Let's Play! Gotta Play (A Handful) Of Em' All (Current Project: Pokemon Platinum)

First things first, our levels. We did a little off screen grinding. Clearing out the some remaining routes and all that jazz. Still no Snorlax though...
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Oh no. The ADHD is learning how to hide its presence, becoming a bigger threat now. When it appears once more, I will be unguarded and...what was I talking about again?
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That...is a -1 Return. Big Boi is indeed a Big Boi.
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Why is this not an Infernape? There is no reason as to why it should not be. I mean, I'm glad it isn't but at the same time....bruh.
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And that is Silverpowder boosted Bug Bite. Not bad damage at all. I do know where Aerial Ace is and just outright forgor to go get it. We rectify this much later though.
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When is the last time anyone has heard the word stupendous?
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These are our levels prior to Wake as of now. I invested more into Dendro due to Dry Skin.
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So yeah, Gyarados is a non issue though I used Swagger to deal with it. For some reason, the AI is coded to use Water Moves on you. My thinking is that since that is the hardest he can hit with it and Waterfall being quite the nuclear option for this stage of the game, the AI saw a neutral target and went for it. Only for Dry Skin to say "Nah Fam". The interesting thing is though is that Wake kept doing it. Maybe the AI changes the move when it finally hits but because it can't hit, it continues to try?
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Yeah, you see where this is going. Because of Intimidate, we really cannot hit for any kind of damage. so we are left to Swagger this too. Mud Bomb or Shot, I forget which, never hit. It doesn't help that Croagunk has pretty lousy stats for this high of a level too. Granted, Quag is known for being somewhat bulky too.
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And with that, one of the harder gyms goes down with very little issue. Honestly, it's funny but also kind of a let down that it can be trivialized like this.
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Our reward is Brine. Honestly, it isn't a bad move at all! The issues I have with it is that it has 10 PP, comes a little bit too late since Surf is literally at the next major fight, and the fact that if you had hit a Pokemon and dropped it to half or more already, then you just....hit that move again? I can see it if the Pokemon is super bulky and that this will get you the KO. So it does have it's uses albeit minor ones.
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So I am going to attempt to avoid certain words here. While I do get that Pokemon went full in with it, I rather not get flagged or have my FBI agent get an alert. Anyway. Apparently the button was a Spoink. Good to know.
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This just in at Pastoria City. Local Gym Leader Wake is roasted by the suspect. It's an absolute savage burn towards Wake.
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Man, I wish. That would be a really neat concept. That our sister is Cynthia and that we are traveling the region to partake in the League and dethrone her.
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Shocking isn't it. Don't worry, I wasn't given the option. He just self inserted himself into my life.
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Apparently, calling it a fat turd triggered the evolution. If only I had known sooner....
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Behold. Horror. This fight is just horrendous to do. I had all 5 up to snuff and I came out with 2. I had to use Revives, Toxic the Gyarados, and pray. This is also in the Fog so I hope that people do use Defog on the Overworld.
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After a bit of grinding, we get Toxicroak. Finally we have usable stats and can hit very hard. I quickly give it Swords Dance and upgrade Revenge to Brick Break.
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Sure thing, voiceless body in the distance.
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So Toxicroak alone has taken down Sneasel and Golbat. We are at +2 at this point and -2 Defense from Screech Sneasel. Ice Punch did that much damage. Golbat missed Air Cutter and I 2HKO's with Sucker Punch. Can we clutch a sweep?
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Yes. Yes we can. Brick Break OHKO's Murkrow here. I forget what it used but yeah. Liking Dendro even more now.
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So honest thoughts here. Many would probably say after what they just did a bit ago, she should have seen them as a threat. Here is where I kinda differ a bit. Cynthia is by far the strongest trainer in this game. Probably in the franchise even. If we were in her shoes and with how powerful we are, would we have seen Team Galactic as any threat too? If anything, we would have seen them as a nuisance that the local police could deal with. Something that isn't worth the Champion's time. Essentially, "harmless" to us. Not so harmless to others which she is now realizing. People are getting hurt or are in jeopardy of some serious harm due to this perception she has of herself. Maybe I am overthinking but thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.
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And with that, we wrap up this episode. See you in the next one!

EDIT: Forgor a Screenie
 
So yeah, Gyarados is a non issue though I used Swagger to deal with it. For some reason, the AI is coded to use Water Moves on you. My thinking is that since that is the hardest he can hit with it and Waterfall being quite the nuclear option for this stage of the game, the AI saw a neutral target and went for it. Only for Dry Skin to say "Nah Fam". The interesting thing is though is that Wake kept doing it. Maybe the AI changes the move when it finally hits but because it can't hit, it continues to try?
As far as I've been able to tell, the Gen 4 AI has a problem with Dry Skin specifically (I think I've mentioned it in another thread way back). Most immunity abilities only seem to bait them once, but they just keep trying with Dry Skin if a Water attack is their strongest attack and/or their only option for a KO.

I'd actually be very curious to test if the AI's understanding of Motor Drive is similar, since iirc it's the only other immunity ability new to Gen 4 (Storm Drain didn't gain its Water immunity until Gen 5).
 
As far as I've been able to tell, the Gen 4 AI has a problem with Dry Skin specifically (I think I've mentioned it in another thread way back). Most immunity abilities only seem to bait them once, but they just keep trying with Dry Skin if a Water attack is their strongest attack and/or their only option for a KO.

I'd actually be very curious to test if the AI's understanding of Motor Drive is similar, since iirc it's the only other immunity ability new to Gen 4 (Storm Drain didn't gain its Water immunity until Gen 5).
I believe the only one with Motor Drive is Electivire? That would be pretty late game. It's in time for the Gym at least. I can certainly try it out though Electivire isn't in my team list here.
 
I believe the only one with Motor Drive is Electivire? That would be pretty late game. It's in time for the Gym at least. I can certainly try it out though Electivire isn't in my team list here.
Shouldn't be too hard to get a quick test on it even if you're not planning on running it tho.

Catching a Buzz and evolving it is fairly trivial. The problem is getting Volkner to try and hit an Electric-type with an Electric move.

Croak vs Wake probably only works because their STAB Water moves are the highest damage moves they got against it.
 
Shouldn't be too hard to get a quick test on it even if you're not planning on running it tho.

Catching a Buzz and evolving it is fairly trivial. The problem is getting Volkner to try and hit an Electric-type with an Electric move.

Croak vs Wake probably only works because their STAB Water moves are the highest damage moves they got against it.
Yeah I think it'd be easier to guarantee Electric attack spam by Skill Swapping Motor Drive onto an Electric-weak mon in a double battle, like the Ace Trainer double on the fog route.

Gym trainers are an option too, provided their AI is good enough and their mons only have weak non-Electric moves. The female Ace Trainer in Sunyshore Gym has the same AI as Volkner and leads with a Modest Electabuzz that knows Thunderbolt, Shock Wave, Quick Attack, and Iron Tail, so Tbolt should be the chosen attack against a healthy Electivire, even with its worse physical bulk.

EDIT: yeah I did the calc and Electivire would need to have exceptionally high SpDef and exceptionally low Def for Iron Tail to even have a chance of rolling higher damage than Thunderbolt during the move selection routine
 
Shouldn't be too hard to get a quick test on it even if you're not planning on running it tho.

Catching a Buzz and evolving it is fairly trivial. The problem is getting Volkner to try and hit an Electric-type with an Electric move.

Croak vs Wake probably only works because their STAB Water moves are the highest damage moves they got against it.
Well yeah, I had planned to try to out to see what would happen anyways haha.
 
Hello you lovely beautiful people, for the first time ever I'm giving YOU the chance to have some input on my final Platinum team member!

I've thought about it immensely and I can't really decide what my last slot should be, though I have a few options in mind and I'd like you all to give feedback on which one might be the most interesting:

-Raichu (fast mon, pretty self sufficient, likely easy to level at this point) or Electivire (why does this mon come after the Galactic stuff? Such a waste)
-Probopass (super duper interesting dude but the best options come very late and it'd be very hard to pilot)
-Lucario (the most popular pick of this list, but one I've actually never used in DPPT to my memory)
-Carnivine (it'd be very hard to use but unique)
-Abomasnow (love this guy but Snow Warning is awful for teammates) or Glaceon (my only reservation with using this is that I already gave the Shadow Ball TM to Spiritomb) or maybe even Mamoswine (popular pick but love the design and stats)
-Hippowdon (sleeper pick but like Abomasnow Sand Stream blows for teammates)
-Altaria (interesting type, DD is fun, nobody uses this because Garchomp exists, I think it'd be super fun)
-Sudowoodo (Rock Head Wood Hammer, Sucker Punch, easy natural STAB. Pretty fun to use, ran it before and it's good if you know the opponent's moves).

I'd probably show the result off in the next post given we'd likely progress near the snow routes but who knows.
 
Abomasnow
I'd like to see this one because I don't think I've ever bothered with it in-game. Good movepool too.

Glaceon... isn't anything to write home about tbh. I used it plenty of times and like, it doesn't disappoint, but it doesn't do anything super cool. Haha Ice Beam go brrrrrrrrrr gets old after a while.

Electivire would be nice... if it didn't need like, a million things to get going. You might as well use Regigigas.
 
-Probopass (super duper interesting dude but the best options come very late and it'd be very hard to pilot)
-Glaceon (my only reservation with using this is that I already gave the Shadow Ball TM to Spiritomb
I vote for one of these 2, Probopass if I can only pick one. As some who has used Glaceon, it's a very effective one trick pony that doesn't really use or need Shadow Ball. You're either up against something neutral to Ice, in which case you hit it with an Icicle Plate boosted Ice Beam/Blizzard, or you switch because resists can usually also hit super effectively.
 

ScraftyIsTheBest

On to new Horizons!
is a Top Contributor Alumnusis a Smogon Media Contributor Alumnus
I would advise waiting for others to input before making a choice, but I'll give my two cents on a few who I have used before in my several playthroughs of Sinnoh

Abomasnow was surprisingly good when I used it. The hail kinda sucks but it's a double-edged sword more than a flat out detriment: wearing down your own Pokemon kinda sucks but at the same time the passive damage has proven to be clutch, especially in cases where my Pokemon would just miss out on a KO by a sliver and would under normal circumstances trigger the AI to use a Full Restore, but then the hail damage kicks in and finishes them off. It has a pretty robust offensive STAB combo with two 120 BP STABs in a never-miss Blizzard (this is huge!) and Wood Hammer, and priority in Ice Shard for extra bonus alongside a coverage move of choice. It's probably better in Diamond and Pearl than it is in Platinum though, in DP it was cool to overpower Cynthia's Garchomp, but in Platinum her Garchomp has Flamethrower which as you know...Abomasnow will just drop instantly to one. Still, with a bit of team effort it can KO Garchomp with Ice Shard which is clutch.

Lucario is a pretty popular pick and a fan favorite since everyone and their mother knows who it is lol. That said it's good, but you're gonna need to raise it up quite a bit (playing catch-up) once you hatch the Riolu. It evolves pretty quickly and can learn Force Palm, Bone Rush, and Swords Dance naturally, and upgrade to Close Combat if you wanna go physical (and learns Extreme Speed at Level 51), making it good on that side, or go for special with Aura Sphere, Dark Pulse, and Dragon Pulse, and you can teach it stuff like Flash Cannon and Psychic via TM. It has good options on both sides: either as a Swords Dance sweeper that can boost and hit hard with Close Combat, Extreme Speed, and whatnot, or on the special side with its wide range of coverage. Or if you're feeling it (and your Lucario's nature allows for it), a mixed attacker set using its wide range of coverage and power from both sides is also good. It's a fairly flexible Pokemon that is mainly an attacker but has many good ways of being used. It's also in the Medium Slow EXP group which means leveling it up isn't too hard and playing catch-up, you can get it on par with the rest of your team pretty quickly.

Electivire is fun as hell late game when you give it a few TMs and tutor moves like Ice Punch, Flamethrower, and Brick Break. It has wide coverage and good offensive power on both sides that make it quite enjoyable to use. That said yeah, it comes so late that it can be hard to justify including it at that point, and there's the other can of worms (trade holding Electirizer), but if you have space for it, it can be pretty fun to use.

Just a few cents on the Pokemon I have experience with.
 
Hello you lovely beautiful people, for the first time ever I'm giving YOU the chance to have some input on my final Platinum team member!
Awesome idea! You listed many interesting options, my nominations will be a top five. From top to bottom:
1. Sudowoodo - Sounds great from the way you describe it, feels very underrated and it is also the counterpart to Mr. Mime, so using it alongside Mime would be cool.
2. Mamoswine - Only because I have wanted to use it myself for many in-game runs, but I don't think I have ever done so, and it is a very cool Pokémon in general.
3. Hippowdon - Feels very underrated and underappreciated, could be a great Physical tank.
4. Altaria - I used one when I played through Platinum for the first time and IIRC it was quite good. It has DD as you say, and Draco Meteor can also be used as a powerful nuke (relatively speaking).
5. Electivire - Feels like another underrated pick, might be worth a shot.
 

Yung Dramps

awesome gaming
Hello you lovely beautiful people, for the first time ever I'm giving YOU the chance to have some input on my final Platinum team member!

I've thought about it immensely and I can't really decide what my last slot should be, though I have a few options in mind and I'd like you all to give feedback on which one might be the most interesting:

-Raichu (fast mon, pretty self sufficient, likely easy to level at this point) or Electivire (why does this mon come after the Galactic stuff? Such a waste)
-Probopass (super duper interesting dude but the best options come very late and it'd be very hard to pilot)
-Lucario (the most popular pick of this list, but one I've actually never used in DPPT to my memory)
-Carnivine (it'd be very hard to use but unique)
-Abomasnow (love this guy but Snow Warning is awful for teammates) or Glaceon (my only reservation with using this is that I already gave the Shadow Ball TM to Spiritomb) or maybe even Mamoswine (popular pick but love the design and stats)
-Hippowdon (sleeper pick but like Abomasnow Sand Stream blows for teammates)
-Altaria (interesting type, DD is fun, nobody uses this because Garchomp exists, I think it'd be super fun)
-Sudowoodo (Rock Head Wood Hammer, Sucker Punch, easy natural STAB. Pretty fun to use, ran it before and it's good if you know the opponent's moves).

I'd probably show the result off in the next post given we'd likely progress near the snow routes but who knows.
Probopass easily. Love that guy
 

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