TheChrisD - Rant Central

Platinum Playthrough - Part 8

The action now heats up as we move into Part 8 of Platinum. It’s about time for the long trip up Mt. Coronet, to do you know what! It hasn’t changed much from before, but what has changed really has changed!

Part 8, The big one

Now at this stage, my team looks pretty solid with one exception: Luca. Luca was a late arrival into the team (being at the end of Iron Island), but did hatch quite quickly, and has been holding the Soothe Bell ever since being Exp. Shared up to Lv14. The only real issue is that to evolve him requires a high enough happiness rating (as was the case for Togek as a Togepi to evolve into a Togetic). I’m still kicking myself for not checking it, but I can’t remember where to get the Happiness Checker Pokétch app, so I’ve been in the dark as to how happy he is with me. So, I’m off to check with the woman in the back of the Pokémon fan club in Hearthome.

Currently, as a guide, the first four members of my team (Empol through to Leaf), all get a rating that has the first sentence ending in !, and a second sentence ending in !!. I take this as Level 1 happiness. Doom and Luca both have the first sentence ending with !, but the second has nothing at the end. I take this as Level 2 happiness. Since I’m not completely sure if Luca will evolve in his current state, I’m taking stock right now and waiting until morning to see whether he will evolve or not. If so, whoop-de-doo, I can Exp. Share him and keep going. Otherwise, it’ll be an hour or so of just riding around like crazy adding to the happiness rating until he does evolve. Time consuming, but I would prefer a six-strong team by the time the big, most important battle of the game so far comes up…

So, I did check to see where you picked up the app, and I was actually quite surprised and a little annoyed that you got it in the Eterna Pokémon Center. Apparently, the woman in the bottom-right of the centre gives it to you. I could have sworn I talked to her my first time in there… So, with the app in hand, I knew that Luca would need to be trained quite a bit to get somewhere half-decent, so it’s time for a side quest!

Wayward Cave

The one side quest where the levels are modest, between those of when you are with Cheryl and those where you are with Riley - is the quest to accompany Mira out of Wayward Cave. So, I drop off Doom to bring along an HM slave for Cut and Rock Smash, and make my way there. In the grasses en route, Luca almost levelled up, but wasn’t at a high enough rating, so I wasn’t sure if I was going to “miss” a move by evolving a level later. Luckily though, when I did level him up just before entering the cave, the level-up happiness bonus was enough to reach the evolution threshold!

Evolution: Luca -> Lucario

And that’s basically all there is to say about t- no wait, there is one thing. Now during this quest, Luca levelled up from Lv15 to Lv28. Some of the level-ups produced some quite interesting stat boosts, a lot of +3’s and the odd +4. I thought nothing of it, until I was back in the center dropping off my HM slave, when I checked Luca’s stats, and noticed this very light-purple “status condition”. My first thought was “Woah, where did he get that?”, but then I did begin to wonder. A subsequent check revealed that the HM slave and the rest of the team, except for Doom, had this status.

This all but confirmed by thoughts, which were made rock-solid after healing up my team, the nurse then began to rattle on about something after giving me back my Pokémon - but didn’t again. It was then I knew, that Luca had picked up the Pokérus. Which is really good - and with one guy in storage who can “re-infect” others, I have a lot of possibilities. I just need to hurry and take advantage of it, because it only lasts so long before the Pokémon becomes immune to them!

Mt. Coronet

And so began the long trip up Mt. Coronet to thwart Team Galactic, as always. Nothing actually differs from the original, so I won’t bore you with the intricate details. I walked, picked up a shitload of hidden items, battled some Grunts, used Strength, Rock Smash, Rock Climb and other HMs, had to deal with annoying Hail-y snow etc. One thing that is new, is that the door leading to the path upwards looks to have been “knocked down” by Galactic to get up there. As you approach it, Handsome appears, says more crap and gives you a Black Flute. I’m not too sure, but I think it decreases the wild encounter rate. Or at least it seemed to!

I won’t go through the boring trip from there to the peak - it was all so boring. But get what you can this time through, since you might not get a chance to come back! Up at the peak, at Spear Pillar, you’ll have your last Grunt battle, a double battle against what I think they classed themselves as the best of all the grunts (referring back to Diamond here). Up ahead though is when the real test starts. First off, Mars and Jupiter want a piece of you for their previous defeats and try to gang up on your 2-on-1, but suddenly WTFH shows up and makes it a true double battle.

It’s a pity he was so god-damn useless, except for healing you afterwards… And it’s also a pity I had to end it on a cliffhanger there. Unfortuntely, the next brilliant set piece took place across both screens, and I could hardly record both at the same time (let alone recording the Touch screen is impossible…). However, thankfully Marriland has the best bits of it, so watch his side of it

So with Cyrus being dragged into the Torn World, it’s time for myself and Cynthia to follow suit… Wheeeeeuugh…. Now this place is nothing like you’ve ever seen before. First off, no wild Pokémon so no need to worry if you’re short on supplies. Secondly, the laws of physics and gravity don’t apply here. You can walk on 90-degree walls or upside-down. And you DO surf down a waterfall that is falling up.

There was a little Strength puzzle to solve (god, they do take you back to the Red/Blue days, don’t they!) to continue on. It’s not too hard, just a pain having to go through it. The three pixies, who are also in here, help you out with some pointers on where to push the rocks and then what “slots” to pop them in afterwards.

Another thing to note is that things will randomly appear and disappear based on where you are standing. Sometimes I had to jump off a ledge that seemingly had nothing off it, only for it to appear as I was jumping. And a whole section where the “trees” came up and down as I went around them. Like I said, this is nothing you’ve ever seen before, and it might not be for the faint of heart!

Near the end, you finally bump into Cyrus. Cynthia originally approaches him, but he pushes here aside and instead challenges yourself to a battle! Now this is the true Galactic battle. No holds back here that’s for sure!

What a great video debut for Luca. One-shot-kill on a Weavile 12 levels higher with a critical quad-effective Base 60 move

With Cyrus defeated, he ran off somewhere leaving an enraged Giratina behind. And yes, that means it needs to be fought. Another quick heal, this time from Cynthia, and then you need to face the big baddie hi-he-ITself!

O…M…G… That thing did not like staying in a ball, did it… By the time the battle had passed around 6 minutes, I was wondering if it was ever going to end. Unfortunately, at the time I was running out of DS battery, camera space, Pokémon and patience. So, I just threw the Master Ball to get it over with. At least this time it was a worthwhile capture, and not a Level 52 wild Beldum that only knows Take Down, and then Struggles afterwards to take itself out, all the time in a Sandstorm… I even went back through the battle under non-recording circumstances to try and get it in some other ball instead, but again failed twice

So, anyway with that big monstrosity dealt with, the exit portal leaves you and Cynthia out in Sendoff Spring. You know, the original location of Giratina in the older games. She won’t let you in again at present, but why would you need to go there again, other than to have fun with walking on the odd-perspective walls and surfing? So now, with everything sorted it’s time to head to Sunnyshore! Or maybe not since the blackout guy is still there… What else is there to do?

Current party: Empol (Lv44), Garch (Lv45), Togek (Lv47), Leaf (Lv45), Doom (Lv45), Luca (Lv37)