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rannum
Nov 3, 2012

Emerald is very very good and the best of the gen 3 games by a mile. I love Hoenn, even if it does have its assorted flaws (w a t e r r o u t e s), so much. I think it has some of the best land routes in the series. Emerald has great tilesets too. And the trumpets! I really liked ORAS more than some other people but the only thing it really needed from me....was more gratuitous blaring trumpets.
It's kind of hialrious how this & FRLG came out in the same year. Between that and how long it took DP to come out and how...rough DP was you get the feeling there was some weird development troubles going on behind the scenes.

You glossed over it but, man, it cannot be overstated how much better the PC is starting now. No saving between boxes, instant switching around, able to grab and move multiple pokemon at once, item moving, a lovely visual overhaul and it's great. One of many reasons it's much easier to go back to gen 3 than gens 1 & 2.

I hope when we start getting around to actually catching them all you go into more detail about the nonsense that is getting the national dex in gen 3. Your release overview kind of touches on it, the way they split up pokemon is terrible and even using the gamecube games still leaves dumb holes in everything. IT's a very involved process here more than most other gens .

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rannum
Nov 3, 2012

Someone on staff clearly felt bad for &/or really loves Azumarill because they spent 4 generations giving it an assortment of buffs starting with Huge Power.

rannum
Nov 3, 2012

God catching pokemon with a catch rate of 45 is a nightmare even in the best case scenario. It's way too low! Especially for pokemon like, well, this.


I used a Sableye in ORAS and, after 3 generations it was actually...pretty dang solid? I know, I was surprised too. It had actual stab to use and infinite use TMs available at reasonable times means it's always able to do SOMETHING. And you can get it in Prankster flavor if you're patient enough. Then you can mega evolve it for end game. It's been a while, but I think you can mega evolve it before the climax unlike Mawile.
Though, as a note,t he part of the cave where you can catch them doesn't open up until around mauville, so no getting them for Brawly.


also match call is garbage and i'd argue worse than the rematch system the original RS had, just because you could constantly reroll the rng by switching routes rather than fishing for phone calls

rannum
Nov 3, 2012

Haifisch posted:

That's basically Gamefreak's modus operandi with the rock type, too. Most of them are statted as slow and defensive, when the Rock type has a shitload of weaknesses & generally does better when statted as a fast glass cannon.

Of course they're going for what stats logically feel right(rocks are slow and tough) instead of what actually works well with the type, but still.

the only reason rock isn't put into the same tier of "god why, stop" as ice type is there are generally rock types that are good and rock has, like, resistances that can be relevant sometimes. And the sandstorm boost is nice.

rannum
Nov 3, 2012

Aesclepia posted:

I know my first Gen 1 win came with Dragonite, Sandslash, Blastoise and idk what else. I liked the dragon.

And I love Flareon even though Game Freak doesn't.

Hey now, it finally got Flare Blitz in gen 6!





I mean it didn't help but at least it got it!

rannum
Nov 3, 2012

I used a Lombre in my AS run
It was regrettable. It just never felt like it could do ANYTHING at any stage of the game and that long evolution wait time was unbearable. Even after evolving it basically existed to take hits. Un-mega-evolved Sableye performed better for me, it was really depressing.

Also you call Sharpedo's 95 special attack kind of "meh" but I'd say its pretty solid overall? Certainly not something to rely on if you have a better stat to work with, but i'd call the 90-100 attack/special attack area very usable, even today. It's higher than Ludicolo's! :v:

rannum
Nov 3, 2012

Haifisch posted:

Even Gen 4 was better because the physical/special split helped a lot of dudes whose stats didn't cooperate with their types and movesets. The Dark and Ghost types were particularly hilarious because Dark used to be special and Ghost used to be physical, but after the split almost every Dark move was physical and almost every Ghost move was special.

It also added some much needed tools like U-Turn, X-Scissor & Bug Buzz. Obvious boons for all bug types (where the best move is still just exclusive to heracross and the only notable new move is...Silver Wind.), but they got spread around so bug coverage could be like, a thing, you could use

rannum
Nov 3, 2012

Steel types didn't really get going until gen 4 either, for that matter.
Mawile is the most dire example since it doesn't even get Metal Claw, and if you didn't get Metal Claw your options were either Steel Tail/Wingor nothing. Then gen 4 finally adds a general purpose move with Iron Head & Flash Cannon, priority, a speed gimmick, and some miscellaneous filler for early/mid game.

gen 4 was them going OH RIGHT we have other types that should probably want things to fill incredibly basic niches. The physical/special split was obviously the biggest thing from gen 4 but I think the expantion of usable moves for all sorts of types was just as big in terms of series impact. Gen 5 followed on that a little bit but not to the same extent. 6 & 7 barely introduce any new moves comparatively, Fairy aside, and they were usually gimmick moves that went to limited pokemon.

rannum
Nov 3, 2012

Pokemon sells millions of copies but you are always just so happened to be in an area where exactly no one has played a pokemon game

Gen 3 even lets you do four way multiplayer! Something I refuse to believe anyone has ever done even at pokemon events

rannum
Nov 3, 2012

I love the entire mauville->verdanturf area. It's really good color palletes and spriteset and i like how full the route in particular is. One of my standout routes of the region.
I used a volbeat once and it was...surprisingly usable. Signal Beam running off its good attacking stat helped...I think I ran some weird Sub-Punc/Signal Beam/Moonlight set. You should probably mention its other big claim to fame: Tail Glow. It was the only attack that raised special attack 2 stages and even in gen 7 only 2 other pokemon get it AND it got a buff to raise 3 stages. Even Volbeat can use its special movepool with that.

Kikas posted:

Having played ORAS extensively and enjoying all the small improvements to movement (like the switchable on-the-fly bike), I gotta say:



gently caress THESE TWO ROCKS
It's even more baffling in ORAS because Mauville was the only city to get a top to bottom makeover but by god they were going to keep this specific thing the same.

rannum
Nov 3, 2012

Crosspeice posted:

...huh, I completely overlooked that. I do have the movepools open when I'm writing it, but I somehow noticed Signal Beam without seeing the move right next to it. I'll edit it in, but it's a shame Volbeat got it instead of Illumise, since he completely outclasses her in both physical and special, though he only has Thunderbolt and Water Pulse to really abuse.

Despite the TM movepool, I think Illumise was meant to be a support pokemon which....Volbeat also co-opted because in gen 5 they both got prankster and oh hey guess which one got the +3 special attack move to go with baton pass.

One more gee-whiz because I like the fireflies: Illumise eggs can produce Volbeat just like Nidoran-F can produce Nidoran-M. It's kind of interesting to think that had these two been conceptualized a little later, they probably would have been one pokemon like Mewostic was.

rannum
Nov 3, 2012

So I am pretty sure that the verdanturf tunnel actually remembers you broke the rocks

there is no excuse for not doing the same thing on the mauville northern exit, i'm just saying

rannum
Nov 3, 2012

SonicRulez posted:

I think you used span as the past tense of spin when referring to Spinda. It's spun.

Lanette is such an oddball addition to this series, I'm kinda curious why they didn't just keep Bill. He was around.

Flavor, probably. Every region gets their own admin and apparently they all hang together because Bill keeps giving out Eevees

I loke Kalos' admin since hes a punk guy who has to keep reassuring you he's legit

rannum
Nov 3, 2012

AradoBalanga posted:

I have to laugh at how :effort: Maxie's design for the remakes is. All he gets is a different coat, a turtleneck sweater underneath the coat, and fancy glasses. Meanwhile, everyone else got some serious overhauls, especially Team Aqua's admins.

I don't know, it's not AS drastic as the others, but this is a pretty big step up from whatever his weird coat thing here is





his incredibly stupid shorts and shoes

rannum
Nov 3, 2012

Kemix posted:

This is my headcannon about how Archie catches Kyogre in his "I actually completed my plan and flooded the gently caress out of the entire world" alternate universe.

The best part about their appearance in USUM is they were probably going to die anyway
"…The name's Archie. I'm the leader of Team Aqua. Just when I completed my great plan, I got swallowed up by a giant wave… "
"I am Team Magma's Maxie. I had finally realized my grand design, only to be swallowed by a great fissure that appeared beneath me... ."

rannum
Nov 3, 2012

The anime, of all things, did a better job of handling Flare. Lysandre was still pretty obviously the leader and almost certainly evil, but he does not give his insane speech until he goes full evil and actually does humanitarian or otherwise nice things
Also Diantha got more things to do
and everyone, actually, even the gym leaders which was nice.

Generations did too! It had Lysandre leading like a ted talk about new technology that can help the world intercut with his true feelings. At no point does he spend 5 minutes in front of 3 people going on about how idk man maybe people should die?

And all the admins got a little more time to do things. Still not super memorable, beyond Xerosic, but an improvement!

rannum
Nov 3, 2012

Radio Free Kobold posted:

if you're gonna protect-stall, you really ought to toxic it first. but then, uh, then you've inflicted a status effect on a facade slaking :rip:

that and this early in you really don't have the tools to make stalling work. you need rest/sleeptalk or roost or aqua ring or leftovers or something, as well as toxic or guaranteed poison (poison gas?) or maybe will o' wisp.

I've done assorted gimmick runs of the RSE titles and my go to answer is, of all things, Dustox.
It learns protect at level 17 and you can get Toxic out of the fiery path. Protect-Toxic-Protect-Attack repeat as needed. Truant ensures you're absolutely safe!
Waste of Toxic...perhaps. But all the runs where I used Dustox were well after i'd ever use toxic "for real" in a gen 3 game.

rannum
Nov 3, 2012

Highly suggest listening to the abandoned ship's theme! It's very good.
The abandoned ship also one of the few areas which got a total overhaul, becomming a pokemon reserve called "Sea Mauville", a layout change to go with and depressing backstory! It's a pretty cool place
the remakes are so weird. Faithfully recreating RS (specifically rs!) in 90% of the cases and then going totally off the rails on other things.


Also, god, the stone situation in this game. YOu mentioned it a few times but i just want to underline they made it impossible to get more than one moon stone in ruby & emerald. One single stone! ONE. WHY
And it's not like Sapphire (or FRLG, for that matter) are much better because then you have to deal with solely stealing things off Lunatone (Clefairy) which is a terrible mechanic! not helped that at absolute most, in a late game portion of meteor falls, you can only run tino them 35% of the time. Most of the other times its 10-25% with the rest being Zubats.

rannum
Nov 3, 2012

Haifisch posted:

Despite all the things Gamefreak's improved over the years, they're consistently allergic to making evolution items easy to get more of.

It's probably a good thing they haven't introduced many stone or trade item evos in the past few gens.

gen 6 introduced 2 new trade evolutions that each require their own, unique, not used for anything else evolution items. While it didn't introduce any new stones (good!) it introduced a new evolution for the Sun, Shiny & Dusk Stones
Gen 7 introduced an entirely new stone so alola sandshrew & vulpix could evolve!

both pale in comparison to gen 4, which introduced like 7 new trade items, 2 "hold this to evolve!" items and 3 new stones but I could write an entire essay about the terrible, terrible things they've done to item-based evolution methods throughout the series and how it ruins the gameplay intent for those evolution types
Gen 3 is lucky to have a gen 1 remake to buy the four standard stones and even RSE has the roundabout (and bad) shard method for those.


Also while on this subject, I remember going through and trying to clear up the pokedex in my sapphire version and referencing a guidebook to help find some blanks. The jigglypuff is a pretty weird addition to the dex, because it's really only found there and held by no one. This grass patch is pretty easy to miss since it's so far off the beaten path and Jigglypuff is a rare encounter in a pool full of common birds that it's easy to write off

rannum fucked around with this message at 02:51 on Mar 17, 2018

rannum
Nov 3, 2012

Calbrena (or Calcabrena, I cant remember the character limits)


I really love this route. The tall grass, the winding nature of it, the varied terrain, fantastic secret bases if i remember right, and i like the storm effects. A+ route, would travel through again.

Also man, for whatever reason when I was young I spent so much time tending berries at the berry master. Just growing a bunch of berries and making sure to get the daily berries and all that.

Incidentally, I think the big appeal of the 5 password berries is they're very high value, only beaten out by event berries. Spelon's the go-to spicy berry? I took a quick glance at the bulbapedia page on this and hey have fun going into, ah, all that.

rannum
Nov 3, 2012

Blaze Dragon posted:

Wobbuffet was in Ubers for a few gens. Smeargle was also OU at one point and is pretty usable in general.

Aegislash was banned as well


I think Castform could have done pretty well if its form change shtick came with stat boosts. Like you clearly want to run it with weather, so it'd make sense to make it stronger across the board buuut no, all 70s

rannum
Nov 3, 2012

I wasn't as high leveled as you so I did have troubles with Winona from time to time. Dragon Dance boosted Earthquakes & Aerial Aces are no joke.

Also yeah I think something is wrong with the AI in this game. It just feels like it "breaks" sometimes? Like it will keep using a move over and over and over again to no clear benefit. Several times I swear I had the AI use a boosting or debuff move despite it literally having no further effect

rannum
Nov 3, 2012

I don't think I've ever heard of the lillycove ladies before :psyduck:

It's kind of a dumb thing, but I'm pretty impressed that they made all those unique tile assets for the museum.
And yet, not as dumb as that final rival fight. Like you said, I get what they were going for, but it's seriously stupid. They should have bumped them 2 levels and evovled everyone. Emerald doesn't even add a post-game rematch like it does the gym leaders!

rannum
Nov 3, 2012

Ahhhh, the Safari Zone. Spent a long time in this one trying to get everyone. Never bothered with the pokeblock feeder, it's so much effort that can so easily go to waste. Never knew it actually would attract proper natures though, that's pretty cool.
Pikachu being here, of all things, is also pretty funny. The rare exotic....pikachu. What do you think this is, Unova?

By the way, acrobike's bunny hops don't count as steps either, so if you don't feel like carefully walking in place you can just hold B to fish for encounters without wasting steps.





Also there's some theories that Chimecho was actually added super late into the game's development. Aside from randomly being in one specific place, owned by no one, as just a random psychic type, at a 2% encounter if you check the index orders for the game it's the final one , after Deoxys. By the third gen, the index orders were mostly national dex orders so being at the end of the list is pretty notable. Some other pokemon were also shuffled around which could indicate similar timing or changes, too.

rannum
Nov 3, 2012

Explopyro posted:

(quite casually, and I still have a lot more data to gather, so I can't offer firm conclusions yet; if there's any interest, I can report back when I know more).

I don't know about others, but seeing weird breakdowns of how equally weird mechanis actually work is pretty neat and I'd love to see updates if you get them.

Like Dr. Fetus started breaking down AI scripts and everything and it's just cool to see how the game works, I guess.

rannum
Nov 3, 2012

Crosspeice posted:

. Like shortly after I finished my Crystal LP, Bulbapedia updated their happiness page to include loads of details I had no idea about, like Pokemon gaining more happiness if they level up in the same route they're caught in.

wait what
Did Crystal even track where you caught a pokemon?

rannum
Nov 3, 2012

Volt Tackle is funny because despite being in the games since RS you're unable to learn it at all until Emerald.

It's also a somewhat inexplicable Pulseman reference! This is more obvious in Smash Bros since it's more visually reminiscent

rannum
Nov 3, 2012

Blaze Dragon posted:

It's hardly inexplicable, Pulseman was developed by Game Freak as well and they're not beyond referencing themselves. This isn't even the only Pulseman reference. And it's a lot more obvious in the Japanese version where its straight-up named Volteccer like Pulseman's move (and before that, Tekkaman's, but that's not important here).

Also Volt Tackle is not the only game to appear in data before it was actually used. XY have even more extreme examples in Zygarde's Thousand moves which wouldn't be used until one generation later, and Light of Ruin that's still totally inaccessible (as is its one user, Eternal Flower Floette).

I find it a little more inexplicable because gamefreak doesn't really reference its other games otherwise. Drill Dozer, jerry boy or the more modern games in modern pokemon. I guess the swimmers might come from Mendel's Palace and there's a quick mario & wario reference if you check the NES. But then you have Pulseman who they decide to give their mascot the signature move of and then make a pokemon based on it.

what im saying is, where is my drill dozer mega evolution for excadrill, gamefreak

rannum
Nov 3, 2012

Verant posted:

Maaan, Sevii Islands. Exciting, those islands weren't, even with the (theoretically) infinite source of berries. Sure there's some stuff postgame and also Moltres, but it all feels a bit...ehhhh. I suppose sticking it between the 7th and 8th gyms works though since you could just fly right to Viridian after beating up Blaine.

FRLG always felt extremely sterile and barren, even though they really aren't. I think it's something about the tilesets and menus, it all feels pretty stiff.
Also while the Sevii Islands weren't...amazing...I kind of appreciated them trying something different and it's a bit weird they never get mentioned otherwise. Probably could have thrown them in HGSS too, why not.




Also the Lostelle sidequest is messed up, what a thing to include way back when.

rannum
Nov 3, 2012

Haifisch posted:

It doesn't help that they added some insulting-even-for-Pokemon levels of tutorializing(the teachy TV, I vaguely remember the first battle getting an active tutorial showing you exactly what to select, etc) and let Pokemon like Golbat try to evolve but fail, because gently caress you that's not in the original RBYdex.

And the one new area they added to Kanto was thoroughly unexciting, almost like they were terrified of making it RSE-quality and highlighting just how simplistic Kanto is compared to the regions they were capable of making on the GBA.
Yeah Oak walks you through the opening battle's selections and explanations.
The teachy TV is weird because it replaces the capture tutorial but then never forces you to view it. You never have to interact with it! Which is probably the best way to handle tutorials, really.

The more annoying thing was that quick help menus existed. And tied to the L & R buttons, so you always activated them all the time.

rannum
Nov 3, 2012

hopeandjoy posted:

I don’t care where the base is, but if you aren’t filling it with as many dolls as possible, you’re doing secret bases wrong.

This guy understands how to do secret bases



Also the Eon Ticket is probably the most common of the event items and, I think, the only one in the gen 3 games you can still get today! But I think that's more relevant for the....special....peripheral you're talking about next.

rannum
Nov 3, 2012

Hey! You should absolutely listen to the Diving music, it's fantastic. Diving in general is pretty nice in this game it's just a shame it has to share that space with long endless normal surf routes.


Ahhhh the e-reader, you sure were....an attempt. I guess Japan's love for cards (fun fact the amiibo figures sold better worldwide than in japan, but the amiibo CARDS sold very well in japan vs the rest) outweighed the nonsense that was actually using an e-reader, muchless with other games. And so many games, for that matter. Pokemon's the obvious focus here but animal crossing had them, pikmin had them, super mario bros 3, fzero, mega man battle network...
a quick side note, but when the pokemon rs cards came here, they weren't sold in individual packs. I think it was 3 packs, with 2 sets each. I guess to make them more enticing; the SMB3 cards were the same way here.

I also still have the Eon Ticket, though for some reason I remember there being an issue mixing records between RS & Emerald? Maybe I'm thinking of FRLG.

rannum
Nov 3, 2012

I don't think america got even half of all ecards. For pokemon alone we got series 1 of the pokemon battle e cards & 2 exclusive promos and that's it. Japan got a series 2, a 64 card emerald set, 24 colosseum cards, 44 FRLG cards and a seemingly wide assortment of promotional cards. Then of course there's all the other series that had cards that we didn't get...

If the gen 3 games ever get released on something like Switch, it'd be kind of cool if they made them available ala SMB3. There's so many, it'd be pretty novel.

rannum
Nov 3, 2012

It wasn't until this LP that I realized that Groudon has been on the loose for quite a while now
The way Archie & Maxie argue you'd think Groudon had been messing things up, but no. Would have been clever to have random batches of intense sunlight around the region, at least.

rannum
Nov 3, 2012

Black Robe posted:

Gen six would be fine if the pacing were better - I'm replaying it at the moment. You get little hints and encounters throughout a lot of the early/mid game (though nobody else sees most of it) but then out of nowhere as you walk out of a gym a character announces to the world via universal phone call that he's a crazy villain and he's starting the apocalypse now. The plot itself isn't bad as Pokemon plots go, it's just somewhat poorly implemented.

And interestingly handled quite well in the anime, I remember being surprised and impressed by the drama and scale of the arc finale.

The anime also had the benefit (the Generations shorts did too) of showing Lysandre not being obviously & transparently evil to everyone

My favorite thing about XY's plot was wrapping it up and literally having the characters state almost verbatum: "so hey now we can all get back to what we were already doing, lets go yay!" At least it had the decency to continue mentioning stuff about it afterwords

rannum
Nov 3, 2012

Hobgoblin2099 posted:

Is there even any lore for Xerneas and Yveltal beyond being glorified batteries for a WMD?

Kinda!
A single NPC in the 7th gym town will talk about Yveltal/Xerneas and their effects on the region. I don't see this referenced on bulbapedia, so I transcribed it here:
Yveltal: "It happened around 800 years ago. The Pokemon known as Yveltal spread its ominous wings, engulfing the lands of Kalos in darkness. At that moment, people and Pokemon throughout the land began to fall one by one. Yveltal let out a piercing cry & took to the sky, vanishing to an unknown location.
Stories say that when it nears the end of its thousand-year lifespan, Yveltal absorbs the life force of the living things around it in order to charge its own energy.
Another tale talks of the appearance of such a terrifying Pokemon.
Back 3,000 years ago, the Kalos region was engulfed in a terrible war. According to the stores, a Pokemon appeared and stole the life force of countless living beings. Some people suspect the Pokemon that appeared was Yveltal, but there's no way to know. Maybe they're just using a Legendary Pokemon as a metaphor for war & pestilence.
In the tales, after Yveltal finished storing the energy it had absorbed, it transformed into a kind of cocoon, remaining in hiding deep in the mountains.
According to old tales, as I say"

Xerneas: "It happened around 800 years ago. The Pokemon known as Xerneas used its shining horns to illuminate the lands of Kalos. At that very moment, people and Pokemon throughout the land felt great energy and vitality surge through their bodies. At the same time, a vast forest sprang up, with Xerneas at its center.
Legend has it that, when it nears the end of its thousand-year life span, Xerneas releases all of its remaining energy, sharing it with all living things near by.
There's another story I know that talks of the appearance of such a fortuitous Pokemon.
Back 3,000 years ago, the Kalso region was engulfed in a terrible war. So the tale goes, a Pokemon came to the rescue of all of the wounded Pokemon that had been caught up in the conflict. Some people suspect the Pokemon that appeared was Xerneas, but there's no way to know. Maybe they just wished a Legendary Pokemon had come to the rescue to brighten a tale of woe.
Supposedly, after Xerneas released its remaining energy, it transformed into a dried-up tree. It remains hiding deep within the forest.
According to old tales, as I say. Stories and tales."

It's kind of assumed this would have been expanded on a would-be third version, and probably even go to the mountain range/forest (you can kind of see those areas on the map...). But, well, oops. Right now they're just sort of strong Pokemon that do something on a huge scale at the end of their life span. Surprisingly understated for the things representing life & death.
I kind of like the idea of legendary pokemon being used as metaphors for other stories, though.

rannum
Nov 3, 2012

I don't think I ever saw those stickers you can get. Much less knew you could upgrade them, that's so weird...400 times, honestly.


Also, you mentioned that the gen 2 pokemon are all lowere leveled that your dudes, but something that doesn't get across is they're also lower level than everything around them by a pretty significant margin.
For example, that swinub can between 23 & 31, but the gen 1 pokemon are level 40 minimum and reach into the mid 50s. And the level disparity raises as you go to later islands. I think they did it so you could still catch & evolve a full pokemon line but it's really jarring.

rannum
Nov 3, 2012

Hobgoblin2099 posted:

I like how Kanto E4 being okay with possibly murdering Team Rocket with their Pokemon attacks is just a thing. Shame Bruno and Agatha never get in on the fun.

Come to think of it, we never get whole lot of details on Agatha, do we? She's never even reappeared in the manga. :(

Only real thing we get about her is she was probably had a thing with Oak when they were younger and had a falling out because he gave up battling for the Pokedex research. Only thing the fame checker adds is she has a bad temper.

Which is probably more than we can say with Bruno who is in the kanto and johto games and is just a blackhole of nothing. At least Koga got a daughter.



Also she's probably related to Bertha but the only time that's commented on is one of Shauntal's random pre-battle lines

quote:

""The woman who uses Ghost types, and the woman who uses Ground types. I couldn't ask the reason why their names and appearances are so similar." That's part of a novel I wrote.
I don't think the anime or any of the mangas ever go anywhere with it either.

rannum
Nov 3, 2012

The Braille actually ISN'T in the manual unless you're in PAL regions, I believe. America doesn't have it, at least, and I suspect Japan didn't either.
The sheer amount of leaps this entire sidequest requires is only outdone by the lost item sidequest in BW2 and the ORAS remakes, i love it. Every other thing like this in the series usually just has you go a little bit off the beaten path (backtrack to the power plant! go visit these very obvious islands you couldn't access earlier! check out this unlocked dungeon!) this requires navigating a maze, have dive, recognize & translate braille (& this assumes you realize the braille inside is the alphabet), realize you didn't bring relicanth & wailord (+make the assumption you need to bring it to the chamber and reexamine the text), fly out, catch/evolve them, renavigate the maze and then reexamine the text to do ~something mysterious~ that you may/may not even see later.

and good luck growing those stupid berries! They're a 96 hour monstrosity that if you keep up with all the necessary watering will get you...2 berries.

rannum fucked around with this message at 01:16 on Apr 13, 2018

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rannum
Nov 3, 2012

Pokemon Contests are so weirdly intricate relative to how little they (contests in general, but also the specific backend) matter, I can't blame them for simplifying things in Sinnoh & ORAS.

true facts: I messed up a Feebas once because I didn't maximize the beauty of the pokeblock with a pro-beauty nature. Boy was that an annoying waste of time.



agreed
nor did i know you got luxury balls if you did master contests again, or that emerald actually had post-game contestants.

Also something cute is that Jasmine & Pryce can be seen during the appeal rounds.

Pryce is in the far right corner, Jasmine seems front & center holding a pichu. I think there's a Male Pokefan next to pryce, as well.

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