Been a rom hack lurker for years, but this one's really good and I thought I'd leave some feedback. Gen II is very special to me and having Physical/Special split + Fairy typing is exactly the kind of thing I've been hoping to find in a Gen II hack. In fact, I was thinking of (finally) getting into the rom hacking scene myself and figured I should check around to see if there was already a Gen II rom hack that did the kinds of things I wanted to, which led me here (Also TPP:AC, but this looked more interesting to me :P). I enjoy the Drayano style changes to typing/moves/stats and can really appreciate your attitude toward creating as much of an official feel as one can with a rom hack.
Anyway, I started playing maybe a week or two before the 2.0 update and was really torn between keeping a shiny Tentacool I caught and experiencing all the cool new stuff in the update, only to see a wild DV code get posted, so I happily restarted knowing I could catch the exact same Tentacool. Then natures happened, and again I happily restarted since I'm a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to getting at least decent natures. I've made it to Yellow Forest once, and Ecruteak twice. Some things came up IRL, so I stopped playing two-ish weeks ago, but I'm back now and I thought I'd give my feedback as I start playing again, so enough of my ramblings.
I haven't personally had any craziness as far as the alleged plethora of shinies, but I did get my Tentacool, and a shiny Misdreavus. I got the latter while obsessively breeding for a female with a decent nature from one I got through wonder trade (Really neat addition btw, and a great use for the Communication Center) paired with a Ditto (not the shiny gift one, haven't gotten to it yet) that apparently had the right Defense and Special DVs. I also have a shiny Jigglypuff, but that's one I decided to give myself, as I caught one in a GBA rom hack I ended up not enjoying, so I figured I'd use a shiny Jiggs in this instead. That's only 2 non-event shinies, one of which was bred, though I am only just now leaving Ectruteak, so we'll see what happens.
Speaking of Ecruteak, I'm really looking forward to seeing how the level progression goes from here, and I personally love a challenging game, so I'll definitely be providing some feedback. I'm not one for grinding, and I like to play the games with more than 6 Pokemon, so I won't give a very typical perspective, but I hope it's useful nonetheless. I usually use 12, but I'm having too much fun with such a shake up to Crystal, so I think I'll end up limiting myself to 18... probably going to need at least a little grinding to make sure everybody can keep up though. >_>
As far as stat EXP vs. EVs, I quite like the way Gen II stat experience works, it's so hassle free and easy to wear-- err, work with. For in game purposes it's great, and though I think the EV system is more interesting and creates greater diversity among individual 'mons, I personally like the bulky meta of Gen II and think the idea of psuedo-stat investment items allows for the meta to remain similar to GSC, but covers the diversity aspect of EVs while creating a unique twist for the potential Polished Crystal meta. Offensively, Muscle Band and Wise Glasses become more useful, and you could even include Life Orb for mixed attackers, if you so choose/have room (though a slight buff/nerf to it may be ideal for balance if you do. Just food for thought). Name-wise, I personally would like something such as Aegis Shield for defense and maybe ____ Circlet for Sp. Defense. I think it would make for a nice homage to the fact the Pokemon is an RPG, albeit a pretty unique one. I like the idea of Bunny Hood as a reference to Zelda games, though I personally think Pegasus Boots (unfortunately just realized it's one character too long) would be a bit more fitting. Boots in general I think would be the most obvious naming scheme. Someone else mentioned Megaman X, which immediately brings to mind the Dash Boots upgrade from X1. For Sp. Def, my initial thought was that Spirit Circlet would sound nice/convey Special moves well, but that's also too long. Circlets typically increase magic defense though, so I think either that or Spirit something would be good options for naming these hypothetical items.
Anyway, I had a few minor errors such as grammar and a few weird text box issues to report, but I think I saw others mention all the ones I can think of (I had a text document with them that I can't find... guess it disappeared when my laptop crashed a few weeks back :|). Off the top of my head I don't remember if anyone mentioned it, but the lass in Olivine Lighthouse standing near the hole and stairs on the 4th floor had a big gap in her dialogue when talked to after battle. Sorry if that's already been fixed/mentioned by now.
Not much of an error, but an oversight/balance issue. Submission is basically a useless move; there's no reason to choose it over Strength. They're both 90 base physical moves with 100 accuracy, but Submission causes recoil damage. Not only is it objectively worse, but literally every Pokemon that learns Submission also learns Strength (unless you count Totodile and Magby, both of whom evolve into Pokemon that can learn both), not to mention the player would, under normal circumstances, have Strength long before most Pokemon learn Submission. Either Strength should return to 80 power, or better yet, Submission receive more of a buff. You could make Strength normal again, but then it would have basically the same issue with Take Down. Either way, there should be some reason to choose a recoil move over one with no side effects. One more thing before this big ol' post is over though.
How do I build the project on github, and do I need an account to do so?
I'd really like to play with the changes added between September and now. Especially 20 phone number slots. Thank you sooooooo much. There's barely any room for numbers in the base game as it is, let alone PC with new characters/numbers. Since there's actually room now, have you considered adding more trainers with numbers? It feels a little odd not being able to have a trainer of each class available for rematches, but I might just be a little OCD. Not really important, but I think it would be a nice addition, assuming there's space for it. You could potentially make trainers who gift new evolution items such as the Shiny/Dusk Stones, though giving those to pre-existing PokeGear trainers would be a solid alternative.
TL;DR: I love the hack enough to make an account for posting purposes. I really appreciate how active you are and look forward to seeing this hack keep improving. :)