ORAS Trainer Travelog

[Gard81]

Finally reached the Battle Resort. Got my Rayquaza rated by the Judge. 30/31/31/x/31/31. Add that to a Jolly nature and I can consider myself one lucky Trainer. So far Hoenn has been generous when giving me Legendaries.

 

[Muur]

Started and completed the trick house, trained up Anorith to be equal to his team mates, is now ready for the 5th gym. A little too ready based on the level list of Norman.

Anorith LV30
Swellow LV30
Manectric LV31
Metang LV31
Marshtomp LV31
Grovyle LV32

23 hours

106 seen, 66 caught.

 

[Almonds]

Entered the Hall of Fame for the fourth time because I was running low on money and didn't have enough Dusk Balls/Ultra Balls

Caught Kyurem, Entei, and Regigigas. I had to use a Youtube vid to solve the Regis puzzles. I did try decoding some of the Braille for fun later.

 

[Fairy Ice Ricky]

I've done quite a lot since my last update, but I'm still nowhere near completing the game. I'm having way too much fun getting sidetracked by things like BuzzNav, of all things. I also took some time to decorate my Super Secret Base. It looks much better now compared to before when I did basically nothing to it. I'm also upping my flag-capturing game so that I can eventually reach the Platinum rank. Right now I'm only at ~50 flags, but it's better than nothing, I guess.

Story-wise I recently went through Magma Hideout and saw Maxie and Tabitha leave for the Seafloor Cavern. Of course Courtney was there to stall time while the other two escaped. She is such a weird character and I'm not a fan of her at all. Meanwhile Maxie and Tabitha thought it was a good idea to base the design of a submarine on a Fire/Ground-type Pokémon 'cause that totally makes sense.

Perhaps the saddest part of the game for me so far was seeing the Trick Master give his final goodbye as I surpassed his greatness... At least, it would've ben the saddest part of the game if that last puxxle wasn't so damn-awful annoying. Any love that I had for the Trick House quickly went away with that last puzzle.

Team-wise, I still don't have a concrete idea of who I want on my team permanently... which is why I'm currently rotating through nine Pokémon! I'm only keeping Linoone for field moves/its Pickup Ability, but otherwise I enjoy using these Pokémon too much to reduce the team only to six for the Pokémon League. This is going to be a pretty tough decision...

I'm currently at Lilycove City getting ready to surf to Eastern Hoenn, but I may take a detour and check out some other places first. (I noticed that I never checked out the routes between Petalburg and Slateport yet, and I liked doing the New Mauville mission at around this time in the original Gen III games, so I may do those things first.)

Current Team:
Breloom - Lvl. 48
Manectric - Lvl. 48
Latios - Lvl. 48
Roselia - Lvl. 49
Gardevoir - Lvl. 49
Swampert - Lvl. 49
Shiftry - Lvl. 49
Altaria - Lvl. 49
Linoone - Lvl. 54

 

[Alpha Sapphire May]

Went exploring over the weekend before I took my trip to Ever Grande City which is where I am now. Here's some of the stuff I did:

- I went to Meteor Falls to capture some Pokemon and battle against some of the trainers there. Nothing special, but it was quite a nice place to explore for a little bit.

- I gained access to the Mauville apartments via Wattson, and took on the New Mauville sidequest. New Mauville seems to be much smaller than I anticipated... Nonetheless, I spent quite some time in there battling and capturing Voltorb and Magnemite, while looking through every inch of the area. I also made sure to read the descriptions for each person's apartment in Mauville and ring every doorbell.

- I've been collecting flags daily, leading to a total of around 150 flags. A lot of the designs lately look really cool, but mine looks really simple and empty... I'm still looking for the ideal structure and location for my base anyways. It's also been a nice way to fully utilize soaring as I visit nearly every route.

- I finally ended up in Victory Road where I have recently saved. I lost here once, due to Vito's Swalot (who took a long time to take out) taking out my Blaziken when I had only two members left. This road is tough without healing, since there are so many good trainers here and my team keeps getting their health chipped away slowly. Hopefully I'll make it through this time. I can't wait to battle Steven and the rest of the Elite Four.

- My team: Level 50 Aggron, Level 51 Skitty, Level 52 Swellow and Altaria, Level 53 Beautifly, Level 54 Blaziken.

 

[Blazing Charmander]

I've covered a huge amount on Omega Ruby since my update last Monday, progressing from Lilycove City on that day all the way to conquering the Elite 4 and Champion last night. In between I was amazed by how well done the climax of the Team Magma/Aqua plot is in the remakes and I will admit to feeling a little emotional whilst watching the cutscene following Groudon's capture. I was also overawed by the cutscene showing the protagonist friggin' riding Groudon en route to the energy source that it craved for Primal Reversion. The battle itself was every bit as titanic as it should be given what I found myself up against. Mega Swampert was no match at all for Primal Groudon and its fearsome Precipice Blades attack, and from there onwards each of my team members got quickly wiped out until I was left with my last - Slugma. At that point I had no choice but to use my Master Ball on the behemoth; fair play Groudon, fair play.

Having avoided spoilers by and large since the games' actual release, I was shocked to find that receiving the Eon Flute would give me immediate access to National Dex Pokemon, including legendaries. Speaking of legendary Pokemon, I also gained an Eon Ticket for catching Latias before reaching Lilycove, thanks to taking my 3DS to a busy area with Streetpass enabled. Onix and Tynamo were my first Mirage Spot encounters, and following that I returned to Littleroot Town to collect the Mega Stone that my eagle eyes spotted in the prior cutscene. Luckily I decided to visit Professor Birch as well, who kindly upgraded my Pokedex to National Dex mode. Wallace would later inform me about this anyway, had I not realised.

After the huge distraction of Mirage Spots and Soaring, I got back to the main objective which was to earn my final badge and get through Victory Road in EverGrande City. Upon achieving this I once again set upon catching more Legendaries including Ho-Oh, which knocked itself out with Struggle on two occasions and wiped me out on another before I could catch it. I then challenged the Elite 4 who, Drake's Salamence apart, I defeated with relative ease before reaching Steven. His Mega Metagross overwhelmed me the first time I challenged him (with my decision to Mega evolve Swampert backfiring), and it almost threatened to do so the second time. Luckily my shiny Metagross held out to clinch victory with a series of Hammer Arm attacks while his rested from Giga Impact. I may have won more comfortably if I had realised I should've Mega evolved my Manectric to activate its Intimidate after his Metagross itself had Mega evolved and lost its Clear Body ability. After finally defeating Steven I sat back in awe of the ending and enjoyed the touch of my journey unfolding again as a credits sequence. Now I move onto the Delta Episode.

Team:
Swampert (w/Swampertite)
Metagross (Shiny w/Metagrossite)
Swellow
Breloom
Manectric (w/Manectite)
Magcargo

 

[Team Gaara]

With 501 flags, my Secret Base has reached Gold Rank!~ Just 499 more to go...

If they pull some BS and say there's some higher rank after Platinum...

 

[Muur]

Won the toughness master rank, defeated Norman, discovered going to Sea Mauville was pointless and went to what me and my brother refer to as 'secret base island' to create my base where I wanted it after getting surf.

Grovyle, Marshtomp, Swellow, Electrike - LV34, Anorith, Metang LV33

27 hours

111 seen, 67 caught

 

[Alpha Sapphire May]

I put stuff in spoiler tags since there is a ton of things to talk about now that I am nearing the end. I also couldn't post yesterday so there's that too.

Yesterday

Spoiler

I meant to post this yesterday but a blackout happened in my area shutting down the internet. At least I got to battle the Elite Four in the darkness with only a flashlight. That feeling was pretty epic; it's like an adventure within an adventure. Anyways, here's my log:

- Started off in Victory Road and was able to finish what I started. There wasn't much left to the path, but it was interesting enough. Especially interesting was the battle at the end with Wally. Now I know what everyone is talking about when his theme comes up; it's just so amazing, even with the high expectations I had for him and his theme (all of the (battle) themes in ORAS seem so good in my opinion). My team was half fainted by the time I faced him, and I lost even more members as the battle raged on, but in the end, my Blaziken, Swellow and Altaria pulled through (with one mirror match at the beginning). I can't believe I'm saying this but I love Wally even more now (he was definitely one of my favorite characters in RSE).

- It seems like I forgot a couple things to do in Hoenn (so many side quests in ORAS and I absolutely love it) so before battling the Elite Four, I went to do some of those things. This includes the Trick House, which began at the Rock Smash room (so the trainers there were a bit weak). While that room was particularly easy the same couldn't be said for the next few rooms. I couldn't answer the robots's questions perfectly in several tries, as some of the questions really threw me off. I had to reset the Strength puzzle so many times as I didn't exactly know what I was doing, and the arrow puzzle kept me guessing (and failing). These puzzles seemed even harder than their gym counterparts… Nonetheless, I enjoyed partaking in the Trick Master's shenanigans and it felt like a key part of my ORAS experience.

- I went back to Ever Grande City to take on the Elite Four challenge, and I must say it's been quite difficult so far. Back in RSE I thought that these bosses were hard, now ORAS takes it to a new level. There seem to be no more NFE's (except Dusclops, whom I presume holds an Eviolite due to all that bulk) and despite all of the repeats, they seem to play somewhat differently (at least for Phoebe). My first run ended up badly due to losing some team members early to Sidney (Skitty), then Phoebe (Aggron) leaving me easy prey for Glacia who would faint my Blaziken with Surf (I thought Brick Break would KO) and the rest of my team with Blizzard. I tried again immediately after, but while I was smarter about saving some of my Pokemon for defeating Glacia this time around, Drake would just destroy what was left (though I did leave an impression on him by sweeping two of his Pokemon with a Dragon Dance and Dragon Claw from Altaria, but Intimidate stopped me).

- After my loss, I went to do some special training in the Secret Bases. I first went back to the Ho-oh base (my first base!) and while his Pokemon were of higher level this time, I was still able to easily defeat him. I also found some trainers with Mega Evolutions (Latias, Metagross, Alakazam) and Metagross nearly swept my team (hopefully not a sign of things to come). I also went to capture some new Pokemon with the DexNav (Sawk, Tyrogue, Gible, Sandile, Ponyta, Dwebble), and fix some issues with my team's moves (like Acrobatics for Beautifly, Return for Swellow).

- Went for my next battle with the Elite Four and I still couldn't stop them. Drake finished me off once again with his Salamence after my team was already severely wounded. I'm getting close but I'm just not there yet. Fighting battle after battle against evenly matched teams really messes my Pokemon up badly.

- After that, I went to the skies with Latias and soared to think about how I should approach my next match. The night sky is a nice backdrop for some thinking and the natural beauty of Hoenn only enhances it. I went back home to talk to mom and Professor Birch to feel right at home again. It's also really nice that the BuzzNav features your parents cheering you on until the very end; it gave me some more confidence that I could defeat the Elite Four eventually. Finally at the end of the day, I went back to TV Mauville to save it (it has really developed to become one of my favorite spots to spend time in ever since I discovered it). I still remember when I first found that spot one or two weeks ago, and it brought back memories on how the journey was back then.

- My team: Level 53 Aggron; Level 54 Skitty; Level 55 Beautifly & Swellow; Level 57 Altaria; Level 59 Blaziken

Today

Spoiler

- I tried another 6 times but still, I have not defeated all of them yet. The first time Glacia swept me after my Blaziken failed to KO Walrein and the second, Drake's Salamence out-sped Blaziken and took out the rest of my wounded team. Steven Stone was the one to finish me off the last four times. At first I didn't know how his team functioned so while I tried figure it out, he took down what was left of my team. I didn't quite see all of his team so the second time the newer members of his team finished me off. For the last two, His Mega Metagross was the only one left and while my Blaziken got a good hit on the Iron Leg Pokemon, (one time even leaving it in the red), my last team member (either Skitty or Swellow) were either too slow or not used to fighting Steel types and I ended up losing.

- It seems like I have a good idea on how to defeat them now: I can sweep Sidney with Beautifly, Glacia with Blaziken, and Drake with Altaria with a bit of set-up, with only Phoebe giving me trouble, mostly due to her lead Dusclops confusing and cursing everything. That being said though, the battle with Steven is still rough (at least he's as powerful as a Champion should be).

- I'l be trying again later tonight and I will edit if I end up with any new results.

 

[Mitchman]

Currently having a blast with the game. Just defeated Winona, but just barely. My team is not a gym sweeping monster, but I am playing with new mon and ezperimenting a lot. Is it me or is the trapinch encounter lower? Took me awhile to catch one and even more time to chain for a great one. Overcame it though, and I got great results. Currently running with:
Swampert@Swampertite, Level 38
Skarmory Level 37
Breloom Level 38
Vibrava Level 37

As you can see I am at the proper levels, but as I said the types are weird. Cant think of the last two pokemon, but am considering Glalie, solrock or some other Hoenn mon. Any ideas?

 

[Alpha Sapphire May]

Finally finished the game today, the Elite Four and Steven gave me the best challenge in-game I've ever had. Mostly because of my rule about healing, but even then, they seemed to be even better than their RSE counterparts who caused me trouble even with items and legends (I was naive back then though). Just a small warning, what I have written here is long so if you don't want to spend a lot of time reading my post, that is fine by me. I've separated it into sections so pick the one you want to read if you like.

Spoiler

Elite Four + Credits + Final thoughts

Spoiler

- Went through with my routine against the Elite Four and swept Sidney, Glacia and Drake as usual, with some damage to my Beautifly, and Altaria. Phoebe gave me her usual troublesome battle, but this time, I was able to destroy the Dusclops in one turn (due to it fainting itself with Curse so it caused some damage to my Beautifly before it left). I had to watch out for Sableye though as it had Power Gem, so I switched to Skitty to take it down as well as half of Banette's life before losing Skitty. Beautifly went on to win the match after a Quiver Dance (it failed to one-hit-ko Dusknoir, but it came close enough that I could use Giga Drain + Shadow Ball for the finish after a Full Restore from Phoebe; still took a Fire Punch in the face though).

- Steven Battle inside here (warning: long and descriptive):

Spoiler

- Steven once again proved himself to be the ultimate final battle (which is one of the reasons why he's my favorite champion). My Aggron was at the front and while his Skarmory could do nothing in terms of attacking (as Steel Wing did around 20 damage each time) it would set up a full set of Spikes, which actually turned out to be a futile attempt since all of my switch-ins during the battle were Flying-type except for Aggron whom I would have lost due to an accident later anyway. He would send out his own Aggron, which I knew would Earthquake, so I switched into my Altaria for it's own Earthquake later. She would fall, since she failed to KO, but my Aggron would come back and take the KO with Surf (for some reason Steven didn't use a Full Restore despite being in the red; he used one on Skarmory before but still…). Claydol would come out and here I thought Aggron would outspeed and dish out some damage with Surf but instead Claydol would bring out Earth Power and KO (I should have switched).

I sent out my Beautifly as I knew that Claydol had no answers to her as last time it would just keep using weak Extrasensories on her. Unfortunately she was burned due to a previous battle with Phoebe and I had to be really careful here; I knew that if I didn't set up enough Quiver Dances here, I would lose later. My first Quiver Dance goes through but Claydol uses Light Screen which isn't good since I need the KO on Metagross, Cradily and Armaldo. 2 more and then a forced (due to low HP) Giga Drain KOs Claydol with a crit. He sends out Cradily for some reason and I know that an Ancient Power will be the end of my team so I go for the KO with Bug Buzz. Light Screen wears off sometime around here and I know I can KO Armaldo due to the 3 boosts I had.

Finally Metagross comes in. This monster managed to cause me problems the last couple of time so I knew that Beautifly had to get some damage in or I would lose. I only had Blaziken and Swellow by this point and I knew that despite having two of them, I would not be able to finish it off with just them from a previous match. Beautifly only had 47 HP left so if I failed to outspeed, I would definitely lose, but then and there, I remembered something: Metagross had Bullet Punch. It was how Steven finished me off last time and I knew that if he pulled it out and KOed, I would have to start all over again. I clicked Shadow ball cautiously and waited for the results. I saw Beautifly's name show up and I cheered; even if I didn't KO, though I actually would, Blaziken and Swellow would be there to finish the job.(the AI must have calculated using regular Metagross's stats here as I'm pretty sure Mega Metagross would KO) I love my Beautifly so much now (It took on 2 Elite Four members and a Champion; how can I not love that?).

- After a fierce battle (still shaking bit and in awe), I sat back and enjoyed Steven's speech and Brendan's entrance. I miss seeing this little dialogue between the characters as I remember back when I played Sapphire and Emerald, I would always go grind here at the Elite Four; this being my favorite part since it was usually May who came in (and she was my favorite character and rival, especially since she was quite the challenge back then and I loved her good-hearted personality). I love how true this part is to the original, even if it has some changes. Anyways, I left poor Brendan behind, registered alongside my favorite champion and watched the credits scene.

- Can I say how much I love the new credits scenes? It was one of the few that could make me cry a bit (the other being BW2, and the song at the end of the credits in another [I think its RSE or it could be BW2 again]) and its just amazing. It keeps all of the best parts of the original games's credits scene (biking with Brendan) and adds all of my memories in Hoenn to it. Not just generic memories, mine and mine alone (exaggerating a bit but still…). It shows all of the match ups with the gym leaders's primary Pokemon and it just felt good reliving those special, one-time moments I had with my partners (I also found it funny how it showed my Altaria mirror match with Winona). It seems every one of my teammates got a chance to express themselves in the credits, whether it'd be with their pre evolution or with what they are now, so it seems I have good balance. It also reminded me of the characters I've fought against and met from Archie to Wally etc. and all of the fun times I've had meeting and battling with them. Anyways, I love the little flashbacks they gave me and it only got even better when the cutscene with Brendan initiated (I took him on easily with my lead Aggron and Altaria, with Mega Swapmert being a nice surprise to the battle; I know it wasn't supposed to be difficult, just nostalgic in a way) Onwards to the Delta Episode, meeting Zinnia, Rayquaza and Deoxys, and some battles on Battle Spot and the Maison (hopefully I'll get more trophies than I did in XY, but those rotation and multi battles are difficult.)

- It seems that no journey has held a better place in my heart and I absolutely love these games because of it. This is one I will never forget; I will hold it with me until the day I pass away. Game Freak has given me the game I wanted (since HGSS were announced) and now I think I can go on to live a better optimistic life (which is how games should make players feel at least in my opinion). Also, I don't know how I'll be able to enjoy a game after this one, but I'm sure I'll find a way. Game Freak does know how to keep us busy anyhow. I hope you've enjoyed reading about my Alpha Sapphire journey in the ORAS travelog section of the forums (if anyone ever read it) and I look forward to the adventures ahead. Thanks for reading my logs fellow Pokemon Trainers!

Suppose I should also add these rules for future reference. After all, it is pretty much over now and I'll probably need it later, so that I can find out partially what made my play through fun (mostly due to ORAS being amazing games in general but this certainly helped as I wasn't sweeping everything with say a level 100 Blaziken)

Summary of Rules I set for myself on this journey:

Spoiler

- Heal only when first visiting or upon forced revisits to the town. I was a bit lenient here, but for the most part this means once I'm in a dungeon like a Gym or the Seafloor Cavern, I can't just go back and heal. This also applies to routes and strings of routes connected together as well.
- Capture most of the Pokemon in the area. This was more of a traditional piece I use for the sake of making the in game longer even if I do have a full living dex. Nonetheless, if I ever got frustrated, which was rare thanks to DexNav, I would leave and go on.
- No Items allowed. Now I used some held items but they often didn't help much anyway. I mostly just wanted to use the cool items I got from DexNaving wild Pokemon with held items. I also used Potions early on, but that was before I made the rule.
- Exp. Share off. This one is self explanatory; I turned it off as soon as I got it. Judging by my X version, in which I was able to rotate more than 10 Pokemon for my party and I was still over leveled, I knew I didn't want to use this item.
- Train a team of 6. This one was also simple for me since I almost always go for a team of 6, unless its a quick run-through just for legends for example. It also forced me to balance out the usage of each of my Pokemon so I got to use each and every one of them equally without giving one all of the experience points.
- Visit every route before reaching the Elite Four, preferably after they become accessible. This one I had to go off of my memory of RSE and the places I visited as I can't remember to go to all of them. This excludes the Regi chambers since I try to keep legends after the game ends since I spend a lot of time SRing for them.

These are just some of the rules I made to make the game more immersive, enjoyable, and difficult. I'm sure there's more but I can't remember all of them. This is the first time I've made such concrete and exciting rules and it felt great.

Final Team:

Spoiler

Level 56 Aggron w/ no item; Rock Slide, Rock Smash, Iron Head, Surf
Level 57 Skitty w/ Eviolite; Helping Hand, Ice Beam, Assist, Play Rough
Level 65 Blaziken w/ Wide Lens Rock Slide, Strength, Blaze Kick, Sky Uppercut (note: used to hold Charcoal)
Level 67 Altaria w/ no item; Earthquake, Dragon Dance, Fly, Dragon Claw
Level 57 Swellow w/ Bright Power; Brave Bird, Steel Wing, Return, Aerial Ace
Level 64 Beautifly w/ no item Bug Buzz, Giga Drain, Quiver Dance, Shadow Ball (note: used to hold Bright Powder)

Final Play Time:

Spoiler

45 hours, 26 minutes Or around 25 days (since release)

This is definitely longer than any Pokemon game I've played so far. On average, any Pokemon game takes me 20 hours or less (which includes even HGSS's entire 2nd region quest) so I can say that I'm pretty happy with the results here. The pacing for the battles seems also much faster than any other generation so most of this was sheer gameplay. ORAS seems to have the best in-game experience in my opinion. Unfortunately, much of the game can be skipped (for example you don't need to explore the waters near Dewford, but I certainly did), so the experience probably varies from person to person. I also took my time in playing the games so there's that as well; but I certainly did not spend 20 hours in doing so, so even still, it seems ORAS is filled with tons of content. No Pokemon game (and very few other games) actually offer this much content while also having a great post game (which I haven't played yet, but in general, the later Pokemon games in a generation always deliver when it comes to post game).

Might post more about ORAS in general in a blog later if I find the time. I'll also be starting up my Omega Ruby version very soon (but I probably won't post as much about it given that it is my second play though of the games).

 

[Almonds]

Attempted another go at the Battle Maison Supers, this time Multi with Wally.

We lost at the 25th streak :/ Poor Wally thinks it is his fault ;_;

 

[Sakuraa]

I finally won every Master Rank Contest and got the Contest Star Ribbon with an adorable Bunnelby I traded over today from my X file named Atlas. Tough and cool were probably the easiest with access to awesome moves like Agility, Quick Attack, Brick Break, Mudshot, Take Down, and Tackle. Beauty was definitely the hardest since Bunnelby can only learn 3 beauty moves and I only had access to 2 of them. Not that there was much to worry about with all of his stats being maxed out anyway.

My next plans are to raise 5 Furfrou (each to don a different trim) with different movesets to star in one of each contest category.

 

[Ebail]

Tried to go against the Super Multi Challenge in the Battle Maison. Got 38 wins with Steven before three of our Pokemon (my Salamence, his Aerodactyl and Metagross. My other Pokemon was a Gardevoir) were knocked out by a Life Orb holding Skuntank using Foul Play.

 

[Muur]

Beat Winona

Swampert, Sceptile, Swellow, Anorith, Metang, Manetric - LV38

31 hours.

 

[Almonds]

Got to the 39th streak with Steven at the Battle Maison. Even with an odd team (Lopunny, Umbreon, Aerodactyl, Metagross) we were doing really well. Unfortunately, we met a Drapion that could have been dealt with if Steven had just Meteor Mashed it instead of going for the poisoned Rampardos in the red :/ The Drapion swept the rest of us with Night Slash and Cross Poison.

One of those moments when I hate AI.

 

[Steel_Justice]

Finished setting up my secret base. 2 floor layout, easy to get to and with a nice comfy bed. My home away from home/supervillain lair.

 

[Muur]

Arrived at Lilycove, defeated May, won the master rank for Cool.

Manetric, LV38
Metang, Sceptile, Swellow, Anorith - LV39
Swampert LV40

Seen- 131
Caught- 82

Hours- 33

 

[Pinball Wizard]

Working on developing a team for the Elite 4. Right now I've got Mightyena, Braviary and Azumarill as candidates.

 

[Almonds]

Lost at the 33rd battle with Steven. Aurgh, Battle Maison, why do you have to be so HAX? I swear the 33rd battle was just made to kill off my team - an Armaldo outsped the Mega Kangaskhan I borrowed from a friend and then proceeded to kill my Hydreigon. And then there's the Electric Eel that's not even fully evolved, equipped with Flamethrower to finish off Steven's Metagross... ;_;