Pokemon Megathread 6.0: You'd have to have mega stones to not play this.

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Pokemon Megathread 6.0: You'd have to have mega stones to not play this.

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Hammerite: Mar 9, 2007; And you don't remember what I said here, either, but it was pompous and stupid.; Jade Ear Joe

NEW THREAD: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3787114&pagenumber=1

Introduction

Welcome goon! This is the Pok�mon megathread!

Pok�mon is a JRPG for the Nintendo 3DS. Unlike most RPGs though, in Pok�mon your party members are cute (and sometimes not-so-cute) monsters that you caught, tamed, and trained to battle. Each Pok�mon can learn a variety of skills (called moves) and has a special ability (a special rule or power which allows it to bend or break the normal rules of the game in some way). Different Pok�mon species also have different strengths and weaknesses (some are physically stronger than others, for example, and some are faster or bulkier) and different elemental types (sending out a Fire-type Pok�mon against a Water-type opponent is typically a no-no, for reasons anybody can probably understand).

The objective of the game is to travel from town to town, defeating other trainers in battle, collecting a variety of Pok�mon and earning Gym Badges before eventually defeating the best trainers in the land: the Elite Four and the Champion. But once you've done that, there's so much more you can do! Pok�mon is nothing if not social, and this has become only more true over time as players have gained more ways to connect to one another, world-wide. You can trade with other players and try to put together a complete collection of Pok�mon (sure to take you a while, given that there are more than 700 in existence, many of them with multiple different forms to keep track of). Or you can try to be the very best, like no-one ever was, and destroy all-comers in PvP battles. Or you can just potter around watering berries in your garden. Or you can hang out, chat, and make and/or share artwork. There are many facets to Pok�mon, and each of them has its devotees.

Here in the megathread we like playing Pok�mon and talking about playing Pok�mon. You can also join us in #pokegoons and #smogoff on SynIRC (irc.synirc.net)!

Merci to Stalgren for always posting pictures, so I can be super lazy and just reuse them for the OP.

The next 4 posts are also part of the OP

Things that are new or different in Generation 6
In-depth guides written by other posters (including a helpful guide to getting into the game for newbies)
General FAQ
Breeding/Competitive Battling FAQ

Handy links

Pok�dexes and general reference sites: Bulbapedia, Legendary Pok�mon, Marriland, Psypokes, Serebii, Veekun
Sites focussed on battling discussion: Nugget Bridge, Smogon

New type chart
Map of Lumiose City (PNG image)
The Pok�mon Global Link

Other Pok�mon-related threads on SA

The trading thread
The Goonleague thread (goon tournaments!)
Thread for the Pok�mon Trading Card Game Online
The previous megathread

Hammerite fucked around with this message at 20:50 on Aug 19, 2016

# ¿ Oct 11, 2013 14:25

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# ¿ May 12, 2024 07:31

Hammerite: Mar 9, 2007; And you don't remember what I said here, either, but it was pompous and stupid.; Jade Ear Joe

Things that are new or different in Generation 6

New Pok�mon - This generation has the fewest new Pok�mon out of any generation so far. So far 69* have been officially revealed, but of course there are some secret legendary Pok�mon that haven't been revealed yet. These will no doubt be revealed later and distributed to promote Pok�mon movies.
_{*Not including mega evolutions - see below.}

New features

Pok�mon-Amie - You can now pet your Pok�mon and feed them candies using the 3DS's touchscreen. Playing with your Pok�mon makes them friendlier and may make them perform better in battle (only in normal in-game battles; not in link battles or in the Battle Maison).
Fashions - You can now dress up your avatar in different outfits! You get access to more articles of clothing as you progress in the single-player quest. Pok�mon Centres now have changing rooms where you can change into different outfits. You can save up to 6 outfits as your favourites. You also get to choose your skin and hair colour (well, you get to choose between three shades, anyway).
Super Training - If you know and care what EVs are: These are minigames that allow you to build up and/or reset your Pok�mon's EVs by training with them. If you don't know or care about EVs: These are some fun minigames you can play with your Pok�mon.
New online connectivity features - Friend Safari is a neat new feature where you can go to a little garden and catch Pok�mon based on the Friend Codes of people you have added as friends. Each Friend Code is used by the game to determine 3 Pok�mon which will appear in that person's Friend Safari. These Pok�mon sometimes include the starter Pok�mon from generations 1 and 6. Pok�mon encountered will sometimes have their Hidden Abilities. (Until the person has beaten the game and accessed Friend Safari themselves, and then gone online at the same time as you, you'll only be able to find 2 of their 3 Pok�mon, and Pok�mon in their Friend Safari will never have their Hidden Abilities.)
Battles are in 3D - Well, the whole game has gone 3D in terms of the art direction. No more sprites, except in some menu screens. Only the battle scenes use the 3DS's 3D imaging functionality.

Other main game differences

Longer names - Your trainer name, and your Pok�mon's nicknames, can now be up to 12 characters in length.
Berry farming is back - We can now farm berries on the 3DS again! You get a little garden where you can grow berries. To ensure that you get a good yield, be sure to water them occasionally and protect them from wild Bug-type Pok�mon who want to eat them. (Berry trees are also found in the wild, but they just drop specific berries occasionally, and can't be replaced.)
Experience changes - Experience has been simplified. Instead of the experience points from fainting an opponent being split amongst the Pok�mon that took part, each Pok�mon just gets the full amount of Exp. However, the level scaling from Generation 5 is gone (a level 5 Pok�mon in your party and a level 50 Pok�mon in your party once again get the same amount of experience when the opponent faints). The Exp. Share is now a key item that can be turned on or off. When it is on, even those Pok�mon that did not battle get experience, but only half as much as the Pok�mon that did battle. Finally, your Pok�mon gain experience when you capture a wild Pok�mon, just as though you had fainted it.
Breeding changes - Hidden Abilities can now be passed down from either parent, even when breeding with Ditto. (They are still more likely to be passed down when the mother has her Hidden Ability, however.) Also, both parents can now contribute Egg Moves. An existing item, Destiny Knot, now has a function in breeding; when held by either parent, it increases the number of IVs passed down from 3 to 5. (The IVs do not necessarily come from the parent holding the Destiny Knot. If the other parent holds a power item, then the stat corresponding to the held power item will be one of the 5 IVs passed down; at least one IV is always randomly determined.)
The Pok� Radar is back - The Pok� Radar was a neat device available in the Sinnoh games that allowed you to "chain" wild Pok�mon encounters and eventually find shiny Pok�mon. It's available once again in Kalos. It's been made less effective though, because finding a shiny Pok�mon will end your chain. It's also a bit harder to use than it was in Sinnoh, because the patches of long grass are generally smaller.

Battle strategy differences

Mega evolutions - A number of Pok�mon from previous generations have gained special battle-only forms known as "mega evolutions". These forms generally have better stats, a better ability, and/or different typing. There are some catches: to "mega evolve", a Pok�mon has to be holding a special item (specific to its species), and only one Pok�mon on your team may mega evolve in a given battle. (Some Pok�mon even have two different mega evolutions, triggered by different items.) Mega evolution occurs at the beginning of a turn when you choose to trigger it, and the Pok�mon still gets to act that turn. If a mega-evolved Pok�mon switches out, it will still be mega-evolved when it switches back in, but it will revert to normal when the battle ends. Mega evolution cannot be undone, save by ending the battle.
The Fairy type - The type chart expands from 17 to 18 types with the addition of Fairy. Some new Pok�mon are Fairy-type, but a bunch of Pok�mon from previous generations have been made Fairy-type as well; the same is true for moves. Fairy-type moves do super-effective damage to Dark-, Dragon- and Fighting-types, and not-very-effective damage to Fire-, Poison- and Steel-types. Fairy-types take super-effective damage from Poison- and Steel-type moves, and not-very-effective damage from Bug-, Dark- and Fighting-type moves. They are immune to Dragon-type moves.
Tweaks to the type chart - Steel has lost its resistances to Dark- and Ghost-type moves.
Typing immunities - Some Pok�mon types can now ignore certain moves and game mechanics. Electric-types cannot be paralysed. Grass-types are unaffected by attacks that involve the use of powders or spores. Ghost-types are unaffected by "trapping" moves (Mean Look, Fire Spin, etc.) and abilities (Arena Trap, Shadow Tag). As before, Poison- and Steel-types cannot be poisoned, and Fire-types cannot be burned.
Changes to critical hits - Critical hits now only boost damage by 50%, rather than doubling it as before. They still ignore defending stat buffs on the defender and attacking stat debuffs on the attacker. Some of the mechanisms that allow you to increase the likelihood of critical hits (for example Focus Energy) have been buffed to increase it more than they did previously.
Changes to weather - Weather conditions induced by Pok�mon abilities now expire after 5 turns, as with the moves that induce weather. This can be extended to 8 turns using the appropriate hold items.
Changes to moves - Defog is good now, because it affects both sides of the battlefield. Hidden Power is now always 60 base power, and only varies in type. It still cannot be Normal-type, and now it cannot be Fairy-type either. Will-O-Wisp has had its accuracy increased to 85%. The elemental Pledge moves (Fire Pledge, Grass Pledge and Water Pledge) have had their base power increased substantially, from 50 to 80, and so they might be usable in Doubles and Triples now.
Tweaks to moves' base power - Several high-power moves (Blizzard, Hurricane, Hydro Pump, Thunder, and others) have been nerfed slightly, having had their base power cut by 10. Some other moves that have historically been staples of competitive battling (Flamethrower, Ice Beam, Surf, Thunderbolt) have been reduced from 95 to 90. Meanwhile, Energy Ball has been adjusted upwards from 80 to 90, to meet these moves.
New Pok�mon, moves, abilities, and hold items - As with any new generation, a bunch of new stuff is available to try out. Interesting new Pok�mon from a strategic point of view include Aegislash (which swaps between a heavily defensive form and an attacking form depending on the moves you use) and Klefki (a new Prankster 'mon). Some older Pok�mon that previously had only one regular ability now have two. Interesting new hold items include the Assault Vest and the Weakness Policy.

Mini-FAQ for the topics in this post

Can the boy player character wear girls' clothes? - No. Different articles of clothing are available to the boy and girl player characters.
Has Stealth Rock been changed? - No (although there are more answers to it now, since Defog has been buffed so as to actually be useful).
Can you auto-level to level 100 in Wi-Fi battles? - No, but you can auto-level to level 50. Even for 6v6 battles! (This was unfortunately missing in Generation 5.)
Is movement still on a grid? - When walking or runnng, movement is still on a grid, although now you can move diagonally. When rollerblading, cycling or surfing, movement is not constrained to the grid. When you go back to walking, you step onto the nearest grid square.
Can I use the Pok� Radar in a Friend Safari? - No.

Hammerite fucked around with this message at 18:55 on Feb 24, 2014

# ¿ Oct 11, 2013 14:26

Hammerite: Mar 9, 2007; And you don't remember what I said here, either, but it was pompous and stupid.; Jade Ear Joe

This post has some in-depth guides written by other posters. They are:

A guide to picking up the game, written for newbies and people who haven't played for a while. (by Bongo Bill)
A guide to the Pok�mon Global Link. (by horriblePencilist)

In addition to the guides presented in this post, helpful goons have written some other guides to specific features. In an effort to make the OP less imposing I've just linked them, instead of reproducing them here:

A guide to Pok�mon-Amie. (by Onean)
A guide to the "time machine method" for breeding. (by ZenMasterBullshit)
A guide to breeding "studs" in every Egg Group. (by Zoran)

-----

I bought (X, Y, Black 2, White 2, ...) but I'm new to the series, and I feel lost. Help? (Newbie guide)

quote:

How to Enjoy Pok�mon Like it's 1998: A Guide for Newcomers and Lapsed Players

So you've heard about this "Pok�mon" thing, and you're thinking of giving it a try, but you don't know where to start. Maybe it sounds intimidatingly complicated because every place that's talking about it is dominated by really obsessive nerds quoting minutiae at each other. The purpose of this guide is to equip you with the few things you need to know in order to get the most out of Pok�mon, whether it's your first time playing ever or just your first time in ten years.

Pok�mon is a very deep but also very forgiving game, intended to be played by the young as well as the young at heart. In the opinion of this writer, therefore, the best way to approach it is as a child would: basically ignorant of its complexity. There's a lot to learn, but the best teacher is experience. That's how we veterans did it, after all. For that reason, this will be a short guide, intended to maximize not your skill, but the thrill of discovery.

As the original social game, Pok�mon places a high premium on the process of shared discovery. If you encounter a difficult spot, rather than consult a guide (most Pok�mon guides are more like reference material than walkthroughs), you should either consult with your courteous and knowledgeable fellow players, or courageously try an alternative strategy based on what you've already learned.

You are encouraged to try anything you're curious about just to see what will happen. In so doing, you will make some bad decisions and pick a few booby prizes, and probably even waste time as a result. But making those mistakes will teach you a lot, because you'll learn why your idea didn't work, and from there learn more about the game than if you had just avoided them. Learning is fun!

That being said, although the game itself contains nearly everything you need to know in order to become a Pok�mon master, there are a few some conspicuously undocumented details you should know about, and some general advice to keep in mind, before we kick you out the door.

Which Version Should I Play?

Pick either of the most recently released games. Right now, that means either X or Y, for the 3DS. Choose the one that fewer of your friends are already playing. Each new Pok�mon game is an improvement over the previous ones in virtually every respect, and is designed to be a good entry point to the series.

What Settings are Recommended?

As soon as you gain control of your character, you can access the settings menu. Apart from a handful of self-explanatory options, there's one in particular that makes a big difference. "Battle Style" can be changed to either "Shift" or "Set," with "Shift" being the default. I recommend switching it to "Set." This setting determines whether the game tells you in advance the next enemy Pok�mon you're going to fight when you're playing against an NPC trainer. In "Set" mode, you don't get that unfair advantage, and as a result, the game is more challenging, but also more interesting. If you find battle overwhelming, it's fine to set it back to "Shift" until you've got a better handle on things, but be warned that all multiplayer battles take place with "Set" rules.

Additionally, there are a few things to note about X and Y specifically. At a certain point early in the game, you will get an item called the Exp. Share, which gives bonus experience points after each battle to Pok�mon that you don't use. You can turn it off. If you do so, it's harder to get new Pok�mon caught up to the rest of your team, but if you leave it turned on, you may find that your team becomes overleveled later in the game. This item, and the battle style option listed above, are the closest things that exist to a difficulty setting, so decide accordingly whether you want to use them, keeping in mind that even at its hardest Pok�mon isn't really hard.

On the bottom screen of X and Y, there are three additional menus. By default it displays the PSS (for Player Search System) screen; all of the game's multiplayer features are accessed through the settings there. There's also "Pok�mon-Amie," which is a minigame where you play with your Pok�mon to make them like you more, and "Super Training," which is a different minigame where you make your Pok�mon battle virtual balloons to make them stronger a bit faster than normal. Whereas elements of the main game are introduced to you gradually, these three are all available from the very beginning, and are substantially more complicated than the start of the game. There is no penalty for leaving them alone if you don't want to deal with them just yet, and, as always, your friendly neighborhood Pok�mon trainers will gladly answer any questions you have about them.

What Won't the Game Tell Me?

There's one important piece of information that is nowhere to be found in the game or the manual. The original games had a page in the manual dedicated to this, and I don't know why they stopped including it, because it's the most useful reference in the game. That would be the type chart which describes the Rock-Paper-Scissors-esque interactions between each of Pok�mon's eighteen elemental types. Keep a copy close at hand, because understanding that chart is important.

On the opposite end of strategy, many advanced players will talk about things like "EVs" and "IVs." I mention these terms only so that when you see people discussing about them, you will know that you probably don't need to pay attention. Those terms refer to ways to optimize Pok�mon for high-end competitive multiplayer. If you're curious, you have only but to ask, but in general, new players should not spare a moment's thought to them until they have mastered the basics (and at any rate they exceed the scope of this guide).

What Should I Pay Attention To?

Pok�mon is a numbers game. It is essential to pay attention to the stats of your Pok�mon. A Pok�mon's stats determine their effectiveness in battle, and every move they learn has a detailed description of what it does. You should pay particular attention to the Pok�mon's type, and the type, power, and category of the moves it knows. Look at your list of Pok�mon to view a summary of it at any time, even in battle (additionally, you can hold L when selecting a move to view a summary of that move in battle). Don't ignore this information! It's there for a reason.

The number one rule of RPGs is "Talk to everybody." This is an excellent habit. NPCs in Pok�mon will tell you valuable information about game mechanics, give you rare gifts, remind you of where to go next, and even drop oblique hints about obscurities and rumors. Near the beginning of the game, there will be a "Pok�mon school," containing basic information that will serve you well for your entire Pok�-career.

When a Pok�mon uses a move whose type matches its own, it'll be 50% more powerful. Someone in the game will tell you about that, but I'm giving it to you now for free. Treasure this knowledge!

Any General Advice?

It's a good idea for your team to contain a diverse selection of types, so that if you run up against a powerful enemy, your guys aren't all weak to it. On the other hand, some players prefer steamrolling the entire game with just one powerful Pok�mon, which is equally possible. I never found this way very fun, but some do.

If a Pok�mon isn't working out for you, don't be afraid to replace it. It might be an incurable weakling (there are a few of those), it might be redundant given the rest of your team, it might not yet have attained its full power, or maybe you just don't like the way it looks. A tremendous variety of Pok�mon are available, so benching one and replacing it with a newcomer is easy and can be done at any time.

There are some features that aren't available until after you've beaten the final boss, the Champion of the Pok�mon League. Pok�mon's multiplayer modes are very deep, but it's difficult to engage fully with it before you have access to these post-game options. So even if you're in it for the multiplayer, you should still focus on finishing the campaign first.

Finally, and most of all, remember that there are many different ways to enjoy Pok�mon, any one of which might prove your favorite. Try everything and keep trying them as your understanding improves, or just stick with your first decision and learn how to make it work, or anything in between. The only wrong way to play is to stick with something you don't like.

horriblePencilist's guide to the Pok�mon Global Link

quote:

What is the Global Link?
The Pokemon Global Link is a feature to connect your Pokemon games starting with X/Y to a unified account. You can use it to keep track of your progress, check out your photos, spend PokeMiles, find battles and more.

How do I set it up?
First, visit the Pokemon Global Link Site and set up a new account. Once you got that, in the game, go to the Player Search System, press the grey circle at the top, then select Game Sync. You'll be prompted to register your copy and will receive a unique ID. Go back to your Global Link Profile and register your copy with the ID. You can do this with as many copies as you want.

How do I use it?
You can sync your progress with your PGL account manually in the Game Sync screen, but you can also choose to sync with every save.

What will get synced?
There's a couple things the PGL can keep track of. GTS info, friends, photos, some events in the game and badges are one thing, but there's some cool stuff proprietary to the PGL.
One thing is Medals, which basically are Acheivement. They don't really do anything, but gotta catch em all, right? Another cool thing are your PokeMiles, which you can spend on items and attractions. You can collect PokeMiles by doing online activities from multiple games, pool them all together and cash in your rewards however you see fit.

What are Rating Battles?
Rating Battles holds a table of ranked players. To join a ranked fight, pick Battle Spot in the PSS. The rankings are split into seasons spanning across 3 months, so that's nice too.

Hammerite fucked around with this message at 11:49 on Feb 19, 2014

# ¿ Oct 11, 2013 14:26

Hammerite: Mar 9, 2007; And you don't remember what I said here, either, but it was pompous and stupid.; Jade Ear Joe

General FAQ

This is the FAQ that deals with questions not related to breeding or competitive battling. See the next post for the FAQ that deals with those topics.

-----

I'd like to get into the games, but I haven't played a Pok�mon game since <title> / for <number> years. Which is the best game for me to buy?

In general, if you're looking to get back into the games (or get into them for the first time), it's always a good idea to go for the latest release. At the moment that means buying X or Y. The latest games generally are more polished, they have more Pok�mon, and you'll be able to find more people playing them than you will the older games. As well as this, special events and distributions of special Pok�mon are most likely to target the newest games.

If you play X or Y and find that it still leaves you wanting more, you can always buy one of the Generation 5 games for another fix. (Start with Black or White if the story is particularly important to you, otherwise just go straight to Black 2 or White 2 as they have more features.)

Would you like to read a short guide to playing Pok�mon games, written for newcomers to the series? Go read this post.

What differences are there between Pok�mon X and Pok�mon Y, and which should I buy?

There are some Pok�mon that are exclusive to Pok�mon X and some that are exclusive to Pok�mon Y (Serebii has a list), but since Internet trading is a thing, only the opposite version's mascot will be much of a challenge to get hold of. There are also some differences in the storyline, but they are trifling.

I am thinking of playing through the game with this team: <list of 6 Pok�mon>. Will that be viable?

Short of playing with a team of 6 Magikarp, there is virtually no way to contrive a team that can't be used fairly easily to beat the single-player game. Use whatever you like the look of and have fun.

Can I trade with goons? Can I battle with goons?

We have a trading thread in Private Game Servers. You don't have to rigorously keep all trading-related discussion in there - if you end up arranging to trade in this thread that's all good - but if you're going to be coordinating many trades or offering/asking for lots of stuff, please do it in the dedicated thread; it's what it's there for. The trading thread also has a list of goon Friend Codes.

We occasionally have goon tournaments, which are co-ordinated through the Goonleague thread. Usually these will be played using the games themselves over Wi-Fi, but occasionally they may be played using online simulators. Sometimes there may even be prizes. Generally a notification will get posted in this thread when sign-ups are open for an upcoming tournament. They will also be listed in the "current events" section in the first post.

Of course, you can have one-off battles too. Just ask in that thread or in this one, or on the IRC, and I'm sure you'll get some interest. Oh yes, IRC. You can coordinate trades and battles in real-time through #pokegoons and #smogoff on SynIRC (irc.synirc.net). Of these, #pokegoons is the more "chatty" and social channel, and #smogoff is generally a bit more earnest and on-topic (but quieter).

What other Pok�mon games can I play if I've had my fill of the main series games?

Pok�mon Conquest is a strategy game which many goons have said they enjoyed. It is a crossover between Pok�mon and a series of strategy games called Nobunaga's Ambition. There's also the Pok�mon Mystery Dungeon series. The most recent title in the series is Pok�mon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity. Beside these, there are a bunch of other spin-off games for various Nintendo systems, going back many years.

I want to talk about the anime/the trading card game/my favourite Pok�mon merchandise. Do we talk about that stuff here?

You can talk about that stuff if you like. You probably won't get as much discussion as you will by talking about the games, but we are in the Games forum so there you are. I think there's a thread about the anime in ADTRW. There's a dedicated thread about the Trading Card Online game here.

Where is the Daycare Centre?

It's on Route 7, which is to the west of Camphrier Town, the town after Lumiose City (the Paris stand-in). It's on the other side of a sleeping Snorlax; you have to go fetch an item to wake Snorlax up before you can reach Route 7 proper.

What is the best place to get money in the game?

First off, when battling NPCs to get money, always equip one of your battling Pok�mon with the Amulet Coin (obtained from a room upstairs in the Parfum Palace - that's the big fancy palace you had to go visit to get the Pok� Flute and wake up Snorlax). Second, always make use of the Prize Money O-Power, if you have it; this is given to you by Mr. Bonding when you speak to him in one of the hotels.

There are two battling venues in the game that are particularly good for getting money. The better of the two is Restaurant Le Wow, the three-star restaurant on Hibernal Avenue in Lumiose City. You can access this part of the city after arriving back in Lumiose from the north, having beaten the first 4 Gyms. You may need to build up your "stylishness" by doing various activities around Lumiose before you will be allowed to dine at Le Wow. You can battle at Le Wow (or indeed any of the restaurants in Lumiose) as often as you wish.

There are two downsides to eating at Le Wow:

It takes a while to do, and is a little inflexible: you have to take part in 5 battles in sequence, and you don't get to vary your team in between battles - although this has the corollary that O-Powers you activate before you start will last until all of the battles are complete.
It costs 100,000 money just to get in (90,000 when you are at maximum stylishness). You get much more than this back if you use your Amulet Coin and the level 3 Prize Money O-Power, however. You are also given Balm Mushrooms at the end of the meal, which you can sell for lots of cash.

The alternative to eating at Le Wow is to visit the Battle Chateau on Route 7. This is a bit more flexible, since you don't have to pay to get in and you can battle as many or as few of the trainers who show up as you please (if you battle them all, you will have to wait for a while before more show up; trainers come and go every so often in real time). Initially, the trainers who show up here won't have very high-level Pok�mon and won't give much prize money. As you advance in the game and improve your rank in the "nobility", better trainers will show up, allowing you to get more experience and earn more money. The richest trainers, in descending order (along with their payouts if you use your Amulet Coin and the level 3 Prize Money O-Power) are:

The Champion (86,400)
Elite Four members (66,000)
Some "generic" NPCs may rarely give out more money than the Gym Leaders, but these NPCs can't be told apart from others by sight.
Gym Leaders (48,000).

Other NPCs vary in how much money they give out and can't be reliably told apart by sight, but the older ones with grey hair tend to be a good bet (the men wearing light grey suits and the women wearing light purple).

What is the best place to get experience / the best way to level up my Pok�mon in the game?

As with battling for money, when you are battling NPC trainers for experience, there are some steps you should take as a matter of course. Firstly, you should always give one of the Pok�mon you want to train your Lucky Egg (given to you by an NPC in the Coumarine City hotel). Secondly, you should always activate the Exp Points O-Power if you have it; this is given to you by Mr. Bonding when you speak to him in the Pok�mon Centre in Anistar City. And of course, make sure the Exp. Share is turned on.

Restaurant Le Wow and Sushi High Roller (both in Lumiose City) are good places to go for experience, but as remarked above you need money to get in and you have to sit through a sequence of battles rather than being able to choose exactly how long to carry on battling. The two are similar in terms of how much experience you get, but Restaurant Le Wow is much easier on the wallet. The main alternative (as with battling for money) is the Battle Chateau. The young ladies wearing kimono-like garments are the best trainers to battle for experience; they have teams of Audino (either two at level 35 or three at level 45), which give lots and lots of exp.

Can I transfer Pok�mon from Generation 5 to my new Generation 6 game?

Yes, but not from within the game. A separate 3DS app called Pok�mon Box offers you storage for up to 3,000 Pok�mon (100 boxes' worth) on Nintendo's servers. A sister app called Pok� Transporter allows you to take Pok�mon from your Generation 5 games and import them into Pok�mon Box. (As with previous cross-generation transfers, this is one-way only; Pok�mon can't be returned to a Generation 5 game once they have left.) Pok�mon Bank also allows you to rapidly shuffle whole boxes of Pok�mon between Generation 6 games that you own, if you want; the store of Pok�mon is tied to your 3DS system rather than to your game. You have to be connected to the Internet to use it, though.

Use of Pok�mon Bank costs $5 a year. You can get a free Celebi for using the app (this is available until the end of September).

$5? What?! That's outrageous! How can they justify making us pay for this functionality?

Firstly, the fee is to allow Game Freak to maintain and improve the service over time (possibly over multiple generations of Pok�mon games), without having to justify operating the service indefinitely at a loss. Secondly, $5 a year is a lot less (over, for example, the probable lifespan of the Generation 6 games) than the cost of a second (3)DS system on which to run the Generation 5 game from which you want to transfer Pok�mon (even if DS and 3DS software could communicate easily, which they can't). Thirdly, with the money you spent on your Something Awful forums account you could have purchased two years' subscription to Pok�mon Bank. If these points aren't enough to persuade you to chill out, then fine, but please don't post in the thread to whine about it, because we aren't interested in your tightfisted angst.

Pok� Transporter will only show me the Pok�mon in my Box 1. Can't I transfer other boxes, or individual Pok�mon from a box?

Unfortunately, no. Pok� Transporter will only allow you to transfer from Box 1, and it is all-or-nothing, so put any Pok�mon you want to keep on your Generation 5 game in another box.

On BW2 you can move multiple Pok�mon at a time, which makes it less of a chore to move things to Box 1. On BW1 you don't have this convenience. You can however make things slightly faster by pressing select to toggle the mode that shows the box list to the right and suppresses the appearance of context menus; this lets you drag and drop Pok�mon into Box 1 more quickly than you otherwise would be able to.

Pok�mon Bank is so slow! Can I really only move one Pok�mon at a time?

Press Start to cycle through three different selection modes. The available selection modes are essentially the same three as in BW2 and XY.

How do I get my Celebi?

You have to receive it using the "Pok�mon Link" option on the main menu in Pok�mon XY. The game may award you Pok� Miles and/or Battle Points to be received in this way before it gives you your Celebi, however. You can only have one thing queued up to be received through Pok�mon Link at once, so you'll need to go into the game and receive your Miles or BP before Pok�mon Bank will give you your Celebi.

Can I influence the Nature and/or IVs that my Celebi has?

No.

Is it possible to transfer Pok�mon from a Generation 5 game to a Generation 6 game without using Pok�mon Bank as an intermediary?

No.

Is it possible to transfer Pok�mon from a Generation 4 game to a Generation 6 game without using a Generation 5 game as an intermediary?

No.

Will Pok�mon transferred from Generation 5 using Pok� Transporter be able to take items with them?

No. If they are holding items, the items will be placed back in the player's bag (or lost, if the player already has 999 of that item in their bag).

I have some Pok�mon on my Generation 5 game that I suspect might be... umm... modified. Will I be able to transfer these to Generation 6 using Pok� Transporter?

Pok� Transporter does perform hack checks, although they are not especially sophisticated. If your Pok�mon was created or modified by means other than those available just using a DS, it might turn out that Pok� Transporter will reject it. RNG'd and cloned Pok�mon do not appear to be blocked.

What will happen if I try to transfer Pok�mon that are hacked or otherwise untrasferrable? Will Pok� Transporter delete them?

No. Pok� Transporter will notify you that one or more of the Pok�mon in the box cannot be transferred, and when it shows you the Pok�mon to be transferred on the top screen it will omit the ones that won't be transferred. Those Pok�mon will be left behind in Box 1.

I heard that Nintendo are ending internet support for DS titles! Does that mean I won't be able to transport Pok�mon from my Generation 5 games any more?

No, it doesn't mean that. Nintendo is shutting down "Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection", the service used by DS and DSi software when it connects to the internet. Pok� Transporter is 3DS software that happens to read and write data on DSi carts. Pok� Transporter will continue to work. But internet functionality programmed into the Generation 4 and 5 games themselves (the GTS, for example) will stop working.

How do I evolve Eevee into Sylveon?

Eevee evolves into Sylveon upon levelling up provided two conditions are met: 1) it knows at least one Fairy-type move, 2) its Pok�mon-Amie attributes have been raised beyond some threshold.

Do I get anything for completing the Pok�dex?

Once you earn the "seen" status for all 450 Pok�mon in the Kalos Pok�dex*, you can get the Oval Charm from Prof. Sycamore at his laboratory in Lumiose City. This is a key item that slightly increases the rate at which Pok�mon deposited in the Daycare Centre produce eggs. Once you earn the "owned" status for all non-event Pok�mon in the game**, you can get the Shiny Charm, which is a key item that makes Pok�mon you encounter a little bit more likely to be shiny.

* You do not need to "see" Pok�mon that are numbered 151 or higher in the Kalos Pok�dex in which they appear. This means that you do not need to "see" Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres, or Mewtwo.

** This means that you do not need to have "owned" Mew, Celebi, Jirachi, Deoxys, Manaphy, Phione, Darkrai, Shaymin, Arceus, Victini, Keldeo, Meloetta, or Genesect, nor any Pok�mon with a National Pok�dex Number above 718; but you do need to have "owned" all other species of Pok�mon.

What berries can currently be obtained in the Generation 6 games?

The following 48 varieties of berry can be obtained in-game at present:

Status-healing berries: Aspear, Cheri, Chesto, Lum, Pecha, Persim, Rawst
HP- and PP-healing berries: Leppa, Oran, Sitrus
Rubbish berries that restore HP but may cause confusion: Aguav, Figy, Iapapa, Mago, Wiki
Type-damage-reducing berries: Babiri, Charti, Chilan, Chople, Coba, Colbur, Haban, Kasib, Kebia, Occa, Passho, Payapa, Rindo, Roseli, Shuca, Tanga, Wacan, Yache
EV-reducing berries: Grepa, Hondew, Kelpsy, Pomeg, Qualot, Tamato
In-battle effect berries obtained through berry mutation: Apicot, Ganlon, Leichi, Petaya, Salac, Kee, Maranga
Special in-battle effect berries from the Battle Maison: Lansat, Starf

See here and here for more information on obtaining berries, and here (PNG image) for a comprehensive guide on berry planting and what you can use berries for.

Lansat and Starf berries may be obtained by attaining long winning streaks in the Battle Maison... or you can just trade for them (of course, this applies for all currently available berries). Try asking in the IRC channel and someone may trade them to you.

Hammerite fucked around with this message at 05:42 on Mar 23, 2014

# ¿ Oct 11, 2013 14:27

Hammerite: Mar 9, 2007; And you don't remember what I said here, either, but it was pompous and stupid.; Jade Ear Joe

Breeding/Competitive Battling FAQ

This is the FAQ that deals with questions related to breeding or competitive battling. See the previous post for the FAQ that deals with other topics.

NB. Some breeding-related topics are the subject of guides linked from the second post.

-----

What is the "Masuda Method" and how does it work?

The Masuda Method is a game mechanic that can be used to make it easier to get shiny Pok�mon when breeding. It works like this: if the two Pok�mon in the Daycare Centre are from savegames that are/were being played in different languages, then each egg produced will be significantly more likely to be shiny. That's it, there's nothing more to it than that.

In Generation 5, Masuda Method Pok�mon were six times more likely to be shiny than others. Some aspects to obtaining shiny Pok�mon seem to have changed in Generation 6, but there is no particular reason at present to suppose that this figure has changed.

Please note carefully the following points:

It does not matter what part of the world the person who traded you a Pok�mon lives in. It only matters what language they are playing the game in. For example, if you are from America and you breed one of your Pok�mon with a Pok�mon you obtained from someone in Australia, and both of you are playing in English, then you are not using the Masuda Method and you will not benefit from an increased probability of hatching shiny Pok�mon.
The language of the savegame in which breeding is taking place does not matter. For example, the Masuda Method will work if you breed a Pok�mon from a Japanese-language savegame and a Pok�mon from a French-language savegame in an English-language savegame, but it will work just as well if the same two Pok�mon are breeding in a French-language savegame. All that matters is whether the two breeding Pok�mon are from the same or different-language savegames.
You can tell whether a Pok�mon is from a savegame being played in a different language to your own, because a notification will be displayed at the top of its status screen, and on the PC's summary screen. For example, if you are playing in English, then Pok�mon traded from a Japanese-language savegame will have a box containing the letters "JPN" on display in each of these two locations. (You may also be able to tell a foreign Pok�mon by its name, but this is not foolproof. For example, an unnicknamed English Voltorb traded to a Japanese game and evolved there will have its name changed to マルマイン, and it will keep this name even if traded back, but it will still count as English for all purposes even though it has a name in Japanese.)
Even with the increased probability of hatched Pok�mon being shiny, it is still not very likely that a given egg will hatch as a shiny (the probability is on the order of 1 in 1000). If you choose to hatch eggs in the hope of obtaining a shiny Pok�mon, it may still take you a long time.

What is a "hidden ability"? What is a "Dream World Pok�mon", and how are they different to normal Pok�mon? How do I get one?

Every Pok�mon posses an "ability", a special rule that allows them to break the normal rules of the game in some way during battle. (Some abilities have effects outside of battle too.) Some Pok�mon have just one possible ability; others can have either of two different abilities. Most Pok�mon also have a "hidden ability" (or "Dream World ability"), which is a semi-secret ability different to its ordinary ability or abilities. Pok�mon with their hidden abilities are harder to find then Pok�mon with their ordinary abilities.

Hidden abilities were introduced in Generation 5, where they could for the most part only be obtained through playing in the Pok�mon Dream World (hence "Dream World ability"). In Generation 5 it was possible to use a Pok�mon with its hidden ability to breed more individuals with the hidden ability, but only if the original Pok�mon was female. In Generation 6 this restriction has been relaxed, so male and genderless Pok�mon can also pass down their hidden abilities (although they are less likely to do so than female Pok�mon), which makes things a little bit easier.

Pok�mon with their hidden abilities can be obtained using Friend Safari after you have beaten the game. It is also possible that you will find them in the wild when you encounter a horde.

When I breed using a Pok�mon with its hidden ability, what is the probability that the ability will be passed down?

If one of the parents is a female with its hidden ability, then it's 60%. Otherwise it is lower than that (20% I think).

Can I breed hidden ability Pok�mon using a Ditto with its hidden ability?

No. Impostor Ditto are the same as any other Ditto for breeding purposes.

What are some good places to EV train?

Nugget Bridge has an article on the subject of EV training in XY. (If you do not know what EVs are, please see the question below.)

_{FIG. 1: The process of breeding.}

What does "STAB" mean?

STAB stands for "same type attack bonus". It is a 50% boost to move power enjoyed by a Pok�mon using an attacking move when the Pok�mon's type (or one of its types) is the same as the move's type. For example, suppose a Water/Fire Pok�mon were to use a Fire-type attacking move with a power of 100; then the effective base power would be 150. A pure Water-type Pok�mon using the same move would get just the standard power of 100, on account of not being Fire-type. When talking about a Pok�mon, the types on which it gets STAB are sometimes referred to as "its STABs", attacking moves of those types are sometimes referred to as "STAB moves", etc.

What are "IVs", "EVs", and "Natures"?

These are variables attached to your Pok�mon that vary between individuals and affect their stats. The idea behind them is that they serve to make Pok�mon different from one another, even when they are of the same species and at the same level. For example, one Pok�mon might have higher Defense while another has higher Speed. You do not need to worry about these things in order to play and enjoy the single-player campaign. If you decide to get into competitive battling, on the other hand, you will probably benefit from an understanding of them. If this does not apply to you, then stop reading now.

Out of IVs, EVs, and Natures, Natures have the greatest effect on a Pok�mon's stats (usually), followed by EVs, with IVs being the least significant. However every little helps, so having a Pok�mon with good IVs is better than having a Pok�mon with bad IVs, provided it has the right Nature. A Pok�mon's Nature and IVs cannot be changed, while its EVs may be changed at will.

Here is a visual aid to help you understand the contributions to a Pok�mon's stats made by base stats, Nature, EVs and IVs.

Natures: There are 25 different Natures. 20 of these cause one stat (but not HP; so one of Attack, Defense, Special Attack, Special Defense and Speed) to be increased by 10% and another to be decreased by 10%; the other 5 are "neutral" and leave the Pok�mon's stats alone. A Pok�mon's Nature may be viewed on its status screen. There is also an indication of the effects of its Nature on the out-of-battle stats screen; the name of the boosted stat (if any) will be tinted red, and the name of the reduced stat (if any) will be tinted blue.

IVs and EVs: A Pok�mon has an IV value (or just "an IV") and an EV value (or just "EVs") in each of the 6 stats (HP, Attack, Defense, Special Attack, Special Defense, and Speed). Each of the Pok�mon's IVs is a number between 0 and 31 (inclusive), and each of its EVs is a number between 0 and 255 (inclusive). However, a Pok�mon's EVs may not add up to more than 510, which means that competitive players must carefully consider which stats to boost and by how much. The effects of IVs and EVs scale with a Pok�mon's level, so that the effects are greatest once the Pok�mon has reached level 100.

Every Pok�mon starts with all of its EVs set to zero. A Pok�mon that you catch in the wild (or that is given to you by an NPC) will have a random Nature and random IVs; a Pok�mon that you get from the Daycare Centre as an Egg will inherit some of its IVs from one or both parents, and may inherit its Nature from one of the parents as well. If you spend a considerable amount of time breeding (or if you cheat) then it is possible to obtain Pok�mon with perfect IVs across the board, but it does not take all that much breeding to obtain Pok�mon that are "good enough". Spending a lot of time breeding may yield better Pok�mon, but is generally subject to rapidly diminishing returns. Influencing breeding is beyond the scope of this post; you will find extensive information elsewhere on the internet. (Some information that you find may be outdated, since various aspects of breeding have changed in the Generation 6 games. Look for guides that indicate that they have taken the Generation 6 changes into account.)

The game does not explicitly tell you your Pok�mon's precise EVs, but they may be viewed approximately through the Super Training interface; the Super Training screen will also expressly tell you if you have maxed out a Pok�mon's EVs in a particular stat. The game tells you about your Pok�mon's IVs only in very vague terms - a man in the Pok�mon Centre in Kiloude City will tell you whether your Pok�mon's IVs are generally low, middling or high, and which of its IVs is the highest (or all of the ones that are highest, if two or more are tied). He will also tell you if one of your Pok�mon's IVs is particularly low.

You will find extensive information on these mechanics elsewhere on the internet. It would be duplication of effort for me to explain more about them here. For more information than you wanted on stat calculations, you can see Bulbapedia's page on stats.

Which hold items affect breeding, and how?

First things first: when you breed two Pok�mon together and neither is holding an item, the game decides the Nature and IVs of each egg as follows. The Nature is chosen randomly from among the 25 different possible Natures. Three of the six stats (HP, Attack, Defense, Special Attack, Special Defense and Speed) are chosen at random, and the egg's IV in each of those three stats will be inherited from the parents. Each one may be inherited from either parent; the game could take them all from one parent, or it could take two from one parent and one from the other. Each of the remaining three IVs is randomly generated, as though by rolling a 32-sided die.

Not counting Incense, there are 8 hold items that have an effect on Pok�mon breeding. They are:

Everstone
Destiny Knot
the 6 "power items" (Power Weight, Power Bracer, Power Belt, Power Lens, Power Band and Power Anklet).

You can get an Everstone and a Destiny Knot from NPCs somewhere in Kalos (just talk to everybody); if you lose the one you were given, however, you can get more. Everstones are occasionally held by wild Roggenrola and Boldore; Destiny Knot is sometimes given to you by Beauties that hang out in Lumiose City's side streets, after you defeat them in battle. (There are two or three different Beauties that may appear; the one who gives out Destiny Knots is the one who talks about her partner vanishing.) The power items are not given to you during the game; you can buy them from the Battle Maison for 16 BP each.

Everstone causes the parent to pass its Nature down to the egg. That is, instead of having a randomly generated Nature, the egg will be guaranteed to have the same Nature as the parent holding the Everstone. (If each parent is holding an Everstone, then only one of them will work.)

Destiny Knot causes five IVs to be passed down from the parents, instead of the usual three. Each of the five IVs to be passed down may come from either parent; they do not necessarily come from the parent holding the Destiny Knot. The sixth IV is randomly generated in the usual way. (If each parent is holding a Destiny Knot, then the second Destiny Knot has no effect.)

A power item ensures that the parent holding it will pass down to the egg its IV in the corresponding stat. That is, the 3 (or 5, if the other parent is holding a Destiny Knot) stats passed down will always include the stat corresponding to the power item in use, and that stat will always come from the parent holding the power item. The other 2 (or 4) passed-down stats may come from either parent, and the remaining stats will still be randomly determined in the usual way.

Important: If each parent is holding a power item, then only one of the two power items will work. This holds whether the parents are holding two of the same power item, or two different power items. Every time an egg is generated, the game will choose one of the two parents at random, and that parent's power item will work; the other parent will be treated as though it were not holding an item. (Its IV in the stat corresponding to the held power item may still be passed down by chance, assuming of course that the parents are not holding two of the same power item.)

Each of these 8 items also has a use outside of breeding. The power items may be used for EV training Pok�mon in the corresponding stat. The Everstone stops a Pok�mon from trying to evolve. The Destiny Knot has an in-battle effect, but it's not a very good one and can safely be ignored in favour of virtually any other item with an in-battle effect. (It causes an opposing Pok�mon that infatuates your Pok�mon to likewise become infatuated.)

I see people using terms like "Ubers", "OU", etc. as categories for Pok�mon. What do these terms mean?

These terms refer to competitive tiers defined by Smogon, a website and community focussed on competitive Pok�mon battling.

The idea of using tiers is that if Pok�mon battling were a free-for-all where anybody could bring whatever they liked, there would be some Pok�mon that would be used by virtually everybody (powerful legendary Pok�mon like Mewtwo, for example), and some that would never be used by anybody (for example Butterfree) because in comparison they are so weak. Organising Pok�mon into tiers of similar strength allows people to agree to a match in which they are restricted to choosing only Pok�mon from a certain tier (or from a weaker one), therefore creating an environment in which players have the opportunity to enjoy using Pok�mon that would almost certainly doom them to losing against players just using the "big boys".

The Smogon tiers are widely used even outside the Smogon community because they are a known standard and generally well-regarded as giving rise to balanced metagames. Of course, anybody can come up with their own scheme for organising Pok�mon into tiers; Smogon's are just very widely recognised and seen as "the standard". In order from lowest to highest, Smogon's standard tiers are NU ("never used"), RU ("rarely used"), UU ("underused"), OU ("overused"), and Ubers. A Pok�mon may be used in the tier in which it is categorised, or in any higher tier. So a Pok�mon that is categorised in NU may be used in any Pok�mon battle (that uses Smogon tiers as an organising principle), while a Pok�mon that is categorised in Ubers may be used only in Ubers battles. Relatively few Pok�mon are categorised as Uber; these Pok�mon are sometimes referred to as "banned" (because they are banned from OU battles).

Note that although Smogon's metagames are widely considered to be standard amongst battling enthusiasts, they are not recognised in any way by Nintendo/Game Freak, who have their own ideas about how to balance the tournaments they run. Note also that Smogon's community focusses almost exclusively on the 6v6 singles format (battles in which each player brings six level 100 Pok�mon and fields one of them at a time), and their tiers reflect this. (Official Nintendo tournaments are generally doubles format, in which each player brings six Pok�mon and then chooses four of them to battle with after seeing the other player's six; two Pok�mon at a time are fielded by each player.)

What is "Stealth Rock", and why do people talk about it so much?

Stealth Rock (SR) is a Rock-type move that was introduced in Generation 4. It sets up an entry hazard, Stealth Rocks, on the opponent's side of the battlefield. An entry hazard is a battlefield condition that results in Pok�mon switching in losing HP or being afflicted with a status condition. In the case of Stealth Rocks, a Pok�mon takes Rock-typed damage equal to 1/8 of its max HP every time it switches in. In the context of competitive singles battles, where a great deal of switching occurs, this makes Stealth Rock a very strong move. Moreover, a lot of people resent SR because with the damage being Rock-typed, Pok�mon that are weak to Rock take a large chunk of damage upon switching in. For example, Charizard (which suffers a 4� multiplier to Rock-type damage because its two types, Fire and Flying, are both weak against Rock) takes 1/2 of its max HP in damage every time it switches in.

Because SR seriously dents the competitiveness of some Pok�mon in competitive singles battling, it prompts a lot of discussion. Some people don't like the effect it has on the metagame, others reckon it's all right because it checks some Pok�mon that would otherwise be overpowered, and still others think it's OK but could stand to be nerfed somewhat. Because Nintendo/Game Freak see doubles as the main format for competitive battling, and SR isn't nearly as prominent in doubles, it's sometimes speculated that they don't care too much about the effect that SR has on competitive singles battling.

So there you go. This is the kind of esoteric poo poo that real-life Pok�mon Masters� talk about.

NB. Some additional background and terminology: Stealth Rocks can be removed from the battlefield in a number of ways. The most common way to do it is through use of the move Rapid Spin, which is an attacking move that removes all entry hazards on the user's side of the field if it hits. Pok�mon that make use of Rapid Spin are sometimes referred to as spinners. Because Rapid Spin is a Normal-type move and therefore doesn't hit Ghost-type Pok�mon, a spinner may be thwarted by switching in a Ghost-type. This is referred to as spin-blocking.

Hammerite fucked around with this message at 11:44 on Feb 19, 2014

# ¿ Oct 11, 2013 14:27

Hammerite: Mar 9, 2007; And you don't remember what I said here, either, but it was pompous and stupid.; Jade Ear Joe

Ok, since I left this thread on Friday evening there have been about 2000 posts. I've been actually playing the game rather than keeping up with the thread you see. I don't know whether there has been much posting of information that should be added/corrected in the OP, or if people couldn't really give a drat what the OP says, but if there is anything that needs changing I wonder if someone could reiterate it for my benefit.

# ¿ Oct 13, 2013 19:40

Hammerite: Mar 9, 2007; And you don't remember what I said here, either, but it was pompous and stupid.; Jade Ear Joe

Added to the OP:

quote:

How do I evolve Eevee into Sylveon?

Eevee evolves into Sylveon upon levelling up provided two conditions are met: 1) it knows at least one Fairy-type move, 2) each of its Pok�mon-Amie attributes has been raised to the maximum.

# ¿ Oct 14, 2013 13:28

Hammerite: Mar 9, 2007; And you don't remember what I said here, either, but it was pompous and stupid.; Jade Ear Joe

horriblePencilist posted:

I thought you don't have to max Affection for it to evolve?

I don't know. I haven't even been playing Pok�mon-Amie so I don't know how it works. How should that answer be changed?

# ¿ Oct 14, 2013 13:30

Hammerite: Mar 9, 2007; And you don't remember what I said here, either, but it was pompous and stupid.; Jade Ear Joe

lokipunk posted:

4/5 times is pretty high for the old 30% passdown rate (but not impossible due to pRNG and probabilities). Another research question: do the "weather stones" (heat rock, wet rock, etc.) cause auto-weather inducers to go to 8 turns?

30%? I think it used to be 60% (but female only & no Dittos allowed).

Katsuya posted:

RAGE.

Just got a random Passerby challenge me to an online battle. It got down to his heavily, heavily weakened Greninja against my fresh Mega Venusaur. I accidentally hit the Run button. Then, trying to cancel it, hit the "Forfeit now" button.

Sorry about your uncontrollably flailing arms

# ¿ Oct 14, 2013 17:04

Hammerite: Mar 9, 2007; And you don't remember what I said here, either, but it was pompous and stupid.; Jade Ear Joe

horriblePencilist posted:

Where do you get those EV-removing berries?

Plant an Oran berry and a Pecha berry at the same time, next to each other, in the berry garden. The trees that grow may have Qualot Berries on them. This might be a random thing, and it might be related to how well you take care of the trees. Don't know how to get the other 5 yet, but you can probably do it a similar way.

Added to the OP:

quote:

There are reports of a software bug in XY that may cause the saved game to become unloadable if you save whilst outside in Lumiose City (the Paris stand-in). Details of this are not available right now. You should try to always save the game somewhere else, as a precaution. It is possible that the problem will be patched at some point.

# ¿ Oct 14, 2013 20:26

Hammerite: Mar 9, 2007; And you don't remember what I said here, either, but it was pompous and stupid.; Jade Ear Joe

Super Jay Mann posted:

Kirlia has the best idle animation

It looks like it badly needs to go to the toilet.

# ¿ Oct 14, 2013 20:33

Hammerite: Mar 9, 2007; And you don't remember what I said here, either, but it was pompous and stupid.; Jade Ear Joe

kater posted:

My pokedex is at like 120 though. I felt bad for that little nerdlinger who tries to compare his dex to yours.

That guy is definitely the most forgettable of all the poke gang. People talk down Hugh but he was at least entertaining to be around. Sod off back to the library, kid, ain't got no time for your ineffectual geekery.

# ¿ Oct 14, 2013 21:07

Hammerite: Mar 9, 2007; And you don't remember what I said here, either, but it was pompous and stupid.; Jade Ear Joe

Zore posted:

Its still weaker than a regular Scizor holding a Life Orb to be fair.

I think a lot of Mega Evos are going to be less used than their base forms with a few obvious exceptions ie. Mawhile, Abomasnow, Aggron, Gengar, Charizard X/Y and Ampharos.

Like, I have no idea why you would use Mega Alakazam over Magic Guard Alakazam with Life Orb or Focus Sash. Ditto Mega Tyranitar, Scizor, Heracross etc.

Hell Mega Blastoise managed to get one of the only abilities that's a step down from Torrent considering the only pulse move it learns is water pulse and its only jacked up to the level of Surf.

I think Game Freak really do want to add variety to the battling scene, but sometimes they just seem not to have any grasp of the idea of opportunity cost, and it's weird.

# ¿ Oct 14, 2013 21:21

Hammerite: Mar 9, 2007; And you don't remember what I said here, either, but it was pompous and stupid.; Jade Ear Joe

Berry crossbreeds so far:

Hondew = Aspear + Leppa
Pomeg = Iapapa + Mago
Qualot = Oran + Pecha

# ¿ Oct 15, 2013 22:56

Hammerite: Mar 9, 2007; And you don't remember what I said here, either, but it was pompous and stupid.; Jade Ear Joe

404GoonNotFound posted:

Oh, that's all? gently caress that, back into the Wonder Trade Slot Machine you go! Already got a Charmander and a Goomy from this thing today, wanna keep this going.

Wow, way to not care about collecting foreign language pokedex entries. Any language that isn't Japanese is pretty difficult to get hold of

e. Also, it doesn't matter where the trainer is from. It only matters what language they elected to play the game in.

# ¿ Oct 15, 2013 23:18

Hammerite: Mar 9, 2007; And you don't remember what I said here, either, but it was pompous and stupid.; Jade Ear Joe

Emalde posted:

With all of these changes, not anymore! Although you still need a source of Snivy currently before Pokebank goes live.

Supposedly they have changed some pokemon's hidden abilities (Chandelure). It may turn out that Snivy's too has been changed, since DW Snivy isn't legitimately available in Gen 5.

# ¿ Oct 15, 2013 23:27

Hammerite: Mar 9, 2007; And you don't remember what I said here, either, but it was pompous and stupid.; Jade Ear Joe

Zoran posted:

I think it's pretty certain at this point that Chandelure doesn't have Shadow Tag anymore, but there's always a chance it's a Scolipede situation where it got a fourth ability implemented as a second Dream World ability. Has anyone tried using the ability capsule on hidden ability Chandelure?

Has it been established that a pokemon can have two hidden abilities, then? Interesting if true. Presumably which hidden ability it has is determined by its personality value, just like when a pokemon has two ordinary abilities.

# ¿ Oct 15, 2013 23:32

Hammerite: Mar 9, 2007; And you don't remember what I said here, either, but it was pompous and stupid.; Jade Ear Joe

BAKA FLOCKA FLAME posted:

I'm joking, I was breeding Mawiles for ages looking for one with Intimidate and a decent nature, but like I said before they seem to have changed how abilities are passed down because I was there for a long-rear end time and now I feel like my brain is rotting in my head.

I was really looking for an Adamant one, but I did get an Impish one and realized that wasn't so bad.

They changed it for BW2. If you were not using Ditto, the hatchling would have the mother's ability slot 80% of the time. Whether they have made it apply more generally in gen 6 (because they seem to have changed other things) is not clear.

# ¿ Oct 16, 2013 22:08

Hammerite: Mar 9, 2007; And you don't remember what I said here, either, but it was pompous and stupid.; Jade Ear Joe

I was wondering whether everyone gets the same berries as everyone else in the main game. Here are the berries I've found so far (7 badges). Not including ones obtained through cross-pollination. Does this look unfamiliar to anyone?

I ask this because I'd otherwise have expected the game to give out all of the basic status-healing berries rather than just 2 of them, all of the type-damage-reducing berries rather than just 4, etc.

Aspear, Charti, Iapapa, Leppa, Lum, Mago, Pecha, Roseli, Sitrus, Wacan, Yache

# ¿ Oct 16, 2013 22:46

Hammerite: Mar 9, 2007; And you don't remember what I said here, either, but it was pompous and stupid.; Jade Ear Joe

HeyItsAyls posted:

I started making one, but between work, having a way too cluttered friend list and getting a vicious cold, I had to stop. Also, when I started no one else had reached the Friend Safari yet so it wasn't well understood and I had to do everything myself.

I'm sure we can all pull our resources together now and make a list though.

#pokegoons has been busy making one. I'll post it in the PGS trading thread, because ~~it has people's FCs in it~~ it is public editable.

edit: no I won't, I don't need to because someone beat me to it.

Hammerite fucked around with this message at 22:59 on Oct 16, 2013

# ¿ Oct 16, 2013 22:54

Hammerite: Mar 9, 2007; And you don't remember what I said here, either, but it was pompous and stupid.; Jade Ear Joe

WendigoJohnson posted:

I think the Hikers are worse. Big beefy guys with their beady little eyes and a stare that will shake your very soul.

The worst are the Fairytale Girls. They look like they come from some horror movie where they play the part of "unsettling supernatural child".

# ¿ Oct 17, 2013 01:44

Hammerite: Mar 9, 2007; And you don't remember what I said here, either, but it was pompous and stupid.; Jade Ear Joe

Kurieg posted:

It doesn't go away but it stops being infectious is the Pokemon is in your party during the rollover from 11:59PM to 12:00AM, being in a PC Box stops that, I'm not sure if them being in a daycare stops it either.

In case anyone is confused about this, there are multiple strains of pokerus (?) and it varies how long a pokemon will remain infectious for. The strain mine have goes away if the pokemon is in the party at midnight on two occasions (not necessarily consecutive).

# ¿ Oct 17, 2013 21:10

Hammerite: Mar 9, 2007; And you don't remember what I said here, either, but it was pompous and stupid.; Jade Ear Joe

I like that medals are back in XY, I wish they were in-game as well as on the Global Link though.

# ¿ Oct 18, 2013 02:07

Hammerite: Mar 9, 2007; And you don't remember what I said here, either, but it was pompous and stupid.; Jade Ear Joe

Has it been established whether it is possible to have one parent hold a Destiny Know and the other a power item and have all 6 IVs passed down?

Constable Lemon posted:

Why would anyone want Magician as an ability? It's pretty much worthless, considering the only way it can be useful is if you forgo your own item to steal your opponent's. And even then, you can't guarantee the item will be useful to you. You could very easily accidentally swipe a Choice Band as a Delphox and now you're stuck in a choice item that doesn't even boost your preferred attack. At least with Blaze you can hit things harder when you're at low health, which is always useful.

There are good consumable items, such as Focus Sash. On my White 2 I have a Weavile with Pickpocket. Since Weavile is fragile, I give him a focus sash. A lot of the time when he gets hit by a strong move, he steals the item after the Focus Sash activates.

Francis posted:

I completely ignored Gen 5 after Pearl was unplayably slow. X/Y are really good though! Unfortunately the post-game is kind of lacking. I've heard really good things about how much there is to do in Gen 5 after you beat the game, but four different versions is really confusing. So I have a few questions about going back to the older games:

1) I know I can still get a shiny Giratina from Gamestop if I buy in the next two days, but how much will I regret it if I wait until later?

2) Apparently Dream World is shutting down now that Gen 6 is out. How much does that affect playing Gen 5 games?

3) As far as I can tell, the Memory Link content is the only reason to buy B1/W1. How much is there? Should I care? Is there anything else that I've overlooked?

4) Unova Link unlocking Challenge Mode and the version-exclusive areas sounds neat. Is that local-only, though, or can someone unlock a fresh copy's Challenge Mode over the internet?

Sorry for all the questions, but if the Giratina thing is important I need to make a decision today.

1) I don't know, how much do you want a shiny Giratina? If the shiny Sinnoh box mascots activate a special event in XY that we don't yet know about (the shiny legendary dogs did in BW), you might be annoyed later.

2) You'll have fewer avenues to get pokemon with good hidden abilities. You can still probably trade with goons to get anything you really want. Some of the medals (achievements) in BW2 will not be attainable.

3) If you care about the story you might want to play BW1, otherwise not really.

4) Local only

# ¿ Oct 18, 2013 17:44

Hammerite: Mar 9, 2007; And you don't remember what I said here, either, but it was pompous and stupid.; Jade Ear Joe

Alcatrash posted:

I'm battling in a restaurant but all I meet is level 10 apes. What do I have to do to make the chefs/butlers/whatever have better Pok�mon?

There are better restaurants the unlock as you go through the game. The next one up is the two-star Restaurant Le Yeah

# ¿ Oct 18, 2013 17:45

Hammerite: Mar 9, 2007; And you don't remember what I said here, either, but it was pompous and stupid.; Jade Ear Joe

OK, Serebii says this on the "new breeding mechanics" page.

quote:

Another new feature is the furthering of IV transfer. Previously, when the parent Pok�mon had power items attached, it guaranteed the transfer of one of the IVs, while several IVs were guaranteed to pass down. However, as of X & Y, if you have one of the parents hold the Destiny Knot item, then 5 IVs total from either parent will be guaranteed to be transferred

It sounds like if one parent holds a Power Item and the other parent holds a Destiny Knot then the power item stat will be passed down from the parent holding it, and then 4 other stats at random will be passed down from either parent. Not as powerful as it first sounded but still a really big asset to IV breeding. Anybody have better information on this?

# ¿ Oct 18, 2013 17:53

Hammerite: Mar 9, 2007; And you don't remember what I said here, either, but it was pompous and stupid.; Jade Ear Joe

How come every time I log in to the PGL it wants me to verify my account information and agree to the TOS, even though I already did it multiple times? Also

# ¿ Oct 18, 2013 20:47

Hammerite: Mar 9, 2007; And you don't remember what I said here, either, but it was pompous and stupid.; Jade Ear Joe

The Royal Scrub posted:

Is it worth giving Vitamins to my team if they're all like level 50 or 60? From what I understand it only increases the stat gain from leveling up which I will obviously be doing less and less.

Is all the EV/IV stuff just for raising the perfect Pokemon from scratch?

You probably won't see any benefit since you've already trained them. If you can't make use of them, though, then the game will just tell you "that won't have any effect", so you can't waste them.

Yes the EV/IV stuff is for people who want to be tryhard about it. The EV side of it is something they made easier and more transparent this generation with Super Training, and you can reset the EVs of your pokemon as much as you want, no matter their levels.

# ¿ Oct 18, 2013 20:52

Hammerite: Mar 9, 2007; And you don't remember what I said here, either, but it was pompous and stupid.; Jade Ear Joe

Zhent posted:

How do I add old games to my pokemon gl? I have a copy of white and white 2 I never actually used, and I am trying to set them up so I can move pokemon to the bank later on, but there doesn't appear to be anywhere to enter the older style game sync ID's?

It is not possible to add Generation 5 games to your Global Link account any more. The Generation 5 site is being shut down in stages, and registration of new accounts/game carts was among the first features to go. You will not be able to use the Global Link functionality in those games.

Pok� Transporter is separate from the Global Link. You will not need to register your game to the Global Link to use it.

The Shortest Path posted:

Is there a way to get better odds at breeding a non-hidden ability onto a pokemon? I have a chansey (with Serene Grace) and a ditto in the day care, and every single one of the dozens of kids has had serene grace. I can't get a Natural Cure one at all.

Each child has an 80% probability of having the same ability slot as the mother, which in this case means that 80% of this Chansey's offspring should have Serene Grace.

Hammerite fucked around with this message at 21:55 on Oct 18, 2013

# ¿ Oct 18, 2013 21:47

Hammerite: Mar 9, 2007; And you don't remember what I said here, either, but it was pompous and stupid.; Jade Ear Joe

Taoto posted:

I don't know for sure on the higher difficulties, but at least on Easy, the pieces get arranged so you only need to swap each piece once to get them in place. So at the start, you can find the piece that needs to go in the top left corner, then swap it for the one actually IN the top left corner, and both pieces will be in their correct spots. Once you realize this and that the border of the puzzle is always the same color pattern, you can get your time down pretty easily.

This is also probably the fastest way to get Poke Puffs.

Do you actually need a fast way to get poke puffs? The game seems to give you far more than you could want... I have a massive array of them sitting there

# ¿ Oct 19, 2013 00:38

Hammerite: Mar 9, 2007; And you don't remember what I said here, either, but it was pompous and stupid.; Jade Ear Joe

Wordicuffs posted:

I dunno. I found that when you play, the 3 Pokemon that participate in the event have their pet meter or whatever it is go up and their fullness go down. So I found the most efficient way was to play two games, then pet and feed the three 'mon involved. But 5 starring unlimited mode twice only provided 12 puffs, which only fed two of the Pokemon fully, so I ended up giving them all four puffs and leaving none.

Maybe I just underfeed them. The poke puffs are just so big, it looks like a big meal when they just eat one.

# ¿ Oct 19, 2013 01:04

Hammerite: Mar 9, 2007; And you don't remember what I said here, either, but it was pompous and stupid.; Jade Ear Joe

NEW THREAD RULES
================

This thread is getting a lot of posts about 3DS Friend Codes and who's adding who as a friend and whatnot. This has at times seemed to be getting in the way of other conversation about the games. And it's better suited to the trading thread in Private Game Servers. With this in mind, you are now asked to put all posts that deal solely with friend codes, adding of friends etc. in the PGS thread and/or to keep it in PMs and IRC. Thank you and keep on trading Pok�mon.

I will try to repost this on the next few pages to make sure everybody has seen it.

Clarifications:

You can post about Friend Safari, ask what your Friend Safari has etc. You can ask for help regarding Friend Codes if there is something you don't understand or can't get to work, just don't post purely to tell people what your FC is or to ask that somebody add you back. You can add a comment relating to Friend Codes to a post that has other content, but if a Friend-Code-related conversation develops you should try if at all possible to take it to another, more suitable venue.

# ¿ Oct 19, 2013 18:29

Hammerite: Mar 9, 2007; And you don't remember what I said here, either, but it was pompous and stupid.; Jade Ear Joe

Hammerite posted:

NEW THREAD RULES
================

This thread is getting a lot of posts about 3DS Friend Codes and who's adding who as a friend and whatnot. This has at times seemed to be getting in the way of other conversation about the games. And it's better suited to the trading thread in Private Game Servers. With this in mind, you are now asked to put all posts that deal solely with friend codes, adding of friends etc. in the PGS thread and/or to keep it in PMs and IRC. Thank you and keep on trading Pok�mon.

I will try to repost this on the next few pages to make sure everybody has seen it.

Clarifications:

You can post about Friend Safari, ask what your Friend Safari has etc. You can ask for help regarding Friend Codes if there is something you don't understand or can't get to work, just don't post purely to tell people what your FC is or to ask that somebody add you back. You can add a comment relating to Friend Codes to a post that has other content, but if a Friend-Code-related conversation develops you should try if at all possible to take it to another, more suitable venue.

# ¿ Oct 19, 2013 18:59

Hammerite: Mar 9, 2007; And you don't remember what I said here, either, but it was pompous and stupid.; Jade Ear Joe

CaptainPoopsock posted:

Thanks! Can you explain this a bit further? I did super training which gave me 4 EVs and not straight-up stat increases. When you say "at level 100" what does this mean? When my Pokemon is level 100, and I only train 4 EVs in Defense I will see one stat increase?*

*This is only my second Pokemon game and my first time hearing about EVs!

Your pokemon's Defense (or whatever) stat is calculated using a certain formula, and one of the variables in the formula is the number of EVs it has. Another variable is the pokemon's current level. This formula is set up so that when the pokemon is at level 100, every fourth EV in Defense causes the stat to rise by 1 (ignoring the effect of Natures). At other levels, the stat is approximately proportionally scaled (the approximation is worse at lower levels because there is a constant term). At level 50, for example, every eighth EV causes a stat to rise by 1 (still ignoring Natures).

# ¿ Oct 19, 2013 19:07

Hammerite: Mar 9, 2007; And you don't remember what I said here, either, but it was pompous and stupid.; Jade Ear Joe

pandaK posted:

There's an old man that you can give one of your Pokemon to sometime in the story. If you come back after you beat the Elite 4, he's not there anymore and there's a Pokeball in the room with a note saying that he's sorry, he can't look after it anymore.

I didn't get around to giving him one to look after. I've beaten the E4 and he's still there for me.

# ¿ Oct 19, 2013 20:03

Hammerite: Mar 9, 2007; And you don't remember what I said here, either, but it was pompous and stupid.; Jade Ear Joe

horriblePencilist posted:

Can you catch Maractus?

I saw someone say they found one in a Safari.

# ¿ Oct 19, 2013 21:58

Hammerite: Mar 9, 2007; And you don't remember what I said here, either, but it was pompous and stupid.; Jade Ear Joe

Endymion FRS MK1 posted:

Why did I go to the Bulbapedia forums? Why did I go into the complaint/disapointment thread?

Sooooo so much bitching about "too much Kanto", and a wonderful "I know there is a lot of fanfare at the moment and everyones excited but when things have calmed down a bit, I think Gen 6 will go down as the worse Generation so far, yes even Gen 3 will be preferable.
It's a shame after the high that was Gen 5 they then fell so low."

I mean yeah there's some weird things this gen, but a lot can be chalked up to a complete facelift of the game into basically detailed N64 level graphics, unique animations for, well, everything (I will never not laugh at Magikarp flopping around or Psyduck clutching its head and toppling over when fainted). And my inner 9 year old is going ecstatic over Kanto in goddamn 3D.

I know I'm gushing and probably guilty of what they're doing but in reverse, but seriously this is the most fun I've ever had with a Pokemon game since I first played Yellow a long rear end time ago

The extensive integration of internet-aware connectivity features into the game is enough on its own to make this the best pokemon game they've ever released. There are always people who hate the game for this or that dumb reason, ignore them.

SuddenBlackout posted:

Looking for adds for the friend safari, mine is fire with Charmander.
FID: 3737-9564-1133
FN: Tommy
OT: Yeezus

Please put this stuff in the PGS trading thread (linked in the OP).

# ¿ Oct 20, 2013 00:26

Hammerite: Mar 9, 2007; And you don't remember what I said here, either, but it was pompous and stupid.; Jade Ear Joe

Hmm, so something I was not aware of: http://www.serebii.net/xy/wilditems.shtml

You can find items, including some of the BP items from the Battle Maison, in the wild after using certain moves. I myself found a White Herb after a trainer battle while playing through the game, although I didn't know at the time what had triggered it.

You can also get various berries that the game does not give you. And if you wanted to get extra, er, NeverMeltIces, I guess you can do that, too.

Soilmate posted:

Just bred a 6x31 IV Timid Joltik with Compound Eyes. Feels good.

I am in heaven

# ¿ Oct 20, 2013 02:18

Hammerite: Mar 9, 2007; And you don't remember what I said here, either, but it was pompous and stupid.; Jade Ear Joe

Just to reiterate, requests for others to add your FC/other FC-related posts should go in the PGS thread (link is in the OP), please.

Tried out teaching Quacklin' Air Cutter and using him in wild pokemon battles on Route 7. Successfully got a Kasib berry (which I already had found in Kalos) and two Payapa Berries and a Babiri Berry (which I hadn't). Also I now have Pomeg, Hondew, Qualot and Grepa Berries via cross-pollinating.

horriblePencilist, are you happy with the Super Training FAQ of yours on page 228? Is it ready to be put in the OP?

# ¿ Oct 21, 2013 02:42

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# ¿ May 12, 2024 07:31

Hammerite: Mar 9, 2007; And you don't remember what I said here, either, but it was pompous and stupid.; Jade Ear Joe

My berry nerd quest continues. I now have Babiri, Colbur, Payapa, Rindo and Wiki berries from taking Quacklin' out for battles.

# ¿ Oct 21, 2013 17:10

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Pokemon Megathread 6.0: You'd have to have mega stones to not play this.

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