I had this strange urge to go replay through a Gen 3 game in the name (and spirit) of dolo. I asked around, and lo and behold, one of my old league friends has generously allowed me to borrow his Ruby version.

And so I come to you, the Psypoke userbase (which includes some people familiar with dolo and others who are not) to choose my team for this play of Ruby...which, I admit, I have never played through before (just Sapphire and Emerald).

This is a CMT (Choose My Team) run, so you guys get to pick my team under the following conditions:

~You guys can make as many suggestions as you want. They don't have to be all at once either.
~All suggestions must be within reason. I have the right to reject your suggestion if I don't like it or it sounds stupid. But you guys are mostly cool so you shouldn't worry.
~I will be nicknaming all of my Pokemon. When you suggest a Pokemon, include with it a nickname. Nicknames follow the same rules as other suggestions - I have the right to reject it if I don't like it.
~Anything you suggest I must actually be able to catch within Ruby itself. This means no trade-overs or anything of that nature. Other than that, there are virtually no holds barred.
~There is one exception to the above rule, and that is trade evolutions. They will be allowed within reason, i.e. if I can find the corresponding item for them or not. However, I need to catch its base form first in the game itself.
~If I get no suggestions I like for the starter, I will be starting with Ray.

If you want an example of a past CMT run, and how I do them, you can look here (this one was of Pearl). I will not be doing any post-game content for this run as Ruby doesn't have a real post-game. However, I will be recording everything up to that point.

Now, suggest my team members to me. Make me proud, Psypoke. And remember: drunks only live once.

Suggestions (definite):
Blaziken "Ray"
Medicham "Footloose"
Wobbuffet "Sacrama"
Crobat "Crumpets"
Whiscash "Dunce"
Breloom "Haberdash"


Suggestions (pondering):
Walrein "Beluga"
Swellow "Demise"
Claydol "Matryoshka"
Camerupt "Earthrise"
Pelipper "Horizons"
Sharpedo "Bruce"
Zangoose


Chapters up so far:
Prologue: Abducted by Popular Demand
Chapter 1: DNA and Ray's Excellent Adventure
Chapter 2: A Most Classy Comeback
Chapter 3: In Which I Make Fun of Everyone, except Beards
Chapter 4: Everyone be Raging, except Me
Chapter 5: It was Four Chapters Later, not Seven
Chapter 6: SOLVE MY MAZE
Chapter 7: That's Not How You Dolo
Chapter 8: There Was a Lot of Walking Involved
Chapter 9: An Even Weirder Bromance
Chapter 10: Magma Cult VS Spoon Pirates 2: The Saltening
Chapter 11: The End of This Flightless Charade
Chapter 12: This Chapter is like DBZ, because It's Nothing but Filler
Chapter 13: That Montage Took Forever

And yes, there's only 13 chapters. Enjoy!

For everyone who cares: viewtopic.php?f=7&t=21496 At the bottom of the first post is a list of all pokemon you can capture in-game before the elites. Remove and , toss in a and , and you've got the full picture.

I moved through my friend's Ruby just recently, as well as my own Sapphire.

was an absolute flipping god-send, as it can learn shadow ball, and stand up to Tate and Liza - you get him out by Mt. Pyre, and is totally worth it. Call it Footloose, and it should be given the Shadow Ball TM immediately.

(though Barboach is late) is a nice addition if you don't start off with Swampert. Plenty of bulk, good Earthquake. Call it Dunce

is pretty good, too. If you want novelty and the battery works, you could try with . Call Walrein "Beluga"

(Yes, I'm on - I have nothing else to do!)

We meet again DNA-Zama!
Well, you actually said you'd do this so I had to make an account on another forum, buuuut
Right, on to my suggestions...

You need a flying type right? Right? Anyway, Swellow is a nice thing to have, I mean, base 125 Speed! Although, it is kinda frail, but at least it has a bit of an Attack stat to it. I had a Shiny Swellow on Ruby also, but the file got corrupted ;~; Name it Demise, as it is an incarnate of me, Dread Lord Fletchling! muwahahahaha It can also be your flier o///o
She (Must be female or I will devour your eyeballs) is an amazing Special Attacker, with early access to Psychic, as well as Calm Mind and Shadow Ball. Base 125 Special Attack, too... damn are they all going to have 125 in something? Gardevoir would overall be a great Special powerhouse, which would be great for your team. I'd name her Kami, because of her skirt-thing that looks like paper imo (Paper = 紙 Kami) Ironically, Kami can also mean god (God = 神 Kami) or hair (Hair = 髪 Kami). (or Megami, w/e)
It's you, DNA. Have to suggest a favorite, eh? Sadly, doesn't have base 125 in anything but it has base 120 in Special Defense, which counts for something. Can be a decent defensive wall, and can explode if you need it to kill something. I'd call it Matryoshka, because of those Russian Dolls, y'know, and ehrmagerd Vocaloid fangasming.

PRAISE ME-*glub glub glub*
Anyway, those are my suggestions, DNA-Zama :3

Medicham is definitely in. I've never done a playthrough with it before and it definitely sounds like something I want to do. All the others are put in as suggestions, save Gardevoir (rejected) because I've done almost every playthrough of Gen 3 so far with Gardevoir, and it's getting stale. Swellow is a maybe because, though I've used it before, I need a flier, and Swellow is great.

Claydol is iffy because man is it a pain and a half to raise. On the flip side, it will never die.

Oh yeah, while I'm thinking about it: Alakazam and stuff like that (trade evos) are legal, within reason (I would need to get the items for them, which is harder than it sounds).

</3 Poor god Sirknight
I'll be watching this, and seeing if it lives up to your standards and if Fletchling comes back glub glub
I'd recommend Claydol though, it's worth the effort of raising it.

I have done this before in Emerald and I disagree. It's only worth it if you're willing to burn a few TMs.

Okay

Well, you will need a fire type, and it's also a ground type who learn rock type moves. You will pwn steven with it. Give it bulk up, earthquake, rock slide (which he learns through lvl up!) and Fire blast and you're ready.
I did a run with this one once, and it ended up being quite useful, surprisingly. And you can get it straight at the beggining. It doesn't have astronomical stats, but I guess it's worth a try if you never used it. Learns both Surf and Fly.
Get the egg in Canalave and you get a wobbuffet with encore. Simply overpowered lol.
Have the patience to train your shroomish to lvl54 and it learns spore... then you can focus punch through the shizz on the road.

Imma think about the names.

I'm going to file all your suggestions under 'Maybe' for now, while you think of the names. Camerupt probably has the least chance of making it due to the existing type conflicts, like Whiscash and Blaziken. Wobbuffet probably has the most of those 4.

Pelipper I am iffy on, but I know that my brother used it in his playthrough and it worked wonders. The fact that it gets Protect as soon as it evolves is almost icing on the cake. Breloom is extremely tempting, but having to deal with something that will be deadweight for most of the main plot is...rather tricky. Spore is the brokes, no denying that, but having to wait until right before the E4 to get it is...well...

Found the names:

Earthrise (Reference to one of my fav music groups)
Horizons (Because this is the middle between sea and sky.)
Sacrama (A reference to my anger, annoyment, when I found another Wobbuffet in the wild while training mine.)
GoodNites (You know, these underwears for kids. So the liquid don't spill everywhere. Dunno, this crossed my mind. o_O)

Wobbuffet is in.
I put down all the nicknames you suggested; everyone else is still under maybe, but I think I'm going to try and find a different name for the Breloom...

After much deliberation, and asking around a few other people for ideas, I have come up with the following list:



They are sorted not by the order I accepted the ideas (that's in the OP), but the order at which I will acquire their base forms in-game. I've also put notes down for evolving some of them later to pick up fun stuff.

I'll probably start this after I finish my Golden Sun run (or concurrent with), but I also need to decide who I'm casting as who. That will be the trickier bit, but it will also be the funnier one. Okay, see you guys soon!

Okay nice! Are you going to post some info on your run here?

I will be posting the run here in sections, yes.

swellow is good gluing type to have around or peliper either one is good.
I would start out with Torchic as your starter because when it evolves into combusken it learns double kick taking out the first three gym leaders pretty well.
Raichu would be your next best choice after u catch pikachu in the safari zone.
after that I would go with whatever you like

You do know I decided several days ago, right?

yelp probably so. but it doesn't hurt to make suggestions

[Back to Top]



Golden Sun is the greatest game ever made.

No, seriously.

I'd just finished my umpteenth playthrough of Golden Sun and it's still just as charming and vibrant as ever. Heck, I think with me doing things a little bit out of order, it became even more interesting to watch as I tested the game's linearity.

Of course the game still has a plot and I had to follow it, but the side tracks ended up helping me in the long run, so I didn't have to grind for the endgame bosses as I usually do. Then again, I ended up playing a lot smarter this time around as well too - like going for the 3-Djinn summons instead of 4, for durability, and not using up any of my healer's Djinn either. But that's a whole different story, and one I shall save for another time.

In any case, my save was done and I was ready to transfer the data over to The Lost Age to continue my playthrough there. Everything's ready to go and I feel pretty good about myself! I go to sleep that night and wait in eager anticipation for what I shall soon be about to do.

Apparently, someone else had other plans, because the next morning, I woke up in the back of a truck, packed to the brim with boxes.



I don't really have much time to think about it when I hear the truck, which had previously been moving, slow to a halt. I steady myself so I don't fall over, and shortly thereafter the back of the truck opens. I flash my best Sméagol impression by screaming "THE LIGHT! IT BURNS US! loljk" and jump out of the truck, wondering where the hell I am.

Right as I do that, a woman comes out of the nearby house...



I will be sure to personally kill him later. I have no beef with this strange woman that pretends to be my mother (yet), so I humor her. Inside there are Machoke carrying moving boxes around and such. One of them just appears to be pacing back and forth with his. I ask him when he's going to actually put the box down, but he ignores me. The other one looks like he's masturbating to the television. I decide it's best not to get involved and go upstairs.

There's a clock there, so I set it.



While I'm up here I raid the PC for a Potion and look around at the various other furnishings in the room. There's a GameCube in here! which is awesome, except there are no games in it. Disappointed, I go downstairs and figure out what the hell I should do next. There are only 2 things I have in my mind: beat up Pride and get out of here. However, my mother appears to be enthralled with a TV program. She calls me over because Petalburg Gym is involved, but it just ended. My fictitious video game father was somehow involved.

I also find out my fictitious video game dad is friends with Professor Pride, who lives next door.



I hold down the B button but nothing happens. Fortunately, it's only a few steps away. As I go in, Pride's wife greets me and says they have a daughter around the same age as me. I dismiss this information as irrelevant and ask where Pride is. She doesn't know. Well, maybe the daughter will be a lead. I go upstairs, and...



Discerning that Pride is out in the field doing professor stuff, I head north out of town.



I find my old friend Ray has made it into Hoenn as well, though how he got here I have absolutely no idea. I check the summary screen briefly and see his nature is Adamant (yessssssssssss). He quickly tears the Poochyena a new one with 2 Scratches.



I wave goodbye to Pride, preparing to exact my vengeance at a later date. I do as Pride asks and investigate the desk drawer. There, waiting for me, are my 2 GBA SPs, a Link Cable, and my Golden Sun games, ready to be played in the event I ever get bored.



I leave them there, for now. I'll beat up Lenny first and then play through The Lost Age for a while after that.

Route 101 is literally eventless. Ray and I walk through it and we don't even get jumped. I think it's because they're scared brickless of Ray. Oldale Town is similar, except there's the obligatory Mart attendant who gives me a free Potion, complete with the eternally catchy "Follow Me!" music. (At least, that's what I think the tune is called. You guys know the one.) Shame you only hear that song once this game. Route 103 is ALSO completely eventless, until...



And thus begins the first real fight this playthrough, against Rival Lenny. The rival in RSE also has very good music; it's a shame it only plays 4 times in the game. And the rival isn't refightable either. Pity. Then again, the real rival in this game can be fought again.



It takes a bit of time, but Ray essentially stomps Lenny's Mudkip. He gains 1 level (almost 2) and we're out of here. Time to see what Pride's next pointless task is. I hold the B button but, again, nothing happens. I have to walk around the fat guy right outside the lab, which displeases me.



Right as I'm about to leave, my mother hands me the magical B-button powered Running Shoes. Finally, this button is good for something. I also pick up my Golden Sun-related devices and stow them in my pack, so I have something to do while I'm bored.



And now to take on the world. Both of them.

End of Prologue!

DNA's Team So Far:

Ray lv. 6

Lost it at the machokes with boxes. xD

This is going to be interesting.

This is good stuff!
(Excuse my absence).

Entertain more, please - I need a distraction from the failure that is grad school.

I'm glad you were both entertained. It lets me know that I'm doing my job well!

Chapter 1 should be up sometime tomorrow, once I can get Fletchling to wake up. (It's all written up, of course - I just need to do a bit of proofing.)

[Back to Top]



"Do you want to check yourself for injuries?"

>hits Yes
>watches Felix shake his arms around a bit

"Looks like the arms are still attached. That's a good start."

>watches Felix kick his legs a bit

"Your legs are working too. Yup! You're fine!"



At Ray's behest, I pack up my games, save my progress, and continue the trek. In the path west out of Oldale Town, I see a guy who is extremely intent at sketching his own fingerprints. I decide to leave him to it, and not tell him, but it turns out he found already and was already disappointed. Poor guy.

Route 102 is next. The first Pokemon I plan to catch doesn't show up for a little while, but if I find a Zigzagoon, I plan to catch it and name it Slave 0, as is custom for the HM slaves I use in my various playthroughs. I know I will find a few small items, but nothing of note. I will also have Ray roflstomp any trainer I come across.

No, I will not be catching a Ralts. They take forever to find and I've used it before in so many playthroughs. I want it to be actually fun this time.

Meanwhile...



Ray is merciless, critting pretty much everyone and everything he comes across. I'm so proud of him. As I explore the route, I notice just how sensitive the B button is. RUNNING, WHOOSH, WHOOSH! By the time we're done here, Ray is already level 10, and picks up Ember. He's just owning everything. It's beautiful.

The next city is Petalburg. I know Not-Mom mentioned it earlier due to my Not-Dad, but hell, there's a gym in the town. I might as well check it out, right? And so I do.



I am not in the least bit surprised that the wimpy sickly boy is played by Gale. I think Pride did that on purpose. I follow him from a distance as he hunts for a Pokemon, and...



^This is me every time I play through RSE and get to this scene. I did find it a bit of a dick move that PMJ only gave Gale a single Poke Ball. I mean, what if it breaks?

Or maybe PMJ did that on purpose too. Knowing PMJ, it would not surprise me.



Rather than confront the trainers on Route 104 directly, I decide to stealth my way into Petalburg Woods, because the first new mon I plan to capture is in these woods, not counting the eventual Zigzagoon HM slave. Thinking over it, it will probably take me about as long to find as a Ralts would, but this mon will be so much cool-

-never mind, I found it on the 1st encounter. Lucky me.



And thus Haberdash the Shroomish joined the team. She's level 6 and has a Gentle nature, which will probably come back to bite me later, but in the short run it will be advantageous. Also, I have a Shroomish. That alone is awesome, and Effect Spore is nasty. She will be instrumental in taking down Roxanne if I can't get Ray to start double-kicking by then.

Petalburg Woods is an excellent proving ground for Haberdash, who beats up 75% of the kid with 6 Wurmples. (The other 25% was handled by Ray.) On the way I also capture the soul of a Zigzagoon for HM purposes. Further up the road...



KoNner has only 1 Pokemon, a level 9 Poochyena. Haberdash Stun Spores it right off the bat so it ceases to be a threat, and she then proceeds to beat it to death very very slowly. She's a Grass-type; what more can I say?



Of course, since everything he said has now been immortalized in this run, I essentially conned him out of a Great Ball. He then ran off back to Rustboro up the road to stop Magma Cult from doing something. If I had to guess, it was so they couldn't control the clothes market by mass-producing those snazzy-looking cultist outfits. Wouldn't surprise me. The rest of the trip to Rustboro goes by with little event, though Slave 0 managed to pick up a freaking Rare Candy. \o/ Oh, and Haberdash picked up Leech Seed, which is the brokes.

Rustboro City reminded me of how much I miss the ability to run indoors. I know HM01 Cut is in the house next to the Center, so I'm going to pick that up before I forget. I'm pretty sure there's nothing else of note in the city, other than maybe a Quick Claw in the Trainer's School, and, of course, the badge. Though, there was this one NPC that lamented about what to make for meals each day... There's a kid who will swap his Makuhita for a Slakoth, but I have Ray. Plus, Makuhita is catchable later anyway. Okay, on to the gym!



As is custom, in a first-up Rock-type gym, all the trainers here are completely avoidable. As is also custom, I will be beating them all up anyway, as I'm pretty sure it'll come back to bite me if I don't. Ray and Haberdash tag off for this one; Ray takes the lead while Haberdash eats their souls, so they both get exp for it. nom nom nom nom nom



And so I face that stupid shota kid from the last playthrough who is once again crossdressing as a teenage girl. He only has 2 Pokemon to his name: a lv. 14 Geodude and a lv. 15 Nosepass. Haberdash kills the Geodude quick and painfully, and the Nosepass slow and painfully (Leech Seed works wonders). Teal gave it 2 potions, but it barely changed a thing - it just made it take a little longer. Man, I don't know why I never chose to use a Shroomish before.

Oh, right. It's because getting Spore means forgoing evolution until VERY late.



Well, I didn't end up breaking any of his bones in the end, but that was incredibly satisfying. Truly this is an excellent adventure. As I leave the gym, I see Magma Cultist KoN run off with Shroomish Waifu TT in lukewarm pursuit screaming "No! Don't take my goods!"

I really don't want to have to go chase after him but I know I'll have to anyway...but that is a story for the next part.

End of Chapter 1!

DNA's Team So Far:

Ray lv. 15
Haberdash lv. 13
Slave 0 lv. 5 (just to prove and/or validate his existence)

Wow nice! xD I'm waiting for the next part. ^_^

Glad you enjoyed it.

I don't always do teasers for the next part, but I think I should share this one:

[Back to Top]



So, to pick up from where we left off, KoN stole TT's goods, and if TT doesn't get them back, he's going to be in big trouble. This reminds me of that one time in Golden Sun where some guy had his rod stolen, but that's another story. I really don't feel like helping TT, but my urge to beat up KoN outweighs my urge to not help TT, so help him I shall. Perks are nice.

Hey, what the heck, Slave 0 picked up another Rare Candy! I forgot how awesome Zigzagoon is in R/S. And...



I'm actually going to try and skip most of the trainers on this route and come back to them later, on the side-tour back to Devon. The reason for this is I want to try and boost the levels of my 3rd party member, who is coming up soon. (I caught a Whismur and Nincada just because, but neither of those is the 3rd member.) Outside the cave is some really old guy who looks like Blah, who is lamenting the loss of something called Peeko. I ignore it and go into the cave to find KoN.



One slow, painful, and somewhat kinky beating later...



I am personally hoping after this that TT ends up vanishing from the playthrough and not coming back, but knowing how Pride casts recurring characters a LOT, the odds of that happening are fairly slim. For the time being, I should go see if the cheapskate will give me another Great Ball.

I was right.

But wait! There's more! As a bonus, he gave me an audience with Devon Corp's president, because he's so grateful! But he also wants me to deliver the package to the shipyard in Slateport, with a sheepish laugh. ...Great, so it's a pr0n parcel that got intercepted in delivery and they're using me as the middleman. Wonderful. Well, time to see what the president wants.



He cut me off. Jerk.

On the way downstairs I see a guy trying to work on a machine trying to visually reproduce the dreams of Pokemon, but it's not working. I'm not sure whether to tell him he's too early or too late, so I say nothing and go on my merry way. I pass Lenny on the way there, who tells me to go find Blah because he can sail ships. I thank him and tell him to stop crossdressing. He refuses. I slap him and leave, taking the short-CUT through Petalburg Woods.



I pick up a Miracle Seed and Great Ball on the way back, which are always useful. Then I go visit Blah.



And after a very fast and not-at-all tedious sailing sequence, we're at Dewford Town. See? Told you this game wasn't Wind Waker. There are a few things I have to grab before heading to visit CMP, which include the Old Rod, the Silk Scarf, and TM36 Sludge Bomb. Of course you know about Sludge Bomb. I mean sheesh, Sludge Bomb...it's the hottest thing in cool!



Turns out the Sludge Bomb guy hasn't shown up yet. I decided to change their trendy saying to "Alone Inside". I'm horrible.
I'm going to go to the cave first because, although I need the badge to use Flash, it's not necessary and I essentially know what the map is anyway. Besides, there's a vital tool to defeating the leader here right in this cave. No, it's not Sableye - I'm playing Ruby, remember? Though, points if you guessed it. Rather...



And thus Crumpets, this time in a Hoenn incarnation, is once again traveling with Team Dolo. He's level 9 and with a Careful nature - not quite as good as Hasty, but good enough. Right about now I realized how much alcohol is absent here, which, given what dolo stands for, is incredibly weird.

...There is the possibility that TT's package contains, not literature, but alcohol...



...well that was morbid

Oh, and I caught an Abra first try when I was down here too! That counts for something, right? ...right? I caught a Mawile and Makuhita too, and it wasn't too hard, but they weren't part of the team choices, so oh well. Oh, confession time: Crumpets was the LAST thing I caught in this cave - apparently, Zubat are very hard to find. Everyone else I just caught to fill up dex data. Also, just because.



There is a reason I've always respected him so much. Well, that's one down - the gym will come next. Then again...I should probably detour back to where omahanime is for a bonus reward. He gives me the Exp. Share, and thanks me again. I thank him also, and give the EXP Share to Crumpets so he can catch up. In going to fight the leftover trainers on Route 116, I realize that they didn't introduce 2 trainers simultaneously walking up to you until Emerald. This makes my job a little easier. Then, when I was done, I had the Abra use Teleport and I was instantly back in Dewford. That saved me a very long walk.



And so he does. It's dark as heck in Dewford Gym, but with Crumpets at our side we have essentially nothing to fear. He's Poison/Flying, so Fighting-type attacks do a pittance to him; on the flip side, Crumpets himself barely does any damage to anything not named Meditite. One such Meditite managed to break through his Supersonic strategy and hurt him bad, so I did have to make a trip back to the Center. But I figure, between Ray (who knows Peck) and Crumpets, I should be well-equipped to take on the leader.



The 2nd leader in RSE has always had a reputation for being particularly difficult, but there are ways around him. He opens with a lv. 17 Machop, its level tied with Ray. Crumpets, of course, takes the lead, and gets his Supersonic off. He then tags out to his buddy Ray, as right now, his damage output is small. Ray gladly obliges, and Pecks the Machop a few times. HOWEVER, due to Machop's high bulk, it weathered all of Ray's blows, before Four Arms applied a Super Potion and healed all the damage off, forcing me to tag back to Crumpets and use a Super Potion on Ray.



He later applied his 2nd Super Potion to Machop again, after I chipped away at him with Crumpets and Supersonic. Essentially, I have to defeat his Machop 3 times, but the flinches from Astonish are coming in handy, as is Supersonic itself. However, I get the shock of my life when Karate Chop ends up critting Crumpets, causing him to faint.



Thankfully, Ray Pecks Machop out of the picture, though there's still his lv. 18 Makuhita to deal with. Unable to use Crumpets, I have Haberdash handle this one.



On a whim, after his 2 Bulk Ups and 2 Sand-Attacks, I switch to the weakened Ray, who takes an Arm Thrust to the face. He faints, leaving Haberdash as my last option. Much to my irritation, I cannot get Stun Spore to hit for the life of me, even though I've been using it every turn since Leech Seed. He finally attacked with Knock Off, which did a measly 3 damage, all of which got healed off. But dang, Arm Thrust took even Haberdash out! though it did poison him. He flexes, as expected.

Thus, I attempt to win this fight...THE ONLY WAY I KNOW HOW



Well, everyone fainted except for the random other mons I carry around with me, BUT IT'S K, BECAUSE WE WON in true dolo style. Thus, it's time to heal my team up and close this chapter. Next time we'll be on to Slateport.

End of Chapter 2!

DNA's Team So Far:

Ray lv. 18
Haberdash lv. 14
Crumpets lv. 13

Abra lv. 10
Slave 0 lv. 7
Wurmple lv. 5
^seriously, the ones that aren't Slave 0 are literally 'just there'