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Pokémon Community Thread 3: "Soon, All of Hoenn Will Be Under Its Withering Glare…"

Brandon F

Well congratulations! You got yourself caught!
Hi GAF! So Twitch got me intrigued to play a game and given some of the negatives I've read about X/Y, I decided to buy Black 1+2 instead. (Mostly intrigued by having unknown monsters until post-game and the Plasma plotline). My only experience playing these games was finishing Leafgreen on GBA so long ago.

My copies of the Gen V games are on the way and in the meantime I pulled out Soul Silver to hold me until then(bought at launch but never touched til now) and to reacquaint myself with the series since its been so long. I would just play SS instead, but after three gyms I am finding it a bit too sluggish and am more interested in the advancements of Black. Also Johto is kind of boring so far...hoping later games spice up the exploration a bit more in the layout of the routes.

Oh and I also plan to try a Nuzlocke run since I recall Leafgreen was way too easy until the elite 4 and I love Ironman runs in Fire Emblem. Playing SS this way so far and it's been a harrowing experience, loving it.

I do have some questions though, basic stuff though.

-Held items...how do they work? I have some X-Accuracy, Str, etc...but am afriad to use any of them as I am unsure how they are handled and replacement costs are massive in SS. Just an explanation and some tips for them. Do they require activation? Auto-activate for a single battle after equipped? Auto-activate until i choose to withdraw a pokemon in however many fights? So unclear, so I hoard and never bother!

-Speed stat...ummm so does it just ensure the enemy attacks after me each round? Or is there more to using a move that lowers an enemy speed that I am not seeing. Also it is SO bloody irritating that this game only chooses to show a small handful of the crippling abilities/buffs that you cast. Def/Accuracy/Speed and a few others don't appear like poison/paralyze do next to Pokemon names when affected. Hate it when RPG's use do this.

-TM/HM's. So I only have bothered with the obvious cut/rock smash moves so far, but I have built up a small arsenal of other TM's that seemingly are single use when given to a Pokemon? Basically ensuring I NEVER use them since my party keeps changing. Hard to tell though since the game explains using them very unclearly outside of cut which is obviously multi-use.

-After getting gym badge 3 in SS, the leader told me I can use 'strength' outside of battle now? What? I skipped the dialogue kind of quickly and missed what exactly was said. Now I am curious and dying to know what was meant.

Thanks for any responses and I look forward to diving into Black soon!
 

DaBoss

Member
Soul Silver is a great game to start off again with. It is the remake of the sequel to Red/Blue/Yellow (and you played LeafGreen which is a remake of those games).

I don't think you should skip out on X/Y. They are fun games and have many great additions. You should play them after you are done the Gen V games (or you can wait for the third version which may come some time early next year which would give you a break on Pokemon to prevent you from being burnt out by the series).

1. Hold Items just require you to give it to a Pokemon, the description should say what it does and when it activates. However, X Accuracy and the other X items are not hold items, they are Battle Items. They give you stat boosts as long as you have that Pokemon out in battle, so that means switching will cause all of those buffs to be gone.

In order to use them, you have to be in a battle first. Then you go to Items and then Battle Items and use whichever Battle Item you want to.

Personally, I never use Battle Items since I can manage without them, but they are useful if you use them.

2. The Speed Stat determines whether you or your opponent's Pokemon uses a move first. Some moves like Quick Attack (+1 Priority) and Protect (+4 Priority [+3 in pre-Gen V]) have a higher priority which will ignore Speed unless both you and your Pokemon use a move with the same priority, then it would use the Speed stat to determine which Pokemon moves first.

If there is a Speed tie, it is random as to which Pokemon will move first.

Yea, Pokemon doesn't show the buffs/debuffs your Pokemon or opponent's Pokemon gets, so you would have to memorize them. This can help you with that (or may confuse you a bit cause it may be too much to take in all at once): http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Stats#Quotes

Should be noted that some statuses have secondary effects. Being Paralyzed cuts your Speed in half, being Burned cuts your Attack in half.

3. Just use them on whoever you think on your team needs it. Though since your team changes constantly, that may be a problem if you find something later you want to use. Thankfully Gen V and Gen VI games now don't limit TMs to one use.

4. Strength is an HM that is used to move boulders. Badges are required to use certain HMs in every game except the Gen V games. The Gym Leaders will tell you what HM you can use when you get that badge.
 

blamite

Member
Hi GAF! So Twitch got me intrigued to play a game and given some of the negatives I've read about X/Y, I decided to buy Black 1+2 instead. (Mostly intrigued by having unknown monsters until post-game and the Plasma plotline). My only experience playing these games was finishing Leafgreen on GBA so long ago.

My copies of the Gen V games are on the way and in the meantime I pulled out Soul Silver to hold me until then(bought at launch but never touched til now) and to reacquaint myself with the series since its been so long. I would just play SS instead, but after three gyms I am finding it a bit too sluggish and am more interested in the advancements of Black. Also Johto is kind of boring so far...hoping later games spice up the exploration a bit more in the layout of the routes.

Oh and I also plan to try a Nuzlocke run since I recall Leafgreen was way too easy until the elite 4 and I love Ironman runs in Fire Emblem. Playing SS this way so far and it's been a harrowing experience, loving it.

I do have some questions though, basic stuff though.

-Held items...how do they work? I have some X-Accuracy, Str, etc...but am afriad to use any of them as I am unsure how they are handled and replacement costs are massive in SS. Just an explanation and some tips for them. Do they require activation? Auto-activate for a single battle after equipped? Auto-activate until i choose to withdraw a pokemon in however many fights? So unclear, so I hoard and never bother!

Items liek X-Attack, X-Defend, etc. aren't meant to be held, you use them on one of your turns and they increase the associated stat for the remainder of the battle. They're also one-time-use and use up a turn, so... that's a downside. Personally I never used them, or found them that useful to be honest, but others might find them more useful. Items like Charcoal, Blackglasses, Nevermeltice, etc I think have in their description that they're meant to be held, and these are always active and are never used up. These are really nice.

-Speed stat...ummm so does it just ensure the enemy attacks after me each round? Or is there more to using a move that lowers an enemy speed that I am not seeing. Also it is SO bloody irritating that this game only chooses to show a small handful of the crippling abilities/buffs that you cast. Def/Accuracy/Speed and a few others don't appear like poison/paralyze do next to Pokemon names when affected. Hate it when RPG's use do this.

Regarding speed: pretty much yeah, it just determines who goes first, although some moves like Protect/Detect/Quick Attack/Aqua Jet have increased priority and will almost always go first even with a lower speed stat.

-TM/HM's. So I only have bothered with the obvious cut/rock smash moves so far, but I have built up a small arsenal of other TM's that seemingly are single use when given to a Pokemon? Basically ensuring I NEVER use them since my party keeps changing. Hard to tell though since the game explains using them very unclearly outside of cut which is obviously multi-use.

In games before Black and White, TMs are one-time-use. This fact is dumb and stupid. Black and White fix this! In Black and White on the only difference between TMs and HMs is that HMs can only be removed by the move deleter.

-After getting gym badge 3 in SS, the leader told me I can use 'strength' outside of battle now? What? I skipped the dialogue kind of quickly and missed what exactly was said. Now I am curious and dying to know what was meant.

HM moves (and a few non-HM moves like Dig and Sweet Scent) can be used outside of battle for effects like moving boulders (Strength), cutting trees (Cut), surfing (Surf), etc. Each of these moves usually requires a certain badge to use out of battle

Thanks for any responses and I look forward to diving into Black soon!
Some answers added in bold. Hope they help!
 

Macka

Member
Champion Ranking
Blue*
Cynthia
Lance*
Steven
Alder
Iris
Wallace
Diantha

* Blue doesn't really count because he's your rival first and foremost.
* Does Lance even count? He's just the final member of the Elite Four. Eh, he's still a lot more interesting than Steven so he deserves to be above him.

Diantha is awful. Not only is she bland (both personality wise and in terms of her design), but she doesn't have any relevance to the plot at all, and her boring team was a complete pushover as well.

Cynthia is the true champion.
 
Diantha is awful. Not only is she bland (both personality wise and in terms of her design), but she doesn't have any relevance to the plot at all, and her boring team was a complete pushover as well.

I agree, she was easily the most boring Champion in the entire series. Which is a shame because I actually really like the designs of the Kalos Elite 4, and I hope the "ties" that Malva had are explored more in Z. Hell, I hope they just straight up put all 4 of them in the plot.
 

Brandon F

Well congratulations! You got yourself caught!
Thanks for the answers everyone. Didn't realize that most buffs can stacked up to 6 times(expected 3). Also, I am glad that TM's were changed in Gen V. Again I groan when receiving them in SS since I just know it is bloating up my inventory and since I am playing a Nuzlocke challenge my party is shifting regularly as Pokemon faint and I am forced to collect new ones regularly. It's a rough challenge and given the fixed number of routes/caves/environments, my potential Pokemon gains are very limited and thus my move sets. I hate even having to remove a useful ability just to learn cut or rock smash...

Actually I did receive headbutt not long ago and still wonder what the purpose of that one is all about. Not a single tree has given me anything yet for using it.
 

-Horizon-

Member
Champion Ranking
Blue*
Cynthia
Lance*
Steven
Alder
Iris
Wallace
Diantha

* Blue doesn't really count because he's your rival first and foremost.
* Does Lance even count? He's just the final member of the Elite Four. Eh, he's still a lot more interesting than Steven so he deserves to be above him.

Diantha is awful. Not only is she bland (both personality wise and in terms of her design), but she doesn't have any relevance to the plot at all, and her boring team was a complete pushover as well.

Cynthia is the true champion.

I wonder if gen 7 is going back to a male champion. Just wondering because gens 1-3 were male, gens 4-6 were female. Even number of both genders now
Wallace never happened, nope
.

What are the negatives about Pokemon X/Y?
It even has Whimsicott now.

The end game is kind of lacking.
 

qq more

Member
Blue is my favorite champion because of the fact he's your rival. It was the perfect way to end the game. It was like "YES I BEAT THE ELITE 4 AND NOW THE CHAMPION! WHAT NOW, MOTHA FUCKAS... wait, shit... my rival beat me to it and HE'S the champion too?! WELL IT'S ON NOW, BITCHES"

I mean nothing can compare to that moment. Nothing. Lance and Cynthia are pretty cool champions too though! All 3 have great music too!

I barely remember the other champions and their themes (I'll have to look them up again sometime, I remember liking them), but I listened to Iris's battle theme the other day and was really disappointed with it.
 

B-Dubs

No Scrubs
- Too easy
- No endgame
- Performance issues

I can address this point by point for you

-just turn off expshare
-valid but it has the best online the series has ever had
-not really, they aren't noticeable ones anyway

Seriously dude, get X/Y. They're easily the best games in the series.
 

spiritfox

Member
I can address this point by point for you

-just turn off expshare
-valid but it has the best online the series has ever had
-not really, they aren't noticeable ones anyway

Seriously dude, get X/Y. They're easily the best games in the series.

The performance issues are not noticable? The framerate drops to shit whenever the camera shows the 2 Pokemon splitscreen, even with 3D off. I enjoyed the game, but I wouldn't put it as the best games. It's not even top 3. I'll wait for the 3rd edition, especially since it's most likely coming soon.

(B/W, Emerald, HG/SS In that order JUDGE ME)

Edit: I just want to add that I loved the improvements to online that X/Y brought. It was the redeeming feature of the games, and I hope that they don't remove it next gen, like Game Freak is want to do.
 

lupinko

Member
Apparently they hold official pokemon battles at the local pokemon center. Now that I have two 3DS should I solo tag team? Lol

Looked like they were using a capture card or something through a laptop hooked up to a HDTV.

Anyway I was just there to pick up a point card since the Japanese Pokebank is no longer doing a free trial and to get a Pokemon Center Scizor for my Japanese Y, I'll go back tomorrow to get the Event Gengar. Here's a pic of the point card which I think is neat.

I2xrf5s.jpg


Can't wait to do my Y run of Chespin/Oshawott/Charmander/Palkia/Dialga/Giratina/Lugia/Hooh/Thundurus/Landurus/Tornadus/Celebi and other Dream Radar pokes.

Too bad I don't have my Wishmaker Jirachis up yet or I could just wait for that before I start playing. Lol
 
D

Deleted member 231381

Unconfirmed Member
I can address this point by point for you

-just turn off expshare
-valid but it has the best online the series has ever had
-not really, they aren't noticeable ones anyway

Seriously dude, get X/Y. They're easily the best games in the series.

Even with Exp. Share off, XY is probably the easiest game in the series (which really is telling in terms of just how bad the problem is with Exp. Share on...). The performance issues are also definitely noticeable, the framerate drop during some attacks can be quite painful. I think XY provided a good framework in terms of the series transition to 3D, but it's definitely very rough around the edges and needs a lot of work in the future.
 

lupinko

Member
So lame that we don't get unique cards. I would love to collect these. I think very briefly there was a Zelda-themed card available, but I didn't need one at the time I saw it. Went back later and it was gone. :'/

If you want I can just mail it to you in an envelope, of course I already used the card. Lol

There's also a special one for 1000Y.

I'm planning to go mostly digital for my JP 3DS like my CA anyway unless there is a sale or cool preorder gift.
 

-Horizon-

Member
Blue is my favorite champion because of the fact he's your rival. It was the perfect way to end the game. It was like "YES I BEAT THE ELITE 4 AND NOW THE CHAMPION! WHAT NOW, MOTHA FUCKAS... wait, shit... my rival beat me to it and HE'S the champion too?! WELL IT'S ON NOW, BITCHES"

I mean nothing can compare to that moment. Nothing. Lance and Cynthia are pretty cool champions too though! All 3 have great music too!

I barely remember the other champions and their themes (I'll have to look them up again sometime, I remember liking them), but I listened to Iris's battle theme the other day and was really disappointed with it.

I still think Cynthia had the best champion theme.

What's wrong with Wallace

Everything.

Whos wallace

No such person

Only steven here

Exactly.

But Juanito

...Who?
 

Busaiku

Member
So lame that we don't get unique cards. I would love to collect these. I think very briefly there was a Zelda-themed card available, but I didn't need one at the time I saw it. Went back later and it was gone. :'/

Gamestop does have some stuff.
Mostly Mario stuff, but there are various cards with different designs.

I think I did see a Wind Waker card before.
 

Brandon F

Well congratulations! You got yourself caught!
- Too easy
- No endgame
- Performance issues

Yea, this and a few others minor nitpicks sort of convinced me to jump on the B/W 1/2 train instead of X/Y for my second Pokemon experience(well third since I am playing SS until B/W arrive). Whatever GameFreak has planned next I am hopeful it cleans up some of the issues.

In the meanwhile, B/W are pretty highly regarded with the only real complaint being the linearity of the campaign(strange given how very linear SS has been so far up to gym 4, so much progression gating on the different routes). Most other nitpicks seem rooted in nostalgia rather than objective complaints about the core game. It consistently seems to go toe to toe with HG/SS as the most well-regarded game in the series(though lots of people do adore X/Y for its advancements despite obvious criticisms). Granted, this is all based on pouring through older gen war topics on Neogaf...

But really playing SS I am a bit letdown that the 15 hours played so far and my party is pretty much entirely Gen 1 monsters. Having only ever played Leafgreen, my party currently looks almost identical in SS halfway through the gyms as to what it was in the old GBA game. I do see some new monsters here and there, but they feel rare amidst so many classic staples. Maybe the second half of the game really ramps up the monster variety? Just wish the Kanto monsters were stuck in that region for the post-game allowing me to fully engage with the Johto stuff for the first half. I suppose that is still a primary complaint of B/W...but one I love the sound of.

I am still really enjoying SS though despite. Again I am ignoring the Pokedex and doing a pure Nuzlocke playthrough so each faint acts as a permanent death for that team-member and I am forced to reach a new route/cave/dungeon to earn the option of a replacement since I can only catch whatever random first critter pops up. It's a really tense and gratifying way to play the game, one that has completely negated the "easy" complaint the franchise often has. Every death is more brutal than a Fire Emblem/Xcom death, and the bond with my team is far greater than I ever had with Leafgreen.
 

Daemul

Member
I'm like you Brandon, after seeing the Twitch stream I've decided to get back into Pokemon, it reminded me of the good times I had with Gen IV. I originally had no intention to buy the Gen V games, since I was as salty as fuck about Ash being rebooted and made a noob in the Anime, but after skipping Gen III and missing out on that I've decided to avoid making that same mistake again, especially whilst Amazon still stocks the games. I have little fear of getting fake copies like you're extremely likely to do with the Gen III games.

I've ordered Black 1 and I'll order Black 2 once it gets back in stock on March 4th, I find it strange that the Black versions of the games are cheaper but they seem to be the most popular, I guess the cheaper price is why. I don't have a 3DS so I can't play X/Y, but I'll buy it once the 3rd and definitive version comes out next year.

I'm really looking forward to playing Pokemon, thank God they made TM's have unlimited uses like HM's, the one use thing was stupid.
 
I can address this point by point for you

-just turn off expshare
-valid but it has the best online the series has ever had
-not really, they aren't noticeable ones anyway

Seriously dude, get X/Y. They're easily the best games in the series.

The framerate drops to sub 20fps a lot, and don't even try playing the game in 3D because the frame rate just straight up dies.

X/Y is not a great game for someone who just want to play single player. If you want single player Gen V is the way to go, if you are in it for multiplayer X/Y are the best.
 
D

Deleted member 231381

Unconfirmed Member
HGSS is king for singleplayer, still. BW is pretty close, though. Such a shame about BW2...
 

Fury Sense

Member
I would recommend HGSS + XY for sure. Having both Johto and Kanto in one game is awesome, and they're the first two regions so you get a strong foundation if you're new to modern pokemon. XY's graphics really rejuvenate the series and the animations are sometimes really cool. Its EXP All lets you train anything you capture and make frequent changes to your team which is fun too. But perhaps more importantly is the ease of access to the competitive scene with simplified breeding and a fairly good online system.

As for negatives, someone said there are performance issues, and they're right. You might as well play on a 2DS because trying to use the 3D slider at a setting above OFF is not worth the lag in battles which is where 90% of the 3D content is. And for the EXP All, it can be annoying to have to use it to modify the difficulty manually. It kind of challenges the value of your accomplishments depending on how often you use it and how often you change your team up.

HGSS looks like ass on the 3ds, I'm not sure why, but it stretches the image out like 10% and blurs all the pixel-perfect text and art. Maybe it can be turned off to display in original size? Also, know 4th gen pokemon can't be transferred to 6ths without going to 5th first.
 

Wichu

Member
HGSS looks like ass on the 3ds, I'm not sure why, but it stretches the image out like 10% and blurs all the pixel-perfect text and art. Maybe it can be turned off to display in original size? Also, know 4th gen pokemon can't be transferred to 6ths without going to 5th first.

Hold Start or Select while starting a DS game, and it won't stretch the image. It'll be tiny on an original 3DS or 2DS, though.
 

-Horizon-

Member
Juan should be the champion in the Hoenn remakes/sequels.
They should just get rid of the water gym and water champion in general. Weren't most people complaining after I posted a page back that there was too much water anyway? lol
The remake should change it to a Fairy gym
qq now boycotting R/S remakes
 

Fury Sense

Member
3rd Gen is the only one I never played. Do you guys really think they're working on Hoenn remakes? I would be too happy about it. I dream that it comes this year but I have no reason to believe it will.
 

-Horizon-

Member
fairy gym

with azumarill

MORE WATER FOR YOU

Team Aqua is a horrible influence.

3rd Gen is the only one I never played. Do you guys really think they're working on Hoenn remakes? I would be too happy about it. I dream that it comes this year but I have no reason to believe it will.

Yes, I 100% believe they are working on a remake for R/S. Whether it releases before "Z version or X^2/Y^2" is any one's guess.

We got R/S -> FireRed/LeafGreen -> Emerald (within and below a year of each other)
We got D/P -> Platinum -> HG/SS (D/P to Platinum took 2 years, Platinum to HG/SS took 1 year)
We got B/W -> 2 (a little over a year) no remake because DS was winding down and we've been there for 2 gens

After talking about it before on here a while back, I now think we'll get Z version first and then the remakes.
 

Daemul

Member
I'm not sure that we'll be getting Hoenn remakes, it could really mess up the timeline.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Z4zEBloxmE

Gen I and Gen II had remakes for a reason, to give the games proper continuity and not contradict newer games at every turn. Gen III remakes would have no purpose and be counterproductive to what Game Freak have done, unless of course, all they did in the remakes was update the graphics and mechanics and keep everything else the same, then that would be fine.
 
Yes, I 100% believe they are working on a remake for R/S. Whether it releases before "Z version or X^2/Y^2" is any one's guess.

We got R/S -> FireRed/LeafGreen -> Emerald (within and below a year of each other)
We got D/P -> Platinum -> HG/SS (D/P to Platinum took 2 years, Platinum to HG/SS took 1 year)
We got B/W -> 2 (a little over a year) no remake because DS was winding down and we've been there for 2 gens

After talking about it before on here a while back, I now think we'll get Z version first and then the remakes.
I think the next game, whatever it may be, will be out sometime in 2015. At least in the US, there's been a Pokemon game out every year since Platinum was released, and I suspect with the worldwide launch that's going to slow things down a little bit. I wonder where the Strange Souvenir or whatever it was called falls into this, though, because if I remember correctly it wasn't from any region we know about and I doubt we'd have to wait until Gen VII to figure out what the deal with that is.
 

Alchemy

Member
I'm not sure that we'll be getting Hoenn remakes, it could really mess up the timeline.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Z4zEBloxmE

Gen I and Gen II had remakes for a reason, to give the games proper continuity and not contradict newer games at every turn. Gen III remakes would have no purpose and be counterproductive to what Game Freak have done, unless of course, all they did in the remakes was update the graphics and mechanics and keep everything else the same, then that would be fine.

There will be new games or remakes from older regions on the 3DS at some point, Game Freak can't just rely on Bank to keep older gen Pokemon in the games.
 
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