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BDSP Travelog Thread

Tood

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- Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl Travelog Thread -​

With the release of BDSP, there are undoubtedly some stories you might want to share with others!

Maybe you just beat a Gym Leader, or caught a neat Pokemon, who knows? Post updates on your adventures through Sinnoh here!

Feel free to include screenshots! :wynaut:
 
I had a very busy day so I didn't get to play much, but I did get as far as Oreburg City and I am LOVING IT. Man just the music alone makes me so happy. I smiled like an idiot when the intro music with Rowan played. I choose to play as blonde Dawn because I really just wasn't feeling the dark skinned Dawns, but I wanted something differen from the default. Right now my team consists of a Chimchar and Bidoof named Flaring and Shimmering respectively (I'm trying to to a 'shining synonyms' name theme since I've got Shining Pearl). I realized earlier that I can't get one of my planned team members as easily as I thought I would, but I've worked on a backup plan. But I'll get to that we we get to that. I went with the name Shine for my rival (again, because I'm playing Shining Pearl). The only other interesting thing of note was that I lost the very first trainer, Youngster Tristan, TWICE! I'm so embarrassed. And no, it wasn't crit related, I just kept loosing until I gained a level. :ROFLMAO:

My goal for tomorrow is to beat Roark, something which took me like a billion tries back in the orginal Pearl.
 
Started off late. I got tired of waiting for FedEx and bought a digital copy. Just reached Oreburgh City in Shining Pearl and plan to take on the Gym tomorrow. Having a blast so far. Current team consists of:

Turtwig (Slider)
Kricketune
Zubat (Desmo)
Shinx (Links)
Budew
Abra

Probably going to be shuffling this lineup around a lot.
 
Just beat Gardenia. I started the game with Chimchar, tried to beat Roark without evolving him but proved to difficult without catching a machop (didn't want one so I evolved chimchar) I spent an ungodly amount of time underground, replaced Luxio with magnemite and challenged Gardenia to an actual hard fought fight by only using Skuopi and Magnemite. Revived Cranidos and went back to mining.

Current team
Monferno
Staravia
Magnemite
Skorupi
Cranidos
(Last slot to be filled by Swinub if I can ever find him in the underground)
 
I've made it to Solaceon Town. Prior to that I caught a Gligar and Magnemite for my team. I fought and defeated Gardenia with ease before tackling Team Galactic. Sweet lordie, Jupiter is now rocking a Flamethrower Skuntank at this stage?! I was very tempted to put Magnemite into battle in hopes of paralyzing it with Thunder Wave but now I'm glad I didn't (though my Magnemite does have Sturdy so it would've survived at least one hit). But in the end I beat Jupiter and obtained a red bike. I hate to say it, but the bike mechanics are kinda wonky, as they don't really mesh well with the controls. But, anyway, I went into Wayward Cave and escorted Mira out, getting a few more levels under my belt. At this point Monferno is becoming a bit overleveled. And it turns out the Friendship/Affection mechanic gradually takes effect over time outside of the walking Pokemon gimmick, as both Monferno and Staravia were showing the signs of it during battle (shaking/hopping when first sent out).

Anyway, after reviving two Cranidos from two Skull Fossils (with one sitting in my team so I can get a Rampardos) I got to Hearthome and unlocked the walking Mon feature despite me not really caring about it. But since it'll boost Friendship/Affection faster I might as well use it. I had to get the Amulet Coin and the Volt Switch TM anyway so it simplified things. Fortunately, I had saved just prior to running into Barry. I knew I had to fight him in Hearthome but since I've been playing Platinum for so long I forgot that in DP he challenges you in Hearthome itself and not in the gate leading out like in Platinum, but I won either way. Did all the current side-quests (Lost Tower and Solaceon Ruins), I battled everyone up to the MooMoo Cafe (except the Joggers due to missing their battle timeframe) and now I'm taking a break to recharge my Switch Lite. A lot of my current party members are close to evolving due to all the Mon hunting in the Grand Underground I've done. Though I need to figure out a way to get a Razor Fang to evolve my Gligar into Gliscor before post-game, as it appears it can only be found at the Battle Area or whatnot. Anyway, my team is as followed:

Hotshot the Monferno
Hawkeye the Staravia
Slick the Gastrodon
Skyfang the Gligar
Kazap the Magnemite
Hammerhead the Cranidos (he's a temporary member until he evolves, as I want to get a Snorunt for my final team)
 
I just started BD. I chose Chimchar as my starter and have played around a bit so far I made it to Oreburgh. My team right now is very basic: Bidoof, Starly, Shinx and Budew
I promised myself I wouldn't use any of them but what can you do? It's what's available so far.
I'm trying to get a Psyduck to fight Roarke and can't wait to get to the GU
 
Started out my journey with a Chimchar who I named Garnet. I was thinking about doing a naming theme with Pokemon and doing gems, but I decided against it since my trainer name isn't gem-related, and I think I may have done that theme before. On Route 202 I caught who I think will be the next member of my team. I'm still not sure who I want the last member to be, so for now, I have Aero the Starly. Had my first rival battle with Barry outside of Jubilife and was a little started to already see the levels os high, but then the trainer battles and wild battles were lower leveled. Made my way to Oreburg City and through the mine to get Roark to go back to the Gym. Garnet ended up evolving into Monferno along the way. Ended off last night with beating Oreburg gym with surprising ease (though Garnet having Power-Up Punch and Mach Punch helped a lot) and catching my next two team members, Shelly the Shellos and Kipper the Pachirisu. Today started with a little grinding. I like my Pokemon to be around the same level, so I had to get Shelly and Kipper up quite a bit. Aero got some experience in the process too and evolved into Staravia. Then, I crushed Team Galactic and made my way up Route 205 and to Eterna Forest, where I am now venturing through with Cheryl.
 
Made it to Veilstone City. After scouring the city for any hidden items and freebees I went to the department store to pick up some Great and Ultra Balls. Then I checked out the TM counters. Sweet lordie, I have to give ILCA and GF credit here, they really made sure that TMs are nowhere near as scarce as before despite being one-time use, as the department store is PACKED with various useful TMs like U-turn, Flamethrower, Ice Beam, Dazzling Gleam, and more, along with the usual suspects like Reflect and Protect. I nearly broke myself stocking up on various TMs and teaching them to my Mons (and in some cases eliminating the need to use the Move Relearner).

Then I went to battle Maylene's gym. During one of the battles with the Karate Quads I had THREE Mons evolve at the exact same time: Monferno, Staravia, and Magnemite becoming Infernape, Staraptor, and Magneton, respectively. Now Infernape has been equipped with his final planned moveset thanks to the TMs at the department store (though I need more PP Ups to boost Close Combat to more desirable levels). Then it was time to fight Maylene herself. I totally steamrolled her thanks to Infernape, Staraptor, and Gligar to the point I actually felt a bit bad, as I like Maylene. Also Infernape and Staraptor have max Friendship/Affection, so it's time to start building up Gastrodon, Gligar, and Magnezone (yes, after I beat the gym I gained Fly and used it along with a Rare Candy to evolve Magneton into Magnezone at Mt. Coronet). I still need to figure out a way to get a Razor Fang, as I don't want to have to wait until post-game to get one.

Anyway, I beat the Team Galactic grunts and stopped to take a break. At first I thought I was overleveled but then I realized that in past Platinum playthroughs my Mons' levels were pretty much at the same place at this point in time, especially since I haven't had the need to excessively grind in these games, which makes me quite happy. Overall I'm having a lot of fun in these games. The QoL changes really helped iron out the problems the original Gen 4 games had, making this playthrough more enjoyable. Now I just need to find a way to evolve Gligar and obtain a Snorunt and my team will be pretty much set.
 
Just defeated Gardenia; she was pretty tough and took out half my team and it probably would have been worse if Desmo hadn't Plucked Roserade's Sitrus Berry. Also visited the Grand Underground, where I caught an Absol and a Houndoom. Now going with a 7-'Mon rotation:
Luxio (Leona)
Buizel (Mink)
Meditite (Shiva)
Misdreavus (Wraith)
Houndoom (Devil Dog)
Grotle (Slider)
Zubat (Desmo)
 
I reached Veilstone today, put on the Platinum outfit, then took a break from the main campaign to explore the Underground, catching a few Pokemon down there. This is my party at the moment:

Turtwig (Arcadia)
Staravia (Chip)
Luxray (Rory)
Floatzel (Ebb)
Stunky (Whiff)
Murkrow (Hattie)

I've been umming and ahing about whether to evolve Turtwig. I love Grotle and Torterra, but Turtwig has a faster walking animation and can keep up with the player character more easily. (I evolved it as a test, without saving the game, to compare walking speeds.)
 
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I have six badges right now. On my way north. There were several battles that were a challenge. I got walled numerous times. Maylene is notable in this regard as I lost to her more times than the other Gym Leaders. Crasher Wake literally was a team effort, as it took my entire team to win.
My team is:
Empoleon
Crobat
Roserade
Houndoom
Mr. Mime
Golem
 
Unfortunately I was so busy today that I STILL didn't get to Roark, but I defeated his gym trainers and grinded by party of 2 to level 13. I'll definitely be taking him on tomorrow. I was shocked to see Chimchar gets Power Up Punch now. Had I known that I wouldn't have wasted a Rock Smash TM on it, though I suppose I won't be needing it after this battle. I did teach it to Bidoof because my strategy of just spamming Rollout wasn't working. :annoyedVoltorb:
 
Progress has been kind of slow for me for this game so far, lower than it has been for games that have been released in the previous years, which is weird because I've put almost 8 hours into the game so far, and I just beat the second gym.

I made it to the end of Eterna Forest with Cheryl, she really wasn't any help in those double battles, and then I met the old man who gives you the explorer kit you use to go underground. Those Pokemon Hideaways are really cool, I spent a couple of hours just walking around and exploring them today, not to mention I made a couple of good catches in them. I caught a Swablu and an Absol, both of whom I'm considering making permanent members of my team. I think the Absol, Saber, is going to stick around, and I really want to keep the Swablu, Melody, because I've never used Alaria before, but it just takes so long to get her leveled up. Maybe it will be okay once she's on par with everyone else on the team. I'm keeping Aero (Staravia) on the team for now, especially since Maylene is coming up next and Melody doesn't know any Flying-type moves. After training Melody and Saber up I took on Gardenia. Garnet took care of her with no problem at all, so I went to challenge Team Galactic again and got a bike in return, and am now making my way through Cycling Road.

Hoping to make a little extra progress tomorrow, but I've been itching to write these past several days, and I probably won't have the energy to on Monday and Tuesday after work so I'm going to prioritize writing tomorrow. Knowing me though I'll probably end up not writing anything and playing Pokemon and/or Animal Crossing.
 
Made it to Pastoria City. I spent a lot of time leveling Cranidos up into a Rampardos before boxing him and started to work on a Bunneary I was previously trying to evolve, eventually getting a Loppunny while out and about. Then it was time to face Crasher Wake. To be honest, because I played Platinum so many times I didn't know that Barry only battles you after beating Wake and chasing the Team Galactic Grunt, as I'm so used to him challenging you before you battle Wake in Platinum. Anyway, I totally washed out Wake with just Hotshot's Grass Knot and Kazap's Volt Switch, though his Gyarados and Floatzel did get a shot in each before going down due to their higher Speed over Kazap.

Then I entered the dreaded Great Marsh. Thanks to the new controls and grass mechanics you can't cheese the Great Marsh tiles by standing still and gently tapping the directional buttons in different ways to trigger a battle like in Gen 4. So I had to do it the old fashioned way. I only managed to catch a Quagsire, Wooper, and Croagunk before running out of time. Dammit, they also reinstated the step limit. As if the Great Marsh wasn't a pain in the chassis to begin with. I chased after the Galactic Grunt, battled Barry, and got the Secret Potion from Cynthia. I then went through the rainy route back to Hearthome City. If memory serves I have to go to Celestic Town first before battling Fantina as, again, I've mostly played Platinum, thus I forgotten how it goes in the original DP games.

Slick the Gastrodon finally now has max Friendship/Affection, so I'm now working on Skyfang the Gligar, although judging by his entry animation he's nearly at max Friendship/Affection already, so he won't take long. I stopped by Mr. Backlot's mansion, picked up the Soothe Bell (wish I had it sooner to speed up Bunneary's evolution) and caught a Pichu and Pikachu for dex data. I also spent a short amount of time in the Grand Underground again to catch another Shinx so I can get an easy Luxray (as the Shinx I caught was Level 31 so I just needed to pop two Rare Candies into it, one at a time, to get it to evolve into Luxio and then Luxray). While I was down there I picked up a few more items in the Grand Underground that I hadn't gotten yet. I also battled the Joggers that I had missed yesterday due to missing their battle timeframe, which leaves the Police Officers, but they're a nighttime battle so that'll have to come later. So it's off to Celestic Town next.
 
Beat Cynthia with this team:
Toterra (Phastos)
Honchkrow (Kingpin)
Staraptor (Windy)
Houndoom (Hellbender)
Luxray (T’Challa)
Azumarill (Pool)

Milotic was a pain in the ass though. Lol.
 
I'm at Solaceon Town as of this post (mainly thanks to the Shinx Community Day in GO, as well as also playing Animal Crossing New Horizons) and currently working on catching the Unown. While it's mainly for trades in HOME once BDSP can connect with it, I'm a collector, and a completest, and I'm determined to fill the Pokédex as much as possible before I face Cynthia.

All my Pokémon in the main team are nicknamed. Much like how I mainly gave my LGE Spanish nicknames, I'm using German names for my BD team, although I'm having trouble finding a meaningful name for my Pachirisu.

Current team:

Monferno ♀ (Gertrude)
Shellos ♂ (Siegfried - West Sea)
Pachirisu ♂ (nickname undecided)

PS: I never really intended to have Pachirisu in my main party, but I got attached to him. The last single-stage Pokémon in my main team was back in OR with Absol. I also got lucky with my starter Chimchar being female.
 
Right now I'm goofing off just before I head to Celestic Town. My current team is:
  • Torterra ♂
  • Gastrodon ♂
  • Clefable ♀
  • Pikachu ♀
  • Bastiodon ♀
I had a Bronzong with me as part of my original team plan for a while, but it had a pretty hindering Nature and couldn't keep up with the rest of the party, so it's been put in a box for now, and Bastiodon took its place. I haven't decided on the last spot yet, since encountering Spiritomb is proving more difficult than I thought, but I probably won't really need a full party for a while anyway. For now I have a Pachirisu filling the last slot so I can get some sweet Pickup items.

I recently got some Leftovers from a wild Munchlax, which was nice for Torterra since it has Wood Hammer. All I'm doing now is trying to get everybody to about the same level (Pikachu and Bastiodon are a bit behind due to being late additions), digging for items in the GU, and trying to get a Light Ball for Pikachu every now and then as well. ...I'm also wasting time polishing my badges.

My play time is at 29:33, I have four badges, and my Pokédex progress is currently at 86!
 
Finally, I got to make some progress today. I beat Roark rather easily. It was pretty much a sweep with Power Up Punch from Flaring (Chimchar) and he evolved into Monferno after the battle. There was a bit of a level gap between him and Shimmering (Bidoof) and I prefer for my party to always be at the same level so I put Flaring in the PC for a bit and I did a lot of grinding with Shimmering. She evolved into Bibarel soon after. I handled the Team Galactic Stuff in Floraroma Town and caught my newest team member, a Pachirisu named Sparkling. Thanks to the shared EXP system, I was able to just let her chill in the back while Shimmering and Flaring battled the trainers up to Etrna Forest to get her some levels.

Next mission will be heading through Eterna Forest and getting to Eterna City.
 
It's been an eventful day so far. Both Mink and Leona evolved, and I defeated Maylene with a little bit of trouble - her Lucario got one-shot Wraith, and Shiva delivered the knockout punch with only 7 HP. Also gained access to Fly. Might adventure a little more before giving Super Contests a try.
 
I made some slight progress since this morning. I defeated Fantina (that terrible DP gym layout, ouch), made a brief detour for Fuego Ironworks, and then made my way to Canalave. I haven't done much of anything there yet besides the battle with Barry, but I'll get to it soon enough.

Everyone on the team is now in the level 50-52 range. A little bit overleveled for where I'm at right now, but you can blame the GU for that, and I probably won't need to do any grinding for a while. Pikachu is still Light Ball-less but it's doing okay as it is. I think everybody also has their finalized movesets now, just except for Bastiodon whom I'm still trying to figure out.

35:52 playtime, five badges, 104 Pokémon seen!
 
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