Looking For Ideas for a fun Challenge run and/or Let's Play to do with/for you guys

[bdt2002]

I think the title of this pretty much explains itself. Back during October, I revealed my idea for a no damage Pokémon challenge run, and I've decided that maybe that's a bit too extreme. Lol, I forget who it was, but someone in that other forum said trying a more "conventional" challenge to motivate myself would be better. (See that other forum for more details. I'll also be sure to edit this with the name of the person who suggested this when I'm done typing.)

I'm not sure if me posting this forum is breaking any rules (please tell me if need be, I'm still new here), but in fairness, I wasn't sure how else I could take suggestions. I just wanna do something fun here for or with you lovely people and actually, well, fit in.

Anyway, back to the discussion. I made this not only for myself, but also so we could discuss different kinds of challenge runs that I could do. Oh, and one last thing: I'm doing this for motivation. Long story.

 

[nameless90]

I think that a nice run will be a monotype-Grass run in Alpha Sapphire (Ludicolo is mandatory) using only in-game Grass-type pokemons, even when you need HM slaves.
Grass-type is often considered one of the weakest types both offensively and, in particular, defensively: this is why it is a challenging project.
Since the beginning of the game you have a good amount of pokemons available (you can use the PokeRadar to find the best ones), but also during the other sections of the game.
I think that Alpha Sapphire has enough Grass-type pokemon to work with alongside evolutionary stones (such as Waterstone and Leafstone).

On a side note, I tried this challenge in RSE and it worked!

 

[bdt2002]

I think that a nice run will be a monotype-Grass run in Alpha Sapphire (Ludicolo is mandatory) using only in-game Grass-type pokemons, even when you need HM slaves.
Grass-type is often considered one of the weakest types both offensively and, in particular, defensively: this is why it is a challenging project.
Since the beginning of the game you have a good amount of pokemons available (you can use the PokeRadar to find the best ones), but also during the other sections of the game.
I think that Alpha Sapphire has enough Grass-type pokemon to work with alongside evolutionary stones (such as Waterstone and Leafstone).

On a side note, I tried this challenge in RSE and it worked!

That actually sounds kind of interesting. I'm definitely going to be considering this. Some Grass-Types in this game, notably Sceptile, even have Mega Evolutions one can use. As a matter of fact, I can already think of a list of Pokémon I might use for this. Thanks for the idea :D (Grass in underrated by a lot imo)

Sceptile, Ludicolo, Breloom, Cacturne, and Cradily, IDK about #6.

 

[Cobalt Empoleon]

Roserade can be #6! I’ve actually done this before (I love monotype runs) and i remember it being really fun

 

[CoolMan6001]

No Pokeballs

Premise is quite simple: never throw a Pokeball at any point in the game whatsoever. Any received Pokémon may be used (Starters, Gifts, Game Corner, etc). Trades may not be used unless the necessary Pokémon can be obtained without catching it (RB Mr. Mime is fine, since a Game Corner Abra can be used to get it but RB Farfetch'd is not since no gift Spearow exsts anywhere)

I highly suggest not doing this in RSE

 

[bdt2002]

Roserade can be #6! I’ve actually done this before (I love monotype runs)

Roserade can be #6! I’ve actually done this before (I love monotype runs) and i remember it being really fun

I was particularly looking for something a bit more obscure, but I'm not denying this doesn't sound fun. And now that I think about it...6 grass starters? Gen 6? Hmm...

No Pokeballs

Premise is quite simple: never throw a Pokeball at any point in the game whatsoever. Any received Pokémon may be used (Starters, Gifts, Game Corner, etc). Trades may not be used unless the necessary Pokémon can be obtained without catching it (RB Mr. Mime is fine, since a Game Corner Abra can be used to get it but RB Farfetch'd is not since no gift Spearow exsts anywhere)

I highly suggest not doing this in RSE

I've also considered something like in the past as well: having a full Gift Pokémon team. I was also planning for my teams in Gen 1 and 2 VC to be Game Corner based. :D

 

[Merritt]

Victory or Death

• Set Mode
• You cannot use the switch option. Once a Pokemon comes in it will either win the entire battle or faint.
• Pokemon that faint cannot be used any longer, you can release them, store them away, use their corpse as a boat to Surf on, just no more battling.
• You cannot use HP healing items during battle. Purely status healing or PP healing during battle if you're into that is fine.
• An evolutionary line can only be caught and used once. If your Rattata faints you can't just go catch another one nor can you catch a Raticate.
• Optional - You cannot use Pokemon more than 5 levels stronger than the next major battle's (gym leader/rival/team leader) strongest Pokemon

Main goal of this is to see a lot of cycling of Pokemon as they inevitably faint. The optional rule is to prevent you from just grinding up your starter and solo stomping things, but if that's how you want to do then you do you.

XY would probably be an alright game for this since it's got a lot of options to replenish your team.

 

[bdt2002]

Victory or Death

• Set Mode
• You cannot use the switch option. Once a Pokemon comes in it will either win the entire battle or faint.
• Pokemon that faint cannot be used any longer, you can release them, store them away, use their corpse as a boat to Surf on, just no more battling.
• You cannot use HP healing items during battle. Purely status healing or PP healing during battle if you're into that is fine.
• An evolutionary line can only be caught and used once. If your Rattata faints you can't just go catch another one nor can you catch a Raticate.
• Optional - You cannot use Pokemon more than 5 levels stronger than the next major battle's (gym leader/rival/team leader) strongest Pokemon

Main goal of this is to see a lot of cycling of Pokemon as they inevitably faint. The optional rule is to prevent you from just grinding up your starter and solo stomping things, but if that's how you want to do then you do you.

XY would probably be an alright game for this since it's got a lot of options to replenish your team.

This would be fun because it would let me experience with many different Pokemon, while also being significantly harder than most other options. I like a challenge. I would add some more rules to this personally, but I'm going to consider this idea as well. I like it. That's a good thing. That's why I made this discussion lol, so thanks! :)

 

[Antihaxxer]

I did a monograss run in Emerald and in X ! That was super fun !

Tropius / Ludicolo are good HM Slaves in RSE !

 

[Sondero]

How about a no evolutions run? Put simply, you're not allowed to evolve any Pokemon, you only get the Pokemon you recieve in the form you got them in. To make it more interesting and remove the tediousness of having to press B every time a Pokemon wants to evolve, you could also make all your Pokemon hold Everstones.

While this run may not sound too difficult, you will be quite underpowered late-game, unless you're specifically hunting for strong Pokemon that are already fully evolved, like Metagross in B2/W2 or Salamence in the Gen 7.

 

[bdt2002]

How about a no evolutions run? Put simply, you're not allowed to evolve any Pokemon, you only get the Pokemon you recieve in the form you got them in. To make it more interesting and remove the tediousness of having to press B every time a Pokemon wants to evolve, you could also make all your Pokemon hold Everstones.

While this run may not sound too difficult, you will be quite underpowered late-game, unless you're specifically hunting for strong Pokemon that are already fully evolved, like Metagross in B2/W2 or Salamence in the Gen 7.

This is a pretty unique idea. I haven't heard or seen anything like this before. At least, not in person. First off, Eviolite OP? Second, this sounds pretty fun, and has the challenge aspect to it late game when everyone has high level fully evolved Pokémon.

Now comes the real question of mine. How the heck am I gonna choose through all of these ideas I've gotten? I mean, I could do all all of them at one point, but that's pretty stressful, doing more than two at once...

 

[nameless90]

This is a pretty unique idea. I haven't heard or seen anything like this before. At least, not in person. First off, Eviolite OP? Second, this sounds pretty fun, and has the challenge aspect to it late game when everyone has high level fully evolved Pokémon.
Now comes the real question of mine. How the heck am I gonna choose through all of these ideas I've gotten? I mean, I could do all all of them at one point, but that's pretty stressful, doing more than two at once...

In my opinion you should start in order with two of these at once following the rule FIFO (=First In, Firt Out): the first run submitted in this thread is the first one to be completed.

 

[Sondero]

First off, Eviolite OP?

I was thinking about mentioning that Eviolite would not be allowed, but I don't think the extra defense on one select Pokemon from Eviolite is that big of a deal, so it can just be up to the player to decide whether they want to allow it or not. And besides, if the Everstone ruleset is used, then the Pokemon can't hold Eviolite.

 

[bdt2002]

In my opinion you should start in order with two of these at once following the rule FIFO (=First In, Firt Out): the first run submitted in this thread is the first one to be completed.

Part of me only thinks you're saying that because you want your idea to be picked, but since I'm pretty sure that's not the case (It's just a joke, man), I probably will end up doing this if everyone here in this discussion is okay with it.

Speaking of which, for all of these ideas, and any more that come in the futire, I need to start working on one of my favorite parts: team building. It's actually a bit of a hobby of mine, especially on Pokémon Showdown. :D Naturally, I'd start with the Grass run (I have a few ideas for that, one of which you guys will hopefully really like), so would you all mind helping with team member ideas?

Edit: I'll be team building for all of these ideas since it's fun and it gives me something to do. Plus I love all of them owo

 

[CoolMan6001]

so would you all mind helping with team member ideas?

Kanto

Well first off if you plan to do no Pokeballs in RB, you can't pick Squirtle since it cant learn Cut. (there's no other Pokemon other than your starter by the time you need Cut) Though underleveled, Lapras can be an interesting member, allowing the Eevee to be saved for something like Jolteon. There's also game corner Abra, Clefairy, and Nidorina/o available for extra members. Something like Charizard / Lapras / Jolteon / Nidoqueen/king / Clefable / filler sounds cool.

Yellow is a mixed bag. While all the kanto starters are available, the Nido and Clefairy options are absent, being replaced by Vulpix and Wigglytuff. Since Scyther, Pinsir, and Porygon are pretty trashy options, you kinda are forced to run Hitmonlee for something cool.

It's also worth noting that the Mr. Mime trade in RB can be completed thanks to the prescence of game corner Abra. (Clefairy is needed in Yellow, so that's not an option) Everything is mostly the same between RBY and FRLG.

Jhoto

You have 9 options; your starter, Kenya the Spearow, Shuckie the Shuckle, Togepi, Abra, Sandshrew/Ekans, Dratini, your Tyrouge evolution of choice, and either Espeon or Umbreon. It might be hard here. You also have to pick Tododile now since you need a surfer.

Crystal only adds the odd egg, Which while able to contain some usefull things, still doesn't have much options to use for this either. In addition, the Sandshrew is replaced with the arguably less usefull Cubone. Probably one of the harder ones to do without balls.

HGSS However, is incredibly more forgiving for runs like this. Three eggs each containing Mareep, Wooper and Slugma significantly open up more choices to use. The Odd egg isn't obtainable, but that isn't even needed anymore with how many options there are (everything mentioned in GS is an option). There's a good chance of this game being doable.

Hoenn

Please don't attempt this; Your only options are literately your starter of choice, Your fossil of choice, Wynaut, and Castform. You basically have to pick Mudkip to beat this, and use the move deleter to beat this (by that, Swampert will have it's entire moveset be full of HMs). Emerald changes nothing.

Sinnoh

In DP, you have only a starter of choice (Basically Piplup since you need a surfer), a fossil, Happiny, and Riolu. This one will also suck, but not as much as RSE

Plattinum offers acess to Porygon (now has evolutions!) and an Eevee. Since Vaporeon is now accesible, you can pick another starter. The Togepi is arguably more usefull than the Happiny ever would be, so that's another plus.

Unova

Only your starter, a gift monkey, and a fossil of choice. One of the fossil options is Water-Type however, so the Fire starter can be safely picked. You can use either fossil with Snivy or Oshawot, But you have to pick Tirtuoga if you pick Tepig.

B2W2 give up the non-starter gifts for an Eevee, a Zoura, and some random Deerling. Again, possible, but might need some work.

Kalos

There's a lack of options for sure (2 starters of choice, fossil of choice, Aerodactyl, Lucario, and Lapras) but they all are usable. Lapras also allows the picking of a Grass starter, and a Fire starter. so that's cool. Sounds really doable.

Alola

A starter, Eevee, Two fossils (depending on version), and an Aerodactly. Your choice on whether that's doable or not.

USUM offers more fossil options and a Surf Pikachu in addition to the above. Again, your choice on whether that's dooable or not.

 

[bdt2002]

Kanto

Well first off if you plan to do no Pokeballs in RB, you can't pick Squirtle since it cant learn Cut. (there's no other Pokemon other than your starter by the time you need Cut) Though underleveled, Lapras can be an interesting member, allowing the Eevee to be saved for something like Jolteon. There's also game corner Abra, Clefairy, and Nidorina/o available for extra members. Something like Charizard / Lapras / Jolteon / Nidoqueen/king / Clefable / filler sounds cool.

Yellow is a mixed bag. While all the kanto starters are available, the Nido and Clefairy options are absent, being replaced by Vulpix and Wigglytuff. Since Scyther, Pinsir, and Porygon are pretty trashy options, you kinda are forced to run Hitmonlee for something cool.

It's also worth noting that the Mr. Mime trade in RB can be completed thanks to the prescence of game corner Abra. (Clefairy is needed in Yellow, so that's not an option) Everything is mostly the same between RBY and FRLG.

Jhoto

You have 9 options; your starter, Kenya the Spearow, Shuckie the Shuckle, Togepi, Abra, Sandshrew/Ekans, Dratini, your Tyrouge evolution of choice, and either Espeon or Umbreon. It might be hard here. You also have to pick Tododile now since you need a surfer.

Crystal only adds the odd egg, Which while able to contain some usefull things, still doesn't have much options to use for this either. In addition, the Sandshrew is replaced with the arguably less usefull Cubone. Probably one of the harder ones to do without balls.

HGSS However, is incredibly more forgiving for runs like this. Three eggs each containing Mareep, Wooper and Slugma significantly open up more choices to use. The Odd egg isn't obtainable, but that isn't even needed anymore with how many options there are (everything mentioned in GS is an option). There's a good chance of this game being doable.

Hoenn

Please don't attempt this; Your only options are literately your starter of choice, Your fossil of choice, Wynaut, and Castform. You basically have to pick Mudkip to beat this, and use the move deleter to beat this (by that, Swampert will have it's entire moveset be full of HMs). Emerald changes nothing.

Sinnoh

In DP, you have only a starter of choice (Basically Piplup since you need a surfer), a fossil, Happiny, and Riolu. This one will also suck, but not as much as RSE

Plattinum offers acess to Porygon (now has evolutions!) and an Eevee. Since Vaporeon is now accesible, you can pick another starter. The Togepi is arguably more usefull than the Happiny ever would be, so that's another plus.

Unova

Only your starter, a gift monkey, and a fossil of choice. One of the fossil options is Water-Type however, so the Fire starter can be safely picked. You can use either fossil with Snivy or Oshawot, But you have to pick Tirtuoga if you pick Tepig.

B2W2 give up the non-starter gifts for an Eevee, a Zoura, and some random Deerling. Again, possible, but might need some work.

Kalos

There's a lack of options for sure (2 starters of choice, fossil of choice, Aerodactyl, Lucario, and Lapras) but they all are usable. Lapras also allows the picking of a Grass starter, and a Fire starter. so that's cool. Sounds really doable.

Alola

A starter, Eevee, Two fossils (depending on version), and an Aerodactly. Your choice on whether that's doable or not.

USUM offers more fossil options and a Surf Pikachu in addition to the above. Again, your choice on whether that's dooable or not.

You know, there might actually be a way I can do this with most other Pokémon games even if it's NOT a challenge run. This actually sounds kinda fun now that I think about it, and since most games have 2 versions, that lets me do your idea AND other ideas at the same time, which is a huge plus. Thanks for the team ideas also :D

 

[Texas Cloverleaf]

I did a full LC run in Emerald once, went pretty well until I got to Tate and Liza...

Base stats and defensive ability are paramount, I used:

Aron - ok
Tentacool - Solid
Lileep - Very good
Duskull - GOAT
Magnemite - Excellent

And something else that obviously wasn't good enough for me to remember

 

[bdt2002]

I did a full LC run in Emerald once, went pretty well until I got to Tate and Liza...

Base stats and defensive ability are paramount, I used:

Aron - ok
Tentacool - Solid
Lileep - Very good
Duskull - GOAT
Magnemite - Excellent

And something else that obviously wasn't good enough for me to remember

That's impressive considering Emerald is a bit harder than RS power-wise.

 

[Texas Cloverleaf]

Ahh Numel was the last one because of it's level up pool. Retrospectively I would have gone with Shroomish, the grass type and status capacity would have been very beneficial

 

[nameless90]

I think that using a LC team to clean the League is too difficult, probably impossible.
Maybe you can avoid using pokemons fully evolved, for example:
* Not Aggron because it is a final stage, but Lairon yes;
* Tentacruel no because it is a final stage;
* Crobat no because it is a final stage, but Golbat yes....and so on.

This way you have a disadvantage, but still you can use pokemons with a little higher base stats.

 

[bdt2002]

I think that using a LC team to clean the League is too difficult, probably impossible.
Maybe you can avoid using pokemons fully evolved, for example:
* Not Aggron because it is a final stage, but Lairon yes;
* Tentacruel no because it is a final stage;
* Crobat no because it is a final stage, but Golbat yes....and so on.

This way you have a disadvantage, but still you can use pokemons with a little higher base stats.

For me, this honestly depends on what individual Pokémon would be being used.

 

[King Feraligatr]

Part of me was thinking about maybe taking the mono Grass run for Sinking Sapphire, the Drayano hack for AS, but I really shouldn't take on any more obligations or "obligations". Gosh knows I have enough of those. Kind of a shame, as I see all these people doing challenge runs of main series games (or hacks of them) and it almost makes me want to join in.

 

[DrumstickGaming]

Spurred on by a few likes in the Hardest Relative NPC thread (thanks Pikachu315111, DrPumpkinz and ZettaiRyouiki!), I figured I'd throw an idea into the ring, being a new poster and all. (Again, long time lurker. Love to browse OI and other forums here).

What about this?
Switch it Up!
Perceived Difficulty: Medium

• In every battle, you must only play on Set mode. You can only switch in a new Pokemon when something faints, with the exceptions of moves (like Parting Shot, U-Turn, Volt Switch, Healing Wish, etc.) that cause you to switch).
• Adding to the above, you can't use healing items in battle for death fodder strategies. It would make the previous bullet point exploitable. For example, say your Boldore faints while trying to beat Elesa's Emolga. If you sacrifice another mon to revive Boldore, it would be a fairly easy loophole to just use your best Pokemon for the situation and revive it until you win every battle.
• If the above bullet points sound fairly standard, than how about this: You can only use super-effective moves when you do not get STAB on them. In other words, this forces you to exploit coverage more and thus makes TMs much more valuable, and inherently buffs the Normal type because they learn lots of TMs. This also forces you to consider how your party plays as a whole more often than "I'm putting it all in on this one superstar with a STAB super-effective hit." As a result, this sort of run would be best done from any game from BW1 onward due to reusable TMs. It would additionally put more emphasis on defensive type synergy instead of sweeping through an entire team.
• Optional: Similar to The Scramble Challenge thread, I think it would be rather neat if fellow forum members give other forum members' Pokemon distinct personalities and nicknames. From serious to silly, it would breathe some minute variety into runs and let us see a small bit of another person's perspective through the Pokemon we use. Maybe teams can even be picked entirely by forum members if the idea is well liked.

What do you all think? I'm very open to suggestions via responses if this idea is intriguing to anyone, but I want to make it somewhat challenging but not frustrating (in other words a run anyone with reasonable skill could accomplish, meaning no repetitive grinding by having to replace team members). Most of all, I'd love to write and read about close calls we might have if we go through with the challenge (similar to the Hardest Relative NPC thread, which I love).

Thanks for reading!

 

[Pikachu50]

Victory or Death

• Set Mode
• You cannot use the switch option. Once a Pokemon comes in it will either win the entire battle or faint.
• Pokemon that faint cannot be used any longer, you can release them, store them away, use their corpse as a boat to Surf on, just no more battling.
• You cannot use HP healing items during battle. Purely status healing or PP healing during battle if you're into that is fine.
• An evolutionary line can only be caught and used once. If your Rattata faints you can't just go catch another one nor can you catch a Raticate.
• Optional - You cannot use Pokemon more than 5 levels stronger than the next major battle's (gym leader/rival/team leader) strongest Pokemon

Main goal of this is to see a lot of cycling of Pokemon as they inevitably faint. The optional rule is to prevent you from just grinding up your starter and solo stomping things, but if that's how you want to do then you do you.

XY would probably be an alright game for this since it's got a lot of options to replenish your team.

Isn't this just a nuzlocke

 

[Merritt]

Isn't this just a nuzlocke

No.