Josh Average

It’s been awhile since we’ve played Crystal Clear, so let’s get back to that! Last time we were here, we let Pringle just dominate in the Bug Gym. Coming up next, we have a forest to go through and another Gym!

We do not have a Rival Fight here, unlike in regular Crystal, so we can just make our way through Ilex Forest. MTN DEW will move up front because ‘cause he knows Hypnosis, and we could really use some more friends for the team. Our first encounter was an Oddish, which almost took out MTN DEW, but we swap out to Pringle and manage to get a new friend!

I’ve named them Potato. I’m a little nervous about Whitney now. I’m not sure that we have a good way to get a fighting type before Whitney, and I don’t want to travel too far away from Goldenrod to see what we can get. Maybe the Game Corner will have something?

The Hiker out in front of Union Cave wants a battle! Let’s walk back and see how it goes. Maybe get Celery a level or so! It’s a Geodude then a Machop, an easy battle. Or so I thought, I change into Pringle for Machop and they almost get destroyed by Low Kicks. I change back to Celery and finish out the battle with Petal Dance. Let’s get back through Ilex.

Ilex is actually really uneventful. Crystal Clear opens up the entire forest, meaning no puzzle to get Cut. So we basically just walk through and get to Route 34 for our next encounter. Let’s see who we get!

A Drowsee! I love psychic types, and while I’d definitely rather an Abra, this is fine! I’ve named them PBJ, they’ll likely go on the team when we get the Exp Share after the Red Gyarados in… wherever, I can’t remember.

We get to the Day Care and I think it’s time to let Pringle get some time to rest. I also accidentally swapped Peck for Hypnosis, so I really can’t use them for much until I get better moves later. But also, we should be getting an Egg, so that’ll be a fun surprise for later!

We finally get to Goldenrod. I deposit MTN DEW and check the Game Corner to see if we can get a new friend. When I go to the counter I realize I don’t have a Coin Case, so I need to go look for that. As I do I run into Bill! He’s got an Eevee just for me! I don’t know what I’ll evolve Eevee into, but we’ll figure that out. My wife named them French Fry.

I go down into the Underground and… I think I may have met my match.

You see, I was trying to fight everyone in the Underground for some extra experience cause I was thinking about getting Salt evolved, or as close to it. I am doing alright until I talk to a burglar named Frank, who opens with a level 22 Bayleef. It uses Solarbeam over and over and over, and the only think I can do is try to Sleep Powder and get some hits in. I have no Pokemon on the team that can do anything. If Salt, our highest level Pokemon, gets hit once they’re gone. Celery can hang in there okay, but can’t do enough damage. With Celery at 12/51 HP, and the Bayleef asleep, I decide to switch into Salt and see if we can get a high-damage Magnitude off. Magnitue 7 does… not enough. BBQ doesn’t have any Flying type moves, Sprite is level 8 and has nothing useful, and French Fry is level 10 and also knows nothing useful. I think this may be it for us. While Bayleef is still asleep, we try a Tackle. It does almost as much damage, and I notice something: This Bayleef is consistently healing a little bit of health every turn. I think we’re gonna die here.

Bayleef wakes up and starts a Solarbeam, and I switch Celery in to take the hit. We’re at 6/51 HP now. They charge a Solarbeem, I try for Sleep Powder which misses. There’s nothing we can do, Celery isn’t fast enough to go first and sleep them before the Solarbeem hits, but maybe Solarbeem will miss? It hits, and Celery goes down. I send out Celery next to hit some Sand Attacks, which might stop the bleeding. But we still have the issue of damage output. Any one Pokemon who gets hit by Solarbeam will go down, and Bayleef is regaining HP every turn. French Fry goes down. I send in BBQ and hope Leech Life can do okay. Bayleef starts using Curse? But Leech Life isn’t doing near enough damage, Bayleef’s HP is basically completely healed every turn. I use a Supersonic and hope confusion damage can help us out. It hits itself… and it doesn’t do much damage, either. With all the Curses, the next hits any of our Pokemon take will go down. But still, we must keep trying.

As we’re still in this battle, I’m noticing something: I think Bayleef has run out of attacking moves. It stopped using Solarbeam, and is now only using Reflect, Curse, and Sweet Scent. Are we going down to Struggle? At this point I’m just letting BBQ drain it’s PP for Struggle, and I think that’s all Bayleef can do, too. On our first Struggle… I’m fairly certain BBQ only does 1 damage. It’s so over. I swap to Salt to see if we can get a bit more damage output and outpace the self-healing, and we really can’t. With the Reflects and Curses, we’re doing so little damage. Maybe Bayleef’s Struggle recoil will help us out? Whenever it actually gets to Struggle.

Finally Bayleef does Struggle, and even with my full Defense Curl’d Salt, it does 8 damage per turn. It’s so over. After a handful of Struggles, Salt goes down. One Struggle takes down Sprite. One Struggle takes out BBQ.

The run is over.

Well, that sucked! Between our bad luck with catches & encounters, just not being ready to deal with such a high level starter, and not having anything for a grass type on the team, I’m not surprised this happened. I am incredibly disappointed, regardless.

Goodnight forever, my funny dogs.

Maybe I’ll randomize Fire Red or something. Until then, see ya later!

^{This has been reposted from Tumblr}
Last time we were here, we beat Falker with the help of Salt the Geodude. Now we move towards Azalea Town!

We head towards Route 32 and look for a new friend. It’s night again, so our encounters may not be that good, but we’ll see who we find! Our first encounter is a Rattata. The Hoothoot. Then…

A Mareep that Salt accidentally hits a little too hard. Well then. Guess we’ll put MTN DEW up top and switch train this route.

Switch training starts off easily enough, and I’m trying to battle every trainer available to me on the route. It’s not too difficult, to be honest. I’m watching a Scott the Woz video in the background as I beat up a trainer with 4 Magikarp. I put on a Yakuza 6 speedrun as I’m going through this and almost lose Celery. You see, there’s a trainer with a Qwilfish and a Goldeen. The Qwilfish is fine, but the Goldeen seems to only know Peck, which almost takes out Celery. Instead, Salt has to come in and deal with this issue. If I wasn’t paying closer attention we would have lost dear Celery!

I forgot that Azalea’s Gym is a bug-type gym, so we’ll be attempting to level up Pringle. But also, we need a new friend for the team. Who will we get from Union Cave?

But before we get an encounter, we run into Tiko. They’re one of the added characters from this hack, and I get told about Pokemon footprints. My Pokedex can scan these prints, and it will occasionally trigger an encounter, on top of adding Pokemon data. So let’s see…

… and it fled. Great. I’m counting this encounter as a regular wild encounter, so. Guess we just lost that opportunity! Let’s move on.

There were Slowpoke in this cave, too? Aw man.

Okay, for real moving on.

Union cave is uneventful, and we get out without much issue. Outside of being disappointed over the lack of Slowpoke or Cubone on the team, we’re doing really well. Pringle needs to get to level 11 for it’s first flying type move, but we’re almost there! Outside of Carrot and Sandwich, all our Pokemon are at or above Lv. 10, so we’ve got a pretty nicely leveled team. Before we heal up in Azalea, I need to check the grass of Route 33…

BBQ has been added to our team. I heal up in Azalea Town and real-world Josh Average is suddenly hit with a wave of exhaustion. Seriously, I can barely keep my eyes open. For me it will be a sleep break, for you a paragraph break.

I did take a quick peek in Slowpoke Well. I didn’t go in on the way into Azalea, so now’s as good a time as any! After seeing a bunch of Zubat, we finally see a non-caught Pokemon!

Sptite is added to the team! On the way out of the well I head back to the entrance to Union Cave. There’s a trainer I avoided that I’d like to show y’all.

This little kid has a shiny Zubat, a Wooper, and a Tododile and he’s dressed up like a Wooper. He’s adorable, he’s pretty easy to beat, and he gives you 3 rare candies after being defeated. He rules.

Anyways, Pringle learned Peck, so now it’s Gym Time. Let’s look at the team so far:

• Pringle, Lv. 11
• Salt, Lv. 14
• Celery, Lv. 14
• MTN DEW, Lv. 11
• Sprite, Lv. 8
• BBQ, Lv. 6

Let’s do this. Our first trainers are Twins Amy & May. They bring out a Ledyba first, and 2 Pecks will take them down. Next is Spinarak, which also goes down to 2 Pecks. Pringle feels indestructible. We go to the next trainer, Bug Catcher Al, and they open with a Caterpie. Caterpie takes 3 Pecks, but is ultimately no match. Weedle comes out next and while I’m nervous about poison, Pringle feels nothing but power. Despite 3 Poison Stings, Pringle does not get poisoned and easily beats Weedle. Have I created a monster? Next up is Bug Catcher Sergi with a Paras. Two hits of Peck and they’re down. Bug Catcher Benny comes out with Weedle. Down in one hit from Peck. Then Beedrill and I think maybe I should let Salt take this one, but Pringle insists. Four pecks from Pringle takes them out, but we get taken to yellow health. Pringle doesn’t care. Kakuna comes out next and Harden will not save it.

It’s Bugsy time.

Metapod comes out first. It’s Lv. 14, which is one higher than Pringle, but we should be okay, right? It only knows Harden and Tackle, so we’re fine. Scyther comes out next and Pringle refuses to switch out. Quick Attack does nasty damage to Pringle, and we have to swap him out. I’m so sorry buddy. Salt comes out and eats a Fury Cutter. One Rock Throw and Scyther’s down. Kakuna is up next to I let Pringle back out. Despite several Poison Stings, Pringle stands tall and Pecks the Kakuna into oblivion. The Hive Badge is ours.

That was a pretty quick leg! Pringle really shined in this Gym, and I’m glad Salt is around to basically act as backup. Pringle is a little on the weaker end comparatively to others on the team at a similar level, but he held his own pretty well in this instance. MTN DEW will also be a staple on the team for now, as Hypnosis is going to be very helpful for catching Pokemon as we make our way through new Routes.

Next time will be Ilex Forest, Route 34, and Goldenrod! Will we be able to take on Whitney’s Miltank?What Pokemon can we get from the Game Corner? Find out next time!

^{This was originally posted on Tumblr}
I’ve been in a Crystal Clear mood, so let’s play a Nuzlocke.

To pick my starter, I had a random number generate a number 1-6 then picked any of the 6 Gen 1 & 2 starters based on that number. Crystal Clear has options for like 10 or so starters, including both sets of actual starter Pokemon, and they’re listed in National Dex order for the starters, so it’s an easy thing to roll for. I rolled a 1, so I got a Bulbasaur.

After naming our Bulbasaur Celery, the real fun can begin! Before we start on our journey properly, let’s outline the rules.

1. Any Pokemon that faints cannot be used anymore. Release them ASAP.
2. Catch only the first Pokemon encountered in a route/area/town/whatever. Static, Gift, & Duplicate Pokemon do not count toward this rule and can be caught/received.
3. A Duplicate Pokemon is any Pokemon in the evolutionary line that has already been caught. Ex. A caught Caterpie would mean a Caterpie, Metapod, or Butterfree would be considered a Duplicate.
4. No items during battle, only Pokeballs and Held Items.
5. I win if I defeat every Gym Leader & the Elite Four, I lose if I white out.

I think that’s it. We don’t have wondertrade or any other fun stuff to worry about, so we can just use these rules and carry on. And so, we head out towards Cherrygrove and then Violet City.

Our first encounter is a Hoothoot, which is an easy catch. They are now named Pringle. The Snack Pack is growing. We should head north, towards Route 46, because we’ll need some more pals before Falkner. Hopefully a Geodude, but I’m not sure they’ll actually spawn at night and I’m not going to look it up.

That is not a Geodude. But, we cannot be picky this early on, so we’re just going to have to make due. I have named our new friend Sandwich. We grow stronger. At Cherrygrove we heal up and pick up some potions. Even though we won’t be using them in battle, we don’t want to have to run back to PokeCenters at the slightest hint of trouble, so they’re good to have. I’ll also pick up a couple extra Pokeballs as well. Oh, and some Antidotes. Anything to keep my Pokemon not-fainted for longer.

After emptying my wallet, it’s time to go on Route 30. Let’s see our first encounter!

Oh damn, a Poliwag! It’s an easy battle, Poliwag’s Bubble only does 1 damage to Celery even on a critical, and Celery’s Tackle does little enough damage to not faint. After eating one Pokeball, Poliwag is captured and we have a new friend on the team. They are now named MTN DEW.

Route 30 seems like a pretty solid place to switch train for right now. Celery takes 1-2 damage per Poliwag encountered, and we can easily wipe them out with one Petal Dance, and they each give a whopping 42 EXP. Let’s get everyone to, say, 7 or 8?

I got bored of grinding after about 10 mins. Let’s just keep moving.

Our first Trainer battles are up ahead. Sandwich will take the lead for switch training, and Celery is level 6 and will be level 7 by the end of the next fight, so I think we’re in a good place. Let’s do this.

Youngster Joey is up first, with a level 3 Rattata. Not even worth mentioning, Celery takes him out with a Petal Dance. Youngster Mikey is afterwards, with a level 3 Pidgey up top. I don’t think it has a flying type move, so I switch into Celery. Two Petal Dances and it’s gone, with a level 5 Rattata taking it’s place. We have our battle mode set to Switch, so we switch back to Sandwich then back to Celery. Celery is at 15/24 HP, so I throw a Leech Seed out. One more Tackle, and now we’re down to 10/24 HP. This is not good. We Petal Dance then we get hit again, down to 5/24 HP. Leech Seed only gets us up to 7/24 HP. We can take one more non-critical hit, and we’re locked into Petal Dance for our next move. The Rattata uses Tail Whip, our Petal Dance hits. Victory!

We definitely need to heal up before the next couple of trainers. I use a Potion on Celery and we move on, avoiding Spinarak as they pop up. Next up is Bug Catcher Don and they send out a level 3 Caterpie. I don’t think this will kill Sandwich, so I try one Tackle. It lands, does about 1/3 of their health. Their Tackle lands, and it takes off 2 HP. Oh, we got this. Two more Tackles and Sandwich gets his first taste of solo victory. Well, over one Pokemon. Don still has another level 3 Caterpie, which Sandwich destroys in 3 hits. Actually, this worked out really for Sandwich because a held Berry gets eaten during this battle, so now we’re up to full health and we’re level 5!

We hit Route 31 next and get our first instance of our Duplicate rule, a Poliwag. Then another Poliwag. Then finally!

This isn’t great. Our next gym is Falkner, who has flying Pokemon. Having one type disadvantaged Pokemon is bad, but two? Ugh. But, we also need more bodies, so I get Celery to chip away health and get a catch on the first ball. Carrot has joined the team.

Now, one of the gimmicks of Crystal Clear is that while the whole game is opened up and can be approached from all different angles, with trainers scaling based on your badge number, some places are static. Take Sprout Tower, usually a great place for early-game EXP. In Crystal Clear, the Pokemon are at level 30-ish, so my team of levels 8-4 will not work there. Because of this knowledge, I am scared that an encounter in Dark Cave could go very badly, but I also want to try my luck at getting a Geodude or some other not-grass Pokemon.

I’m going to put MTN DEW in the front and they will be my sacrifice. I switch the party, I walk into Dark Cave…

Oh. We’re fine! Switch into Celery, Tackle a few times, and now we have Salt. We are about to get to Violet City when we get into a battle with Bug Catcher Wade. A level 3 Caterpie opens the fight and I think about who to switch Salt out for. I decide on Pringle and it’s a 2-turn Tackle victory. Another level 3 Caterpie comes out as I switch back to Salt. I think Salt can take this, so I leave him in to Tackle. It takes way too long and is barely worth the 33 EXP, but it is one more level. I almost let Salt stay in until I notice the new Caterpie is level 7. I switch to Celery, who defeats Caterpie and stays at full health thanks to Leech Seed. Switch back to Salt and a level 5 Weedle comes out. Unfortunately, rocks can be poisoned, so I switch back to Celery for safety reasons and destroy the Weedle.

Now it’s time to grind, for real this time. Salt needs to be up in levels and fast, because I believe he’s our only hope with Falkner. Luckily, outside of Poliwag & Bellsprout, Salt can take on just about any wild Pokemon in this area, and we need to get to level 11 for Rock Throw, so this shouldn’t take too long.

After 20-ish minutes of grinding (I watched a Yakuza Kiwami speedrun) here’s the party.

• Salt, Lv. 11
• Celery, Lv. 9
• Pringle, Lv. 5
• Sandwich, Lv. 5
• Carrot, Lv. 5
• MTN DEW, Lv. 4

It’s gym time.

Bird Keeper Abe is first with a Lv. 9 Spearow, and one Rock Throw takes them out. Bird Keeper Rod is next with two Lv. 7 Pidgeys. Two Rock Throws take them out. We use a Potion on Salt before Falkner. This is it.

Falkner sends out a Lv. 7 Pidgey first, which hits us with Mud-Slap, lowering our accuracy. Rock Throw misses, so we’re moving to Tackle. The Mud-Slaps are getting ridiculous, so I switch into Celery. I pop a Leech Seed then bait the Tackle and switch back to Salt. I’m getting hit hard by these Mud-Slaps, but Leech Seed keeps me healing. Pidgey eventually goes down and Pidgeotto comes out, so I switch to Celery to remove the accuracy issues and also setup another Leech Seed. I don’t know if Pidgeotto has a Flying-type move, but I hope not! Gust does 20 points of damage, but Celery gets off the Leech Seed. I swap back to Salt, hoping that Pidgeotto uses Gust and that it doesn’t do much damage. The Gust does 2 damage, and I recover 5! Salt connects with a Rock Throw, and we win!

And with that, our first badge is done. I’ve been writing this as I’ve been playing, and it’s about 11:57pm right now, so I have gotta go to bed. Next time: Azalea Gym!