My Pokemon Violet Adventure Begins!

I think I bought my first Pokemon game in 2007. It was Pokemon Diamond for the Nintendo DS. I’ve always liked the Pokemon cartoon. I’ve been team Bulbasaur since I was a kid. I appreciated the GameBoy games in principle, but had never owned a GameBoy system because of my eyesight. But when I picked up my DS in July of 2005, along with copies of Meteos, Nintendogs, and Wario Ware: Touched!, one of the big reasons I was hyped for it was the knowledge that when a new Pokemon game came out, it would be mine.

So I got Diamond. I started as Turtwig. And I think I might have beaten two gyms before something else snagged my attention. I couldn’t tell if it was that particular generation, something to do with me, or just being caught up in the new and shiny. I know that Diamond and Pearl have some of my least favorite starters in the series, which doesn’t help. That said, I own Brilliant Diamond for the Switch, so maybe if this works out we’ll run an experiment? Time will tell.

Anyway, Diamond and Pearl were only the beginning. I’ve purchased every mainline Pokemon game that has released ever since. And I’ve never beaten all eight gyms in any one game, let alone the Elite Four and Champion. My first Pokemon purchase was nearly 20 years ago. I’m in my forties. This series is not supposed to be particularly hard, and is an RPG. A genre I usually shine at.

This is embarrassing. I want it to change.

So when I picked up my Switch 2 earlier this month, I initially had the idea that I would play through Pokemon Shield. I did research. I found out that, of the three normal Pokemon games that had launched on the Switch, it was the easiest. To be fair, I’m not counting Pokemon Let’s Go Eevee / Pikachu. I can’t do the capture mechanic for that at all. But then my brother Shawn was like, “Hey, Sis. What are you planning to do with your OG Switch?”.

It hadn’t donned on me that anyone in our house was interested in that. But once everything with the Virtual Cartridge situation was sorted out, I was more than happy to clear some desk space and see my first Switch continue to get some use. However, I knew that Pokemon Scarlet and Violet run BAD on the OG Switch. So when Shawn asked which Pokemon game he should check out, I encouraged him to start Shield. Because I’d been hearing some great things about Switch 2’s Pokemon Scarlet and Violet performance. And had changed my mind about which game I wanted to test out.

So, after several days of destroying my fingers and wrists in Mario Kart World, I was more than ready to add something a little more arthritis-friendly to my June gaming lineup. It took an extra trip to the salon in the first town to fix some questionable hair style and color choices, but I’m quite pleased with my trainer’s results. I couldn’t get the look quite right for Katallina, so I mixed things up and used another long-running avatar of mine, Katryn, for the design.

I also did something rather scandalous in the context of my history with the series. I skipped my usual grass type choice–which is even more shocking because all three of Sprigatitto’s evolutions are beautiful–to instead go with Feucoco. *gasp!* There is a simple, emotional reason for this, though. Feucoco has what I call “toofers”. Like Suzie.

It also bears noting that the day I started my Pokemon Violet file was also a rather somber day for my family. My grandfather passed away that morning at 93 years old. So the fact that Feucoco was going to eventually evolve into Skeledirge was not lost on me. It was part of my decision making process. But now that I had a starter, I needed to figure out a team.

Team Building = Analysis Paralysis

Something you may not know about me is that I find making complex decisions exhausting. I can decide something like, “Do you want chocolate or vanilla?” no problem. I can pick a starter Pokemon in about ten minutes. But the idea of committing to six out of four hundred little creatures, and then planning twenty four moves between them that are going to carry me to victory is dizzying.

So I decided that I would leave that mess to someone else this time. I’ll try my hand at it in another entry, once I prove to myself that I can actually beat one of these games. Or perhaps I’ll learn that this is one of the elements of Pokemon that has been holding me back, and much like being a tourist in a far off land, I do better with a guide. Either way, after checking out a few options I decided to go with this setup by MysticUmbreon.

Starting with Skeledirge as the foundation, the team also includes rock type Garganacl, steel / fairy type Tinkaton, fighting / ghost type Annihilape, water / ground type Gastrodon, and psychic / fairy type Gardevoir. The move sets recommended for these guys do involve some TMs, and figuring out getting those is going to be a bit challenging, but my plan is to substitute moves of the same types until I get their final moves and roll with it from there.

Don’t misunderstand: my favorite aspect of Pokemon games is actually collecting as many of the little creatures as I can and exploring everywhere I can go. So it’s not just that I’m strictly following a guide. But Pokemon Violet gives you a big world with no level scaling, so you need to know where you’re going and when you should be there. Otherwise you’re going to get your face smushed in.

So, how’s it going?

I’ve been playing the game for about four days now. On day one I chose my starter, got to the school, and called it an evening. I’d spent most of that day dealing with real world issues, and playing some Animal Crossing: New Horizons.

On day two I researched teams, found MysticUmbreon’s video, and hunted down my team. This took me a bit longer than I expected. Some of the Pokemon, like Nacti and Rolts, were pretty easy. Others, like Mankey and Tinkatink, were more challenging. And then there was Shellos, who took three hours because of the skills of my Pokemon, the level Shellos was (22) when my low level Pokemon were dealing with it, and the fact that it took me at least eight tries to figure out a path to get to the area where it spawned.

Day three was by far the most productive day that I had. But that’s not surprising, considering that I took out the first four gyms, two titans, and two Team Star bases. I played the game for somewhere between 12 and 14 hours. It’s been a LONG time since I’ve done quite that focused of a gaming marathon in one game. Especially while doing something single player.

The thing that is really standing out for me, as I go through Pokemon Violet and clear these various challenges, is how much more I feel engaged with the story and characters than I have in any of the Pokemon games I’ve tried to prior. Our friendly rival this time is the rather likeable Nemona, who made doing the gyms for Victory Road. I’m having fun with Operation Starfall, and am enjoying the twist on the “mystery” of who Clive is and what his deal is in wanting to help Cassieopia and I out.

But my favorite of the three paths has to be the search for the Titans. Arven’s connection to his Mabosstiff, and his determination to restore his beloved friend back to full health, has both made my teary eyed when I discovered the truth behind his mission to get the Mystica Herbs. And it has sealed my determination to keep moving forward in Violet, even when I’m dealing with some bouts of long, boring grinding or when I’m getting stuck trying to find the next place I need to reach.

I showed you Suzie earlier. Well, I got Suzie after my almost nine-year-old Schnauzer / Shih Tzu mix, Pugsly, passed away suddenly this March. There was nothing I could do to save Pugs, but this storyline all but guarantees that I will finish this game. One of the things that gaming sometimes does for me is to act as a cathartic substitute for things that I cannot change or control in real life. I have a strong suspicion that this storyline in Pokemon Violet is going to end up being one of those moments.

The ending of the second Titan encounter hit me extra hard, because about a year before he passed Pugsly lost his eyesight. The blindness came on suddenly, and we ultimately tried using one of those Halo devices to help guide a dog and prevent it from bumping into things. Seeing Arven’s Mabosstiff open its eyes was incredibly moving. On a more realistic level, I obviously understand that’s not how these things work. But as a storytelling beat? They nailed it. I look forward to seeing how the rest of Arven and Mabosstiff’s story will go.

Plans Moving Forward

I’m pretty sure things are about to start getting tougher from here on out. My team are at or around level 30. Pretty sure my lowest level team member is Kirlia at level 28. When that hits 30 it will evolve into Gardevoir.

I need to find or level into the moves recommended by the guide I’m using. I also need to start exploring more and gathering up a solid supply of items, since the Pokemart in this game SUCKS because the nature of an open world game doesn’t want you to use that. I also want to go ahead and get the second screen I’ve been looking at for my gaming setup. Why’s that relevant here? Because I’m terrible at remembering Pokemon strength and weakness typing.

But I think I’ve talked your ear off enough for one day. Now that I’ve released a fresh journal entry, there’s a Steel Titan I need to go and take care of. See ya later!

— Kat