Hoenn, sweet Hoenn

So, as I mentioned last post, I've now obtained a vast majority of the Pokémon available to me solely through SoulSilver. The time has come, I've decided, to set out for a new land, one where fresh Pokémon roam, awaiting my cold hard judgment.

My journey into the wonderful world of Pokémon has begun once again.

I'm not even three hours into the experience, but so far, things have been going fairly according to book. I named my new character Darkade, after my Dungeons and Dragons character, a Dragonborn named Darkade Fireborn. Darkade's a pretty chill dude, considering he's the son of a Gym Leader and has prematurely gone grey. That being said, I'm currently getting acclimated to a slightly different, older, control scheme. Pressing "start" to access my inventory screams against all the muscle memory I've accrued in the 140+ hours of SoulSilvering. And having to hold the B button to run? Fucking forget about it. I know that I'm about the furthest you can get from being an astronaut, but the experience of playing Ruby must be pretty similar to what I imagine they go through when they return to Earth's gravity after months of floating around in space. Everything is just so... off.

On top of all that, this is looking to be one of the more challenging playthroughs of Pokémon I've yet experienced, for what that's worth.

See, even though I'm starting a new game, it's more in order to acquire the Pokémon I need to complete my SoulSilver Pokédex. Because of that, whenever I catch a new Pokémon I don't already own in SoulSilver, it's going straight to the PC. And every time I hit six new Pokémon, I transfer them via Pal Park and level them up in Johto/Kanto.

Of course, this constant draining of Pokémon leaves me a bit unprepared for the Hoenn journey ahead of me. My starter Pokémon, for example, is no longer a commodity I can rely on, as he's been sent to the big leagues. In fact, for a large portion of the first hour or so of the game, I've largely been relying on Oscar, my generally useless Zigzagoon. For a while my strategy when fighting a trainer was "Sand Attack like hell and hope your opponent misses you in the 10 turns it takes to knock them out." As you can imagine, I've whited out a fair amount of times.

Still, I've been trucking right along. I've just acquired my first badge from Roxanne in Rustboro after a few tears (Normal-type Zigzagoon vs. Rock-type = Darkade is out of useable Pokémon). In addition to my starting Pokémon, a Treecko named Reptile, I've managed to catch a male Taillow named Mr Bird, a female Shroomish named Wart, a male Nincada named Shinobug, a male Slakoth named Chunk, and a female Surskit named Striiiiider. I transferred these six to my SoulSilver game, and have already evolved Reptile into a Grovyle.

Speaking of SoulSilver, I'm still making some progress in that game, I evolved Kroenen into a Kabutops and Muckluck into a Glailie. This brings my Pokédex count to 307, which is still a ways off from my goal of 493, but passing that 300 mark feels like an achievement in its own right.

And there's still plenty to go. Now if you'll excuse me, I've just arrived in Dewford town and need to deliver a letter.

Progress:
SoulSilver: 145:36
Ruby: 2:37
Pokémon Count: Seen 386, caught 307
Professor Oak says: A lot of Pokémon not found in the Johto region like to congregate at the Safari Zone.

Thanks, Professor! I'll keep that in mind!