Emerald’s Logbook

Mish-Marsh Blues (Petalburg, 8.12.19)

Had given ORAS another chance, but quit the game. Can’t play this remake: it lacks a sense of purpose, in that everything there goes frustratingly easy. In view of Game Freak’s current nonchalance with its franchise, I decided to take Emerald on again. I haven’t been able to finish it in nearly ten years. I tried it before, obviously; however, I’d always lose my save files before completing the game—so here we go again!

As I said in the Preface, I feel I am finally able to experience joy with a game that has such a tropical nautical ethos. Having played it again, I came to realise I’d forgotten how pretty it is, with its whole 2000s GBA pastel aesthetics. So far, way more pleasurable than ORAS. It seems there is truly a reason why so many pick Emerald (along with Pt, HG/SS and B2/W2) as one of the best in the franchise. The absence of a day and night cycle is quite the annoyance, though. Such a blunder!

About the gameplay itself: I chose Mudkip. Then caught a male Wurmple which turned into a Dustox; it’s level 17 now. Double the levels, it will learn Silver Wind. When this moment arrives, I’ll be able to breed a sweet Nincada. Which reminds me... I’m due to catch a female Nincada with a proper nature, probably Jolly. I’ll be surely using a Jolly Synchronise Rats for that, heh.

I talked to a friend [Ander], who advised me to also get a Timid Synchronise Ralts, so that I might catch a competitive-worthy Seedot. They are all very rare, it’s hard to get one with the expected nature! In the mean time, I’ve been training my Dustox. I’m considering Shiftry, Dusclops, Metagross, Swampert, Ninjask and Seviper for my team. But let’s see how crazy things get.

As for now, smell ya later, folks.

Music: The Seatbelts’ Road to West and the album by Everything but the Girl’s Walking Wounded (the deluxe edition with its gracious Corcovado version.)

Mood: Just neat

Sowing the Seeds of Love (Rustboro, 9.12.19)

Ran out of money. Spent it all in Pokéballs. Still, couldn’t catch a good natured Seedot. So I went to Rustboro, beat Roxanne, evolved my Mudkip into Marshtomp and did the necessary quest to obtain the PokéNav, together with its highly appreciated rematch function. Then I beat May in yet another battle. At least, now I got the Nav, I’m back to my original task: getting a Seedot, before sailing to Dewford city in the company of the beloved Mr. Briney.

Briney, this loveable old character, reminds me of a in real life seafarer I also cherish from my childish memories. Oh, the good times back in the beaches of the fluminense Costa Verde! These moments coincide with the time I first played Emerald... Even though I talk about the sailor in the past, he’s alive and well. In fact, I’d just taken his boat one of these days, it shook a lot because of a sudden strong wind, but, thanks to his dexterity (as respectable as Mr. Briney’s said to be), here I am—alive and playing Pokémon haha. Gotta confess, it felt just like that Icelandic short-story “When I Was in the Frigate.”

Back to the game: finally caught the Jolly Nincanda. Had I previously wasted seven pokéballs with unwanted-nature Nincadas? Yeah, but at least I got the perfect one. Anyway, given this series of mishaps, in this game I have the slight impression I’ve been kinda like Twin Peak’s Laura Palmer: fire walk with me. Certainly not luck, bwahaha.

Petalburg’s theme is so sweet. Rustboro’s song is good too, but not as much as the previous city. Hell, it’s so hot today. I can even feel in a Hoenn or a Costa Verde beach... Oh, I wish.

Music: the deliciously ambiguous Pete Shelley’s “Homosapien” & of course, The Rolling Stones’ “She’s So Cold.”

Mood: So hot I died

Then What Have I Got? (Petalburg, 12.12.19)

Didn’t play yesterday. Instead, gave this site some maintenance: funny buttons on its footer, to express my vintage love for Vim, BSD (actually I like Slackware Linux, but, since I couldn’t find a button for this distro, I chose the closest one I could, and that’s FreeBSD), birbs, GBAs, and so on. Those buttons also express how this site may be properly viewed on any browser, and that it’s crafted on valid XHTML 1.1 and CSS 2. Pretty nice, eh? I also set some meta tags, providing a description for the site, a page author and so on.

Two days ago I kept on trying to get my Seedot, which I’ve just done only today. At least he was caught in a beautiful Premier Ball, teeheehee. It’s Naïve, which is adorable. I’m thankful for sucking at statics math, so that I couldn’t previously calculate the chances to get such a Seedot: a scarce 0.04%. I was so lucky to catch him that it even seems fire doesn’t walk with me anymore. Thanks for the good job, Detective Cooper. Anyway, back to the game, taught Seedot the move Bullet Seed, and been up-levelling him. Now he’s got stronger and became a Nuzleaf, he’s the cutest destroyer. By the way, I hadn’t realised how sinister the theme from Petalburg Woods was, not up until I was stuck there grinding. As soon as my Nuzleaf get ready, I’m gonna sail to Dewford. As for now... I am grinding, planting some berries, having some daily activities on the game. Actually I love doing those regular stuff, I suppose that’s the main reason why the so-said best Pokémon games have such a great replay value.

Playing the third generation games again is so weird. Sometimes I get funny recordations of memories that otherwise would have been long-forgotten. I recall a girl, the daughter of the owner of one of my town’s oldest and beloved restaurants, who’d been playing Pokémon Ruby. One night when I was viciously eating delicious pizzas there at the restaurant, she told me she’d got stuck in Dewford. Since we both were playing nearly at the same time, I helped her and we talked a lot that day. It got us two very close. Looking back at this, I can guarantee I hold that innocent, preadolescence platonic love towards her—for a short period, that’s true. Anyway, it happened. She also badly wanted an Eevee, which unfortunately she could never get solely playing Ruby. Come to think about it, she was the one who introduced me to the Umbreon cult, haha.

The weather’s got way better than it was by the time I’d written the previous entry. It’s now rainy and thus a bit fresher. It makes me happier. And it also makes me remember that day in the restaurant.

Music: Nina Simone’s powerful “Ain’t Got No/I Got Life”, and also Gal Costa’s delicate “Força Estranha.”

Mood: Elated at my luck

Nothing Could Ever Be the Same (Dewford, 13.12.19)

Arrived at Dewford and went straight up to Route 106 in order to finish training Nuzleaf. Got some hidden items in the sand and all, everything neat. It’s nice picking things up from the sand, it feels pretty much like real life. Anyway, soon after my arrival, I went to Dewford Hall. There, I had good laughs at how stupidly funny their inhabitants’ dialogues were. So, here’s another funny thing of replaying this game: realising how much of it I’d lost more than ten years ago because I couldn’t understand a single sentence in English at all. It’s surprisingly satisfying to recognise how we have grown, I suppose, and that’s one of those cases. Hell, there was even a girl in Route 104 who’d quoted Kierkegaard. That’s pretty advanced. Pokémon’s games used to have pretty good NPC’s chats. I can’t recall something as far as memorable as that, not after Pokémon Black 2/White 2, the last two not-strictly-for-kids games in the franchise. Or maybe I’ve just turned into one of those old, annoying dudes who are always complaining about how good the old times were. Meh, I hope not. I just miss some nice, philosophic small talk! That’s all.

Dewford Town is one of the showcases of what I’m constantly rumbling, mentioning this game’s tropical marine aesthetics. It’s cute, it reminds me of all the beaches I’ve been to and that I still enjoy visiting. Hopefully anytime soon I’ll be to the littoral again. Unfortunately not the part I used to go back when I was a kid who’d just played this game for the first time. No, this one is destroyed by the sewers pollution of a underdeveloped overpopulation and the public administration’s neglect regarding the environmental hazard caused by a huge harbour constructed nearby. Sometimes it’s shockly heartbreaking to first notice how much the places and people we used to love and cherish had simply changed for worse or even ceased to exist, isn’t it? However, we can’t stop living. And so life goes... Right now, Emerald’s Dewford Town causes me that untranslatable feeling called saudade in my native Portuguese.

I think I’m feeling tired of longing for the past.

Music: The Beatles’ “Within You Without You”, The Aquabats’ “Pool Party”, Information Society’s “Repetition”, Belchior’s “Velha Roupa Colorida” and Durutti Column’s “Spent Time.”

Mood: Mixed feelings

Must Be Getting Early, Clocks Are Running Late (Slateport, 14.12.19)

Finished my training in Granite Cave. Thus, overpowering Brawly was easy. Dewford’s theme is quiet relaxing, the development team’s made a good job. It depicts precisely the marine feeling the town evokes. Sailed straight back to Petalsburg, in order to talk to Steven Stone’s farther, Mr. Stone. Obtained the Exp. Share, it’s gonna be of help later, with my baby Nincada. Seized the opportunity to gather some berries I’d left behind on Route 116. It turned out, though, that they hadn’t bloomed yet. Might return some time later. Unrelated fun fact: using the running shoes early today had made me remember that Cartoon Network’s Regular Show footage of “I Ran”. And boy, I ran, I ran so far away, haha.

Set away and arrived at Route 109, defeated everybody on its beach, including Seashore House, grasped all the possible hidden item within its golden sand. Despite the graceful design, didn’t quite like the theme, way too energetic for me. Seashore House's okay, though. Up in Slateport, the soundtrack is also okay. This is a cheerful city, one could feel the positivity in its fresh, salty air. It reminds me of some well-developed urban centres whose advanced economy’s grown out solely of the existence of a harbour. Under these circunstances, getting over Team Aqua was effortless. The same goes for the Battle Tent, where I’d been lucky enough to get good-natured Trapinch, Swellow and Pelipper. Not the best, but they suited me fine.

I’ve never liked Scott, but now that I understand English and can get what he says perfectly, I realised he’s pretty much a jerk. He acts completely as if he’s always looking after number one. No wonder why he’d mistreated the trainer so badly at the beginning, in Petalburg, and progressively got interested as the player earned more and more badges. He reminds me of one of those TV shows judges, or some music critics: they do nothing but exploring other people's fame, and then pretending they were the ones who made it possible. Anyway, bought some Calcium at the Slateport market and gave it to my Nuzleaf, so that he may become a better mixed sweeper; his ATK is slightly higher than his SATK. I won’t level him up until I have enough money to buy another two Calcium bottles.

Anyway, I’m sailing away right into my bed. See ya!

Music: Plenty of prog-rock, with Rush’s revitalising “Fly by Night”, King Crimson’s “I Talk to the Wind” and Pink Floyd’s “A Pillow of Winds.”

Mood: Happy

Stay Awhile and Listen (Mauville, 15.12.19)

Yesterday, I visited one of my dudes because today he's leaving town. Ever since we've met, our friendship endures sixteen years. And that's a hell lot of time. It's weird to see him go. There at his house, we talked about this page, and how helpful it was to practice some complex vocabulary and expressions use. When I was back home, I recalled we used to play city-country-river when we were seven to ten years old. The chosen topics were always strictly Pokémon, for me, and Digimon, for him. Those were the days the third generation games were the latest news. It's weird how sometimes destiny might turn into a cruel comedy, considering his moving right now, now that I'm playing Emerald again. But, as I said before, life goes on. And so we go. I wish him, his wife and their newborn baby all the luck in this world. Heh. Quoting the late George Michael, “strange, don't you think I'm looking older?” And, for all this mumbling and for the fact this is gonna be a long, long post, I gave this entry the title it has, a direct reference to one of the many phrases Deckard Cain would say on the Diablo series.

Off town, I went up, beat everybody on Route 110 and 103, took all the hidden items and once again fought May—and won, hence earning the Item Finder, at least. After winning, I also finally had enough money to buy the other missing Calcium bottles back in Slateport, which I did, and then went on my way to Mauville again. Before entering town, though, I planted some more berries by the Seaside Cycling Road. As soon as I reached Mauville, I took its western exit to leave my Dustox there, and equiped my Nincada with the Everstone I'd previously found in Granite Cave, but didn't leave she there yet. After all, Dustox must first learn Silver Wind. Back to Mauville, I saw Wally in front of the gym. We battled. Poor boy was massacred. Scott came and, as usually, said a lot of bullshit. I love Wally, he's probably my favourite character of the third generation games. He is, as said by a person on YouTube, a cinnamon roll, too pure for this world. I don't consider him to be a rival, but rather a completely autonomous character. He's got a nice background, despite some of its cliché bits.

I think no one has ever found out what his disease was, in the end. Maybe asthma, maybe something psychological, maybe something physical although with direct consequences on his psychology or vice versa. Whatever's the case, he gets stronger, and the player is the one who pave the way for this to happen, which is rad. After our fight, I managed to trade my Harbour Mail for a Coin Case. Not that I'm much interested on playing at the casino. Rydel gave me the mach bike, and it's fairly fast, I didn't remember it to be so supersonic, heh. With nothing much left to do, I went to the gym. My Nuzleaf took care of everyone pretty well, but the real star was my Marshtomp, who smashed them all with no hard work. Suffering from all those paralysis had been a tremenduous setback in the battles, but it happens. This slight difficulty is what makes the game worth it. It's funny how Wattson says he'd given up his plans to convert the city and, a few years later, on ORAS, there it is, a completely changed Mauville. I'm glad his Magneton didn't have Levitate. That would have made our combat severely harder. Wattson looks like a gentle, funny guy. He'd have been nice, hadn't he been a videogame character.

After getting my third gym badge, I went back, to Seaside Cycling Road, to have a battle against everybody there and, why not, to train my Dustox all the way up to the level 34, until he learns his Silver Wind move. I think that's enough log for today, though.

Music: the most loveable gay ever, Car Seat Headrest's “Fill in the Blank.”

Mood: Nothing more to say