all that's left is to compile the result into updates. Before those updates however...

Chapter 32: _xamination is now available and features an overview of all my Pokémon available to me. (In hindsight it probably would have been better for this update to be the last one I uploaded before I disappeared. My bad).

 

[Black Viper]

I'm glad to see you back and finishing the run, I've said before that I enjoy your writing style!

It took a little time, but I got caught up. It probably says something for me, but I enjoy reading people talking about their 'mons, even the ones that aren't particularly useful. Even the ones that are eggsactly the opposite of useful. Even Logy.

Full credit to you for training everyone. I did a Diamond run not so long ago and spent far too much time kvetching about, well, pretty much everything, but especially the pre-Elite Four grinding. I got by in the end, but I wasn't happy about it. I won't be returning to Sinnoh, so I'll just watch other people struggle through the worst region and snigger at their misfortunes. I'm supportive like that!

 

[Wenitzb]

Spoiler: Reply

I'm glad to see you back and finishing the run, I've said before that I enjoy your writing style!

It took a little time, but I got caught up. It probably says something for me, but I enjoy reading people talking about their 'mons, even the ones that aren't particularly useful. Even the ones that are eggsactly the opposite of useful. Even Logy.

Full credit to you for training everyone. I did a Diamond run not so long ago and spent far too much time kvetching about, well, pretty much everything, but especially the pre-Elite Four grinding. I got by in the end, but I wasn't happy about it. I won't be returning to Sinnoh, so I'll just watch other people struggle through the worst region and snigger at their misfortunes. I'm supportive like that!

Thank you! Glad to see you back to to see me back to finish the run.

I did want to go over everyone at this moment specifically as it shows all of my options for taking on the neggxt battles with while reminising my journey and all of the reliable 'mons that accompanied me (and also Logy).

I would like to thank the Seven Stars Restaurant for existing as having weak daily trainers allowed my less capable 'mons to (slowly) level up as I would have needed to switch-grind them against the much less weak daily trainers in the Pokémon Centres instead.

Fortunately Platinum's League is ~4 levels lower than Diamond/Pearl's League, so my grinding *could* have been worse.

Referring to this game's region as the worst one is considered a sin, no? (But thanks for the support!)

Chapter 33: _ntomology is now available and features the battle against the first member of the Pokémon League, Aaron.

 

[Black Viper]

You've done well against Aaron. For your concerns, you seemed to be in total control during that battle and you had a sound strategy that worked. No losses, no-one close to being lost, either. No gambling on something not being a critical hit.

Bertha is the only member of the Sinnoh Elite Four to have an E in her name. I assume this is significant in some way. I expect Dous*n to of particular use against her, but you've surprised me with completely different strategies (compared to my spam super-effective attack strategy) in the past, so I shall wait and see how this plays out. Good luck!

 

[Wenitzb]

Spoiler: Reply

You've done well against Aaron. For your concerns, you seemed to be in total control during that battle and you had a sound strategy that worked. No losses, no-one close to being lost, either. No gambling on something not being a critical hit.

Bertha is the only member of the Sinnoh Elite Four to have an E in her name. I assume this is significant in some way. I expect Dous*n to of particular use against her, but you've surprised me with completely different strategies (compared to my spam super-effective attack strategy) in the past, so I shall wait and see how this plays out. Good luck!

Thank you! Aaron-strategy-wise, he was the only member of the League that I didn't need to bring a specific 'mon for. I fought him with a strategy using 'mons that were neccesary for the other members.

You're right about Bertha's name! I suppose if there was a reason for that fact to be significant, it would be (Bertha fight spoilers)
having an 'E' in her name only made her weak.

Dous*n is indeed a 'mon that would be very useful against Bertha. Now you'll be able to see just how useful she ended up being.

Spamming super-effective attacks is often an effective strategy (when your 'mons are safe to do so) and is perfectly acceptable to rely on.

Chapter 34: _ld_rly is now available and features the battle against the second member of the Pokémon League, Bertha.

 

[Black Viper]

Well, you made short work of Bertha there and it's sad how disappointing that whiscash is as an opener. Unless you're foolish enough to lead with something weak to ground attacks, it's pretty much a free hit for what you've done. There's always one E4 member that's a piece of cake and this time, we know who it is.

Flint's next. Will PP stalling return? Unlikely. Yet not impossible...