I've been doing a slow Nuzlocke of Crystal Clear over the holidays, and I'm starting to get really worried... I've only lost a Spinarak so far this run, but that's after Whitney's dang Miltank destroyed 2 other runs. Plus a hack-added burgular in the Goldenrod tunnel who wasn't scaled at *all*, had a 30-some level Meganium with leftovers. And I know level 40 pokemon wander around Indigo Plateau which you can walk to in like 2 minutes of game start, thanks to a bridge...
The gym leaders and random trainers scale very nicely as you collect badges, but wild pokemon *and certain added NPCs* don't. So the beginning is... tricky. Pikasprey managed to catch a level 40 Rapidash he blundered into at level ~10, but that was just luck.
Fortunately the route to Violet City then Goldenrod isn't too bad, with very little grass and mostly dodgeable trainers. Having Rapidash as a starter (with flame wheel) probably helped too, even low-level heh. But once I got to Goldenrod I spent quite a while grinding there until I had a level 25 Gengar/Dratini/Rapidash. Mostly grinding game corner coins in Goldenrod, because I'm never rematching Whitney again
But also electrocuting a lot of birds.
I also took the magnet train to Kanto briefly (it's fully unlocked too) and picked up a Larvitar from Celadon, but I haven't leveled it up too much yet. I need to get it a better rock move than Rock Fall, which misses
90% 10% of the time. And it's vulnerable to so many types, even after it eventually grows up...
My goal is to get a team of 6 to level... I really want to say 70 :/ I can technically challenge the "elite four" after 8 badges, but they have level 65 pokemon. And some clever combos.
Fortunately I can faaairly safely grind at any of the 7 gyms I've unlocked, setting the difficulty (up to about level 40, until I beat more gyms). It's good XP and plenty of cash, even for stat boosting items. But it's Nuzlocke, so I can't grind if anything is left to chance. I could have lost my Dragonaire if Falkner's level 40 Dodrio had crit...
I've saved the bug, steel and poison gyms because I remember them being easy even at higher levels. I might just avoid Misty, since she's basically ice-water at this point (almost identical to the ice gym). Unlocking bug and steel should help level up Rapidash though.
Current carries:
Lvl 55 Gengar with Thunderbolt, Hypnosis, Dream Eater, Shadow Ball
Lvl 52 Dragonaire with Thunderbolt, Hydro Pump, Icy Wind, Safeguard
Lvl 53 Alakazam with Psychic. Uh and other stuff... Recover I guess. Psychic smashes everything, gave it two PP UP. (also Disable and Reflect)
In training:
Lvl 29 Larvitar (Mostly so I can grind the psychic gym eventually, I have a sinking feeling the elite four will murder it)
Lvl 28 Ponyta (with Flamethrower. Very fast, and full of calcium, just needs to sweep...)
Lvl 23 Golem (I love the tradeback guy, but I'm getting sick of beating up Falkner)
Backup plans:
Shuckle once I get toxic
Natu
Onix which uses sandstorm then sips full restores to victory
Poliwag?
...Golbat. I don't wanna grind for crobat again, and it can't even Fly until then.