Where I Went Hopelessly Wrong

Okay...here's where I believe I went wrong with the whole Elite Four debacle:

1) Poor Inventory Control

I walked in there not having any idea of how many Max Potions, Full Restores, Elixirs and Revives I had in my inventory.  If I had had that knowledge, I would have had Kadabra for many more fights and I feel he could have been very helpful.  Not only that, but when a Pokemon with a clear advantage over the current opponent faints, say with Aerodactyl, you need someone to take the hits while you revive and heal the guy who could take him out.

2) Too Slow

One of the biggest issues I was facing throughout was that I was not getting the first attack in these battles, so I was getting hit hard and quickly.  Then, if I had to use an item, I got hit twice in a row.  Part of this is due to the fact that I walked in there with lower-leveled Pokemon, but another part of this is that I did not encounter as many Carbos laying around as I had in Red Version, and therefore, I did not increase my Pokemon's Speed stats as highly as I should have.

3) Banking On Legendaries

Okay...honestly...these two right here: Lugia and Entei.

Depending on these guys wasn't too bad at times, but in the end, they were very disappointing.

First off, he's got no moves.  Yes, he's leveled up high, but nearly every legendary Pokemon's initial move set when you catch them is abysmal.  Zapdos' only saving grace was Drill Peck, but even then, I had to teach every legendary bird at least two machine moves to make them even worth using.  Lugia is no different.  Aeroblast is great, but without a PP Up, it's not very practical.  Gust is what they gave Pidgeys starting off back in Kanto, so I'm not impressed.  Safeguard was okay, and Recover was helpful, but he's a Psychic/Flying type with zero Psychic moves starting off and that's shit.  Why keep him on the team if he doesn't contribute Psychic-type attacks, but adds another Psychic-type weakness that we have to deal with? He was the THIRD Psychic-type on my team! Kadabra and Jynx were pushing it enough when it came time for Karen, but honestly, I'd have a better chance with a straight-up Normal/Flying type.  That way, when it comes to Gengar, I'd wait until he used Curse, then swap out the Pokemon he cursed for the Normal-type.  He wouldn't be able to do shit!

Pidgeotto has been there since Falkner and I think it's time I gave him some well-deserved recognition.  Never underestimate the power of Sand-Attack in massive quantities.  Let him grow to be a Pidgeot and we'll have some serious speed on our side.

Besides...I...kind of feel guilty whenever I see anything in the Pidgey family now.  Don't know why? Read the other blog, stupid!

Now...this disappointing prick turned out to be a shit-sandwich in the awesome Poke-buffet I laid out for the Elite Four.  He knew Ember, Leer, Roar, and Fire Spin.  These moves are not meant to do damage.  These moves are meant to aggravate your opponent into submission.  I had to teach him Hidden Power and Rock Smash to give him even the slightest bit of maneuverability before he learned Stomp, and even then he's still pretty shitty.  Yes, he's fast, but fast isn't anything if it can't pack a punch with that speed.

I had it right all along with Magmar and I threw it away because I didn't want to take the time to train it up to level 40.  Fire Punch, Dynamicpunch, Ember (soon to be Flamethrower), and Sunny Day? Please! If I brought this bad boy out into the fray, he'd be burning bitches alive.  You are replacing Entei in my roster for the foreseeable future.

4) I Rushed Into This

I'll say it: I needed to level them higher.  The system was kind of broken when I first went up against the Elite Four and moves seemed to do more power back then, but then again, we weren't dealing with Psychic-types or Dark-types in the Elite Four.  The worst you had was Dragon-types and I destroyed Lance's entire team with Articuno.  But take a look at my roster back then:

Zapdos, Lvl 57 (Electric/Flying)

Articuno, Lvl 52 (Ice/Flying)

Alakazam, Lvl 51 (Psychic)

Charizard, Lvl 50 (Fire/Flying)

Moltres, Lvl 50 (Fire/Flying)

Vaporeon, Lvl 50 (Water)

I may have leaned heavily towards secondary Flying-types, but even Vaporeon was ten whole levels higher than the majority of my team.  Yes, the differential was the same, since Fag-Bag's and Lance's final Pokemon were at levels 65 and 50 respectively, and I would never be lower than 15 levels from my opponent...but there's a lot more to factor in now and mere type-advantage doesn't go as far, since many Pokemon are now picking up moves against their type to give them more versatility.  I have to take the time and level this team up properly, at LEAST to level 50 (or level 60 if I want to fully declare a fatwa against Lance) so that the stats will go up high enough to stand even some type-strong attacks from albeit weaker Pokemon.

5) Conserving Power Moves

This one's a little nit-picky, but I feel like I should have used more powerful moves when I had the chance.  If I had the type-advantage with a glass cannon like Kadabra, I should have used Psychic as opposed to Psybeam to take out that Muk.  It would have killed it in one shot and I could have used Ethers later to replenish the PP.

I think that's the summation of it all.  I'm sticking with that original team (save for the substitutions discussed) and I'll be training them heavily for a while, so you may not hear as much from me.  In the meanwhile, you could check out my other blog entitled "Wiggle Wiggle Break: An Iridescent Adventure" where I catalog my adventures through a tabletop RPG set eight years after the events of Pokemon Black 2 and White 2.

Now, if you'll excuse me...

...I do believe it's Tuesday, and there is a contest happening of which I would like to be a part.

Gotta catch 'em all.