FireRed hack: Pokémon Gaia Version

m.vit said:

To be honest the Gen 4 starters would also fit well, a Mayan monkey, an earth Turtle (Gaia! :D), fit well enough, then add piplup for balance.

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WOW you just made it seem like the gen 4 starters fit very well with the hack's theme!

Spherical Ice said:

I'm increasingly leaning towards just using the Generation 4 starters.

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Idea for @Spherical Ice: Later in the game, lets say i chose Piplup as my starter, i could go to a "flaming jungle" and find a Chimchar (a flaming jungle could also be a good location for a hidden temple!) . Then later on i could surf to a far away to a "round mossy island" where i can get a Turtwig (another possible spot for a hidden temple). And if i didn't choose a Piplup, i can get it at a "snowy mountain" (yet again a great spot for a hidden temple).

Again this is just an idea, so you don't have to use it if you don't want it :D

To note, Infernape is really *not* a Mayan monkey. It seems to be pretty clearly based on Sun Wukong (the Monkey King from Journey to the West) and on monkey kung fu - i.e., it's Chinese.

(That being said, there is an artist who draws pokes in Mayan engraving style; I cannot put links in posts, so search for "pokemayan" and "monarobot" if you're interested.)

Torterra-the-world-turtle is certainly fitting, though.

The 4 Gen Starters : Awesome idea (really love my lil-seed) but if not i will still play because if is anything like Cobalt then i will love it.

anaphysik said:

Meh, I like the Ancient Power theme; feels like a good fit with the rest of the hack, and makes it even more different from the 'standard pokemon game.' Just consider editing the stats a bit to make them more close (and/or consider the earlier suggestion to give a stat-lowered Piloswine instead of Swinub). "Type balance" is really only meaningful for the rival who picks a starter after you - and even then it only *really* matters in the early game, before you get a chance to build up a team, as you can always add someone who's strong against your rival's mon.

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You definitely raise some good points here, although I don't really want to edit any base stats (past the official changes that happened with Generation 6).

anaphysik said:

The one thing that I would note is that it would be weird for the Ancient Power mons to be presented as the standard league starters, and I don't think that they should be presented as such - instead:
a) you could have them be given out by a 'follower of the old ways' person instead of the professor;
b) they could be a part of the professor's research into ancient pokemon;
c) they could be featured prominently in the iconography on the local ruins, and so have mysterious cultural meaning (easily combined with option a);
d) the player could encounter them when a quake exposes their home, and the player has to choose which one to assist out of the danger zone, leading to them and the chosen mon bonding (a rival could help another, and the professor the third, if you want).
Or e) some mix of those ideas.

Basically: matching with the hack's themes is more important than achieving 'balance.'

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The way the game is set out already, it's pretty much as you described in point b and c.

m.vit said:

To be honest the Gen 4 starters would also fit well, a Mayan monkey, an earth Turtle (Gaia! :D), fit well enough, then add piplup for balance.

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This was very similar to my reasoning, too.

CreativeWorks said:

Later in the game, lets say i chose Piplup as my starter, i could go to a "flaming jungle" and find a Chimchar (a flaming jungle could also be a good location for a hidden temple!) . Then later on i could surf to a far away to a "round mossy island" where i can get a Turtwig (another possible spot for a hidden temple). And if i didn't choose a Piplup, i can get it at a "snowy mountain" (yet again a great spot for a hidden temple).

Again this is just an idea, so you don't have to use it if you don't want it :D

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Those are some nice ideas, and I think I will indeed making the other two starters available as event Pokémon later on in the hack.

anaphysik said:

To note, Infernape is really *not* a Mayan monkey. It seems to be pretty clearly based on Sun Wukong (the Monkey King from Journey to the West) and on monkey kung fu - i.e., it's Chinese.

(That being said, there is an artist who draws pokes in Mayan engraving style; I cannot put links in posts, so search for "pokemayan" and "monarobot" if you're interested.)

Torterra-the-world-turtle is certainly fitting, though.

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You raise some good points, but I think I'm going to go with the Generation 4 starters, for now (as usual, nothing is set in stone).

Sickalex1743 said:

The 4 Gen Starters : Awesome idea (really love my lil-seed) but if not i will still play because if is anything like Cobalt then i will love it.

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Haha, thanks!

LuciusNguyen said:

You guys and your hacking really make me feel extremely excited. As I saw, you have a wonderful storylines, amazing maps and one more thing that your hacking will have pokemon from Kalos Region. ( I really love the first 3 Gen, but you know...you will have a bit boring when you play it over and over agains. )

I am very interested in the Acient Storyline, and suddenly I had an idea about Pokemon's Starter. Have you ever think about using Acient Pokemon for Pokemon's Starter? Your storylines is about Acient, and your pokemon's starter is Acient Pokemon, I think it will be very interested.

There maybe will have 2 options :

Option 1 : Instead of have 3 pokemon's starter, you only have 2 pokemon which revived from Fossil. I really fall in love with Omnyte and Kabuto from Gen.1 , or maybe another Pokemon revived from Fossill from another Gen. With the Fossill Pokemon, they only have one step evolve, and all the STAB are amazing.

The storyline for this option maybe : the professor suddenly got 2 Fossil when he discoved the cave, he came back his labs and revived this with helping from Fossil Professor and now he want to give these pokemon for the player.

Option 2 : Instead of normal Pokemon's Starter, you can replace them with another Acient pokemon, in my opinion, I suggest 3 pokemon as below :

+ Omanyte / Omastar : Rock/Water
+ Lileep / Cardily : Rock/Grass ( This pokemon do not have many Grass Moves, so I wonder another one is Cacnea / Caturne - It looks have a little Acient :) )
+Darumaka / Darmanitian : Fire

Unfortunately, I still not think about storylines for this option. :)

So It's is my opinions and my suggest for you, whatever, i really love your hacking,so whatever you done, i will support you. :)

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Thanks, your enthusiasm is appreciated. As mentioned earlier in this post, I'm going to go with the Generation 4 starters for now, although your input raises some valid points that I considered back when Gaia was only in a theoretical stage. Ultimately, I decided against the option of 2 starters, and the option of using fossil Pokémon altogether as it technically makes little sense, flavour-wise, and because the fact that the fossils would be from different generations (or, having only one that isn't a fossil) would rub me the wrong way.


Progress is still slow due to a general lack of motivation. Here's a screenshot of Ignis Roost, the route that leads up to Apex Temple.

iamalekza said:

Might I say, this is very impressive. I'm sure you have heard this all before, but I have high hopes for this masterpiece in the making. I've been lurking around without having made an account, but I just had to make one simply to share the magnificence of this. I have nothing to offer but supportive words, unfortunately, as well as a classic 'good luck'. I am looking forward to witnessing more improvements.

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Thank you! I'm glad to see you so excited for this hack!

I finally got off the fence and have gone with the Generation 4 starters.

In that case, Chimchar for me! :D I can't wait for it.

Looks pretty cool so far, will be interesting to see how it turns out :)

Alex Night said:

In that case, Chimchar for me! :D I can't wait for it.

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Thanks!

Crimson5M said:

Looks pretty cool so far, will be interesting to see how it turns out :)

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Thank you!

I've been updating some of the battle mechanics, with moves like Knock Off and Psycho Shift working. I also managed to get Roost to work, as well as Choice Specs and Choice Scarf.

The hack look really nice and very mysterious.
i hope the first beta will come soon/ :D

Can't wait for thhis hack xD
its awesome and the link to the past makes it even more interesting

Just one question... Is there any way to implement a Nuzlocke mode or something similar in this hack? I'm sure you'd know why I'd ask this for a ROM hack. ;)

:10:

This hack looks really awesome and i was wondering if you have an idea of when youll be finished with it, and i was wondering if you need any beta testers.

igorbobrik said:

The hack look really nice and very mysterious.
i hope the first beta will come soon/ :D

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Thank you!

Ariannuhan said:

Can't wait for thhis hack xD
its awesome and the link to the past makes it even more interesting

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Thanks!

Alex Night said:

Just one question... Is there any way to implement a Nuzlocke mode or something similar in this hack? I'm sure you'd know why I'd ask this for a ROM hack. ;)

:10:

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A nuzlocke mode has crossed my mind before. It wouldn't be an urgent thing, but if I have spare time I might try adding it in.

dracoflame32 said:

This hack looks really awesome and i was wondering if you have an idea of when youll be finished with it, and i was wondering if you need any beta testers.

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Thanks! I'm not sure myself when it will be ready for a beta release, but I will post here when that time does come around so watch this space.

I've been doing a lot of insertion of new moves, descriptions, items, Pokémon, and so on. Most of this can't really be shown with screenshots, though. Here's some of what can be screenshotted, though:


With regards to new evolution methods, the README.txt file that will be included with any release of this hack will detail all of the new methods. The Regal Stone is used on a select few other Pokémon as an alternative to trading, although the ability to evolve them in the original method is still available (though trading itself may not be 100% functional).

Next up, some move animations:


And a demonstration of the Assault Vest, which I got working thanks to MrDollSteak:


I've also been working on inserting cries (which, incidentally, may eventually lead to the expansion of the ROM because they take up quite a lot of space), but, again, that can't really be demonstrated through screenshots.

Progress is going smoothly, albeit on the more mechanical side of things than on actual gameplay. Stay tuned!

Omg, that looks so good
I feel kinda bad for saying this, since I couldn't do a better job in a lifetime, but I think in the move MoonBlast you should remove the Psybeam effect

I love the new move animations! Draco Meteor is perfect, and Moonblast looks wonderful for a spliced animation. Perhaps you could change the color the attacked Pokemon turns from pink to white or something closer to the moon, though?

Hey, I cannot say but great job with this. This hack looks stunning and definitely deserves HOTM. I was offering that I could help in creating a wild PKMN location list if you are looking for someone to do that. I am also one that some may consider a "Grammar Nazi" so if you need help with grammar, I could help with that too. I would be willing to help in any way possible for the hack. [Though I am not sure how it all works, getting the whole hack onto one ROM and staying connected with one another and up to date.] Anyways, if you need any help, I will be happy to help in any way possible that I am capable of. Good luck with the Pokemon Gaia!

I love that you created beautiful maps with most of the tileset being the FireRed Original. I've seen that before, but not that great. I like that you pay attention to every detail and want to make things complete. Do not give up!

I think a cool idea would be if you made it where you could pick up a poke ball contaning random pokemon like there just be laying around like item normally are accept u receive a pokom whn u pick it up..like maybe ghastly weedle just whatever random stuff you decided should go in it