Pearl Kingslocke: Episode 14

Rules here.

Last time, we’d just drawn the Ten of Wands, giving the first commenter a chance to change the rules.  Let’s see what we got…

So, commenter and esteemed Patreon supporter hugh_donnetono has chosen the path of chaos.

Perhaps the meaning of this comment and rule change is not immediately clear to you.  Hugh_donnetono has mostly just removed several rules I had to follow – is this not good?  But observe.

Continue reading “Pearl Kingslocke: Episode 14” →

Pearl Kingslocke: Episode 13

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

(Also, I’ve just remembered that the Eight of Cups should have actually been put up on the board when I drew it a couple of episodes ago, to remind us that Andi has to stay in the Mate Crate and that there should currently be only three Eights in the deck; I’ll add it next time)

INTO THE MARSH!

Continue reading “Pearl Kingslocke: Episode 13” →

Pearl Kingslocke: Episode 12

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

Something really funny about Diamond and Pearl is that they come at a point in the Pokémon series before anyone had actually made Game Freak stop putting fµ¢£ing casinos in all their games for small children, but after Nintendo had kinda figured out they should probably tone down the gambling references, at least for the international market (and, y’know, also long before the emerging mobile games industry would totally normalise the idea of designing video games to get children to gamble).  Thus, we have the PI (Private Investigator) trainer class.  These guys are shown tossing coins in their sprites and their dialogue is all about luck, chance and guessing, which makes them seem like pretty rubbish private investigators.  They also use a lot of very luck-heavy moves – Carlos here has three Goldeen, all of whom know Horn Drill.  This is because, in the original Japanese, they’re not investigators.  They’re gamblers – a trainer class that appears in the Kanto games, both original and remakes, and returns in Let’s Go Pikachu and Eevee renamed “gamers.”  The generation IV gambler just happened to have this noir-style sprite with the long coat and fedora that could believably be renamed “PI” in translations – not a switch you could easily pull with the generation III gambler, who is an old man with threadbare clothes and a dice cup.

This has nothing to do with the challenge run; I just thought it was important knowledge to share.

Continue reading “Pearl Kingslocke: Episode 12” →

Pearl Kingslocke: Episode 11

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” →

Pearl Kingslocke: Episode 9

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” →

Pearl Kingslocke: Episode 6

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” →