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Crosspeice posted:
I don't think he's trying to tell himself this. Crosspeice posted:
Relatable videogame writing.
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May 14, 2018 18:54
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...YUKI... are you trying to tell me... you've beaten the CHAMPION?
"RIGHT NOW"
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| # ? Apr 23, 2024 07:08 |
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Revival herbs were in Gen 2, right? Did they heal fully there? I wouldn't know because only EVIL PEOPLE who HATE THEIR POKEMON would ever use bitter medicine.
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May 14, 2018 20:01
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rannum posted:You can't run from the battle palace forever, cross. A fun thing you can pull off in Omega Ruby and not Alpha Sapphire. Groudon's awakening puts Desolate Land into effect for every single battle in outdoor areas until you resolve that part of the plot. Desolate Land gives the harsh sunlight weather effect. But not only that, damage dealing water type moves will not work while it's in effect. (Unless someone on the field has Air Lock or Cloud Nine.) And the weather can only be changed with someone with the Primordial Sea or Delta Stream abilities. The result is that a lot of the trainers in the water routes flat out can't do anything to you because now they don't have any attacking moves.
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May 14, 2018 20:33
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Apologies for the disappearances in manga updates. My computer decided to commit suicide, and writing long-form on a phone is terrible.
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May 14, 2018 21:24
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Solumin posted:I've been wondering why you were using revival herbs! I never noticed that they changed after RS, I always thought they were just lovely revives. Yeah only in RS did they heal half, after doing so in full in Gen 2. Since I didn't use them back when I was younger, I never knew this about one of the best items in the franchise, happiness be damned in the endgame. Onmi posted:Apologies for the disappearances in manga updates. My computer decided to commit suicide, and writing long-form on a phone is terrible. It wouldn't be an LP without some tech disaster *eyes laptop nervously* Take your time, I'll probably be doing SSLPs for the next couple decades, or the death of the forum, whichever comes first (it's the latter), so submit during that time.
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May 14, 2018 21:30
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Onmi posted:Apologies for the disappearances in manga updates. My computer decided to commit suicide, and writing long-form on a phone is terrible. That's when you use Celebi and move to the timeline where your computer didn't commit suicide.
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May 14, 2018 21:30
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rannum posted:You can't run from the battle palace forever, cross. I think the manga had everything Groudon's sunlight touched just burn up.
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May 15, 2018 01:03
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Part 31: The Battle Pike and Battle Palace Battle Pike Welcome welcome, with all the pleasantries out of the way, now we need to go through some actual facilities with some actual submitted Pokemon. Let's meet them.    First up is The CLAAAW the Zangoose by Level Seven. When this cat gets set up, oh my word is it going to hit incredibly hard with its near perfect coverage thanks to HP Ground. When it takes a lot of damage (and it will), it'll activate its berry and get even stronger.    Next is ElmerFludd the Vaporeon by ajkalan. You do remember that Vaporeon has huge SpAtk? It can be pretty tanky, hit super hard with its great attacks and make you go all the way back to square one with Wish, which the other members might appreciate.    Finally, for the first half of this facility, is Flyboy the shiny Flygon by FoolyCharged. With real nice attack and some, uh, interesting coverage, Flyboy will be doing a lot of damage and maybe dodge an attack or two due to hax. I could've used Attract, but I didn't, since I'm an attack junkie.   We'll be doing Open Level again, but at level 75 instead of 100, just to make things a bit more interesting. And this facility is very interesting indeed, so we'll see how we do.  We do have three other Pokemon to use, we'll see them later. For now, let's start off nice and simple.     Lot of emphasis on curtains. Let's see what this facility is all about.    Ah, let me see... there is something about the path in the center... Is it... a TRAINER? I sense the presense of people.  Well what do you know, it was a trainer! In the Battle Pike you have a choice of three rooms that have a common and a rare outcome behind them. You can talk to the maid to find out what might be behind one of the doors, but will you get the best outcome? Well, it's all up to luck.   As you'd expect, the trainer hint gives you a 75% chance of fighting a trainer, but the other outcome is a full party heal. So if you're desperate, do you take that chance? Or do you go somewhere else? I'll be showing off every event once, before starting to game the system, since that is something you can do.     As you'd expect from the first set, we'll be facing against the very weakest Pokemon in the Frontier, Group 1, full of basic stage Pokemon and fully evolved Pokemon with low stats.   poo poo. Whispering is the best hint to get, since it's an 80% chance of getting... nothing! No battle, no event, just move on to the next room. Otherwise, it's a double battle. If you see a double battle, you immediately know you were unlucky, since this event is the only way to encounter them.   Still, it's early enough that it's whatever. ElmerFludd has some mad SpAtk to throw around.  Alright, it's early enough that I'm fine to try out this event. I'm expecting the worst.      I must apologise to you... my KIRLIA has a TIMID nature... it attacks without warning if it is startled by another person... Are you and your POKEMON all right? Well that's the least worst option. Nostalgia has a 45% chance of giving you a room that inflicts 1-3 of your Pokemon with a status condition, with Kirlia inflicting Bad Poison, Paralysis, Burn and Sleep at a 35%, 20%, 10% and 10% chance, respectively, and a Dusclops inflicting Freeze or Burn at a 25% and 10%, respectively. You can't use items and must rely on events to heal, so this room can cripple you if you get it multiple times in a row. The number of Pokemon inflicted depends on what room you're in, 1 in rooms 1-4, 2 in rooms 5-9 and 3 in rooms 10-14. Though The CLAAAW didn't get hit with poison, since the other two members did (and we're not late enough in this challenge for 3 of our Pokemon to be hit), due to her ability, she would've been immediately cured had she got inflicted. This also applies to Pokemon of certain types, so Poison Pokemon can't be poisoned, Fire Pokemon can't be burned, etc, but Electric Pokemon can't be paralyzed and Ice Pokemon can't be Frozen. Abilities that only activate in battle, like Shed Skin and Natural Cure, don't prevent status, but can cure it in the next battle. Oh yeah, the other event, which is slightly more likely, is one or two of your Pokemon becoming fully healed.   I will restore one of your POKEMON to full health. The best of luck to you. Farewell.  I will restore two of your POKEMON to full health. The best of luck to you. Farewell.Uh yeah, like that. Healing applies to literally anything your Pokemon is missing, whether it's HP, status, or that one single PP point in a move you used seven rooms ago. Events don't have a chance of showing up when they're useless, so the system is gamed by avoiding Trainer and Nostalgia rooms when you're fully healed, since you know something bad is gonna happen.   Since we're completely healed, we're facing a trainer, guaranteed. Also the heals can be annoying in that they're random which Pokemon they pick, so they could heal your 3rd mon who's missing some PP, instead of your lead with paralysis and 25% health.   Since we lost some PP, we can be healed again. Woo! Not that it matters, because...   I must say... you seem to possess luck in abundance... In recognition of your amazing luck, we award you these Battle Point(s)...  Because of how quick you can go through the 14 rooms (7 choice rooms and 7 interim rooms), it's not that tough getting through the Pike if you know what you're doing, so the BP is low to start.   Set 2! We'll be encountering Pokemon from Group 2, so middle evolutions with good stats, or low stat fully evolved Pokemon. Pokemon from Group 1 can still appear, but that only depends on if the trainer that has Group 1 Pokemon in their pool also appear in Set 2, which a good chunk of them don't. Though that's something to go over when we're just doing nothing but really tedious battles. Wonder if we'll have any of those this update?   Your POKEMON shall be restored to full health... I urge you to enjoy the rest of your Battle Choice challenge... Ah, finally, the fourth and final hint, which is also a good one.   Of course we get the worst outcome. There's a 25% chance we'll fight a trainer that we wouldn't normally fight until the next set. This is always the final trainer in a standard battle streak in other facilities, so this is how the Pike implements it.  Set 3 is not when we fight Pokemon from Group 3, that's a little ways off, but we could fight a trainer that only appears from Set 3 on, who could have slightly trickier Pokemon.   Do you know what you just did?   When you get this event, you should go all out to win, since you'll be fully healed afterwards. After all, you can't revive your Pokemon and you also can't switch their party order, so make sure you have their order set before you enter!   Oh yeah, items that get used up, or Tricked, stay that way until the end of the current set. Those Trick sets work a lot better when Specs and Scarf get added to the mix, but right now, they're less effective.   I urge you to pay the utmost care and prepare for the worst... From every path I sense a dreadful presence...  If only you hadn't chosen this room, your POKEMON could have been healed... I shall go fetch out master...  For I am the PIKE QUEEN. You already know it, but to advance, you must defeat me... ...I'm not one for idle chatter. Hurry. Come on. Your luck... I hope you didn't use it all up here... VS Frontier Brain   Pike Queen Lucy/Tube Queen Azami From luck, as well as the old name for a pike fish, and azami (thistle).    Ow. Hey, it's a Frontier Brain already! At the end of the second streak, you'll face against Lucy, making this the easiest Silver Symbol to obtain, no question. It's also our first Brain with a set team, so you know what you're up against. We'll be fine, especially against this mostly special Seviper.   Y'know, when we actually hit.   Now you might struggle getting past her pretty nasty walls, especially if you've got a special attacker to get hit by Mirror Coat. But remember, Flyboy has a Choice Band. And is at +2 Attack. And is no longer confused.   Get fuckin wrecked.     She mad Battle Pike You have snatched victory from the PIKE QUEEN and cleared the event... In recognition of your amazing luck, we award you these Battle Point(s)...  Alright, that's our third symbol of fourteen. We're getting there. But of course, we won't be seeing Lucy again for a while. You didn't think it'd be at the end of the fourth streak, did you? Oh no no no, she'll be at the end of the TENTH streak. So because of that, we'll still be using our current three mons for just a little while longer.   It's ElmerFludd's turn after all.    That's some spicy damage.   Ah, here we go, a room full of wild Pokemon. You'll definitely want this outcome instead of a tough trainer since it's basically a free room.  Sure you'll run into a fair few encounters (two or three on average) and yeah, they've got some nasty attacks. But you can just... run from all of them. However, this strategy will only work to a point.   Regardless of what Pokemon you fight, they'll always be, at max, 5 levels lower than your highest level Pokemon, aside from Seviper and Milotic, which are 4 levels lower, as they're the Pokemon you'll always encounter no matter what.  Pretty nasty movesets that are designed solely to screw you over. After going through the Pike enough times in a streak, the third Pokemon you'll encounter will change, going from Dusclops to start with, to Electrode after 280 rooms, to Breloom after 561 rooms, to Wobbuffet from room 841 onward. Considering we'll get the Gold Symbol after 170 rooms... we won't be encountering anything all that deadly. The rotating Pokemon has a 48% encounter, while Seviper and Milotic are 26% each. For whatever reason, every Pokemon aside from Breloom and Electrode have a moveset change between Level 50 and Open Level, with Seviper having Body Slam instead of Poison Fang, Milotic having Surf instead of Ice Beam, Dusclops having Shadow Punch instead of Ice Beam and Wobbuffet having Encore instead of Destiny Bond. Neat.     Alright, three streaks done. Only seven to go. Man this is gonna be a long update, right?   Alright, we've now seen every room. The good result from the whispering hint just has a single person standing around. Very nice.   This isn't though, I'm getting owned.   But since we don't encounter another trainer, we're not in any danger.   In the fifth streak, we've got some big bad Group 3 Pokemon to face. We start fighting them in Set 4, since that's when the trainers with Group 3 Pokemon start appearing, but other trainers from previous sets can also appear and you'll be facing only Group 3 Pokemon from set 5 on.  And there we go, we're halfway through the Pike, so it's on to our next three submitted Pokemon! Don't worry now, we'll be seeing the previous mons again soon enough.    First up is Excalibur the shiny Seviper, by Leraika. He's got a Choice Band and real nice coverage. He hurts a LOT. Nice and speedy, can shrug off status and is able to just knock something out with little trouble. Good choice to start off with.    Here's Grafix the Porygon2, by Kikas, who may have slightly forgotten Normal is only physical, but that's okay, cause it works even as a physical attacker, especially with two great moves to use in these kinds of facilities. Kinda speedy too, to Recover its Substitute losses.    Last up is Tess the Forretress, by rannum. Very useful, since having something that only dies to Fire types is pretty helpful, as well as RestoChesto and Toxic stalling. Sometimes, you just need to survive against something and this is a great Pokemon for the job.   We'll use Grafix first for the next couple streaks, but then we'll need to stick with Excalibur as stuff gets stronger. Tess won't be out first, since we're not in the early sets anymore.   But yeah, even Grafix can run from these slow mons. Let's battle instead.     Pretty nice. This team isn't the best, but hey, I use submitted Pokemon because I don't want to use the best.   Not a huge deal, it's only a Slaking.  WHAT? It's something you should expect eventually, let's be honest.   That's just par for the course. Won't be showing off every little thing that happens, this update needs to end eventually!   This is why I'm glad we don't have special Porygon2. Also yeah, sixth set is when legendaries start appearing. If you want to make things easier, they only start appearing on the eighth set in Level 50, due to what trainers appear.   Admittedly I should've switched to Tess, as I knew that was gonna happen. But I stayed in. That's what I did.   Man they really love doing that. It never works out for them.   So Steelix is a nasty Pokemon Grafix and Excalibur can't beat by themselves, but Tess can very easily take it out. Uh, with Rest, of course, Earthquake isn't STAB, after all.   Also if it doesn't explode when I'm at low health. But hey, that's another set done.     Well this is going well.     That was not me duplicating screenshots in one room, I literally didn't attack once in that entire set. Beautiful. So here's how you can try and cheese the Pike. For the Trainer hint, if your Pokemon are fully healed, then never take this, since a battle is guaranteed. For whispering, if you only have one Pokemon still alive, then it'll always be a free room, since you can't get into a double battle. Aroma is the only one you can't cheese, but both outcomes are fine, I believe, since you can go all out against the trainer, or run away from the Pokemon. Finally, if your team is fully healed, then stay away from Nostalgia, since you'll always get hit with status. Pretty simple.   To make up for it, the ninth streak had a few battles. Still, this team is working well.   And then the final streak was pretty quiet. Yeah I'm going through these fast, but hey, I can only show so much off before I start getting bored. We've seen quite enough of this place, methinks.   Oh yeah, depending on which room you choose, you can get 0-2 of your Pokemon healed. It's cool, but we shouldn't need it.   ...I've trampled flowers and braved storms to get to where I am... I don't feel any compulsion to keep losing to the same opponent... ...fine... I'll do it... Now! Come on! VS Frontier Brain     If you wondered who had the better Seviper... did you even need to ask?   God that does so much. On both sides.  And hey, it's a Pokemon Tess can clown on.   Completely clown on, in fact.     This might be a super big problem. But it was fine, I thought, since it was on a timer.   Like most big battles, I don't check what my opponent will have beforehand, so I was a bit surprised by a RestoChesto Gyarados that only had Return. If it had Earthquake I, uh, would've been kinda hosed. I'm surprised it never used Roar though.   Two can play at that game! Though I did use my Chesto Berry earlier in the set. Haha, whoops.   Still, I have a plan.   And that plan?     Is to win! Boom baby!     I think we made a new friend.   That's two! It almost feels like we can beat this. But there's still plenty of facilities to beat when we come back to the Frontier next ti- Battle Palace  I'M DOING IT, I'M DOING IT, gently caress OFF ALREADY  "what it likes and is good at doing." Put yourself in the POKEMON's position and consider what moves it would like.  Alright, if you don't know what this place is about, it doesn't seem that bad to begin with. Just a simple 3v3 7 battle streak. What's the big deal?   Ignoring the standard Brightpowder bullshit, I... didn't choose my attack. This facility... all you do is just click the Fight option. Over and over and over again. We just beat the Luck facility, but this is the true luck facility. Here's a 4 sided die. Throw it. And keep throwing it until you get the Gold Symbol. Roll badly? Guess you lose then. Since there's nothing else you can do. Just roll the die. Again and again and again.   So to actually go into what determines what move your Pokemon so gracefully chooses after clicking the Fight option, it's down to the moves it has and its Nature. Every Nature a Pokemon has gives it a chance of using an Attack move (any move not under Defense or Support), a Defense move (targets the user), or a Support move (does not deal damage and not under Defense, as well as Counter and Mirror Coat) and if it rolls that, your Pokemon uses it. If it doesn't, well...   Get used to seeing this text a lot. See, the best thing to do in this facility is to make your Pokemon only use attacking moves, to make the chance of actually attacking the opponent the highest possible. But what if it rolls another category when you only have those moves? Well, it's not the end of the world. If it chooses Attack, then it'll use a move smartly, but the remaining percentages are added together and halved. This is the chance that it'll either attack randomly, or just do nothing at all, as in, being incapable of using its power. So, since LADios has a Timid nature (since ShockSabre prefers to have Modest), he has a 62% chance of attacking and then a 19% chance of using a random move and then a 19% chance of doing nothing. This means you can use whatever Nature in this place you like, since you've got a better chance of attacking than you think.  I'm skipping the text for the most part since he talks about closeness and bonds and all that. After going through this facility, you will definitely not think that's the case and see 2004 Gamefreak AI come through in full force.  After all, it would be too easy if you just picked the natures that gave you the best chance to attack. Oh no no no. When you go under 50%, the numbers change, usually making the highest percentage the lowest, or making all categories more even. So now, LADios has a 30% chance of attacking smartly and then a 35% chance of being random or being useless. So, 65% chance is still alright, but man it can get pretty rough if you get unlucky. Cause that's the main problem with the Palace. Aside from natures and tweaking movesets, there's just no strategy behind it. It's just endless dice rolling. Also when you go under 50% health the percentages change, but they don't change back if you go back above 50% health. Sneaky, right?   And of course the standard RNG is here just to gently caress with you even more. It's mental. I suppose I should go over the crazy movesets I spent minutes thinking of. LADios has Dragon Claw, Psychic, Thunderbolt and Surf, SparkSabre has Thunderbolt, Crunch and HP Ice and PurePunchr has Hi Jump Kick (yeah I know), Return, Shadow Ball and Earthquake. Yes, ShockSabre only has 3 attacks. If you can't think of a 4th or even 3rd move to put on a Pokemon for this facility then don't bother. It doesn't make any difference to what move gets picked, aside from losing on some slight coverage options when they attack smartly.   Their individual nature makes them good at certain things, and not good at others.  LADS LADS LADS. That guy might have more quotes, but I never encountered them since this facility is, to its single credit, mercifully short.   Yup. It's so frustrating, because it's just completely out of your control and just leaves a bad taste in your mouth. This is one gimmick that I hope we never see again, because it is really as bad as it looks.   Using Hi Jump Kick is also not the best idea, you want to use consistent and accurate moves in this place, since there's already a huge luck factor involved. Just trade a bit of power so you can hit when you really need to, it's worth it.   And that was only the first fuckin Pokemon!     Please. Don't do this to me.   AHHHHHHHH THIS IS TENSE IN THE WORST WAY  Okay. Just according to keika- ah I don't have the motivation to finish that joke, screw this place.  By winning consistently, you have earned the privilege of challenging our master, the PALACE MAVEN... I shall send for the PALACE MAVEN. Are you ready?     Young one of a TRAINER! Do you believe in your POKEMON? Can you believe them through and through? If your bonds of trust are frail, you will never beat my brethren! The bond you share with your POKEMON! Prove it to me here! VS Frontier Brain   Palace Maven Spenser/Palace Guardian Ukon From spirit, and ukon (turmeric).    Holy poo poo, I just looked at that Crobat set. I dodged a fuckin bullet there! But yeah, at the end of the third set, you face the Brain! Thank god for that.     And so it begins. You clawed your way up to this point. Just to watch it all get pissed away into the wind.   All you can do is watch from afar and scream into the empty void.   Maybe your prayers will go through. Maybe this is the Faith facility. If you believe hard enough, will these stupid lines of code actually respond?     Maybe. Maybe there is a God. Hopefully I can one day catch it. Well we've still got three more sets to go. Battle Palace  Hah, you never fell for my bluster! Sorry for trying that stunt! Here! Bring me the thing!    I eagerly await the next opportunity to see you.  We are halfway done with this lovely facility, but before that, here's something new.    We have a little group going here, and we play a little game with what goes on in the BATTLE FRONTIER. The rules are really simple. First, we pick one of the facilities in the BATTLE FRONTIER. Then, we each pick a different TRAINER who's taking that facility's challenge, and bet with our Battle Points. The guy who bet on the TRAINER with the best record takes all the Battle Points in the pool. Sounds simple, huh? So, anyway... What I'm looking for is a TRAINER who's going to be entering the BATTLE DOME's DOUBLE BATTLE Tourney. But so far, I haven't seen a TRAINER that has that winning quality. I'll see to it that you benefit, too. So how about it? How about entering that event for me? After getting three silver symbols from any of the facilities, we can now do BP betting! Every day, you'll be given a certain facility to enter in and win. You give the man 5, 10 or 15BP and if you win the set, you get double the amount! We are going to the Battle Dome next, but you don't fight the Frontier Brains in Double Battles, so no. Also, just grind the Battle Tower if you need quick, hassle free (mostly) BP.   Anyway, back to the Palace and oh would you look at that we've completed the fourth set, how about that? Yeah there is nothing else to talk about in this place, other than HOW THE HELL ARE YOU SUPPOSED TO KNOW HOW IT WORKS??? The text clues the Pokemon give you at half health are useless, none of the info here gives you cold hard facts on any of the Natures and how they would work. The girl nearby that we talk to is all you get and she's super vague. I'm glad the Hoenn Battle Frontier never came back, because at least I don't have to do this stupid facility ever again! This place isn't particularly awful, or completely unfun to go through... it's just boring. And that's terrible.   Still, we're getting mad bank. Wanna talk about trainers? Yeah! So in the Battle Frontier, there are 300 named trainers to fight... uh, not including the Brains of course, and they appear when you reach certain sets, usually in blocks of 7 battles, but it obviously varies between facilities that have less than that. Anyway, of those 300 trainers, some only appear in the very first set, others inbetween set 2-4, or 3-6, or what have you, until you get to over 50 battles (or rooms, floors, what have you), where the trainers you'll face, their names and their Pokemon pools remain set. Let's use the Ruin Maniac class as an example, since it's small, but covers ever set at least once. So we have Anton, Lawson and Sammy as potential trainers to encounter when we start our streak, as they only appear in the first set only. Therefore, they only use Group 1 Pokemon and you probably swatted them away without a second thought you monster. Same, I pay no attention to trainer names. Anyway, while they have different names, they're the same trainer, since they all pull from the same pool of Pokemon. And it is quite a large pool with a lot of theming behind it. When you see the trainer class, you can usually tell what Pokemon they'll be using, in this case being Rock, Ground and Steel types. Next up is Zackary, who you'll encounter from set 2-4 and has Pokemon in Group 2. It's a pretty big pool still, so it gives this one trainer a lot of variety.  Then we have Aiden and Xavier, who appear in sets 5-7 and have Group 3 Pokemon, but only just the one set of each Pokemon they can use. This base only applies to Level 50, as Open Level gets the Group 3 Pokemon out a set earlier, but I don't have any evidence to say that the named NPCs change which sets they appear in change because of that. They probably do, but who cares? Anyway, the main meat is Hugo and Bryce, who not only use Group 3 Pokemon with all of their sets, they use legendaries as well, which start at set 8 in Level 50 and set 6 in Open Level. These are the big sets you'll be seeing until you lose, so you better get used to them. Of course, trainers in the same class can also overlap which sets they appear in, so you can still get a mix of different groups of Pokemon, but there's always a hard cutoff point, Set 3 for Group 1 and Set 5 for Group 2. For Level 50, of course.  Anyway, weren't those last three sets fun? Here's Spenser again.   So be it! This time, I won't bluster or hold back. This time, there's no fooling around. Ready now? Prepare to lose! ...Kaaah! VS Frontier Brain     Haha, you just wasted your Protect!   Haha, what am I doing with my life...   Okay, while that is appreciated, it's a bit too late. Still, the other two will deal with this no problem.   ...huh? Trying to be cute and resist the Surf? I can see the logic behind that switch, even if I don't agree with it. Too bad LADios will use that move anyw-    Did-did my Pokemon just PREDICT A SWITCH???   LADios, you absolute legend.     In awe at the size of this lad... also gently caress you I'm a millennial, I will dab all over you with my slang binch.   Like I knew the facility was gonna be a bit easy cause of the Pokemon I chose. But not this easy! I mean, have you seen these sets? Spenser is a cool character, but god his teams are lovely and I hate them and I hate this place for making them the final hurdle after all the other bullshit.   Mate you are five turns too late for that poo poo.   If I have to send out ShockSabre at all in these Brain battles, I will be very upset.   Okay good, let's get out of this fuckin trash heap. Battle Palace "could not overpower you." Your team spirit is truly admirable! Here! Bring me the thing, will you? My, my, if only you could maintain a certain level of decorum... Gaaah, here! Hurry with that FRONTIER PASS, you!  Come see me time and again! My brethren and I will be waiting!  Wow, I can't believe the Palace is behind us. Now for the next facility to not look forward to. Oh great that'll be next time.  Soon, it'll be time for the Battle Dome. But, before that, it's time for Trainer Hill. Look forward to it. Seriously.
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May 16, 2018 02:25
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Hooray, Excalibur, hooray. 
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May 16, 2018 02:47
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The Palace seems wretched, yikes.
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May 16, 2018 03:59
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I applaud the game for trying its hardest to make my lovely mon a mon-star
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May 16, 2018 04:36
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Oh two for one. Excuse the inconsistent screen sizes Lucy & the Battle Pike  Thanks for going out of order! Lucy was #4 in Ash's journey. Anime Lucy is cool, calm & collected. The first quarter of her episode is her being cool and taking out team rocket who easily tricked ash into a fake battle pike and stole his Pikachu. Dramatic leaps, dramatic wind, dramatic posing, she's great. She'll even throw around fancy seviper-themed pinwheels For some reason she now has a sister and a bunch of (entirely female) students The students don't really say anything. Barbara gushes over Lucy all the time, runs battle commentary on Lucy since she's not one to talk a lot, and it kind of makes her annoyed. That's about it. But the big thing here is she has a very visible crush on Brock. It's love at first sight! She's always blushing anytime Brock looks at her or comments here. The Battle Pike is actually closed that day (because....?) but Lucy's crush is what has her go "OH it's always open to friends its fine lets go." What is it about Brock? Is it...his voice? Is it...being handsome? Is it....his care for his Bonsly? Is it....his winning personality??  she likes squinty eyes What about the Pike and battle itself?  The factory in the anime tried. It did set up the rental shtick even if it didn't happen. But the Pike doesn't bother. It's just the battle against Lucy. There's no weird rooms, no random wild pokemon, no maids. The battle field is on a swamp but that doesn't really factor into anything. It's just a standard 2 vs 2 battle. She uses Seviper but her ace in the hole is her Milotic which is the entire reason there's a swamp here at all. Worth mentioning that the gimmick of Ash's time in the battle frontier is bringing in his reserves constantly. For this, he brought back his Phanpy who evolved a few episodes prior into a Donphan. Donphan beat Seviper with no real issue, then Pikachu cleaned up Milotic. There was some sneaky stuff with explosions causing dust clouds and Milotic activating Facade I guess? Otherwise it was just an ok battle but you can start to see the issue I brought up with Nolan about not really...doing anything, with the Facility concept. By the way in the anime, this is near Fuschia City. Not featured: Fuschia City, the Safari Zone, Koga, Koga's anime-only apprentice/sister, Janine or...anything notable to Fuschia in general. Spenser & the Battle Palace  Spenser was #5. Unlike Greta, Tucker & Lucy Spenser got 2 episodes to himself because I guess the writers finally realized they could squeeze more out of these characters. Ash gets lost in the woods with just his injured, pokeball-less Sceptile separated from Pikachu. Spenser finds & nurses his pikachu back to health because he's a naturalistic mystic man who roams the woods with his pokemon all the time. Let's him commune with his heart, pokemon and the earth you see. He even resolves conflict, saving Ash from a bunch of beedrill, by having his Venusaur's flower placate the bees. If these episodes were dubbed by 4kids he absolutely would have been voiced like a hippie is what I'm saying.  Here's the battle palace! Now forget about that because you won't be seeing it again or even the insides. I emphasized Spenser being a naturalist because this is sort of them trying to get across the actual Palace's gimmick of not being in control of your Pokemon. Like the idea is supposed to be believing in your Pokemon or whatever? And being in nature all the time helps that, obviously. Which leads to Spenser having a 3 vs 3 battle in the outside, with trainer & pokemon constantly moving throughout the entire city-sized jungle. Since there's mor environment to work with, the Pokemon can take charge a bit in how they dodge and launch attacks after given a command. At least they tried more than they did with the Factory & Pike, even if the gimmick isn't 1:1. The logic is sort of there! For the best I think since this is probably one of the more dynamic battles. Jumping between trees, rushing down mountains, diving into rivers, climbing waterfalls....they even all take a break for berries since it's like a day long battle. It had been a while since I've seen it, but it was pretty good. Probably my favorite of the first 5 or so. If you were curious, Spenser uses Shiftry, Venusaur & Claydol. Ash used Sceptile, Heracross (clowned near instantly by solar beam) and Swellow. Yeah he doesn't use any of his possible pokemon from the games. Not the last time that happens. In the anime, this is on a new island (Metalica Island) supposedly near Seafoam Island. Not featured: seafoam islands, articuno, cinnabar just....nothing of note.
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May 16, 2018 04:50
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Ugh, the Palace is awful. It looks like you at least had some amusing moments come up, but yeah, this place has basically no redeeming qualities. I was a bit surprised you went with all-out attacking movesets, but I guess it worked! I always tried to make sure I had at least one move from each category to minimise the chance of doing nothing (I don't really mind pulling a setup move, it's better than wasting the turn and it still benefits further attacks). I seem to remember liking Hasty nature the best, since it goes from 58% attack and 37% defence to 88% attack after 50% HP, so if it does pull a setup move at least odds are it'll do it before attacking. Otherwise, most of the natures that go 56/22/22 seem easiest to work with, even if they tend not to be the best stats-wise (one of the unfortunate things about the Palace is that the natures people tend to like best for competitive mons, like you'd want to use in the rest of the Frontier, tend to be less effective). Though, that said, favouring otherwise-suboptimal natures and movesets actually means this is one of the few facilities you can attempt with an ingame team. I remember doing well one time with a Hasty Gardevoir running Psychic/Thunderbolt/Calm Mind/Hypnosis, though I can't for the life of me remember anything else I've used here. Still, it doesn't matter how well you optimise your team for its special requirements (with the information it doesn't give you), in the end it still comes down to luck more often than not. Game design!
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May 16, 2018 06:58
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Phew, Grafix pulled through. I was worried I doomed you to lose after I've seen the second Porygon2 set posted after me cause it seemed just so much better. Also I have a question, if your Pokémon uses a two turn move in the Pallace, like Fly or Hyper Beam, does the game still roll for attack on the second turn? Plus, don't Sand Stream and that one ability that causes hail seem a bit OP in the Palace?
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May 16, 2018 08:50
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Where do the Brains keep getting their Legendaries?
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May 16, 2018 17:02
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Kikas posted:Phew, Grafix pulled through. I was worried I doomed you to lose after I've seen the second Porygon2 set posted after me cause it seemed just so much better. Also I have a question, if your Pokémon uses a two turn move in the Pallace, like Fly or Hyper Beam, does the game still roll for attack on the second turn? Only Tyranitar has sand stream, and snow warning doesn't exist yet. So they probably weren't really thinking of those when they designed it. I think you can only get Tyranitar by trading from FRLG.
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May 16, 2018 17:39
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Hobgoblin2099 posted:Where do the Brains keep getting their Legendaries? They use the Eon Flute.
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May 16, 2018 18:19
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Kikas posted:Also I have a question, if your Pokémon uses a two turn move in the Pallace, like Fly or Hyper Beam, does the game still roll for attack on the second turn? Oh hey, I knew there was something I forgot to mention, there always is. No, that's the reason PurePunchr had a Choice Band, since it makes attacking much more consistent. When you're locked into a move, then you will use that move instead of using a random move, giving you a big chance of using a single strong move. Of course, you need to actually lock yourself into the right move, or you could be screwed. This also works for two turn moves, you'll use it on the next turn no problem.
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May 16, 2018 23:55
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Part 32: Trainer Tower and Trainer Hill Trainer Tower Hi there, do you want to take a break from all this Frontier battling with some more battling? Great! Here's the Trainer Tower.     Okay, I'll get the clock started, so give it everything you have. On your marks... get set... go!  The Trainer Tower is actually pretty fun, having four different modes against some pretty neat trainers across eight floors. We're starting out in the Single challenge.   We'll be encountering a lot of different Pokemon and all of them we'll encounter are added to our Pokedex as seen! That's different to other battle facilities and will give us some weird gaps. Though like other facilities, opposing Pokemon will match our highest level, which is Aquamemnon from beating Lance.   It's gonna be a bit tough, but this isn't a deadly battle facility where you can get screwed over easily, the opponent only has two Pokemon after all, while we have all six.   Also we can just run down and heal our Pokemon. Yes, run, which is great! Though as we get higher up the Tower, it's just faster to heal your team up.   And you should (kinda) think about speed, since you are timed in this. However, so long as you don't take over an hour for a single challenge, you'll be perfectly fine, so don't sweat it too much.   And yeah, we really are adding new Pokemon to the dex. It's very weird why this is the case, but I'm not complaining.  There's even shiny Pokemon here! You'll face the same trainers every time in the Tower and there are some surprises. However shiny Pokemon weren't tracked in the dex at this point, so it's just a cool little thing. Hey, HEY, turn off that "catch trainer's Pokemon" cheat!    How the sky soars above this rooftop... the caress of the winds up here... it's all so perfect... The way you battled... it, too, was perfection... this is for you...  It's marvelous how you've come up here so quickly. The fact is, you've done it in record time... I'll have your record at the reception counter. What I would like to see is a better time out of you... I'm counting on you... Until then, farewell...    That's one mode down, now onto the Double challenge. At the end of every challenge, if you beat the record time, then you'll get a neat evolution item from Gen 2. You can find all these items elsewhere, but this gives you a second copy for them, which is very nice. You only get them once, though, so beating your time again is just for fun.   Oh now they list both trainer's dialogue, after I've spent minutes of my life getting the other text from the rom. Bah.  Oh hey it's the shiny of my favourite Pokemon, I NEED IT   It's pretty cool we can see all these Pokemon, but it is a bit of a tease since some of them were only available from Colosseum at this point, so if you didn't have a Gamecube, this place was just mocking you.   Still, I'm happy just to see Pokemon for my dex, let alone catch them. That's two challenges down. It's not particularly difficult.   The Knockout challenge has you face 3 trainers in a row. It would be tough if, you know, they actually had strong Pokemon and it wasn't their only mon. Still, more dex filling!   And the final shiny of the facility. Only the Mixed challenge doesn't have a shiny and it's not the only place to find trainers with shiny Pokemon: any Pokemon in the Battle Frontier has the standard chance of being shiny, including ones you can use in the Battle Factory. I didn't encounter one, just to let you know.     Man there's a lot of Johto Pokemon in here. While the challenges aren't hugely tough, the opponents do have proper sets and items, you just never fight more than two Pokemmon at a time, so it's not hugely difficult.   Getting a second Metal Coat is very nice. The Mixed challenge has new trainers, but has a, well, mix of each of the three other challenges.   Alright, that's it for the Trainer Tower. It's something cool to do after you finished everything else, but it doesn't have that much meat to it.  So I hope you're not surprised when I tell you it's e-Reader content! Well, it's actually content we technically got, even if the FRLG e-Reader stuff never left Japan. I'll be going into more detail in the Side Notes, but in the Japanese versions, the Trainer Tower only has 4 floors with some standard trainers that only use Kanto Pokemon, nothing very exciting. You have to use e-Reader cards to add in new trainers to increase the floors up to 8 to get stronger trainers in, but also those with Johto Pokemon, as well as many other shiny Pokemon, such as Mr. Mime and Dratini and numerous items from completing the challenge. It's very interesting stuff and thankfully, like with the Crystal Battle Tower, they made the area useful in the international versions and included some e-Reader content to play with, though of course what we got was only a fraction of what was actually released. Trainer Hill The Trainer Hill is very similar, but don't expect this to be a walk in the park like the Trainer Tower.   "TRAINERS!" Is this your first visit here? Before you enter, please save your game. Let's see... the TRAINERS here now are... there appear to be TRAINERS gathered in every room. Like with the Tower, there are four modes to challenge, as well as items for getting certain times, as there's multiple to win now. However, every battle in this place can be a double battle (which we will of course do) and there's only four floors. You also have to save your first time here and I'm not sure why. Carry over from the Japanese version?  On your marks... get set... go!  Immediately this is different, as there's some kind of gimmick to each floor, as well as two trainers along the way. Like with the Tower, the Hill for the international versions is the same every time, so you can practise if you were weird.     Oh yeah, the trainers in this place use 6 Pokemon and they've got proper sets and items and everything. I hope you weren't planning on getting any cool prizes here, you will not be fast enough unless you have a very good team.   Yeah, this isn't going to be particularly quick... Because of the puzzles on each floor, it's now not worth going back for free healing, you better have brought some items. You're gonna need them.   You'll even see some Secret Base decorations here, as well as some unique tiles you won't find anywhere else, such as the grey polished floor. Look at all this content you'll never see because we never got the fifth e-Reader set for Emerald.   Not every trainer has a stupidly hard team, there are plenty of gimmicks abound, since the international versions just use random content from the e-Reader cards. We'll be seeing some crazy stuff in this place. Unlike the Tower though, we won't be adding these mons to our dex.   What the gently caress is this nonsense? My eyes are bleeding just looking at this poo poo. Since you can scan cards to add to the Japanese Trainer Hill, the default only had two floors with four trainers in it. Since two trainers must always inhabit a floor, there are four more default trainers you can encounter if you scan an odd number of cards in. While you won't find any shiny Pokemon, you will find some really weird sets, pretty tough trainers overall and Pokemon from all three regions, it's a cool challenge.   Ohhhhhhh, that's naaaaaaasty.   Oh yeah, I did all this before I fought Steven, so Nobunaga isn't making all opponents stronger. It was a little tricky, but let's get our reward!   Wait! Don't say it! I know why you came all the way here by yourself! You wanted to see me, the owner of the TRAINER HILL, because... you want to form a tag team with me! Wa-hoo! ...uh? That's not it? Anyway, I watched you on your way up. Marvelous battling! Bravo, indeed! For a marvelous someone like you, I have the most marvelous gift! Th-Thanks...   That is so delightful. I'll have the Time Board at the reception updated! Perhaps it would please me more if you arrived zippier next time. Then, I should be pleased to form a tag team with you! Until we meet again, amigo! Oh I hope you weren't expecting to get anything good in this place... you'll never be fast enough. I got the worst reward for being so slow, but there's some real prizes that you can get if you are much, much faster.  There's some cool TMs that you can get more of so long as I cut my time... IN HALF??? Yeah, even though my team is pretty strong and I didn't dawdle too much, I was nowhere near any kind of good prize. It's a bit nuts, since getting another one of these TMs would be real nice. This was different in the Japanese version, where the prize wasn't attached to the last card you scanned like in FRLG, but the TM you received depended on how many cards you scanned. No time necessary, as that was an optional card you could scan for some added difficulty that didn't result in anything. The TMs you could get were Toxic, Sunny Day, Giga Drain, Earthquake, Sludge Bomb, Torment and Skill Swap, depending on the order scanned, with different cards resulting in a different TM reward.   The back of various e-Reader cards also had the floor plan, which would appear if they were scanned as an odd-numbered card, such as this awful room.   Some trainers have some pretty wacky sets or gimmicks, such as a team that only knows Present, among other things.   Yet again, I don't think we're gonna get a good reward. Especially when I get distracted by tiles that ~SPARKLE~    Especially this bullshit that burns a whole bunch of time. OH WELL.   This is a nasty room, just gotta remember which tile you can hop down to will let you proceed.   "from using EXPLOSION!"  what the hell is going on   This isn't Gamefreak doing this, the localizers specifically put these two separate e-Reader trainers next to each other to make... this. It's wonderful, whoever decided to have fun with this area deserves a gold medal, I love these facilities.  And the final floor?  ...   OKLRNG... Okay, lookin' good right now.   Maybe the next challenge will be quick.  ...never mind.   Oh goody, a sun team. Thanks localization guy.   I think our team has become pretty good at double battles, so we'll be fine.   Legendaries? You betcha.   This is gonna be a long one...  Oh come on! You're actively loving with me now.   And then there's a Smeargle with a load of common moves JUST to Imprison them. Why can't the Battle Frontier be this hilarious instead of severely unfun poo poo.   When I was recording this place, I didn't know how much I would include. This is the challenge that convinced me it needed a whole update to itself.  Running over these tiles plays a certain tune. Which one? This one!   You tryin to punch a ghost?   Starting off strong I see.   Okay this is a LITTLE excessive.     But did you know Wargreymon is a monster killer?   Okay, so we're all Great Balls so far, but maybe this next challenge will be a piece of cake.   It is not going to be a piece of cake.   Not a bad start, aside from being one shot by Mega Kick.     It's not long before we're getting a bit beat up.   However, this is just a bit too tough for our team, even though we got pretty close. By this point I was running low on healing items and I thought it wasn't worth it just for a Great Ball and nothing else. This is a tough challenge, but I think I know six Pokemon that are perfectly suited for this.   Oh hey it's the submissions I'll be using for the Arena later. It wouldn't be fair if every other Frontier Pokemon were used in two facilities and they didn't, so they'll help us clear the final Trainer Hill challenge! It's a mini facility, so I'll show off all the cool battles on these four floors.   RNGesus will be useful when something doesn't one shot it. Still, with DonkeyKong deleting a Pokemon every two turns, Nana can easily pick up the slack. I'll go over everyone properly when we do the Battle Arena, so this is a little taster.     Even our strong EV trained Pokemon are struggling against these tough cookies, but there's still three mons left on our side!   Slowly but surely we can chip everyone down.   Alright, Emerl, our opponent's attacks have out a real dent in us, but I think you've got this.     Alright, ONE down.   Second battle starts well, since I'm using a CB Slaking and a Salamence, so it'd be weird if it didn't.   Ooh, that's a cool strategy. Too bad Machamp will faint from that.   Though because of how I knocked the various Pokemon out, now the AI is protecting itself from getting burned. They're out of sync!   Alright, let's clean up.     More music! It's this one. You'd have to be a real nerd to recognise it, since it only plays some basic notes.   Donkey delete.     Oh yeah, since RNGesus can't be touched, time for it to absolutely destroy everything.   It lasted longer than I expected.   Haha, this mixed Breloom has bamboozled you!   That time depresses me. Let's ~SPARKLE~ up to the final challenge.  How many of you have seen this?   Hmm, at least it's not a dangerous Pokemon using Earthquake.   Well I wasn't expecting that. Neither did the AI's partner.   The RNG giveth, the RNG taketh away.   See, that Leech Seed was super useful, now we can tear through the rest of the team.   You really need to time your Perish Song use. Not that the battle lasted that long anyway.   Phew, that was a tough one, but overall this was great fun. It's a shame we didn't get the e-Reader over here to at least customize these areas, cause what little we did get was huge fun to go through. Definitely try this place out if you haven't already... though I have spoiled the main reason for coming here: it's batshit crazy fun!   To end this update, we'll be evolving the last ten Pokemon we can. There's six more Pokemon left after this, but we'll deal with them later. For now, we shall return yet again to the Battle Frontier for two more facilities. Huh? What do you mean next update has nearly 500 images to sort though? Well gently caress.
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May 21, 2018 19:57
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Side Notes 12: The Ridiculous Rabbit Hole of the e-Reader (Part 2: Endless Battles) oh hi nimbus Last time we delved into the e-Reader, there was a lot of side stuff to cover, but this time, we're talking about all the crazy things you can do in the main games to battle hundreds upon hundreds of trainers. If you were in Japan, or in America for RS. Otherwise, gently caress you, no ridiculous amounts of content for you!  Let's start with RS, which did get half of its cards released in North America and Australia. It sold pretty poorly, so it never went anywhere else, but still, you could get some unique berries and fight trainers in the house in Mossdeep or in the Battle Tower, it had some neat stuff to it, you could even see Pokemon from other regions. You knew what most of the Pokemon the trainer would use since it had that info on the card, but it still had some surprises to it and they were definitely tough battles, with Pokemon at high levels with proper sets and everything. There were also gimmick trainers, such as a full Castform team, or a team with high Speed that held King's Rock, that sort of stuff. Only one card could be scanned at a time to battle in the basement and that was about it, you didn't get any money, experience, Pokedex entries, nothing. It was just some postgame battle stuff in a game that REALLY didn't have any postgame. It was divided into six subsets.  The second RS set was never released outside of Japan and was pretty similar to the first set, with 48 trainers and 6 berries. New to this set were shiny Pokemon, though only a couple really appeared, such as Gardevoir. It was a way to give you even more battles in those two games, but they didn't really offer much aside from that. Even the various berries from both sets weren't that interesting, though some had some fun Contest applications. The whole thing was again divided into six subsets. Anyway, let's move onto the actual good stuff.  The FRLG set was fourth (after the Colosseum set) and featured 32 new trainers to fight in the Trainer Tower, some of whom are included in the international versions to not make that place four floors big and incredibly lovely. There were also some important changes made, now trainers have a pool of Pokemon they use instead of just the standard 3, depending on which order they were scanned in, since you can now scan in up to eight cards at once. The first card scanned determines the prize you get at the end, from EV drinks, to evolution items, to competitive items, there was a lot of replayability, since you could customize the floors in whichever order, to do Single, Double or Knockout battles. There were also Target cards that had no dot codes and so couldn't be scanned it, but suggested the trainers you could scan in in a specific order and the target time to aim for for a completely optional challenge. This set had shiny Pokemon, ones from Kanto and Johto and had a lot of variety to it despite being much smaller than the RS sets. It was divided into four subsets, each the colour of the original Gen 1 games.   Thanks to Admiral H. Curtiss for just... having these on hand to scan! Finally, the fifth set was for Emerald and the Trainer Hill, so it seems the basement of the house in Sootopolis uses the Japanese RS cards, or just goes unused? It wouldn't surprise me. It's similar to the FRLG set in that it modifies the Trainer Hill from the default two floors, though there's only four floors and there's always two trainers per floor, so if you scan an odd number of cards, then a set default trainer will appear on a floor that doesn't have enough trainers. Also on the back of the card is a floor plan that gets added if it's the odd numbered card scanned. Add in the new rewards of various TMs depending on which card you scanned in when, different trainers using different Pokemon when scanned in when and unique map cards that put part of the Hoenn region or Battle Frontier as the background for rooms and you have got a lot of options. There are 64 new trainers, with no real sets dividing it, along with 19 cards that make up various maps when put together, though they can't be scanned in due to having no dot code. Shiny Pokemon are out, but there are a lot of new Pokemon to battle against and some of them are pretty nasty. It's just mind boggling how much content we missed out on because of various peripheries that just don't sell.    And that is finally everything to do with the e-Reader, at least for the main Gen 3 games, no including Colosseum, the TCG and the various other properties that used the e-Reader. It's pretty crazy how much we never got to see, let alone used in our games, so this was definitely one hell of a rabbit hole. Crosspeice fucked around with this message at 23:00 on May 22, 2018 |
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May 21, 2018 19:59
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I have a couple of the Emerald e-Cards somewhere if you want me to scan them.
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May 21, 2018 20:13
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I didn't know about any of this. I don't think I even went to that building, and if I did, I definitely didn't clear it because I'd remember such weird floors. Weird, I played Emerald a lot. I'm genuinely surprised there's a whole place I can't recognise.
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May 21, 2018 20:24
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I don't think I ever even tried Trainer Hill in emerald, since I just wrote it off as Trainer Tower clone giving me one item(s) I couldn't use otherwise. Shame the timer is so...bad, these are pretty neat ideas. Honestly I'm surprised they didn't bring this back for ORAS and use amiibo support. Then again, gamefreak just seems totally uninterested in doing anything with amiibo. It's the 6 smash bros amiibo and the shadow mewtwo pokken card (only on first runs, not released at all with the switch version) and that's it.
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May 21, 2018 20:51
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Huh, emerald had kind of a prototype for black and white 2s procedural dungeons. That's a neat bit of trivia. Also the procedural dungeons were way more fun than any of the frontiers. Give me more of those.
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May 21, 2018 21:38
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Trainer Hill was a mistake. At least, in English. This LP literally just showed me the times for the first time, but at least not every region had horrid results. Also hey, Arena Pokémon in the Multi Hell! Nice to see all of them pulling their weight throughout. And that makes perfect sense. And e-reader makes me feel sad we never got all the content that came with it.
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May 21, 2018 22:24
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So for the curious, the Emerald Trainer Hill eCards look like this:  Each card has a trainer with two sets of three Pokémon. They show you one of them, indicated by which of the three Pokéballs are highlighted -- odd scan gets you the first set, even scan the second set, as I recall. The backside of the card has a small image of the floor you get when using that card, with a difficulty rating out of five stars. The 'map cards' aren't actual eCards and were just used to fill out the boosters. As far as I remember, there was one map card in each booster, and as you can see I have not managed to collect all of them. They form some artwork (front side forms two separate artwork for Hoeen and the Frontier, backside forms promotional artwork for the eCard packs themselves), but are otherwise pretty useless. Of note is that there are two pieces of the bottom-right corner of Hoeen, one for R/S without the Frontier, and one for Emerald with the Frontier. Admiral H. Curtiss fucked around with this message at 16:03 on May 22, 2018 |
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May 22, 2018 16:01
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... I completely forgot Trainer Hill existed, I don't think I've ever played it. It looks like fun, I might have to give it a go one of these days even though the time limits are insane. Great Balls for everyone, I guess. Fun to see the Arena submissions here too, that was a good idea  even if RNGesus didn't get to do all that much. Honestly, I'm pleased it got to do anything, though I'm disappointed the Focus Band never went off. All of the battle facilities in this game seem to really like punishing Shedinja; I don't think I noticed how ubiquitously they put Shadow Ball on physical mons until running one, for instance (and then Rock Slide, Aerial Ace, and Fire Blast tend to be pretty much everywhere also, when you don't run into Toxic or sandstorms). It's enough to make me wonder if they misjudged how dangerous Wonder Guard was and wanted to make drat sure it wouldn't be a viable strategy. Still, it's loads of fun when it does work.
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May 22, 2018 17:49
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Ooh that is some cool stuff, I couldn't find much info on this, so I'll be putting those images in. Hope you get a complete collection one day. And yeah, Shedinja is a tricky mon to use, but when it blocks something, then oh man it is amazing and I love gimmick mons for that reason. Same way I loved using Ditto for the HGSS Battle Tower.
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May 22, 2018 22:56
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Part 33: The Battle Dome and Battle Pyramid Battle Dome Welcome back to more BATTLING! It's time to Dome it up and do some fun stuff. Who we got today?    Our first friend is Bananagher the shiny Tropius, by AweStriker, who revolves around the SUN, so while it might be tricky to set up sometimes, the Brightpowder should help with that and then everything will be blasted by Solarbeam and HP Fire.    Next is Pain Train the Metagross, by Oblique Angle. It's, well, a Metagross. With crazy coverage and ridiculous stats, I think we'll have an easy time in the first half.    Last up for this half is Epoch the Aerodactyl, by BlackPersona. Now Aerodactyl hits hard and fast, but what if you made him hit really really really hard? With great coverage when he gets HP Flying, he'll sweep through teams no problem. I don't remember if I ever use Double-Edge, but whatever.     Let's get to battling, with all the glitz and glamour that accompanies this facility. Beyond Battle Dome  It's time for the LP's TOURRRRRRRNAMENT ARRRRRRRRRRRC, making this place a bit different to the Battle Tower, but not too different.   Firstly, you're able to see your next opponent and all of their Pokemon, just like that. We'll go over what the various phrases mean in a moment, but knowing what's coming up is very helpful.    The Battle Dome is a four round rumble to become the champion. We can see all 15 AI trainers and who we'll potentially face in future rounds. If we select ourselves, we can see what phrases the game has generated for us based on the Pokemon we've brought in.   Now here's where the strategy comes in: each battle, both trainers can only select 2 of their 3 Pokemon to use in battle. This makes this facility both pretty easy, since you can see all the potential Pokemon you'll be facing, but it gives you less room for error in case something bad happens. And it's the Battle Frontier, of course something will.      YUKI versus GRAYSON! Let the battle begin!  Aside from those front loaded gimmicks, the Battle Dome is pretty simple, just a bunch of fights.     Because I can pick which Pokemon to use in every battle, I can use everyone more evenly since I'm not locked into whoever I picked at the start like other facilities.  All 1st-round matches have been completed. These are the teams that advanced!    We're early enough that we don't need to check who we're fighting, or really think about who we're using. Since we're in Level 50 mode for this and the Tower, we won't be facing dangerous Pokemon for a little bit.   We get some cool intros depending on how well we're doing, it's pretty neat.     Oh no why did you guys give me inaccurate moves? Ah well, I'll live.   Wow, we're halfway through the first set already. This facility will be a breeze!   Those more knowledgable about the Frontier might have noticed that we're already seeing Pokemon from Group 2, despite only being in the first set. While we won't be seeing tough Pokemon for a bit, trainers you fight later on in the tournament will have stronger Pokemon than the trainers you'll fight early on. Remember, it all depends on what trainers appear and what Pokemon they pull from their pool.   Oh no, the only way to screw over a choiced Pokemon!   Too bad that Struggle gets boosted by Choice Band.    The final battle!   Pokemon that always Protect first turn get pretty screwed by setup mons.    Almost too easy.   Of course, it's only going to get harder from here, but as things go, this is not a tough facility.  In recognition of your strategy--a thing of beauty it was, too--we award you these Battle Point(s)! Since this facility is so easy the BP reward starts pretty low alas.     The next set doesn't have much to it, still early days.     Epoch even 2 shots a Marshtomp with Rock Slide, beautiful. Onto the third set!    Well wasn't that exciting. Since I'm only beating 8 Pokemon each time, it does mean there's not a huge amount going on, which is fine, since there's actually A LOT to go over with the Battle Dome, more than you'd think, more than you'd want to know.   First off, how is the tournament seeded? Well, you're always put in the first slot and always win the tiebreak against a trainer that could take that spot and the remaining trainers are seeded according to their rank: the sum of the combined base stat totals of all Pokemon, plus 1/20th of the number of different types in that team and the highest level of those Pokemon, level 50 in this instance. If two trainers tie, then the higher number trainer internally will win, as will the Frontier Brain, who is always put into the number 2 seed. The seeds are laid out as 1v9, 13v5, 8v16 and 12v4 for the left and 3v11, 15v7, 6v14 and 10v2 for the right.    Now that you have your opponent, what does the stuff on the card mean when you view them? Well, the top line is the battle style, which is determined by the Pokemon's EVs (and Nature). If EVs across a single stat take up 30% of all EVs of the three Pokemon, with Natures making EVs worth 10% less or more, then it is considered emphasized and the top two stats are shown. If there aren't two top stats, then the bottom two stats are said to be emphasized, otherwise it'll say the stats are balanced. Then there's a lot of small, different phrases that show up depending on the various moves used by the Pokemon.   It's the fifth set! The Frontier Brain has to show up eventually. But who is it? I hope they don't lose.   Group 3 Pokemon are popping up. I think our team will be fine.   For the final match, you will challenge the DOME ACE TUCKER. Are you ready? Hmm, seems like quite the strong team. Alas, we won't be able to bring all of our team against the Frontier Brain, but neither will he.   And now... the TRAINER standing in YUKI's record-setting path... Yes! The one and only! The BATTLE DOME COMMISSIONER! Our very own DOME ACE! Make way for TUCKER!    Do you hear it? This crowd! They're all itching to see our match! Ahahah! I bet you're twitching all over from the tension of getting to battle me! But don't you worry about a thing! I'm the no. 1 star of the BATTLE DOME! I, TUCKER, the DOME ACE, will bathe you in my brilliant glow! Your strategy! Let's see it! VS Frontier Brain     Dome Ace Tucker/Dome Superstar Heath From tactics and heath, a family of plants and a plant habitat.    Depending on what Tucker brings, he could be pretty nasty depending on your team, or a complete joke.   So how did he choose?   Uh, incorrectly. Beyond Battle Dome    I sorely underestimated you. I won't make the same mistake next time...  Wowza, we're halfway done with the Battle Frontier! Still quite a bit to go, especially with the next facility...   We'll say goodbye to our team for now, but they'll be back for the Battle Tower. Who're the next three?    Here's Lurker the Gengar by Jade Rider. While we can't really use her STAB, there's plenty of cool moves she learns that make it not a problem at all. Sure she'll go down pretty quickly, but she'll do a lot of damage before that.    Next up is Cap Falcon the Blaziken by Blaze Dragon. With hard hitting attacks, a boost to Attack and potentially Speed and a way to spew powerful fire without much drawback, he'll be able to, uh, drift through the competition. Sorry, I don't know much about F-Zero, aside from the obvious joke I'll make later down the line.    Last is Regis the Regice by Buried Treasure. When we need something to take special hits, there's literally no better Pokemon to choose, especially when something needs to be whittled down and its boltbeam combo does hit pretty hard, don't sleep on it. ...GET IT???   Alright let's see how these three do. I don't think I'll be having many problems, do you?   Even with no Attack investment, Shadow Ball will still put a dent in things that don't take it too nicely.   Though usually it's better to go for Thunderbolt since it has the paralysis chance, though Psychic's SpDef drop could be very important.     Yep. This will do me very nicely.   Alright, there's still a fair amount to go over, so how does the AI choose which two Pokemon to pick? Well, each of their Pokemon is given a score, of which there are two of, chosen randomly: the offense method and the defense method. Both compare the effectiveness of their attacks against your Pokemon, so with the offensive method, 2 points are awarded if the given attack is normal effective against one of your Pokemon, 4 if super effective and 8 if 4x effective. In the defensive method, 2 points are rewarded if the attack is resisted by one of your Pokemon, 4 if 4x resisted and 8 if ineffective. 2 points are deducted if the move is super effective and 4 is deducted if it's 4x effective. No other scenarios give points, including immunities to Wonder Guard. Ground type moves are considered to be neutral against Pokemon with Levitate.     If all three Pokemon tie in one method, the other method is used and if all three Pokemon tie in the second method also, then the two Pokemon used and in what order they're in is random. Otherwise, the two highest scoring Pokemon are chosen and there is a 40% chance the AI will lead with the higher scoring Pokemon and a 60% chance of leading with the lower scoring Pokemon.     You can't outwall my wall!   Alright, last thing to go over is how the battles between the AI is determined, because of course there's something more to it. The game doesn't actually simulate battles between the two trainers, instead they're both given a score according to a few factors: the type affinity of attacks, the sum of all base stats, divided by 10, the seeding of the trainer, minus 1, and a random value between 0 and 31. The trainer with the highest score advances, though if there's a tie, the higher seeded trainer advances.     Ohohoho, nearly got me there, you piece of poo poo. Type affinity of attacks are given a score against the opposing team thusly: 4 if normally effective, 12 if super effective and 20 if 4x effective. No points for attacks that are resisted, 8 points are deducted for 4x resistance and 16 are deducted for immunities, with the same ability rules as the rate verses your Pokemon.   Phew, well it has been quite the climb, but we've made it to the tenth and final tournament. Sure, I skipped around a lot, but while the Battle Dome is pretty short and sweet, it's... uh, not hugely interesting. Like everyone I used worked out great and I didn't encounter anything too nasty, we're only doing 40 battles after all!   Time for round 2 against Tucker.     Yes, the name of that legend! Our very own DOME ACE! It's none other than TUCKER!  Their furnace-like heat of excitement... this is a wonderful place... To the crowd, I am the DOME ACE... I represent their hopes and dreams... I must never fade from their sight... I must burn! Brighter and more brilliant! I must light all that gather here! I will unleash all the power that I possess! Right here and now! VS Frontier Brain       Hmm, Swampert is nearly the same, except it reflects back special moves this time. Sneaky.   If it doesn't switch things up, this is gonna be pretty easy...   Okay, I'm paying attention!   Thankfully I decided to go for Rest just in case it started attacking. Sometimes I surprise myself with my strategy.   It's as if he didn't attack me at all!   I think we've got this in the bag.   Though if it boosts a lot we might be in trouble!!!   I think we're gonna lose this damage race, but maybe the poison will be enough.   Alright! Good job Cap Falcon, you did it!   You're genuinely fantastic! Never before! I haven't ever lost in the times I've had to unleash my power. Yes, quite fantastic! Your FRONTIER PASS, please?  In you, I see a definite potential for a superstar like me. I will very much look forward to our next encounter!   With four gold symbols, it feels like this place is conquerable. If the rest of the facilities are this quick, we should be done pretty soon! If I made that facility look easy, well, it is a bit easier than others, since you can view the opponent's Pokemon and bring whichever Pokemon in whatever order you please. But there's another thing: all Pokemon in this facility stay at 3 IVs and never increase. Now that's a glitch. Alright, what's next?  Ah poo poo it's the longest and most draining facility. Battle Pyramid  This will give us an idea of what to expect in this place.   I see a shower of sparks... ...and in it, I see your POKEMON struggling with paralysis... Whether you believe my fortunes or not, the choice is yours... the future can be changed anytime... I wish you safe passage...  We're back to using our Battle Pike team, so refer to that update if you forgot what they did, there's some good stuff there! We're gonna need it...   In exchange, please take this BATTLE BAG. When you step on this floor panel, you will be transported to a higher floor in the PYRAMID. I hope for your sake that your quest goes safely! Aw what, none of you guys gave me Flash??? Ah, jk, it wouldn't have worked anyway. Welcome to the Battle Pyramid. It's a maze consisting of seven floors filled with dead ends, trainers, items and wild Pokemon. I hope you weren't expecting good screenshots here in this SSLP.   There's a few scattered items around the floor that pulls from a certain pool, depending on which set you're in. If you bring a Pokemon with Pickup, they'll also pull from this pool.  Oh hey it's a trainer, but also the exit, so let's just ignore her... In the early floors, the berries you find will help you combat the wild Pokemon in the set. Early on, you'll want to pick up as many items as you can, as there are some real good ones.   Ah poo poo, you'll see set ups like this often, as the Pyramid is generated in small blocks that will become very familiar to you the more you go through the area. This square of trainers is annoyingly common and difficult to get out of, unless you know a secret trick.   We're still early days, so don't expect anything difficult, trainers in this facility only have one Pokemon, though multi battles are possible if you run into two trainer's visions.  Defeating trainers is helpful though, uh, in this one instance, as they give you a general direction of the exit. They can also tell you how many items or trainers are left on the floor, which is much less useful. So only fight trainers if you accidentally run into them. Seriously, it's not worth it.   You remember what we'll be facing on this set? Paralysis? Each load of wild Pokemon will follow a certain theme and this one is Pokemon with paralysis moves.  I won't go over every Pokemon in this Pyramid, but the first 20 sets have 8 unique Pokemon in each that follow a certain theme. As you climb higher in the Pyramid, you'll encounter the ones further along the list: on the first floor you'll encounter the first four Pokemon, on the second floor the first Pokemon is replaced by the fifth, then on the third floor the second is replaced by the sixth, etc, until the fifth floor on, where you'll encounter the last four Pokemon only. They're all pretty mean in some way and increase in level as you go, but never higher than your strongest Pokemon.  Best to have something hard and fast to take them down, since you have a lower chance of running away from encounters than usual, so you can't cheese it like the Battle Pike. This place acts like a cave, so you could encounter something every five steps, or nothing at all. And no, there are no repels.     Item, HP and PP management are a necessity in this area, but if you're diligent and stock up on items now, you'll have a much easier time later down the line. You need to conquer the Pyramid 10 times, so making sure you have enough healing items is vital, or this place will wear you down and make it impossible to continue. You always start with a Hyper Potion and an Ether and cannot hold more than 10 unique items, barring held ones.   Since we're pretty early on, I can switch our lead mon each set (as you can't switch during the challenge), but later on, I'll be relying on our fastest mon to hopefully take out Pokemon and run if need be.   Trainers have a half screen width of sight, so you'll be running into them blind A LOT.     The CLAAAW is taking a bit of a beating, but you'll notice our vision is slowly increasing. Like in Brawly's Gym, when you defeat a trainer, or wild Pokemon, the circle will get wider. While having a wider circle might be better, it means you've ran into a lot of battles, which could be detrimental to your HP and PP, so it's best to find the exit as quickly as possible.   Ah finally. I ran into a lot of wild Pokemon. You don't want your circle getting this big.   I spawned in the space below. Sometimes you can't avoid a trainer.   These chequered blocks are really annoying to go up or down against, but running along them is pretty smooth.   Since it's been a little bit since I took these screenshots, I'm nearly as blind as you are, I don't remember what happened on this floor, nor where I am. This is gonna be a bit tough to commentate over, so I'll be getting around this by skipping over vast swathes of this facility! You're welcome.   Especially as some floors are a breeze, only a couple encounter, no items or no trainers. Probably. I don't remember.  Oh that's just cruel.   Alright, we have an idea for where to go on the last floor.   No, let me outta here! Battle Pyramid Peak  "the BATTLE PYRAMID!" Above here is the PYRAMID's lookout point. It is a place only to those who have conquered the PYRAMID. Now, please! Up you go!  You've conquered the PYRAMID! How splendid! Ah, a slight problem. At least one POKEMON is holding an item. I'm sorry to say, items obtained in the PYRAMID cannot be taken away. All items held by your POKEMON will be moved to your BATTLE BAG, YUKI. The BATTLE BAG you used will be kept in readiness for your next challenge. Young explorer! In commendation of your courage, we give you these Battle Point(s)! Now that's juicy! While the Pyramid might be long, confusing and frustrating, it's also a lot of fun, full of strategy and smart manoeuvring and pays pretty nicely. Battle Pyramid  Now to do a lot of skipping around. The theme for the second set is lots and lots of Poison, which makes The CLAAAW great to lead since she has Immunity.   Let's go over the items in this place, as the second and sixth set are very important item gather times.  Since we're not going past the tenth set, this is everything we can find and you can see why those two sets are important, since you can find the Choice Band and Leftovers, which are amazing items you need to get to make this place easier. Hell, get three Choice Bands, since every battle in here is super short. Aside from that, Lum Berries, Hyper Potions, Revives and Leppa Berries/Ethers are very important to have, as you need to be in tip top shape. Since the battles are so short, the X items you'll find should just be trashed. Sacred Ash is a nice pickup, but it's about as dependable as two Revives, since you can only use it in the field.   But, uh, really, there's not much else to say about this place. There's gonna be a lot of wandering around and the occasional battle. This place was fun to go through, but it's not too great to view after the fact.   And before you ask, no the floors do not get smaller the higher you go up, they remain the same size throughout. Cheeky pyramid.   Set 3 is Pokemon that can Burn. The game will play around with themes, so do not expect only Fire types, or Pokemon you'd expect to inflict that status. Also, yeah, thanks for ruling out this single strip of tiles and having the exit be on literally any other tile in the entire floor.   Hey look it's a Medicham. Why is it a wild Pokemon? Because it knows Fire Punch. Hilarious.   It's always worth trying to run away if something faints. Also you see the poo poo I have to deal with sometimes?   Ooh... I would've preferred a Choice Band, but hey, ElmerFludd has his item for the facility, since, uh, Hyper Potions don't fully heal him.   Here's a cool trick, if you enter any menu option, back out and then start walking in one direction, you'll barely dodge any spinners next to you. It looks scary, but is 100% guaranteed and may even work in other generations. The crazy tips and tricks you learn by watching speedruns, would highly recommend.  And of course, walking is much safer in this place if you know where trainers are. Thankfully, spinners only look in two directions perpendicular to each other (at right angles if you've forgotten basic maths you cretin), so if you see the two directions they turn, you'll be perfectly safe running around them on the other two. Battle Pyramid Peak  Our chief has already conquered the PYRAMID ahead of you. However, my young explorer... you are a TRAINER! Assert your power and take the glory of the pinnacle from our chief! Now, please! When you are ready, take one more step of courage!   Your own wits! Your own strength! Your own POKEMON! And, above all, only your own courage to lead you through unknown worlds... Aah, yes, indeed this life is grand! Grand, it is! Eh? I'm BRANDON! I'm the PYRAMID KING, which means I'm in charge here. Most people call me the chief! You coming here means you have that much confidence in yourself, am I right? Hahahah! This should be exciting! Now, then! Bring your courage to our battle! VS Frontier Brain   Pyramid King Brandon/Jindai From brave, and Jindai-Sugi (Japanese red-ceder).   Okay Brandon is the only Frontier Brain I knew the entire team of beforehand, because come on, who doesn't know Regiboy?   Since we just used a Regice, we know how much of a pain it is.   Yeah, this ain't gonna work.   Alright, I think we're in the clear.   Just kidding! Man this strategy is everywhere...     However, that's something that only works once!   Flyboy was supposed to take out Registeel, but, uh, Regice never damaged me and let me get to +4, so y'know.   Well done! You've earned recognition! Your FRONTIER PASS, please!  Alright, we're a third of the way through this place! God this place is long! Battle Pyramid    And thus we dive back in. Since we're not halfway through this place, we'll use the first three mons for a while longer.   Boy are we gonna need them, set 4 has Pokemon that have abilities or moves that waste PP, so there's Grudge and Spite, as well as general stalling tactics. Yeah, this place can get mean, especially when you encounter the rare floor layout that's... empty. Just a wide open space with trainers and items, it's very disorienting.     The next set has Pokemon with Levitate and if you think I'm speeding through this more than usual, yes I am. See, this update is already pretty long and the entire Battle Pyramid took me THREE HOURS to complete, so while I could trawl through all that footage to get the good stuff, I really don't want to. Like the Battle Palace only took me 45 minutes, since it was purely battles and I could use so much speed up. That's a lot trickier in this facility, since you have to actually think about where you're going and what you're doing. It's fun, but it takes a lot out of you, hence why I tried to hit a Solrock with HP Ground.   So now on the sixth set we have another chance to get a Choice Band and use the other three fabulous submissions. Just in time for the Ice type theme! No, wait, the sixth theme is Pokemon with trapping abilities. Guess I didn't take any screenshots of that. Oh no how terrible what a shame.   Even with a pretty massive circle, trainers can still leap out of the shadows. Also when I say Ice types, I mean Ice types, so get ready to face some bulky Water types!   Despite some cruel layouts, we're done with that set. Oh yeah, I'm skipping around a load of failed attempts too, to make it vaguely cohesive. The Battle Pyramid gets pretty tricky towards the end, with a lot of dangerous stuff in your way, so I made a lot of save states to get this team through.   Excalibur is our best lead, but he's a bit fragile.   Thankfully Tess is very helpful walling things down, helped by all the healing I can give her, so she enters every battle fresh and ready to stall. The Leftovers from earlier is a nice bonus, but man I wish I got a Choice Band...  Oh yeah, the theme for set eight is EXPLOSIONS! Tess gives no fucks.    You mess with the snake, you're gonna get bit.   Oh hey is this the missing sixth set? No, the ninth set has a load of Psychic types. Excalibur's favourite.  Yet again, some trainers one space above where I start. It's rude!   Despite our less than optimal team, we're getting through this place. I'm never concerned if I can get through a facility with whatever you submit, I know I can. Sometimes it just takes a bit of patience. And endless reloads.   The final set is full of Rock types. Yes I know Steelix isn't a Rock type, but it's still included!   Tess eats Steelix for breakfast, how do you think she gets such a shiny shell?  Alright there it is, the final warp. I better not run into any wild Pokemon!   Oh what a surprise, it's as if I know what images are coming next!!! Alright, let's finish this fuckin place. Battle Pyramid Peak  Your love for adventure seems to come deep from within your heart... yes... you are exactly as I was in my own youth... Ah... the passionate! The dangerous! The desperate! Those days of death-defying, life-affirming adventures are back... Now, then! I sense my own courage is off the meter! Everything you have! I'm braced for it all! VS Frontier Brain     From one trio to another, your chances against Brandon's team depend on if you can dodge their powerful STAB attacks.   We're not being too lucky.   I, uh, thought that poison would kill, so my preemptive switch seems a bit silly.   Alright, do I want to take a Thunder and lose to Moltres later on, or do I want to Toxic it and lose Tess to Moltres for a safe switch?   Nice, I picked a good time to switch.   SHIIIIIIIIIT   Alright, now to click Rest until it faints.   Alright, how the hell do we beat this?   We, uh, might be in trouble.   Thankfully I manipulated RNG on the final floor to get this miss. Haha...     Okay if you keep not using Fire Blast I think we've got a chance!   ...alright, give me the win, why not. We shouldn't have really won that and yet here we are, motherfuckers!   Remarkable! Yes, it's grand, indeed! Young explorer! You've bested me through and through! Here! I want you to have this! Ah yes! It just goes to show that I have much to learn still! May our paths cross again! Farewell for now, young explorer!  There's only two facilities left to go! The end is in sight!  Next time, it's the Battle Arena and the Battle Tower. Hope you're not sick of battles! Crosspeice fucked around with this message at 23:37 on May 26, 2018 |
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May 25, 2018 22:01
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Grafix hacked the RNG for you so you could win 
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May 25, 2018 23:12
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Super manipulation strats there, setting spikes against a flying team!
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May 25, 2018 23:51
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You can see 15 AI teams in the Dome. If you could see 16, then you wouldn't be playing it.
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May 26, 2018 02:38
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I'm pleased Bananagher did well. I'd never really thought too much about what movesets to use for battle facilities like this before.
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May 26, 2018 05:23
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In retrospect, ElmerFludd should have had another attack move instead of Acid Armor, two attack types seems limiting.
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May 26, 2018 05:25
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I enjoyed the irony of the shortest facility having the longest write up paired with the longest facility having a short one. Glad Tess worked out so well for you. Not many opportunities for walls to shine in these games otherwise. I'm going to shove Tucker in with Greta & Anabel and have Brandon on his own, later. He' has the most going on, more than the others by a large margin.
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May 26, 2018 05:44
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Blaze Dragon posted:You can see 15 AI teams in the Dome. If you could see 16, then you wouldn't be playing it. Oh, doy, this is why I need proofreaders! Well I guess that'd be you guys... Level Seven posted:Super manipulation strats there, setting spikes against a flying team! Hell yeah! Or just something to use while waiting for Toxic damage, since Tess's only attacking move is Earthquake! Despite not being optimal (obviously), all the submitted Pokemon did well, even if I wasn't able to show you due to screenshot fatigue. It's the whole reason I use submitted stuff, since I know I'll be fine, it's only a postgame facility, it's not that hard.
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May 26, 2018 23:36
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FRLG Part 5: That's a Wrap Canyon Entrance    While we're nearly done with the Sevii Islands, there's still a fair few things left to do in this game.   What's that? I don't act the way I look? Heh, that's a part of my strategy!  Canyon Entrance is a pretty small area, but there's some cool Pokemon to find.   Little elephant baby      (JON) When I'm with EVE, it feels like we could never lose.  (JON) When I'm with EVE, it doesn't feel like I've lost! When I'm with EVE, I feel giddy whether I win or lose. It's magical!  Onto the main attraction.    My darling NYA, together we could win!    We are really getting up there in levels.   I think I'm going to need much more seasoning and tutoring under LEX... ...so, LEX, please, may I stay with you like this? I seem to have been too careless... I think it was a good experience for NYA. You have my gratitude.  The Tanoby Key is an interesting little cave. Can you solve the puzzle?   Just start from the back and you'll be just fine. Now let's get some real good Pokemon from this area.   That was the easy mon to catch.   Larvitar is at a much lower level, so keeping one alive to catch is... tricky.   Just gonna ignore that smashable rock if I can.      You're a master at this. You see them every so often, TRAINERS with awesome POKEMON who have no idea what to do. Before training POKEMON, TRAINERS themselves need to grow up.   But it's also not bad to aim for the top with a partner. Even BRUNO... he trained with a fellow by the name of BRAWLY before.Deepest lore. Also a Fame Checker entry.     Few strong trainers around since they only have the one Pokemon.    Huh? Something's not right... The way I am now, I may have to hold off on TRAINER TOWER...  Oh hey it's the thing to evolve Poliwhirl and Slowpoke. Man this is late.     If we had a Dragonair on our team, it would nearly be ready to evolve!     Take it back now y'all.      Ahahahaha! There, you're all chipper now! Lucky!  Well that's a different way of healing our Pokemon. The Lucky Punch isn't usually obtainable unless you get lucky (hah) with wild hold items. It boosts Chansey's crit ratio by two stages, which is pretty useless. The Lucky Egg is, as you'd expect, what wild Chansey have a chance of holding.   What's at the very end of our Sevii adventure? It better not be disappointing!     I'm getting owned.    I said I wanted to paint an old building. So CLIFFORD brought me here.  My, how extraordinary. Ah, so you are studying POKEMON on your own... yes, you certainly are quite the extraordinary person, indeed.  There's a lot of small ruins dotted around, but we'll head to the main one.    I'm not much good in battle. I hear there are other ruins like the one here. Might they be the resting places of other mystic POKEMON?  So now that we've solved the Tanoby Key, what exactly will we find here?  Ah but of course. In each of the seven Tanoby Chambers, you can find different letters of Unown at different encounter rates. All 26 Unown can be found this way across the Monean, Liptoo, Weepth, Dilford, Scufib, Rixy and Viapois Chambers. If you think those names are a bit weird, they're a combination of various flowers and the numbers one to seven. So we've got anemone, tulip, pea, daffodil, hibiscus, iris and poinsettia, respectively. Now obviously I worked that out myself instead of just looking it up.  Each chamber holds 5 Unown letters each, though Weepth has 4, aside from the first and last chambers, seemingly containing A and Z only. Well that's because there are two brand new Unown letters in this generation! Woaaaaaaaaah! With a 1% encounter rate, you can find the ? Unown in the Monean Chamber and the ! Unown in the Viapois Chamber. This, uh, is not a way to introduce a new Pokemon form. There is zero reward from obtaining all the Unown in this game, so I'm not gonna bother. The O Unown is also a 1%, while the E, K and B Unown are 2% encounters. Good luck you piece of poo poo!   That was uncalled for. You didn't have to be so rough. The TANOBY RUINS date back at least 1,500 years. But it's a baffling mystery as to why it was built in the first place.  And there we go, we have explored all of Sevii! There's still a few things left to do, so we'll be heading back to mainland Kanto. There are a couple things to do in the postgame, but they're not all that great.  Such as the loving roaming legendary. Let me tell you how much of a goddamn hassle this mon is. Now I did cheat to encounter it so I could even get it into the Pokedex so I could properly track it, but going in and out of the Pokedex to see where it is takes a long time. See, the Pokedex doesn't track your previous position, no matter what you start at Bulbasaur. There's also no way to skip to the bottom of the dex like in RSE, so to look at where it is, you need to scroll all the way down. Since I had speedup, it was quicker than going to the Rare tab in the Pokedex category to find it that way. Which dog you encounter depends on your starter, as the dog will have a type advantage against it.   Then I had to find the loving thing. It took me FORTY MINUTES to encounter it ONCE. Kanto is a severely unfriendly region to hunt roamers, since there's so many buildings to go through in order to get to one area. Sure, you might think you can bounce between Saffron and a nearby route, but the doggies do not play nice at all, they constantly jump between two areas endlessly and jump across the map a lot more often than I think they should do. It's very frustrating and it's the worst roamer hunt in the series, beating out XY by a good margin.   When you do encounter Entei or Raikou, you should use the Master Ball immediately. See, the roamer in this game is a little bit completely glitched. Since they use their Crystal movesets, only Suicune doesn't have Roar, which makes it much easier to catch. Because... if Entei or Raikou use Roar, they're gone from the game. Forever. You'll need to load a previous save to get them back. What the gently caress. Also, just to put the icing on the cake, in RS and FRLG, when a roaming Pokemon is caught, only the last 8 bits of the Pokemon's IVs are transferred, so a roaming legendary can have a normal HP IV of whatever, but Attack is capped at 7 and every other stat will have an IV of 0. Thankfully roamers can be obtained in other ways, but seriously, these Pokemon are not worth the hassle.   Now that we've done the gem quest, we can get Mewtwo. VS Mewtwo    It's still incredibly powerful, so try not to get wrecked.   Thankfully it decided to play nice this time. Pokemon League Alright, here's something really cool: FRLG were the first games in the series to have Elite Four rematches! Woaaaaaaaaah! This is actually really cool and any game that doesn't have it is just a poor shell of a game.   I, LORELEI of the ELITE FOUR, have returned! You know how it goes. No one can best me when it comes to icy POKEMON.  Seems pretty normal so far.   But levels have increased and there's some cool new additions to their team. Obviously I won't be going over them in exhaustive detail, you can play the games for yourselves! Admittedly I'm not huge fan of these games, I actually prefer the originals to them since they're slightly more fun to play (very slightly grant you), but they're still solid Pokemon titles, still a 7/10, the lowest grade I'll give a Pokemon game.   Big Bruno time.   Not much has changed, since we've already seen Hitmontop.   Since everything is pretty high level, might as well use up the remaining Rare Candy we've collected over the journey.    Since they're only using Johto additions... Agatha hasn't really changed much.   Hey Batman.   Lance has a lot of Dragonite and they're all very dangerous. VS Champion Green  The final fight against Butts!     He's made some nasty additions to his team, but we should be fine.   Haha, just kidding we're hosed.   That's a high level starter, hot drat.   But with enough healing and paralysis, we've beaten the game again! Woo! We don't get anything for it, but it is super cool to go through.   This is the final state of our team compared to how it was at the end of the Yellow LP. They've come so far, I'm so proud of them!   All that's left is to complete the Pokedex. Oh look at that, we've nearly done it.   Here, let me take a look. The amount of progress you've made on your POKEDEX is: 151 Pokemon seen and 151 Pokemon owned.  Hmm, that's not a big a celebration as I expected. Well I know where I can go for a better reward.     Much better. Completing the Kanto Pokedex nets us a neat Trainer Card star. Note that you don't need to obtain Mew for this, nor do you need Lugia, Ho-oh, Celebi, Jirachi or Deoxys to get the National Pokedex diploma.   And now we've completed the National Dex! It was a bit tough, but I managed it. I'll probably do it again one of these days. Hm? It feels like I skipped something. Ah, probably nothing.   You've finally completed the POKEDEX! It's magnificent! Truly, this is a fantastic feat! Wroooooooaaaaaarrrr! Thank you, FUGURI! Sincerely, thank you! You've made my dream a reality!    Wow, as easy as that. With the National Dex done, we get another Trainer Card star, meaning there's only one left to get. So where is it? Oh yeah... the Joyful Game Corner.   So here's a, uh, totally legit save I found on the internet that's beaten the Joyful Game Corner in order to obtain the final star. So unless you have friends... that play these games, then you won't be getting this star either. Also this is what the last level stickers look like, since I would be very worried if you got them in your own games. Like with Emerald, there are various statistics to go on the back of the Trainer Card. There are, in order, Hall of Fame Debut, Link Battles, Pokemon Trades, Union Trades & Battles and Berry Crush. The space at the bottom is your team if you use the printing machine in Celadon Game Corner. With the Trainer Card fully filled in... uh, what else is there?   You are! You are FUGURI! We were just talking about you! We were talking about how an incredibly good TRAINER appeared. And that someone is you! You're so cool! So, we decided that we'll become your FAN CLUB! We all hope you'll keep battling and show us how cool you are. That way, maybe other people will become fans just like me. I'll always be cheering for you! Go, FUGURI, go!  Oh! Oh, yeah! Can you autograph something? How about my shorts? It brings back sweet memories of my own long-lost youth. May you continue to find success. You have a fan in me!Well that's cute.There's a fan club in Saffron that you can visit after you beat the game to get some new fans. Now for the last thing to go over and complete: the Fame Checker.  Seeing it reminds me of a sweet little girl I met while travelling. She was gently grooming POKEMON... she was a little angel. That little girl's name... I think it was DAISY.  You... you're not GIOVANNI's kid, are you? No, that can't be right! GIOVANNI's kid has red hair. You don't have any reasons for bugging me. Leave me alone! There are some tricky entries for the Fame Checker, but aside from just looking at a guide, chat to everyone, including some new NPCs in the postgame, as well as bookcases for cool trivia. With that, we're done and our reward are some cool messages to read from the various characters. That's it for the FRLG stuff, so, uh, yeah, get going. Later!   PROF. OAK: They do so because they can see the love and trust you have towards POKEMON. Never forget that. DAISY: While I was comfortably enjoying my tea breaks, you've grown very skilled and powerful. I hope you'll remain a good rival to my little brother. BROCK: In this big world of ours, there must be many tough TRAINERS. Let's keep training and making ourselves stronger! MISTY: I'm going to keep training here at this GYM. When I get better, I'd love to hit the road and travel. LT. SURGE: Hey, kid! You electrified me in our battle! I didn't know that there were gutsy TRAINERS like you. It made me change my mind about you! ERIKA: I am so glad that there are strong TRAINERS like you. That awareness alone inspires and motivates me to try harder. Please visit me again. Zzz... KOGA: You and I, we must both set our sights higher and work towards meeting our challenges. Now, I must go train my daughter. SABRINA: The love you have towards your POKEMON... it was a power that was never bested by my psychic power. BLAINE: My fire POKEMON! They'll become even more powerful! And now, a quiz. How many kinds of FIRE-type POKEMON are there? GIOVANNI: There is nothing that I wish to say to you. I will concentrate solely on bettering myself, and none other. LORELEI: I needed to thank you for your help. But that has nothing to do with our battles. You'd better watch out next time! BRUNO: The super power of your POKEMON and you I've experienced myself. Next time, maybe I should show you how to train yourself. AGATHA: When you grow older, don't you dare go soft like that coot OAK! Be like me and keep battling on! LANCE: I'm considering going back to my hometown. I want to retrain my DRAGON-type POKEMON and strengthen them. I'd like to invite you to my hometown one day. BILL: Hey, there! CELIO had nothing but praise for you. Hearing that makes me happy. When you catch some rare POKEMON, come show me, okay? Promise! FUJI: Instead of hoping for the happiness of just your POKEMON... ...can I get you to wish for the happiness of all POKEMON?
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May 27, 2018 22:48
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Side Notes 13: Holding Out for Other Held Items Quite a while ago we talked about Pokemon in RSE that held some cool items for you to grab if you could nick 'em and now we're gonna do the same for FRLG. Like before, we're going in National Dex order and we'll even include Pokemon that you can't catch in either game. I dunno why I like writing this stuff, but here we are, let's go! First up is Butterfree and Beedrill, who have a 5% chance of holding Silverpowder and a Poison Barb, respectively, despite being unobtainable in the wild. There are other ways to get these two items by other wild Pokemon, which we either went over last time, or will go over if it's FRLG exclusive. Raticate has a 50% chance of holding an Oran Berry and a 5% chance of a Sitrus Berry, Fearow has a 5% chance of holding a Sharp Beak and Arbok has a 5% chance of holding a Poison Barb, which is the only legit way of doing so in FRLG. Sandslash has a 5% chance of holding Soft Sand, the only way to obtain it in those games and the Clefairy line has a 5% chance of holding a Moon Stone. Vulpix and Ninetales have a 50% chance of holding a Rawst Berry, down from 100% in RSE and the Jigglypuff line has a 50% chance of holding an Oran Berry. Paras and Parasect have a 50% chance of holding a Tinymushroom and a 5% chance of holding a Big Mushroom, necessary for the Move Reminder in those games. Venomoth has a 5% chance of holding a Silverpowder, which is the only way to obtain it in those games and Meowth has a 5% chance of holding a Nugget. Growlithe and Arcanine have a 50% chance of holding a Rawst Berry, down from 100% like the Vulpix line. The Abra line has a 5% chance of holding the Twistedspoon, which is the only way to obtain it in those games. Machoke and Machamp have a 5% chance of holding a Focus Band, which is the only way to obtain it in those games and Graveler and Golem have a 5% chance of holding a Hard Stone. Magneton has a 5% chance of holding a Magnet, which is the only way to obtain that item in those games and CH'DING holds a Stick, which is the only way to obtain that item in Gen 3, as wild Farfetch'd with a 5% chance of holding it aren't encounterable. Dodrio has a 5% chance of holding a Sharp Beak and Seel has a 50% chance of holding an Aspear Berry. Dewgong also holds that, as well as a 5% chance of holding a Nevermeltice, though it can be obtained in FRLG otherwise. Shellder and Cloyster has a 50% chance of holding a Pearl and a 5% chance of holding a Big Pearl, Haunter and Gengar have a 5% chance of holding a Spell Tag and Onix has a 5% chance of holding a Hard Stone. Cubone and Marowak have a 5% chance of holding a Thick Club and is the only way to obtain that item and Chansey has a 5% chance of holding a Lucky Egg and is the only way to obtain this item. Staryu and Starmie have a 50% chance of holding a Stardust and a 5% chance of a Star Piece, Ditto has a 5% chance of holding a Metal Powder and is the only way to obtain that item in these games. Snorlax has a 100% chance of holding a Chesto Berry, but it might use it before you can catch it. Finally, Dragonair and Dragonite have a 5% chance of holding a Dragon Fang and is the only way to obtain that item in these games. From Mew onwards, a lot of Pokemon have the same held items as they did in RSE, so refer to that Side Notes for most of the items, though there are exceptions, like Shuckle having a 100% chance of holding a Berry Juice instead of an Oran Berry. Teddiursa and Ursaring have a 50% chance of holding an Oran Berry and a 5% chance of holding a Sitrus Berry. Swinub has a 50% chance of holding an Aspear Berry, while Piloswine also has a 5% chance of holding a Nevermeltice. Skarmory has a 5% chance of holding a Sharp Beak and Porygon2 has a 100% chance of holding an Upgrade. Uh, okay. The remaining Pokemon all have the same held items as they do in RSE. And there we go, that's a lot of held items. Some can only be found on trainer's Pokemon during rematches, such as the Black Belt found on Black Belt Nob's Machamp in RSE, or on multiple trainers' Pokemon in FRLG, which is the only way to obtain that item and the Silverpowder and Dragon Fang, found on Bug Maniac Jeffrey's Masquerain and Dragon Tamer Nicholas's Shelgon, respectively, though those can be found on wild Pokemon in FRLG. There's also other random items, such as Nuggets on Pokemon owned by Rich Boys and Ladies, or various berries on Gym Leader Pokemon. There's also no Pokemon in FRLG that can't be obtained in those games that has a different hold item compared to RSE. Anyway, that was fun, so see you later.
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May 27, 2018 22:50
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Daisy getting a full fame checker entry is kind of weird since she's otherwise not like...important, or anything. It does mean she & Mr. Fuji get sprites though, which is neat?   Fuji's is cute since the weedle on his shoulder & the cubone at his knee is reference to his TCG card.
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May 27, 2018 23:18
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| # ? Apr 23, 2024 07:08 |
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Wow, usually I'm good at knowing what Generation a Pokemon is from, but I could've sworn ! and ? were introduced in Gen IV.
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May 27, 2018 23:28
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