Pokemon Heart Gold/Soul Silver (DS)

[Bort]

Couldn't spot a FP thread for this.

I haven't really played a pokemon game before. Just dipped in for a while and left them. I was looking for a time sink game and this fit the bill with the added bonus of the pokewalker.

From what I've played of gold it's pretty much an exact clone with some minor tweaking and additional parts added to use the new features the DS offers (wifi etc).

The pokewalker is quite cool. First you transfer a pokemon to the walker and select a route to take. You'll fine different pokemon/items depending on the route chosen.
It seems to log persistent motion and converts that into steps taken. My first night it logged 1085 steps, 19597 yesterday and 12451 so far today.
The steps are converted into watts which are used to play two mini games on the walker. One to catch pokemon's (poke radar) and one to win in-game items (dowsing). You can store three caught pokemon and three items on the walker with the option to switch out any pokemon/item you've collected if you find something else you'd prefer.
When you transfer the pokemon back to the cart it shows you a little diary of the stroll you've just taken.

Enjoying it so far with the only issue being that it takes a Long time to save.

[FreelancePolice]

Glad to see a FP of this.

I've played all of the series games so far and I squealed with delight when I saw they were remaking one of my favourite games with all the updated features.

The format will be familiar to those who have played any of the previous games and there's plenty of nice new touches. The UI is probably the best so far and, for me, it's hit the sweet spot in useability and functionality. The only slight quibble I have with it is not seeing my current Pokemon's health.

The nicest addition in the main game is having the pokemon walk behind you. In past games, seeing a Pokemon in the game world was limited to maybe 30 or so. Now all Pokemon can be seen in the environment walking behind the player. It's perhaps a small thing gameplay-wise but it's a lovely touch and one that doesn't fail to raise a smile when I chat to it.

The pokewalker, as mentioned, is fun and a nice novel way of giving the player a further avenue to capture pokemon. It's allowed me to get a Magby much earlier than I would've done previously.

The pokedex is much more favoured to the classic 151, which is a refreshing change and it's a huge nostalgia trip seeing some old favourites more often. It should also be noted that I believe this has the largest range of Pokemon available for capture.

Voltorb flip, a weird cross between minesweeper and picross, is very compelling and a welcome distraction (I've spent about an hour just playing it!). Much better than the previous game corner offerings (slot machines *yawn*).

Overall a must for any fan and also a nice way to get those who haven't dipped into the series since Gen 2.

[Roddie]

Oops! I was posting my FP impressions in the Online Challenges thread.

Surprised there are no new comments with the UK release of these games. Gold/Silver was always my favourite generation of the game so this is a perfect excuse to run it for a fourth time (having completed Silver, Gold and Crystal all those years ago). Maybe plays too similarly to Diamond/Pearl for some people's liking but the creature design at this point is, personally, a big plus. The Pokéwalker seems like a smart addition to the series and I've only scratched the surface of its capabilities; I imagine one of its main purposes is to try and curtail the rampant piracy issue surrounding the DS.

[Bassman]

I have been playing both of these. On Heartgold I have a Lvl 22 Quilava as my main (working on the others now). Went with a Totodile on Soulsilver. Not put much into Soulsilver yet admittedly.

I remember a Pokemon walking behind you in-game before. Would that have been in Pokemon Yellow? Or did that also occur in the original Gold and Silver (haven't played them in a while).

I also liked the new interface. Definite improvement.

I have only used the Pokemwalker with Heartgold so far and have yet to try catching anything or doing any dowsing with it. My Spearow has gained a couple of levels with it so far and I unlocked a couple more places to walk.

[FreelancePolice]

They only walked behind you in yellow (and it was only Pikachu) and in the garden in Pearl/diamond/platinum although you could only use a handful for even that (and only in the garden).

[Bort]

If anyone wants a quick pikachu ( or three > ) download the mystery gift from nintendo WFC. You'll receive a pokewalker route (yellow forest) that only gives pikachu's up. If you have over 10k steps for the day you'll be able to catch up to level 15 versions and there appears to be a rare pikachu that knows 'fly'.

I'm currently stuck on advancing at the mo. I have to go some place for the trainer in the lighthouse and somewhere else that I can't remember and can't randomly find either place whilst rambling.
Currently at 17 hrs with 4 badges, 39 kinds of poke's caught, 96 spotted and a total of 143645 steps. I was expecting something nice at 100,000 steps but nuffin'.

[kryss]

Can you do the mystery gift thing between games via IR like you could with the GBC?

[Bort]

Not sure but they give you three options on the Mystery gift screen. From a friend, wireless or nintendo WFC.

Found out what was holding me up a while ago. Hadn't taught one of my pokemons a skill.

[Roddie]

I think you can Mystery Gift between DSs.

A tip for the Yellow Forest route: if you use a Ground, Electric or Grass Pokémon in the Pokéwalker, you'll only need 7500 instead of 10000 steps to catch the rare Pikachus. I'd only been getting Surf Pikachus but yesterday I finally caught two Fly ones!

[Bort]

I just clocked the Johto League a little while ago.

I've been pretty much only using my original pokemon Totodile which is now a lvl 70 Feraligatr. I'd intermittently level a geodude as a second but he was superseded when I caught ho-oh.
The only pokemon I'm after is a bulbasaur which I'll keep at it's base form.

Enjoying it still.

[FreelancePolice]

I must of spent about 2 hours grinding the voltorb flip place to get my Dratini nice and early. Strangely compelling game and thank god they've got rid of the one arm bandit game. That was incredibly tiresome to win the high ranked prizes - although I can't see myself going for the 10k ice beam TM!

[JamesS]

I finished the Elite Four earlier today. Once I got the badge with got rid of the level cap, I transfered over my level 90+ Porygon-Z from Platinum and did the whole Elite Four with just him, without taking a single hit

I'd totally forgotten that you get

->Open Spoiler<-

to go to Kanto

once you've done the Elite Four. Loads of stuff to do still.

Is it me or is the random encounter rate in this one much higher than previous DS versions? You seem to get a fight every few steps.

[FreelancePolice]

Not sure if it's always applied but someone said if I ran in the grass the encounter rate went up.

[Roddie]

I must of spent about 2 hours grinding the voltorb flip place to get my Dratini nice and early. Strangely compelling game and thank god they've got rid of the one arm bandit game. That was incredibly tiresome to win the high ranked prizes - although I can't see myself going for the 10k ice beam TM!

The advantage of the slot machines was that you didn't actually need to play them because you could just buy the coins anyway! Voltorb Flip is great, but it's really annoying not having the option to buy the coins. I was tempted to take a Dratini but thought I'd just breed and trade one over from a previous game. I actually took over a Larvitar at the start of SoulSilver though so that's probably enough. Will save my coins for the TMs.

I transfered over my level 90+ Porygon-Z from Platinum and did the whole Elite Four with just him, without taking a single hit

Good choice; I used to love my shiny Porygon2 in the Gold/Silver era

[Briareos]

I'm close to getting a Dratini four gym badges in. Thank God my girlfriend likes Soduku style puzzles!

In case anyone missed it you can download a new pokewalker route called yellow forest where it's easy to obtain a Pikachu or two, it's available via mystery gift WiFi until May 5th.

This is my first pokemon game and i've stitched myself up with giving too many HM's to my pokemon, now they are jammed up with un removable cut/strength/headbutt/surf etc etc. I heard you can get rid of these moves at some stage but i take it the process isn't easy?