The new bits of Sapphire are beginning to open up for me. Today I entered my Sableye in two exhibition contests, which looks like it could be a very time-consuming subgame if I delved deeper into it. It adds an interesting dimension to your pokemon's skills and stats.
The way it works is you enter any given pokemon into a particular contest, smarts, cuteness, toughness, etc. And, exactly like a beauty contest, you display your entry alongside three competitors, vying for the attention and praise of the audience and the judge. The audience votes for their favorite in secret - and base don who knows what criteria. The judge however is more discerning. You must instruct your pokemon to perform attacks, not against anything else as in a battle, but more along the lines of a dog show where the owner makes them jump through hoops and trot down a straight line.
The interesting facet is that your attacks can affect the judge's opinion of you, the crowd's applause response level, and the overall poise of your competitors. It's good to go last in this sequence, because you can use an "attack" to distract the other pokemon, make them look away from the judge, make them cry out embarrassingly, that sort of thing. Given the incredible amount of attacks at your disposal, these contests could develop into a robust non-violent game in their own right.
The third Gym Leader, Wattson, proved to be my first real challenge. He only fields three pokemon - a Magnetite, a Self-Destruct-happy Voltorb, and a Magneton - but the prevalance of paralyzation moves and frigging Super Potions made it a frustrating affair.
My party is growing by leaps and bounds... out of sheer experimentation, I've been training up a Plusle and a Minun, a pair of electric rabbity things that supposedly enhance each other's abilities when in a 2-on-2 battle. But they haven't proved exceptionally ferocious for my tastes, so I may end up storing them solely for the odd 2-on-2. Although truth be told, their natural lightning type did help me stall for time in the match against Wattson.
My poochyena evolved into a mightyena, which suggests to me I have been mispronouncing poochyena's name all this time. I was using a vaguely Russian "Poochenya," when it is clearly supposed to be an unpronouncable play on the word "hyena." The poochyena/mightyena relationship seems to me like the growlithe/arcanine and houndoom/houndour pokemon of R/B and G/S, so I actually doubt my mightyena will evolve again. But he looks completely badass right now - a hairy, dirty, junkyard collie - and his Rock Smash attack was key against stupid Wattson, so I'm happy. His name is Gringo.
Time: 11:05
Badges: 3
Pokedex: 25
Party: Taillow lv20, Plusle lv16, Sableye lv24, Grovyle lv24, Mightyena lv21, Minun lv16
