Adventures in modern Sinnoh (Brilliant Diamond travelog)

[CynthiaLover]

Okay, just like I said before, here's a new playthrough travelog, this time featuring Brilliant Diamond. Let's get this show on the road and aim for the stars!

Log #1: The Dawn of a new Adventure

It's time to begin a new adventure. Picking my PC (and, no, I didn't pick Dawn in case you think the title of this log means I picked her) it was time to start a new day. After watching the red Gyarados TV show it was time to move on. Ran into Barry (or rather he ran into me) and met him on Route 201. He wants to go catch a red Gyarados at Lake Verity. I don't think it's that easy, Barry, but whatever. We make it to the lake and witness Professor Rowan and Dawn talking before leaving, but they left their briefcase behind. Despite my warning Barry and I check it out... only to be attacked by tiny birb! Out of desperation we each take one of the Poke Balls in the briefcase, with me picking the perfect little Fire Monkey: Chimchar. It was time to take down the wild Starly that attacked us. And so we did. Dawn returns to collect the briefcase, horrified that we had to borrow the Mons in it before we make our way back to Twinleaf Town. But Professor Rowan stops us. However, he doesn't want the starters back? He just takes a look at them and walks away. Time to head for home.

After having a chat with mom and getting the Running Shoes it was time to talk to Professor Rowan and explain the reasons we needed to borrow his Mons. So off to Sandgem Town. After running into Dawn (and Barry running into me, again) Professor Rowan lets me keep the Chimchar. Yay! I named him Hotshot and he's got a Naïve Nature so he's perfect. He request I complete the Pokedex, which I agree since he was so nice to let me keep Chimmy. Now it's off to see the Sinnoh region. But first a quick stop at home to report to mom what's going on. I then get a package from Barry's mom to deliver to her impatient son. So off I go! After getting the catching tutorial from Dawn and getting some Poke Balls it was time to start catching some new friends. Eventually added Aero the Starly (male) to my ranks. He's got a Jolly nature which is incredibly lucky, along with temporarily adding a Kricketot to my ranks (so I can get Kricketune for data) before making my way to Jubilife Village... er, City.

Met up with Barry, giving him the package, which resulted in both of us getting Town Maps. Then duked it out with some School Kids and their Abras before participating in the Poketch campaign, netting a Poketch. Caught a bunch of Mons, adding a Zubat to the ranks for now, and battled some trainers before moving on. Time to battle with Barry. Since his Piplup lacks any Water moves (at the moment) it was an easy win for Hotshot. Kricketot evolved at this point so I boxed it. After exploring a bit, getting the HM feature on the Poketch, I made it to Oreburgh City. Caught two Machops so I could trade one of them, resulting in Hotshot evolving into Monferno. After doing the trade I went into Oreburgh Mine and found Roark, prompting him to return to his Gym so I can challenge it. Hotshot easily creamed his Gym Trainers before sweeping Roark himself using mostly Power-Up Punch to raise his Attack to +4 before OHKOing Cranidos with a single Mach Punch. The first badge is mine! Now it's off to the next town.

Barry ran into me (again) before dashing. Now with Rock Smash I was able to explore the underside of Oreburgh Gate, picking up the TM for Flash, along with a Psyduck for data and a second Zubat (you'll understand why I'm catching doubles of Mons later). Made my way back to Jubilife City and got into a brawl with some Galactic Grunts. Dawn and I cleaned their clocks no problem. Met Bebe who gave me Ball Capsules and the ability to access the boxes whenever I want. Nice! Did some stuff in the TV Station before moving on. Added a female Shinx who I named Pride to the team. She has a Naughty nature so it's pretty good (I had already caught a Shinx but its nature was terrible). Aero also evolved during this time. Made it to Floraroma Town. Picked up the Jirachi from the old man (and boxing it), did anything of worth in town before taking a break.

My Team:

Monferno (Hotshot, male, Lv18)
Staravia (Aero, male, Lv15)
Shinx (Pride, female, Lv9)
Zubat (female, Lv13)

 

[CynthiaLover]

Okay, despite some RL events getting in the way my adventures in Sinnoh continue.

Log #2: The Good, the Bad, and the Purugly

Now, it was time to head to the Valley Windworks. A little girl asked me to rescue her papa from space aliens!? Oh, it's just those fashion failures, Team Galactic (although they look more stylish than Team Flare, if I may be so bold). After mopping the floor with the guard it was time to head to Floraroma Meadow in order to get the second Windworks Key. Took down the grunts with ease and now I can infiltrate the Windworks. And I can now buy Honey so I can wait six hours for a Wurmple. Literally. Though I decided to try my luck and slather a few trees. Not expecting much, to be honest but hey. You never know, right? But before storming the Windworks I caught a Buizel, Shellos, and Pachirisu, the latter of which I've added to the team for now for 2 reasons: 1) Pickup, and 2) Nuzzle, which will make catching some Mons easier.

Anyway, time to enter the Windworks and chase Team Galactic out. After beating up the grunts I face-off against Mars, one of the commanders. She makes me an offer: if I win Team Galactic leaves, but if she wins I leave. Deal. The battle begins! Monferno defeated Zubat with ease. Then came the Purugly. It got a freaking crit on its Fake-Out but after a Power-Up Punch and Mach Punch the fat cat in the hat wasn't all that. And speaking of cats, Pride evolved into a Luxio after the battle. So Mars takes her squad and leaves. At least she honored her end of the deal. Now it was time to head into Eterna Forest.

After battling some trainers I enter the forest and tag-teamed with Cheryl. This gave me an opportunity to do a tad of grinding for certain Mons. I caught several Wurmple and evolved them while with Cheryl. Most evolved into Silcoons but I did get two Cascoons, evolving one into a Dustox (and one Silcoon into a Beautifly). Also caught two Bunnery, one of which I'm attempting to raise into a Lopunny for data. That'll take a while due to the friendship stuff. But after catching and battling all the way through Eterna Forest we made it to the other side.

Fought some Fishermen before making my way to Eterna City. Met the Poke-Queen: Cynthia, and got Cut (though I can't use it yet). Explored the town and nearby area, catching and battling along the way. I also traded a Buizel for the Chatot. After collecting everything of worth I picked up the Explorer Kit. Now it's time to venture into the great unknow. Or should I say great underknown? badum-tish hears Kricketot Ahem. Anyway, spent some time exploring the Grand Underground (a bit too much time, I might add), catching several Mons, including a female Combee (who I've added to the team temporarily), a female Scyther (who I'm debating on using since she has a good nature), a Magnemite (which was holding a Metal Coat), a female Ralts (tempted to use her), and several other Mons.

I didn't explore every part of the GU that I have access to just yet, but I will eventually. Also, Zubat evolved into Golbat and then into Crobat shortly afterward, completing my task for it. I boxed it for the female Combee. And I will say little Pachirisu has been collecting lots of goodies. Things like Revives, Full Heals, Big Mushrooms, Super Potions, lots of useful stuff. In the process I was able to complete all the tasks that the Underground Man put me to, including the ones requiring another player (I just simply used my other file on my Switch Lite to take care of that). After exploring enough of the GU for now I retraced my steps back to Floraroma Town to check on my Honey Trees (as I slathered the Honey on them a few hours ago), though I still have about an hour or so before I might get a bite. Taking a break for now, as I spent way too much time down in the GU to be considered healthy.

My Team:

Monferno (Hotshot, male, Lv25)
Staravia (Aero, male, Lv24)
Luxio (Pride, female, Lv23)
Pachirisu (female, Lv22)
Bunneary (female, Lv21)
Combee (female, Lv17)

Note that all my Mons have nicknames, I just don't list the ones that I don't plan on using full-term. Just FYI.

 

[CynthiaLover]

Sorry for not updating. I largely took yesterday off because it was Father's Day, so I had some other work to do (though I played a little during the evening). Anyway, on with the show.

Log #3: Evolving Strategies

Anyway, after much exploring of the GU I succeeded in getting several filler Mons to evolve, such as Lopunny, Vespiquen, Chimecho, and others. Also, most of my Honey Trees ended up with Wurmple. What a shock. The only one that didn't had an Aipom that I temporarily added to the team. She had Pickup and even though she was lower level that Pachirisu she collected much better items like Max Potions, Nuggets, a Dusk Stone, you get it. Plus I needed Ambipom's data. I also added a Croagunk I caught from the GU to the ranks (one of a couple, anyway, as he had the best nature and Ability), though I'm not sure if he'll stick around. I also traded one of my Scythers into another game and back while holding a Metal Coat to become a Scizor. Not sure if I should use him or not (yeah, it's a boy, as I found one with an even better nature than the female I caught before, along with having Technician). I also dug out a full collection of Plates (with a few doubles), among other items like two Skull Fossils, a full set of Weather Rocks, and a couple of Heart Scales. But after exploring the GU to the point of it being unhealthy I resumed my journey.

After exploring and catching some surface Mons I battled it out with Gardenia. Her Grass Mons were no match for Hotshot and Aero, who cleaned house easily, netting me my second badge and a shiny set of TMs. I took a quick stop at the Old Chateau, collecting the items before moving on. Now it was time to deal with Team Galactic and their terrible haircuts (though they're better than Team Flare's, anyway). After fighting my way through the grunts I faced off against Jupiter. Zubat went down without much fanfare at the hands of Hotshot but Skuntank proved to be exactly that: a tank. It took my hits with relative ease. But in the end Pride was victorious, if by the skin of her teeth. Team Galactic has been chased out of town and I got a shiny new bike. One ride down Cycling Road later and I met Dawn, receiving the VS Seeker (one of my favorite gizmos) and the Dowsing Machine. Afterward I made my way to Wayward Cave to help Mira out. After playing escort mission it was time to head to my next destination.

Made my way to Hearthome City. After collecting some things like the Odd Keystone I met mom at the contest hall. Turns out she had a secret life that I'm not aware of. After exploring a bit I entered Amity Park with Hotshot, collected the items there (and picked up a berry) it was time to move forward. However, not before Barry showed up to battle. It was an utter curb-stomp, as his team was no match for mine. In the process Pride evolved into a Luxray. After checking out the next area, catching some Mons and battling trainers (though I was a few minutes too short to fight the Joggers), Hotshot and Aero evolved, thereby completing three of my teammates.

Made my way to Solaceon Town and started doing the newspaper writer side-quest. Now do you see why I caught doubles of certain Mons? That way I can have them for when the newspaper guy asks for them so I don't have to soft reset and hope he asks for something I have. Or at least not often, as I don't have certain Mons like the other two Starters and version exclusives (that said, I do have their data thanks to some trade/tradebacks with another version that has a full living dex, just not the Mons themselves). I explored the Solaceon Ruins, catching the "F" "R" "I" "E" "N" "D" Unowns, collecting the items, and managed to evolve Aipom into Ambipom. I swapped her out and soon added one of the Buizel I caught in the GU (he had a decent nature: Naughty), especially since I knew I needed a Water Mon for later on. Managed to grind on Unown until Jet the Buizel evolved into a Floatzel, thereby adding teammate Number 4 to the ranks. I also finished any extra tasks, climbed the graveyard tower to collect Strength, and added one of the Cranidos I had revived to the squad temporarily so I can evolve him. Now I'm at the Trophy Garden to catch a Pikachu (I caught a Pichu but Pikachu has been a bit hard to find). Stopping for now because I have a busy afternoon today.

My Team:

Infernape (Hotshot, male, Lv39)
Staraptor (Aero, male, Lv37)
Luxray (Pride, female, Lv35)
Floatzel (Jet, male, Lv28)
Croagunk (male, Lv33)
Cranidos (male, Lv23)

I'm still debating on which team members I'm going to add. Scizor is tempting, especially since it can counter Psychic Mons (and most of my team has natures that lower Sp Def, so that might come in handy), but I could also use a few more Special Attackers (Hotshot and Pride are somewhat mixed attackers, though Pride leans more toward the Physical side thanks to her nature). Anyone want to make a suggestion on what I should add to my ranks? Thanks in advance. And that's all for now.

 

[CynthiaLover]

As I mentioned in the Shiny Encounters Thread I suffered some very strange data corruption recently that caused a couple of different files (and even an entire user) to be corrupted, forcing me to delete them. As a result... this game file was one of the victims of that weird problem. Not sure why it happened or why it only hit certain files but c'est la vie. So this playthrough has ceased due to an unforeseen issue. Maybe some other time I'll try again.