LOG ENTRY: DAY 01 - LANDFALL IN LITTLEROOT
My hands are still shaking. I touched down in Littleroot with my standard issue Pokedex and a crate of Repels, expecting a standard Ruby reconnaissance mission. The intelligence briefing mentioned "Pokemon boots" and choosing a "Maddokippu". I assumed this was code. It wasn't code. The local dialect is fractured, barely intelligible. I spent the first three hours trying to understand if the Professor wanted me to catch a Pokemon or eat it.
The region is hostile. Not in the "challenging AI" sense, but in the "everything wants to hurt you and the laws of physics are bending" sense. I checked my completion percentage. 0%. My pulse is racing. I need to fill these slots.
THE CENSUS: A COMPLETIONIST'S NIGHTMARE
Headquarters promised "Some Pokemon from Kanto and Johto." Do you know what the word "some" does to a man like me? It induces panic. "Some" implies gaps. "Some" implies Slot #151 might be empty forever. I have been scouring the tall grass on Route 101 for six hours looking for a Pidgey just to verify the encounter tables.
- The Good: Regional diversity is up. I spotted species native to Johto migrating early.
- The Bad: There is no documentation. I am flying blind without my spreadsheets.
- The Ugly: I cannot confirm if a Living Dex is possible without cheats because the encounter tables are pure anarchy. I found a Mewtwo in a patch of grass that should have held a Wurmple. It wiped my team.
THREAT LEVEL ASSESSMENT
They call it "Brutal Version" for a reason, but it feels artificial. The local fauna (Trainers) aren't using advanced tactics; they are simply overpowering us with raw stats. It's not a puzzle; it's a bludgeoning.
FIELD NOTE: Missable event warning! Save before entering the cave near the second town. The scripting is unstable. I walked through a door and ended up in a Glitch City void. Had to reset a 4-hour save file. I screamed.
LOGISTICS AND QoL
I am desperate for modern amenities. I checked the local marts for upgrade kits.
Link Cable item is available in Department Store. Huge W.... is what I would say if this region had any sensible infrastructure! Instead, I'm stuck doing trade evolutions the old-fashioned way, which is impossible solo. My Kadabra is destined to remain a Kadabra. My eye is twitching. This is a completion blocker. This is a 0/10 on the "Catchability" scale.
FINAL TALLY
100% completion took me 85 hours, and 40 of those were spent trying to decipher the dialogue and grinding against unfair level curves. The "New Title Screen" is a nice coat of paint on a crumbling building. The "Pokemon Boots" were a lie. There were no boots. Only pain.
