- 26
- Posts
- 12
- Years
- Seen Jul 7, 2014
So... I finally beat the elite four and that's the game for me.
Embrace yourself for a long tedious comment:
Expert Emerald (or should I call it: Dodrio s**ting things hack) is a really fun hack. The difficulty is definitely on the hard side. Lots of double battles, especially against gym leaders so you can't switch between the pokes. As with most cases, it was extremely hard closer to the start of the game (I only beat Brawly's Combusken by mere luck. He send it against you while you almost don't have any evoloved Pokemon and the only defensive Pokemon I had then was Poochyena, which is not useful in this case, of course). But the difficulty level stayed hard even farther to the game. I found myself, to my surprise, having a really hard time with Norman, and my lv. 50 Blaziken was almost usless, his only fightning move being double kick from lv. 15 or so. The antagonist's teams were also an unexpected challenge.
This was my hall of fame team, goes by the catching order:
1. Henry, a male Blaziken (Modest, Speed boost): Sky Uppercut, Fire Blast, Fire punch, Buck Up (charcoal). lv. 64.
The true disappointment of the team. His modest nature screwed with it's fighting moves, and he was fragile as hell. I screwed with his EVs, undecided what to do with him and accidentally gave him a lot of HP EVs grinding while thinking he's through with the EVs.
I wanted him to learn flamethrower instead of both fire moves, and teach him protect to speed boost against faster opponents, but didn't find the TM for some reason (Should'v looked at Emerald's walkthrough). You can see by his level I almost didn't use it late in the game, but he did prove useful against some of the dark pokes of the first of the elite four.
2. Furrball, a female Furret (Modest, run-away): Thunder, Ice-beam, Extremespeed, Amnesia (Silk Scurf). lv. 84.
I knew I'm gonna have a Furret, like I always do, but when I got a modest one and saw the changes in the states boosting it's SpA, I said I'll try something new - A mixed sweeper Furret! In the late game I had to keep her ten levels ahead of the rest of the team so she'll be useful, but in the elite four she gave everything back, obliterating water pokes and sweeping almost the whole dragon team with single hits. She had better defenses then I had expected, so with Amnesia she was almost untouchable by special hitters. Extremespeed against special defensive pokes, and also to finish off low health ones, turned out to be disappointing since it seems every trainer in this game has more potions then you can expect. Thunder always hit, combined with Starscale's Drizzle.
3. Blacklace, a female Dodrio (Lonely, Huge Power): Tri-Attack, Drill peck, Steel wings, Agility (Sharp Beak). lv. 74.
Man oh man, this hack solemnly made the ultimate Dodrio that could ever been and that will ever be. This lady of bird was like a wracking ball that 1KOed every-single-Pokemon-in-the-game! She was so powerful I kept her in the back and used her as a secret weapon when things went wrong. For the most of the game she was at least 5 levels behind the rest of the team and still hit better then them all.
What should I begin with? The obvious ability treat - HUGE POWER - that made her peck as a Doduo hit like a Brave Bird? the (even more bizarre) improvement to Dodrio states, including rational HP boost, but also more Attack? The 100 power 100 accuracy Tri-attack with bonus effects, before the attack and special attack split?
In the bottom line, Dodrio owned this game, and I think could'v beat the whole of the elite four with her alone. Steel wings let her go around these few resistance, if she couldn't beat them anyway, resistance or not. I didn't use Agility once because she didn't need it. She also didn't need any help from the new TM she could learn - Buck up (as if Dodrio wasn't strong enough already...). If I would get her a choice band - the only choice item in this game - it was a game over period.
The funny thing is - I didn't saw the Huge Power treat on the begging of the game, through the attachment file. I only saw the stat boost. And when I encountered Doduo at the second grass I wanted to catch it anyway cause I never got to use one in other games and I truly like this Poke (Dodrio). So I caught one with the other ability (early bird I think it is) and after a day I gazed through the Evolution and other changes attachment file (which I havn't read yet) and suddenly saw This. It was like: "Oh, no you don't!" - I immediately Stocked the Doduo I had and caught Blacklace.
4. Ganz, a male Tyranitar (quiet, Sand Stream): Rock Slide, Crunch, Earthquake, Toxic (Hard Stone). lv. 68.
This one was also a bit of a disappointment. I caught it after I got stuck in the third gym, having nothing to send against the electric overcharged raw special power (and Blacklace was still a Doduo, can't even compete with the electric poke's speed). I needed a special wall since I only got fragile pokes or defensive ones (Mightyena). I came back to Dewford cave to look for ground types and pondered if I should take Cubone (which is ground but I already had a defensive poke and a hard attacker) or Mawile (which got a huge special defense boost but his shallow move pool and lack of regeneration Technics drew me off). Then I suddenly found Larvitar. I never used this pokemon before (always in the end of the game) so I took it as my new teammate.
But even as a Tyranitar he wasn't shining. He didn't have any supporting moves to raise his own states and also didn't have recovering moves. Because I used all his EVs on HP and SpD his attacks was rather weak but the sand stream helped him in this field a notch. Also, the strategy of toxic+sand storm wasn't as great as it was in my head, as until he beat up the other poke, he was pretty much weary himself and for the above reasons I couldn't help it. I would prefer him to have shed skin like Pupitar, and maybe Iron defense too. Then I would'v tought him rest and sand-storm, and it could be more useful, but meh.
I'm digging it too much. I'll cut things short.
5. Silverscale, a male Milotic (bold, drizzle): Surf, Outrage, Recover, Refresh (Mystic Water). lv. 74.
I needed a water or a grass Poke, but Tropius, which I wanted to use, lost his chrolophyyll and also was x4 weak to to many things my other pokes coudn't back up. I also needed a new wall cause I found, in a delay, that Mightyena isn't a good wall even after his defense boost and my EVs cause darkness is a bad bad wall material (and also generally), So I got this one instead. Also a first one for me to use one since it's so scarce in the games (Also, Mightyena could not use it's stab efficiently, has still low spread of moves and doesn't have enough supporting moves to fill any of it's roles).
I almost didn't use any of his moves except for surf because he was hitting so hard with it (because of the drizzle and the item). I was surprise to see him actually outsped a lot of pokes in it's level since it doesn't has a lot of natural speed and I didn't give him any speed EVs.
6. Almentaro, a male Alakazam (Rash, Pressure): Psychic, Fire Punch, Ice Punch, Thunder Punch (Lucky egg). lv. 77.
I needed a special sweeper cause Furrbal wasn't enough. So I got this buddy and felt really cheap (I don't even like it but couldn't think of other choices). Thought about teaching it Calm Mind but he was was already so strong and also he was to fragile to take hits. Dodrio and him in double battles couldn't possibly lose.
Anyway, after this long-long speech my conclusion are teh:
This game is fun like hell. The difficulty, which is smart, well-balanced and challenging, is it's core attribute, as also giving all the 386 pokes to catch and the changes in the pokes.
Those said changes are fun indeed, and let you use Pokemon you usually want to use but they just giving you too much trouble to work with and promise you a lot of grinding in the harder games, or Pokemon that are to be found in other games only by the end of the game, if at all.
Some of these said Pokes got - ah - a bigger, much bigger share then others. Dodrio is an extreme example but Swellow too jumped from 430 total to sky-high 600, and got a widespread of new special moves to abuse his better SpA stat. I was really surprised to be incredibly overwhelmed by Wally's Ledian (!) Other Pokes didn't get nothing, which I found myself really discouraged to use since a lot of the fun of the hack is the changes (and I'm not talking about the powerful pokes but pokes like Quagsire, for example). It was fun for me to use Furret as a special attacker and rather surprisingly durable special wall.
That is all. Thank you and have a good day.
Embrace yourself for a long tedious comment:
Expert Emerald (or should I call it: Dodrio s**ting things hack) is a really fun hack. The difficulty is definitely on the hard side. Lots of double battles, especially against gym leaders so you can't switch between the pokes. As with most cases, it was extremely hard closer to the start of the game (I only beat Brawly's Combusken by mere luck. He send it against you while you almost don't have any evoloved Pokemon and the only defensive Pokemon I had then was Poochyena, which is not useful in this case, of course). But the difficulty level stayed hard even farther to the game. I found myself, to my surprise, having a really hard time with Norman, and my lv. 50 Blaziken was almost usless, his only fightning move being double kick from lv. 15 or so. The antagonist's teams were also an unexpected challenge.
This was my hall of fame team, goes by the catching order:
1. Henry, a male Blaziken (Modest, Speed boost): Sky Uppercut, Fire Blast, Fire punch, Buck Up (charcoal). lv. 64.
The true disappointment of the team. His modest nature screwed with it's fighting moves, and he was fragile as hell. I screwed with his EVs, undecided what to do with him and accidentally gave him a lot of HP EVs grinding while thinking he's through with the EVs.
I wanted him to learn flamethrower instead of both fire moves, and teach him protect to speed boost against faster opponents, but didn't find the TM for some reason (Should'v looked at Emerald's walkthrough). You can see by his level I almost didn't use it late in the game, but he did prove useful against some of the dark pokes of the first of the elite four.
2. Furrball, a female Furret (Modest, run-away): Thunder, Ice-beam, Extremespeed, Amnesia (Silk Scurf). lv. 84.
I knew I'm gonna have a Furret, like I always do, but when I got a modest one and saw the changes in the states boosting it's SpA, I said I'll try something new - A mixed sweeper Furret! In the late game I had to keep her ten levels ahead of the rest of the team so she'll be useful, but in the elite four she gave everything back, obliterating water pokes and sweeping almost the whole dragon team with single hits. She had better defenses then I had expected, so with Amnesia she was almost untouchable by special hitters. Extremespeed against special defensive pokes, and also to finish off low health ones, turned out to be disappointing since it seems every trainer in this game has more potions then you can expect. Thunder always hit, combined with Starscale's Drizzle.
3. Blacklace, a female Dodrio (Lonely, Huge Power): Tri-Attack, Drill peck, Steel wings, Agility (Sharp Beak). lv. 74.
Man oh man, this hack solemnly made the ultimate Dodrio that could ever been and that will ever be. This lady of bird was like a wracking ball that 1KOed every-single-Pokemon-in-the-game! She was so powerful I kept her in the back and used her as a secret weapon when things went wrong. For the most of the game she was at least 5 levels behind the rest of the team and still hit better then them all.
What should I begin with? The obvious ability treat - HUGE POWER - that made her peck as a Doduo hit like a Brave Bird? the (even more bizarre) improvement to Dodrio states, including rational HP boost, but also more Attack? The 100 power 100 accuracy Tri-attack with bonus effects, before the attack and special attack split?
In the bottom line, Dodrio owned this game, and I think could'v beat the whole of the elite four with her alone. Steel wings let her go around these few resistance, if she couldn't beat them anyway, resistance or not. I didn't use Agility once because she didn't need it. She also didn't need any help from the new TM she could learn - Buck up (as if Dodrio wasn't strong enough already...). If I would get her a choice band - the only choice item in this game - it was a game over period.
The funny thing is - I didn't saw the Huge Power treat on the begging of the game, through the attachment file. I only saw the stat boost. And when I encountered Doduo at the second grass I wanted to catch it anyway cause I never got to use one in other games and I truly like this Poke (Dodrio). So I caught one with the other ability (early bird I think it is) and after a day I gazed through the Evolution and other changes attachment file (which I havn't read yet) and suddenly saw This. It was like: "Oh, no you don't!" - I immediately Stocked the Doduo I had and caught Blacklace.
4. Ganz, a male Tyranitar (quiet, Sand Stream): Rock Slide, Crunch, Earthquake, Toxic (Hard Stone). lv. 68.
This one was also a bit of a disappointment. I caught it after I got stuck in the third gym, having nothing to send against the electric overcharged raw special power (and Blacklace was still a Doduo, can't even compete with the electric poke's speed). I needed a special wall since I only got fragile pokes or defensive ones (Mightyena). I came back to Dewford cave to look for ground types and pondered if I should take Cubone (which is ground but I already had a defensive poke and a hard attacker) or Mawile (which got a huge special defense boost but his shallow move pool and lack of regeneration Technics drew me off). Then I suddenly found Larvitar. I never used this pokemon before (always in the end of the game) so I took it as my new teammate.
But even as a Tyranitar he wasn't shining. He didn't have any supporting moves to raise his own states and also didn't have recovering moves. Because I used all his EVs on HP and SpD his attacks was rather weak but the sand stream helped him in this field a notch. Also, the strategy of toxic+sand storm wasn't as great as it was in my head, as until he beat up the other poke, he was pretty much weary himself and for the above reasons I couldn't help it. I would prefer him to have shed skin like Pupitar, and maybe Iron defense too. Then I would'v tought him rest and sand-storm, and it could be more useful, but meh.
I'm digging it too much. I'll cut things short.
5. Silverscale, a male Milotic (bold, drizzle): Surf, Outrage, Recover, Refresh (Mystic Water). lv. 74.
I needed a water or a grass Poke, but Tropius, which I wanted to use, lost his chrolophyyll and also was x4 weak to to many things my other pokes coudn't back up. I also needed a new wall cause I found, in a delay, that Mightyena isn't a good wall even after his defense boost and my EVs cause darkness is a bad bad wall material (and also generally), So I got this one instead. Also a first one for me to use one since it's so scarce in the games (Also, Mightyena could not use it's stab efficiently, has still low spread of moves and doesn't have enough supporting moves to fill any of it's roles).
I almost didn't use any of his moves except for surf because he was hitting so hard with it (because of the drizzle and the item). I was surprise to see him actually outsped a lot of pokes in it's level since it doesn't has a lot of natural speed and I didn't give him any speed EVs.
6. Almentaro, a male Alakazam (Rash, Pressure): Psychic, Fire Punch, Ice Punch, Thunder Punch (Lucky egg). lv. 77.
I needed a special sweeper cause Furrbal wasn't enough. So I got this buddy and felt really cheap (I don't even like it but couldn't think of other choices). Thought about teaching it Calm Mind but he was was already so strong and also he was to fragile to take hits. Dodrio and him in double battles couldn't possibly lose.
Anyway, after this long-long speech my conclusion are teh:
This game is fun like hell. The difficulty, which is smart, well-balanced and challenging, is it's core attribute, as also giving all the 386 pokes to catch and the changes in the pokes.
Those said changes are fun indeed, and let you use Pokemon you usually want to use but they just giving you too much trouble to work with and promise you a lot of grinding in the harder games, or Pokemon that are to be found in other games only by the end of the game, if at all.
Some of these said Pokes got - ah - a bigger, much bigger share then others. Dodrio is an extreme example but Swellow too jumped from 430 total to sky-high 600, and got a widespread of new special moves to abuse his better SpA stat. I was really surprised to be incredibly overwhelmed by Wally's Ledian (!) Other Pokes didn't get nothing, which I found myself really discouraged to use since a lot of the fun of the hack is the changes (and I'm not talking about the powerful pokes but pokes like Quagsire, for example). It was fun for me to use Furret as a special attacker and rather surprisingly durable special wall.
That is all. Thank you and have a good day.
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