Part 3: Violet City
Alright, looking at nickname choices, for Pidgey we have 3 votes for Popeye, for Hoppip there's 2 for Maship. For Corsola it's more difficult, with two each for Bonfire, Calcifer, Kimchi and Hestia.
I am not able to change nicknames in-game at this point, so I'll unofficially use the names Popeye and Maship and leave Corsola unnamed for the time being.
Let's explore Violet City.
Ghosts are rumored to appear in SPROUT TOWER. They said normal-type POKEMON moves had no effect on ghosts.
Someone in the Pokemon Center confirms that 3 years ago a kid got Team Rocket to break up. Good to know history hasn't changed too much.
By the way, the trading/link battle floor of the Pokemon Centers seem unchanged. I have no idea if they made that system compatible with the changed Pokemon and everything. Doesn't really matter because everything is available in a single copy of the romhack anyway.
In the southernmost house, someone wants to trade their Oddish for a Yanma. We haven't encountered Yanma yet so that'll have to wait. Earl's school seems much the same as in the original, just the early game tutorial stuff.
However, other than Pokeballs and basic healing items, the Mart here stocks X Defend, X Attack, and X Speed. Not that I have the money for those.
Finally, the Sudowoodo is here like usual. The nearby NPC says that he tried to punch it but that it didn't work. A hint as to its type?
We'll check out the ruins later. Let's first have a go at the Sprout Tower.
I'll switch-train Maship a bit since y'all seem to like him. At level 5, she learns Tail Whip. Yay, now she knows two non-damaging moves and nothing else.
Luckily with some more training we get her to level 7 where she learns Absorb.
Bellsprout, the Cannon Pokemon
Type: Steel
Pokedex: Though not very intimidating, they blast puffs of smoke at POKÉMON larger than themselves.
Steel? This is Corsola's time to shine, I guess.
Most of the Sprout Tower sages have Bellsprout, which all are knocked out quickly by Corsola's Ember or Popeye's Arm Thrust. Corsola has significantly better base stats so she does slightly better. At level 11 she learns Rock Throw. Sure, I'll take it.
I also encounter a wild Bellsprout which I catch. It only has the bug-type move Pin Missile at this low level.
On the top level, some of the sages have a Hoothoot.
Hoothoot, the Owl Pokémon
Type: Steel/Flying
Pokedex: A well-armored POKÉMON. It has been observed sledding down icy hills on its shield in winter.
Nothing in Sprout Tower can withstand fire.
We find HUH?!? battling the Elder, and then it's our turn.
The Bellsprout statues haven't been updated.
Corsola OHKOs the Elder's two Bellsprout and Hoothoot, and the Elder rewards me with HM05, Flash. Corsola and Maship can learn it, so I teach it to Maship.
With that done, I go heal up and get my Bellsprout in the party instead of Sentret. Bellsprout seems more interesting, at least.
Next up, the Gym.
Hey! I'm no trainer but I can give some advice! Believe me! If you believe, a championship dream can come true.
You believe? Then listen. The grass-type is weak against the flying-type. Keep this in mind.
Hm.
Alright, the first trainer in the gym is still a Bird Keeper and has a Pidgey. I guess they kept gym types the same.
The second trainer isn't much more interesting, with a Pidgey and Hoothoot.
And with that, we're already at Falkner. I don't think his dialogue changed.
Marill, the Sky Mouse Pokémon
Type: Normal/Flying
Pokedex: MARILL's large ears are just strong enough to barely lift it off the ground.
...I don't know what I was expecting Falkner to lead with, but it wasn't this.
Marill attacks with Mud-Slap, Defense Curl, and, of all things, Icy Wind. None of these are moves he learns normally, but he can learn them through TMs. I guess Falkner has been around.
At level 8, my Bellsprout learns a second move, Spikes.
Falkner's second pokemon, Hoothoot, also knows Mud-Slap and Defense Curl, which it also only learns by TM.
And here is Falkner's ace.
Pidgeotto, the Walloping Pokémon
Type: Fighting/Flying
Pokedex: PIDGEOTTO are easily irritated and will land a solid punch on those who cross them.
Evolves from Pidgey at level 18.
Pidgeotto ALSO knows Mud-Slap which it only learns by TM. I get sick of Falkner's accuracy-lowering bullshit and set up a Smokescreen myself, before switching in Popeye who is immune to Mud-Slap.
Since Pidgeotto keeps trying to hit Popeye with Arm Thrust and Popeye uses Gust in return, we win easily.
First badge in the pocket! Unsurprisingly, we also get TM31, Mud-Slap. All of the pokemon in my party except for Bellsprout can learn it. I decide to give it to Maship. Even if it's a weak attack, at least that gives it some STAB.
But wait a second...
Yep. TMs are reusable in Fool's Gold, a very very nice QoL improvement that was introduced in the official games in Gen V.
After the gym, Elm's assistant is waiting for me in the Pokemon Center to give me an egg. Of course we're gonna hatch it. It kind of feels like my first playthrough of Silver all those years ago, having no idea what's going to come out.
I put Earthworm Jim in the PC to make space in my party.
Alright, time to leave Violet and go find some new Pokemon. You may have noticed when we went to check on Sudowoodo that there's now a small patch of grass on this side of route 36. I take a couple minutes to check it out and only find Venonat and Pidgey. There's probably something else here but hopefully we can find it more easily later. I catch a Venonat and move on.
You probably knew that Johto is based on a real area of Japan. You might even have known that every city in Johto is based on a real Japanese city. But did you know that the Ruins of Alph are based on a collection of real ancient ruins in the Japanese village of Asuka? Some of them even have ancient wall paintings in them.
Since this romhack is based on Crystal, the puzzles in the back leading to item rooms are there. Let's do this before the sliding puzzle. This first room tells me to ESCAPE.
The back room has a couple berries, a Heal Powder, and an Energypowder. I'll never feed my friends bitter medicine so I'll sell those two when I get a chance.
The text in the Unown rooms seems unchanged. Time for the slide puzzle,
A Pokemon that hid on the sea floor. Eyes on its back scanned the area.
Hmm, do you have any idea what pokemon that might be?
Yep, it's... Kabuto?
Unown, the Symbol Pokémon
Type: Psychic/Rock
Pokedex: These POKÉMON resemble stone inscriptions, and seem to have strange, primordial powers.
While Unown still starts with Hidden Power, in this game at least they learn plenty of moves by level up or TM.
This is the Unown I, by the way. I also catch Unown C
and Unown J
to have the three forms needed to get the Unown Pokedex mode from the scientist.
Oh man, the text in the ruins was just normal Unown but the words in the Dex are made from the redesigned alphabet. This one says "INCREASE", just like in the vanilla game. Apparently these Unown designs are based on
Glagolitic script.
I put an Unown in my party for just a second because the new menu sprite gave me a chuckle.
Next time, we'll make our way to Azalea.
Progress:
- Pokemon seen: 17/433 (3.93%)
