Hello, everyone! I wish to welcome you to the Torren Region! This is the first entry in my Text Play of Pokémon Insurgence!
Once upon a time, I tried to do a Let's Play of this game on YouTube. It didn't work out too well. I discovered that I was more comfortable with writing out my experiences in the form of a blog entry than talking about them in a video. Also, at the time, the game was incomplete.
But now that I do have a finished version of it, I figured it was a good time to explore this thing. I just hope that I can actually get through the whole game. I am freakin' cursed when it comes to these things. Now, as is tradition for Text Plays, I do wish to warn you. I will be spoiling the heck out of this game.
Additionally, I will be using a modded version of Insurgence known as Detergence, or the Detergent mod...as indicated in the title. I think Detergence is a cooler name.
It's a version with lots of quality-of-life improvements and the like. You can download the game here. You don't need Insurgence to play this. You also do not need an emulator to play this game, as it's a fangame, not a ROMhack (as in, somebody took an "official" Pokemon game's programming and modified it, so you need a program that emulates a console to play it), so you do not need an emulator to play it. Also, I included the Insurgence title screen because the Detergent mod doesn't have one, and I wanted to put up a title screen.
Now then, with that out of the way, let's rock and roll!
In Insurgence, the Options menu reveals two interesting new things you can toggle: Difficulty and Purity Mode. Those are things that you don't really see in "official" Pokémon games. But that's the fun of fangames: They can do something a little different. I chose the Easy mode because I'm playing this game for fun. Purity Mode is a bit of an aesthetic thing. The game includes some brand-new Mega Evolutions and "Delta Pokémon". We'll learn a bit more about Delta Pokémon later. If you shut it off, you don't "see" the designs in the game. The Pokémon are still there, you just have to look for them. It's an option for those who are not really into fanmade Pokémon designs. It doesn't bother me, so it's staying off here. You do not see these options in Detergent. I do not know why.
In both versions, you can also adjust the frames around text boxes and speech boxes. I like Option 20 for text frames and Option 22 for speech frames myself. 👍
You can also adjust the game's font to the style of Emerald, Ruby/Sapphire, or FireRed/LeafGreen. I'm choosing the FireRed/LeafGreen font myself. You can also make other adjustments like the size of the game screen, music/sound volumes (I keep those on mute because I listen to other things while playing), that kind of thing.
In Detergence, you can adjust some other things: the stat change overlay (whatever that is), which I kept on. You can also have the game constantly be showing the day, which I agreed to for the purposes of this Text Play. There's also Trainer Detection, which I also kept on.
Once you make the Options adjustments you want and start "New Game", we're welcomed to the game. The version I'm playing is version 1.2. It's a completed game...except for any potential patches to fix stuff. I do remember watching a YouTube playthrough of an incomplete version of the game years ago. I think it had only six out of the eight gyms available, but it looked like it was a lot of fun. When I started doing Text Plays, I wanted to do one with this game. However, I had decided to wait until the game was completed. Until I learned of the Detergent mod.
In Insurgence, the game gives us a special choice.
Yes, the game's story comes in two flavors: Traditional and Dark. "Traditional" lets you play a version of the game's story that is more in the style of "official" games. There will be more plot, but that's a fan game for you. "Dark" is...well, exactly what it says on the tin. A darker version of the story, which will include things like character death, and the villains of the games being cults instead of Team Rocket-style criminal organizations. You can switch in the Options menu anytime during gameplay.
In Detergence, you can't switch between "Darker" and "Traditional" during gameplay. Once you pick, you are stuck. I had no interest in the "Dark" route anyway, especially for this Text Play, so that's fine.
When you start "New Game" in Insurgence, you get this really neat cinematic showing the Torren region. Helped make it look more like an actual "official" game. I wish Detergent kept it, because it was incredible.
I wish I could make a gif of the opening cinematic. It's beautiful.
I also loved it because it gave me the impression that this is what a Pokémon game on the Super Nintendo would have been like. The flight of the Pelipper and Wingulls over Torren make me think of the SNES's Mode 7. I did try to record it long ago with my computer's ability to record gameplay footage, and it...came out like this.
Yeah, my apologies for how I turned out. I have no idea how to fix it. I did try, though. I found a video editing program on my computer, but I have no idea how to operate it.
I understand, I find it annoying, too. In Insurgence, the cinematic ends with the camera zooming in on one town and going back in time one year...
We see this golden-haired man addressing a crowd.
It's supposed to be a press conference, but I see no cameras. He brings some good news...
...and some bad news.
He points out that the region is filled with Team Rocket-style criminal organizations. Yeah, you can tell this is one of those moments where the original story was the darker version. Remember, instead of these groups, the darker story has them be cults that worship legendary Pokemon. I know this, because I played an earlier incomplete version of this game, and they were cults in the lighter story too, I believe. Anyway, these groups' goal is obvious: To hunt down legendary Pokémon. As in the likes of Zapdos and Entei. I had a Zapdos once. Used it in my team back when I played Pokémon Red...
Right, right. Torren needed a hero. Enter...the Augur. The Augur helped protect Torren from these dastardly groups. But now their time is over. They've decided to move on, likely retiring out of a realization that they're too old for this stuff. But Torren will not be defenseless!
Yup! Helios City's own Jaern, the blonde pretty boy pontificating on that platform, has declared that he shall be new Augur, the latest hero of the people. Yeah, what're the odds he killed the last Augur?
I mean, look at him! He's a blond pretty boy who is laying on the "nice guy" act rather thick. Not to mention the old Augur ain't here to announce it himself...and Jaern seems to be whipping the crowd into a bit of a frenzy. I wish Detergent had kept this. I really do. It provided some interesting setup. But instead, it starts with this.
Huh. I have to admit, this is a rather...unique way of starting a Pokémon game. With a Gengar staring into your soul.
As this point in Insurgence, the game will ask you if you want to do a "Challenge Run". You may be asking yourself: "What's a Challenge Run"? Well, since you asked so nicely, I'm going to tell you! A challenge run is basically playing through the game with a self-imposed set of rules limiting what you can and cannot do in your playthrough. It's a way of making Pokémon games more challenging. One of the most famous versions of such a run among the fanbase is the Nuzlocke. I've never really been a fan of such challenges. They've never appealed to me.
However, in Detergence, the game just welcomes you to the Chaotic Edition of Insurgence. Chaos is the name of the game here. Delta Pokémon (more on that later) in this game have been very heavily buffed, and all "non-BS" Deltas are now obtainable before the post-game. That's the main modification of this game. But if you do use non-Deltas, it won't be so bad. The game here offers you a choice: Vanilla or Detergent Mode.
Vanilla is just regular Insurgence. Detergence is basically Insurgence in Hard Mode. In Detergence, if you bring out a Pokémon to battle, you can't switch them out, nor can you use healing items in battle. There's also some minor stuff. Also, once you make your choice, you have to restart the game to change your mind.
Naturally, I chose Vanilla. Again, I want this Text Play to focus on a standard-style game. The game then asks if you want to do "Traditional" or "Dark" for the story. I chose "Traditional". Finally, it asks if you want to do a "Monotype" run. This affects the starters you can choose. I have no idea what that is, so I answered with a resounding no.
And with that, the story has begun. A voice asks if we can hear them.
The voice is relieved to hear us. We're not quite gone yet. But now is not the time to celebrate. Someone is coming back. We're going to have to stay focused and remember who we are. Something is taking our memories. It can't be stopped...but it can be delayed. As such, we'll have to be quick. It's at this point; the game asks us to enter our name, and if they want to play as a boy or a girl. Since I'm a guy, I'll play as a boy. I do wish there was an option for non-binary folks. We also can choose our appearance here.
Not much in the way of options here. You can customize your player character a bit more in the future, but I think it would have been nice to see a wider variety of skin tones, at least. I'm being the blondie, because I'm a blond. We then see a flash of Gengar's face, the voice revealing it's back. Yeah, they were talking about the Gengar. But now it's time to wake up!
The voice has sent someone to fend the Gengar off and help us get out of here. It's here that we learn where we are at: in some underground complex.
Yeah, you can tell that these guys were originally meant to be cultists. I mean, look at them! That's not what scientists would wear!
According to the two guards, we've been asleep for three days straight, and they were growing bored with guarding us. They think we're going to wake up tomorrow, and they are very happy about that. I mean, we've been sleeping for three days. What did they think we'd do, snore loudly?
One of the guards remarks that we likely won't remember anything when we wake up. As such, their boss, a woman named Persephone, is going to just let us go. No harm, no foul. ...yeah, you can tell that the darker version of the story was the original intent of the original makers of Insurgence here.
The guards are still confused as to why Persephone is afraid of us, being from their perspective, just a kid and all that. He's bummed that he won't get to see Persephone try to summon Darkrai again due to his current assignment. The other guard suggests he have one of his Pokémon watch over us so he can see the summoning.
The guard summons a Gengar to watch over us.
I wonder if that's the same Gengar that was staring at us in the intro. Anyway, things seem quiet, until the Gengar is sent running by...a surprise guest.
Yes, it's Mew. The Mew. How did our benefactor get Mew to help us out?! Who is this person?! Anyway, Mew is here to help us get out of this here base. There is another cell next to our own, but they can't be opened because they have a fingerprint lock. There is a third cell with an open door.
We go in here, and we get a nice handy Potion. I like that you can easily tell what the item is at first sight inside of just a generic PokéBall. We head downwards and to the left. There are some more cells. The middle one has an open door, which has a bookcase in it.
The bookcase contains a book called "Cults 101". The book illustrates the difference between the cults in Torren and villainous teams like Team Rocket. Whereas teams like Team Rocket are like organizations that see Pokemon as a source of profit, the groups around here worship Legendary Pokemon and want to capture them to ensure their cult's dominance. Yeah, I think that line can be blurred a bit when it comes to the likes of Ghetsis and Cyrus.
I have noticed that there are boxes everywhere. Seriously, tons of boxes. What are all these boxes for? Did the cultists all bring their stuff with them here? I looked through them, hoping to find some hidden items, but nope. Nothing.
But on the other hand, we have found the way out of here. Just keep going left from the room with the bookcase and upwards.
Behind the box next to the staircase is...another box. With nothing in it. Nuts.
When we reach the second floor, Mew has decided to make themselves invisible.
Hey pal, could you do that for me, too?! That would be really nice of you!
I mean, being invisible would make it easier to get the heck out of this madhouse. If we go downwards, we end up...with another staircase!
Boy, do I love staircases.
Before we go up it, Mew reveals that it has a note for us. The note reveals that our benefactor chose Mew to help us because of its special abilities. It can use Transform to disguise itself. "Nothing special, Ditto can do that", right? Well, Mew's version is a bit different. You see, Mew can also use Transform on people, including us. All it needs is some DNA. If we can find something that has DNA on it, Mew can temporarily Transform us into its owner. The note suggests finding some used clothes. Makes sense. Used clothes could have some skin cells or hair on them, which has DNA.
The note ends with the benefactor wishing us luck.
With that, we can go up the stairs. They take us to what looks like some kind of lounge.
I guess even cultists need somewhere to unwind and take a break. And by the power of convenience, someone left a Darkrai cultist cloak on a nearby table. And there's also another Potion on the table. May as well take it, as I doubt these guys will need or use it. And thanks to the cloak, we got the cultist DNA Mew needs. So, now we can properly disguise ourselves. If you talk to Mew, you can ask it to transform you. So, we do. Before we go forwards, I wanted to go back a bit to the floor that we woke up in. The floor had rooms that needed a fingerprint to unlock. Now that Mew has transformed us, we can unlock them. And it's good we can, because in the last room before the hallway that leads to the stairs, there's another Potion.
Yes, we have three free Potions now. The locked room that was next to the room that we woke up in contains another item: A Repel.
I do find it kind of funny that these guys just leave stuff like this lying around in their base. My guess is that these may have come from a stockpile for the Cultists' own Pokémon. Who knows? Anyway, we've got to get out of this place. Somebody will notice we're missing soon. In the hallway between the two staircases, there's another locked door we can unlock now.
I'm...concerned about that green stuff there. I get the feeling it's not Jello or Ecto Cooler. Is that mutagen? If I touch that, will I turn into a Mew-Man? Is it acid? Will I be dissolved if I fall into that? I'm just saying, there should be some railings around that. For safety reasons.
We can go a couple different directions from here. If we go downwards, we see this big golden statue and another cultist.
Let's leave that for now. I want to explore this place a little more. Just a quick look around. Upwards and to the right, there's this big room with a trio of long tables. There's also a couple more items here: a 4th Potion and an Ice Heal of all things.
Yeah, not something like an Antidote or an Awakening, but an Ice Heal. Yeah, I do understand that in these games, Pokémon can get the Frozen status. It's just from my experience playing these games, Frozen is a rare status effect. I've been hit much more often by burns, sleep and poisonings. From there, we can go further upwards into another room.
Yeah, these green puddles are everywhere. This cannot be a good thing. This room also has a couple more items, Potion #5, and an Awakening. If you don't know, if your Pokémon are made to fall asleep in battle, and Awakening, well...wakes them up.
In the top corner of the room is another hallway that takes you to another staircase. Said staircase leads you here.
Okay, I think the green stuff is acid and it's eating the base. We really oughta leave. If we go to the right and upwards, we find ourselves in a small room here...with a free Burn Heal.
The bookshelves contain books about the Darkrai Cult. Led by Persephone, the book describes her as a sadistic woman thanks to her childhood. I've said before that I think that the darker version of the game's story was meant to be the default, and this is just more evidence of that. Anyway, hug your children and tell them you love them, folks.
There's also another book about an event known as the "Aroma-Kalos War". Evidently at some point in the past, Kalos and the Aroma region were at war with each other. This was the first war between regions that used Pokémon as weapons. Kalos ultimately won thanks to a weapon that was charged by a Legendary Pokémon. Is this why the cults here are so obsessed with Legendary Pokémon? They want payback against Kalos?
And that's pretty much it, really. If we head back to the main room, we can see there's a whole bunch of cultists gathering. Persephone is ready to try and summon Darkrai again. The cult's science whizzes have developed a machine that allows her to pull it off. Problem is...it keeps getting away.
She's put a year of work into this. This is it. She is finally going to have Darkrai under her power. The ground shakes. This weird symbol appears.
What is that thing? A circuit? Some alien attempt at writing a letter Z? Generative AI trying to make a zebra? Whatever. The machine is a success. Darkrai has arrived.
I think we're in trouble.
Persephone starts ranting that Darkrai is the Great Balancer. Punishing the great, ground the immortal, blah blah blah. She and Darkrai met a year ago, and they did something
very big back then. Darkrai then left to find Persephone's sister. Persephone believes that for some reason, Darkrai favors said sister over her, and wants to know why. After all, said sister stabbed ol' Percy in the back. I get the feeling that's not
quite what happened, considering, you know...everything. She then does the whole "We Can Rule Together" thing on the Pokemon. Darkrai never answers, and Persephone sees it as a refusal. She tells her men to activate the "net", but Darkrai's like "Screw you guys, I'm going home".
It's not a total loss as far as Percy is concerned. She still has us, and she's going to check on us.
Yeah. Time to make ourselves very scarce. We make our way out of the base by heading back to the room we got Potion #5 and the Awakening. There's another path to the base's exit.
Welcome to the Shade Forest. It's here that I want to show the big feature of the Detergent mod: The Debug menu.
Yes, the Debug menu. You can use this to literally break the game if you want to. Adjust some variables, give yourself any Item or Pokémon you want. I admit, I did use this to give myself an EXP Share to make grinding a bit easier, some Big Nuggets for money, and some Master Balls because you can literally start catching Pokémon right here in the Shade Forest. Which I proceeded to do because I am impatient. But I was also stupid. Don't catch Pokémon until you got the PokéDex. If you do, they will vanish. The PokéDex will have entries on them, but you will not have them. So yeah, patience is a good thing.
Anyway, we go down the big rock way and head down a path. While there, we see this nice lumberjack.
He's working and doesn't like to be disturbed. We don't battle him or anything, he just tells to go away. Might as well. Further down the path, we find this.
I have no idea what that blue thing is, but I'm not worried about it. We can't get it right now, anyway. Yeah, I could use the Debug menu, but I don't want to abuse it for this Text Play. Besides, I have no idea what item I'd need to remove those stumps. Once we go further down the path, we find ourselves entering Telnor Town. It's here that Mew gives us another note...and a Quartz Flute. This flute will let us summon Mew if we need its help. The note just tells us what the Flute does and wishes us luck. Now I am really wondering who this "benefactor" is. I doubt they are anything human. I mean, how many human trainers out there are capable of not only catching Mew, but also commanding this Pokémon like most others? And why are they interested in us?
It's here that Mew leaves. I mean, it did get us out of the Darkrai Cult's headquarters. Mission Accomplished, I guess. I think we'll see Mew again. Anyway, we end up meeting this kid.
I think this kid may have seen Mew earlier, so he asks us if the Pokémon was with us. Since he saw us, might as well tell the truth. We answer "Yes", and he's thrilled.
He's always wanted to see a Pokémon that rare up close. This could be the big break he's looking for! His name is Damian, and he's an aspiring Pokemon trainer. He tells us we came to Telnor at the perfect time, as the new Augur is visiting. The Augur is Damian's biggest hero, the protector of the Region. The town's been preparing for his visit all day. He asks us to help out, as there's still a bunch of things to do. The Town Hall has a bunch of listed jobs. Eh, may be a good way to kill a little time.
When we first walk into Telnor Town, we see this guy.
Turns out that he doesn't have any idea how to ride this new Bicycle he got.
...why would you buy a bicycle if you don't know how to ride one!? I mean, I'd get it if you were planning to learn how to ride one, but if you're just buying a bicycle for the sake of having one, you're wasting money! So, he gives it to us, for a favor. I hope this doesn't bite us in the butt. But we'll cross that bridge if we get to it. Right now, I want to explore the town a bit. Next to the Pokémon Center is this woman.
If you talk to her, she'll ask if you want to turn on Detergent Mode. ...I thought you couldn't do that without restarting the game. Was that an adjustment made later? I answered "no" because again, I want to do this Text Play as a standard-style game. But maybe if I said "yes", she's still warn about having to restart the game? I mean we're still pretty early on, but...you know what, it doesn't matter. I'm not doing this anyway. Walking around here, Telnor Town seems to be a nice little place. Talking to the people in this town can lead to learning some things. For example, one man told me the professors can change a Pokémon's nature over at a place called the Korli Lab. And one man here gives you a couple more Potions.
You can never have too many Potions. Continuing to talk to people, I learned that this is the home of Professor Sylvan, the resident Pokémon Professor. She also likes handing out Eevees as Starters to trainers beginning their journeys here. Also, the Gyms here are rather unique. You see, instead of the Leaders here specializing in a particular type of Pokémon (Fire, Water, Grass, etc), Gym Leaders tend to have a theme for their teams. The NPC gives an example of Xavier, one of the Gym Leaders of this game. He's based in a place called Vipik City. His Gym is based on forests, so he uses lots of Bug and Poison-type Pokémon. I can imagine he would also use Grass-types, as forests have lots of grass and trees. That just makes sense to me.
Anyway, Telnor is a little town. Not much here but some houses, the Pokémon Center, Professor Sylvan's lab...and the Telnor Town Hall, located to the right of the Pokémon Center.
If this Augur is coming to town, then that means there's going to naturally be lots of activity here, right? Let's go take a look.
Not as much as I thought, but considering this town, this many people here means something big is going down. You got those two snooty brats on the left who act like they're too good to talk to us, and Damian with his parents on the right. The old dude wants to make a portrait of the Augur has his gift to the man. After all, as part of his visit, everyone in town is expected to give a gift to him. Yeah, that's totally not totalitarian or anything. 😒
Damian reports to his parents that he's all done with cleaning up the road. Gotta make this place look good for the Augur, after all. He then sees us and introduces us to his parents. I'm calling them Karen and Bob. Everyone's ready to go. All they need is Damian's gift for the Augur. Unfortunately, he didn't get one.
I can imagine it slipped his mind thanks to doing all that road cleaning. Bob isn't surprised, but there are rumors that one of the caves in the nearby forest has a Rare Stone in it. Thing is, Damien will need a Pokémon to help keep him safe out there. Karen shoots this down, as Damian is still pretty young. Damien points out that most of the other kids have already got Pokémon and have left on their own journeys. I mean, he's not wrong. In games like this, kids tend to be the ones who are given the jobs of training dangerous monsters and saving the world from equally dangerous humans.
Karen's just worried Damian will get hurt. She may not be his biological mother, but that doesn't mean she doesn't care nor does it mean she doesn't want him to be safe. It does hint there's some underlying tension between the two. Bob ends the argument by suggesting that we help out. We have experience with Pokemon (presumably Damien told them about Mew), so Bob asks us to help out. And naturally, we agree. Karen is fine with this but tells them not blame her if Damian messes up. Oh yea, there is some definite tension between her and Damian. Damian asks us to meet up at Professor Sylvan's lab to get an Eevee. He hopes he doesn't mess this up. What did Karen do to this kid?
He does appreciate what we're doing for him right here, though. We head to the lab, which is located below the Town Hall.
Yeah, that's it! Once we enter the building, we see that the good Professor Sylvan has a visitor.
Evidently, this person wants her to take in some Pokémon. After all, it shouldn't be too much of a burden for her, since she already has a whole bunch of Eevee. We learn the guest's name is "Rekura". Sylvan's fine with taking them in, it's just that these aren't Pokémon that really should go to starting Trainers. Well, nothing says you have to, Professor. You can just keep them and give us Eevees. Sylvan's concern is that no Trainer will accept them. Eh, you never know.
We get their attention. Rekura suggests that Sylvan give the Pokémon to me and Damian, otherwise he'll release them into the wild. Again, she could just keep them and give us an Eevee instead. She tells him to just put them on the table. He obeys and he is gone.
Sylvan explains that she and Rekura are old university pals. I would not be surprised if we see him again. Smart mind, great guy, and evidently a snappy dresser as well. He also happens to be the leader of one of the cults in Torren: the Cult of Perfection.
Seriously?! How did this come about?! That's a thing for later, though. We now have three other Pokémon to choose from. The three Pokémon are Delta species, mutant Pokémon that have typing different from their standard counterparts. The three choices are
Delta Bulbasaur (Fairy/Psychic),
Delta Squirtle (Dark), and
Delta Charmander (Ghost).
It's nice twist on the starter formula. The Starters tend to have the Fire-Water-Grass cycle as a basic way of showing strengths and weaknesses. Fire beats Grass, Grass beats Water, and Water beats Fire. That cycle works here too: Fairy beats Dark, Dark beats Ghost, and Ghost presumably beats Psychic.
Damian says he'll follow our lead, whichever we choose. Minor spoiler here, if we pick the Eevee, we'll get all three starters at the end. Besides, I can use Debug Mode to get them anyway. If we do pick the Eevee, Damien will mock us for doing it. It's the game's way of laughing at us for not picking one of the Delta starters. Joke's on him! I can use Debug Mode to get all four starters anyway!
Despite this, I still thought a lot about which to pick. Ultimately, I went with the Delta Bulbasaur. It's Psychic, and it's the only Delta Starter that made me want to use it. I named her Krystal. Damian follows our lead and picks a Delta as well.
(Rival) Damian
1st Pokemon: Delta Charmander (Lv. 5) - Defeated by Delta Bulbasaur (Lv. 7).
Damian doesn't mind the loss. He asks us to meet him in the Shade Forest. In the northern area is a cave that contains the Rare Stone he needs. He leaves for the Shade Forest. Sylvan asks us to stay a bit as she wants to talk to us. She gives us a PokéDex, and now we can head on our way. As we head up through the forest, we notice something. Remember that blue thing behind those tree trunks? Well, we can get to it now.
Yeah, that's neat. The item is the DexNav. This gadget gives you a map, can scan for wild Pokémon, and provide Trainers to fight. It also originally included online features, but this mod has them disabled. A shame, but it's no big loss for me. Also, you'd think that this would be part of the PokeDex, or Sylvan would also give you this as well.
Anyway, if we go to the right, we can start going on another path.
We can also battle the Hiker there.
(Hiker) Max
1st Pokemon: Machop (Lv. 6) - Defeated by Delta Bulbasaur (Krystal had Confusion, which was super-effective against Machop. One-hit KO).
And with that, we'll have to stop for the month. Next time, we make our way through the Shade Forest and help Damian on his quest. We may potentially meet the Augur! Join me then! Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, show it off! Take care of yourselves and each other! See you next time!
Pokemon Obtained:
Darkrai Cult Headquarters
- Mew (temporarily)
Shade Forest
- Nidoran (male)
- Caterpie
- Weedle
- Gastly
- Nidoran (female)
- Pikachu
- Charmander (Debug Mode obtained)
- Patrat
