Like with the first entry, I want to warn you that I will be spoiling this game, and I recommend playing it yourself first. You can find the link to download it in the game's wiki right here. Okay, with that out of the way, let's do this.
Last time, we started our adventure here in the region in an unusual manner for Pokémon games: In the middle of a terrorist attack by Team Olympus. After the player obtained a starter Pokémon (Magby), we were on our way. We stopped off at Zarivar Town, did a fetch quest, got a Horsea (another one of the game starters), and then checked out Nagarex Forest, where the collecting of Pokémon started. Gotta catch 'em all, after all. Finally, we arrived at Superior City.
Superior City is a bigger city than Zarivar Town. It has an actual Poké Mart, and a Pokémon Center. It's a pretty little city. It's also the first city in the game to have a Gym. Finally, there is this really neat landmark here.
According to the old man with a Cubone, a legendary Pokémon with rainbow wings died there a long time ago. Hmm, a legendary Pokémon with rainbow wings. Gee, I wonder what Pokémon he possibly could mean?
In front of the Pokémon Center in town, there's a chef who has a Munchlax that he wants to get rid. Considering how much they eat, and what they can evolve into, I don't blame him. Thing is, he wants a Beedrill in exchange.
I think he wants the Beedrill because he regularly uses honey in his recipes. I know it's possible to catch wild Beedrills in Nagarex Forest, but they're hard to come by. Only a 1% encounter rate. Man, I love playing a fangame that actually has an informative wiki. Speaking of Nagarex, remember the shrine there? Well, there's a man nearby that teaches Pokémon the Headbutt attack.
I decided to go back and visit him. On the way, I got into a wild double battle with a Paras and a Pineco. Pineco is a rare encounter here, so I HAD to catch it. Vulcan easily fried the Paras. Pineco's Protect attack was annoying, but Katie was able to damage it. Vulcan's Flame Body ability managed to burn it. I used my Dusk Ball to catch it (I was playing at night here, so it was more effective then). Welcome to my collection, Pineco.
Upon talking to him, he freaked out a little bit, screaming that he didn't want to be found. Why is he so worried about that? Is he some kind of criminal on the run? Anyway, he offers to teach a Pokémon of mine Headbutt. I agreed, and he taught it to my Rattata. I'll have to headbutt some trees here later. You can get certain Pokémon from headbutting trees.
With that done, I decided to explore Superior City some more. The Gym here in town specializes in Fighting-type Pokémon. That's a twist. You see, in the original Red and Blue, your starter Pokémon's effectiveness against the first two Gyms were sort of a difficulty meter for the game. The first two Gyms in the game specialized in Rock and Water-type Pokémon. Bulbasaur was great against those two Gyms, so it was the Easy mode. Squirtle was good against the Rock-type, but not much against the Water-type Gym, so it was Medium. And Charmander was no good against either, so it was the Hard mode.
Superior City does have two entrances to some places, but they are blocked off. The entrance to Route 302 is blocked off thanks to some joker somehow placing a big rock in front of the entrance!
How did that even GET there? Did a Pokémon do it? We'll need an HM called Strength to move it. Yeah, Hidden Machines. I've grown to hate these things. There is a guy selling one, but it's...very expensive. Prohibitedly expensive. Hoo boy. There's also an entrance to a place called the Wonder Cave in this town, but it's also blocked off by a police officer.
Yeah, an actual police officer. It's a surprise to me, too. The officer explains that someone called the Legend Researcher is working in the cave, and does not want to be disturbed. That's fine, I gotta prepare for the next gym, anyway. There's a building in front of the Gym that I'm assuming is his lab.
The man in front of the door asks me to go into the cave and find the Legend Researcher. He went in there with a man named Devon. Who is Devon, you may ask? Well, Devon is the Gym Leader of this town. He explains some shipment has arrived, and the Researcher will know what that means. Yeah, that totally does not sound sinister.
Also, see that old man on the bench in the screenshot? Talk to him. He'll ask you which type of Pokémon you like: Fire, Water, or Electric. He'll give you an evolutionary stone based on which type you like.
The screenshot shows another man who looks...a bit green. Literally. It's a simple fetch quest here. Just get an Antidote from the PokeMart and give it to him. There's a neat touch here. When he begs for the antidote, his dialogue is green-colored. It's a funny little detail. You get TM06 (Acid) in return. I wonder how he got sick in the first place. Did he try to hug a Beedrill?
Anyway, remember the guy in front of the lab asking us to get the Legend Researcher and Devon? Well, we can go to the Wonder Cave now. I'm guessing that cop decided to take a coffee and donut break. But first, a bit more exploring to do. Next to the Poké Mart is the building that houses the Pokémon Battle Club. It's exactly what it says it is. A club where members battle Pokémon. I can imagine the club dedicates itself to sharing battle strategies and stuff like that. The two guys with the Rattata and Zigzagoon have been battling for three days straight.
Yeah. Three days straight. It's battles like this that are the reason why officials should have rules about Pokémon battle length. Remember my pointing out that there's an HM for sale here, but it's expensive? Well, I found the man who will sell me the Strength HM I need. How much is he charging exactly? A million dollars. Yeah, evidently the currency in Vesryn is the dollar. That leads me to wonder. What exactly is the currency in the Pokémon universe called? I don't think it was ever given a name. I'm getting off topic. Does he really expect me to pay that much money for a Hidden Machine.
Yeah. Right. No way. That's not happening. The people having their Pokémon battle hint that the reason the battle has gone so long is because their Pokémon are so evenly matched. They mention that someone called the "IV Changer" can help them. You may be asking yourself, "What's an IV"? Well, "IV" is short for "Individual Value". Think of them as the "genes" of a Pokémon. Every Pokémon has IVs. These help determine the stats of a Pokémon. IVs are the reason why wild Pokémon of the same species can have different stats.
For example, say you capture two wild Zigzagoons, both at level 3. When you look at the stats of those two Pokémon, you may notice that one is slightly faster, but the other is slightly stronger. That's because of IVs. This is the basic idea. There are other factors, but that's not really important for casual Pokémon players. There are people out there who do deliberately breed Pokémon to produce ones with the best IVs. But again, if you are a casual Pokémon player, this is not stuff to worry about. Ultimately, the Pokémon games are about building bonds with your Pokémon and growing with them. IVs are just a mechanic that only really hardcore Pokémon players think about, in my experience. The IV Changer's home is right near the Battle Club.
I wonder how he changes the Pokémon's IVs. If a Pokémon's IVs are like its genes, does that mean he does gene therapy on it? I turned down his offer, because I tend to not worry about that stuff. There is something that caught my eye in the room. See that Drowzee in the corner? The boy in the room (I'm assuming that's the IV Changer's relative, like a grandson or something), remarks that his Psyduck and that Drowzee are having a playdate. Aww. The boy fears the Drowzee's mother may have forgotten about them, and asks me to remind her. There's also an Ancient Tome in the potted plant.
...Remember that Hypno we met in Nagarex Forest? Well, Hypno is the evolved form of Drowzee. And that Hypno was female. It would make sense if she was the Drowzee's mother. Well, time to head back to Nagarex Forest and give her the news. When I did, she seemed to really cheer up a bit. She even thanked me. This Hypno is telepathic, and is evidently smart enough to communicate with humans. She's so thankful she even does me a favor. Remember that guy who wanted to overcharge me for the HM Strength?
She vanished, likely using Teleport, and then returned...with the HM04. I guess she stole it from the overcharging jerk. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAA!!!! TAKE THAT, SCALPER!
Well, with that obtained, we can move that rock and get out of here. But wait! Don't we still have something to do here first? Yes, we have to go to the Wonder Cave and find Devon and the Legend Researcher. Can't let that guy down...despite my nervousness. Thanks, Mt. Snarlet. When we enter the cave, there's a ladder to the next floor. The second floor is dark. Very dark.
Yeah, you'd need another HM called Flash. What a pain. Well, it's not so bad. Thankfully, this cave is nowhere near the nightmare that Mt. Snarlet was, so you can get through it. Also some handy items here. There are a bunch of Trainers here to battle, which is quite handy to grind up your team. There's also more Pokémon here to catch. Between this cave, the routes, and Nagarex Forest, you can collect quite a few Pokémon early on, and build a good team practically right away.
The cave's Trainers include a Pokémon Ranger, who basically is watching over the area, protecting the environment. Is Wonder Cave a protected area? Oh dear...Anyway, she tells me I can become an honorary Ranger in a place called Kivu Town. I'll have to look into it when I get there.
Like in "official" Pokémon games, you can find some items in this game. Here is an IV Stone...
And right here is TM70, aka Flash!
It's interesting that Flash was seemingly "demoted" from an HM to a TM. I can't help but think that this is a shot about Flash being only useful in a couple places in the original Red and Blue. The TM comes with a note basically explaining what the move is and what it does. I'm not complaining, as I personally always found Flash to be rather useless.
I continued exploring the inside of the Wonder Cave. I battled a couple of ninjas. Well, self-proclaimed ninjas, I'm assuming. And near them, there was an area of the cave that made me very grateful for that Hypno.
In case you're wondering, the item there is a Dolly. The Dolly can be used in place of HM Strength. It's something I love about this game. You can get items that you can use instead of the HMs. I made my way through the cave, until I got to Devon and the Legend Researcher. They're messing with a rock.
They think there's something in the rock...which considering this a Pokémon game, is not completely implausible. The rock is heating up. The Researcher thinks I'm doing it...because reasons, so he has me put my hand on the rock. What a great scientist he is. The rock turns into an Unown. The 'P' version. The Researcher claims that Unown only show themselves when there's great power around, so he thinks I have a bright future as a trainer. I tell him his package had arrived, and he suggests I go to Fianga City. The Researcher says he has a friend who has a lab there...named Wilson.
Wait a minute, back in the first entry of this Text Play, my mother mentioned someone named Wilson. Could that be the same person? Anyway, Devon suggests I tackle his Gym...he'll give a better challenge than the Unown. I have to beat Devon to leave here, as I can use the Strength HM when I do.
I'm not too worried about facing him. He specializes in Fighting-type Pokémon. I have a Pidgey that knows Gust, and my Butterfree and Dustox both know Confusion. Gust is a Flying-type attack, and Confusion is a Psychic-type attack. Both Flying and Psychic are strong against Fighting Pokémon.
When I first enter the Gym, I found myself invisible.
Yeah, Devon believes in finding and understanding yourself before fighting others. Hence, you're invisible. I wonder how that works? I get that in the world of Pokémon games, technology is more advanced in certain ways than in the real world, but I want to know what allows Devon to turn me invisible.
So, how do I become visible again? Well, I have to find four flowers. ...I think Devon is trolling me. Thankfully, the flowers are easy to find as they are not invisible. One of the Black Belt trainers remarks that it must be hard to find the flowers while invisible. That's hilarious. I can still see the flowers. They aren't hard to find. I'm the one who is invisible, not them.
After you find the flowers, Devon himself will take you on.
He has three Pokémon:
1st Pokémon: Machop (Lv. 10) - defeated by Katie the Pidgey.
2nd Pokémon: Riolu (Lv. 15) - defeated Katie. Lilly the Petilil defeated it with Sleep Powder/Absorb/Leech Seed combo. Devon used two Potions, but they did not help in the end.
3rd Pokémon: Meditite (Lv. 12) - Defeated by Lilly. Lilly used Sleep Powder/Leech Seed/Absorb combination again. Meditite had Sitrus Berry, which restored some HP.
With that, Devon is defeated. He gives me the first badge of the Vesryn region: The Discipline Badge. I also obtained TM31: Brick Break. I also can use the Strength HM outside of battle. Which means I can go grab that Dolly in the Wonder Cave and enter Route 302. And I think we'll stop there for today.
So far, I am really enjoying this game. As I said last time, it already feels more polished than Pokémon Mega Adventure ever did. Got a couple of nice simple side quests to start out. Nagarex Forest and the Wonder Cave provide a variety of Pokémon to capture and train. I got over 20 different Pokémon already.
There's also some pretty amusing dialogue from the NPCs and the trainers you battle in this game. For example, I battled a Pokémon Ranger that lamented being in a love square. Who would have thought being a Pokémon Ranger could be so scandalous, ha ha. Devon wasn't too bad, you just have to grind up some Pokémon. Luckily, the game does make it possible to get a Pidgey and Butterfree early on, (also Petilil in my case), so you'll get a good fight in. I can't wait to continue my journey through Vesryn!
Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, spread it around! See you next time!
Pokémon Obtained:
(Negarex Forest)
- Ledyba
- Shroomish
- Pineco
- Mankey
- Butterfree (evolved from Metapod)
- Kricketot
- Dustox (evolved from Cascoon)
(Wonder Cave)
- Makuhita
- Geodude
- Roggenrola
- Cubone
- Whismur
- Machop
- Unown (P)
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