EWB Play-Along: Pokémon FireRed

[IJS]

Started with Leaf Green with a Squirtle. After doing all the regular Pokemon opening stuff, finally got to the forest with all the bug catchers. Caught myself a bug type (forget the name) and to my surprise, A Pikachu! So finally got to Brocks Gym. Decided to train up Pikachu and Squirtle. Mainly Pikachu, as he's only level 5. More than likely I'll try Brock tomorrow and should be easy enough. Relying on Squirtle, cause Pikachu and the bug one are rubbish against rock types.

[RoyWill Rumble]

Yeah, I love that there's not even a "Gary told me not to give you this, but...", it just doesn't refer to it.

Also, you're old enough to be "leaving home", yet still able to buy a child's ticket to a museum...leading me to think that you're somewhere in your mid-teens. Yet when you try and leave Pallet Town, Professor Oak tells you not to because there are wild Pokémon in the long grass.....so, has Ash never left Pallet Town before? A town comprising of two houses and a LABORATORY.

Also, some fucking Pokémon expert Oak is, he's only got three, and a blank Pokedex. He's blatantly just a charlatan and/or paedophile.

If I may turn on 'geek mode' for a moment, in the Pokemon world kids are allowed to leave their home for A POKEMON JOURNEY at the age of ten (which in and of itself is questionable as fuck) and although it's not stated exclusively anywhere in the game, you could assume that your character is ten considering the anime is based off of the game, and Ash was ten when he first started out. You're supposed to be Ash, so it makes sense to think you're some ten year-old kid. NOT TO MENTION, trainers seemingly don't get paid any money whatsoever to actually BE a Pokemon trainer, how the fuck do they afford to travel the vast distance they travel and eat and all of that stuff? None of that is ever explained ever. Fuck, they're all vagabonds capturing monsters of varying sizes into tiny little balls. Pokemon is absurd.

CARRY ON, GAMERS.

[TKz]

If I remember correctly, at one point in the series there was mention of some kind of "Pokemon Trainer Allowance" or something along the lines of that. Which I can only assume means the government is for some reason happy to fund young children to journey far from home and brutalise and capture small animals. What a horrible, horrible place Johto is.

Squirtle for me. Though I always hate to have Squirtle once I reach Misty, but I'm not fond of Bulbasaur and there are fire pokemon I prefer to Charmander and his evolutions.

Speaking off, just for a bit more discussion, what's a Pokemon that you HAVE to have in your party as soon as possible? The second I get to the area with Growliths I make sure to catch one so that I can get an Arcanine. Despite the fact Arcanine is naff, I always loved that Pokemon.

[Slogger]

I picked Squirtle for the sole fact that his final evolution is awesome, A giant turtle with two water cannons on his back.

Then I screwed up saving and had to restart, Now I'm stuck on choosing my rival's name It sets up the entire game, I can't rush through this tough decision.

[Plubby]

Clearly it's Ollie, who still won't say if I can join

[thuganomic]

Started with Squirtle, just beat Brock.

My team is

Squirtle - Level 11

Butterfree - Level 11

Pidgey - Level 11

Mankey - Level 11

Beedrill - Level 10

God I love emulators. Makes training 40241254124x easier

[Slogger]

Started with Squirtle, just beat Brock.

My team is

Squirtle - Level 11

Butterfree - Level 11

Pidgey - Level 11

Mankey - Level 11

Beedrill - Level 10

God I love emulators. Makes training 40241254124x easier

How So?

Started with Squirtle, Beat my Rival even though he had a Level 9 Bulbarsaur and Pidgey and I only had a level 8 Squirtle and a level 3 Ratatta and that's my current team, Currently in the Forrest.

[apsham]

You can turn on the like x10 speed feature and make battles not last as long. That's why I play RPGs on emulators a lot.

[Benji]

Yeah, I love that there's not even a "Gary told me not to give you this, but...", it just doesn't refer to it.

Also, you're old enough to be "leaving home", yet still able to buy a child's ticket to a museum...leading me to think that you're somewhere in your mid-teens. Yet when you try and leave Pallet Town, Professor Oak tells you not to because there are wild Pokémon in the long grass.....so, has Ash never left Pallet Town before? A town comprising of two houses and a LABORATORY.

Also, some fucking Pokémon expert Oak is, he's only got three, and a blank Pokedex. He's blatantly just a charlatan and/or paedophile.

If I may turn on 'geek mode' for a moment, in the Pokemon world kids are allowed to leave their home for A POKEMON JOURNEY at the age of ten (which in and of itself is questionable as fuck) and although it's not stated exclusively anywhere in the game, you could assume that your character is ten considering the anime is based off of the game, and Ash was ten when he first started out. You're supposed to be Ash, so it makes sense to think you're some ten year-old kid. NOT TO MENTION, trainers seemingly don't get paid any money whatsoever to actually BE a Pokemon trainer, how the fuck do they afford to travel the vast distance they travel and eat and all of that stuff? None of that is ever explained ever. Fuck, they're all vagabonds capturing monsters of varying sizes into tiny little balls. Pokemon is absurd.

CARRY ON, GAMERS.

No you're not.

[Mountainous Cleavage]

Decided to give this a whirl as well.

So far, I've rocked Brock (pun intended ) and made my way to the entrance of Mt Moon while working on my team.

My Team

Squirtle - Lvl 13

Pikachu - Lvl 13

Mankey - Lvl 13

Pidgey - Lvl 13

Spearow - Lvl 6 (freshly caught, haven't even used in battle yet)

Nidoran(m) - Lvl 6 (same deal as Spearow, caught them one after the next)

My Pikachu should be able to handle Misty once I reach her. Squirtle tore Brock apart in no time. Was trying my damndest to catch this Jiggilypuff I came across right before Mt Moon. She used 'Sing' on Pikachu, putting him to sleep but caught his static charge, paralyzing herself in the process. Threw a pokeball hoping that being paralyzed would assist me catching her, but to no avail. Then, not realizing that my Pikachu was lvl 13 and the Jiggilypuff was lvl 3, I unleashed a thundershock on her which put her out in 1 hit. Hopefully I'll be able to come across a next one.

Spearow will probably get the boot once I find a better pokemon to fill his spot, but I'm tempted to get a Nidoking in the future.

Edited August 4, 2009 by Closed and Moved to Archives

[Slogger]

Just made it to Mt. Moon and to my surprise, My Squirtle evolved already and my Kakuna finally evolved into Beedrill and my Rattata is not as weak anymore, Getting better.

Current Team

Wartortle - Lvl 16

Beedrill - lvl 11

Rattata - lvl 9

[IJS]

Everything was going so well. I got to Mt.Moon and My Squirtle evolved. Pikachu was also doing well and I decided to put my Weedle into storage. So eventually I get through Mt.Moon. I caught a Zubat in there, so I'll more than likely train him up until I get better pokemon. I get to The next city, and I'm looking for a Pokemon Center as Pikachu and Zubat have fainted. But guess what! Gary comes out of nowhere and challenges me! I lose and I go back to the Pokemon Center. Just before Mt.Moon. I named my rival Douche. Seems just about right.

[Mountainous Cleavage]

Made the trip through Mt Moon, and of course I had to jinx myself when I said my Pikachu could handle Misty, as I can't fucking beat her.

Team

Pikachu - Lvl 16

Squirtle - Lvl 15

Mankey - Lvl 15

Geodude - Lvl 15

Pidgey - Lvl 15

Nidorino - Lvl 16

Looks like I'll have my Nidoking soon.

[SRN]

Wait, everyone picked Squirtle? Why is that?

[probablyoliver]

Fuck Squirtle, I picked Bulbasaur. And there's no way I'm letting it evolve so early.

[IJS]

Finally got to the P.C. after Mt.Moon. Beat Misty, caught a Spearow, A Mankey and A Sandshrew. My Rival, however is being a asshole to beat.

[SRN]

Fuck Squirtle, I picked Bulbasaur. And there's no way I'm letting it evolve so early.

What is wrong with letting it evolve early? I have no idea how to play these games strategically.

[stokeriño]

Hmm, might join in with this, but I did start a FireRed (or maybe just Red? Can't remember) game a few months ago, and got about 3/4 of the way through, so might not be bothered...

SRN: the advantages of stopping the pokemon from evolving is that it levels up faster (i.e. takes less EXP to do so) and learns some of its moves a few levels earlier. The disadvantage, of course, is that its stats are weaker in the meantime (but I don't believe that they're any weaker when they do eventually evolve).

For example, in my aforementioned game I went the route of levelling my main pokemon up on their lowest evolution until they learnt their last move (...that I cared about), and then I quickly evolved them. So I had a Charmander, Bellsprout, Pikachu etc. all levelled up to the mid 40s.

The exception was Nidoran, which I let evolve to Nidorino, because fuck me is Nidoran too weak to be worth it. And also Abra, since it obviously it learns all its good moves as Kadabra.

Edited August 4, 2009 by stokeriño

[RoyWill Rumble]

Yeah, I love that there's not even a "Gary told me not to give you this, but...", it just doesn't refer to it.

Also, you're old enough to be "leaving home", yet still able to buy a child's ticket to a museum...leading me to think that you're somewhere in your mid-teens. Yet when you try and leave Pallet Town, Professor Oak tells you not to because there are wild Pokémon in the long grass.....so, has Ash never left Pallet Town before? A town comprising of two houses and a LABORATORY.

Also, some fucking Pokémon expert Oak is, he's only got three, and a blank Pokedex. He's blatantly just a charlatan and/or paedophile.

If I may turn on 'geek mode' for a moment, in the Pokemon world kids are allowed to leave their home for A POKEMON JOURNEY at the age of ten (which in and of itself is questionable as fuck) and although it's not stated exclusively anywhere in the game, you could assume that your character is ten considering the anime is based off of the game, and Ash was ten when he first started out. You're supposed to be Ash, so it makes sense to think you're some ten year-old kid. NOT TO MENTION, trainers seemingly don't get paid any money whatsoever to actually BE a Pokemon trainer, how the fuck do they afford to travel the vast distance they travel and eat and all of that stuff? None of that is ever explained ever. Fuck, they're all vagabonds capturing monsters of varying sizes into tiny little balls. Pokemon is absurd.

CARRY ON, GAMERS.

No you're not.

Ash is based off you, then. Got it all mixed up.. Either way, from what I gather, you're supposed to be some ten year-old kid.

[TCO]

I'm taking the game slow for now trying to level up each of my guys equally, because I've gone the route of levelling up my starter only and then having a team of scrubs the whole way through, just got to Viridian forest now and my team looks like this.

Bulbasaur lv 11

Pidgey lv 11

Caterpie lv 4

Pikachu lv 4

I plan to have them all equal levels after I beat Brock. Really enjoying the little nostalgia trip I'm having. Also planning on catching Geodude soon, because theres nothing as fun as absolutely owning the Electric Gym with a low enough level Geodude.

Also when is the best time to evolve Pikachu?