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Wednesday, March 12 - Tuesday, March 18: I began my first Gen 9 run with Crocalor as my starter. Knowing he wouldn't struggle at all against Bug and Grass Pokemon, I faced the Cortondo and Artazon gyms first. I then took down the Schedar Squad's Base thanks to a wild Tauros I caught right before entering it. After that, I beat Levincia's gym, and the game's difficulty kicked up a notch, indicating I may have taken a wrong turn in the game's open world. I loved the challenge, though, so I kept right on going, defeating the Lurking Steel Titan and then taking down the Navi Squad's Base.
After three hours of getting lost in a mountain, I managed to find Medali, and Tauros made short work of its gym. After that, the difficulty went way down, with most wild Pokemon and trainers giving my team zero trouble. I slept my way through Cascarrafa's gym, two-shot the Quaking Earth Titan with my fully evolved Skeledirge, and steamrolled the the Segin Squad's Base with my Bellibolt. The Bellibolt then one-shot the Open Sky Titan. I headed to Alfornada's gym after that, which my Skeledirge at level 55 was able to wreck with Shadow Claw alone. I then went to Glaseado Mountain's gym, whose ice types didn't stand a chanace against my Skeledirge, either, and then I took down the Ruchbah Squad's Base.
Wednesday, March 19: After defeating Montenevera's gym thanks again to Skeledirge's Shadow Claw, I found the last two Titans, the Stony Cliff Titan giving me no trouble and the False Dragon Titan giving me a bit more trouble due to horrid RNG with Bellibolt's Zap Cannon. I was able to finish the Path of Legends after that, and with the ability to climb mountains with my Miraidon, I was able to reach the Caph Squad's Base and get my final Star badge from them. I defeated the final two bosses of Starfall Street, and then I headed to the Pokemon League. After struggling against each of the Elite Four, I expected a legendary battle with the region's top champion, Geeta, and I...did not get that. Five of her six Pokemon were weak to fire or ghost moves, so having Skeledirge on my team made her a cakewalk. I didn't get the Hall of Fame presentation I was used to in these games, but I also didn't feel I deserved one. Nemona did reward me with another battle, and while she didn't mess me up nearly as much as the Team Star boss or Arven did, it was a more exciting fight than the champion "fight" at least.
Thursday, March 20: With the three major storylines completed, I could now complete the final one: The Way Home. With Arven, Nemona, and Penny accompanying me, I headed to a lab in the depths of an unexplored territory, Area Zero. This was the most boring part of the game by far, with most of the gameplay being me walking down a mountain and occasionally finding cool Pokemon I haven't seen before but mainly encountering ones I've seen a million times already. The final fights with Professor Turo were pretty awesome, with the Miraidon fight in particular making me feel like I was in anime, but I was relieved when the credits rolled, because it meant I could put the game down. Overall, I give Pokemon Violet a 7/10. It looks awful in handheld mode, but I had more fun catching Pokemon in it than any other game, and while the Victory Road story was the generic Pokemon story and the Starfall Street story was the generic fighting bullies story, Arven's story was pretty touching, which made the Path of Legends my favorite of the three storylines by far, and the fact that The Way Home concluded that story in a mostly satisfying way is one of the few positive things I can say about it.
I've started a new Pokemon Slowpink save after beating the game with Pikachu as my starter. This time, I'll be using the game mascot, Slowpoke.
Friday, February 21, 2025: I have 1:11 of playtime so far, and I haven't beaten any gyms, but I do have a solid team of five Pokemon in Slowpoke (Lvl 11), Pichu (Lvl 9, met in Petalburg Woods), Weedle (Lvl 5, met on Route 102), Caterpie (Lvl 5, met in Petalburg Woods), and Rattata (Lvl 4, met on Route 104).
Saturday, February 22, 2025: I was able to defeat the first gym leader. Roxanne, handily, one-hit KOing both of her Geodudes and taking no damage from her Onix thanks to my Slowpoke's Yawn and barrage of water gun attacks. As I left the gym, I noticed a fellow with blue hair getting chased by a Devon Corp reseacher. That fellow turned out to be James of Team Rocket, holding a Pidgey hostage with Jessie in Rusturf Tunnel. I easily wipe their Ekans and Koffing with my Slowpoke's Confusion, and I retrieve not only the Pidgey but Devon's goods from Team Rocket. To thank me, the CEO of Devon Corp, Mr. Stone, gives me a PokeNav, and he also gives me a new mission: deliver a letter from him to Steven in Dewford Town. As I head back to Petalburg City with my new hardware, I'm stopped by my rival, May. Despite how easily I took down Team Rocket, I can't beat May and her Pikachu as easily, and my team gets wiped by her yellow menace. As I lick my wounds, I return to Petalburg City and meet Mr. Briney, whose Pidgey I had just saved from Team Rocket. Briney offers to take me to Dewford Town to deliever the letter, and it's an offer I can't refuse. Once I land in Dewford Town, I end today's playthrough at the 2:10 mark.
Monday, February 24, 2025: I spent most of today's run in Granite Cave. Killed lots of Zubats. Got a letter from Steven then returned to Petalburg City and got an Exp. Share. My Kakuna evolved into a Beedrill on the way back, and I replaced the crappy Rattata in my party with a Geodude, who I expect to be huge for my team during the third, fourth, and fifth gyms. I still have the second gym to worry about, though, which I've died in more times than I want to admit in the past. I'll tackle it tomorrow.
Wednesday, February 26, 2025: With Slowpoke and Spearow leading the way, I didn't struggle too much against the trainers in Dewford Town's Gym until getting to Brawley, who turned out to be even trickier than I thought he would be. I took out his Machop with a few Aerial Aces from Spearow, and I tried poisoning Machoke with Beedrill, but it took not one, not two, but six poison stings for me to do it. Once I poisoned his Machoke, I only needed to let nature take its course, as he easily OHKO'd my Beedrill, but Geodude was able to tank a hit thanks to Sturdy, and a Bulldoze combined with Machoke's poisoning was enough to take him out. Finally, I had to fight Mankey, and my plan was to use a Yawn from Slowpoke to put him to sleep and then knock him out with Confusion, but Mankey's Vital Spirit ability made Slowpoke's Yawn ineffective. After that, I spammed Confusion as Mankey spammed Bulk Up, and once I got Mankey's health low enough, he knocked out my Slowpoke with Reversal. I then put in Spearow, hoping his Aerial Ace could outspeed Mankey's Reversal, but that didn't happen. I then put in Igglybuff, knowing he'd get OHKO'd but using the opportunity to use a Super Potion on Geodude. After Igglybuff got knocked out with Reversal, I put Geodude in, and despite Mankey's super effective Reversal, I was saved by Geodude's Sturdy ability once more, and I was able to knock out the Mankey with a Bulldoze. Now with two badges and 3:45 of playing time, I can return to the seas for the next part of my adventure.
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Credit to PocketKyu7 for the Pikachu in the header and below and Golduck's Pokemart for the overall design.