Let's Play Pokemon SoulSilver

Salix Babylonika · 2016-05-31 00:53:11

You don't need me to tell you what this is, it's pretty self-explanatory. I've been wanting to do another Poke-LP since the Touhoumon Blue playthrough (which was now several years ago! Time flies), and I decided to do this one because A) Pokemon Silver was the first I owned and I never played the remake, and B) I have not ever played any of the Gen 4 games. If I finish this in a timely manner I'll probably move on to Platinum afterward.

This is us, here:

Kyoko. Not to be confused with Kyoko (the protagonist of Pokemon Sapphire), Kyoko (the protagonist of Pokemon Black), Kyoko (the protagonist of Pokemon Black 2), Kyoko (the protagonist of Pokemon X), or, indeed, Kyoko (the protagonist-to-be of Pokemon Platinum).

We are a small little girl in a big big world and our primary goal is to kick ass.

this here is our room. It kinda blows but at least we have a TV which is more than I can say for my real-life room.

Most of the stuff in our room is, frankly, boring as shit, but we have an email from one Ethan, who tells us, um, that. Maybe we'll reply once Ethan learns how to type in full sentences.

We go downstairs and our ma tells us Ethan was just here. The Law of Name Conservation tells us that this must be the same Ethan we just received an email from, there is simply no other explanation.

Mom it is impossible to articulate how little I care about Ethan's Marill.

That's not weird at all.

One of those little Mom & Pop experimental laboratories like they've got in every small town. Of course!

After this, mom gives us our bag, our trainer card, and uh....our Save and Options buttons. How deliciously meta.

Now, we head out into a brave world full of adventure! Also, little kids that like Weedle a whole lot, but that's a story for another update.

LOAD Cherry · 2016-05-31 00:58:16

Jane said:

We are a small little girl in a big big world and our primary goal is to kick ass.

This right here is poetry~

I hope you write another update tonight! I wanna backseat game :>

Salix Babylonika · 2016-05-31 00:59:03

I'm gonna write a bunch of posts tonight probably. I just cut them where it feels pertinent to do so.

Crystal · 2016-05-31 01:00:17

Yay!

Salix Babylonika · 2016-05-31 01:18:19

we step out of our house and

I am gonna really quickly get tired of this Marill if this becomes a pattern. Snapback over there leaves without saying a word (unless "!!" counts as a word), because, again, video games, this is probably Ethan.

Are you hitting on me

Anyway here's the lab. There's also a weird person staring in the window, but we're a protagonist, not a hero, so we bravely ignore the fuck out of them.

Oh god this place is oppressively cheery. If I could embed the music into that picture I would. Let's talk to Nerdlinger on the right there first.

I was afraid you'd say that.

And I was afraid you would say that.

Do you research how to fuse pokemon and people together, creating Poke-men in the truest sense?

Nah that would be stupid.

BACK IN MY DAY WE USED TO HAVE TO WALK WITH OUR PICK-A-CHOOS UP HILL BOTH WAYS IN THE SNOW AND BY GUM WE LIKED IT

Do not use "Ethan" and "friend" in the same sentence please.

And come to eventually dominate the world, yes, I've thought about this.

Bodyguards?

....go on.

I....sure?

Why can't you do this again??

...I suppose that answers my question.

This is beginning to sound suspiciously like you wanting me to run you an errand.

?

Oh, this time it's real. Obviously. All the times when he tried to clue a conch shell to a Krabby and tell you he found a living Omastar, those were flukes, this time he's found something TRULY wild.

Heeeeeeeeeere it comes.

Kyoko: 1 / Universe: 0

Well now we pick our pet hellbeast.

Here are our choices:

This decision is up to you, Heap.

In my mind there's a right answer here, but I'll play with whatever hand I'm dealt.

(If we wanna do nicknames, suggest one.)

Fossilmaiden · 2016-05-31 01:20:08

Easy.

Cyndaquil.

Crystal · 2016-05-31 01:21:11

I'm choosing Totodile because Fossil has inferior taste it's the cutest.

Salix Babylonika · 2016-05-31 01:22:40

I'll close the voting after I'm done with this episode of Northernlion's Binding of Isaac series.

since I edited it in: if you want me to do nicknames, suggest one. I'm being consistent, so if we don't do a nickname here we're not doing any for the whole series.

daltar · 2016-05-31 01:24:14

Chikorita.

Crystal · 2016-05-31 01:25:49

I want nicknames, personally, but I don't have something in mind.

LOAD Cherry · 2016-05-31 01:30:21

My opinions:

If you want an easy run in Johto, pick Cyndaquil.
If you want something that will carry you through Kanto, pick Totodile.
If you want a challenge, pick Chikorita.

That said, I went with Cyndaquil during my journey.

If you want me to actually vote, I vote Totodile.

Salix Babylonika · 2016-05-31 01:31:50

Yeah it's just whatever you want me to pick. I know the original Silver front to back and am not utterly awful at Pokemon, I could make Chikorita work if people wanted it.

FTR that's:

Totodile: II
Chikorita: I
Cyndaquil: I

Obā-san · 2016-05-31 01:35:18

daltar said:
Chikorita.

LOAD Cherry · 2016-05-31 01:38:45

Nickname recs:

Cyndaquil: Cinder, Gwyn, Ella, Laurentius
Totodile: Dandy, Burt, Bitey, Tango
Chikorita: Basil, Megan, Toast, Sunny

Section42L · 2016-05-31 01:50:49

I'm tempted to go with Cyndaquil myself.

Tachyon · 2016-05-31 01:52:59

Cyndaquil because it's adorable

Salix Babylonika · 2016-05-31 01:53:50

Jane said:
Yeah it's just whatever you want me to pick. I know the original Silver front to back and am not utterly awful at Pokemon, I could make Chikorita work if people wanted it.

FTR that's:

Totodile: II
Chikorita: II
Cyndaquil: III

Salix Babylonika · 2016-05-31 01:54:19

I think I'll call it now actually. 7 votes is good.

Salix Babylonika · 2016-05-31 02:09:27

Faced with the choice between Fiery Death, Watery Death, and Worse Bulbasaur, we go with the first of these, a classic to be sure.

We decide to name the little guy "Cinder", because we want to remind our enemies what they'll be reduced to if they cross us.

Professor, I need you to understand very soon how tempting it is to check to see if my little friend here knows Flamethrower yet.

Right. I will definitely give my magma porcupine back to you when I'm done running your inane errand. Definitely.

We're told we have to go just north of Cherrygrove City. That doesn't seem particularly hard.

Nerdlinger hands us some potions on our way out the door (which feels a bit like an insult somehow) and then gives us some great advice.

t h a n k s f a m

Oh god this fuck again.

Don't ever talk to me, Ethan.

Which could eat your Marill, yes.

HE IS DEADLY

Why don't I show my Pokemon to your mom, Ethan?

I would like to point out that this is now the third person who has called Cinder cute. I mean they're not wrong, but consult a thesaurus or something, goodness.

Ma gives us our Pokegear (I've really never been clear on what, exactly, Pokegear is) and explains to us how to call people. I will be referring to this as our iPhone, because that's what it is.

We decide to give Cinder a pet and

Cinder,

I know this is very hard for you to understand, however, my mom is a human, and you are a small dog-land porpoise-porcupine fire creature. You cannot "get with" my mother. Please remove the thought from your head.

Anyhow. North to Cherrygrove!

Salix Babylonika · 2016-05-31 02:25:17

Or not.

God! It's like a teenage girl can't sneak out in the middle of the night to run an errand for a strange man in a lab coat these days without being accosted with all sorts of "friendly advice".

He's giving us his fucking phone number by the way.

(͡°_͡°) I would really prefer if you did not....

Anyway, we're not far out of the city when we're immediately accosted by our first battle! What furious beast will we engage in combat with?!

This is so comically "first pokemon encounter" it hurts.

We have no Pokeballs, else I'd try to catch this fella (I'll explain my methodology for how we're adding Pokemon to the party once we actually get some of those, I think they make you wait a while in Gen 2).

Cinder cannot actually use his fire for much yet. He has the barebones two-move set you see here.

A couple applications of Tackle and Leer bring the Ratata down. Embarrassingly, we end up needing one of the potions that Nerdlinger (yes, I am going to call him that for the entire game) gave us. Which doesn't really bode that well for the future, but, oh well. Onward!

Here's Cinder's summary since I forgot to post it earlier. Him having a naughty nature and being "extremely curious" are things I coulda told you myself.

The third tab is ribbons. Spoiler: we ain't doing contests if I can avoid it.

The early game routes tend to be pretty dull. That's not even a trainer, it's just an NPC who gives us some lame advice.

WTF why can't you do that in battle yet? You're holding out on me, man!

We enter Cherrygrove Proper without much further effort. Lively little town, and I actually don't mind the music here super much.

What will we do here? Not talk to that tutorial guy if we can help it, let's find out if we can in the next installment!

LOAD Cherry · 2016-05-31 02:31:31

Cinder might be able to puff some fire, but it's not consistent enough to be effective... It's like. "Look at what I can do, mom!!"

Also, that's a solid nature Cinder's got there, and it's highest IV is in Sp. Attack, so the little guy definitely has mixed attacker potential.

Salix Babylonika · 2016-05-31 02:33:18

I don't know what that means but I suppose I am happy?

LOAD Cherry · 2016-05-31 02:34:38

Most of his stat growth will be in Attack and his Special attack will also be good. Therefore, he can use both physical and special moves effectively.

Salix Babylonika · 2016-05-31 05:12:11

Fuck

Well after our geriatric friend here explains to us what Pokemon Centers, Pokemarts, and

fucking water is

He, well, this is actually a pleasant surprise.

💀

Ay buddy how about you go fuck yourself.

Anyway we have shoes now and can locomote more quickly.

I think that's the fire, yo.

We take a quick trip to the Pokecenter to heal up Cinder, and then a stop into the Pokemart to grab some antidotes (I ain't that dumb).

Then uh, this happens:

He gave us the map function for our iPhone.

You know I really don't understand why they don't just introduce all of these things at once. For the benefit of younger players I suppose? Anyway, onward to this Mr. Pokemon chucklefuck's house.

Our second wild Pokemon encounter is a Hoothoot. Sadly, its tactic of spamming Identify or whatever the hell it's called (I still have no idea what the fuck that does, 20 years into playing these games), doesn't work out well, and we take it down no muss no fuss.

Good. Good.

You know what they say about where there's smoke. Soon, our little Cinder will surely be burning everything in his path to a complete crisp! What an adorable little conflagration he is.

Could this be Mr. Pokemon's house?

Oh! Uh, sorry.

um, well....

n...no?

There is nothing I can possibly caption this series of images with to make it any sadder.

He gives us an Apricorn Box, which is presumably a thing to put Apricorns in.

Despondent about this man's lot in life, I turn to Cinder for advice.

Alright yeah I don't have the best sense of direction but you don't gotta rub it in, sheesh.

We get a....Grn Apricorn from outside? Grn? This is not the Gameboy Color you can just spell out "Green" now, you know? Oh whatever.

Here, a pair of miscreant youths engage in a Pokemon battle in the middle of the night. Where are their parents? Probably home licking Politoeds if I know kids these days.

Huh. Well, that's convenient.

And here we are! About 5 minutes and a level for Cinder later.

Why are all of the important early NPCs in this game old men.

Northernlion joke.

He tells us he wants the Elmmeister to analyze the egg cuz he's an expert in evolution or what the hell ever.

to my chagrin, yes.

Buddy if I'm playing this game I know who you are. You are the fourth most famous human in the Pokemon universe. It goes Ash, then Misty, then Brock, then you.

It's OK dude you don't have to lie to me. None of us are here of our own volition.

Gettin' some real peculiar Old Man Club vibes here.

At least you didn't call him "cute".

If you don't treat your tickets to world conquest well you're just asking for trouble.

Fuck it why not

Wouldn't it be better to just bring up Bulbapedia on my Pokegear? This is one of those sad "Blockbuster's final years before Netflix killed them completely" situations isn't it?

Also if this thing snarks at me I'm chucking it in a ditch.

It's like 2am my man.

I'm not trying to say that it's super creepy that everyone wants my phone number but it is super creepy that everyone wants my phone number.

Let's see what Cinder thinks about this.

well I thought we were having fun together but OK I guess :(

On the next update: that!

LOAD Cherry · 2016-05-31 05:24:51

Ah, the old noctowl spamming foresight bit. Foresight lets pokemon hit ghost types with fighting and/or normal type moves! Utterly useless for it right now. Mildly sortamaybe useful for you once you run into Sprout Tower.

Crystal · 2016-05-31 05:53:22

You should catch a bird and name it Crystal please.

Bee · 2016-05-31 07:04:28

Foresight also nullifies enemies' evasion buffs. Which is...still far too situational to be worth a move slot. And before this generation it was completely useless for that too, because it had standard accuracy and missed exactly as often as just going ahead and killing the enemy.

Basically, the only purpose of Foresight is to brag to your friends a whole generation after it went into the movelist that you got a super-effective hit against a Sableye in a gen that had pretty much no Pokemon that could even use it.

LOAD Cherry · 2016-05-31 16:21:00

Bee said:
Foresight also nullifies enemies' evasion buffs. Which is...still far too situational to be worth a move slot. And before this generation it was completely useless for that too, because it had standard accuracy and missed exactly as often as just going ahead and killing the enemy.

Basically, the only purpose of Foresight is to brag to your friends a whole generation after it went into the movelist that you got a super-effective hit against a Sableye in a gen that had pretty much no Pokemon that could even use it.

The Zigzagoon family has the mechanically identical odor sleuth, sooooo.

And besides, at this point, the ability Scrappy has been introduced, which passively lets you wreck ghosts' shit.

Crystal · 2016-05-31 16:37:47

Crystal said:
You should catch a bird and name it Crystal please.

LOAD Cherry · 2016-05-31 18:10:36

Crystal said:

Crystal said:
You should catch a bird and name it Crystal please.

Tachyon · 2016-05-31 23:29:20

these poor innocent NPCs

it's ok, this is a safe world

safe by JRPG standards

Salix Babylonika · 2016-06-01 02:16:32

Quite literally the moment we step out of Mr. Pokemon's 'home', our Pokegear rings (buzzes? vibrates? chirps? who knows)

Your hair?

Gosh, what a drama queen.

Begrudgingly, we head back to the lab.

But not before being accosted by a Kakuna!!!

(seriously what is the point of encountering wild Kakuna, Metapods, etc. They can't do anything unless "annoy you by taking a very long time to KO" counts as "something".)

Cinder hits Level 8 off the fight, to no particular fanfare at all.

Our trip to Cherrygrove is uneventful, but as we try to leave.

This guy! Who takes about five seconds too long to say something to avoid making it awkward. And it's an insult, I think this fellow needs to work on his social skills.

When all is mine, you will die first.

Oh shit guys, he's gonna show us his "good Pokemon".

Huh you know that actually is a pretty good Pokemon.

That little ding in Cinder's health is the culmination of not one but two Scratch attacks, for the record.

Who thought this was an improvement to Pokemon battles, by the way? I don't need the other trainer to talk while we're fighting.

He loses, Cinder hits Level 9, and we are given p500 for our troubles. He also asks us if we're happy we won, to which the answer is a resounding "yes", because this is another step on our path to God-Empress of The Pokeworld.

Not even like a little bit.

Look I'm not saying you're genetically doomed but you do share a hair color with Jessie from the anime.

At some point we presumably pocket his Trainer Card with our ninja skills.

(this bothers me by the way because why would a criminal be carrying one of those around)

We return to the lab, annnnnd

What an extremely convenient coincidence! I just saw a guy with a stolen Pokemon mere moments ago! How impossibly lined-up!

are....are you a real police officer?

I never thought I'd say "thank God Ethan has my back" but here we are.

Oh, we got his name all right.

What?

Were you expecting me to put in some kind of joke name? What's wrong with being named Raymond?

After this interrogation the police officer thanks us and then just fucking leaves.

Shut the fuck up Ethan my moment of gratitude wore off ten moments ago.

YOU WERE JUST ROBBED, NO SHIT

I hate you.

Elminster then freaks out about Oak giving us a Pokedex. I forgot how much talking there was in the opening parts of this game.

He suggests that we take the Pokemon Gym Challenge, which, naturally, we accept, as any path to further our vast power is a step toward our goal of total dominance of the entire globe! Yes! This is truly a fitting test for such a mighty individual as us (and Cinder).

Fuck off.

Cinder is the only one with his head screwed on straight around here, as is usual.

Next up: we talk to our mom. Again.

LOAD Cherry · 2016-06-01 02:21:52

Jane said:
Who thought this was an improvement to Pokemon battles, by the way? I don't need the other trainer to talk while we're fighting.
.

I do! I think it adds flavor to the characters, I really like it. (Unless it's a hard fight that I have to re do like 10 million jillion times.)

Obā-san · 2016-06-01 02:29:25

i for one really like the trainer interjections

Salix Babylonika · 2016-06-01 02:37:45

gosh I didn't realize my audience was a bunch of nerds that like to read

Crystal · 2016-06-01 03:18:00

Yeah I find them endearing.

Salix Babylonika · 2016-06-01 03:30:17

Well jeez mom don't try to sound too sad about it now.

We say goodbye and head out, off on our own for the first time in this game, finally.

I spoke too soon.

Yes. This absolutely is the tutorial you think it is.

After a far, far longer than it needs to be tutorial, we are given some Pokeballs.

Here's where I explain how I'm gonna be doing this.

Basically I'm going to endeavor to catch every Pokemon we see. That won't always be possible, but I'm going to try. Then, you, the audience, will vote on what we keep. It's pretty simple, if you want me to keep something, say so.

Things will start getting difficult when I have to choose what to leave behind once we fill up all six party slots, but you'll get to vote on that too in the same manner so don't worry.

As for nicknames? Suggest them whenever you like. If you want a specific species to get a specific nickname, I'd recommend posting that in advance. Please be reasonable and don't post a nickname for every species in Johto at once.

Next up: Catchin'

Crystal · 2016-06-01 03:33:07

Catch a Skarmory and name it after me. I will eventually argue for you to use them in the party, because Skarmory is a total baller.

Salix Babylonika · 2016-06-01 03:34:49

Bonus:

Birb Hype

i

r

b

H

y

p

e

Crystal · 2016-06-01 03:36:44

Celebratory hooting

Man, when people talk about cute pokes, I only sporadically hear about Hoothoot. Such an underrated hooter.

Salix Babylonika · 2016-06-01 03:38:16

I also caught a Rattata but was too dumb to wait for name suggestions so I just called it Curly.

I will be taking census on whether I should Keep these or not (we can put them in the PC later if we find Pokemon we'd rather roll with instead).

LOAD Cherry · 2016-06-01 03:42:01

I insist quite strongly that you catch and train a Zubat, because Crobats are baller.

(This will be easier for you with the help of a friend ball, which are produced from green-- sorry, grn apricorns.)

In the mean time, I welcome our friends Crystal and Curly.

Salix Babylonika · 2016-06-01 03:43:54

I don't know why we're doing the colored text thing but I like it.

I will undoubtably catch a Zubat, but what we need is nicknames.

Gimme general nicknames and species-specific nicknames, folks!

eriophora zia · 2016-06-01 03:49:45

Togekiss for paraflinch hax pls.

I can't remember if Joltik is in the generation, but if yes, then Joltik.

Salix Babylonika · 2016-06-01 03:52:05

Joltik is Gen 5.

I'm not asking people to talk about Pokemon they want me to catch in advance, I'm asking about people telling me as we get them. Specifically the two that I have right now (a Hoothoot and a Rattata).

Nicknames I do need in advance or else I will have to stop for like half an hour after I catch anything to source them.

LOAD Cherry · 2016-06-01 03:53:00

Jane said:
I don't know why we're doing the colored text thing but I like it.

I will undoubtably catch a Zubat, but what we need is nicknames.

Gimme general nicknames and species-specific nicknames, folks!

The starter convo started it and I felt like lining up each type with its color.

Salix Babylonika · 2016-06-01 03:53:55

I'm OK with that.

Crystal · 2016-06-01 03:55:13

I suggest naming the next pokemon you get Butters. After that, Biscuit/Bisky, and Bob.

eriophora zia · 2016-06-01 03:56:15

Togekiss -> Eria ?

LOAD Cherry · 2016-06-01 03:56:52

I always go with vampire names for my Zubats.

Crystal · 2016-06-01 04:13:03

Other names: Fluffy and Mr/Mrs. Cuddles for Onix/Steelix.

Let's Play Pokemon SoulSilver

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