Unovia's Pokemon Diamond "Nostalgia Run"

[Unovia]

Hey Folks! Welcome to Unovia's Pokemon Diamond "Nostalgia Run", so named to remind people what Sinnoh was like before the improvements in Platinum & before Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl come out!
This is the 6th Gaming Run I have done. Here is my previous work:
Pokemon of the Week:

Pokemon of the Week (POTW)

This is the new version, brought to you by Travelin' Dan, your favorite travelin' man!

forums.bulbagarden.net

Unovia's Pokemon Y "Beauty" Run (Complete):

Unovia's Pokemon Y "Beauty" Run

Hey Folks! If you don't know me, my name is Unovia, otherwise known as Travelin' Dan in the Pokemon of the Week (POTW) articles. I decided I would replay Pokemon Y, but in a similar style for a Nuzlocke, more of a "Modified" Nuzlocke. Here are the rules: 1. I can catch any Pokemon, any number...

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Unovia's Ultra Moon "Regional Variant" Run (Complete):

Unovia's Ultra Moon "Regional Variant" Run

Hey Folks! It's Unovia again, here with another Playthrough, this time of Pokemon Ultra Moon. If you have not seen my previous work, please check out the following: Pokemon of the Week: https://forums.bulbagarden.net/index.php?threads/pokemon-of-the-week-potw.281948/ Here is my Previous Run, a...

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Unovia's Yellow Modified Professor Oak's Challenge (Complete):

Unovia's Yellow Modified Professor Oak's Challenge

Hey Folks! This is Unovia, Author of Pokemon of the Week as well as Unovia's Pokemon Y "Beauty Run" (Completed) and Unovia's Ultra Moon "Regional Variant" Run. I am placing all links to my previous work here: Pokemon of the Week (POTW)...

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Unovia's Heartgold Gift, Event, & Trade (G. E. T.) Challenge (Complete):

Unovia's Heartgold Gift, Event, & Trade (G. E. T.) Challenge

Welcome To Unovia's Heartgold Gift, Event, & Trade (G. E. T.) Challenge. This is the 4th Challenge I have done. Here is my previous work in case you want to keep the views up: Pokemon of the Week (POTW), my weekly column...

forums.bulbagarden.net

Unovia's White 2 "Gym Leader Ace Pokemon" Challenge (Complete):

Unovia's White 2 "Gym Leader Ace Pokemon" Challenge

Welcome To Unovia's next Challenge! What will we be doing this time? Before I get into that, let me state my previous work: Pokemon Of The Week https://forums.bulbagarden.net/index.php?threads/pokemon-of-the-week-potw.281948/ Pokemon Y "Beauty" Run (Complete)...

forums.bulbagarden.net

Now that I have posted my work, let's discuss what this challenge will have for Rules:
1. I have to catch as many Pokemon as I can before each Gym. I don't have to evolve them all completely before each Gym though, so this is not an Oak Challenge. I will also focus on the Sinnoh Regional Dex only.
2. I will only be naming the Pokemon I will be using on my Main Team. I also plan to have an "HM Team", but they will not be named.
3. I can only use the same number of Pokemon as the Gym Leader of each Gym. I can use a full team to train as necessary, however.

This is going to be an interesting run.

 

[Unovia]

Here we go! Starting the next challenge. Been planning this one for a while. One of my irl friends suggested this one, so let's get this started!

"Hello there! It's so very nice to meet you! Welcome to the world of Pokémon!" "My name is Rowan. However, everyone just calls me the Pokémon Professor. Before I go any further, is this your first adventure? If you need advice, I'm certainly capable of giving it. "Would you like to know more about anything else?"* "This world is widely inhabited by creatures known as Pokémon. Here, I have a Poké Ball. Touch the button on the middle of the Poké Ball, if you'd please." "No, no! Not that button! The button on the Poké Ball."* "We humans live alongside Pokémon as friends. At times we play together, and at other times we work together. Some people use their Pokémon to battle and develop closer bonds with them. What do I do? I conduct research so that we may learn more about Pokémon. Now, why don't you tell me a little bit about yourself? Are you a boy? Or are you a girl?" "All right, so you're a boy/girl?" "Tell me, what is your name?" "Your name is <player>?" "Ok... So, you're <player>? A fine name that is! Now this boy here... I believe he's your friend. What might his name be?" "<rival>, is it? That's your friend's name?" "Alright, <player>, the time has come. Your very own tale of grand adventure is about to unfold. On your journey, you will meet countless Pokémon and people. I'm sure that along the way you will discover many things, perhaps even something about yourself. Now, go on, leap into the world of Pokémon!"

I couldn't help but notice that his demo Pokemon was a MUNCHLAX! If you know anything about Sinnoh, you would know that Munchlax is the RAREST Pokemon in the entire Sinnoh Dex, and it's because of the Honey Tree Phenomenon. On top of that, only 4 Trees in all of Sinnoh can spawn it. Because of this, and the requirements for the Honey Trees, I may just skip going for stuff in those, though we will see my luck! Anyway, way to taunt people Rowan!

I named myself Lucas and my Rival Barry. From there, the game opened, not as expected, but with a news report about a "Red Gyrados". Must have seen my Log #25 of the Heartgold G. E. T. Challenge...lol. Leaving my room and my house, Barry runs into me with a THUD, then asks me to go with him to Verity Lakefront, where he hopes to see a Pokemon like the Red Gyrados. There, we see Professor Rowan and his assistant Dawn. When they depart, they leave Rowan's briefcase behind. Curious, Barry and I investigate, only to be attacked by Starly! We have to defend ourselves. Opening the briefcase, we see three Pokemon. Let's look at them!

	First, we have Turtwig. Normally I am a MAJOR TURTWIG FAN! I have used Turtwig as my starter through all of the previous times I have played Sinnoh. Sinnoh was the first time I used a Grass starter, so Turtwig seemed to make a very good impression on me.
	Next is Chimchar. Oddly, Chimchar is one of ONLY 2 FIRE TYPES IN DIAMOND & PEARL, the other being the Ponyta line. This means that if you do not pick Chimchar, and you want a Fire Type, you have to pick up Ponyta. In this run, I decided to pick up Chimchar.
	Piplup, in my opinion, is the weakest Starter of Sinnoh. Its typing when fully evolved is the weakest of the three, and is therefore the one I like least. I know there are some Piplup fans though.

I selected Chimchar, beat the Starly easily, then went back home. Eventually when Barry and I headed out again, we met up with Professor Rowan and Dawn, who were shocked we used the briefcase Pokemon. Rowan, Dawn, and Barry left. After getting to Sandgem Town, Dawn showed me around, then we went to talk to Professor Rowan (after nearly getting knocked down by a rushing Barry!). Rowan let me name Chimchar, which I named Caesar, then challenged me to fill in the Dex.

Leaving there, I trained up Caesar to Level 6 in the grass on Route 201, then went to Route 202 (after first going home and getting the Running Shoes, the Journal, and the Parcel from home), where Dawn was waiting for me to teach me how to catch Pokemon. She has Turtwig as her Starter, and her demo involved catching a Bidoof. Once she caught it, she gave me 5 Pokeballs, meaning I could start catching Pokemon now. Going to the Poke Mart (this is the last Generation where the Center & Mart are in separate locations), I bought 5 more Pokeballs, another few Potions (I got the first one from a Poke Mart attendant) and an Antidote & Paralyze Heal, spending my initial $3,000.

Man, there was a lot in this first Log! In the next one, we will catch a few Pokemon, train them up, probably to Level 8, then continue onto Jubilife City. Until then, we will see you!

 

[Unovia]

Now with 10 Pokeballs, I decide to capture a few Pokemon to support Caesar, capturing a Starly named Valkyrie, a Shinx named Sphinx, a Bidoof, and a Kricketot. Getting them all to Level 8 was tricky, especially Kricketot, due to the fact that its only "attacking move" is Bide. I also battled the first trainers on the routes next to Jubilife. Once I felt ready, I headed into Jubilife City, where Dawn met me, impressed by my collection so far (5 Pokemon). She told me Barry was at the Jubilife Trainer's School. I passed that up for a moment, meeting the Poketch Company President, who challenged me to talk to 3 Clowns, getting a Poketch of my own once I collected the tickets.

Then I went to the Jubilife Trainers School, battling the two students there, who both use Abras. I finally gave Barry the Parcel, which was the Town Map. Barry departed, and I followed him shortly after. Looking for a little more exploration, I decided to take the first steps on Route 218, capturing a Magikarp, which I boxed. I have 6 Pokemon total. I could go to Route 203 and the first Rival fight, but I am going to ignore it for a moment, heading north on Route 204 instead.

In the next Log, we will tackle Route 204 and Ravaged Path, collecting whatever Pokemon we can get there. Until then, we will see you!

 

[Unovia]

Crossing onto Route 204, I immediately captured a Budew, which I named Roosevelt. I then trained it up to the rest of my team, moving on shortly afterward, battling the trainers on the Route. Once that was done, I stepped into Ravaged Path, where I captured a Zubat and a Geodude and saw the first hurdle that requires an HM, breakable rocks.

With that said, let's discuss the HMs. Sinnoh is very unique in the fact that all 8 HMs are required to actually cover all of the Region, which is another thing that ticks people off about Sinnoh. Let's discuss the HMs we have in this Region.

HM 01 Cut	Cut cuts down small trees in the overworld.
HM 02 Fly	One of the 2 really useful HMs (the other being Surf), Fly allows you to fly back to areas you have seen before. It is also a very strong attack.
HM 03 Surf	One of the 2 really useful HMs (the other being Fly), Surf allows you to pass on water. It is also a very strong attack.
HM 04 Strength	Strength allows for the pushing of large rocks in the overworld.
HM 05 Defog	There are foggy areas in the Sinnoh Region, the first Region that has Fog in the overworld. This HM clears the fog.
HM 06 Rock Smash	Rock Smash allows the breaking of rocks in the overworld.
HM 07 Waterfall	Waterfall allows for the scaling of waterfalls in the overworld.
HM 08 Rock Climb	Rock Climb allows to climb bumpy areas of the mountains in the overworld.

For now, we can't really explore the Ravaged Path due to a lack of Rock Smash. In the next Log, we will find ourselves on Route 203, which will feature our first Rival fight of the game. In addition, we will go through the Oreburgh Gate. Until then, we will see you!

 

[Unovia]

Heading east out of Jubilife City, I immediately ran into Barry, who, after a little chit chat, challenged me to battle. I reduced my team to:
Caesar (Chimchar)-Level 9
Valkyrie (Starly)-Level 9
Sphinx (Shinx)-Level 9
Roosevelt (Budew)-Level 9

Barry comes into this fight with 2 Pokemon. These are Starly (Level 7) and Piplup (Level 9). Oddly enough, Piplup does not have Bubble, learned at Level 8. How did he miss out on an elemental move? Maybe they wanted to make the first fight easier. I opened with Caesar (Level 9) against his Starly. Ember beat it quickly. I switched to Roosevelt (Level 9) against his Piplup. I was able to do a lot of damage using Absorb taking Piplup down easily. Declaring he would train up for the Oreburgh Gym, he ran off.

After beating Barry, I went into the grass, catching an Abra. Abra is tricky to catch due to Teleport. Caesar has Taunt, which forced Abra into Struggle, making it quite easy to whittle down and catch. Put Abra quickly in the box, then battled all of the trainers on the Route. Going into Oreburgh Gate, I gathered Rock Smash from a nice hiker, then battled the trainers in the cave. I passed out of the Gate and into Oreburgh City. In the next Log, we will go north from Oreburgh onto Route 207 and once that is clear, go south of Oreburgh to Oreburgh Mine. During this time, I will finish my training for the Oreburgh Gym, the first Gym in the game. Until next time, we will see you!

 

[Greninjaman]

Very nice start. Next time when you start a new challenge, PM me. It will be better for both of us. My wall won’t be filled with just your posts.

 

[Unovia]

Very nice start. Next time when you start a new challenge, PM me. It will be better for both of us. My wall won’t be filled with just your posts.

lol. Fair enough.

 

[Unovia]

North of Oreburgh lies Route 207. There is only one Pokemon to catch here that I have not previously captured, Machop. I captured one quickly, then boxed it. Because I don't have a bike yet, I can't explore much more past there. I raced back through Oreburgh, going down into the Oreburgh Mine. I battled the miners here, running past Roark since I don't feel ready to battle him. The only Pokemon I would need to catch here would be Onix (which I have not run into in the wild yet).

After I cleared out the area, I have decided to go between Route 207 and the Oreburgh Mine to train as needed. My team is at Level 12 right now, and I will not move past here until my Team is Level 15. That will allow:
Caesar (Chimchar) to become Monferno
Valkyrie (Starly) to become Staravia
Sphinx (Shinx) to become Luxio

Hopefully, Roosevelt (Budew) will become Rosealia during the training. I know it is a friendship evolution, so it is a 50/50 chance. Once I get my evolutions, I will get Roark to go back to his Gym and get the show on the road! In the next Log, we will take on Roark in the first Gym Battle. Until next time, we will see you!

 

[Unovia]

I got my team to Level 15, (though I couldn't catch a Onix for some reason) then left Valkyrie & Sphinx in the box for this battle, the first Gym Battle, especially since the first Gym Battle is Rock Types. This left me with 2 Pokemon for this fight, even though I was considering raising Bidoof to a Bibarel (at Level 15) and bringing it along, but turns out I didn't need it, so 2 Pokemon was okay.

Puzzle: Even though there is no actual puzzle, the raised walkways of the Gym are interesting, showing more detail than most 1st Gyms.
Gym Trainers: They set you up for Roark.

Gym Leader: Roark seems like a pushover, having Geodude (Level 12) & Onix (Level 12) first. I used Roosevelt first, easily OHKOing both of them before they could even do anything. I then switched to Caesar to fight Cranidos (Level 14). Cranidos was a bit trickier, using a simple Headbutt, but eventually it did fall. 1st Badge down! Caesar & Roosevelt were now Level 16!

Before we move on, I am going to train up Bidoof, Kricketot, and Geodude to the rest of my team, since they will be part of my HM Team. Then I will get Valkyrie & Sphinx trained up to Level 16. Once all of the training is done, the next Log will see us go to the Basement of the Oreburgh Gate. Until then, we will see you!

 

[Unovia]

Going to Orebugh Gate, I gave Geodude Rock Smash, allowing me to bust through the rocks of the area. There, I caught a Psyduck. I was surprised I could find it, though considering it was a 2% encounter, even here...

Yet, when I tried to get an Onix, another 2% encounter back at Oreburgh Mine, I couldn't catch it, even when its HP is low. Seems like Onix is going to be my "White Whale" for a while. I left the Oreburgh area, running back to Jubilife City. In the next Log, we will go up through the northern exit of Jubilife, handling what is there. Until then, we will see you!

 

[Unovia]

Now in Jubilife City, I decided to go north, where I ran into Professor Rowan and his assistant, Dawn, facing down some blue haired strangers. Rowan and Dawn asked me for help, so I faced the strangers down, who identified themselves as Team Galactic.

These two grunts were not too challenging overall, and it helped that Dawn's Turtwig took much of the brunt of their contempt. They did promise that more was coming in the future. Now the fight begins against the Evil Team for this game, Team Galactic.

Dawn and Rowan thanked me for assisting, then they left. I was invited to go to Jubilife TV Station. Here, there is a trainer battle that changes every day in the station. It might be a good place to raise levels, both now and the future. I then prepared to travel north. In the next Log, we will go through Route 204 once again, this time going through to the Floaroma area. Until next time, we will see you!

 

[Unovia]

Leaving Jubilife City from the north, I passed through Ravaged Path, using Geodude. Now I have the ability to go through the Floaroma route, opening up a new path forward. I battled a few trainers there, then moved into Floaroma. Floaroma is beautiful, filled with flowers. I moved through the town, gathering a Spray Duck, which will allow me to pick and grow more berries. There are so many berries in the game.

Berry - Bulbapedia, the community-driven Pokémon encyclopedia

bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net

Along the road, I was stopped by a little girl who wants me to save her dad, who works at the Valley Windworks. We will do that soon enough. In the next Log, we will check out the outside of the Valley Windworks. Until then, we will see you!

 

[Unovia]

With the pathway north blocked by Team Galactic Grunts, I maintained a focus on the grass outside Valley Windworks, where I battled another grunt of Team Galactic.

The grunt was not a hard fight. Once I beat him, he showed me the Windworks Key, then, like a coward, sealed the door into the Windworks. I couldn't continue to chase him right now. Instead, I focused on the grass outside the Windworks, catching a Shellos I named Bubblegum and a Buizel. I will eventually replace the pink Shellos with a blue one, since I like the coloration of the blue one better. The only bad side about Shellos is how dirt slow it is. Why are the slugs always the slowest? First Slugma, now Shellos.

I left the Windworks back to Oreburgh Mine, where I hope to raise Bubblegum to the rest of my team. I will also raise my Buizel for my HM Team. In the next Log, we will face the Windworks properly and see what we can do! Until then, we will see you!

 

[Unovia]

Before I took on the Valley Windworks properly, I finished training, capturing a Pachurisu from the outside of the Windworks, quickly boxing it and moving on. With my team ready to go, I went through the Floaroma Meadow to face off against some Team Galactic Grunts, who were going after a honey farmer. It was my job to keep him safe.

This is a two fight, back to back round, meaning you have to switch out if you are training during the battle. Overall, the fight wasn't too hard, but Grunts typically aren't.

After beating them, they scatter, and the thankful man gives me the Works key and a jar of Honey. From now on, I can get him to give me more jars for a small price. It is the only way to get the Honey trees to activate. Typically, its one jar per tree.

With the honey salesman freed, it's time to do the other liberation, this one at the Valley Windworks itself. Using the key, I open the door, which brings me face to face with the guy that locked me out the first time. The dude had been waiting all that time for me, but as soon as he saw me, he bolted, heading to the Commander. I battled a few more grunts, eventually coming face to face with a redhead who calls herself Mars, one of the Commanders of Team Galactic.

This battle can get intense, despite the fact that she has a Level 14 Zubat and a Level 16 Purugly. The Zubat is a joke. I was able to beat it with Bubblegum and one Water Pulse. The challenge is Purugly, who hits like a truck! I switched to Caesar, who is Level 17. For being as much of a fat cat as Purugly is, it is deceptively fast, hitting me first with a Fake Out. It was a bit of a tough exchange, but two Mach Punches from Caesar took it out, though Purugly almost took out Caesar, so it was almost a double KO (Caesar had 4 HP at the end of the fight). Upon losing, Mars and Team Galactic retreat for another day, and the little girl meets up with her dad again, "hoping that the Balloon Pokemon appears again". This Balloon Pokemon is none other than Drifloon, who appears on Fridays. Apparently Team Galactic scared it off.

Since Drifloon is only catchable on Fridays, I will have to stay nearby for a while. In the next Log, we will take on the newly opened up path of Route 205 and Eterna Forest. Until then, we will see you!

 

[Greninjaman]

Hey. Good progress so far. Also, did you notice the thread I made for challenge ideas? If you got any ideas, feel free to plop them there.

 

[Unovia]

Hey. Good progress so far. Also, did you notice the thread I made for challenge ideas? If you got any ideas, feel free to plop them there.

Just saw and I may post to it shortly, once I get an idea, since I am watching it.

 

[Unovia]

Heading north across the Route 205 Bridge, I battled all of the trainers leading to Eterna Forest, which got me a lot of good experience. Moving into the Forest proper, I was met by a young woman by the name of Cheryl who was worried about Team Galactic.

When you are teamed up with Cheryl, all of your battles (including Wild Pokemon) are double battles. This means two things: 1. There are FANTASTIC TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES! 2. If you want to catch Pokemon, you have to make a decision which Pokemon you want to catch. Cheryl comes into this journey with Chansey, a Pokemon with a WHOPPING 250 HP STAT! I decided to train my Main Team during the battles with Cheryl, and then switch out as needed for the wild battles so I could catch what I need and train my HM Team.

There are quite a few Pokemon in the Forest. The Moss Rock is also here, allowing to get Eevee to Leafeon.

Eterna Forest - Bulbapedia, the community-driven Pokémon encyclopedia

bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net

I will take a day or so to train up and catch a few Pokemon. The biggest challenge will be Wurmple, where you can catch Silcoon in the Forest in the wild, but Cascoon is only available through evolution, so I hope my Wurmple becomes a Cascoon to make things very easy to get both Beautifly and Dustox. There is also the Old Chateau here, which unfortunately I can't explore due to the need to Cut.

In the next Log, we will leave the Forest, helping Cheryl move on, and then continue forward to Eterna City. We have quite a bit until the Gym Battle with Gardenia, however. Until the next time, we will see you!

 

[Unovia]

It took me a while to train up. I think I went through the forest with Cheryl 3 Times be fore I let her go. For some reason, it was really hard for me to catch too much in the forest (Murkrow now joins the list of Pokemon that frustrate me!). However, in the end, she was delivered safely out of the forest, and I continued on my way to Eterna City, battling trainers along the way. Once I arrived, I began talking to a few of the people there, as there is so much to do in the small city. Strangely enough, I ran into Cynthia here.

In Diamond and Pearl, Cynthia has a much smaller role in Eterna City than she does in Platinum. In Platinum, she gives you the Togepi egg, while in Diamond & Pearl, she just gives you the HM for Cut before departing. I can't do anything with Cut until I beat Gardenia, while I could have done a lot with the Togepi Egg. That is unfortunate. We will see her again though.

I explored the rest of the city, including the Mythical Pokemon statue, which is Dialga in Diamond. During my exploration, I ran into a gent called the Underground Man. He gave me the explorer kit and tasked me with several quests in the Underground. In the next Log, we will explore the Underground. Until next time, we will see you!

 

[Unovia]

As I said in the last Log, I met up with the Underground Man who gave me several quests in the Underground to prove my worth. These were the tasks:

1. Use the Explorer Kit and go to the Underground. I actually met up with Roark here, who said that he regularly goes down here to mine for gems and other things. 2. Dig something out of the wall. At this point, my main quest down here was to get a Skull Fossil, which when revived, turns into Cranidos. I eventually did find one, but it took a little bit to do so. I also got quite a few Gems and Heart Scales. The Heart Scales are likely to come in handy later. 3. Plant a Sphere in the ground. I did that quickly, near the entrance I used just outside the house. I planted a few smaller gems, then dug them back up. 4. Dig a Secret Base. I did that quickly, then left. 5. Decorate a Secret Base. I decorated the base with a Trash Can, a Wooden Table & Chair, a Bookshelf, and two dolls, Buneary & Chimchar. Then I left again. I am honestly not planning to do much with the Underground. Heart Scales will be the exception, since you can never have enough of them.

In the next Log, we will go east, to Route 211. Until then, we will see you!

 

[Unovia]

Route 211 is just east of Eterna City. There is so much to do in Eterna, but I can't really act on it until I beat Gardenia, so I just decided to explore it. There are many trainers, and several good captures here, with the best one being Ponyta.

Ah Ponyta. In Diamond & Pearl, Ponyta is the only other Fire type. Let me stress that. PONYTA IS THE ONLY. OTHER. FIRE. TYPE. If you don't pick Chimchar and want a Fire type, Ponyta is the only choice you have. On Route 211, at Level 20, Roosevelt (Budew) finally evolved to Rosalia. It can take a while to get this evolution to occur, even with good happiness.

I saw a cave opening to Mount Coronet here. In the next Log, we will check it out. Until then, we will see you!