Hello all, Smoughon here. I’m back from the dead for another LP. I said I was going to do a randomizer, but it didn’t seem all that interesting to me. If I was doing a video LP it would be different. But that’s irrelevant, because today I’m going to be doing a different challenge run. I’m going to play through Pokemon XD Gale of Darkness, but I can’t use any Shadow Pokemon. I don’t mean I have to purify them first; I mean I can’t use them AT ALL. Let’s begin.
Since Shadow Pokemon are the main Pokemon you get, what options do I have? For starters you start off with an Eevee that can become one of its evolutions. Because this is a gen 3 game, Glaceon, Leafeon, and Sylveon are unavailable. Next, there are 3 wild spots in this game that give access to wild Pokemon, those being: Sandshrew, Gligar, Trapinch, Hoppip, Phanpy, Surskit, Zubat, Aron, and Wooper. Trapinch, Surskit, and Wooper can all be traded with a trainer for a Meditite, Shuckle, and Larvitar. Additionally, later on in the game you are given a shadow Togepi that can be purified and traded for an Elekid. For the Togepi, I’ll allow it under the stipulation that I can’t use it in battle. Finally, you can get the three Johto starters, but it is very, very, very unlikely I will use them. I have to beat Mt. Battle which requires beating 100 trainers, many of whom are higher leveled than the final boss in the story. The trade Pokemon and the Johto starters even have some special moves which helps a lot. Now you probably noticed something, there are A LOT of Ground types. That will make this even more annoying than it would normally. As an extra layer of difficulty, in this game offensive Shadow moves are always super effective against non Shadow Pokemon. I can’t use Shadow Pokemon to counter this. With that out of the way, let’s start.
I name my character Smough, because Smoughon wouldn’t fit.
The game starts off with a Salamence vs Metagross fight. If only I could use one of these.
One thing I noticed is that this Salamence actually has 0 in every IV lol. This fight is super easy however. You click Earthquake twice and you win. I actually got a crit on this run lol. After the fight we can start the game proper.
Your starter in this game is an Eevee. I end up with a Relaxed nature. I plan on using Umbreon, so that’s not that bad.
After meeting with the Professer and Lily, I have to find my sister Jovi. She’s at this other scientist, Dr. Kaminko’s lab. When I try to enter, I’m stopped by this guy, Chobin, who thinks I’m a burglar. I'm going to be honest, this guy made me laugh a couple times in this playthrough.
Anyways, I beat him easily. He has a level 5 Sunkern. I actually crit him lol. It wasn’t necessary at all. Afterwards my sister Jovi comes outside, says hi and runs back inside. Chobin takes me inside the lab.
This is why Chobin is my favorite character. Anyways, I find my sister and we head back to the lab.
Once I return, I fight this guy outside the lab. He only has a level 5 Sentret, it was nothing. I even gained a level. I receive the Snag machine from the professor. Because I won’t be using Shadow Pokemon, this is basically useless. Immediately afterwards the prof is captured by *SPOILER ALERT* Team Cipher, the bad guys from the last game who’ve come back.
I battle one of the members. Unfortunately, I’m forced to capture the Teddiursa, but there’s nothing stopping me from putting the Teddiursa into the PC.
At the next location, something kind of interesting happens
You get to see a fight between two NPCs. This also happens in Pokemon Colosseum. Ardos, one of the old man’s bodyguards, absolutely destroys Zook’s Zangoose with a single Psychic. Now, I’m not too sure what IVs or items these Pokemon have but Zangoose would have to be level 36 in order to have a chance to not be one-shot by Psychic. It’s still around a 96% chance in that instance, however.
Inside the parts shop, the person running this shop isn’t here, but this guy is. He says he’s traveled around the world and collected all the evolution items for Eevee. That’s convenient. Because there is no Day Night system, they added an item for Umbreon and Espeon instead. (Not sure why they couldn’t have done that in FireRed, but whatever.) I take the Moon Shard. I find the guy running the shop and get the MACHINE PART.
Now would probably be a good time to talk about Eevee in this run. Honestly, almost any of them would be pretty solid considering the small pool of Pokemon available. Vaporeon is one of the two easily obtainable Water types, and is decently bulky, with a Water immunity.
Flareon is the only easily obtainable Fire type, has solid offenses, and a Fire immunity. It’s pretty slow, however.
Jolteon isn’t too great an option honestly. The Elekid available later is arguably much better. It has all of the elemental punches plus Cross Chop. Sure, Jolteon is faster and stronger, but the coverage Elekid provides is too important to pass up.
Espeon is fast and powerful, and it even has special Bite fright from the get-go.
I decided to go with Umbreon for its bulk. It also has STAB Bite right away.
Before I head back, there are a few trainers in the area I’d like to fight first.
I find this guy first. However, when I fight him, I run into a problem. A HUGE problem.
Because the game expects you to have the Shadow Teddiursa, every fight from now on is a double battle. I can’t get any Pokemon until Pyrite Town. I have to go through maybe 20 - 30ish battles with only one Pokemon. This is going to be more difficult than I thought.
I use Tail Whip turn one, and then take out Ledyba and Tailow in that order. I almost lost in the first fight. Even a Shadow Ledyba is a threat. Umbreon may be more important than I initially thought.
But that will do it for this part. This was more of an introductory part. The next part will be up later this week. Have a nice day
I name my character Smough, because Smoughon wouldn’t fit.
The game starts off with a Salamence vs Metagross fight. If only I could use one of these.
One thing I noticed is that this Salamence actually has 0 in every IV lol. This fight is super easy however. You click Earthquake twice and you win. I actually got a crit on this run lol. After the fight we can start the game proper.
Your starter in this game is an Eevee. I end up with a Relaxed nature. I plan on using Umbreon, so that’s not that bad.
After meeting with the Professer and Lily, I have to find my sister Jovi. She’s at this other scientist, Dr. Kaminko’s lab. When I try to enter, I’m stopped by this guy, Chobin, who thinks I’m a burglar. I'm going to be honest, this guy made me laugh a couple times in this playthrough.
Anyways, I beat him easily. He has a level 5 Sunkern. I actually crit him lol. It wasn’t necessary at all. Afterwards my sister Jovi comes outside, says hi and runs back inside. Chobin takes me inside the lab.
This is why Chobin is my favorite character. Anyways, I find my sister and we head back to the lab.
Once I return, I fight this guy outside the lab. He only has a level 5 Sentret, it was nothing. I even gained a level. I receive the Snag machine from the professor. Because I won’t be using Shadow Pokemon, this is basically useless. Immediately afterwards the prof is captured by *SPOILER ALERT* Team Cipher, the bad guys from the last game who’ve come back.
I battle one of the members. Unfortunately, I’m forced to capture the Teddiursa, but there’s nothing stopping me from putting the Teddiursa into the PC.
At the next location, something kind of interesting happens
You get to see a fight between two NPCs. This also happens in Pokemon Colosseum. Ardos, one of the old man’s bodyguards, absolutely destroys Zook’s Zangoose with a single Psychic. Now, I’m not too sure what IVs or items these Pokemon have but Zangoose would have to be level 36 in order to have a chance to not be one-shot by Psychic. It’s still around a 96% chance in that instance, however.
Inside the parts shop, the person running this shop isn’t here, but this guy is. He says he’s traveled around the world and collected all the evolution items for Eevee. That’s convenient. Because there is no Day Night system, they added an item for Umbreon and Espeon instead. (Not sure why they couldn’t have done that in FireRed, but whatever.) I take the Moon Shard. I find the guy running the shop and get the MACHINE PART.
Now would probably be a good time to talk about Eevee in this run. Honestly, almost any of them would be pretty solid considering the small pool of Pokemon available. Vaporeon is one of the two easily obtainable Water types, and is decently bulky, with a Water immunity.
Flareon is the only easily obtainable Fire type, has solid offenses, and a Fire immunity. It’s pretty slow, however.
Jolteon isn’t too great an option honestly. The Elekid available later is arguably much better. It has all of the elemental punches plus Cross Chop. Sure, Jolteon is faster and stronger, but the coverage Elekid provides is too important to pass up.
Espeon is fast and powerful, and it even has special Bite fright from the get-go.
I decided to go with Umbreon for its bulk. It also has STAB Bite right away.
Before I head back, there are a few trainers in the area I’d like to fight first.
I find this guy first. However, when I fight him, I run into a problem. A HUGE problem.
Because the game expects you to have the Shadow Teddiursa, every fight from now on is a double battle. I can’t get any Pokemon until Pyrite Town. I have to go through maybe 20 - 30ish battles with only one Pokemon. This is going to be more difficult than I thought.
I use Tail Whip turn one, and then take out Ledyba and Tailow in that order. I almost lost in the first fight. Even a Shadow Ledyba is a threat. Umbreon may be more important than I initially thought.
But that will do it for this part. This was more of an introductory part. The next part will be up later this week. Have a nice day