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So, I decided to start one, mostly after reading Petty's comic about it. Felt like 4th Gen, so Pearl it is. I do agree that if you white out, you lose the challenge. Good old-fashioned "do or die" works for me. Also with the legendaries, since I wouldn't use them anyway*.

Here's a few thoughts in the order of moving forwards:

Right from the start, the grinding does indeed remind me of ye olde' First Gen, but in a positive way**. Although, why must every Bidoof I encounter be female when I'm trying to level my Rivalry-possessing Jason(Shinx)?

Dang, even the usual trainer battles, even on the first route, feel pretty epic because of the life-and-death aspect of it.

One thing I ended up pondering - what HM's are absolutely needed to get through the game? Surf and Waterfall certainly are, and I think Strenght is up there, but how about the rest of them?

...damn. Flipping wild Kricketot with its' Bide. It had a sliver left when it unleashed, causing my Jason to hit the bucket from full hp. Really should have seen that one coming. *sigh*

RIP, Jason, 3-7.

Route 204. First pokemon I come across is a lvl 4 female Budew, caught it. Named it Shendra.

Getting late, saving here. My current pokemon:

lvl 5 Budew(f), Shendra. Relaxed nature, met at Route 204.
lvl 9 Turtwig(m), Nicholas. Sassy nature, starter.

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*Will try to catch them for Global Trade fodder so I can get my precious breedable pokemon I can't catch between my (or my sister's) Emerald/FireRed/Pearl/Diamond/Platinum/HeartGold/SoulSilver/Black/White...
**After all, I'm the same nut who went through Blue with only a Ponyta, Gold with an Oddish and Emerald with a Zubat, and Wingull - on separate occasions. Wattson's gym was tons of fun on both latter cases.

...*sigh*

My team as I need to start training (read: grinding like no mañana) towards second gym, after the Forest of Hell(tm).
Houston, lvl 13 Magikarp male, Relaxed.
Brendan, lvl 18 Geodude male, Careful.
Shendra, lvl 15 Budew female, Relaxed.
Belinda, lvl 8 Buizel female, Impish.
Lady, lvl 8 Bidoof female, Hardy.
Carla, lvl 6 Zubat female, Mild.


The forest before second gym, Eterna Forest, is the devil. Seriously. You're teamed with Cheryl and her oh-so-useful Chansey, which most opponents ignore anyway and instead gang on my pokeys. Let's just say that now I know why she fully heals all your pokeys to full between fights - you'd never get past that forest otherwise on normal run-through.

Body count: 4

Jason, male Shinx, 3-7, Sassy. Ate a Bide that hit for more than his full hp bar.
Tramp, male Bidoof 5-12, Hardy. Died to eating one too many focused attacks from two pokemon per turn.
Nicholas, male Turtwig 5-14, Sassy. Died to a Gust crit from a Dustox.
Carmen, female Zubat 5-13, Careful. Died to a Confusion from the same damn bug.

Oh god this is going to be painful if I dare to continue. It is fun, but damn it hurts to lose, especially losing my dear Nicholas...

@JDLJDL: Um, how? Even when I've done pre-bred teams of three with boosted exp, I've only had them at 20+ by the second gym.

I guess our definition of "not much grinding" differs a bit.

EDITUM: Managed to get Lady, lvl 8 Bidoof female, Hardy, to kick the bucket before getting her a single level. Go me.

Body count: 5.

Blargh. Ended up losing too many pokemon to consider it feasible to continue, decided to start again. This time, with 25% more grind I suppose. And less suicidal "leaps of faith."

Attempto secondo:
I'm at the valley windworks at the moment, with a body count of zero, with this team:
Nimbus, lvl 11 Buizel male, Calm
Christina, lvl 12 Shinx female, Naughty
Burton, lvl 11 Chimchar male, Quiet
Beyonce, lvl 12 Zubat female, Careful <- fainted now
Camora, lvl 14 Geodude female, Quirky
Georgia, lvl 12 Machop female, Modest(Modest? MODEST?!)

Let's hope this run goes a bit better. At least I haven't killed anyone off yet.

EDIT: Shouldn't have opened my mouth: Beyonce threw a cold fart when that level 16(!!!) Purugly brutalized her in a single Faint Attack crit.
Instead I took Mythos, lvl 10 Shellos male, Relaxed. We shall see.

Hate, hate, hate hate hate.

So I'm on my merry way, north of Floraroma town, training my team. Along comes a trainer with Shinx, I happen to have my Buizel, Nimbus, first. I think, ah, no worries, my same-level Shinx doesn't have Spark yet, no need to worry - no need to swap.

You can probably guess what happened next.

*groan*
*sigh*

RIP, Nimbus (7-13), Calm.