3rd Gen Fully completing Sapphire

[Soulweaver]

Hi to all of you! I'm UltimateSephiroth, and I come from Finland.

I've been playing my Sapphire for a LONG time now. My current save is the second full-length save I have started on it, and my playing time is now about 960 hours. I have done a lot of things, but there are still some I'd like to complete too. Now I'm asking if you'd know any helpful, efficient tips for me, which do not involve any cheating.

These things are the ones I want to complete:
- I want at least one shiny Pokémon.
- I want to visit Mirage Island at least once (and get the Liechi Berry).
- I want to win in the Lilycove Dept. Store lottery.
- I want to get the Golden Shield in Battle Tower (team suggestions?)

And, this is where I have gotten:
- I have 29 L100 Pokémon. They are: Kyogre, Groudon, Rayquaza, Regirock, Regice, Registeel, Metagross, Salamence, Ho-Oh, Tyranitar, Entei, Raikou, Suicune, Mewtwo, Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres, Pelipper, Ditto, Lapras, Umbreon, Espeon, Cascoon (lol), Latias, Latios, Omastar, Kabutops and Aerodactyl. Lugia is now L92.
- I have fought around 10000 Trainer Matches (according to PokéNav)
- I have gotten the PokéRus.
- I have gotten the Glass Sculpture from Lilycove by fulfilling the painting task.
- I have the Silver Shield from Battle Tower.
- My PokéDex completion ratio is 383/383 on nationwide basis. The only missing Pokémon are Mew, Celebi and Deoxys. However, I don't own Jirachi. A fried of mine traded it to me for a short moment.
- By having three Pickup ability Pokémon in my party, I have collected around 160 Rare Candies, 200 Ultra Balls, 150 Nuggets, 100 PP Ups, 500 Super Potions, 200 Full Heals and 10 King's Rocks.

But, if you have any suggestions how to complete those things I want to (easier), please post it here. Thank you in advance!

 

[Jonbo]

Well as far as the shiny pokemon goes, i would pick a pokemon you would like shiny, and hatch eggs of it. obviously that would take forever, but not as long as the wild because you wouldnt have to battle and catch them. your also getting to chose which pokemon you want shiny this way.

For the Lilycove lottery i would recomend having all of your friends with the game trading you one of their guys, it doesnt matter wich ones because any of them will have ther trainers ID's. Doing this allows you to broaden your array of ID numbers.

For the battle tower i have no specific suggestions but you may want to construct a party that covers all of your bases, stay away from multiple pokemon in your party with the same type.

Happy Playing

 

[JX Valentine]

I can help you with everything except the Battle Tower by saying, "It really all comes down to luck." I know that doesn't really help, but that's pretty much it. There's no real shortcut to doing any of those things without a cheating device, so it just takes a lot of patience and a ton of luck.

However, you could try the following:

Getting a Shiny Pokemon
Carry a Pokemon that has Illuminate as an ability at the head of your party. Illuminate attracts wild Pokemon, and more Pokemon encounters = a stronger likelihood of getting a shiny in one of those encounters.

If you don't want to use a Pokemon with Illuminate, then a Pokemon with Sweet Scent (doesn't even have to be at the head) works as well. Sweet Scent an area, and a Pokemon will immediately pop up to battle you.

And if you don't want to use either of those, get a White Flute from the glass blower in the hut to the east of Fallarbor. It doesn't take too much soot to make, and it works the same way as Sweet Scent, if I recall correctly.

So, really, the more you encounter Pokemon, the better your chances are of encountering a shiny than, um, not encountering Pokemon. Although this is obvious.


Getting to Mirage Island
Because the island event is triggered by a Pokemon (seemingly at random, although apparently quite frequently a female), you really should just follow the same steps to get a shiny Pokemon. It's easier to do this if you have a Pokemon that can Fly you to Pacifidlog and an open slot on your party, however, as then it's quicker to check if you've got one or not.


Winning the Lilycove Lottery
This one is purely luck, as it's based on the ID of the Pokemon in your party. So, the best you can do is find a bunch of people willing to trade. Alternatively, if you have a bit of extra money, buy a second GBA, a GBA link cable, and a copy of an AG game. Start a new game on the latter, trade a Pokemon to your Sapphire, reset the game, and repeat ad infinitum (or until you can no longer store the traded Pokemon). The more trainer IDs you have, the more likely you're going to hit the winning lottery numbers.

 

[Soulweaver]

Well as far as the shiny pokemon goes, i would pick a pokemon you would like shiny, and hatch eggs of it. obviously that would take forever, but not as long as the wild because you wouldnt have to battle and catch them. your also getting to chose which pokemon you want shiny this way.

Erm... Choosing which Pokémon it is sounds nice. But, what's the real point in this hatching business? Is there a higher rate to get a shiny? Or is that so that the DV's/IV's/whatever they were are randomized just before the egg hatches?

For the Lilycove lottery i would recomend having all of your friends with the game trading you one of their guys, it doesnt matter wich ones because any of them will have ther trainers ID's. Doing this allows you to broaden your array of ID numbers.

Yeah, that should help. However, I don't have many friends playing Pokémon anymore (they've got over it; I will never ;D ).

For the battle tower i have no specific suggestions but you may want to construct a party that covers all of your bases, stay away from multiple pokemon in your party with the same type.

Happy Playing

Thanks for that. Though, I think the party I used was quite good, but I can't remember what it was like. I didn't have similar type Pokés with my, that's what I'm sure about.

I can help you with everything except the Battle Tower by saying, "It really all comes down to luck." I know that doesn't really help, but that's pretty much it. There's no real shortcut to doing any of those things without a cheating device, so it just takes a lot of patience and a ton of luck.

That's what I thought too, and therefore wrote the request of good teams. I still remember the streak I got my Silver Shield... One trainer had a Regice! O_O

However, you could try the following:

Getting a Shiny Pokemon
Carry a Pokemon that has Illuminate as an ability at the head of your party. Illuminate attracts wild Pokemon, and more Pokemon encounters = a stronger likelihood of getting a shiny in one of those encounters.

If you don't want to use a Pokemon with Illuminate, then a Pokemon with Sweet Scent (doesn't even have to be at the head) works as well. Sweet Scent an area, and a Pokemon will immediately pop up to battle you.

And if you don't want to use either of those, get a White Flute from the glass blower in the hut to the east of Fallarbor. It doesn't take too much soot to make, and it works the same way as Sweet Scent, if I recall correctly.

So, really, the more you encounter Pokemon, the better your chances are of encountering a shiny than, um, not encountering Pokemon. Although this is obvious.

Hm, how come I didn't think of that earlier? At least that speeds the things a lil' bit.

Getting to Mirage Island
Because the island event is triggered by a Pokemon (seemingly at random, although apparently quite frequently a female), you really should just follow the same steps to get a shiny Pokemon. It's easier to do this if you have a Pokemon that can Fly you to Pacifidlog and an open slot on your party, however, as then it's quicker to check if you've got one or not.

You are suggesting that I should just catch random Pokémon and get them there? That sounds really good to me. Thanks to my Pickup trio, I have around 280 Ultra Balls so that shouldn't be a big problem.

Winning the Lilycove Lottery
This one is purely luck, as it's based on the ID of the Pokemon in your party. So, the best you can do is find a bunch of people willing to trade. Alternatively, if you have a bit of extra money, buy a second GBA, a GBA link cable, and a copy of an AG game. Start a new game on the latter, trade a Pokemon to your Sapphire, reset the game, and repeat ad infinitum (or until you can no longer store the traded Pokemon). The more trainer IDs you have, the more likely you're going to hit the winning lottery numbers.

That would be a good idea unless my boxes wouldn't already be this full... I have one of each Pokémon recorded in my Pokédex (excluding that Jirachi) plus half a box of extra Pokémon such as another Regi trio and Rayquaza.

But, thank you for both of you! I thought at first that nobody was going to reply.

And, as an extra info, here are all the different ID numbers my Pokémon have. I think I should have some chances with that damn lottery.
00153 Ari
01239 HADEN (in-game trade ID from FR/LG)
01985 REYLEY (in-game trade ID from FR/LG)
02259 DARRELL (in-game trade ID from Sapphire)
08810 ELYSSA (in-game trade ID from FR/LG)
09648 Kalle
09706 Ash
10048 MATTLE (Ho-Oh, y'know)
18461 Thomas
19806 Ash
27038 Tom (my own ID)
31935 KALLE
35294 SARAH
36728 DONTAE (in-game trade ID from FR/LG)
37577 SARA
37089 Tomi (my old Sapphire)
44366 JAMES
45283 KALLE
46270 Tuomas
47797 JACK
49562 ELYSSA (in-game trade ID from Sapphire)
51717 Tomi (my old Colosseum)
54983 MIO
58467 WHITNEY

 

[Jonbo]

No problem, and what i mean by the egg hatching thing is that all you have to do is ride your bike, you dont need to battle and you dont have to worry about killing a wild shiny and hating yourself for the rest of your life. It does NOT make you have a better chance of getting a shiny, it is just a more effective way than battleing.

 

[Anti]

Well, I can help with battle tower teams. they abuse things that competitive battlers ban, like OHKO moves and worst of all, double team.

Gyarados @ Leftovers
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 212 HP / 16 Atk / 180 Def / 100 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Dragon Dance
- Hidden Power [Flying] / Return
- Earthquake
- Taunt

Taunt prevents things from roaring you away, but its main use is to stop the haxy AI from DTing you to death. This is the only pokemno you'll really need to EV train, but I'll post EVs for all of them anyways.

Er, my keyboard is starting to act up, I'll post the rest later. But jolteon is nice to absorb electric attacks with volt absorb.

 

[Soulweaver]

No problem, and what i mean by the egg hatching thing is that all you have to do is ride your bike, you dont need to battle and you dont have to worry about killing a wild shiny and hating yourself for the rest of your life. It does NOT make you have a better chance of getting a shiny, it is just a more effective way than battleing.

I see. But do you know the answer to that question: "When is the shiny value randomized if trying to get a shiny through an egg?"

Well, I can help with battle tower teams. they abuse things that competitive battlers ban, like OHKO moves and worst of all, double team.

Gyarados @ Leftovers
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 212 HP / 16 Atk / 180 Def / 100 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Dragon Dance
- Hidden Power [Flying] / Return
- Earthquake
- Taunt

Taunt prevents things from roaring you away, but its main use is to stop the haxy AI from DTing you to death. This is the only pokemno you'll really need to EV train, but I'll post EVs for all of them anyways.

Er, my keyboard is starting to act up, I'll post the rest later. But jolteon is nice to absorb electric attacks with volt absorb.

Okay... Sounds good. I am one of these guys concentrating on only offensive moves, though I'm trying to get rid of that habit. That's why I like that you explain how these more "strategic" moves should be used.

Well, you don't have to hurry with the rest if you have problems with your keyboard. Just post them later when(/if) you have time. :)

 

[Anti]

My keyboard is always funny ;) But yeah, you don't really need walls in the battle tower, but tanks are nice. something like snorlax would be of benefit. It's also good to go with pokemon that have lots of resistances, like skarmory, since you WILL get haxed in the battle tower.

Zapdos @ Leftovers
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 124 HP / 56 Spd / 244 SAtk / 84 SDef
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Hidden Power [Grass] / [Ice]
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Thunderbolt

Is a nice staller that sweeps the day away. but getting HP on it is a royal pain. This puppy can be a status absorber.

 

[Jonbo]

Im not really sure what you're asking but getting a shiny is a very rare, very random experience. No matter what you do, the likelyhood of getting a shiny is just as rare and just as random as it will ever be no matter what method you do.


Im not really into the whole legendary using, vut apparently you are. might I suggest using a Groudon first,and have it use eruption until your hp goes down, then switch to solarbeam, that will use itself in one turn due to his ability drought. If groudon is taken out then as your second pokemon i would suggest a sunny beamer but they wont have to use sunny day because the effects of drought will last the rest of the fight. Then maybe you could use a khangaskan as your third pokemon if all else fails. Teach it focus punch and substitute, that way it can focus while the substitute takes the hits.

 

[Soulweaver]

Im not really sure what you're asking but getting a shiny is a very rare, very random experience. No matter what you do, the likelyhood of getting a shiny is just as rare and just as random as it will ever be no matter what method you do.

Yeah, my question was a bit misleading... Let's try again.
Does the game determine whether the Pokémon inside is shiny or not when you get the egg from the daycare man OR when the egg hatches? If it is the latter, the world would be a lot better place.

Im not really into the whole legendary using, vut apparently you are. might I suggest using a Groudon first,and have it use eruption until your hp goes down, then switch to solarbeam, that will use itself in one turn due to his ability drought. If groudon is taken out then as your second pokemon i would suggest a sunny beamer but they wont have to use sunny day because the effects of drought will last the rest of the fight. Then maybe you could use a khangaskan as your third pokemon if all else fails. Teach it focus punch and substitute, that way it can focus while the substitute takes the hits.

Nice strategy... However they don't accept any major legendaries to compete in Battle Tower. If I remember right, Regis are allowed, though.

 

[Jonbo]

Oh thats right, i forgot

and to answer your question, the eggs are pre determined as soon as you recieve them, meaning you cant almost fully hatch one, same, hatch it, shut down, turn on, an re hatch it over and over. the nature and shinyness or not is determined as soon as the egg is created.

 

[Soulweaver]

Oh thats right, i forgot

and to answer your question, the eggs are pre determined as soon as you recieve them, meaning you cant almost fully hatch one, same, hatch it, shut down, turn on, an re hatch it over and over. the nature and shinyness or not is determined as soon as the egg is created.

What a shame. Well, I think I'm more into walking around the grass. At least I'm not running out of Balls. I can run out of my sanity, though XD

And, I think I remember my old 55-streak Battle Tower team now. I strongly think they were:
* Tyranitar L100, female
- Item: Scope Lens
- Stats: HP 361, Atk 338, Def 236, SpAtk 218, SpDef 232, Spd 170, gentle nature
- Ability: Sand Stream
- Moves: Earthquake, Crunch, Thunder, Blizzard

* Regice L100, genderless
- Item: King's Rock
- Stats: HP 328, Atk 160, Def 250, SpAtk 222, SpDef 456, Spd 152, calm nature
- Ability: Clear Body
- Moves: Ice Beam, Zap Cannon, Superpower, Hyper Beam

* Metagross L100, genderless
- Item: None (but I think it HAD something; i must've taken it off)
- Stats: HP 330, Atk 316, Def 270, SpAtk 228, SpDef 208, Spd 184, mild nature
- Ability: Clear Body
- Moves: Metal Claw, Meteor Mash, Psychic, Hyper Beam

Notice that they have absolutely no defensive attacks...

 

[TheSilverVersion]

This thread has the information on mirage island:

Here

Happy hunting.

 

[Anti]

Im not really sure what you're asking but getting a shiny is a very rare, very random experience. No matter what you do, the likelyhood of getting a shiny is just as rare and just as random as it will ever be no matter what method you do.

Meaning nothing we say is going to really help...it's all luck, which nobody has anymore.

Im not really into the whole legendary using, vut apparently you are. might I suggest using a Groudon first,and have it use eruption until your hp goes down, then switch to solarbeam, that will use itself in one turn due to his ability drought.

Um, special groudon is a joke. It has an attack stat so anormous it would just be silly not to use it. SD + EQ = domination. But you can't even enter ubers in the battle tower anyways.

If groudon is taken out then as your second pokemon i would suggest a sunny beamer

Um, out of all the sunnybeamers there are, there are about 2 that DON'T fail. Meaning, don't use sunnybeamers...

but they wont have to use sunny day because the effects of drought will last the rest of the fight.

TTar says hi.

Then maybe you could use a khangaskan as your third pokemon if all else fails. Teach it focus punch and substitute, that way it can focus while the substitute takes the hits.

In other words, a subpuncher.

Um, no sunnybeaming. Sunnybeaming just fails, though a couple pokemon can pull it off well. Even in the battle frontier it's a waste. And setting up Houndoom and other fire types in the battle tower is a bad idea, supercharging their flamethrowers (which always pyro hax you anyways) is a bad idea. Oh, no houndoom in sapphire. same idea though.

Subpunching actually can work well in the tower, but not so much for focus punch as that you can take the status effects thrown at you, namely toxic. You'll probably wany something that can take status well if you don't use Zapdos (since HP ice and grass are so tough to get). My best example would be...

Heracross @ Choice Band
Trait: Guts
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Brick Break
- Megahorn
- Rock Slide
- Sleep Talk / Earthquake

EQ and brick break are redundant, but it's battle tower ;)

As for the last slot, something that can take hits will suffice. suicune is the best, but that's tough to get...especially a bold one. Anything that can take physical and special hits pretty well (to the point where the haxy critical hits won't kill you) will work fine. Heck, even blissey would work, but that's too much of a pain.

 

[Soulweaver]

There would be no problem with that Houndoom, I have one of each 386 Pokémon save the über-rare four. And about that Sleep Talk... Is it an egg move? Or is there a tutor for it in another game? Sapphire is unfortunately the only 3rd Gen GBA game I have. I once borrowed a Fire Red for about half a year to get all the Kanto & Johto Pokémon, though. But I do have XD, and it should have a move tutor somewhere.

This thread has the information on mirage island:

Here

Happy hunting.

OK, thanks for that.

 

[Anti]

then I guess you're stuck with EQ. Or, if you use it on Gyara, return would have to sffice. sleep talk is a tutor move in emerald. But you can get Gyara's set in Sapphire.

 

[Soulweaver]

Ok, I'll start building a team soon. Thank you for your effort, Anti-Pop Culture Warrior 13.

I came up with yet one more question: Does anyone know what's behind the door in the house in Lilycove? Y'know, the one that's locked.

 

[Anti]

I believe you mean the one in Mossdeep...but I'm not sure actually. I've always wondered that...

If you need any sets for other pokemon, I got 'em ;)

 

[Soulweaver]

I believe you mean the one in Mossdeep...but I'm not sure actually. I've always wondered that...

If you need any sets for other pokemon, I got 'em ;)

Oh, right, wrong city. I thought the house was in Lilycove. But that doesn't matter since we're talking about the same door (it sounds pretty crazy when I put it that way... We're talking about a door! XD)

I'll remember your offer. For now, I could ask if you'd have some good movesets for the Hoenn starter last forms. Sceptile, Blaziken and Swampert (all L50) were the three I used a long time and which I broke the 35 wins record once.

 

[Jonbo]

Well Im not too sure for exact move sets but treeko, torchic and mudkip can all inherit some pretty unusual stuff so you might wanna use that to your advantage.

Treeko can inherit crush claw, Dragonbreath and Crunch

Torchic can inherit Rock slide, smellingsalt, and swagger

Mudkip can inherit uproar, mirror coat and ice ball.

they can inherit and learn other stuff but these are some of the main moves that are worth getting.