[OR/AS] ORAS Progress

[Autumn]

Now that the games are out (in everywhere but Europe anyway) it's time for a general ORAS thread in the Main Series subforum. So, post your progress, preliminary thoughts, teams, etc. here.

My thoughts:
-SHINY WHISMUR this is perf because I was planning on using an Exploud anyway
-DexNav is the best damn thing that's ever existed
-I'm glad Pokémon Amie is back but I'm like weehh now I want to actually use it but it sucks up so much time I could be using to EXPLORE
-dat intro
-the music is excellently done
-I still don't like Brendan but I do appreciate that he's no longer profoundly useless

Current team: Torchic, shiny Whismur, Shroomish, Taillow, Ralts. I waffled on potential teams for a long time before deciding on this (plus Electrike). Future playthroughs will use absolutely everything else though haha

 

[M&F]

Got three badges, just beat the Winstrates.

For the most part I've been pleasantly surprised -- it's a pretty well done remake so far, since most of everything is either very loyal to the original or only as tweaked as necessary. I've already gotten to a couple... rather disappointing parts, but on the whole, it's been what I'd want out of RSE remakes.

now just get me my goddamn battle frontier and we'll be all good

 

[hopeandjoy]

Currently about to fight Wattson. I wasted a lot of time grinding to beat Roxanne. Holy shit is Mauville different though. And huger.

Also, playing this game after Ruby really makes me appreciate expanded movepools. In Ruby, my Gardevoir's only attacking move is Psychic. In AS, my Kirlia has Draining Kiss, Confusion, and Magical Leaf.

DexNav is love, DexNav is life. Though I can't find a Minun, so one route seems to be not getting it's metal.

Also, my Torchic was female on the first try JUST LIKE THE ORIGINAL BLAZE. So my nostalgia has been helped by some luck.

Team:
Rose (Roselia) f Lv 13 {No item}
Natural Cure
Calm
--Mega Drain
--Growth
--Poison Sting
--Stun Spore

Blaze (Combusken) f Lv 25 {No item}
Blaze (the ability)
Impish
--Double Kick
--Peck
--Flame Charge
--Sand Attack

Juno (Kirlia) f Lv 25 {No item}
Synchronize
Calm
--Draining Kiss
--Confusion
--Flash (=(((((( At least it's a TM so I can replace it...)
--Magical Leaf

Ancilla (Zigzagoon) f Lv 19
Do you really care? She's the HM Slave until I have my full planned team.

Also, actually catching shit is making me very poor from the Great Ball costs.

 

[Superbird]

I just beat Roxanne, and I already have my two current team members EV-trained and 5-hearted in Pokémon-Amie. I also decided to see what would happen if I did this, so as soon as I got a pokédex, I went to Pokémon Bank and transferred the entire pokédex to AS. And then I transferred it back. I got the Oval charm before the first gym, but unfortunately can't get the shiny charm until after the national dex, I guess.

As soon as I reach Mauville, I'm also going to Bank over some more pokémon and breed the rest of my team, because none of them are available at all until after the fourth gym, and one of them isn't even Hoenn-native.

Team: Mudkip lv. 15, Shroomish lv. 14.
Planned: Pawniard, Swablu, Vulpix, Anorith

Due to my large dex completion, I've gotten like 5 critical captures already, out of about 12.

 

[M&F]

Also, my Torchic was female on the first try JUST LIKE THE ORIGINAL BLAZE. So my nostalgia has been helped by some luck.

My Treecko's the same nature as the first one I've ever had! There's got to be some sort of in-built nostalgia satisfaction chip in this thing. I mean, other than the game itself.

Also, I just got to make a Secret Base. It's fucking awesome.

 

[Jason-Kun]

I'm not very far since I wasted a lot of time both resetting for a female Mudkip and searching for a Beautifly only to discover that you can't catch them at all. That said I'm only just outside of Petalburg since I haven't been playing much at all.

 

[Vipera Magnifica]

I just reached Mauville, and was pleasantly surprised by the redesign. Once I get the bike, I'm going back to Granite Cave to catch an Aron. I was disappointed I couldn't catch one when first entering Dewford. Gardevoir and Aggron were the two powerhouses of my original Sapphire team, and I'm trying to emulate that team for nostalgia purposes.

Currently my team is Grovyle, Ralts, Mightyena, Zigzagoon, Wingull, and Dustox.

 

[ultraviolet]

current team:

(f) Peach
(f) Blackberry
(f) Merlot
(m) Creme Brulee
(f) Hazelnut

so far i'm catching basically everything, since dexnav makes it so damn easy

i really love this game! it's so so good. I've just beaten the winstrates.

 

[Murkrow]

I'm just entering Mauville. I spent a lot of time grinding to fight Brendan, since I remember always finding that fight hard.

Thanks to the wild Pokémon popping out of the grass in the overworld mechanic, this is the first time I've had a full party before even entering Petalburg. I also caught a Ralts before Wally did. I deposited most of the ones I caught then though.


Also, there's something really strange about the fact that the NPCs call the different functions on the Pokénav "apps". I mean, when the originals were around smartphones weren't even a thing yet! It's just so noticeable when they say it. It's a not a bad thing, just something that makes me think. Strangely I didn't actually notice when NPCs in DP said "noob"

 

[Equinoxe]

OH BOY HERE GOES

Badges: 0
Pokemon: Olmio the Mudkip, male, level 5
Nostalgia level: off the damn charts!

I picked a different starter this time and went with the male player (mainly for the rad Contest getup), but I'm gonna catch some lookalikes of some of my favourite 'mons from my original Ruby run (including Nuhru the worst Seedot/Nuzleaf/Shiftry ever). Ahhh I should probably go to bed instead of playing, but, well. Can't resist.

(also I thought it was cute that the pokemart theme was playing on the Eshop while I was downloading the game!)

EDIT: MMm yeah I caught Nuhru v2, with Beat Up, thanks to the DexNav. This whole sneaking business is oddly addictive.

 

[Herbe]

Though I can't find a Minun, so one route seems to be not getting it's metal.

Spoiler for how to find them: They're only found in hoardes on your version. Likewise, Plusle are only available in hoardes on the other version.

 

[Flora]

aaaaaaaaaah i started it on wednesday and i'm in love

on my way to fortree and i'm so happy

 

[Dar]

I'll hopefully be getting Alpha Sapphire tomorrow, so I can start playing and get back into Pokemon.

 

[Murkrow]

Currently beat Seafloor Cavern

Spoiler: spoilers, too lazy to spoiler everything individually

The Lumiose ghost was in Mt Pyre, except she was presumably alive.

I really like the Pokémon Center music. It reminds me of Colo/XD, which makes sense I guess since they were the same generation.

I also like Shelly's "mugshot" or whatever they're called. She way she's standing makes me find it hilarious when you press A to start the battle, and the picture whizzes to the right really fast. It sort of looks like she's running around like mad. Sort of like how Spongebob runs when he's scared of something.

The way some characters keep saying things like "Team Something" makes me think they were lazy and didn't want to rewrite too much when they made the different versions.

I haven't entered the contests much. Is there a way to do contests without the background being what your 3DS camera is pointed at?
I'm also so used to idol characters from every medium ever being bratty and generally not nice when they're met in person that every time I run into Lisia I keep expecting her to be like that.

I kept seeing Skarmories on that route where they are but I didn't have any Pokéballs, so after I got Fly I went all he way back to get one.

I know a lot of people are making fun of IGN's "too much water" review, but it does have a point. I don't like NEEDING to have a HM slave on me at all times. What if I want to fight team Aqua without a Pokémon that knows surf/dive.

I don't think I've ever completed a game without blacking out before (yeah, yeah, I know. I suck at Pokémon) so I hope this time I'll be able to.

In the cutscene where Kyogre awakens it seemed like May was taller than usual? Maybe they made that cutscene first and intended to have her (and Brendan) be as tall as everyone else like in XY but changed their minds later? Or I'm imagining things.

Is the game corner closed down outside of Europe too? I know that our laws about gambling in games was what caused Voltorb flip in HGSS. I wonder why they didn't put something like that there instead of nothing.

 

[Professor Wesker]

Just got Alpha Sapphire today and have just beaten Brawly! Just little notes regarding my progression.



* Got a FEMALE Mudkip, I almost never get female starters!

* The music is pretty nice, I especially love the Littleroot Town and Trainer themes.

* Sneaking up on Pokémon with moves it normally shouldn't have is pretty cool!

* No trainer customization is BS. I don't care if it makes Kalos unique, that's a cop-out if I ever heard one.

* On the plus side, Pokémon-Amie is still here! And I still love it. :3

* Roxanne may be the most boring Gym Leader of them all. It amazes me just how little of a personality she has.

* The guy on the dev team who decided to lower the levels of Brawly's Pokémon, you da real MVP.

* Most people may hate him, but I wish Scott was in the remakes. I miss him. ;_;

* The Trendy House is nowhere near as entertaining as it used to be. Marriland's totally going to be disappointed that BIG SERVICE won't make a comeback. D:

* Training a Slakoth is TERRIBLE. Every battle takes forever, and GOD HELP YOU if your opponent lowers your attack/raises it's defense/lowers your accuracy... and it's even worse that Truant can no longer be cheesed by using an item during the turn your Pokémon loafs around. Oh well, I at least know Slaking will be worth it in the end...

So in the end, my team is as follows:

Cass the Marshtomp (Female, Lv. 17)
Lazy Kong the Slakoth (Female, Lv. 14)

 

[Equinoxe]

I've been spending time sneaking, poking my pokemans in Amie and doin' a little contesting. :O
Currently on my way to Mauville.

Badges: 2
Pokemon:
Olmio the Marshtomp, male, level 23
Nuhru the Nuzleaf, female, level 23 (nowhere near as terrible as the original Nuhru I had :D)
Sulo the Swellow, male, level 22 (just as pretty as the original Sulo!)
The cosplay Pikachu is also sitting in my team but I don't think I'll be using it. The Cool costume is adorable though (I wish the trainer was also allowed to use the contest costume outside of the contest hall :C ).

 

[Murkrow]

* Roxanne may be the most boring Gym Leader of them all. It amazes me just how little of a personality she has.

I don't really see how she has any less of a personality than pretty much most other gym leaders.

Anyway!

Spoiler: what I'm doing/thinking now

I'm in Sea Mauville.
Lois and Hal make a return.

There's apparently a "Hi Skitty" doll. Did you know that it isn't actually a Skitty but is based off of a schoolgirl whose name is Skitty?

In room 2 there were a couple of girls who were surprised you got in because they locked the door. One of them is blushing. I call yuri on that.

I'm really liking all of the things you can read in this place. It really expands the world, I'm glad they used the abandoned ship which was pretty un-noteworthy in the originals and used it to do this. Apparently Cozmo's parents didn't like each other and Wattson used to work for the company who owned Mauville and is somehow a traitor?
I suppose it's a bit inconsiderate of the people who maintain the place as a nature reserve to let anyone just come in and read ex-employee's personal stuff.

I'm curious as to what this "infinite energy" stuff is.

I like the idea that Mauville the city used to belong to a company. To be honest I don't like Mauville's new look all that much. It's nice on the inside but I expect it's an eyesore from the outside. But it being owned by a company sort of explains that. A city that square and entirely inside one building wouldn't arise naturally.

 

[Alxprit]

I've already pretty much finished the game. I had a team of a Swampert, Exploud, Hariyama, Electrode, Armaldo, and Latias (surprise surprise). Out of all of them, I'd say Electrode was the weakest link.

This game was great. Despite the campaign being technically shorter than X/Y's, I spent more time on it in total. Already over 50 hours worth and I'm still doing stuff like trying to catch the last few legendaries I need and collecting Secret Base flags. I haven't even touched contests yet either, hoping to do that with some of my other Latias that came from Gen 3 games. Also hoping to train up some good new Megas soon, especially Gallade and Lopunny. Good stuff. Will continue to enjoy.

 

[Dar]

Just got Alpha Sapphire, picked Treeko as my started. I named it Teeko after the dog in Skyrim.

Also, I noticed that the pond that Brendan/May looks into at Route 103 is the one from the intro (with the leaf dripping water).

 

[Meowth]

My Alpha Sapphire came today, even though I preordered it for release day but yeah this is ok too I guess

My lord the nostalgia trip. The Hoenn games have always been most special to me, since gen III was the first one I ever played completely blind, and so far it's looking like a pretty awesome reconstruction. Started with Torchic, which was a gril, and thus (I think) the first female starter I've ever gotten. Spent a good hour playing with the DexNav on Route 102; seems like a pretty fun feature, but I haven't really bothered trying to get anything with decent egg moves or hidden abilities or anything. I picked up a Lotad (w/ Teeter Dance because why not) and a Ralts and moved on.

Got the first two badges and quit at Slateport with a team of Combusken/lv17/F, Ralts/lv15/F and Lombre/lv15/M. I'm planning on picking up a Flygon ultimately but other than that no real plans for a team beyond those three.