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Pineapple is a Good Boy 
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Jul 17, 2018 22:17
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I like the Eevee options in Gale of Darkness, but I agree with basically everything you said. Espeon and Umbreon were already in Colosseum, so pass. Flareon is not the greatest and is quickly upstaged, so pass. That leaves Vaporeon and Jolteon, who are both good choices. One fun little tidbit in Jolteon's favor is that the call command raises a Pokemon's accuracy by one stage. Thunder's shaky 70 accuracy after a call is buffed to 70*1.33 = 93.1 accuracy. Look no further than Galvantula to know how useful a ~90% accurate Thunder can be.
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Jul 18, 2018 01:24
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I only ever tried XD and I didn't finish, but I chose Flareon because it's not like it matters. You can always play with whatever Pokemon you want in the regular game. It's competitive where suddenly all your faves are PU.
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Jul 18, 2018 02:02
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I used Flareon because I wanted fire coverage this was... https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Flareon_(Pok%C3%A9mon)/Generation_III_learnset#By_leveling_up a mistake
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Jul 18, 2018 02:04
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Yeah Fire Blast/Bite/Body Slam/Protect was the best I could come up with for Flareon, which is fine, but it doesn't scream excitement. Though Jolteon will have Thunderbolt (or Thunder, dunno about a rain strat yet)/Bite/Thunder Wave/Protect, so it's all just whatever, they're all poo poo!
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Jul 18, 2018 02:10
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Being Flareon has always been suffering.
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Jul 18, 2018 03:15
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All this talk about Professor Krane makes me think that the regional professor of this region is The Scarecrow hiding out from Batman in Orre.
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Jul 18, 2018 03:51
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I'm just amused that they had to invent new items to allow Eevee to evolve into Espeon or Umbreon. I wonder how the Sun and Moon shards differ from the Sun and Moon stones.
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Jul 18, 2018 04:13
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It's a good thing the gameplay improved in Gale of Darkness, because this game is such a tonal whiplash from Colosseum. Jovi is extremely obnoxious, and I can't believe I forgot she was even in this game. (Also I miss Wes he didn't look like a total dork)
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Jul 18, 2018 06:55
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Eh, the other NPCs bounce off her appropriately. That counts for a lot in my book.
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Jul 18, 2018 07:33
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Moped vs. giant engine bike is a really great comparison of the games so far, I have to admit.
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Jul 19, 2018 04:37
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Part 3: Arigato Agate Dr. Kaminko's Yard Welcome back, ever get that feeling of deja vu?    CHOBIN is still the only assistant, so CHOBIN has to be the number-one assistant! We'll be fighting Chobin a few more times in this game. Trust me, his team gets better.    Pretty standard battle. Since we're below the third bar, Teddiursa will now gain exp and EVs and all that good stuff. Calling it out of Reverse Mode reduces it by another good chunk, but it depends on the nature. Jolly is +Spd -SpAtk, which is pretty drat good! Too bad we're dropping her next update.  I went too fast last time to gif it, so here it is.   CHOBIN wishes you spoke up right away. Today, JOVI is very busy. JOVI has an important job with JOVI's assistant, big brother. Is that so. But you being here in person now, do have a look at DR. KAMINKO's inventions. You may say anything, but DR. KAMINKO's inventions are number one in the whole wide world! CHOBIN is full of admiration! The DOCTOR's inventions, which are quite fantastic, CHOBIN here has compiled and edited. The video can be viewed anytime on the monitor in the entrance. Stop by and look.     Their mmodus operandi... it feels similar to that incident five years ago. It may be CIPHER. But one can't conclusively say that. Before we get to thinking, your MACHINE PART needs to go. Quickly, deliver that MACHINE PART to the POKEMON HQ LAB.   Who are you?! How long have you been there?! I... I... I'm in the middle of highly important research. I'm quite busy. Now, if you'll excuse me, I ask that you refrain from disturbing me. Oh, I don't know. What JOVI likes best is CHOBIN's googly glasses. Th-these are strictly off-limits. CHOBIN cannot function without them. Extremely, absolutely not. Aww! That's so boring. Alright, enough with the detours, let's deliver the thingymawhosit. Lily's Determination  I found some more MEMOS I wrote up with the DIRECTOR. I think you should have them, DAVID.    You're making me miss audio logs, doc. Ah well, let's give them a read.   The AURA READER's development made it possible to create a workable new SNAG MACHINE. We realized that we could integrate the AURA READER with the original SNAG MACHINE developed by CIPHER. The AURA READER can be made to sound a warning and prevent the SNAG MACHINE from working if a regular, non-SHADOW POKEMMON is targeted. The likelihood of the SNAG MACHINE being abused should be diminished. However, one must always be vigilant. It must be treated with caution! Once captured, SHADOW POKEMON must have their hearts reopened in a process called purification so that they may return to their normal state. The best-known method of purification was to have the SHADOW POKEMON spend time with a TRAINER and allow their hearts to gradually reopen. However, because it required SHADOW POKEMON to be with the TRAINER, this method placed a limit on the number of POKEMON that could be treated. We needed a process for efficiently purifying many SHADOW POKEMON. Our studies led us to the idea of the PURIFY CHAMBER. The PURIFY CHAMBER is a radical new concept that differs from the usual purification method of having SHADOW POKEMON be with a TRAINER constantly. It represents a new approach that places SHADOW POKEMON among regular POKEMON so that they become purified naturally. Much time is still needed to make this concept real. We need to acquire systems, collect data, and make adjustments. We eagerly look forward to seeing the PURIFY CHAMBER concept in operation.  We ran the errand like you wanted, Mommy. A bad guy tried to stop us, but a nice person helped us! Oh, no! Really?! ...I'll get the details later. What about the MACHINE PART?  I should take this down to the PURIFY CHAMBER on the ground floor now. Oh! JOVI will take it! JOVI, are you sure? Don't drop it. JOVI can do it!  Purification progresses if a SHADOW POKEMON spends time together with its TRAINER. Has the HEART GAUGE fallen to zero? No? Oh. But by the time the PURIFY CHAMBER is completed, the HEART GAUGE should be down to zero. If the HEART GAUGE has fallen to zero, that SHADOW POKEMON is ready to open its heart. But that alone isn't enough. To complete the process, the POKEMON needs to go through a purification ceremony. It's basically a ritual for it to return to its natural state.  Because of that, I think your SHADOW POKEMON should go through the purification ceremony using a different process. There is a village called AGATE. In the village is the RELIC STONE which has the power to restore SHADOW POKEMON to their natural state. It worries me to send you to such a far-off place by yourself, dear. But I also think it's something that only you can do. Well, dear? Will you go to AGATE VILLAGE? Thank you. You know, DAVID, I'm so proud of how you're becoming more and more dependable.  I will get in touch with him so that he knows you're coming, DAVID. I will do my best to get the PURIFY CHAMBER finished while you're gone. Please be careful, DAVID. Alright, let's head off to familiar territory! I was just kidding about the just kidding about the just kidding, there are no permenant team members in this game, in fact, we could ignore Jovi for the rest of the game if we wanted. Maybe I'll do that...     Before that, though, you can fight this trainer as soon as you can visit Agate.   Her Pokemon are as weak as the rest of the trainers we fought our first time here, so I have no idea why they did this. Anyway, Teddiursa dropped under two bars, so learns her final move. Since all Shadow Pokemon have two Shadow moves minimum, going under one bar does nothing in this game, aside from making Reverse Mode more common. Neat.   Live your dreams fish.    I thought you were just a kid, but you're not half bad. I'm sure you're going to become one decent TRAINER down the road. Let's battle again sometime. Agate Village  Hey we didn't get distracted much, so here we are, back again. This place hasn't changed at all.   So let's go around and pilfer stuff, starting with this cave!   Aww yeah, early game items!     Now this is some good poo poo, this is a mix of tutor moves from both FRLG and Emerald, so it's definitely worth coming back to this lady on occasion when she adds more moves to the list. Already there's two nice moves in Thunder Wave and Seismic Toss and later there's gonna be some real good ones we can't ignore.   Hopefully battling these guys is gonna be alright, since they're five years older than when we last saw them.    Teddiursa really liked getting into Reverse Mode, so I don't think I'll show all the times she went into it. It was a lot.   Like the previous game, you can rematch most trainers in the game, but like the previous game, I won't really bother.  We don't have the Cologne Case yet, so we can't buy Scents, but while they're still kinda useless, their friendship increase might be useful later on.   Before we visit Eagun's, prizes!   She's referring to the Poochyena, I realized when making screenshots.   The fact that she used it in battle was pretty cute.   I could show more of these battles off, but our opponent's movesets are so bad, I don't want to. Teddiursa now has an empty gauge at least!     Bullet Seed wasn't in the last game, but it, along with a few more TMs, are in this one! I didn't miss it.   Ooh neat, we get a little notification when a Pokemon becomes ready for purification.   Alas, while we will have a Pickup mon in this game, since why not, it uses the Emerald pool of level instead of the flat chance pool of RS. Oh well.   .png) Are you perhaps DAVID? Ah, just as I thought! You are DAVID! We've been expecting you! We got word about you from LILY, you see. We understand that you want to purify SHADOW POKEMON. The instant my husband heard from LILY, why, you should have seen his excitement and enthusiasm. Shouting "This calls for my services!" or some such, he went off running to who knows where. He hasn't come back since.  Oh, hello, dear. Our guest, DAVID, has just arrived. Oh, so you're DAVID! We've been waiting! I'm EAGUN! I've heard everything that LILY had to say. As you know, to purify a SHADOW POKEMON, it must open its heart to the TRAINER. While there are several approaches, battles are the best, no doubt at all! The place to do that here is the RELIC FOREST, which is home to the RELIC STONE. I will go ahead and wait for you there!  In his day, he was hailed as the greatest TRAINER. But that's a long time ago. The cave to the RELIC FOREST is down the slope beside the POKEMON CENTER. Good luck purifying your SHADOW POKEMON! We've still got half of this village to explore, so let's get going.   The Day Care is (or, uh, will be) almost exactly the same as last game, except they no longer accept Shadow Pokemon. That's fine, considering I never used it, but if you didn't hack like me, it at least gave you a seventh slot to purify in the postgame.  We can give our Pokemon nicknames much earlier in this game, though we can only do Eevee at the moment. However, we'll be nicknaming Jolteon, not Eevee, so when we evolve him, he'll get a nickname.    Every time we re-enter Agate Village we can get a berry, same as before. And, same as before, it's the only way to get berries in the Orre region, unless you trade with other games in the postgame. I will probably forget to do this, but it's whatever, I never used any berries last game.  Lots of boxes lying around. PP restoring items are good, since I still don't keep track of that due to the move selection being in the bottom left corner and the PP being just out of my focus in the bottom right corner.    My older brother trained here before, and he became very skilled. I hate losing to him! But when it gets right down to it, the tougher you become. So how about we battle? Yeah, that's what I want to hear! Here goes!  You're just trying to make me feel bad beating up weak babies. Too bad I'm beyond caring about such trivial things.   And since all you do is just use Charm, it's annoying, sure, but it's not something that stops me.     Phew, it'd been an update since we last saw a Pokemon Center, I was getting worried!    And to get a lot tougher... it takes battles! Right? Yahoo! Much obliged, pal!  ...this easiness is a bit excessive for the early game.    Well at least it's entries to the Strategy Memo.  What's down this secret path this time?    You're on! I'm feeling frustrated over getting lost, so I'll take it out on you!  Somehow through this minimal experience, Eevee is getting levels.   I came to have a look at the RELIC STONE, but they won't let me in. And now I can't find my way out of here. I'm about to cry from frustration!   It's just an empty cave, so I dunno what you're talking about mister.   Ah, battles to reduce the heart gauge. This could be a good opportunity to use Poochyena and Ledyba, but these battles are pretty boring, so using my two strongest Pokemon is what I'll do instead. Play that funky music, white boy! Trainer Battle     To open up the closed heart of a SHADOW POKEMON, entering it in battles is effective. That's why you should make SHADOW POKEMON battle whenever possible. I hope your SHADOW POKEMON get purified soon!  This will be your tutorial for how to purify stuff. It's like a beginner Elite Four and Champion! Seriously.      Wasn't that a good battle? I learned something from it, too. Oh, yes. You know how a SHADOW POKEMON sometimes begins behaving strangely in battle? If that happens, calling out to that SHADOW POKEMON is supposed to help.    Well the Pokemon are getting more interesting, if nothing else.    My, you are impressive. That POKEMON should soon open its heart to you. Oh, yes. I should tell you this useful bit of information. I hear that if a POKEMON has a closed heart, it's good to keep it with you. Rather than keeping it in the PC Storage System, you should keep it with you at all times.  Alright, we're good any status that comes our way! Except for Freeze, but we'll have Full Heals by that point anyway.   The legendary TRAINER! EAGUN beat me! But only him! I'm CRON! Now, now! For the sake of your SHADOW POKEMON, we shall have a hot battle! Bring it on!  Ooh, that's interesting. I wonder what the rest of his Pokemon have?   Oh. Nothing much. Well they're still under level 10, so it's to be expected. A lot of them probably don't even have STAB.     It's a case to hold the SCENTS for giving COLOGNE MASSAGES to POKEMON. I'm told a scented COLOGNE MASSAGE helps ease open the hearts of POKEMON. Rub down your POKEMON gently when you use that COLOGNE CASE. Relic Forest  Now I shall be your opponent. And here's my partner. The one POKEMON that I caught as my first... and that has stayed with me ever since. Go, PIKACHU! Off we go to our first battle in five years! Let's keep things tight! This seems like a really bad idea! How the hell are we supposed to beat something this strong???   Oh wait, it's his only Pokemon... and it's really low level. Weird.   And to defeat my PIKACHU... that takes real skill! Now, let's see how your SHADOW POKEMON is doing. Ah, this POKEMON is on the verge of opening its heart to you! You've done a good job looking after it. Now you should use the power of the RELIC STONE to finally open that SHADOW POKEMON's heart completely.  Wow, towards the end of the third update is when we can purify Shadow Pokemon for the first time, instead of in the sixth update for Colosseum. That's pretty nice, though it feels like we've barely done anything so far. At least that's gonna change pretty soon.     Let's get our final two moves, one great, one poo poo (why is Refresh on nearly everything?) and get all of this lovely exp.    Like before, it'll level up one by one and then evolve, so you might miss an important move at evolution, but it's not a massive deal like before, as we'll see soon.   We get the ribbon from the last game and we'll give this teddy a nickname later, since I need to do some recording before I stop for thread submissions!   lol whoops, sometimes a certain texture won't load. It's pretty rare, I'm surprised it didn't happen while I was recording Colosseum, but hopefully this is the only time we see it. Agate Village  You see, he was a frequent visitor to AGATE up to several years ago. He was conducting extensive research into the RELIC STONE, you see. He said that it was for completing an entirely new purifying system that his friend thought up. I wonder where the kidnappers have made off with PROF. KRAME. It must be worrisome for you, too. About that abduction, dear... didn't you need to mention what VANDER saw? Hm? Ah, yes! That's right! I needed to tell you about VANDER. We have a friend by the name of VANDER who lives on MT. BATTLE, which is a place of training for TRAINERS. VANDER claims to have seen sinister characters out in the desert, where few people dare to tread.  You should speak with VANDER in person for details. MT. BATTLE is to the northeast of this village. VANDER is an AREA LEADER on MT. BATTLE, so you should have no trouble finding him. For someone so young, you've already shown yourself to be admirable. You have the air of someone who is about to accomplish great things. Oh, dear, I'm sorry. The instincts of an old woman like me aren't anything you could trust.  His second ever pen pal. Hohoho.   Teddiursa just got a nice boost, so she'll be more useful until we get our second team member. Which will eventually happen, I promise. Maybe we might encounter some Shadow Pokemon next update? Seems unlikely, but hey, you never know.  Next time, we're finally out of tutorial mode and the gloves come off. Well, one glove comes off. Don't wanna have too much difficulty now!
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Jul 21, 2018 05:48
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I forgot how slowly this game starts out; I find it very frustrating having every fight be against underlevelled useless things. That and  for days. I like this game a lot once it gets going, but there's really something to be said for how Colosseum started out by comparison.Crosspeice posted:Every time we re-enter Agate Village we can get a berry, same as before. And, same as before, it's the only way to get berries in the Orre region, unless you trade with other games in the postgame. I will probably forget to do this, but it's whatever, I never used any berries last game. There are actually also a handful of (pretty good!) berries you can get as prizes in one of the side modes that opens up later. This is still the only unlimited source of berries though, we can't grow them or anything. Also, the Teacher Lady will actually have some really interesting moves on offer later. Some of the things she can teach certain mons are completely unique and can't be gotten anywhere else in the series (much like the exclusive moves they get on purification, though why are so many of them Refresh?!). And it's really easy to forget she's there... Edit: Oops posted this missing the paragraph about berries, hopefully it makes more sense now. Explopyro fucked around with this message at 21:13 on Jul 21, 2018 |
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Jul 21, 2018 18:40
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Teddiursa is cute and strong and you should be using it for the whole game. This opening is much more like a standard Pokemon game opening: run errands, get your first couple Pokemon, etc. I can't help but feel the game suffers for not having the dynamic opening of the previous game.
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Jul 21, 2018 19:00
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Seriously did not remember just how slowly the trainers ramped up
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Jul 21, 2018 19:03
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Crosspeice posted:Alright, let's head off to familiar territory! I was just kidding about the just kidding about the just kidding, there are no permenant team members in this game, in fact, we could ignore Jovi for the rest of the game if we wanted. Maybe I'll do that... Oh thank goodness. Seeing her and CHOBIN interact with each of them constantly spouting their names was driving me up a wall.
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Jul 21, 2018 20:32
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Verant posted:Oh thank goodness. Seeing her and CHOBIN interact with each of them constantly spouting their names was driving me up a wall. JOVI doesn't appreciate your lack of appreciation for JOVI.
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Jul 21, 2018 21:16
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Solumin posted:Teddiursa is cute and strong and you should be using it for the whole game. That's true, but I ended up replaying XD more than Colosseum, due to QoL stuff, better distribution of 'mons, easier (and earlier!) purification, and a more coherent story. For better and worse it feels more like a mainline Pokemon game in terms of pacing and level curve.
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Jul 21, 2018 21:42
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Part 4: Early Game Late Game Mt. Battle Reception  Oh goody, Mt. Battle is still in this game. Well let's go.    Back then, I only sought to become more powerful. I didn't need any other reason. As a result, I attained this status. But now, I've taken to questioning my motive for gaining power. I wonder what I'm fighting for. I ponder if I am putting my POKEMON under cruel stress... That's why I urge you to look into yourself. Ask yourself why you want to become stronger before you take that path.  Something to think about. You know, if Pokemon were actually real. But they're not, so I'll do what I want. Anyway, I'm sorry to say that Mt. Battle is basically identical to the last game, so I'm not gonna show it off at all, just refer to the Mt. Battle update in Colosseum. Though there are a couple things here and there to go over when the time comes.   We've still got the Move Deleter, though with no HMs there's not much use for him, but he's always useful.     New to this place is the Move Reminder, a very useful addition, though because you need Pokecoupons depending on the move you want to relearn, it's not as easy as Heart Scales, or Mushrooms in the main series. Thankfully, there are other ways to obtain Pokecoupons in this game, so relearning moves is absolutely possible. Also, it's very much worth your time going through Mt. Battle, since completing an area also gets you a TM, some of which we will definitely be using on the team.    The prize list is nearly the same, though Double Team has been swapped out for Shadow Ball. Psychic, Ice Beam, Thunderbolt and Flamethrower are still here, buuuuuuuuuut EVERY TM you can find here can also be obtained during the main game, so you don't need to save up for these TMs if you don't want to. This will make a lot of Pokemon much easier to use, so with all of these options, there's so much more variety in movesets compared to the last game.   .png) Oh? You're not here to train? You came to see VANDER, one of our AREA LEADERS? Actually, VANDER is in charge of the rookie training session. He's inside right now. If you're in a hurry, you may enter through here. Mt. Battle So begins our climb up Mt. Battle. Again. Okay, we're not actually climbing it, but I will. Offscreen. And not using the main team, since that'd make things too easy.   We're facing against people who have probably never been in a Pokemon battle before. You monsters.   With Teddiursa all fired up, the easy early game just got even easier.    VANDER is teaching some rookie TRAINERS in a zone up ahead.   So, I hold a POKEBALL in my right hand like this... oh, forget it! I'll just try instead of thinking about it!   Fuckin bubbles!   You're way too strong to be training in AREA 1! Huh? You came to see VANDER? Oh, no wonder! I think VANDER is still teaching out here. You may even see him in the next ZONE.   Oh? Are you a battle challenger? I hate to disappoint you, but we're not running the challenge right now. We're in training, you see. Oh? EAGUN sent you to see me? Oh, to hear about the desert! Understood! I'll be happy to give you my account. But before I do that, I've got a little request. Just on appearance, you look to be an outstanding TRAINER. I'm certain my eyes aren't deceiving me. So, here's my request. To finish up my novice TRAINER's session, I'd like you to treat him to a battle! Thank you for training with me!    Anytime, pal.  Why, it made me want to jump in and join the fray, too. Anyways, we should talk. But this isn't the place for that. Let's go back to reception.    Oh hey we're going back to the Shadow Pokemon Lab. Well we did so pretty early in the previous game, but couldn't get in until much later.   Oh that's convenient. We're gonna need a lot of Pokeballs. But first, we need to prep for the first proper dungeon of the game.    Now that he's at level 15, we need to evolve Eevee, otherwise we'll miss out on a STAB move at level 16 for the evolution! It's not often we get a fully evolved Pokemon on our team this early, but it's for the best.   Having early paralysis for Shadow Pokemon captures is fantastic as well!   Since we can buy Pokeballs, we can also get Premier Balls. Very handy, since I like my ball variety.   Finally, it's nickname time for both Jolteon and Teddiursa.     Oh I'm loving this name already. Thanks to BlackPersona for the nickname!   And then our Pickup friend. Thanks to Black Robe for the nickname! Let's go to the lab.   Well this place has seen better days. Oh hey, is that Verde? Hexagon Brothers    One! Two! Three! Four! Five!  Sound off! One! Two! Three! Four! Five! ...see! What did I say again? There is someone missing! But anyway, enough. He'll return soon enough, I'm sure. What we need to do, Brothers, is this: lock and load on this suspicious kid!  We've been away a while, but this here real estate's belonged to CIPHER for many a year! If you don't quit scurrying about, we'll have to tell your mommy. If you don't want that to happen, then run along home! All right, then. I'll play with you to while away the time if you want. All right! Bring it on! Cipher Peon Battle  I dunno how these games make fantastic antagonists, but I hope they never stop. Anyway, to show how this game compares to Colosseum, when we faced the three Cipher Peons with Johto starters, we could only get one until the postgame. Here, we can fight all six Hexagon Brothers and snag all six of their Shadow Pokemon. Starting, of course, with our second team member.   Since Houndour is super fragile, but can really kick our butt, we gotta be careful.   The Hexagon Brothers have 2-6 Pokemon, depending on the brother, so fights can be super quick, or weirdly long. Resix only has two Pokemon.   I need to catch Houndour in this Premier Ball, since we can get every member of our team in a different Pokeball, which is what I care about. If it had broken out, it would've been a reset, but thankfully not.   Houndour, 120 catch rate (62%, low health, paralyzed, Pokeball), starting moves: Shadow Blitz/Faint Attack, Shadow Shed/Charm, Ember, Roar I hope you're ready for a Shadow Pokemon rush, they've been bumped up in level to 17 to help you out in the coming dungeon, and I'm starting off with the best one, since Houndour has great SpAtk, Speed and type coverage to really damage a lot of foes. It evolves pretty early and doesn't learn much aside from Bite, but that's really all it needs, those two types compliment each other really well. The best Dark move it'll learn is Bite, alas, as Crunch is way after you finish the game, unless you want the perfect accuracy of Faint Attack. It can go with Flamethrower or Fire Blast and even Solarbeam if you go for the sunshine combo (probably won't this time around). It can do some damage with its physical moves, like Body Slam and Shadow Ball, for some coverage, but it'll need Protect to stick around to deal lots of damage. It'll also rely on Ember for a while, but it had the stats to definitely leave its mark.   Alright, thanks for your time, Roosevelt, but now you're gonna stay in the back for the rest of the game! It'll be a little bit until we get our final team member after all.   I hope you weren't expecting us to actually go into the Lab in this update.   Blusix has 3 Water types, which might be a problem for Houndour, but Shadow moves are pretty good to deal with that.   We're gonna see some interesting choices for Shadow Pokemon. This is definitely the earliest you can use a Spheal.   The main challenge is whittling down the Shadow Pokemon, since the other Pokemon are getting stronger, but they're not there just yet.    Ooh, a new move. Shadow Wave is a 50BP special move with 100% accuracy that damages both opponents. It would be pretty nasty on Pokemon with high SpAtk, but that doesn't dictate what Shadow Pokemon gets what Shadow Moves, Houndour is an example of that, since it has Shadow Blitz. Special Shadow moves are less dangerous since they (mostly) target both opponents and never get as strong as physical moves, nor are as numerous.   Spheal, 255 catch rate (100%, low health, paralyzed, Pokeball), starting moves: Shadow Wave/Aurora Beam, Shadow Mist/Charm, Water Gun, Mud Slap This orb of glee is a pretty good mixed attacker that learns some cool moves (heh!), but since Surf isn't in this game, it'll be relying on its Ice STAB to do the most damage, since the best Water move you'll get is Water Pulse. It's fine, but Water types are kinda tricky to use in this game because of that. It'll be tough to actually use throughout most of the game since it evolves so late and doesn't really have the stats to be as it is for 15 levels. Still, it gets good enough moves that it shouldn't be a problem, probably, from Body Slam to Earthquake to Rock Tomb. Oh, right, it doesn't learn any other special moves, but hey, you don't need to tutor it Body Slam at least. If you're curious how this Pokemon might work if you could catch it early... it's fine, but it's a bit trickier to use in this game due to slightly more limited options.   Onto the orange looking fellow.   Browsix only has 2 Pokemon and makes me want brownies. Uh, anyway, he actually uses Normal Pokemon, but has a Shadow Baltoy for some reason.   Ah finally, some STAB. You definitely don't wanna miss this.   Thankfully this thing is bulky enough to survive a hit like that. Good thing I didn't make a savestate for it, haha.   Baltoy, 255 catch rate (99%, low health, Pokeball), starting moves: Shadow Blitz/Rock Tomb, Shadow Mist/Refresh, Mud Slap, Psybeam While Spheal was okay since it took forever to evolve, Baltoy also has that problem and really doesn't deal much damage in return. It's pretty well suited for double battles, with Levitate, STAB Earthquake and screens, but man it is a chore getting it to that point. 40 for both offenses is really not something you want to be carrying around for most of the game, but if you can get it to that point, it gets great defenses and a pretty drat good movepool. You start off with some nice moves, even coverage in, ugh, Rock Tomb, but you can go for anything from Shadow Ball, to Ice Beam, to Double-Edge and even Selfdestruct. It can be a good damage sponge, only really disliking Surf and can set up screens no problem. It's just, you know, it doesn't really do a lot of damage and that's where I get biased.   Alright, we're halfway done. Honestly, you wait a whole update for a Shadow Pokemon and then six come at once.   drat, I was hoping it'd have Illuminate. Yellosix has 3 Pokemon, with the last two brothers having 4 and 6 Pokemon, respectively. They're the only ones to not share a Pokemon amount with the others.    Hope you didn't spend a lot of time and money on getting that Shadow Mareep in Colosseum, cause here it is in XD! Shame it wasn't Electrike, I do like variety in my Shadow mons and this is far from the last time we'll see a (near) repeat.   Should be easy enough to catch, we'll just whittle it down.  Aren't crits just grrrrrrrrrreat? Shadow Pokemon Resets:   Alright, better to get the crits out of the way early.   Mareep, 235 catch rate (78%, low health, Pokeball), starting moves: Shadow Blitz/Body Slam, Shadow Shed/Heal Bell, Thundershock, Thunder Wave Oh hey it's this thing, while we didn't specifically use Mareep last game, we used Flaaffy, so we basically used Mareep, since it'll evolve when you purify it. Now this time we get Body Slam to actually use against Ground types, instead of it being stuck with Electric attacks. You'll also get Thunderpunch when you evolve into Ampharos at the right level instead of missing it completely, but you'll have to teach it Thunderbolt or Thunder or whatever. You'll also need Brick Break and Protect, but yeah, what worked before works now. It's perfectly fine to use, it just hasn't really changed all that much.   Guess what, this guy uses Poison types. Woah!   Now that Pineapple has STAB again, he can do a lot more damage.   Ah good, I was wondering when Reverse Mode would show up aga- DID THAT JUST REDUCE HIS BAR BY A FULL GAUGE?   Oh hey, something else I've used. Though this was in a separate playthrough I did for Ruby. Man, I really did play 3 full games for my Emerald LP...   Houndour has also gotten a STAB move and a nature that's... +Atk -Def. Hmm, that's not great, but at least it wasn't Impish.   Gulpin, 225 catch rate (100%, low health, paralyzed, Pokeball), starting moves: Shadow Blitz/Shock Wave, Shadow Hold/Sing, Sludge, Toxic Before it swallows you whole, Gulpin is a weird Pokemon to use, any Poison type in this game that doesn't learn Sludge Bomb isn't all that great since the TM is postgame. So since Gulpin won't get it until nearly the end of the game otherwise naturally, it won't be blowing you away with power. Still, as a mixed attacker that can learn all kinds of special moves, you can give it Water Pulse, Ice Beam, Shadow Ball, Selfdestruct and Giga Drain and it'll do pretty well. It'll need Protect to dodge Earthquakes and can't utilize Return, since that's also postgame, but Body Slam will be a good option also. But, like Baltoy, it's better suited for defense, but doesn't really get the strong moves it needs to start putting dents in stuff. Oh well, it's perfectly fine, just not amazing. Oh yeah, make sure it has Liquid Ooze, Sticky Hold won't be seeing any use.     Alright, onto the final brother. I think we're more than ready for 6 Pokemon.   Should be pretty easy with Houndour here.   ...well at least we've got Pineapple.   Greesix doesn't have 6 Grass types, since he's also got a Pineco. Little cheater.   Please do keep going into Reverse Mode, it's ridiculously profitable.   Seedot, 255 catch rate (100%, low health, paralyzed, Pokeball), starting moves: Shadow Wave/Giga Drain, Shadow Hold/Refresh, Bullet Seed, Secret Power It's an acorn and it's pretty alright. XD has more than just Eevee evolving by stones, there's a good few evolutions like that, though choosing when to evolve Nuzleaf is the key. It starts off with some alright moves, though double Grass is a bit excessive, you at least get Giga Drain a lot earlier than normal. If you evolve Seedot before 19, then you'll get Fake Out, a great move for doubles and then when you learn Faint Attack at 31, you're free to evolve it to Shiftry, since a Leaf Stone is found in this very area. Oh yeah, moves it can learn. It's a better physical attacker, so you've got Shadow Ball, Brick Break, Body Slam and Selfdestruct to work with. It's not worth keeping Nuzleaf around til the end of the game for Extrasensory, just evolve it. And if you can get the sun going, then you'll be super fast with Cholorophyll, Early Bird just isn't that useful in comparison. Sure, its STAB moves aren't all that great and it has a lot of weaknesses, but Seedot is okay.     We'll refresh our healing items and stuff and get ready to now, properly, go into the Cipher Lab.    This side bit only has a couple items, it's completely optional. Like five of the Hexagon Brothers, you only need to fight one to enter the lab and we can rematch them basically instantly, so battle them whenever you please.  One! Two! Three! Four! Five! Six! Seven! Eight! ...wait. Eight? Now there's too many of us! Hmm! Brothers, beware! There may be spies among us! Hey, look. It's that kid again! Let's just, uh, leave them to it. Cipher Lab  Well the entrance is wide open, but of course there's going to be plenty of Cipher Peons on the ceiling. Bet their heads twist round when they notice you.    Compared to how the game has gone so far, the Cipher Lab can be a bit tough, there's a lot of trainers and they're even starting to catch up to us in levels!   Sure, we've gone through this place twice before, but five years later, while the layout is the same, we'll be going around it a bit differently. One way doors are still a thing though, grumble.  Sigh... I wish we'd finish up with this research and get out from this dank underground warren. Wah! Who are you?! Where'd you get in from?!   Doesn't mean the fights get all that much more interesting. We're still very much early game.   We'll probably forget about this guy by next update.   Hmm, both these ways are blocked. So does that mean...?   Yep, we're going through this place backwards. Ain't that just crazy?     Let's go fight Ein.  He might be the authority on purification, but if he won't talk, our work's not going anywhere. Wah! What are you doing there?  Huh, that's the first time I've seen a non-Ground type use that move while an Electric type is out in a LONG time.    Alright, we'll get a Data Rom from this place one way or another. Now where the heck is that Earthquake TM?   You know what we haven't seen in a while? A Shadow Pokemon.   Oh well ain't that convenient.   Spinarak, 255 catch rate (100%, low health, paralyzed, Pokeball), starting moves: Shadow Blitz/Dig, Shadow Mist/Refresh, Signal Beam, Night Shade Okay, we know this Pokemon won't be very good, but hey, Ariados was kinda usable due to Sludge Bomb, so what about here? Oh, no Sludge Bomb. However, we've got Signal Beam, so our best STAB move won't be Leech Life until postgame. But man that's still kinda rough. At least there's other physical attacks to go for like, uh, Dig and Body Slam. I guess there's special moves in Giga Drain and Psychic, but if only this mon got Sludge Bomb, then it would be just fine. As it is, ehhhhhhhhhhhhhh, probably not. You had your chance to use this line, now it's gone.   Hmm, I could go back to Agate and purify Houndour... but we don't have a nickname for it yet (you guys didn't even know I was gonna use one until this update!) and backtracking is a pain. Let's press on.   This will be helpful, having Revives is always nice and our team is, how you say, pretty fuckin physically fragile.   You've got to be joking! I would never cooperate with people like you! Oh, but why? I so don't get it! Why would you refuse an offer so wonderful as this? I don't care how often you repeat yourself. I have no intention of helping your SHADOW POKEMON plan. Artificially slamming shut the hearts of POKEMON... it's inexcusable. Put a stop to it immediately. Oh, you! You are so mean and closed-minded! You won't even try to understand how marvelous it is to help my XD001! NAPS! Yes'm! Sister LOVRINA! This is all so your fault! PROF. KRANE is oh so cross because you were so rude when you invited him here! You can't be serious. Listen to the man already! He's been saying all along that he won't help our SHADOW POKEMON plan... I can't hear you! The plan is perfect! ...XD001's condition was off by just a little tiny bit. Being off by just a litle tiny bit is enough to make it drop a ship? And would you look at the uproar... NAPS! It's so all your fault what happened, every tiny little bit! So... you so do something about it!  You put a lid on it! When it comes right down to it, it's so all your fault. Come on, help us with XD001! First, we need to talk. I'll teach you why it's such a bad mistake to create SHADOW POKEMON. Well the Prof seems alright, but is the boss of this place some weird girl? Can't be any weirder than previous Cipher heads, I suppose.   Sometimes it feels like you only go five steps before another Peon pounces on you.    Man, could you imagine a Shadow Bagon?   Well, this ain't a bad choice either.   Numel, 255 catch rate (99%, low health, Pokeball), starting moves: Shadow Blitz/Take Down, Shadow Shed/Charm, Dig, Ember While it's slow and steady, it can easily win with the race with excellent STAB and good stats. Protect is a must on something very weak to Surf and Earthquake, with Fire Blast, Earthquake and Rock Slide to round the rest of it out. Pretty simple, but those are some great moves. However, you'll be relying on Ember or Dig/Magnitude for most of Numel's time, since it'll be a bit before it evolves. Under the sun, this mon is quite a monster, but it can't do much else aside from Body Slam and Selfdestruct and then Eruption in the endgame. It will definitely take a hit before it goes, but it can very easily do some damage afterward.  Bah. Thankfully there's no alarm of any kind in this game. Another reason why it's better than Colosseum.   But hey, we've reached this healing machine and, indeed, the halfway point of this place. Next time, we've got a Professor to save, an item to get from that box, and a new team member to obtain!
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Jul 22, 2018 21:49
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Alright, it feels like we're getting somewhere. Let's get a nickname for our newest addition! And since we need to wait to purify a new team member, we can wait to nickname our third team member until next update. Also, BrightWing has been knocked out! Good job on guessing the Colosseum resets at least.
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Jul 22, 2018 21:50
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Doomguy the Houndour. XD really likes giving things Dig and Refresh.
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Jul 22, 2018 22:00
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I used that Spheal, Gulpin and Seedot. It worked better than it feels, but sealeo & seedot both have pretty rough midgames. I also kept Sing on gulpin. Boy was relying on 55% accurate sleep for capture assistance a mistake! There's a lot of interesting names going on here but seriously one of the characters is named Naps
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Jul 22, 2018 22:14
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Hades the Houndour.
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Jul 22, 2018 22:18
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You know what Naps the houndour
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Jul 22, 2018 22:21
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Cu Sith the Houndour.
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Jul 22, 2018 22:31
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How about Dalmatian? Since, you know, it's a fire dog. I've used Spheal in this game before and it's honestly kind of rough. It'll get the job done, but it's stuck unevolved for so long and you really feel the lack of decent Water STAB (especially when Surf is so good in doubles) on top of that, so it tends to feel like the weak team member you're feeding EXP for most of the game. There aren't many options for Water types, though, and when it finally evolves it's at least got pretty solid bulk. Too bad you're in the endgame then.
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Jul 22, 2018 22:35
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He's obviously a Hotdog. Full food name team let's go.
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Jul 22, 2018 22:48
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The gender is wrong but nonetheless Houndour should still be Ailyth.
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Jul 22, 2018 22:50
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I like Hotdog
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Jul 22, 2018 23:15
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Hotdog time
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Jul 22, 2018 23:27
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Pup, You ain't nothin' but a houndog
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Jul 22, 2018 23:55
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Pineapple doesn't go on pizza, but man does it go on HotDogs
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Jul 23, 2018 00:45
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BlackPersona posted:Pineapple doesn't go on pizza, but man does it go on HotDogs Hotdog is the best boy.
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Jul 23, 2018 03:32
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Blaze Dragon posted:The gender is wrong but nonetheless Houndour should still be Ailyth. I support this choice.
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Jul 23, 2018 03:48
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Gonna offer Updog though the other suggestions are great as well.
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Jul 23, 2018 06:17
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Hotdog 
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Jul 23, 2018 06:44
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that dude at Mount Battle posted:Back then, I only sought to see everything in the game. I didn't need any other reason. As a result, I attained this status. But now, I've taken to questioning my motive for completionism. I wonder what I'm doing it for. I ponder if I am putting my LPer under cruel stress... That's why I urge you to look into yourself. Ask yourself why you want Crosspiece to grind before you take that path. I'm glad you're bringing A Good Boy on your quest.
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Jul 23, 2018 07:40
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I see the writing on the wall, but I'm still voting Cerberus. I have always liked Houndour and never found a generation where I could put one on my team. Maybe in Gen 8, man.
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Jul 23, 2018 07:48
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I think this game is also the earliest you can use a Hondour as well.
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Jul 23, 2018 08:10
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I just want a picture of a god dang Hotdog.
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Jul 23, 2018 14:17
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