 |
| Gym Leader Whitney. Don't let those short shorts fool you, she's tough! |
-Sweet, Pidgey evolved into Pidgeotto! That's a great name for a Pokémon. I like that it’s similar to Pidgey but also better. It's nice when the names kind of work together with the evolution family of a Pokémon.
-A wild Rattata used Focus Energy. Isn't that kind of ridiculous? It's a tiny little mouse. How much energy does it even have to focus? Faint ya little bastard, faint!
-Aw sweet. Pidgeotto looks great following you around. He doesn't walk though, nope, this flying Pokémon is too good for walking, he flies!
-What? This random trainer has a Bulbasaur? I'm jealous. How did she get that anyway? We're not in Kanto!
-Sweet, Bulbasaur lady asked to exchange numbers and she said she'll give me random items she picks up. Thanks, Bulbasaur lady.
-I saw my first Abra in the wild. I was expecting it to teleport so I tossed a Poké Ball at it thinking it wouldn't do much but hoping for the best. Anyway, I caught it. Yeah!
-Well hello Drowzee. Man, what's with the psychic Pokémon here? It's all psychics and Rattatas. I hope they don't start to mate together. The last thing the world needs are Rattata focusing their energy and teleporting all over the place using hypnosis on everybody. *shivers*
-A Poké fan wants to test his Pokémon by battling with me. They just came out of day care he says. Silly Poke fan, you don't send Pokémon to daycare to get tough. No, you send them there to get frisky. That's why they charge by the hour! (Note: they don't. They charge by the level).
-I only have one Poké Ball left. I need to buy more. I barely have any money though. I have no idea why. It's not like I use a lot of items or anything. By the way, I found out why Heracross broke out of so many Poké Balls before I caught it. It turns out Heracross has a really low catch rate, something just above 5%. Crazy, eh? Check out more by reading this bulbapedia article.
-Oh my god, a Ditto, yes! Catch, catch, catch! Damn, another Pokémon that's difficult to catch. I don't have enough Poké Balls for this! Ok, he's in the red and he's paralyzed, come oooooon. Woohoo, I have a Ditto and it only took four Poké Balls!
-So much for training, all I'm doing is catching Pokémon. Professors Oak and Elm will be so happy.
-It's a little bit risky but I'm training Heracross by fighting Drowzees in the wild. Bug type is weak to psychic type but if Heracross can defeat one she gets much more experience as compensation. It works rather well and it becomes less risky as Heracross becomes stronger.
-I found some trainers in the hair cutting place. I'm so grateful for having a chance to train and to make some money. I only have one Poké Ball left (again).
-Man, Heracross has a good learn set. She's at level 12 and just learnt Aerial Ace. Pidgeotto doesn't even know it yet and he's at level 17! Awesome.
-Uh oh, Team Rocket is in town. I guess I'll just have to whip some ass.
-Oh goody, a quiz campaign to win a radio card? Hit me! Aw yeah, I got a radio card! All the questions are easy except for the last one which I guessed.
-I have a bicycle, wheeeeee.
-You know Heracross is fast and strong when at level 13 it can one hit KO a level 10 Abra. Heracross is the new Flaaffy.
 |
| Imagine having this thing use Pound on your over and over. Cut me some slack, ok? Miltank is strong. |
-Time to go
fight the Gym Leader of Goldenrod City. Whitney is a normal type user. I don’t
have any fighting Pokémon but I’ll be just fine.
-First fight
between Heracross and Clefairy. I’m doing well and then Whitney used a Super
Potion. Gym Leaders always use items when they’re losing. Suck it up, dudes. Clefairy
used Metronome and it “randomly” selected a psychic attack. It’s super
effective against Heracross, coincidence? I think not. A few Horn Attacks later,
Heracross defeats Clefairy.
-Whitney sends
out Miltank. I keep Heracross but after one attack I realize Miltank’s defence
is too strong so I switch to Croconaw. Problem is, Croconaw is paralyzed from
an earlier fight with one of the trainers in Whitney’s gym. Damn. I’m such a
noob, always checks Pokémon status before entering a fight with a Gym Leader. Croconaw
has good HP so I’m hoping the paralysis will wear off. It doesn’t and when his
HP gets low enough I decide to heal him of his status and heal his HP. Man,
Miltank used Attract and Croconaw isn’t attacking as well as he normally would.
Miltank also has surprising speed, well, compared to Croconaw anyway who is
pretty slow. That means he gets to attack first and she uses Stomp which makes
Croconaw flinch. This is going to be a long battle. I would switch Pokémon but
they’re all males except for Heracross. It’s not even worth it. Miltank’s HP
finally goes red and right one cue, Whitney uses a super potion, he we
go again. I’m sick and tired of getting stomped on so I send in Heracross. Heracross
fainted. I sent out Flaaffy and Thunder Shock took us to victory. Finally,
another Gym Leader defeated.
-Considering I’ve
had trouble with the last two Gym Leader battles, I’m thinking it will be
easier with the gyms coming up later on. I’m thinking this because earlier on
in the game you’re less flexible on the different types of Pokémon and moves
your Pokémon know. Before level twenty all they can do is Growl, Tackle, Bite
and Quick Attack (I’m exaggerating but you get the point). With more variety in
moves and Pokémon you can more easily adapt to the type of Pokémon the Gym
Leaders use. With bug and normal out of the way, the rest should be smooth
sailing. I can’t way to be at a gym where I can use Heracross, Croconaw and
Flaaffy to their full capabilities.
-Time to leave
Goldenrod City. Some guy gave me a Spearow with mail to give to one of his
friends. He’s at level 20. Do I get to keep him afterword? If so, I’ll give the
guy the mail, evolve Spearow and dump him in the PC.
-Wait a minute,
isn’t the weird tree up ahead? I think I need to go get a squirt bottle or
something. Oh well, next time. Coming up in PokéJournal Update 007: I go find a
squirt bottle, fight that tree and go to the next city.
*****
I have a little
frustration to share regarding Totodile’s evolution family. Croconaw has odd
and rather awful looking markings on his body that does not match up with the look
of Totodile and Feraligatr. Take a look at the picture. Totodile is a blue crocodile
or alligator (his name has its roots in crocodile but Feraligatr obviously has
his roots in alligator) that walks on its hind legs. It has red dorsal and tail
fins. He has the beginning of four fingers and a thumb on each hand and he has
a V-shaped pale yellow marking on his chest. He looks pretty awesome.
Now consider
Croconaw. Same blue colour and overall body shape but he’s bigger. That works.
The red fins are proportionally the same size but he has additional fins, or
crest in this case, on his head. That also works. Look at his tail fin though.
It’s a different and odd shape. It looks unnatural and I get the feeling it was
changed simply so that there was something different about his fin. His mouth
is shorter but he jaws look bigger and more powerful. That really works
considering his stronger attack strength and his learn set which includes moves
such as Bite, Ice Fang and Crunch. His lower jaw is also the same pale yellow
colour as Totodile’s chest markings. That also works because it adds more of
something Totodile has a little bit of, that’s a pretty common element in
Pokémon evolutions. Now here’s the problem, the additional pale yellow markings
on Croconaw look absolutely out of place. It looks like he’s wearing a caveman
print leotard. It’s like Fred Flintstone had a baby with a crocodile. It’s
completely out of place and unnecessary. It doesn’t help that it’s not a
continuation of something previously established in Totodile’s look and it’s
not an element that continues into Feraligatr’s look either.
Now take a look
at Feraligatr. His crest, dorsal fins and tail fins are all bigger which
increased in size from Croconaw. His hands and feet have sharp, pointy nails, another
increased on a previously established feature. His mouth is huge and just
different enough to give him a different look from his previous two forms which
was accomplished by shortening the nose and increasing the size of the mouth.
He also continues to share the pale yellow as the colour for his bottom jaw.
Now look at his belly, it’s the same marking Totodile had on his chest. Where
was that on Croconaw? Why does Feraligatr have a marking more closely
resembling that of his first form and completely ignores the markings his second
form had? I shouldn’t complain too much because Feraligatr’s design is much
better than that of Croconaw. I would like to add that I like that he has
longer arms with elbows. He doesn’t just fight by biting, he also fights by
hitting and scratching, etc. The protective padding additions to his arms,
knees, tail and ribs adds to the element of a very physical fighting Pokémon.
He fights so often and with such verve his body developed natural ways of
protecting himself.
Would you agree
with my assessment of the Totodile family design? Does Croconaw both fit into
and stand out of the family? He’s definitively that awkward teenage phase. He
tries new things but sticks to some old ones and when he matures and evolves into
Feraligatr he settles into something more familiar and elegant. Just to be
clear, I think the design for Croconaw works on it’s own, he only looks odd
when compared to other evolutionary forms.
Pokémon caught: Abra, Drowzee, Krabby, Ditto, and Pineco.
Pokémon traded:
None.
Gym Leader
defeated: Whitney.
Fights with
Craphat (Rival): None.
Evolutions: Pidgey
into Pidgeotto.
Pokémon in party:
Croconaw, Heracross, Pidgeotto, Flaaffy, Geodude, Spearow.
Highest level in
party: Croconaw level 23.
Lowest level in
party: Geodude level 3.
Pokédex: 32.
Time played:
11:45.
No comments:
Post a Comment