... I'm not impressed.
Okay, okay. Explanations are in order. In my first attempt I made it amazingly far: Whiteout at Brock's gym. As per the self-imposed rules of Nuzlocke, that means game over. My initial idea that it would be trivially easy to clear the game was crushed. Did I remember it wrong? Sure, it's not Emerald (which I cleared easily with using the kung-fu chicken almost exclusively), but I never thought the games were hard.
Cue lost Mankey and a Charmander that couldn't Metal Claw hard enough to beat Brock. Suddenly I couldn't progress at all and had to take a game over and start again.
Great A'Tuin--- err... Squirtle this time, and Brock was no longer an issue. The same problems that hit me the first time around appeared again. I lost a chance at catching a Pokemon because of an outgoing critical hit and I was thinking that the whole game would be this struggle to build a team and keep it. It didn't help when I lost both Fearow and Pidgey early to annoying Rival battles. >_< (Didn't have anyone that would be able to use the HM Fly and couldn't go back and grab a replacement), but that was still far ahead in the future. For now I have to dance around Misty and Surge, and it's a struggle... Always scared of making a mistake and driving myself to a dead end...
Then the flipping point arrived. Lavander Town, Rocket Hideout, Sliph Co., Koga and Sabrina. Butterfree simply sweeped everything. At this point I was the next best thing to invincible, even if my levels were lopsided. Sabrina couldn't handle my Sunglasses-wearing Blastoise's Bite. And Blaine never had a chance against Surf.
Then I got careless. Stupid Weezing. >_< Three Island's rider gang poison killed Butterfree. Now, this is the key point. This was frustrating. Yes, it was my fault. A little bit of extra caution and that wouldn't have happened. But outside of the frustration, I realized... In terms of playing the game, I wasn't actually set back at all. My Victreebel was ready to return to the active team and effectively made for a more rounded lineup. In fact, I immediately rushed to and past Giovanni, took care of the Rival battle on the way to Indigo Plateau and arrived at the lobby. No grinding. I had just lost my then-strongest Pokemon and still managed to reach the end stage without fumbling or losing anyone along the way.
Right now my Save is at the door to the Elite 4. Blastoise, Sandslash, Dodrio, Victreebel, Ninetales and Haunter. I still have 14 Pokemon in the PC, including a Magikarp (Readily available Gyarados), Lapras (for Lance-killing), Snorlax, Graveler and Tentacool, if I need a strong defense of some sort. And I never went to the Power Plant (and still have the Master Ball), in case I decide I need an electric type OR feel like catching Zapdos (Repel spam + Master Ball).
Why am I saying all of this? Because it contradicts what I expected of a Nuzlocke! No, right now I can't beat the Elite 4. As my levels are, I can take on each of them individually - but I don't have enough items to recover the significant wear and tear I'd take between each fight. And admittedly, at my levels I might not have the raw force necessary to take down the Champion. So I have two options - Grind or whiteout. And that's... Not what I expected.
Se, the idea I had about Nuzlocking was that it's supposed to invoke hard choices, make each battle matter. On one front, yes, I get that. I'm still pissed at letting Butterfree die. >_< But while that emotional reaction is a valid way of raising the stakes... Mechanically, it did nothing.
I'm supposed to run around with a handful Pokemon, scrapping together a badass team out of whatever I can catch... That's meant to go hand in hand with the faint death rule in order to make each individual Pokemon irreplaceable... And yet I still have hordes. Early game, it works. Fail to catch on the first handful of routes, you're doomed. Lose anyone early due to a critical when you don't have an HP pool to roll with the punches, you're doomed. But once you're past the initial uphill and have more than just wet tissue HP and a reasonable party coverage... Well... The only things that can actually stop you are player front mistakes - don't switch out when you should, take on fights with the wrong type or at a severe level disadvantage... Accounting for that, the limiting rules of the Nuzlocke don't make for much of a limiter, the major thing they generated for me wasn't "challenge", it was just "frustration."
RIP Butterfree.EDIT: 14 Pokemon in the PC, not 18. That was typo. /UnableToMathToday
I loved it so much
