Let's Try This Again

Alright, so I realize that this blog sort of died…but I have a good reason. I graduated from college at the beginning of May, so up until then I was completely swamped with finishing all my work for my classes and coping with the influx of hours given to me at work. Because of this, I was unable to play ANY video game, let alone write about one. So, you would think I would have time to play once I graduated right? It would make logical sense except…there was a problem. I had a summer class. See, my college has this policy where if you are only short three credit hours of graduating (which I was) they will allow you to walk at the graduate in May and then you can complete your summer class afterwards. So, I took my class and of course, still had twenty to thirty hours of work every week. Anyways, I just finished my class last week—which was on Beowulf and the Arthurian legends and I absolutely loved it—so now, maybe I can actually devote the proper time this blog deserves. I’ve gotten pretty far in my Pokémon Black game, but first I want to show you the blog entry I began around the middle of April:

So, I’ve been meaning to update as a LOT has happened, but my new boss at work has decided that I can have more hours….a lot more hours. So, between that and my classes, which I have been falling behind in thanks to work, I haven’t really had any time to myself in which to write a post. But I did have some time to play when I was quarantined for shingles last week and then a little today—I’m staying with a friend of mine from college this weekend—so I thought I would catch everyone up on my latest adventures.

So, the three days following my last post I was consumed with one task, winning a Vaporeon. In case you are unaware of the “Play to Befriend a Pokémon” game and the prize you get for completing four levels in one try, I will explain. On Pokémon.com, there is a game called “Play to Befriend a Pokémon” where you attempt to bounce a ball against a little platform in order to break all the blocks on the screen. Also, when some of the balls break, they release these orbs that symbolize the different Eevee evolutions as well as some that give you an extra life, change the size of the platform or the speed of the ball. So, while breaking all these blocks, you have to watch the falling orbs so that you can catch only the orbs that you want. At the end of the game, if you succeed, you are given the Eevee evolution that corresponds to the color of orb you gathered the most of. Sounds easy enough right? Well, let me tell you, it’s not. I have a laptop, which makes that game exceedingly hard to play. My mouse did not want to cooperate with me at all. On top of that, although the falling orbs move significantly slower than the ball you are bouncing, it is quite difficult to watch both the falling orbs and the bouncing ball to make sure you can try to get both of them. There are often several different types of orbs falling at once as well and it becomes difficult to catch only the type of orb that corresponds to the Eevee evolution that you want. Anyways, the first day I played, I didn’t even get past the first level. The second day I was a little more successful. I managed to get all the way to level four twice, however most of the time I died during level two. But then, on day three, after hours and hours of unsuccessful attempts, I did it. I beat the game!  And I had succeeded in gathering more Vaporeon orbs than any other, which is what I wanted. See, at the moment, the only two water Pokémon that I have are Panpour and Tympole, neither of which I feel a real connection to. Therefore, I currently feel that my team is being weakened because I do not feel connected to my water Pokémon and I am therefore less likely to use him in battle. So, I decided to catch myself a Vaporeon. And I succeeded after much frustration and pulling of hair.

So, that was the entry I started…nice right? I think so. Well, anyways, since then I have walked through Unova all the way to the Pokémon League. I made it through Victory Road rather quickly…here I was expecting the mind boggling frustration of previous Victory Roads, but while this one took me a while to get through—mainly because of the INSANE number of Durant that kept ambushing me at every turn—it was decidedly less frustrating than previous excursions through Victory Road. But anyways, I got through Victory Road and now I’m debating on what I want to do. I’m not sure that I want to battle the Elite Four yet. And it’s not even that I’m worried—because I’m really not—but I think I might want to work on my Pokédex for a little bit first.

Which is something else I need to discuss—my Pokédex. I have decided that instead of playing through my Crystal version for my video game challenge as I was originally intending to do, I am just going to complete my Pokédex completely on my SoulSilver. I have around 150 Pokémon on my SoulSilver, so that still leaves 100 left, which will account for the 100 new Pokémon in the Johto region. So I will still be catching 649 Pokémon, just in a different way. Anyways, my Pokédex is coming along great. So far I have caught seventy-nine Pokémon in the Unova region. As soon as I finish writing this blog, I intend to begin the process of leveling up the Pokémon I already have.

Well, I guess that’s it for now. I hope I don’t disappoint you this time around. Hopefully since I have some time on my hands now—although I can already tell you there will be no posts from the July 5^th through the 11^th for personal reasons. Anyways, I am going to try to post as often as I can.