Have you ever wondered what it would be like to explore the ocean? Now you can with this underwater survival game. While still in development, Subnautica is available on Steam for $19.99, and it’s gained significant momentum since it was released in 2014.

I have spent quite a bit of time on this game over the last few months. And in spite of the occasional bug or two, it’s surprisingly addictive. I can immerse myself in a vast ocean full of strange (and sometimes deadly) creatures, and I enjoy the challenge of surviving amidst the great deep.

The Beginning

If you’re looking for a story-driven game, Subnautica may not be for you. It doesn’t mean there isn’t one, and there’s no way to know if the developers will add more plotlines sometime in the future. It is, after all, an early access game.
You’re the survivor of the Aurora, which is a crashed ship not too far from your escape pod. The small area in which you start out is the only thing that stands between you and the world below, and your first task will be to repair it. That means gathering materials and crafting tools – all while keeping yourself from dying of hunger or thirst.

You can probably guess by now that it can be a little challenging in this early stage of gameplay, and it was a struggle for me to keep myself from dying of thirst. Water and food aren’t just given to you. You have to catch fish to cook, and you’ll need to make fresh water to drink. This can be hard if you don’t have the right tools.

But that’s not the only challenge you’ll face in the beginning. Until you have at least a couple of oxygen tanks, you won’t be able to stay underwater for extended periods of time. And it can really slow you down.

If there’s any consolation, the game does get easier as you progress – especially when you start to build underwater vehicles. That’s when you can start moving beyond the shallow reef from which you started, and it’s where the real fun begins.

Crafting Tools

One of the most common (and perhaps the most useful) tools of this game is the fabricator – a wall-mounted device that can be used for making stuff. Think of it as something similar to a replicator on Star Trek. It’s where you cook food (I hope you like fish), make water, and craft tools.

You’re going to need a welder to fix any broken vehicles, and you’ll need it to repair your escape pod. You’ll need a knife to gather various resources for crafting certain items. You’ll definitely need a scanner, which you will use to get new blueprints (a necessary part of increasing your crafting repertoire). These are a few of the common tools you’ll need, but there could be others as you progress in the game.

Vehicle Crafting

Vehicles play a major role in Subnautica gameplay, especially when you move into deeper water. And you’d be surprised how deep you can go. I’ve explored areas that are over 400 meters deep, and I almost crossed the 500-meter threshold. Each of the two vehicles has a maximum depth range, so you need to be careful how far down you go.

Unlike standard crafting, you won’t be able to use the fabricator to build vehicles. You’ll need a separate crafting station specifically for that purpose, and the blueprint isn’t just handed to you on a platter. Remember what I said about finding blueprints? This is what I mean, but the fun doesn’t stop there. You have to find blueprints for the vehicles themselves, and that can be far from easy.

Getting the blueprint for the first vehicle can be a challenge, but it’s a breeze compared to the Cyclops – a full-fledged submarine that can be used for long-term expeditions. There are other things you have to consider as well, like finding a way to recharge batteries and power cells. Did I mention you have to get blueprints for those as well?

Seabase Building

As you progress in Subnautica, that little escape pod won’t be nearly enough to support you because you’ll only be able to do so much in that tiny area. That means you’ll have to expand your operation.

If you have played survival games before, you know that building a base is an essential part of staying alive, and you also know that that the process is far from simple. You’ll have to do some planning, and you need to be skilled at gathering the right materials. Believe me – you’ll need a lot of it.

The good thing is that you can build your base pretty much anywhere. I chose to keep it close to where I started out, and it took many hours of gameplay to get it to the size that it is now. My strategy is to find certain “safe zones” where I can build scattered outposts throughout the game, because there are some potentially deadly creatures out there. I guess building seabases is like eating salted peanuts. You can’t just have one.

Possible Negatives

Aside from the many positives of this game, there are some possible negatives, and they can be enough to turn some people off. Because it’s still in development, there are occasional bugs. And they can be a bit annoying at times. The knife will stop working on occasion, usually while I’m farming certain types of coral. You would think that making another one would solve the problem, but to my chagrin that wasn’t the case (believe me, I’ve tried). The only way to fix it is to close out the game and reboot, and that can be irritating if I’m in the middle of an expedition.

Subnautica also lacks a multiplayer option, which can be a stumbling block for some people. Part of playing these kind of games is interacting with other players – not that multiplayer doesn’t have its downsides. Spending hours on a base to have someone else rob you blind and destroy what you built can be frustrating, so having a single-player option might not be a bad thing for some people.

Final Thoughts

Like any video game, Subnautica has its share of both good and bad, and because it’s an early-access game some of the negatives are understandable. The question is if the good outweighs the bad. And in my opinion, they do. It’s a great survival game that you can easily get caught up in, and in some ways it can be as bad as World of Warcraft. You can spend late nights playing this game. Just make sure you can show up on time for work the next morning.

Gamer's Log: Stardate who the hell knows...

I am into my second day of trying to get through the entire Baldur's Gate series.  I really don't know any easy way to gain lots of experience real quick.  I have found that the more member of my party there are, the more enemies attack me when I am ambushed or run into monsters.  I have basically been going to a nearby forest and resting over and over until I get ambushed by bandits.  When I had 2 members of my party, I would get ambushed by one bandit.  Then I ended up letting another character join my party, and I noticed I would get ambushed by 3 bandits.  Being asked by another character if they could join my party in order to gain revenge against bandits who killed one of his friends or something, I found that I would now be ambushed by exactly 5 bandits each time I rested.  Each bandit gives my party 65 experience points when I kill them.  They also drop arrows, some gold, and I can also take their scalps, which I have discovered I can sell at a nearby tavern and inn for 10 gold pieces each.  The bandits are easy to kill, but 65 xp is not very much.

I think my strategy is just going to be grinding through as many battles with these relatively easy to kill bandits. That is, until I level up each of my characters to where they won't be killed by everyone else so easily.  I have tried going to other places where there are more powerful monsters, who give more XP for killing. But I find I die tot frequently for this to save me more time.  I need to level up enough that I can more easily survive and kill more powerful enemies. But right now, my characters are way too inexperienced to face more dangerous creatures.  My goal is to try to gain at least one level for all my characters every day I play.  And then I will get sick and tired of grinding out these levels, and wait until next day.

Yesterday, I was almost going to quit playing, because leveling up is so tedious and repetitive.  I just want to be able to continue on in the game, which has a great plot and characters, without dying.  In order to continue on the quest, I will need to kill a magician in the entrance to the Friendly Arm Inn.  This one magician can kill my entire party easily.  I need characters with more hitpoints (hp meaning how much damage I can take before I die) and who can deal more damage to enemies.  Magic is also involved in this game, but I am horrible with magic.  Hopefully, I will be able to learn to use it effectively.

Every time I get attacked by bandits, they say "So I kicked him in the head until he was dead,  hahaha!"  I've heard that repeated over and over and over.  But again, my strategy is to basically just go in a forest area and rest, and hope to get ambushed by bandits so I can kill them. Then I take their gold and jewelry, as well as their arrows and also their scalps to sell for money.  Right now I am going to start playing again, my goal for the day to at least gain one more level up for each of my 4 characters.  My main character, named Ragnarok, is a level 4 fighter.  Imoen, a thief, is also level 4.  Garrick, a bard, and Kivan, a Ranger, are also level 4.  Pray for me that the randomly generated dice rolls treat me well.

If you're interested in purchasing this version of the game, the 4-in-1 DVD box set, you can purchase it here on Amazon.

I am starting a new blog column discussing my time playing various games, whether they are computer, video, board or other kind of games.  I will be giving reviews of games as I play them, and will try to write a blog entry for every time I attempt to play a game. These entries will describe the challenge level, difficulties, fun parts, frustrations, and tactics or strategies I use to attempt to get the most out of the games.

The first game I have begun playing in preparation for writing about it is the original "Baldur's Gate" for PC.  This is the original version, which I bought as a 4 in 1 DVD set containing all the Baldur's Gate I & II and their expansions as well.  I remember buying the game when it first came out a long time ago, back when the latest Windows was Windows 95.  It spanned 5 CD-Roms.  The edition I have is not the Enhanced Edition available on Steam. It is the original version, just put onto one DVD instead of 5 CDS.

I started playing yesterday.  I have given up on this game so many times, because it is a pain to level up.  It is a role-playing game, based on the rules of pencil and paper RPG Dungeons & Dragons, and set in the Forgotten Realms world.  There is so much to do in this game, and while that is one of its blessings, it is also a curse.  To advance, you need to do quests and fight monsters and enemies to get your characters experience points. This makes them stronger, better fighters, gives more abilities and magic spells, and otherwise improves your characters statistics and abilities, in order to make them more powerful and deadly against enemies.

Unlike Japanese style RPGs ,where you can just walk back and forth until a random fight occurs, in Baldur's Gate there is no real easy way to find enemies to fight.  And it doesn't take too long for the enemies you encounter to be too powerful to survive.  My strategy for leveling up has been to rest in an area containing enemies I know my characters can handle. I get woken up by Bandits and kill them for 65 experience points each.   This is just extremely tedious and I have not leveled up very much.

Both of my characters, my main character and my NPC nonplayer character, have gotten up to level 3.   I am trying to level up enough that I can defeat a powerful magician in the first place I am supposed to travel to, the Friendly Arm Inn.  But I am just going to keep grinding through these battles until I get to at least level 5 for each character.  This is going to take forever.  I will update you on whether I have figured out any other ways to gain more experience this early in the game.

This game is great, except for the difficulty level.  Everything is based on random dice rolls, or random number generators. These determine the success or failure of attacks and the amount of damage or other effect done.  The enemies are just too powerful early on, and until I can level up more, I am going to have to just keep fighting weaker enemies one at a time. I will do this until I am strong enough to fight the more deadly enemies in the game, who give more
experience points on being killed.  Maybe I can find some better armor and weaponry, as well.
I was going to try using a cheat that would allow me to heal any character just by right clicking on their portrait. But for some reason, I can't get the cheats or the console where I enter them to work.  So I will be playing without cheats, and I will make updates on my progress in the game until I beat the game, or give up in frustration.

The version of the game I am playing can be purchased here.

Back when I was younger, Pikachu was the most popular Pokemon in the world. I never really minded Pikachu, but I wouldn't say it was one of my favorites. To be fair, I just never figured out why Raichu wasn't more popular than he was.

I realize that Raichu has plenty of fans, but I would've been so happy to see Ash have a Raichu, even if it was in addition to Pikachu. I understand that Pikachu has sold a lot of Pokemon games and merchandise  just by itself. But still, Raichu is a far superior Pokemon. If Ash's Pikachu had become a Raichu, Ash would've probably become the most unstoppable force on the planet. He would've broken Pokemon.

Raichu has always been one of my favorite team members while playing the games. He was usually the Pokemon I used more than any other when I played the original Red and Blue. It bugged me in Pokemon Yellow when I couldn't get him to be a Raichu!

Sadly, as time went on, Raichu was on my team less and less because of availability. Over time, I ended up having another electric-type favorite. Still, Raichu will always have a special place in my heart. The amount of pure raw energy that guy can put out is absolutely ridiculous. If I could have any Pokemon in real life, Raichu would be a top candidate.

Photo credit: Bulbapedia

While Misdreavus is a second-generation Pokemon, I didn't really like her much until third-generation. I say her because every Misdreavus I've ever had was female. It's not that I disliked her; she was fine. It's just that she was very rare in the original Gold and Silver games. I didn't catch one until Diamond and Pearl came out (actually) and by then she had an evolution: Mismagius.

The reason I came to like her in third-generation Pokemon was because of an old browser-based game called Pokemon Crater. It doesn't exist anymore because Nintendo apparently shut them down for copyright reasons. From how I understand it, though, they gave the creators of the site money to sell them the domain name. If you try to go to pokemoncrater.com now, it goes directly to the Nintendo website.

On this game, there was a bug where you could train ghost Pokemon all the way from level 1 to 100. It had to do with one of the Elite Four Trainers, Bruno. Because only one of his Pokemon, Hitmonchan, had an attack that could hit ghosts, you could literally grind a level 1 Gastly to a level 100 Gengar just by fighting Bruno. It was very silly.

I had teams of Gengars, Dusclops, Bannettes, Sableyes, and of course, Misdreavus. Because of how easy it was to build level 100 Ghost Pokemon on Crater, they became among my favorites. But Misdreavus has a special place in my heart. I think I just really like the whole design of her, and her mischievousness and all that. Plus, it's super cute!

I really like Mismagius, but I think it looks so witchy compared to the adorable Misdreavus. Still, Mismagius is a good Pokemon that has served me well since fourth-generation, so I like her just fine, too!

Oh, how I miss Crater...


Photo Credit: http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Misdreavus

When Pokemon Diamond and Pearl was first released, I actually went out and bought a Nintendo DS for the sole purpose of playing these fourth-generation Pokemon games. One of my biggest reasons for wanting the game was that one of my all-time favorite Pokemon, Misdreavus, now had a stone evolution called Mismagius.

Fairly early in the game, it was possible to catch Misdreavus, and the Dusk Stone was fairly easy to get in that game, as well. So I caught a Misdreavus and named her Missy and as soon as I got the Dusk Stone and got Misdreavus to a level where she wouldn't learn anything more useful as a Misdreavus, I evolved her into this new, witchy form of hers.

I wouldn't say that I like Mismagius' design more than Misdreavus. In fact, I like the un-evolved Misdreavus better. The only reason I like Mismagius is because she is a more powerful version, and I like more power. While I love cute Pokemon, I want my Pokemon to be strong, and any way to make them stronger, I take. To be fair, if Pokemon battles were not the basis of the game, I probably would've just forever kept her a Misdreavus forever! But Pokemon is all about having strong Pokemon, so I relented and went with the stronger version, even if it isn't nearly as cute.

Photo credit:  bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Mismagius

by ElspethFTW, Old School Duelist

Pokemon Red Version is not a particularly obscure video game. Actually, it was a fairly popular one.

First of all, it was played on the original Game Boy. Yes, it was enhanced for Game Boy Color, but you could even play it on the old black-and-white Game Boy. Plenty of digital ink has been spilled about Pokemon Red, its counterpart, Pokemon Blue, and its many successors. So what do I have to add?

One thing that I rarely see written about is people discussing exactly why they got so into Pokemon. I'll tell you my reason, and it was incredibly simple: I love collecting things. It's seriously that simple. It wasn't so much about the training - which I admit I got into later, by Diamond and Pearl! I just loved discovering all of the different Pokemon and being able to capture them and subsequently be able to teach them abilities and have them fight for me was just mindbogglingly awesome.

This certainly isn't an uncommon reason for falling in love with the game, but I think the collection aspect is far more overlooked today than the actual training and competition of said trained Pokemon against other Pokemon fanatics.

People today talk about EV training and all of the different move sets and Pokemon natures, and what not. I've never cared about that stuff. Sure, I've paid far more attention to it in Black and White. But it's not a priority for me.

To be honest, I'd rather kick back and play the original games. I know this has been written about before, but I would like to point out the reason that I've suddenly become so sick and tired of the series. I love Pokemon, don't get me wrong. I'll never stop being a fan. But, come on, how many more generations do there need to be?

I believe that Pokemon should have an MMORPG. I seriously do. I'm most certainly not alone in that belief. (Pokemon GO is about as close as they've come to that.) Of course, Nintendo can make far more money by essentially creating new versions of the game to sell handheld and tabletop consoles. The 3DS was really selling on the strength of the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon game and the October 2013 release of X and Y.

Pokemon Red and Blue are just classic. I love playing them simply because of how familiar they are. The nostalgic value of those games is ridiculously high. Also, most of people's favorite all-time Pokemon are still among the first 151! What's not to love about the original games?

Which is your favorite Pokemon game?

by ElspethFTW, Old School Duelist

For my Pokemon Y Wonder Locke, I decided to name my character Destiny Raye after the main character of that my NanoWrimo project that year. I figured, why not use a girl trainer this time. It’s been a tradition for me to use the girl character on at least one version of each Pokemon generation since the days of Pokemon Crystal.

I’m doing a modified version of the Wonder Locke, which is a new variation of the famous Nuzlocke challenge in Pokemon games. Like regular Nuzlockes, your Pokemon only live once. Once they faint, they are lost to you forever. Most people put them in a graveyard box and release them at the end of the game. In my case, I will simply Wonder Trade them off again. Also, you can only catch the first Pokemon that you find on a route, and none other. However, I am inciting the duplicate clause, so any of the same Pokemon I find won’t count.

In a Wonder Locke, you literally Wonder Trade away every Pokemon you get, including gift Pokemon, and use whatever you get in return. I decided to use the rules that allow you to keep both the Kalos and Kanto starters, in this case, I will be starting with Fennekin. Based on what I get before I acquire the second starter, I will keep the Bulbasaur, Squirtle, or Charmander that I get from that. Every other Pokemon will be Wonder Traded, including the Lucario that you acquire later. I also will be using the Exp. Share, although most people don’t – it just makes the challenge much less grindy.

So as soon as I grab my Fennekin and hit Route One, the Wonder Locke will begin!


#2 – First Wonder Trade!

After deciding that my character Destiny Raye would be going by “Lady D” by her in-game friends, I chose Fennekin as my starter who I named Blayze. I went back to my mom to deliver Professor Sycamore’s letter, then returned to Aquacorde town to go buy 10 Poke Balls (so I’d get the extra Premier ball!) This way I can catch the Pidgey that always shows up as soon as you hit Route 1.

As is my custom, I throw a Premier Ball without weakening the Pokemon to see if I catch it. And I did. So anything I catch on a Route will be named Wonderlocke, so that when I trade it out, people understand why I threw a random Lv. 3 Pidgey out on Wonder Trade.

What did I get for Pidgey? It was Coral from Mexico that would become my first Wonder Trade partner! Hopefully, he didn’t mind sending me the Ralts that I got in return! It was a Japanese one, as well! Of course, Gardevoir is an awesome Pokemon, so I’m going to be babying this Ralts a lot to make sure it never dies. Also, this one had perfect Sp. Def and Speed IVs, so that was a nice bonus!
Can’t wait to see what I get come Santalune Forest!

#3 – Santalune Forest

It seemed like a good idea to grind a little bit before getting into Santalune Forest. I fought the trainer with the Zigagoon and a bunch of Bunnelby and Pidgey and got my Ralts up to level 6 so she could learn Confusion. Blayze, my Fennekin, reached level 8. Now entering the forest, I found my first encounter to be a Caterpie, which I simply threw a Poke Ball at and caught at full health.

Personally, I felt bad for whoever got the Caterpie, because while I like Butterfree, Mio from the Netherlands probably wasn’t going to like a Lv 2 Caterpie named Wonderlocke. What was especially good for me was that I got a Bulbasaur in return for it. It was an Adamant one, which is kind of crappy considering that Bulbasaur is typically a Special attacker, but had Petal Dance as an Egg move on it, which is fantastic. Being only level 1, though, I had to grind it up a bit before continuing.

The team is coming together fantastically so far!


#4 – Route 3

After taking down the Caterpie and Azurill of the first trainer on Route 3, I went and caught a Fletchling, which leveled up my Ralts to Lv 8. Gotta love that catching experience! Caught a lv 5 Fletchling which went out to Conor from the UK. In return, I received a Graveler. Yes, a Graveler, which evolved into a Golem. Only problem is, that’s a bit overleveled. While there’s no rule that says I can’t keep it, I’m not going to be able to use it this early.

But being a Level 44 Golem, I wasn’t about to trade it back out, so it just went into the PC as soon as I reached Santalune City. No doubt something will die on my team eventually, and it will find a place at some point.


#5 – Route 22

To the east of Santalune City is Route 22. Since I only had 3 Pokemon (as I kept the Golem I got for the Fletchling) I needed to find another member for my party. After acquiring the Roller Skates and fighting the first trainer on the route, I set out to find that fourth Pokemon for my team. I found a Riolu. I was lucky I didn’t kill it with one Confusion. That catch got my Ralts to level 10.

My brother and I decided to go Wonder Trade at the same exact time. Somehow, it actually worked, netting one of the Larvesta he was breeding, so that was pretty cool. While it does give me a second fire type, Larvesta is still pretty useful despite the fact that it doesn’t evolve into Volcarona until level 59. I may not use it much for a while, but it’s one to hold onto.


#6 – Route 4

After grinding for a little while, I took on the Santalune City Gym, which is full of Bug types. Fortunately, I’d leveled enough that it was fairly easy. My team coming out looked like this: Lv 12 Bulbasaur, Lv 14 Fennekin, Lv 13 Larvesta, Lv 12 Ralts. I caught a Combee lv 8 Female (which is good, because it could actually become a Vespiquen). It took me TWO poke balls this time! On the Wonder Trade, ALTOR from Burgundy, France said BONJOUR and sent me a Shelmet in return!

This was a bit of a surprise. Unfortunately, it’s level 30, which is very high for this point in the game. But because I have the first badge it MAY obey me, since that includes traded Pokemon obeying you up until level 30. So I’ll keep it with me. There is the possibility that because it’s level 30 that it’s a Friend Safari Pokemon, meaning it has at least two perfect IVs, as well! Problem is, it’s a trade evolution, so it’s gonna be stuck as a Shelmet for most of the game.

I didn’t do much grinding on the route at first, because I wanted to go get my Squirtle first! I named him Kamex, which is the Japanese name for Blastoise! After some grinding, I’ll be moving onto the next route!

#7 - Route 5 

My next catch was a Furfrou Lv 9 in a Luxury ball after using one blast of Confusion on it. Coming back in return from Japan was Houndour, like I needed ANOTHER fire type! But it’s Level 1, so it came with me in place of the Shelmet that I probably won’t use for a while anyway. It’s a Dark type too, which does help my type coverage a bit.

Already, it’s clear that the randomness of Wonder Trade could be a serious issue in building a proper team with the right types to cover various match-ups. That is, of course, part of the challenge, though, isn’t it?

#8 - Route 6

My team at this point: Lv 18 Ralts, Lv 17 Larvesta, Lv 16 Wartortle, Lv 19 Ivysaur, Lv 18 Braixen, Lv 12 Houndour.

After getting the Amulet Coin, HM Cut and Poke Flute at Parfum Palace, I caught a Lv 12 Honedge. On the wonder trade, I sent it off to Japan for a Cyndaquil! After swapping the Houndour in my party with the Cyndaquil (which had 2 perfect IVS), I was even able to catch the Snorlax! For Snorlax, I sent it to MacGarnagle in Queensland, Australia for an…Oddish? Well, at least it wasn’t another fire type!

#9 - Route 7

I actually decided to do something a bit unusual for a challenge like this. I left the Oddish at the Daycare! I decided, why not? It’s only level 12, and later on, I may have need of a Gloom/Vileplume/Bellossom!

In the yellow flowers, I found my next Wonder Trade victim: Ducklett. It went out to a girl from Tokyo, Japan, and in return I got a…Magikarp? Unfortunately, it’s level 1 and doesn’t have the hidden ability of Rattled – which becomes Moxie on Gyarados. It’s a Jolly nature though (+speed, -sp. Atk) which is fine as Gyarados tends to be a physical attacker. But it will be awhile until we get a Gyarados in this case.


#10 - Connecting Cave

Before entering Connecting Cave, I fought a few trainers that I’d purposely skipped for training purposes later and easily won the double battle against my “neighbors” Trevor and Tierno. Also, my Cyndaquil evolved into Quilava already! I also got Ralts to evolve into a Kirlia, making her a lot more formidable. At the Zubat Roost in Connecting Cave, what would I find? A Meditite. After getting in one hit on it and putting it to sleep with Ivysaur’s Sleep Powder, I was able to catch it in a Great Ball.

Hoping for a lot better than Magikarp (with the Swift Swim ability and level 1, no less), I sent out the Meditite (nicknamed Wonderlocke) out into the world. Jinka from Nara, Japan would be the recipient. In return, I actually got something very good, a Mawile! It happens to be level 26, too, meaning it will actually be useful for the next part. I’ll be going back to switch it out at Camphrier Town.

Then, onto Route 8!


#11 - Route  8 

After getting the Coastal Kalos Pokedex upgrade, I sought out my next Wonder Trade already! My victim this time would be Mienfoo, who is a fairly useful Pokemon on his own when he evolves into Mienshao. After putting it to sleep, it only took one Great Ball to grab it! So, the Mienfoo went out on Wonder Trade to Andrew from Virginia. While the Flabebe I got back was fairly disappointing, I decided that I may use it later, putting it into the Day Care along with my Oddish. It could be useful to have that Fairy type later in the game, and could evolve it to Florges if I find the Shiny Stone!


#12 - Route 9

On the Rhyhorn ride, I went and captured a Sandile for my next Wonder Trade. In Glittering Cave, I found a Cubone, which I caught. I then defeated Team Flare and got the Jaw fossil to revive into Tyrunt. Upon returning to Ambrette Town, this gave me three Pokemon to Wonder Trade away. Ryu from Osaka, Japan wished me a Happy New Year and sent an Eevee in return for my Tyrunt. The Eevee was level 1 but had perfect HP IVs. 

For the Cubone, Serena from Lazio, Italy sent a Pansage. While I’m not a huge fan of the elemental Monkeys, it is something I may end up using if I need a Grass type later in the game, since I already have a Leaf Stone to evolve it. Lastly for the Sandile (which had Moxie by the way), someone from Fukushima, Japan sent me a Gible! That was pretty nice, especially being a Jolly nature level 1.

I actually decided to swap out my Larvesta for the Gible, simply because a Gible/Gabite/Garchomp will end up proving more useful in the long run. So now it’s off to do some grinding and taking on the Cyllage City Gym!


#13 - Cyllage City

Because of a little technicality in the Nuzlocke-Wonder Locke rules, you’re able to fish inside of Cities, meaning I’m able to catch something with the Old Rod and trade it off. Of course, with the Old Rod, you’ll pretty much only find Luvdisc. Ordinarily, Luvdisc is mostly useful for the Heart Scales that they can be holding half of the time. But in this case, it’s one more trade I can make.

The Luvdisc that I happened to find actually had a Scale, which I removed before trading it away. Oddly enough, the Wonder Trade system didn’t find me a partner the first time (this is extremely rare but it does happen).  Finally I got Tohon from Georgia to take the Luvdisc off my hands for a Scyther, which is a trade I’ll always take. It’s an Adamant nature level 1, which is good, but it probably won’t be used for a while.

#14 – Routes 10 & 11

On Route 10, I easily caught an Emolga – just put it to sleep and caught it with a Great Ball. It would end up being sent via Wonder Trade to a fellow name Black from the UK, and I received a Venipede in return. It actually had 4 IVs, but not the Speed Boost ability that can make it really good.

Then later on Route 11, I traded the Staravia that I caught for yet another Shelmet. Citing the duplicate clause, I sent it back out to Lenne in Virginia for an Absol! As much as I love Absol, I didn’t really have room to use it at the time being, but it was a nice pick-up.

#15 - Glittering Cave & Shalour City

Just my luck that my first encounter in the Glittering Cave was a horde of Mime Jr! After dispatching the first four, it took THREE GREAT BALLS to catch the last one! I was glad I was doing a Wonderlocke, because I wanted nothing of it after all of the trouble it caused me. So I sent to Aurore in France and got a Quagsire in return. I’ve always been fond of Quagsire, but I shouldn’t have need of it in this playthrough.

Shalour City Gym was actually a bit tricky, due to having some type match-up difficulties, but I got through with no losses. I then had to go do the Lucario battle. It pained me to trade it away, though. Then again, I have Mega Blastoise coming up soon! So what did I get in return? Someone in Tokyo, Japan sent me an Eevee, which I already had. Therefore, because of the duplicate clause, I got a second chance. So what did Fifi in California send me? A Ralts! So again, I had to go for another trade. What would Asuna from Sao Paulo, Brazil sent me now? Finally, I got something I could use, a Slowpoke! It was Level 27, too! So far, these Wonder Trades haven’t been so bad!

#16  - Route 12 

On Route 12, my first encounter was a Chatot. Would putting it to sleep and using a Great Ball work again? Yes, it would! What would it provide me through the Wonder Trade?  A lady from Hyogo, Japan sent me a Vulpix! Did it have the sought after Drought ability? Yup, and it was a Timid nature with Extrasensory as an Egg Move. It was a pretty solid return, I must say, despite the fact that having a Chatot on my team would’ve been interesting.

Then, of course, there is a free Lapras.  Since I didn’t need it for Surf, it was an easy decision to trade away. What would I get there? Jon from Florida would send me… Magikarp… But, guess what? DUPES CLAUSE! Hopefully, Gerald from New York had something better right? Nope. A Fletchling. With Big Pecks. Sad face. Hey, at least it can learn fly… and trust me, I will be using it later on!

#17 - Badlands, Lumiose Gym, and Route 14

After saving the power plant using primarily my Mega Blastoise and Gardevoir, I went after my next Wonder Trade victim: Dugtrio! As usual, Venusaur used Sleep Powder and I threw a Ball at it, but this time it was an Ultra Ball! On the Wonder Trade, it went to Tanner from Wisconsin, who sent me a Beedrill of all things. To be fair, it IS way better than Weedle.

So onto the Lumiose city gym, the electric gym… that was fairly easy! Delphox took care of the Emolga and Magneton handily with Flamethrower and Venusaur dealt with Heliolisk. After securing the badge, it was onto Lysandre Café to advance the plot, get a King’s Rock, and onto route 14!

Route 14 was my first bust, though. I got nothing. Goomy was too much of a pain to catch. Were it a regular Nuzlocke, I definitely would’ve tried harder, because Goodra is simply too good to pass up. But after five Ultra Balls and being unable to get it asleep because of its Hydration ability was just too much aggravation for a potential lousy Wonder Trade… It was sad, but I already had a dragon type with Gabite, so I moved on.

#18 – Route 15, Frost Cavern & Route 17

With my team now sufficiently over-leveled from the extra trade experience, the Wonder Trades were now becoming a moot point. After taking down the Fairy gym rather handily and saving the Poke Ball Factory, I’m not really concerned about Wonder Trading. My team is set and I have enough Pokemon in reserve that I can go level up if need be.

On Route 15, I caught a Skorupi which I sent to Rodri from Florida for a Charmander in return. While I was happy to get that back, I was well set on fire types with Quilava still in reserve. At the Frost Cavern , I had a rough encounter with a BEARTIC. Venusaur was mashed with an Icicle Crash after a failed sleep powder. So, I had to switch out. After one surf from Blastoise, I was able to get Beartic down to half HP and caught it on the second Ultra Ball. The return on the Wonder Trade was lousy: a Tauros.

Onto snowy Route 17, I caught a Snover in a Luxury Ball, which I traded for Supriya in Washington for another Cyndaquil. With the duplicate clause, I had to send it back, this time out to DJ from New Jersey – for a Ducklett. The Wonder Trades were beginning to really get pretty bad, and it only got worse from there. Fortunately, my team was blowing through the game at this point, so the rest of the game was going to be a breeze barring some random one-hit KO.


#19 – The End of Team Flare & Yvetal

Yvetal proved instrumental in my victory over Lysandre. But alas, it could not stay with me… Arcane from Florida was the lucky guy to be the recipient of the most powerful Pokemon sent out in this WonderLocke. Of course, I got a Farfetch’d back…and no duplicate clause to save me. It’s not that I was going to use Yvetal anyway, but after this, I’ve decided that at this point the Wonder Trades are absolutely pointless.

Nevertheless, I continued to Wonder Trade even at route 18, where I caught a Sandslash after two Ultra Balls traded it to Janne in the Netherlands for yet another Ralts. Again, the dupe clause went into effect, and the Ralts now went to Hiroshima, Japan for a Gible. I had to cite the dupe clause AGAIN, and I had Melissa from France send me a Caterpie. While this whole process was a bit frustrating, the Sandslash had a Quick Claw which I removed before trading. So I still made out okay, giving that Quick Claw to my Delphox. I know that will come in handy later!


#20 – The Final Wonder Trade

As the Wonder Trades were now becoming both useless and annoying, I decided to make Route 19 my final catch of the game. Of course, it had to be something as useful as a Sliggoo! After my failure with Goomy, I HAD to go for this. My Mawile (which had become my MVP) walled it and I got it in two Ultra Balls. The Sliggoo got traded for ANOTHER RALTS – which then turned into a Whismur. I stopped bothering to mention where they came from at this point, as that Whismur was only going to be released at game’s end anyway.

I decided at that point to go back to check the Daycare. My Oddish grew 17 levels and Flabebe grew 20. I used a rare candy to make the Flabebe into Floette, but lacked the Shiny Stone to make it into Florges. As it was, it was still far too underleveled to be any sort of factor at this point, as my team was all Level 60 or higher at that point. So for the Winding Woods & up – I didn’t bother to catch anything else because my team was set. After Victory Road, this is how my team looked:


ELITE FOUR TEAM
LV 62 “Kamex” Blastoise
LV 65 Garchomp
LV 66 “Blayze” Delphox
LV 71 Gardevoir
LV 71 Venusaur
LV 80 Mawile

Next, a recap of my Elite Four and Champion challenge! This is for it all!

#21 – THE ELITE FOUR AND CHAMPION!

First I took on Malva, the Fire member of the Elite Four. Three of her Pokemon were taken down by “Kamex” my Mega Blastoise. Gardevoir took down her Talonflame with her Thunderbolt. One down.

Wikstrom, my second opponent, would prove to be the toughest of the play-through. I thought his steel types would be a cinch for “Blayze” my Delphox. Blayze did have an easy time with the Klefki. Kamex came in for Probopass. Two Full Restores later, plus one of my own, the Probopass went down. Blayze came back out to meet Aegislash, and for the first time in the challenge, Blayze went down big time as the Shadow Claw was too much. Mawile got the revenge kill. Scizor was a tough fight, but Mawile brought it down, too. So I was down to five Pokemon, although losing Blayze at that point was manageable.

Next were the dragons of Drasna. Mawile’s Play Rough would be key. Drasna came at me with Dragalge, which went down in one shot. Noivern was next. The Flamethrower hurt, but the Play Rough countered it perfectly. Druddigon faced Gardevoir, which nearly beat it with one Dazzling Gleam, but it barely hung on. After a Full Restore, Gardevoir’s second shot downed it. Then came Altaria. Again, Dazzling Gleam was just not enough. But the second Gleam did the trick. Fairy-type is OP.

Last came the water member of the Elite Four, Siebold. Venusaur and Gardevoir were ready. Siebold came in with Clawitzer. Petal Dance from Venusaur? Yup. One hit KO. Ready for the Starmie, I brought in Gardevoir, for the T-bolt. It barely hung on. I saw the full restore coming too. Starmie’s Light Screen helped it absorb some of the next Bolt, but Gardevoir was too fast and beat it before it could land a hit on me. Next was Gyarados, which Gardevoir was happy to stay in against. Yet another one hit KO. For Barbacle, Venusaur came back in, now a level stronger. It may have been the difference, because Petal Dance one-hit KO’ed it.

So the champion… Diantha. This is for it all. Here comes Hawlucha. After a nasty Poison Jab on my Gardevoir, the Thunderbolt put it away. For Gourgeist, I offered a Mawile Crunch. After a rather pointless Trick or Treat from Gourgeist, another Crunch dispatched it. Goodra was next. It avoided the first Play Rough. After a Full Restore on my guy, Mawile dodged the second Fire Blast, and the Goodra didn’t dodge. Tyrantrum was next. Another Play Rough was on the docket and there went Tyrantrum. Aurorus was next. Iron Head was ready for it, landing a one hit KO. Finally, it was time for her Mega Gardevoir. In came a Shadow Ball which hit hard. But Iron Head was too much for it and it went down in an epic one-hit KO.

Game over. Wonder Locke complete.

Wonder Locke Impressions

After this Wonderlocke, I've decided I'm only going to do standard Nuzlocke Challenges going forward. The Wonderlocke format is much too random and after watching some Pokemon that would've been quite beneficial in a regular Nuzlocke be traded for early game Pokemon that serve no purpose in a competitive team, I simply became frustrated by the whole process. My team didn't change at all once I trained up the Level 1 Gible to a Garchomp. My final team was so over-leveled that nothing really came close to beating me towards the end. I had a few scares, but I lost nothing until the Elite Four.

I did end up keeping my full team from the play-through, plus the Slowpoke (which took a King's Rock and became Slowking), the Drought Vulpix, the 4 IV Venipede, and a couple of other Pokemon that brought extra copies of Mega Stones over to my copy of Pokemon X. I decided to keep my Delphox, despite the fact that fainted Pokemon are usually released at the end of a Nuzlocke. I was originally going to trade off my team as a New Year’s gift, but after how miserable the second half of the game's Wonder Trades were, I said screw it, beat the game and said goodbye.


It was a very successful challenge, and I had fun with the team that I built. But I took few risks and always used a lot of Potions. I was super cautious because I didn't want to lose anyone, and I got lucky that I lost my first Pokemon on Wikstrom. But the Wonder Trade needs to be cleaned up before a Wonderlocke is truly fun. There's too much randomness, and yes, that is part of the challenge. But when the Wonder Trades become annoying and not adding to the experience, it's just not worth it. I will be doing a Standard Nuzlocke very soon, and I pretty much guarantee that will be a lot more fun. As awesome as the Wonder Trade is as a tool to offload extras from breeding or giving out some nice freebies to people, for a challenge, it's pretty awful.


That and if you get a Mawile, you pretty much just win.


Happy New Year, everyone!