Part 14: Before the Citadark

Part 14: Before the Citadark



Yo yo yo, there's more CDs to pick up, so let's go do that. You would never ever come back to this room, or indeed this lab, otherwise.



...ahem. That BATTLE CD features PLUSLE. I was going to give it to DUKING because he has this thing for PLUSLE, but lately he's been completely absorbed in studying wild POKEMON. Actually, I used that BATTLE CD as reference for making a PLUSLE costume. I'd like you to keep that a secret, though. Do you like BATTLE SIMs? You should take that BATTLE CD, then.



Well there is one Colosseum challenge we still need to do...




HOW ARE YOU SUPPOSED TO KNOW THIS IS HERE? In fact, how are you meant to know a lot of these CD locations? Maybe NPCs tell you about them, but really who talks to those robot idiots?



Say what?! You not only found CIPHER's secret factory, you also ruined it? Okay! I'll give MARCIA's crew the green light to cover that story. She's been itching to go.



Despite what the text might indicate, this is the earliest you can obtain these CDs, otherwise I would've gotten them earlier, obviously. But admittedly I never actually checked each time, so I could be talking out my fucking arse cause no one has bothered to dig up info about these games, but I'M NOT ANNOYED ABOUT THAT AT ALL.



Still, walking around doing dumb stuff is great to purify the many, many Shadow Pokemon we've caught recently, including our adorable shell boy.




Pretty good, level 33, so not too far behind the team.



You might be confused by this nickname by Awestriker, but I guess you're not as caught up on your JoJokes like I am. Cause I always know what my posters are talking about. Every time, yup, haha.




Alright let's make our newest team member less shit. His movepool is pretty rubbish though, so I guess I'll give him Spikes.



Fuck me that Defense is beautiful.



It also seems like the Battle CD triggers also apply to the Move Tutor, which is good, cause dril really needs a good Normal move.



Now back to Realgam Tower to cash in those sweet CDs. Spoiler alert, some of them give TMs and while we won't be using a rain strategy in this game, it's still good to have a weather move. Oh it will.



You will enter? Excellent! Will you be entering with the POKEMON in your party? Good, I'll show you in. I hope you try hard to win your challenge.

Colosseum Round 3



It's time for us to challenge the Realgam Colosseum, since it's the only real big thing left to do before the final dungeon. So the only way to actually purify Arbok before then.



Like the Pyrite Colosseum, every Pokemon is the same level, in this case 40, and we gain exp and can use items and all that good stuff, so it's a great way to train our last two team members. Man, it would really suck if you couldn't do that in a Colosseum, right?



Kakyoin is a great partner for Arbok since he can stomach Shadow Half. Arbok doesn't gain exp right now, so I don't care if he faints, I just want that juicy gauge removal.



Since we're using relatively weak Pokemon, this will actually be quite a challenge, but if you just used your team normally for this colosseum, you will of course become too strong for the final dungeon, so tread carefully.



Of course every trainer from now on will have around 4-5 Pokemon, so it does make battles pretty long, but it does make it feel like every trainer is a serious obstacle to get over. We're not easily one shotting these guys anymore and it's making this game a lot better to play.



Kakyoin laughs at these physical hits, but Arbok kinda doesn't.



There will be a fair few times we'll need to pull out the big guns, but I don't think I used any items in this place, so while things got close, I manage to pull through.



See if Arbok had Intimidate he would've survived that, you will nerdily say to me for the rest of the LP.



Oh yeah that first image isn't an error on my part, this is the only place in both games that the game just decides to go widescreen. I have no idea why and I was hoping it wouldn't come up like in Colosseum, like the missing floor bug, but nooooooooope. Of course I'm too lazy to crop them properly. Oh yeah, the TMs in this place are pretty rubbish, so here's Snatch. The CA$H is great though.



I'll forget to give Arbok this otherwise, like I did with Mawuh for most of last game. Hardy is +Atk -Atk, like dril, which is a shame, but oh well.



Hey I didn't know Thick Fat was that good!



Ooh cheeky.



These are some definitely weird battles. I'm liking it.



Well reaching the level of the colosseum is better than getting 5-10 levels higher than it, right?



Mega Kick is weirdly cool.



Phew, not bad overall, Kakyoin is being a great Ice attacker and an alright Water attacker. Surf is a bit of a harder sell in a casual doubles game, but it's better than Water Pulse!



This is the main reason we came here, which says a lot about the TM quality of this place. If you want to make this game slightly more challenging, you can get Brick Break from Pyrite and then just skip the rest of the colosseum challenges. You'll miss out on a good chunk of cash, but that just adds to the challenge, right?

Colosseum Round 4



Sure, Kakyoin does hardly any damage with Surf, but he's still a few levels lower than the opponent. Also 4x weakness is the only reason I bother keeping a Grass move on Portobello, so a small upgrade is appreciated.



FUCK. OFF. I got stupidly lucky hitting it after four Double Teams.



Oh that's scary. Didn't know Ledian even learned that move. But of course, what's it gonna do, Baton Pass it???



Ah. Right. We're in trouble.



...or not? This game is pranking me. And bro, I'm fucking falling for it.




If this is meant to be a crazy Baton Pass chain, then this is not the AI for it.



Okay moving on



Hmm, what's the deal here?



Oh right, they all have HM moves. Where did this gimmick team round come from, I'm so confused.



Cool.



Crawdaunt claims another kill at +2. I've never seen Vicegrip do that much.



This is kinda worth it as Iron Tail is kinda cool and some of our team can learn it, like Portobello. But... I could just punch stuff instead??? Pass.



Good boys on both sides for the final bout.



Oh thank god dril is now no longer an embarrassment to his kind.



...hold up.

The AI just switched, which it never does, to pull of a Perish Song SOUNDPROOF strat. This fuckin blew me away! But he then doesn't switch Wobbuffet back in to keep us trapped here, so eh, 6/10.



Well you can fuck off and all.



So yeah, let's just switch out and make that strategy cute, but overall pretty pointless.



Okay please stop doing all of this.




Yet another Chimecho sighting, this is getting really weird now.



Kakyoin is pretty great, but he really cannot deal with special attacks, even resisted ones, which will be hilarious, but also very scary.



This was super worth it since Arbok is nearly ready to properly join the team.



PIERCING THE HEAVENS



While the team got more levels than I would've liked, they were necessary to stop me losing, so I guess I'll deal with it.



You're right, that is an Aurora Beam hitting Pineapple and not Portobello. The AI in this game really fucking sucks.



And our last TM is Solarbeam, whoopee. Right, uh, what else is there left?



I guess I'll do some more Mt. Battle, but after Area 4 there's a bit of a problem. Facade is alright if you've already used up Body Slam.



Ehhhhhhhh, since I'm only using Shadow Pokemon, the ones we got from the Cipher Key Lair are just... too weak. This is because of the level boosts that occur between certain areas. In Colosseum, this place had a nice smooth curve that also made the place super boring to go through since Shadow Pokemon were usually up to par. But in XD it's gone too far the other way and unless you're using your main team to get overlevelled, I'd say anything past Area 4 is actually postgame. Which is over half the fucking mountain. At least in Colosseum I could get up to Area 9 no problem and space it out through the game. But here? The levels go up way too quickly compared to the rest of the game, so it sucks how much I'll have to do of this place at once, since it's still pretty uninteresting and repetitive.

Or maybe I'm caring too much about not wanting to be overlevelled in a game that is clearly and specifically much easier than the previous game and you don't really care about this. That's cool too, but I've been using Roosevelt in every fight (or at least tried to) and she got so outclassed so quickly it's actually a huge shame, since I managed to get Sylveon all the way up to the top. And I wanted to at least get past Area 6 before the postgame, since the next couple TMs are actually pretty good. Darn.




Let's wash away this bitter disappointment with our team being completed! Yaaaaaaaay!



Thanks to rannum for the final nickname of the LP! Man that always feels weird to think about...



All this running around doing side stuff has been really worth it, since we've not only purified every Shadow Pokemon we've encountered so far, but the Purify Chamber is at max efficiency! Set 9 uses all Normal types as well!



Rednammok needs some love cause his moveset is of course pretty rubbish, but the only reason I chose him over Beedrill is Earthquake. Seriously, there were some real close picks in this game since you're given some alright choice.



While I go around getting some items, there was one last thing we need to do that was no cooperating with me in the slightest and that kinda blows. I also bought a few too many Net Balls here, but if you're prepping for the final dungeon and you're looking at your ball count, just buy some more, especially Timer and Ultra Balls. You're welcome.



Our boss, MIROR B., dances the days and nights away. He won't quit until he gets all the POKEMON in the world. Huh? What does dancing have to do with POKEMON? That doesn't matter! What I'm trying to say is that our objective is to get every POKEMON in the world!

Miror B. Battle



Of course this isn't the last we've seen of Miror B. Far from it. He's actually very important in this game. Well, moreso than usual.



We have his Shadow Nosepass to catch, sure, but you might be wondering what happens to a lot of Shadow Pokemon you seemingly have no way of finding again if you beat them, like from Peons and such. Well, they find a sweet little home in Miror B.'s party.



That's right, any Shadow Pokemon you don't catch the first time will be obtained by Miror B. and you can find him to then get another chance at that Pokemon. You can do this as many times as you like, which means INFINITE MIROR B. BATTLES. Truly, there is no better Pokemon game.



Nosepass, 255 catch rate (99%, low health, Pokeball), starting moves: Shadow Wave/Thunderbolt, Shadow Mist/Helping Hand, Thunder Wave, Rock Slide

This can be a tricky Pokemon to finally snag for not that great of a reward, since Miror B. might pop up when you're busy doing things and even then, do you really want to go through the Pyrite Colosseum for the fifth time just to get this mon? Well, while its attacking stats are abysmal, it can take hits I guess. Being a stalling Pokemon catcher is never a bad thing, but it just doesn't do much otherwise, since while Rock Slide is appreciated, it barely does any damage with it, same with Thunderbolt. It can't even try Sandstorm and Toxic stall since that TM is postgame, with the actual Sandstorm TM not being in this game, but it learns it soon enough. I guess you can do some Zap Cannon Lock-On shenanigans in the lategame, but every option is just mehhhhhhhh. Just make sure you don't forget to actually catch this thing, I only got it this late since I was hoping Miror B. would appear at the Realgam Colosseum, but no dice.



This is the worst place Miror B. can appear in, since his team changes from where you encounter him, from a bunch of level 20s in Pyrite, to level 20-40 at Poke Spots depending on our progress, to level 40 in Realgam. He never once appeared at Realgam, otherwise that would've been a great time to go beat that place. He has a pool of Pokemon to choose from, along with one Shadow Pokemon that was missed in the colosseum battles, or two missed Shadow Pokemon at Poke Spots. Here's the Realgam team he'll use since it's the most interesting, but do not fret, even though he'll never catch another Shadow Pokemon we've missed, we shall of course see him again. Now if you'll excuse me, I have 3 weak battles to beat.





...alright I'm out of things to do, so make sure you've got plenty of items and balls, because I won't be making any return trips, though you are of course free to.

Citadark Isle



I hope you like this track, cause it's what we'll be hearing for quite a while. Oh yeah, this place is big and definitely not for the faint of heart. Or for anyone who actually likes their final dungeons to be good.



I have this feeling I met you in a port somewhere, but I don't give a hoot about that. I do have a problem when someone shows up here without passage on our boat!



Our first battle of many. Pretty good since Kakyoin and Rednammok have some catching up still, but it is gonna start to wear on us.



And as you'd expect, there's some Shadow Pokemon.



Golduck, 75 catch rate (78%, low health, Net Ball), starting moves: Shadow Rave/Waterfall, Shadow Mist/Charm, Psych Up, Brick Break

God why did I decide to go over every Shadow Pokemon? I must be insane, why are you all enabling me??? If you want to use a Shadow Pokemon on Citadark Isle, then either catch it earlier, or catch it towards the end and use Realgam Colosseum to help it, or you'll be using it as a Shadow Pokemon for the final boss, which can be a good idea for some Pokemon, but that's for later. ANYWAY, Golduck is a perfectly fine Water type that has its positives and negatives. While it doesn't get Surf, Waterfall is still pretty damn good and it learns Ice Beam, gets a free Brick Break and can relearn Confusion if you really wanted it to. Well, aside from that it has Iron Tail, so choose carefully, but it's a perfectly fine mixed attacker that gets perfectly fine moves. And that's it, if only they were all this easy...



Oh god there's so many Shadow Pokemon.



Sableye, 45 catch rate (50%, low health, paralyzed, Ultra Ball), starting moves: Shadow Blitz/Shadow Ball, Shadow Hold/Helping Hand, Faint Attack, Recover

Oh hey I forgot Glare doesn't effect Ghost types... This little gem gremlin is a bit shit, cause its stats are pretty low, but as a physical Ghost type it's not awful. It gets a great movepool and just enough Atk that you won't cry every time it attacks. Just most of the time. As an annoying status spreader that is only weak to Shadow moves... ehhhhh, it gets Confuse Ray soon, Toxic is postgame and Substitute and Swagger are at least something to suggest. Recover is definitely appreciated and with Shadow Ball and Brick Break it has coverage at least. Well, so long as its a Shadow Pokemon, it truly has no weakness. And isn't that what friendship is all about? Ah who cares.



We never see him again. Seriously.



Oh, aye! It excites the sailing man's heart in me! Listen, how about letting me take a ride sometime, huh? That's right! That's the spirit of the man of the sea! I don't know if this is much of a thanks, but I found this in the ship.



Neat. Since we won't be returning to the mainland before the postgame, I'll be counting this CD as a postgame one.



Alright, we've still got some time left in this update. After all, you're not doing anything important anyway, so let's start tackling this place. Let's go left first.




The trainer levels still need to catch up, but BOY will they.



Dead end. Nice.



That reminds me, the speedrun for this game is like 5 hours long. I'm getting close to 50 hours!



Oh hey I know that birb.



Kakyoin is still a great partner for Rednammok, since he takes like FIFTEEN DAMAGE from Earthquake and that is just wonderful.



Dodrio, 45 catch rate (50%, low health, paralyzed, Ultra Ball) starting moves: Shadow Blitz/Drill Peck, Shadow Shed/Baton Pass, Agility, Tri Attack

You know what I'm gonna say about Dodrio, it really hasn't changed since we've used it, aside from losing a great tool in Hyper Beam. After all, I know what I'm gonna say about some Shadow Pokemon before the update since I think about it beforehand. Yes I'm that sad. It gets great moves to start with, though it doesn't need to do any Baton Pass nonsense, but it can't do anything else as Steel Wing is postgame. Seriously, it's just a slightly stronger and faster Fearow, which was a slightly stronger and faster Pidgeot. So yeah, I actually have nothing else to say.



Raticate, 127 catch rate (99%, low health, Ultra Ball), starting moves: Shadow Rush/Super Fang, Shadow Down/Refresh, Scary Face, Hyper Fang

Oh hey it's the rat I spoiled for you, cool. Raticate is like Fearow except not Flying, so worse. But hey, it can work out, it just needs a bit of love, as well as the standard TMs you probably already used. Regardless, Hyper Fang is a cool move that has a 10% chance to flinch. Did you remember that? I guess you could use Body Slam instead for more consistency. Then you've got Shadow Ball and Iron Tail and that's it. Well wasn't that fun. I guess you could use Dig and Ice Beam or Thunderbolt to hit 4x weaknesses? Eh, probably not worth it, it's a frail thing and it's not all that impressive cause, well, it's Raticate. So y'know, if you wanna use it, sure, but don't expect a huge amount. But at least you can use it and that's all that matters in this sea of Shadow Pokemon we're about to dive into.



Ah shit the floor glitch is back. Curse you totally legitimate Gamecube!



What is wrong with me? I've got to buck up and focus. Hey, kid, what say we battle? Oh, you're a bighearted kid! I'll show my respect and go all out!



Ah shit I went all out and knocked out 3 Pokemon in one turn.



Well it's good no one's that bothered by me being here on top secret evil island.



Maybe




Because of all the cool moves some Pokemon get, I forget how garbage their level up movepools still are.



I'm sure I'll get over it. ...hmm? Where is that funky music coming from?

Cipher Admin Theme



But it's okay now. We didn't need PROF. KRANE anyway! I just so needed to be serious just a little tiny bit to get XD001's adjustments just right! It is so perfect now! Purification will so not work on it ever! I'm so amazed because I am so a genius! Oh? You want to see my XD001? Oh, so sorry, that is so not possible! Why? Because...

Cipher Admin Battle







Ah time for the Admin refights, with some actual threatening Pokemon and new Shadow Pokemon! If you didn't get Delcatty last time, along with any other Admin's Pokemon, they're with Miror B. now.



Let's not do this now. Rednammok is getting strong enough that he one shot that Roselia.



Now we're getting to the good mons.



And to the good Shadow moves. Shadow Break has 75BP, 100% accuracy and is an upgrade to Shadow Rush. That's it.



Of course Shadow Panic hits both of us, but hey, that's what the Yellow Flute is for. It's very handy if you get constantly unlucky.



Farfetch'd, 45 catch rate (50%, low health, paralyzed, Ultra Ball), starting moves: Shadow Break/Slash, Shadow Sky/Baton Pass, Shadow Panic/Swords Dance, Aerial Ace

You think this Pokemon is a joke, right? Well it's true its highest stat is 65 Atk, which is hilariously bad, but by hell they try and make it work. With the Stick and Slash, Farfetch'd has a 33% chance to crit, which with a Swords Dance is nothing to scoff at. Then it gets Aerial Ace and Iron Tail and that's about it, but hey, with the right set up and team support, this Pokemon can work. CAN. This is still a really bad Pokemon, but I'll give points to GS for at least making me think if it's an option or not. The answer is gonna be no most of the time, but for one of you, perhaps... it's a yes. That would make you about as crazy as me though and do you really want that?

Altaria, 45 catch rate (50%, low health, paralyzed, Ultra Ball), starting moves: Shadow Break/Dragonbreath, Shadow Mist/Heal Bell, Shadow Rave/Solarbeam, Aerial Ace

Oh hey it's this mon again, this is the third time in Gen 3 we've been able to catch it and it's still perfectly fine. Starting with Dragonbreath is nice but Dragon Claw is at the end of the postgame. AGAIN. But it has a wide movepool and there aren't a lot of Ice moves floating around, so it should do just fine. I guess you could use it in a sun team, since it comes with Solarbeam for... some reason, then Fire Blast and Earthquake rounds it out nicely. Otherwise, you have Ice Beam and Body Slam, which are nice options, so add what fits your team best and go for it. It might not do as much damage as you'd like, but it can fit onto a team pretty nicely this late into the game by being a floofy defensive birb. And those are some of the best kinds of birbs! Otherwise that Flygon you totally have from the Poke Spot might be a better idea.



Ooh, how I so dislike you! I'll be glad, little boy, when MASTER GREEVIL and XD001 make you pay!



Alright, I think that sets the tone for Citadark Isle quite nicely. Next time, we'll spend all update climbing this damn place. Strap in folks and prepare to Snag.