I'm writing this post fresh from my Elite Four victory
with Delcatty, a victory that was as unexpected as it was delicious. The fact
that I can brag about being the Kalos Champion in my Skitty Solo Run of X
can be attributed solely to Sieg, who judiciously reminded me of the existence
of the TM Hidden Power in the comment section of my first
Skitty solo run post. Hidden Power
being a Move that's not affected by bloody Normalize in Generation VI, that
meant that my Delcatty could effectively get her paws on a surefire way to get
rid of Ghost 'Mons — providing, of course, that her Hidden Move Type wouldn't
be Fight, which would be the worst stroke of bad luck ever. It turned
out that my Delcatty's Hidden Power Type was Steel, which delighted me since
I've not been using Steel Moves since my Piplup
solo run of Platinum.
Little did I know that Steel was possibly one of the worst possible Hidden
Power Types in the context of my run — but more on that very soon.
The Hidden Power hack worked beautifully, and I was at long last able to wipe
the floor with Ghost 'Mons; and boy, did it feel vengefully good after a whole
run spent avoiding them, cowering at the though of encountering them and being
gripped by dread when getting stuck in a battle against them. They still
managed to be a bit of a hassle, mind you. Hidden Power doesn't hit that hard
to begin with, and my Delcatty's Sp.Attack, while being respectfully high, was
still much lower than her Attack; as a result, one-shooting Ghost 'Mons was but
a distant dream that never materialized — all the less so as my Delcatty has
already hit the big 100 level-wise when she learnt Hidden Power. Still, I could
at least progress unhindered and reach the Pokemon League to engage in what
would turn out to be one of the most challenging and nerve-racking Elite Four
showdowns of my gaming career.
 |
| Trembling yet? Oh yeah, you should. |
Oh boy, that Elite Four showdown. The least I could
say about it is that it had a serious case of mood swings. Either I was
one-shooting opponents at the very first turn or I was sweating and struggling
and toiling for minutes on end. To ensure a smooth progression, I stuffed my
Delcatty with Battle Items at the beginning of each face-off, and that worked
nicely enough; however, I had stupidly forgotten to stock up X Sp.Atk, and that
oversight would prove lethal against the Elite Four Ghost 'Mons. Because indeed,
my Delcatty was pitted against more than just one Ghost 'Mon during that
showdown: there were three of them, and they were all a pain in the butt.
Chandelure and Gourgeist took a million turns to faint, with Hidden Power only
taking a small chunk of their life bars at a time and their Trainers healing
them at least twice in a row and ruining all my arduous efforts.
But as annoying as these two Ghost obstructions were, they were small fry
compared to their colleague: Aegislash, a.k.a. The Most Tedious Elite Four 'Mon
I Ever Fought and Delcatty's Absolute Bane.
I never thought much of Aegislash, but that disparaging point of view certainly
changed radically after facing him with Delcatty in the X Pokemon
League. That fight necessited two attempts and nearly made me tear up
with sheer frustration and powerlessness; and when I finally managed to wrap
things up, it was after fifteen minutes of arduous fighting. Let me tell
you: never had I been that relieved to wrap up a Pokemon battle. I let
out a huge sigh, threw my head back and beamed in sheer relief, fervently
wishing never to encounter an Aegislash again. Ever. Because my, that
'Mon was the biggest nuisance ever and a monstrous challenge to overcome. And I
don't play Pokemon solo runs to have it hard: on the contrary, I play
them to make things easy, mellow and smooth. I run solo to bask in the thrill
of one-shooting my way through regions, drinking in the sights and chatting
with NPCs without having to bother about recruitment, training, breeding and fighting
strategies. I obviously relish the occasional challenge during my Pokemon solo
runs; but oh gosh, was Aegislash a giant, tough bite to swallow.
But enough fluff; let's get to the point and peel this most arduous battle
against X's resident sword 'Mon. That formidable opponent had a deadly
card up its sleeve: the Stance change, which makes it swing between being an
mortal offensive powerhouse and a impenetrable defensive fortress. Oh, and did
I mention it's resistant to Steel? Yep, the same Steel my Delcatty's Hidden
Power TM belonged to. Here's how things unfolded: I was basically stuck in a
vicious circle of trying to hit Aegislash when it was in the offensive Stance
and healing from its destructive blows when it was in the defensive Stance, all
this complicated by the fact that Stance changes are totally random. But wait,
there was worse: prior to the fight against Aegislash, I had faced Klefki,
which had left me with a nasty souvenir as it went down: a full-blown case of
Torment. So on top of having to deal with Aegislash's random Stance changes, I
had to juggle between Moves to be able to use my precious Hidden Power.
Needless to say, a lot of blows went down the drain during that fight.
Of course, Wikstrom healed Aegislash as I was about to finish it, forcing me to
restart the whole process over again. That torturous fight's only saving grace
was that I had miraculously hold onto three X Sp.Atk. until that point, which
my Delcatty gobbled avidly and which undoubtedly played a huge part into making
that fight winnable at all. I struggled and toiled and soldiered on
through the pain and the drawbacks, and I finally managed to throw that cursed
sword back into its pokeball. And I'll be damned if this wasn't my hardest
Elite Four fight ever.
But you know what? All these hardships made my ultimate Elite Four victory all
the sweeter. Ghost 'Mons were a huge thorn in my side during my whole Skitty
solo run of X, and to manage to overcome these pests and thumb my nose
at them was well-deserved payback. Needless to say, being able to salvage my
run and snatch a clean victory from adversity's jaws was also immensely
satisfying; I never like to give up on Pokemon solo runs, especially
when they're going smoothly and chances of success are high. A big shout-out to
you, Sieg, for the inspired suggestion that ultimately allowed me to wrap up
this solo run! Having said that, I still want to tackle a solo run of White
2 with a Cute Charm Skitty; but maybe I'll warp things up a trifle to make
said run more interesting, for instance by not making my Skitty evolve into
Delcatty. My, wouldn't that be a blast to beat the Elite Four with a cute pink
kitten? Until then, thanks for reading, and be my guest anytime!
At this point,
I could pretend that I was surprised, but there's no point in it. Anyway,
congrats on another completed solo run, Isleif! A shame your Delcatty's Hidden
Power wasn't Ghost or Dark-typed. It could have saved you so much time and
struggle.
But I guess some hardships are always welcomed to spice things up a bit, right?
Thank you, Sieg! ^^ Well, having a Steel Hidden Power certainly made things more interesting, shall we say. Fights like the one against Aegislash are true tests of will; but obviously, I was not going to ever give up so close to closure (no pun intended). :P Anyway, that's indeed one more solo run under my belt! And I'm far from being out of ideas for such endeavours, oh yes indeed. ^^
I wish I had your enthusiasm for replaying the 3D Pokémon games. I really wanted to replay Y with different Pokemons, for instance, but the 3D games just feel too slow for me. I can stomach OmegaRuby because I loved the original game but I rather just replay the 2D DS games.
To be honest, while I genuinely adore X and Y, I also feel that they are a bit too lengthy and draw-out for their own good. I usually have a blast with the first half of the game, before my interest and motivation somewhat drop after the second visit to Lumiose City; and by the time I reach the last Gym in Snowbelle, I'm so sick of town-hopping that I just rush things to be able to challenge the Elite Four at long last. In my opinion, those games would have been considerably better with less towns and more wilderness to explore. But hey, I love them still. ^^
Eh, my problem isn't the design or the pacing of the games per se, it's more how the games feel kinda sluggish ever since they went 3D with X/Y. Black or SoulSilver feel so snappy with quick menus while X or OmegaRuby feel a lot more slow to go through. But maybe that's just me :p
Oh noooo, it's not just you. The 3D games are objectively slower than the DS ones, especially since GameFreak decided to go all cinematic in battles and force these long, detailed introductions on us players. And still, X/Y actually feels snappy and fast compared to Sun/Moon, which could indicate that Pokemon games are going to feel more and more like drawn-out, overblown home console games and less and less like brisk, user-friendly handheld games. If things go that way, I'll be able to let go of the Pokemon Switch entries without too much regret. :P
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