Zargerth

Afaik Gourgeist is in fact available. You have to return to the library in Beryl Ward and help the librarian. She gives you a Soul Candle, which is used to summon a Pumpkaboo at night at the cemetery when you interact with one of the pumpkins there. The thing with Liepard is that it doesn't get many status moves for it to make good use of Prankster. Intimidate and Fairy-typing on Granbull, however, are a really nice combo against Fighting-types. It's not destroyed by Knock Off either, unlike Swoobat.

Why a festival in respect to Lord Goomy of course. Everyone has to wear a Goomy hat and bring him (or her) sacri - eh, I mean, gifts. What kind of question would you like to give an answer to?

Karrablast

I wouldn't even consider them "gamebreaking" at all. There aren't that many Gym Leaders left either. Volt Switch might come in handy against Amaria, but that battle won't be happening any time soon.

How about U-turn and/or Volt Switch?

Go and catch a Geodude in Goldenleaf Cave (I think that's what it was called) - the cave you have to get through before your first battle with Melia. Ground-types are scarce at this point, but you can obtain Geodude at least. It can't be hit with Electroweb, and it can use Rock-type attacks to deal good damage on that Galvantula. Edit: ninja'd, kinda.

Snubbull evovles at Level 23 or something. Granbull isn't half-bad, especially if it has Intimidate as it's ability.

No problem. Maybe I just got impatient and expected the decisions made have impact on the story immediately. Sorry!

Questions regarding Scarlett and reputation system:

Dang, needed just 2 more Credits but the fight club decided not to give me any of those anymore. I could, however, use Reverse Candies and then level up my Pokemon again, but I'm too lazy for that.

If you need to know where the Azumarill is: I actually haven't tried the machine yet, I have only 14 credits left. As for the gym leaders:

Octillery

As far as I know, 4

Managed to find it, thanks for the heads-up! I'm pretty sure I visited this place after the incident, but I didn't search the place so thoroughly.

Cool, thanks.

I've got a couple of questions:

How do I put spoilers? I'd like to mention something regarding a lost item, but I don't want to spoil the surprise. Edit: Thanks, Chubb.

Correct, but why not do it while you're there? Kill two birds with one stone, so to speak. @Tempo17 This is my current team. I just arrived in Blackview City.

Did you activate the WiFi connection in Silver Rise?

I prefer not to play with self-imposed rules. This means I don't do Nuzlocke or monotype runs etc. While it puts your abilities to a test, at the same time it restricts the Pokemon - and thus tricks and tactics - available to you, as well as punishes you for trying new strategies. In fact, because of the "fainted Pokemon are to be released" rule, you can't afford to try something that may or may not work. I'd say it's bad game design if the game forces the player to: - breed for IVs and/or egg moves - EV train your team - use certain Pokemon to defeat a boss/leader Some of the things listed happen to an extent: you gain EVs by defeating opposing Pokemon and you most likely can't beat PULSEs with a team of Cascoons. My point is that they shouldn't be required. I think strategy and synergy for the opponent (and their team) is far more important than just to raise their levels to ridiculous heights. Levels are important, of course, but levels shouldn't be the only factor that contribute to the difficulty of the game.

The problem with level gaps / pacing of the game still remains. If I want to use, say, Clauncher in my team (they're about level 18-20 iirc) I'd have to train it 7 or more levels before the hideout is available, since there's a rival battle in that town. After that I'd have to train it more before the gym, where the level cap is 35. Keeping my team as evenly leveled as possible and at the same time as high-leveled as possible became too much of a chore for me.

I stopped playing after the second gym. The level gaps early in the game are so huge, yet you have very little options when it comes to grinding. I loathe grinding in the first place, so the lack of level-up spots doubles my pain.