Big rules here, little rules down there, let’s go.

So, most of route 215 – pretty uneventful.  Divine soloed most of the trainers without even taking damage (to be fair, a lot of them are Black Belts with Fighting Pokémon who don’t really know how to deal with a Ghost-type), which is good because I’m still not allowed to switch in battle or reorder my party.

These two at the end are a lot trickier – a double battle with a Gyarados and a Kadabra, both very strong mid-game Pokémon, strategically positioned at the entrance to Veilstone City to ensure that players fight them.  They really stick out in my memory as a surprisingly difficult fight for a pair of random trainers; I think I might even have wiped to them once, back in the day.  Both trainers open with less frightening Pokémon though – Glameow and Monferno – which means you can focus on taking them out one at a time.

Continue reading “Pearl Kingslocke: Episode 11” →

Big rules here, little rules down there, let’s go.

DID YOU JUST IMPLY THAT TEAM GALACTIC MURDERED YOUR POKÉMON???

I mean yes the obvious reading is that Team Galactic literally “took” his Pokémon, that they stole them from him, but then why would he be in the graveyard tower?

Continue reading “Pearl Kingslocke: Episode 10” →

Big rules here, little rules down there, let’s go.

So… I know I caught Blinkerbel specifically for the memes, but god Chingling is awful.  Fortunately, she picks up Confusion at level 14.

The good news is, the Old Chateau – full of Gastly who are weak to both Confusion and Lick, and prone to finishing themselves off with Curse once damaged – is a really good place to train for both Blinkerbel and Madame Malheur, with Karpe Doom watching from the back with an Exp. Share.

Continue reading “Pearl Kingslocke: Episode 9” →

Big rules here, little rules down there, let’s go.

Cycling Road is technically part of route 206, but the ground-level part of the route (which extends up past those trees and underneath the whole length of Cycling Road) seems clearly separate enough to be worth drawing another card.

Continue reading “Pearl Kingslocke: Episode 8” →

Big rules here, little rules down there, let’s go.

Continue reading “Pearl Kingslocke: Episode 7” →

Rules here.

Here we are: Eterna City.  There are several things we have to do here before moving on.  To leave southward, we have to travel on Cycling Road, which requires a bicycle.  To the east is Mount Coronet, the towering spine of the Sinnoh region.  There are tunnels through the mountain to Celestic Town and Snowpoint City, but I need out-of-battle access to Strength to use them, which we won’t have for a while.  To move on, we have to defeat both Eterna City’s gym leader, Gardenia, and the commander in charge of Team Galactic’s base here, Jupiter.

Continue reading “Pearl Kingslocke: Episode 6” →

Rules here.

When we last left off, I was taking a quick training break.  The team now stands thus:

I wanted to train the boys a little bit higher, but with limited Pokémon Centre visits, there’s only so much potions can do; they don’t restore PP (and I’m even running out of money for potions).

The last card I drew was the Ten of Cups, meaning someone else gets to make a new rule for me, and today’s lucky winner is Matt, who offers the following:

Continue reading “Pearl Kingslocke: Episode 5” →

Rules here.

When we left off, I had just drawn the 10 of Swords, necessitating a pause so a commenter could give their own suggestions for changing the rules of this game.  The first commenter on the scene was Pedro Luiz Cunha Marchi, who made these requests:

So, the simple consequence first: the Six of Cups is off the board; I can use male Pokémon again.  The boys, as they say, are back in town.

A little bit more complicated: my Geodude, Andi Site, will no longer face the Knight’s Challenge on route 207, but on the next route with trainers.  The next place we’re going is the Ravaged Path, the small cave area that divides the southern and northern parts of route 204, but there are no trainers there.  After that, there’s the upland half of route 204, which leads north to Floaroma Town.  We’ve already drawn a card when we entered the lowland half of route 204, and fought the trainers there, but the northern part has more trainers and higher-level wild Pokémon, and they’re divided by story progression.  I think there’s a reasonable argument for treating it as a new area, same as the lower level of Oreburgh Gate.

Continue reading “Pearl Kingslocke: Episode 4” →

Rules here.

Now, where were we?

Continue reading “Pearl Kingslocke: Episode 3” →

Rules here.

We’ve drawn several cards now – a 5, a 2, a Page and a 6 – but the 2 and the Page both tell you to do things immediately, so we don’t have to keep thinking about them after drawing them.  The 5 applies an ongoing restriction, but it’s the opposite of the restriction applied by the 6, which overwrites it.  That means the 6 is the only card we have to keep track of at the moment.

I think Tippi’s ready for her big solo debut.

Continue reading “Pearl Kingslocke: Episode 2” →