Day 14--Pokémon caught:12, days left in challege:351

Wow, I can’t believe it’s been over two weeks since I updated this blog. I am really sorry about that. But see, the thing is, if I don’t have time to play the game, there’s really no way for me to update. And the past two weeks for me have been nothing but work and school. I haven’t had any time to play the game at all—until this weekend. This weekend, I got a break from school, so I had some free time. But let me start from the beginning.

I love the preorder system at GameStop since it allowed me to pick up my copy of Black the day it was released. Since that was over two weeks ago, I do not really remember everything, but I can tell you my initial thoughts on the game. I was originally very annoyed by the battle system. Everything seemed too flashy for me and there didn’t seem to be as much flow between the commands being given and then watching the turn play out. But it was just different. I’m used to it now and the battle system now works for me instead of aggravating me at every turn. Haha…the irony of that saying, I didn’t mean turn like in the game, but that works as well. Ahem, back to the matter at hand though.

I do like that there are more rival battles. I always run out of people to battle, and so the introduction of not one but as far as I can tell three rivals is pretty sweet. It gives me a chance to test my skills with trainers who follow my levels pretty well as opposed to when I would go to re-battle the people in my Pokégear in previous games and they would be significantly lower in level than I was. I just wish I had time to play as much as I wanted to. Several of my friends are already finished with the main storyline of the game, and I am still stuck around the second badge--I'm currently exploring Pinwheel Forest.

One thing I will say regarding the game, I do not feel the same connection to the Pokémon as I have in previous games. In the past, if I encountered a Pokémon I really liked, I would feel a connection to it and I would know that I wanted him in my party. But so far, in this game, none of the Pokémon I have encountered have really resonated with my spirit yet. I find myself thinking—if I just had my Noctowl or Bulbasaur could do such and such to help me here. At the moment, my team consists of the following and they're all around level 15:

- Blitzel (Zeus)

- Pidove (Feather)

- Panpour (Uhhhh)

- Roggenrola (Teardrop)

- Purrloin (Skitty)

- Snivy (Nessy)

The only Pokémon in my team that I think will stay on even after I get others are Skitty and possibly Zeus and Nessy. And as the people in my battle thread didn’t understand the reasoning behind Skitty’s name, I shall explain. Skitty is NOT named after the Pokémon Skitty. When I was a child, I had a tomcat named Scat Cat, but we called him Skitty. I was actually really annoyed and sort of surprised when I discovered they had come up with a Pokémon named Skitty. I felt that my name had been stolen, even though I know it is impossible that they stole that name from me. I still came up with it first, years before they had given that I got Skitty when I was in the second grade, which was in 1996. But back to the matter at hand. As I said, I doubt that these Pokémon will stay with me as I progress further into the game. I’m hoping to run into some other Pokémon that I will really love soon, but that doesn’t seem forthcoming at this point.

Originally, I thought I would post a play by play of this game, but now I think it would be more interesting for me to just tell the interesting things that happen to me and my opinion on the game as a whole. And I have come to this conclusion mainly because I know that I get bored reading someone else’s adventures when I am in the middle of my own. So, from this point on, I will be telling the interesting things that happen to me, not giving a play by play—unless the battle is really interesting or epic in nature.

Alright, so to bring this to a close, I am really enjoying this game so far. It is interesting and seems to have brought a fresh idea without having disrupted the realm of Pokémon beyond its well formed ideals and principles. However, that being said, I know that just like generations three and four, this game will not be within my favorites. My favorite game will still be Silver version with Blue coming in close behind it. The newer games simply just don’t suck me in and make me feel like I'm really within their world. Even after I picked up my copy of Black, I wanted nothing more than to continue play my SoulSilver. And I did play it some this weekend. I traded a few of my Pokémon to my brother’s friend. He’s playing through Diamond right now and there were a few of my Pokémon that he wanted, so I helped him out. My brother has asked to play my Black version when I get through with it, but at the moment, I don’t think that will be anytime soon, given what I am planning to do within the parameters of this blog.

Well, I’m off to work. Once again, I apologize for the lack of posting. I will try to update this blog at least once a week. After I get out of school, I will probably be able to update more frequently, but until then I will just to do the best I can to get my posts up on a regular basis. Until next time!

VICTORY IS MINE!

Well, do I have news for you! Two nights ago, when I couldn’t sleep, I decided to try the Elite Four, just for the hell of it. And I won! Umbreon was amazing! But to start from the beginning….

I have been suffering from a sinus infection since Tuesday. And so, I’ve been stuck in my bed for a few days. For most of Thursday, I was so weak that I could do nothing but sleep and watch TV, but finally, that night, I felt a little better. Not well enough to venture out of bed, but well enough to continue my training. I decided that I would once again attempt to battle the Elite Four. The first attempt went much like my previous encounters. Umbreon, Rapidash, and Lugia took care of the first three leaders, but then I reached Karen. And her Houndoom kicked my butt! So, I since I had saved before entering the League, I restarted my DS and decided to try it one final time. And this time, it went a little differently.

The first battle got off to a good start. Umbreon took care of Will’s psychic Pokémon with ease. The added bonus that he is invulnerable to psychic moves was rather nice as well. Anyways, that battle was finished with little difficulty and I continued on to face Koga. This battle didn’t start out as well thanks to my ignorance to swap Umbreon out of the first position so that Rapidash would be first in my party. But no matter, Umbreon took care of Koga’s Ariados easily enough and I wasted no time switching him out for Rapidash for the rest of the battle which went along without much trouble. I cursed myself when I once again forgot to switch Rapidash out for Lugia to begin my next battle with Bruno, but I simply switched him out at the beginning of the battle and that battle as well continued with little difficulty.

And then it was time to face Karen. I was still unsure how to go about facing that Houndoom of hers but I was feeling confident and so I carried on. Now I am a little fuzzy on the beginning of the battle. I believe I began with my Pikachu against her Umbreon. But Pikachu’s defense is still pathetic and so, even with the help of an X Defend, Pikachu fell to Umbreon and I switched him out for Dragonair. I healed Pikachu so that I could use him later on in the battle and Dragonair quickly took care of Umbreon. Karen brought out Gengar and I decided to bring Pikachu out once more. I used the last of my X Defends and hoped for the best. I was very pleased with the way Pikachu handled Gengar and it was time to face Houndoom.

Gathering my wits, I called back Pikachu and sent Dragonair out to face the fire dog. But even with a type advantage, Dragonair fell to Houndoom’s Flamethrower, the move that single-handedly brought down my entire team on previous attempts. I sent out Lugia, but he too fell to the flames. I could feel the edges of dread creeping into my thoughts as I sent out Umbreon. But then, something wonderful happened. Umbreon withstood the flames. In fact, they barely singed him! I sent Umbreon underground, hoping to use the advantage of his Dig move to catch Houndoom off his guard. And it worked! I could feel the confidence return, it surged through my veins and filled me with the knowledge that this was it. I was going to emerge victorious.

Three moves later and Houndoom was down for the count and Karen sent out Vileplume. I found myself thinking “Too easy” as I sent Rapidash charging into battle, flames flying. I could visualize Karen’s resolve wavering as she sent out her final Pokémon. I debated for a moment on calling Rapidash and sending Pikachu out once again, but this fight was Epona’s. Murkrow didn’t stand a chance.

As Karen congratulated me on my victory and sent me to face Lance, I could feel the power coursing through my veins. Now, granted, that might have been my blood pressure going haywire as my body began to feel the full force of my sinus infection, but nevertheless! I was ready to face Lance. I couldn’t stop. I knew victory would be mine this day…er well night.

I smiled as Lance’s Gyarados emerged on the screen and Pikachu leapt into battle. One Thunderbolt later and Gyarados was defeated and I called Pikachu back as Lance sent out the first of his seemingly unending team of Dragonites. I decided to go with Umbreon. His exceptional display of prowess in the previous battle that I wanted to see what he could do when pitted against a dragon. I wasn’t disappointed. The wins didn’t come as quickly as they had in the past, but it was sort of a display of the “slow and steady” proverb. Umbreon withstood everything Lance threw at us and steadily brought the enemy’s HP lower and lower. I have to say, it was rather predictable when Lance would use one Full Restore for each of his Pokémon, but I couldn’t really complain as I used practically an entire Pokémart’s worth of Hyper Potions, Full Restores, Lemonades, Soda Pops, and Fresh Waters. Not to mention the three Max Elixirs and four Elixirs…it was a LONG battle.

I couldn’t stop the mantra of “I’m so close I can feel it” that began seeping into my thoughts as Dragonite after Dragonite fell to Umbreon’s dark powers. When the last of the Dragonites had been defeated, I was feeling extremely pleased with myself. Umbreon decimated Lance’s Aerodactyl and finally Charizard. As the victory music began, I was speechless. I couldn’t believe I had won. I watched the cut scenes and credits in complete and utter shock. I was still in shock as I stepped onto the decks of the S.S. Anne and began the journey to Kanto.

I finally had to call it a night at that point as my body was screaming its torment at me. Today I went to Vermillion and Saffron city and got two new badges to add to my Trainer Card. Tomorrow I plan to tackle the Celadon and Cerulean Gyms. Well, I think that about covers it. Tomorrow I travel to GameStop to pick up Black. I can’t wait to dive into the newest region and see what Game Freak has brought us this time! Until next time!

Defense Training

I made a discovery this morning when I began training my Pikachu. His defense is only thirty-seven while his attack is close to one hundred. I am currently trying to find ways to raise his defense. However, I don't have that many options. I have given him three irons, but I do not like using things of that nature to train. I would rather train naturally, but at the same time I do not want to have to wait that long to battle the league. I also thought about possibly training my Pichu—the son of my Pikachu—however he’s at level one. The time it would take me to train him to the same level as my other team members is more than I would like to spend training. I saw on Psypoke that a Power Belt will help boost the defense stats while training, but I can’t get it until after the Battle Frontier opens, which won’t be until after I beat the Elite Four. So, currently, I am going to just train normally and hope for the best. However, I might have to switch Pikachu out for another Pokémon and I’ll add him back after I beat the Elite Four.

Well, as much as I would like to continue writing, my sinus infection has gotten worse in the past few days and my bed calls to me. So, until next time I wish you all happy training!

Gotta Catch ‘Em All!