Completely random status update:
Pokedex: 636. Missing Ludicolo (need another water stone), Latias, Kyogre, Groudon, Rayquaza, plus a bunch of the events (all save Maphany, Darkrai, and Victini). I have Groudon on Silver, but I'll probably need to help my nephew finish Heart Gold for the other three Gen 3 legends.
Levels: In the process of getting final evolutions for all lines, I have managed to get Empoleon, Staraptor, Volcarona, and Krookodile up to level 100. The first two were already heavily leveled from Platinum, the latter two took on most of the postgame. I also have a Linoone and Smeargle that I use for pickup and catching respectively, but don't see a huge benefit from getting their levels much higher than they are right now.
Shinys: While Ditto farming in the Giant Chasm, I came across the first non-Gyarados shiny I've seen since my original Silver...Lunatone. Meh.
Dream World: 7400 points, so looking forward to expanding the selections a bit. Currently have the following females - Slopoke, Gligar, Bidoof, Krabby, Wingull. I won't consider this done until I have a female Tangela, Dragonite, Carvana, Poliwag, Natu, and Vulpix.
Battle Subway: Next major priority with the pokedex wrapping up. Operation: catch a shit ton of Dittos is proceeding smoothly. I'll probably end up going with pure rain abuse for my doubles team. Not sure about the singles team yet though. I only want to get a streak far enough for the trainer card, so I don't think I need to go for the kind of massive flash/setup teams that get the insanely long steaks. Although I really liked the idea of using a Ferrothorn with Leech Seed/Sub/Curse/Gyro Ball. I'll probably just end up going with that, a Thundurus to set the table, and a LO/4 attack Starmie to revenge.
Misc thoughts: While there wasn't anything as significant as the new types, held items, nature, abilities, EV distribution, and Physical/Special split the previous generations gave us, the big changes from gen 5 - infinite TMs and the experience curve - have succeeded in making this MUCH more playable than any other previous generation. In Platinum I got bored well before this point. Now I am still going strong and plan to get at least the silver card, and make a few decent teams. I think this gen deserves a lot of credit for changing the game in more subtle, beneficial ways (balancing the doubles battles and introducing the new battle types is also really cool) that effect the overall experience more so than any type of dramatic way of rethinking the game.
