*takes a deep breath*

Okay, you may remember my blog about bashing Pokemon Heart Gold and Soul Silver for not including the Vs. Seeker, which was up to now the most important key item to leveling up Pokemon by means of rebattling Trainers. Turns out, there are two or three ways to get EXP in the two games and not have to grind on wild Pokemon all the time. It doesn't really make up for it, but it lessens the impact.

Thanks to GameFAQs, I found a way to exploit the phone for rematches. If you are lucky enough to get a Trainer to battle you by calling him/her yourself, go to said route and battle the Trainer. Exit the route and call again. The Trainer will want to battle you again. I don't know how long this lasts but I had a good 10 battles from the same person before I decided to stop. At one point I had two, so I was going back and forth from Goldenrod to Mahogany(yes, I have gotten that far already). In the meantime there were 3 other Trainers calling me up for matches of their own. Travelling through Johto in one shot like that was pretty fun. This is probably a glitch that Nintendo hopefully doesn't fix, or is it intentional? I don't know.

Intentional or not, Nintendo intended to make this next method to gain EXP, one that I've ignored since I got the game.

Pokewalker. I haven't touched mine since I started playing, so I didn't know to what extent it could help. Just like Gold/Silver had the Pocket Pikachu, HG/SS has this. Except it's more useful. Way more. You gain one EXP for each step you take with your Pokemon, and you can battle wild Pokemon and collect items while doing so. Just idling around and shaking it would defeat the purpose, so probably I'll take it out for daily walks from now on. This is what Nintendo wants me to do, and wants all Pokemon Trainers to do. The healthier way of training Pokemon that doesn't need the Vs. Seeker. Sure, there's no EVs with this, but you don't have to pay the Breeders to raise your Pokemon, and you don't let them decide what moves to teach to your Pokemon. And the EVs can be found in-game anyway if you look around hard enough.

What's daunting about the Pokewalker is, well, if you play the DS game, standalone, you'll only be getting 3/4 of what the game has to offer. The remaining 1/4 is locked away in that Pokewalker. I am not kidding. Look up Serebii and check the items you can get on the Pokewalker through the itemfinder. Berries are impossible to find in Johto save for a few basic 7 or so. The remaining 40 berries(which includes the Liechi set and the EV-reducing set) can only be obtained through Pokewalker, along with many, many other rare items that you could once get in the Sinnoh Underground or otherwise. The different colored Shards too(you can use them in Johto).

I guess I was worked up about the Vs. Seeker because it advocated what I call 're-enactment gameplay'. You play one awesome part of a game, you fight a really memorable boss, you get past a heart-rending or awe-inspiring cutscene. Surely you want to relive those moments without having to start a new save file? That's 're-enactment gameplay'. Few games have had elements of reenactment(the ones I've played, anyway), beyond BGM galleries and a few boss rematches. And the Vs. Seeker lets you reenact your battles with the Trainers across the land, whether they've got an awesome team that screams EXP monster, or a challenging one that uses rare, highly evolved Pokemon. I'm gonna miss training against them, but for now, I want to enjoy Soul Silver for what it's really worth, both the game, and the Pokewalker.