Nyx Plays Pokemon Apex

During my trek through the tower, I was able to find the key to this building. It’s the entrance to the secret tunnel.



It also has a hot spring inside that’ll restore your team.



The other end of the secret tunnel leads… Um, actually, where am I? HOW DO I GET OUT OF HERE?



Oh I can hop this fence. …Kaze is referring to snakes in this screen shot. This is definitely important information.



Came in through the back of someone’s house.



Isn’t that… art of some game? I swear I’ve seen this game before…






Because… Kaze broke into his impregnable fortress.



That’s just plain rude.




I’m going to have to take the Fossil Maniac’s side on this one.



Hm… Well, I do like Kabuto better than Omanyte so…



Oh my god, you’re not…



You did.



I must not let my faith waver. Bless thy journey, oh Helix.



Meanwhile, sick of being pushed around by Skarmorys and other Steel types, time to get Amilee up to speed! …Even with pathetic attacks like that.



And… stats like those…



How about TMs that are actually useful?



Shop’s stocking Great Balls now, but I can only buy four of them with my current funds.



New trainer type: Cowboy.



…Shit, my team has a huge weakness to fire types now. Maybe I should be spending my time training that Magikarp instead.



Fuck it back into the box I’ll just struggle through with my highly imbalanced team.



I nearly forgot that secret caves are still a thing. Better check every wall tile that faces south now.



This should at least help with the Fire types.



Meh.




Getting a little worried that my team is starting to fill up with one stage Pokemon. Unless my Mawile will get to Mega Evolve later, neither she nor Ephraim are viable end game Pokemon, assuming this game really cranks up the difficulty from a typical Pokemon game. So if need be I can get a Flagon.

Is Dantalion a name I don’t think it’s a name.



Camerupts? Can I catch one if I talk to it?



THIS WAS A MISTAKE.



………………………………
Hah…. haha….
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA



Just wikipedia the name.

Oh man, what should I do? Should I use Kamadhenu to blaze through the next third of the game? Should I ignore her until the rest of my team catches up in levels? Will the game even let me use her or do I not have enough “badges?”



New trainer type: Archeologist.



Meh that was to be expected after the fight with Camerupt.



Oh, because I don’t use the inn to heal my Pokemon anymore, my last “Pokecenter” was actually the hot spring in the secret tunnel. Oh well, I’ll just tackle Amon Desert from this side until I get back to where I was.



Ooh, ok.



On second thought I don’t want to buy anything from someone named “Merchant Scabs.” He’s totally a meth dealer.



Alright, trade Vine Whip for Needle Arm.



Don’t want to be served.



DAMMIT SCABS CRASHED MY GAME. Oh god when was the last time I saved!?



Oh thank god I still have my holy cow.



After downloading the patch, there’s… nothing really that interesting. Scabs just sells regular wares.



Guess this is where the end of the build is. I’ll come back once I’m done exploring.




Scattered around the desert are these quicksand patches. Fall into them and you get taken to a dark cavern which may or may not have a potion or something.



Aha, here’s one of the buttes that note mentioned back in the dung shop. It said there was a secret on the largest butte, but this one seems kind of small.



New trainer type: Survivalist.

…I’m sure it’s supposed to be 100% innocent buuuuuuuut given current events it’s a bit distasteful.



God damn these Gen 5 mechanics and Sleep Powder affecting my Grass type.



Oh well NOW it tells me.



Another butte, this one isn’t any bigger than the last one.



Thank god for these Gen 5 mechanics because Millia only knows Bite and Vice Grip.



Alright I give up looking for this butte thing let’s just move on.



And… I can’t pass. Or battle these guys to pass. Maybe I’m supposed to find their secret base? Maybe it’s part of the butte?



Regardless, the wiki and reddit don’t mention anything beyond Murmur Tower for this build, so I guess I’m done for now. See you all again in a few months!

*

Current Team:
Kusagari (Cacnea), Lv 22
Ephraim (Tropius), Lv 26
Millia (Mawile), Lv 26

And we’re back! Last we left off there were two bandits blocking my path in the desert, so let’s see if they’ll battle me or whatever now.



Well shit they’re not budging. Maybe I have to find their secret base?



It’s only somewhere in… here.



Are you the secret base?



You’re not the secret base.



Do you know where the secret base is?



I’ll take that as a no.



This isn’t the secret base either.



[sprays Kaze with a squirt gun] Kaze no. Kaze stop.



Is this it!?



DAMMIT. It’s just a tunnel to here.

Well shit? Where the hell do I go?



Oh. Sorry to hear that dude.



Oh this date’s going to go poorly if that’s the best gift you can give.



Granny do you know where I go next?



TM Kid do you know where I go next?



Oh sweet thanks.



There’s really only one place left to go… and that’s all the way back. I swear if this turns out to be…



YOU MADE ME GO ALL THE WAY BACK HERE!? Ok ok no look here’s Level Design 101…

DON’T FUCKING BACKTRACK.



I HAVE TO GO FURTHER BACK!?



Meanwhile, remember that house back from an earlier chapter that said “Not done come back at a later build?” Here it is.



The Riddle Master or whatever he’s called got stuck behind a glass pane and he needs a password (obtained by solving a puzzle of course) to get out. …I mean I could just leave and make him starve. I *could* do it.



Please.



It’s the letter N.



Uh… Maybe not N? The letter I?



Oh it’s spelling something out. N… I… G…



M… A.



It’s Nigma!



…I meant Enigma. Must have missed the first E.



+1 berry I’m never going to use.



Dr. Winston (like… the monkey from Overwatch?) invites you to the puzzle room in the back. First puzzle is pushing these buttons until every circle is blue. I just guessed until I got it.



Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh?????



Oh come on, it’s not even multiple choice?



Maybe????



Bah come on.



She just has two Unowns. I guess they’d be good exp fodder. If I’d bother.



Bah fuck it I’m out of here. It’s probably just a Super Potion at the end anyway.



Jagged Pass still closed.



Collecting some of the previously unobtainable items. Just potions and shit.



Come on Kaze I thought we were over the break downs.



Why would you think you could call your dad… FROM ANOTHER WORLD?



Oh, this must be an old event I didn’t trigger until now.



Oh boy it’s Dahlia again.



Oh boy, remember Dahlia’s fight from Chapter 3? Maybe I should get my Camerupt just in case… Nah, I’m sure with Millia we’ll be fine.

…Wait there’s no PC here. If I want to switch around my party I have to go all the way back up to Acacia Town. Ugh…*even more backtracking*



Thankfully I have some… “repels” to keep the low leveled wild Pokemon at bay.



Oh boy… here we go.



You again! Let me guess, going to Fake Tears me to death? Also looks like Dahlia nicknamed her Pokemon now. Complete with quotes in the name.



HOLY SHIT this Teddyursa ain’t fucking around. Screw it switch to Millia.



Dahlia’s new Pokemon is a Deerling. Peh, this’ll be eas-



God damn Jesus Arceus switch to the Flying type.



Ephraim a TANK.



And Roselia is out too. Definitely not as bad as before.



Hey you were the one who wanted to fight me.



Kaze gives a fairly cheesy speech about what it means to be strong (i.e. not beating people in Pokemon battles.)



Dahlia eats it up and gives me a new TM. Oh hey this one is actually useful.



Kaze would. To one of her younger siblings.



Ephraim has higher Sp Attack so replacing Razor Leaf with Energy Ball was a no brainer.



While I’m at it, may as well give Millia some love. Apparently Mawiles can’t learn Metal Claw so she still doesn’t have a Steel type attack.



Oh looks like the phone’s working now. At least they let me decline calls with this system. Not really interested in top percentage Ratattas.



Aw, remember when I caught a Venipede and he was like my second strongest Pokemon? Shit I miss Cruxor… I should train him now that the level cap’s been increased. Actually, Venipedes evolve into Whirlipedes at level 22 and Scoliopedes at level 30. I can get Cruxor fully evolved before the next artifact. Sweet! I’ll grab him whenever I next need to stop at a PC.



Ah, I thought I remembered a Rock Smash rock around here somewhere.



And here we are in the deep forest.



Oh… hi Dahlia.



Sounds like a good opportunity to gain some easy experience I guess.



First up is this trainer and… ooh, good thing Dahlia’s with me.



Oh shit I have a bad feeling about this…



God damn it what was that? Screw it I’m getting the cow.



OH COME ON.



Whatever at least I got Cruxor now. I can train him up…



Holy shit this is the level of wild Pokemon around here!? Cuxor can’t survive long enough to get any experience from these guys.



OF COURSE THERE’S A WHIRLIPEDE.

Fuck it Cruxor you’re out I’m catching a Whirlipede instead in fact fuck all you fuck Xerxes fuck Vika if the game fucking caps me at a level and then immediately introduces Pokemon that are over that level I’m not going to fucking keep my weak ass Pokemon I’m going to capture these stronger Pokemon raise them to the level cap and then throw them out once I get higher level wild Pokemon just call me Silver or Gary or whatever rival you want but this system isn’t letting me keep my Pokemon without some serious unnecessary grinding.





Anyway time to dodge that trainer and do some exploring and-

The game froze.

Shit when was the last time I saved?



AAAAaaaAAAAAAUUUUuuuuUUUGGGHGHGHGHHG



So before talking with Dahlia let’s catch some of these high level Pokemon first.



Or waste all my Great Balls on a single Noctowl that’s cool too.



Eh.



There’s Shelmets and Karrablasts here, but I have no idea how I’m supposed to evolve them. Like with the Feebas, I don’t want to be at the game’s mercy with this.



Meet the cooler Cruxor.



As expected, the level cap is 30. I’m going to hit it almost immediately for Ephraim and Kusagari.



Shiny bridge. It’s just a graphical glitch.



Hmm… Guess I’ll need a skeleton key or something.



OH COME ON. WHY DON’T YOU JUST CALL IT POKEMON “FUCK YOUR GRASS TYPES” APEX?



…Mortal?



Uuuuuhhhhh suuureee?



UuuuuuuuuuuUUUUUUUUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHGGGHHGHGGGHGHGH



Thank. Fucking. God. For Growth. Five of them in fact.



Wrap, Toxic, Substitute, and Safeguard with Leftovers. This Shuckle isn’t fucking around.



Thankfully it’s just the one Shuckle.



Alright time to g- OH MY GOD IT FROZE AGAIN.

Thankfully I saved right before the battle (I got paranoid about freezes again, and for good reason!) so I didn’t lose any progress, but I fought that Shuckle three more times and each time it froze. At that point I just gave up for the day. I looked up the bug on the reddit and iamvishnu *claims* to have fixed it, but I’m pretty sure I’m on the latest build. Hopefully this doesn’t block my progress.

*****

Current Team:
Kusagari - lv 28
Ephraim - lv 30
Millie - lv 30