Entertainment Nuzlockes

[Fontbane]

As you probably know, Nuzlockes are a self-imposed challenge in Pokémon games with two main rules: You can only catch the first encounter in each area, and if a Pokémon faints, it's considered dead, and can't be used for the remainder of the run.

Do you like Nuzlockes? What Nuzlockes have you done, and what happened in them? What spins do you like to put on Nuzlockes to make them more interesting? Do you use different clauses to avoid BS?

 

[Dragonite]

Never cared for them. If Pokémon games ever bored me to the point where I need to make up extra rules as I go along, I'd just play something else. also i swear to talos if I see one more thirteen year old tell me how original and innovative their Pokémon Dark Rising SuperWonderStandOnYourHeadLocke is, i'm going to strangle a small planet.

Now, doing a Nuzlocke of Skyrim on Expert . . . that's a different story. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

 

[Falcon]

Gotta agree with Dragonite there, never cared for them. I have done an Egglocke of Red purely out of curiosity but I hate being restricted. What I dislike the most is when people download a fan game and purely play the Nuzlocke only without experiencing it otherwise. The game was made for the game, not the meta game. They typically lose before even finishing the game and never continue it by themselves or just restart. Pokémon itself is just tedious work so why bother putting more stress on it? It may make it more interesting but if a game's good you don't need that additional factor in my opinion.

 

[Djaco75]

Personally, I don't really like the nuzlocke version of any game. I feel like it's a pretty stupid thing to implement, and, as Dragonite has said, if a game is too easy, go and play something else. I do like randomisers though, and feel like they are cool to play through - but I only play them after I have completed the normal game first. I think Black and White adding the difficulty mode feature helped with the difficulty, so I don't know why people still have the need to make a completely new game out of it.

 

[Fontbane]

I definitely agree with you guys that games should be played through normally the first time. I personally wouldn't want someone to have their first run of Forge be a Nuzlocke, because it'd detract from their experience, and I'd rather not have them in mind when designing fights.

 

[Mak]

I personally find them pretty fun, at least on main series games. They can help to give you appreciation for Pokemon you otherwise wouldn't use as well as give you a different type of challenge.
It's actually a lot like how Fire Emblem's permadeath works. You get attached to the character and how they play, and when an unlucky crit wipes out a valued team member it can actually keep you on your toes.

But I probably wouldn't play a Nuzlocke in a fangame outside of one that I have already beaten. I tried it once years ago but going in blind typically isn't the best idea for something already extremely luck-based.

 

[Fontbane]

They can help to give you appreciation for Pokemon you otherwise wouldn't use

Oh, that's my favorite part of a Nuzlocke! I'm in a Nuzlocke right now where I'm using a Dunsparce, and it's actually really good!

 

[Mak]

Oh, that's my favorite part of a Nuzlocke! I'm in a Nuzlocke right now where I'm using a Dunsparce, and it's actually really good!

Exactly. My MVP of my X playthrough (as short-lived as it was) was a Bibarel, and is one of the reasons its my favorite Normal type.

...That also leaves the extreme void in your heart that's left when one of your favorite party members dies to a random crit.

 

[Tomix9tomix]

I'd never do a nuzlocke on my first playthrough but I do quite enjoy, especially since me and my sister do them together side by side which makes the experience more enjoyable.

My soul sliver nuzlocke helped me find a new love for many pokemon, but most of all, girafarig. Or as I called him, raffy. Sadly he perished against mew two when I was determined to catch him after using many repels. Sadly after killing raffy mew two ran out of pp and died. And so did my heart.

Another heart breaking memory is when I did the double battle against clair and lance. I came up with the rule that I had to rematch every gym leader and clair was the last one. Sadly I lost 4/6 of my main pokemon in that battle. All I had left wad zwagger (my ampharos and river phoenix (my Ho oh). In my rage I decided to just fight red there and then without training or getting any more pokemon. Somehow they won.

Memories like these are why I enjoy nuzlocke, and as sick as it sounds, nuzlocke aren't any as much fun if no body dies in the end

 

[Darius_Oak]

TeamFourStar made me love Nuzlocke runs more than I love most games. And since my memory is obscene, I'm very good at them.

When you beat Cynthia in Platinum with your highest level being 51, that's when you know you've gone in too deep.

 

[LeonDraceus]

I did a Nuzlocke of Pokemon Sweet, Pokemon Zeta and Uranium

 

[Dawn Bronze]

I've never actually played a Nuzlocke. I get super attached to my team, to the point of not ever changing the members even when it would massively benefit me (for example if I have a good Pokemon for a Gym leader I could use, but refuse to swap it with a team member), so the ides of them dying forever is kinda heart breaking to me lol. I do think they can be quite interesting however, and so I do sometimes watch Nuzlocke runs on Youtube in I want some background noise if I'm studying or something, especially if they're completed so I have a whole bunch to go through. Recently, I've been watching @NuclearOmega 's old Gaia Nuzlocke from last year, and have been enjoying it quite a bit.

I' sure sure I really understand everyone's argument that artificially making the game harder is a bad thing? If the game was too easy the first time through, then why shouldn't the player be allowed to make it harder for themselves in the interest of having fun and challenging themselves. I also don't see people's argument that they should play another game if it's too easy as being a valid one. People play Pokemon because they enjoy it, and so saying they shouldn't play it just because they find it easy is kinda dumb. If they want more of a challenge and stillw ant to play Pokemon, what's really to stop them from doing that?

 

[manta]

I think the concept of Nuzlocke is cool but I never really completed one or any challenge run, really. They just don't seem to grab me that much. It's not about losing team members or having limited choice, it's just that they don't spice up the game enough for me to stay interested. I need new Pokémon, scripts, maps, etc, to hook me into Pokémon games nowadays.

 

[doof]

As someone who's had to come up with their own rules for certain games to make them a little bit more fun to play again, I'm down with all the different locke's I've seen out there. Makes things a little more challenging and fresh.

I've actually been wanting to try a Nuzelocke sometime soon. My problem is that I kinda grow attached to team members and would be sad when - when not if - they died. But I guess that's kind of the point.------------------------As someone who's had to come up with their own rules for certain games to make them a little bit more fun to play again, I'm down with all the different locke's I've seen out there. Makes things a little more challenging and fresh.

I've actually been wanting to try a Nuzelocke sometime soon. My problem is that I kinda grow attached to team members and would be sad when - when not if - they died. But I guess that's kind of the point.

 

[Darius_Oak]

Incidentally, last night I made a template for organizing Soul Link challenges, which are basically just co-op Nuzlockes. I'll link that here. I'm pretty sure that anybody can download it and make their own document of it, so long as they have the proper programs.

Note: This version was made for Emerald.

 

[Alumina]

I thought it would be fun to do a dual Nuzlocke run with Sun and Moon for the first run-through (keyword: thought). Yeah... not doing that again....

Also Diamond/Pearl challenges are not easy when the starter you get (via ID) is Piplup or Turtwig and you do not find a Ponyta... (this has not happened to me yet and hopefully never will).


My favorite Nuzlocke challenge is the WonderWedLocke. That was my first challenge that I attempted. It was on Pokemon X and after one of my pairs went down I brought in a male Honedge and a female Wurmple. When the Wurmple evolved into a Cascoon I was very tempted to just get rid of her, but then I started to feel bad and gave her a chance.
Protect/Moonlight/Venoshock/Infestation Dustox are amazing against Team Flare.


One of the rules I use sometimes is every time I defeat a rival/boss/admin/etc I'm allowed to use one Revive. Another rule I do, which is somewhat similar, is Life for a Life, which is basically exchanging a Pokemon that's in the PC (who has fainted either the same amount as the Pokemon you want to keep, or 0 times -for a Pokemon that has fainted once-) for the RIP box instead.
Kind of cruel, but when you lose that one Pokemon (like the Dustox...) and you're depressed (and the Sealeo is going to take 5 hours to train to the level limit and $20,000 in vitamins to get its stats up)


I have found that trading myself Pokemon takes a lot of the fun out of it, so in the future I'm really going to limit it. At least until I attempt a WaffleLocke (no PokeMarts, no PokeCenters) along with not evolving the Pokemon... I will be giving myself a Pick Up Pachirisu, a Druddigon, and a Victini. There will be no level limit for this (because a level 45 Shiny probably wouldn't survive against a level 45 Samurott...). It will mean a lot more training, but thankfully Unova has its encounter rate....

 

[kirlial]

I do like the idea of adding extra rules for a challenge but I've never found nuzlockes to be to my tastes. I like how it encourages you to use Pokemon you wouldn't otherwise use and may sometimes encourage you to strategise in a fight but I dislike how it encourages you to play so defensively. Training your team against wild pokemon is tedious and typically when I play pokemon I don't train at all. I prefer monotype runs, where you only catch a single type of pokemon if I want a fun challenge. Losing Pokemon in a nuzlocke feels too disheartening for me. I definitely wouldn't want to try one blind.