Pokemon Platinum! ~ The Journey Begins!
Mar. 17 Sunday
Hello everyone! I recently decided to restart my old Platinum save file and get me Gen 4 adventures underway! I moved my previous save file's team into my Pearl file, so they're all safe and sound over there.
So, I started out with Chimchar! I've never used it before, and he's really great so far! He's fully evolved, and is currently on my team with Togetic, Roselia, and Rotom. Now usually when I play, I try to plan my team in advance and also avoid Pokemon I've used before in that Gen. But this time I want to be more flexible and just use whatever Pokemon I want! So though this is my team now, I have no idea what the final team will be when I face the League! I have so many Pokemon I want to raise. I'm excited to finally evolve Togetic into Togekiss (when I find the stone...), and I really want a Luminion on my team too. I'd also love to raise a Garchomp, Froslass, Spiritomb, Gallade, and of course Giratina and Darkrai!
I love using Rotom. A few months ago I started a new save file on Pokemon Battle Revolution on the Wii and found Rotom to be amazing to use! Also, I looked at my old save file and I was shocked to see my Pokemon from Pearl like Palkia are on there!! I was so thrilled to see them - as we know I foolishly moved them all into the 3DS. Later I intend to play with my Platinum team in my new file.
Back to Platinum, I've just arrived in Canalave city and I'm exploring all the new areas, and running around the region finding new surfing spots before I take on the next Gym. I found when my Pokemon were in the level 20s very difficult to keep on top of the sudden level jumps, but theyre all in their level 40s by now! I'm so grateful to have the VS Seeker, it makes grinding so much easier. I also moved a Lucky Egg over from Pearl to help with the EXP Gain.
Coming off playing Gen 5 for nearly two years I am still adjusting to all the differences! For example, I forgot how 2D the game really is compared to Gen 5 (not in a bad way!), it just goes to show how far they pushed the 2D/3D look in Gen 5! I do miss the constantly animated Pokemon sprites, I must admit. But there are so many things I'm glad to have back, like the Underground, Berries, and the VS Seeker! I forgot how time consuming maintaing berries is, I only have so much time in the day!! I want to grow lots though so I can enter contests and I'm aware the EV Berry resetting system is a LOT easier in this Gen, so I want to grow lots of these as well. The grind for those in Gen 5 was truly painful.
I also find playing this game really interesting after the existance of Legends Arceus. It's fun to see the paralells between certain characters and events, and pick up on what was expanded on in Legends, and I've mentally been able to better click together areas of Modern Sinnoh to what they once were in Hisui. I'm very curious though as to why in Legends there seems to be no reference at all to Barry/the Rival! Just think it's strange! It also sheds a different light on Cynthia. She's actually extremely similar to Volo's role in Legends, randomly popping up and even seemingly knowing where you're going to be and knowing WAAAAY too much shit, and of course being very involved in the climax of the game. But of course, the final outcomes of their role in the games are very, very different.
And of course, I'm slowly chipping away at the Sinnoh Dex. I want to finish that first, so I'm tempted to avoid the League all together until I've got all I physcially can finish done. I'm excited to get to the National Dex though, and finally finish 11 Year Old Me's mission!
Aside from abandoning the Team planning rule, I am still following some silly other rules. They will be:
My guidebooks are patiently waiting for me!!
So yes, that's all for now! Until next time!
Prelude: Preparing For My Gen IV Journey
Apr. 26 Wednesday
Hello! I've made some decisions about how I'm going to approach these Gen 4 games. Playing these Gen 5 games again have made me really want to get the most out of the games and keep a great set of Pokemon.
I'm going to start my Pokemon Platinum save file over. I'm too emotionally attached to my Pearl one to write that over, and when I played Platinum I never went much further than clearing the main story so I haven't even explored the new areas or features! I'll move my old team over to Pearl.
I'll also restart Soul Silver as I mentioned previously it is just a husk of a game right now, theres no Pokemon and it seems I did absolutely everything. I'd like to give it another shot. Someone I know called S was telling me about all the different features in the game, some of which I didn't even know like the Pokalethon (I think??)!
I'm not sure how I will do this yet but I think I will complete the HG copy I got as well as I need to to get Rayquaza. The previous owner had saved before Sabrina's battle, so off the top of my head that means I need to complete the Kanto Leaders, do Mt. Silver, then take on Red. For the Living Dex, I can access Hoenn starters this way - but I also managed to get online in Gen 4 so I might not need to do this at all!
In terms of Pokemon, I know in Platinum I will choose Chimchar as I need it for the Living Dex and I've never used it! I'm not sure what Pokemon I'll use as I have to keep in mind HMs, but I really want to raise a Froslass, Luminion, Togekiss, Palkia, a Glameow...gosh, so many! In SS, I'm really thinking about Macargo, Amphorous, Sneasel, Blissey, Azumarill, Suicune...I will choose Chikorita as my starter. In both games I really want to try using Pokemon I've never used before in a Game Clear! For Gen 4 this is quite difficult if I take into account BDSP and Legends.
Mar. 23rd Thursday
I decided to go through my Gen 4 games to get a feel of what I already have for the Gen IV Living Dex, one day in the future as I was feeling very curious.
Pink: Pearl, Red: Platinum, Blue: SS, Orange: HG. There were some duplicates
As you can see, I currently have access to the most disgusting random selection of Pokemon ever. A lot of these I can probably recatch in whichever game I end up holding the Living Dex in. I haven't done a write up of my HG cartirdge which has the previous owner, Matt's, Pokemon. His save file is pretty normal, apart from the 3 shiny Deoxys he seems to have...
But this does give me a good feel for what I'm going to have to do about the starters. I only need one from each line. I can easily get a Chimchar in HG or SS, as well as Charmandar. I currently have no Gen III starters, but as in SS I already beat Red and I can train to beat him in HG, and then if I'm going to reset a game anyway, I should be able to get them. The final trouble is getting Totodile and Chikorita, as this requires resetting both games. Unless, I can see if my brother has any of the two in one of his old save files...
I can't remember what Legendaries I caught before I nuked my SS file by moving basically all the Pokemon over. I haven't caught any in Platinum yet.
I think getting all the Gen III Pokemon will be the most difficult. But we shall see!
I am very excited to do this, as I remember as an 11 year old trying my best just to complete the National Pokedex. I never managed it. I saw 440 and caught 410/492 though!
Mar. 20th Monday
As you can see in the Hall of Fame and in my other notes, I've played a lot of Gen IV in my time. Sadly I removed all the Pokemon from Pearl and Soul Silver over to the 3DS for my living dex, and both these files are 'empty'. I'm okay resetting the SS game but I have a hard time letting go of the Pearl save file, as this was my first ever Pokemon game and there are a lot of memories attached to it even though the Pokemon are in my 3DS now. I have a copy of Platinum which thankfully has just entered the post-game, and in September I aquired a copy of Heart Gold which I am yet to reset. I will of course first make a page dedicated to the save file there, belonging to a gentlemen named Matt. The save file had not been touched since 2010!!
When I come around to playing these games, I'd love to try as best as I can to make a Living Dex. I don't think I'll restart any Sinnoh files, but I very much look forward to replaying HGSS! I remember really enjoying it, and finding it very rich even in comparison to Pearl. I remember the grind was truly the struggle though...
In Pokemon Pearl, I really loved participating in the contests as a kid too so I think I'll give them a proper go too in Platinum. I got Empoleon lots of ribbons! In HGSS, having a crazy strong team to fight Red I think will be a main goal too. In Pokemon Soul Silver, I ran my team through the league times and I traded over to Pearl to maximise EXP points by running the team through the League there 4 times so I could get tough enough to beat Red!
I'll be testing out the DNS exploit here to get a Darkrai that I can take with me in my Pokewalker, but I hear it is a lot more difficult to pull off compared to Gen V.
For now, lets check out the state of my Platinum save file. I started it in November 3rd 2016, and played for about a month. After experiencing the Distortion World, I abandoned the game, as that is pretty much why I decided to pick it up, as a fan of Giratina...I picked it up in 2021 and beat the game on Feb 28th 2021. I love Gen IV but the playthrough does drag out I find.
You may be wondering "why on Earth is a level 12 Gulpin there?!" Well, I had traded Giratina over to SS so it could be in my Pokewalker!
There is also a shameful total of just 4 other Pokemon in the PC. I will have a lot of work to do when it comes to the Living Dex! I know there are lots of random Pokemon remaining in Pearl, including lots from my old Sapphire and FireRed games. I don't think theres much more in Soul Silver though. Perhaps in preserving my Pearl life, I could keep the Living Dex there? I think I recall that you can catch both Dialga and Palkia in Platinum. The issue will be the starters. I need the Chimchar and Piplup lines.