Help me get back into Pokemon Ruby

[boatofcar]

So it's been about a year since I've picked this up. I tried playing it last night and am completely lost. I need help! I last saved my game inside a tunnel...um...I have the bike...um...yeah. Is there any place I can go in the game to see where I need to be going next? I know this is a hard question to answer, but I'm completely lost here.

[calthaer]

Unfortunately, this is really a big problem with just about any JRPG. They've never really caught on in a big way to some of the more advanced RPG features that western ones have implemented - like conversation trees and, at the very minimum, a journal / quest log.

Best thing to do is to find out the name of the cave you're in and to look it up on GameFAQs. You should be able to get out of the cave easily with any character that has the DIG move or with an Escape Rope, if you have one. If you don't, then you really should consider taking one of these with you into any cave / dungeon you enter in the future.

I believe that you get a Town Map very early in the game. Referring to this should give you some idea of where you are. To use it, just select the Town Map in your backpack and use it. Failing that, there is a town map in just about every house in the game (and you should go back to the first town in the game and get that map ASAP if you don't have it).

Then you can figure out where you are and where you're supposed to be going. Like most JRPGs, the path that you need to follow is rather linear, and you don't have a lot of options to veer off to the left and right. At best, Pokemon affords you the opportunity to wander around a current area for a while until you encounter a rare(r) Pokemon to catch.

[dbiersdorf]

Knowing the level of your Pokemon would help too.

Oh and check your status on the menu to see how many badges you have.

[joshnickerson]

Which reminds me, in Pokemon FireRed/Leaf Green, when you continue a game, it actually shows a recap of the last few major events you accomplished (entering a cave, defeating a Gym Leader, capturing a rare Pokemon). I think more RPGs should have this feature.

Man, I need to finish Pokemon Sapphire myself... I think I was at the Elite Four when I stopped playing...

[calthaer]

Yeah, that 10-second recap that Fire Red / Leaf Green does is really cool. They should have that in lots of RPGs. Of course, in western ones, they do...

The real benefit of completing Ruby / Sapphire is the ability to trade friend cards to Emerald so that you can level-up your Pokemon against your alter ego and get stat experience that way - and grow your Pokemon in exactly the way you want to.

[boatofcar]

Knowing the level of your Pokemon would help too.

Oh and check your status on the menu to see how many badges you have.

I have three badges...I think the last one I had came from lavaridge town...I can't get into the Sandstorm...beyond that I'm totally lost...

[dbiersdorf]

Lavaridge should be your forth badge.

1st Badge - Rustboro (Rock Gym Leader)
2nd Badge - Dewford (Fighting Gym Leader)
3rd Badge - Mauville (Electric Gym Leader)
4th Badge - Lavaridge (Fire Gym Leader)

Go check the gyms and see if you missed one (although there's no way you could have missed number 1, and if I remember correctly number 2 either.