Pokemon Black 2: The Chronicles of Izalith #3

Previously I forgot to talk about my team at the end of the post, so I suppose I'll do it here. I actually got my first evolution. My starter pokemon, Oshawatt [Barioth] evolved at the randomly odd level of 17. Bit of a stat boost and a nice physical water move to boot.
So now, just after Gym 2, the team is Growlithe [Ghost] lv13, Magnemite [Iron Giant] lv16, Riolu [Genji] lv13, Purrloin [Dusk] lv14, Dewott [Barioth] lv17. I have a few that are a bit lower because they suck in battle they are recent additions and in the case of the Riolu, I'm trying to put levelling off as much as I can so it gains happiness and can evolve quicker, thus missing out on less moves when it evolves to Lucario early.

After the second badge, you get kind of roped into doing some weird story scenes at the Pokestar Studio where they make movies. I never really understood this bit, it just seems a bit random and out of place. They've never done anything like this before in Pokemon games (as far as I can remember), and I don't see the point in it here. I did some reading and it is a sort of side quest/puzzle thing to the game and there are guides on it and everything. But at this point in the story, you need to make a movie and put up with these dialogue scenes to get familiarised with the whole thing.

Cool cutscenes bring us to Castelia City, and if I remember rightly, theres a lot to do here/lots of places to get lost. There are some pretty cool battles against NPCs in the various buildings in this city, and it took me a while to track them down follow a guide and finish them off.

I actually hated the Castelia City sewers the first time I attempted to play through the games. Nothing but dual encounters with your rival against wild pokemon like Zubats, Rattatas, Grimers. Pretty boring stuff, and I think its all first gen stuff. *Checks* Yeah, more or less: Link
But this time around I decide to use some of the Repels I found on my Pick Up Lillipup to map out this rather confusing area, and then take some time to grind using the Exp Share and the fact that your rival heals you fully after each battle, its a really good opportunity to gain some levels at this stage.

I managed to get an Eevee in the Castelia Garden thing that you can access after the Castelia Sewers events, and named it Sylph, but I'm not sure if it will stay in my team long term, but I'm taking it along to try and max out it's happiness. So before the gym leader battle, my team is Magnemite [Iron Giant] lv20, Growlithe [Ghost lv20], Purrloin [Dusk] lv19, Dewott [Barioth lv20], Lucario [Genji] lv20 and Eevee [Sylph] lv19. Dat Lucario evolution at lv15, yeah!

Gym #3 - Bug

This guy's sprite really creeps me out...but anyway, his first pokemon is Swadloon lv22. Underlevelled for this gym then, great...I lead off with Magnemite and Thunder Wave to cut his speed like a boss. I switched in Growlithe to go for Intimidate and then hit it with super effective moves, but because he was weakened, Razor Leaf critted and killed him -_- Thankfully I have a Revive and some healing items. I manage to take it out with a few attacks from a couple of my Pokemon. Then his next pokemon is a Dwebble lv22, I water gun him and it looks like it is about to oneshot but Sturdy activates, leaving it on 1HP...This is a problem, as Dewott lost a bit too much health from the Dwebble's rock type attack. This thing has really intriguing typing actually, I might have to consider getting a Dwebble for my team, or that Crocodile thing. Lucario worked quite well it turned out, Force Palm and Counter taking it out over a few turns. The next pokemon is a Leavanny lv24, something I remember can be really annoying, strong and fast for a grass pokemon, so I decided to go with the Magnemite, Iron Giant, Thunder Waving it to cut its speed and then Sonic Booming. I wanted to chip away at its HP so that if he wanted to use a healing item, he'd waste it against this, and if I decided to switch in Ghost, he'd be safe to one or two shot it with a Fire move, but Sonic Boom constantly+parahax(lol)+Leavanny deciding to use String shot meant Iron Giant could take him out pretty easily. So thats badge 3 obtained!

So there is a poison and then a bug gym? Unusual choices, but I suppose they work quite well. At this point, fire types and flying types have been fairly readily available, so the game does give you options against these gyms. And I may be wrong, but it looks like they wanted to try different types out for the gyms that they haven't used much previously.

Protip #3 - Its simple, but recognise the (strengths and) weaknesses of your team members. If one isn't pulling its weight, consider grinding it up some more levels. It may be about to learn a move that will help a lot, it may be about to evolve eg. Gyarados will become exponentially more useful on evolution. Check the stats of the pokemon, if a pokemon is low on physical attack, special moves will perhaps be better choices (assuming the special attack is higher.) If you come across something that looks better stats wise/movepool wise, consider changing team members.


Play Time - 27:48
Pokedex - Obtained: 24, Seen: 45
Gym Badges - 3

Up next: