Challenge Civil War Challenge

[itsmyfirstday]

Hi guys!
A few months ago I did a self imposed challenge that I haven't seen posted anywhere. I'd like to have some feedback about its feasability: in my opinion it's a very difficult challenge and honestly I haven't played all the games and I don't know if it can be done in every one of them.

The premise is that there is a civil war going on in the Pokemon World (so no Marvel involved, sorry). During the war, a militaristic government controls the pokemon league, works with the Villanous Team of the game, and has many "sentinels" in the world that have the sole goal to find unregistered pokemon owners to report to the government. Also, all basic shops are closed and it's impossible to buy or sell stuff.
But there is a resistance, that includes a few key characters in the region. After you are given an unregistered pokemon from the local professor, your goal will be to "free" the gym leaders, so that they will give you the badges to reach the central government (the pokemon league) and knock down its executives (the Elite Four and the Champion), thus stopping the war.

After this little premise, the rules are as such:
- You cannot enter any closed building in the game (including pokemon centers or markets), unless the plot requires it
- You cannot buy or sell anything in any kind of shop, including game corners or by trading for any kind of currency (blocks, shards, etc)
- You cannot use any kind of "healing spots" in the game, unless the game forces you to heal, for example after a cutscene/battle
- You cannot trade pokemon
- After a battle against a trainer that is not a Gym Leader/Rival/Team Leader or Administrator, you have to "bribe" the trainer so that they will not report you to the government. To do so, you have to toss from the bag a number of items which selling value is equal or more than your "wanted rank". Your rank increases every time you defeat a gym leader OR the leader of the evil organization. Your wanted rank increases by a power of 2 each time with this pattern: 100$->200$->400$->800$->1600$->3200$->6400$->12800$->25600$->51200$->102400$ and so on.

To make an example: at the start of the game, before defeating the first gym leader, for each trainer you will defeat you have to bribe them by tossing items which total sell value is 100 $ or more. For example, since you can sell a potion for 150$ or 100$ depending on the game, tossing one would be fine. But after defeating the first gym leader, you should toss a total value of 200$, so you should toss 2 of them.

Easy considerations:
- If you are KOed, you fail the challenge. If you cannot bribe a trainer with the right amount of items, you fail the challenge
- You should battle as few trainers as possible, and you should plan carefully the few pokemons you can sustain to catch for the run
- The success of the challenge is based on the items you can find in the world map, items you can steal from wild pokemon or obtain with pickup
- PP management is extremely important. Not much in the newer games, where TM are reusable, but most importantly in-before Gen5 where this cannot be done.
- A huge problem is that since you cannot enter Pokemon centers or markets, finding PCs to move your pokemon could be very challenging. If you do not plan in advance, you could be trapped with a party of mostly KOed pokemon you have no way to revive and with no way to get rid of them
- Even if you have a PC, catching a pokemon and then retriving it from the PC is discouraged, since this way the pokemon will be automatically healed. So, it would be better for a more "clean" run to box only pokemon you do not plan to use anymore, and then catch a new one with an available spot in your team.

So I have a few questions: would you play this challenge? I like it because in my opinion pokemon games are very easy nowadays and this is a truly challenging (no pun intended) way to play them all over again.
Secondly, do you think that this challenge CAN be done in ALL the games? I honestly think its almost impossible to finish this in Gen1/2 games, very difficult but feasible for Gen3/4 games, and less diffucult for Gen5+.
I can guarantee that it CAN be done at least in pokemon FireRed/LeafGreen (I've personally done it in LeafGreen, but there's no reason to think it cannot be done in FireRed since nothing I've done used version-exclusive mechanics).

If somebody is interested I can write a report on how I did my run in LG. And of course if you want to try it, tell me how it goes!

Finally, I hope I'm not breaking any rule of the forum (I am new guys, be kind).

 

[guys the ret]

Well, I would like to see how you did it.

 

[itsmyfirstday]

I started the game choosing Squirtle as my starter. This was both because it has the best movepool of the 3 starters for what I need for the challenge and because this way my rival’s pokemon was Bulbasaur.

I should add here that I self-imposed a couple more rules in my run: no flying from random battles and set battle style, but I was ok with using Move Tutors I found during gameplay, because without them I don’t think the run would have been possible.

I went to Route 22 to catch a Spearow. I tried a few times because I needed to use just 1 pokeball and I wanted a lv 5 Spearow, so I needed less grinding. Spearow knows Peck, which is great against the bug types in Viridian Forest to 1HKO them, and so I used him to explore the forest and take all the items. When I encountered a Metapod or Kakuna, I switched for Squirle, so that it could get to Lv7 and learn Bubble for Brock (I think I got to Lv10-11 but can’t remember exactly). Sperow was also important because it is strong against Bulbasaur. I tried to defeat the rival at Route 22, but it was simply impossible since I could not grind much with limited PP for each move.

Before Brock I had to beat the Bug Catcher at the end of Viridian Forest and “payed” him a potion. For the first part of the run, I never used any healing item and used pokeballs only when I had to catch pokemons, so that I had a few items to toss for the battles.

Second was Brock, and the Battle was quite easy. Since he is a Gym Leader, I didn’t pay him. Next are 3 compulsory trainers on Route 3. When I had a choice, I usually faced the Bug Catcher so that Spearow could 1HKO and out-speed his pokemon. By the time I arrived to Mt.Moon, I didn’t have much stuff in my inventory, having sold all my potions, antidotes, and most pokeballs to pay this 3 trainers.

Before entering Mt. Moon I caught a Nidoran Male, which will be essential for completing the challenge. In the cave, I saved and loaded so that I only faced Geodudes going forward, which I defeated with Squirtle’s Bubble, and then I reached the MT that contains Thief.

Basically, for the first part of the run I relied on this move. I taught Thief to Nidoran so that he could steal Mushrooms from Paras. A TinyMushrooms can be sold for 250$ and has 50% rate of being held from a wild Paras. There is also a 5% chance for a HugeMushroom that can be sold for 2500$!

So, my strategy was to save and load so that I encountered only Paras with Mushrooms, which I stole with Nidoran. There is one problem: Effect Spore. Paras can sleep/poison/paralyze you when you use moves that touch him, so I had to choose the lesser evil and let him paralyze Nidoran. This was actually very good because FR/LG AI is quite stupid and Paras will try to paralyze you with Stun Spore 50% of the time even if you are already paralyzed, basically giving you a free turn. For A LOT of time my routine was the following: hoping for a Paras that held a mushroom; hoping he would use Stun Spore on me; praying for Thief to hit Paras (not being blocked by paralyze itself); proceeding to kill Paras with Peck (which Nidoran has in his moveset), always hoping for another wasted turn of Paras with Stun Spore.

I had to use the only ether that I found up to this point to refresh the PP for Thief, so that I could keep stealing mushrooms. You must consider that after Mt. Moon you have to beat the Rival, a lot of trainers on Nugget Bridge and Routes 24-25, the Rocket Grunt that stole TM Dig and at least a trainer on Route 6 before you can go through Diglett’s Cave and come back to your hoarding spot for mushrooms.

I also grinded a little to level up Squirtle against Geodudes and the Rocket Grunt and PokeManiac you must defeat to go out of Mt.Moon. I had to repeat the battle many times because Wartortle kept being poisoned by the Maniac’s pokemon and I couldn’t afford to use an antidote on him (I needed it for bribing). In the process I used all PPs for bubble and almost all PPs for watergun to grind Wartortle, which was at Lv 18. I also had a paralyzed Nidoran at Lv 10-11 with a few uses of Peck and no more Thief with very few HPs, and a Lv 11 Spearow with a few Pecks left and no other damaging move.

So the only thing I could do before “jumping the edge” and going to Cerulean City was teaching Wartortle both Mega Punch and Mega Kick from the Move Tutors outside Mt.Moon, so that I had a few powerful attacks against my rival.

It worked and Wartortle soloed the Rival’s party. I still had to face all the trainers mentioned above but with all the grinding it was almost easy, I only had to be strategic with the use of my PPs on Wartortle and Spearow (which still managed bug catchers on the way), so that by the time Wartortle learned Bite I could overwrite Tackle with no PPs left.

I defeated all the compulsory trainers up to Vermillion City and I did not run out of items to bribe them. The secret was NOT facing Misty, because by defeating her my Rank would have doubled the price to bribe trainers from 200 to 400$, which meant double the TinyMushrooms.

Before Vermillion City I catched a Meowth, which will become the key to end the run, because he has Pickup. Pickup in FR/LG is not dependent on the pokemon level, and while most of the time Meowth will give you a berry (actually very useful to heal your pokemon even a little and most importantly to heal/prevent status conditions), it has a small chance to give you fundamental items: Nugget (to bribe trainers, especially later on when it becomes more and more expensive), PP up, Rare Candy, and finally TM 10 which has Hidden Power.

Meowth was also important because when I got him he already new Scratch and Bite, and later I would teach him Cut, so he had plenty of moves against the low level bugs in Viridian Forest and Mt.Moon I still had to pass through to reach my little Mushroom-makers, so that I wouldn’t waste PP of abilities of the more powerful pokemon.

While Meowth was hoarding items, I got back to Mt.Moon and used all the ethers I had found in my journey for mushrooms, and with a little help from Berries that managed Effect Spore, Nidoran was now strong enough to 1HKO Paras with Thief. He evolved to Nidorino and then to Nidoking with a Moonstone I found in Mt.Moon.

I don’t remember at which point I started to mess with Hidden Power, but basically both Wartortle and Spearow had very bad ones both for type and power, but Nidoking had a HP Bug with a Base Power of 40-45 I think, which was decent against psychic types (more on that later).

I don’t remember exactly at which point I catched an Abra from Route 24-25, which I immediately checked for Hidden Power before I saved to see if it could be useful. I was quite lucky and catched on my 2nd-3rd try an Abra with HP Grass of Base Stat 35-45, extremely very useful against Water Types. I immediately evolved him with a few rare candies I had collected and picked up on my journey, and I soon had a very solid pokemon. Kadabra was very good for this run because in Gen3 he learns a lot of level up moves that are not actually very useful, but that I used to overwrite Hidden Power so that I could teach to him all over again when I had spent all of its PPs.

I faced the Rival on M/N Anne (I think I used all three of Kadabra, Wartortle and Nidoking in this fight), got Cut, and after hoarding all the mushrooms I could with Thief and grinding my pokemon as I could, I had to defeat Misty, which I think I did with Wartortle and was actually not that difficult. I soon taught him Water Pulse and went on to Rock Tunnel.

Mind that even if Meowth could learn Flash, I had no way to get it since the MN is in a building that is not compulsory to visit, so I had to explore the cave with a map to get all the stuff. I used a little “trick” to get through the cave: I moved 10-15 steps, saved, reset the game and moved another 10-15 steps. The probability of encountering wild pokemon this way is very low, so I only had to beat the compulsory trainers and saved a few PPs. There were still a lot of trainers to beat and bribe, this time for 400$ which meant 2 TinyMushrooms each.

I finally reached Lavander Town, and went straight to Celadon City, where I realized I couldn’t get Fly because it meant I had to enter a building which was not compulsory to visit story-wise. I unlocked my way to Saffron City with the old lady tea, so that I could move more easily between in the map.

I think it was about this time I realized that Wartortle-Kadabra-Nidoking was a quite powerful core, and while Spearow was now becoming less and less used (I didn’t have any powerful moves for him; I couldn’t teach him Fly; I tried with Aerial Ace but his level was not high enough anymore to get the job done), I realized I could get another Meowth to speed things up with Pickup.

By this time, I was so reliant on Pickup that I basically Save/Loaded every time I didn’t get anything from a random battle. The Pokemon Tower became a very important grinding point because both Wartortle and Kadabra could beat Gastly and Haunter easily with Bite and Confusion and gather SpAtk EVs. In the end, I decided to invest a few Ethers/Elixirs on grinding there, since I was less reliant on Mushrooms for bribing trainers after battles thanks to all the stuff gotten with pickup.

Finally, I managed to evolve Wartortle to Blastoise and got Kadabra to a decent level. I decided to face the Pokemon Hideout and beat Giovanni. This meant that the price I had to bribe trainers increased from 400 to 800$, or 3 TinyMushrooms and 1 less expensive item (antidote, escape rope, potion, etc.)

I decided to postpone Lt.Surge and Erika since I didn’t need to beat them to progress the game, I couldn’t use Fly nor needed Strength by that point. So I got the Pokeflute, went to the Silph Co. and beat Giovanni (again), thus increasing my rank (again).

I then ran through the Routes that lead to Fuchsia City from Vermilion (remember I could not get a bike since I could not enter neither to PokeFan Club nor the Bike Shop), and defeated Koga with my team. By this time Kadabra and Blastoise were starting to get more and more used compared to Nidoking, which was still mostly used to get the Mushrooms.

After Koga, I could use surf, but had to get it from the Safari Zone. I decided that I should bribe the guard to enter there (the guy MUST check if you have pokemon, I thought, so it made sense I should also bribe him). Even thought I could catch some pokemon in the safari zone I decided against it (my party was full anyway). I went to Cinnabar Island through Pallet Town, and got in the Pokemon Mansion were I didn’t have to beat any trainer, same as the Cinnamon Gym, thanks to Blaine quizzes.

After Blaine, I decided to go to Sevii Islands because I calculated I could get more resources from there (namely, the reappearing items from Treasure Beach and a few Berries from Berry Forest, though I had LOTS of them by that point) than the ones I would had to spend to beat the compulsory trainers there (and there are five of them: 4 bikers and 1 aroma lady you have to defeat to get to Berry Forest, each bribed for 6400$ by that point, which meant something like 1 nugget, 5 tinymushrooms and something of 150 $ value each).

Anyway, the most important thing about unlocking Sevii Islands was the fact that on Second Island you could surf to beat Slowpoke and more importantly Lv 40 Slowbros, both weak to the Hidden Powers of Kadabra and Nidoking, so that I could safely grind both of them there, using all my Hidden Power PPs, teaching them a new Level up move or useless TM (there are LOTS that you would never use in a run like this they can learn) and starting all over again; of course, always praying that my Meowths brought me something nice.

At this point, the run was basically done. When I thought Kadabra and Nidoking were at a good enough level and I had accumulated enough Rare Candies, I defeated in quick succession the 2 beauties in Celadon Gym (still 6400 $ each), Erika, the gentlemen in Vermillion Gym (12800$ to bribe him), Lt. Surge, the blackbelt and cooltrainer in Viridian Gym (25600 $ each), Giovanni, the Rival, and then went through Victory Road were I was surprised no trainer was actually compulsory to beat.

Before the end of the game, I decided to box my Spearow and get the Lapras from the Silph Co. so that I could use him as an HM slave for the Victory Road (though I only teached him Strength and Rock Smash, so I could have catched other pokemon instead).

After I arrived at the Indigo Plateu, I used all the Rare Candies I had on Kadabra and Blastoise, getting them to Lv60 (I had accumulated something like 25 by that point), gave them the best moveset I thought they would need (Kadabra: Psychic, Calm Mind, Recover and ShockWave; Blastoise: Surf, Bite, Blizzard, Water Pulse).

Most importantly, I managed to safe a few elixirs and the only "X items" you could find in the run (instead, I didn’t care for vitamins, since they were much more efficiently used to bribe trainers since they sell for 4900 $ each).

I initially thought Kadabra with Shockwave would make the fight vs Lorelei easy, but her pokemon were far bulkier than I thought, and I realized Psychic did more damage anyway. I used a simple Calm Mind + Recover strategy to sweep Lorelei’s pokemon. For Bruno I honestly can’t remember if I used Kadabra or Blastoise since they both had good matchup with their moveset, and I used Kadabra against Agatha, sweeping. For Lance I used Blastoise, teaching him Blizzard and hoping it didn’t miss against the 2 dragonairs and dragonite, and using Surf for Aerodactyl and Bite/Blizzard (can’t remember) for Gyarados.

In the end, it was me against the rival. The first turns I used the spare X Accuracy and X Special on Blastoise so I didn’t have to worry about Blizzard missing and to increase my SpAtk. I proceeded to sweep without any problem.

And this way I managed to end the Civil War in Kanto using only mushrooms and a couple of cats!

Of course, most of the run was a lot of Save/Load to hoard items, so most of the difficulty of this challenge was a lot of micromanagement, but that is one of the things I enjoy most in RPGs, so…