Pokemon Platinum (Generation 4), Part 2 - Roark

 

Today on Plat: Dawn slays Roark. That's right, she killed him. She takes this Poke-battling stuff way too seriously. Hopefully she can get off with the "Juvenile Rage" defense.

Hikers are potential serial killers, as usual in this series.

This one, instead of trying to kidnap our hero, gives her the first HM. This is basically just a key, and lets me get through areas with boulders blocking the way. Can't use it until I have the first gym badge though, so I have to seek out and destroy Roark, master of rock types.

Meanwhile, Nipple H is getting more and more powerful, and now has the mighty Peck. Behold how furiously he pecks!

Some kid is appalled at Dawn's lack of badges. Pretty much everybody at least has one badge, because Roark is like the village bicycle. Everybody can beat him up. Random Lasses and Picknickers go in there all hours of the day and thrash his couple of level 12 'mons. The toughest part about Roark is finding him actually home, given how often he has to run to the Poke Center.

Speaking of, Roark is currently hiding in a coal mine so that he can stop getting destroyed in Pokebattles by everyone he makes eye contact with. He should try capturing a few more Geodudes. Why not run with six 'mons? Has anyone tried this?

This was always Sinnoh's most distinct feature. On the world map you can see how it totally divides up the game world:

This means you're pretty much funneled into going the long way around the mountains. All of these early Pokemon games are actually pretty linear when it comes down to it. I like how Gen 9 goes out on a limb and gives you an open world, but that's a story for another year, maybe. The Legends spinoffs also go open-world, so props to them for that.

In Pokemon Legends: Arceus, we see an earlier-in-time version of Sinnoh. There aren't many towns yet, but those damn mountains are still there! So even in the open world games, these mountains are an obstacle.

Anyway, enough about these mountains.

Rounding out the team, I pick up Geodude! Who I probably won't use much, considering I can't evolve him to form 3.

Here's the much more important Machop, who I also can't evolve to form 3. This is huge though, because finally I have a second 'mon that's strong against Roark's rock types.

At this point the only real glaring weakness of this team is that I've got no counter to grass-types. There's a big lack of fire-types in this game if you don't pick that at the beginning, and my water and rock types get thrashed by grass-types. And by "big lack" I mean there are basically no fire-types in this game. Meanwhile there are tons of water-types.

Oh, hey, it's the fire-type! Unfortunately now I have to say the word "Ponyta".

At least it'll evolve into Rapidash at some point, and Rapidash is awesome. ...........oh, it evolves at LEVEL 40? Well damn. I'll probably end up with an Arcanine or Ninetails before then, if they're in Gen 4. ...they're not? Alright, time to begin the long climb to 40.

Now that I've got a counter for grass-types, the main thing giving me grief is going to probably be water-types, since I have no way to hit their weaknesses and have to grind them down.

The first real "boss" in Pokemon history, Onix will always have a soft spot with me. Unfortunately I never really seem to have a use for Onix in any of these games after catching one.

After all that group-forming, I finally take on the first gym. It's a pretty bland locale, with two regular trainers that use Geodudes before the boss. The one thing going for Roark is that he's got two minions, where Brock had one minion.

Only one eventful thing happened in this gym:

It was a magical moment in Nipple's life, as he finally evolved into his second form!

*record scratching sound*

OH NO HE DIDN'T. Not letting this little guy evolve any time soon! He's too adorable!

"Whatchu want? I'm out here slangin' rock, nawmsayin?"

After taking out the two minions, it's time for the boss. "Pop a cap, homie!" he says.

I've got something that almost no NPC trainers in the entire Poke-verse have, a full party of six. Only Nipple and Machop are useful on this fight, but it's no problem between the two of them.

Roark has 3 'mons, while Brock had two. So this gym is just "Brock's gym, plus one" across the board.

Bubble easily dispatches Geodude and Onix. His third 'mon is Cranidos, this oddball here:

Another Bubble wins this fight. Maybe it took two! So yeah, that's Roark. He's Brock... Plus One.

The Gabby Jay of the Pokemon world, Roark is dismayed because he loses to literally everyone, even newb trainers who just started yesterday like Dawn. No wonder he's out here slangin' rock!

"Get up outta here and lemme get back to mah grind, ho!"

As our hero walked out of the gym, a random toddler walked in with a bunch of level 8 Pidgeys. This was followed by the sound of Roark's high-pitched screaming.

A shot of the Town Map, as I try to figure out what to do next. Well, one gym down, seven to go. This will most likely end at eight posts, which is around what most Pokemon games have ended up at. I'm going a bit in-depth with Platinum and then doing something lighter for the remake.

You keep your Pal Pad and scram, Looker! Not interested!

Elsewhere, a bunch of weirdoes dressed as spacemen are harassing Professor Rowan!

These assholes are Team Galactic. They're like Team Rocket, only actually evil, and they're the antagonist squad for this game. Also they might be a reference to the movie Galaxy Quest, not sure.

This leads to Dawn and the rival teaming up for a double-battle. Team Galactic goons tend to use normal-types with no weaknesses, so their fights usually take longer than the average.

Just 31 levels to go until Rapidash! THE COUNTDOWN IS ON.

I will not! You think they're dressage horses or something? I'm not a Romney!

At this point, tragedy struck, and I played the game a bit on the go instead of hooked up to the capture box. What follows are phone screenshots. The horror!

At level 10, Ponyta learns Ember, which means my fire-type can finally act like a fire-type. No more getting hassled by grass-types.

Since Ponyta had Growl in the first slot and Ember in the last slot, and that was annoying, I looked around for a way to change that. I then discover something I somehow didn't know all these years: You can move abilities around on the status screen of a Pokemon, and put their best move on the first command for easier button-spamming.

Not sure when this became a thing in this series (either here or possibly earlier), but this is amazing. I played through the whole series not knowing this, and only being able to place abilities when I first got them.

The next town is full of flowers. Aerith would be right at home here. This would be a good time for a picture of Aerith.

.....anyway, back to the game!

At level 18, our little nubby friend gets an upgrade to the early Bubble attack that was really only good against weak points. Now this is a real attack, and does good damage to anything that doesn't resist it.

Few things go together as well as Nipple and suds. Which makes it unfortunate that...

You know what, lil buddy? I'll allow it. You've earned it.

"I am the Game-uh!" says Prinplup while spouting water into the air.

He then hits Ponyta with a Pedigree to assert dominance.

Nipple H is BubbleBeaming everything in sight.

Only problem is... your Pokemon don't share EXP, so my starter is getting to a significantly higher level than everyone else due to winning most of the fights. It's a huge downside to these early generations. Not sure when EXP starts being shared in your entire group, but I think it's Gen 6. Hopefully it's Gen 5, given how great that generation is otherwise. Really wish it were the case now though, because having to swap Pokémon around is already getting tedious. It's the one thing I don't like about Platinum. Then again, a lot of folks could counter-argue that shared EXP means you don't need to use all of your 'mons or get to know them at all and that's true.

Team Galactic shows up. Is there any place these goofballs won't ruin with their presence? And why do they wear these lame suits?

They're accosting this guy for honey, for some reason. Maybe they to slather it on their spaceman suits to attract ladies. Not sure that will work, guys. Have they tried not wearing the spaceman suits? It's crazy but hear me out.

Team Galactic has four commanders who all work for the leader, Cyrus. They are...

-Commander Mars, a woman with red pointy hair

-Commander Saturn, a dude

-Commander Jupiter, a sexy woman

-Commander Charon, an old guy who we never actually fight during the base game, so I assume he's a postgame boss

The first of the group is Commander Mars. Forget Roark, this is the real "first boss" of the game.

More specifically, this Swoll Cat. This ridiculous beast has a ton of HP and no apparent weaknesses, so I had to drop some Potions to get through this.

That's right, the first real boss of Pokemon Gen 4...is a Swoll Cat.

Speaking of cats and taking pictures, this snuck onto the camera roll:

Xander would be a handsome Pokémon.

Next stop, Eterna City, which means crossing Eterna Forest. It's dark, spooky, and full of poison-types. We've lost some good men in that bush.

More later.

Pokemon Legends: Arceus Posts (The other Sinnoh game)

Other Pokemon Posts